Blessings for God’s Victory

Numbers 23:1-30 

    1 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”  2 And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. 4 And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”  5 Then the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.  7 And he took up his oracle and said:

    “Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram,
    From the mountains of the east.
    ‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
    And come, denounce Israel!’

    8 “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
    And how shall I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?
    9 For from the top of the rocks I see him,
    And from the hills I behold him;
    There! A people dwelling alone,
    Not reckoning itself among the nations.

    10 “Who can count the dust of Jacob,
    Or number one-fourth of Israel?
    Let me die the death of the righteous,
    And let my end be like his!”

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!”  12 So he answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak what the LORD has put in my mouth?”

    13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.” 14 So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.  15 And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.”  16 Then the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 17 So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?”

    18 Then he took up his oracle and said:
    “Rise up, Balak, and hear!
    Listen to me, son of Zippor!

    19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,
    Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
    Has He said, and will He not do?
    Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

    20 Behold, I have received a command to bless;
    He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
    21 “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob,
    Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel.
    The LORD his God is with him,
    And the shout of a King is among them.

    22 God brings them out of Egypt;
    He has strength like a wild ox.
    23 “For there is no sorcery against Jacob,
    Nor any divination against Israel.

    It now must be said of Jacob
    And of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’
    24 Look, a people rises like a lioness,
    And lifts itself up like a lion;
    It shall not lie down until it devours the prey,
    And drinks the blood of the slain.”

    25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!”  26 So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that the LORD speaks, that I must do’?”  27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland. 29 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.

God gave words to Balaam’s tongue to speak.  Though Balak tried to use the prophet to bring victory, God’s victory was what the prophet had to utter with truth and authority.  He told the king that he could not curse whom God has not cursed or denounce whom He had not denounced.  God’s people were to have the victory by the Lord’s pronounced and predetermined will.  Instead of cursing, he abundantly blessed the people of the LORD.  Balak took him to another place, thinking that would make his will come true with a curse on Israel.  He was wrong.  God put a word in his mouth to remind the pagan ruler that God is true and cannot lie, He does not go back on His spoken will laid out in eternity, but will absolutely follow through on everything He said and says and will say (Numbers 23:19).  He will make good the blessings already pronounced on His people, and no effort of man can change that.  He delivers from bondage, gives victory, and is the only wise and sovereign King (1 Timothy 6:15, Jude 1:25).  The frustrated king then with exasperation told the man of God to neither bless nor curse, for he saw that God spoke and his wiles came to nothing against the Almighty through His servant’s lips.  This demonstrates certain blessings for God’s victory even when His enemies try to manipulate His spokesmen to gain the advantage.  He still thought to get God on his side by going to a third location, for he still did not really understand or accept defeat.  This would continue in the next chapter.