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.

Nu. 23: Balaam's Oracle 1 & 2

Numbers 23:21 "No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them."

Balak needs his answers as to what God will say through Balaam, and he gets a couple in this chapter. The first thing they need to do is make offerings, so they build seven altars, and offer seven bulls and seven rams. I'm not sure God instructed Balaam to do this at this point in the reading, and it sounds kind of like what God would make them do, but not exactly. Other religions may have had similar practices.

Balaam goes off to solitude to meet with God, and God gives him a message to give to Balak.

Here is the text of Balaam's first oracle, as revealed by God.

"Balak brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
'Come,' he said, 'curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.'

How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce
those whom the LORD has not denounced?

From the rocky peaks I see them,
from the heights I view them.
I see a people who live apart
and do not consider themselves one of the nations.

Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
and may my end be like theirs!"

This is pretty revealing about supernatural and paranormal phenomena in respect to God's power. Any power appears to be subject to God ("How can I curse those whom God has not cursed?") Additionally, if a certain power is to beset man, it would be God who allows it, even if God is not the vessel for this power. The separation emphasized all throughout Leviticus is made very clear to Balaam. He sees that Israel does not consider itself among the nations, rather seperate...Holy. Their holiness was visible, it was evident. So evident that Balaam wished to identify with their end.

Of course Balak isn't pleased to hear this news. It was not what he wanted to hear, so he brings Balaam to another place where he can see part of the Israelite encampment. They do the seven offerings thing and God gives Balaam a second oracle.

"Arise, Balak, and listen;
hear me, son of Zippor.

God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it.

"No misfortune is seen in Jacob,
no misery observed in Israel.
The LORD their God is with them;
the shout of the King is among them.
God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
There is no sorcery against Jacob,
no divination against Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
and of Israel, 'See what God has done!'

The people rise like a lioness;
they rouse themselves like a lion
that does not rest till he devours his prey
and drinks the blood of his victims."

God appears to address Balak more personally in this one. A change of scenery would not sway God's promise or judgment. What God said the first time around stood, and God would not change based on a man's vantage point. God commands Balaam to bless Israel, the complete opposite of what Balak was hoping to hear. God has given strength and endurance through hardships to Israel, as this whole episode with Egypt gave them the strength of an ox.

Another reiteration is given of how Israel is protected from sorcery and divination. What times it must have been to have to live in fear of that. There is nothing in my reading so far that I can recall that promulgates an idea that Israel was cursed or plagued by anything other than God. Will they never be subject to a curse brought by man? I'll have to keep reading.

Israel is given the comparison to a lion, in the sense that it does not rest until it is satisfied, until it has devoured its prey.

Oh, verse 20 is interesting too, where Balaam says "I have received a command to bless, he has blessed and I cannot change it." Who is man to try to improve on or add to what God has done? Israel was already blessed, and my interpretation here is that Balaam could do nothing to improve upon that blessing. I think this is why Balak questions why Balaam does not bless or curse them.

Balak thinks another change of scenery is in order to get what he wants.