Nu. 24: Balaam's Oracles 3-7

Numbers 24:17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth."

This time around, Balaam did not resort to sorcery for this third oracle. The Spirit of God came upon him to utter this one. I had figured Balaam wasn't using sorcery in the previous oracles, but maybe that whole sacrifice deal and the solitude was a part of it. God still spoke through him. Is it possible to contact God through sorcery? Something tells me that God would have to talk back. God would have to do the work.

Another thing is the mention of the Spirit of God. Rare up to this point, and only appearing at creation, filling Bezalel and Oholiab, and visible in Joseph by the Pharaoh. It came upon him, and he spoke this to Balak.

"How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob,
your dwelling places, O Israel!

"Like valleys they spread out,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the LORD,
like cedars beside the waters.

Water will flow from their buckets;
their seed will have abundant water.
"Their king will be greater than Agag;
their kingdom will be exalted.

"God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
and break their bones in pieces;
with their arrows they pierce them.

Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse them?
"May those who bless you be blessed
and those who curse you be cursed!"

More about the lion analogy. What makes this one different from the previous two? What does God say different here, in this oracle What's the drive here? I had to read it as though it was important enough to God to tell people outside of the nation of Israel to just what it was He was able to do, and how.

Balak of course is extremely displeased, recounting how much he was willing to pay Balaam, and now fires him. Balaam's like, "Hey, I could only say what God told me to." He was an interesting third party to Israel's travels and interactions with the other nations.

Balaam is full of oracles, and it wasn't enough to leave Balak with that last one.

"The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly,

the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
who has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:

"I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of all the sons of Sheth.

Edom will be conquered;
Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
but Israel will grow strong.

A ruler will come out of Jacob
and destroy the survivors of the city."

Balaam has the appearance of someone who could believe in God, and trust Him completely. He has seen what God can do, and how God operates. But the question is, would Balaam allow this God to stand above the other powers he has probably encountered in his oracling. Balaam foresees here a star coming from the Israelite people that will crush foreheads and break skulls. Pretty amazing. So Israel will be delivered at some point by a great warrior. It's apparently quite a ways off in time, though. It's also a continuation of the blessing given by Joseph to his son Jacob in Gen. 49.

Balaam also has less than positive outlooks for Amalek (who God promised would struggle with Israel forever), the Kenites, and others.