For the king to hasten out to meet the commoner shows how anxious Balak was to get started in his attack against Israel. Why had Balaam delayed his coming? Wasn’t Balak’s offer generous enough? Didn’t the prophet realize the seriousness of the situation? Balaam didn’t defend himself or explain his actions, but he did state clearly that all he could do was declare the words God gave him. The king offered sacrifices to his god Baal and probably gave Balaam some of the inner parts of the animals to use for divination.
The first oracle (22:39—23:12). The next morning, Balak took Balaam to Bamoth Baal (“the high places of Baal”) where they could see the camp of Israel and offer more sacrifices to Baal. Balaam used these sacrifices as part of his sorcery and soothsaying (24:1) and didn’t simply wait for God’s promised message. In His grace and goodness, God used this evil man and endured his duplicity because He had a special message to declare about His people Israel.
The message God gave to Balaam emphasized several basic truths about the people of Israel. First, God had especially blessed the people of Israel and they could not be cursed (23:7–8). This was part of God’s covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3) and it has been fulfilled throughout their history. God has judged every ruler and nation that has caused His people to suffer, including Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Nazi Germany.
No nation has been blessed of God like Israel, not only with material blessings and divine protection, but primarily with spiritual blessings to share with the whole world. Paul lists some of them in Romans 9:1–5. Israel gave the world the knowledge of the true and living God, the written Word of God, and Jesus Christ the Savior of the world.
Balaam’s second basic truth was that the Jews were chosen by God and therefore were a nation set apart from the other nations (Num. 23:9). The Lord had declared this to Israel at Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:5–6), and the laws that He gave them at Sinai made it possible for them to live like a special people. In his farewell message to Israel, Moses also emphasizes the uniqueness of Israel as the people of God (Deut. 4:20; 14:2, 21; 26:18–19; 32:8–9; 33:3, 28–29) and reminded them that God chose them because He loved them (Num. 7:6–8). See also Leviticus 20:26; 1 Kings 8:52–53; Amos 3:2; and Isaiah 43:21.
Israel’s great temptation was in wanting to be like the other nations, and this is what led to their downfall and captivity. Instead of rejoicing in their uniqueness as the people of the true and living God, they imitated their neighbors in their worship and conduct, and God had to discipline them. Instead of letting God rule as their King, they asked for a king “like all the nations” (1 Sam. 8:5), and this brought the nation into all kinds of trouble.
Unfortunately, many people in the church today have the mistaken idea that being like the world is the way to reach the world. They forget that the church is the people of God, a very special people, saved by His grace. Instead of maintaining separation (2 Cor. 6:14—7:1) they promote imitation (1 John 2:15–17; Rom. 12:2), so that it’s becoming more and more difficult to distinguish the people of God from the people of the world. And yet, as Campbell Morgan reminded us, “The church did the most for the world when the church was the least like the world.”
Balaam’s third emphasis was on the vastness of Israel’s camp, even though he was seeing only a small part of it (Num. 22:41). His use of the word “dust” reminds us of God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants that they would multiply and become as numerous as the dust of the earth (Gen. 13:16; 28:14). Nations come and go, but in spite of their many trials, the people of Israel have never been destroyed. Instead, they have multiplied and today are found all over the world.
Balaam was sent to curse Israel, yet he ended his oracle by declaring that he wanted to be like Israel! “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his” (Num. 23:10). But you don’t die the death of the righteous unless you live the life of the righteous, and that was something Balaam wasn’t prepared to do. His love of money so controlled his life that he would do anything to get wealth. Balaam died with the wicked when Israel defeated the Midianites (31:8), and his end was eternal judgment.
When Balak complained about the oracle, Balaam had only one reply: the words came from God and that’s what he had to speak. Balaam could have invented a curse and fooled Balak, but the Lord wouldn’t allow him to do it, for these oracles would one day be part of God’s Holy Word.
The second oracle (vv. 13–26). To encourage Balaam to do what he was hired to do—curse Israel— Balak asked his hired prophet to get a different perspective. He took him to the top of Mount Pisgah where again they offered sacrifices to their gods (vv. 13–14; see Deut. 34:1–4). The fact that Balaam participated in these pagan occult rituals shows the wickedness of his heart. He spoke the Word of God and longed for a righteous death, yet he thought nothing of using enchantments and consorting with Satan (Num. 24:1). He was a double-minded man whose chief desire was to make as much money as possible by marketing his skills.
The first oracle pictured Israel as a chosen people because of the love of God, and the second oracle presents them as a conquering people because of the faithfulness of God. God doesn’t lie, so all His promises and covenants are sure; He doesn’t change, so His character remains the same. He isn’t weak but is able to fulfill what He promises; nobody can manipulate Him or control Him. God was with the people of Israel and reigned as their King.
It was God who gave Israel their victories, beginning with their exodus from Egypt. The nation was like an ox in its strength and like a lioness and a lion in its determination to catch its prey and kill it. Therefore, no sorcery could succeed against God’s people because God was at work in them and through them. “Oh, what God has done!” (23: nkjv).
When God looked upon Israel, He didn’t behold iniquity or wickedness and therefore have reason to judge them. They were “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (19:6), even though He had to chasten them for their unbelief and disobedience. Believers today are God’s chosen people (Eph. 1:4), hidden in Christ (Col. 3:3), clothed in His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:17, 21) and seated with Him in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:4–6). Because we are “in Christ,” God sees us as His own special people (1 Peter 2:5, 9–10), and He deals with us accordingly.
Once again, God turned the curse into a blessing!
The battles God’s people fight today are not with flesh and blood on earth but with Satan’s hosts in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:10ff.), and we can’t win the victory in our own strength. We must first of all see ourselves as the people of God, purchased by the blood of Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and “more than conquerors” through Christ (Rom. 8:37). Our protection is the “whole armor of God,” and our chief weapons are the Word of God and prayer (Eph. 6:13–20; Acts 6:4).
As long as Israel walked with God and obeyed His will, they were an undefeated people and God did great wonders for them. “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5: nkjv).