Illuminated Coptic sanctuary banner

Numbers 23 - Blessing That Cannot Be Bought

12 min read

Balak changes the view, rebuilds the altars, and tries again. What he cannot bear to change is his purpose. Numbers 23 follows a king’s repeated attempt to make God say something useful to his hostility, and God’s repeated declaration that His blessing cannot be bought. Above the camp, a curse is being prepared that the people below cannot prevent; above the king’s preparations stands a promise that he cannot reverse.

Numbers 22 brought Balaam to Moab under the Lord’s command to speak only what he received. This chapter contains the first two blessings and the preparations for the third. Numbers 24 will carry the prophecy toward the coming King. Here the controlling question is already clear: will religious activity submit to God’s word, or try to recruit it?

The righteous death Balaam desires (Numbers 23:1-12; Greek/Brenton 23:1-12)

Numbering note: The verse labels agree in this passage. Brenton’s “parable” means the solemn utterance Balaam takes up; the words are a prophetic blessing, not an invented story.

Brenton chapter 23

1: And Balaam said to Balac, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven calves, and seven rams. 2: And Balac did as Balaam told him; and he offered up a calf and a ram on every altar. 3: And Balaam said to Balac, Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go and see if God will appear to me and meet me, and the word which he shall shew me, I will report to thee. And Balac stood by his sacrifice. 4: And Balaam went to enquire of God; and he went straight forward, and God appeared to Balaam; and Balaam said to him, I have prepared the seven altars, and have offered a calf and a ram on every altar. 5: And God put a word into the mouth of Balaam, and said, Thou shalt return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak. 6: And he returned to him, and moreover he stood over his whole-burnt-offerings, and all the princes of Moab with him; and the Spirit of God came upon him. 7: And he took up his parable, and said, Balac king of Moab sent for me out of Mesopotamia, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and Come, call for a curse for me upon Israel. 8: How can I curse whom the Lord curses not? or how can I devote whom God devotes not? 9: For from the top of the mountains I shall see him, and from the hills I shall observe him: behold, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10: Who has exactly calculated the seed of Jacob, and who shall number the families of Israel? let my soul die with the souls of the righteous, and let my seed be as their seed. 11: And Balac said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I called thee to curse my enemies, and behold thou hast greatly blessed them. 12: And Balaam said to Balac, Whatsoever the Lord shall put into my mouth, shall I not take heed to speak this?

Seven altars, seven calves, and seven rams give Balak’s intention an imposing religious form. Balaam reports these preparations to God, but the answer is not purchased by their cost. God puts a word in his mouth. The act is God’s, and the seer must return carrying it into the gathering that expected a curse.

The opening of the oracle restates the commission before overturning it. Balaam has come from the east to curse Jacob, yet he asks how he can curse whom the Lord has not cursed. The distance travelled and the sacrifices offered cannot create authority to contradict God. Israel’s dwelling apart speaks of its distinct covenant calling, not permission to despise other peoples. Balak wants to destroy this people’s future; the blessing locates that future in the Lord’s choice.

The question about numbering Jacob recalls the multiplication promised to the patriarchs. What the king sees as a threatening multitude, Balaam is required to name as a people whose life is under blessing. His own wish then turns toward them: “let my soul die with the souls of the righteous, and let my seed be as their seed” (23:10). He can see a desirable end while still resisting the way that leads to it.

Later Scripture makes the tragedy explicit. Balaam dies by the sword in Numbers 31:8, and Joshua 13:22 identifies him as a soothsayer killed among Israel’s enemies. The contrast is not an occasion to guess his final eternal state. It shows that a pious desire for a righteous death cannot be separated from repentance in life. We may admire peace, purity, and a holy end while protecting the habits that keep us far from them.

Gems from the Fathers 💎: A word received but not welcomed

Origen, in Homilies on Numbers 15.1-2, refuses to flatten Balaam into either a wholly reliable teacher or a merely false speaker. His utterances can communicate God’s truth even while his desire remains corrupt. Origen places the word in Balaam’s mouth while describing the greed still present in his heart.1 The warning is especially close to anyone who teaches: the truth we transmit to another must be allowed to judge us first.

Balak’s protest gives the outcome its proper name. Balaam has blessed the very people he was called to curse. God has not merely blocked the king’s intention; He has made the commissioned voice bear witness against it.

The word that does not waver (Numbers 23:13-26; Greek/Brenton 23:13-26)

Numbering note: The verse labels agree. In verse 19 Brenton reads “God is not as man to waver,” where NKJV says “God is not a man, that He should lie.” Verse 21 has Brenton’s “the glories of rulers are in him” rather than NKJV’s “the shout of a King is among them.” The two translations should be heard distinctly, not blended into one quotation.

Brenton chapter 23

13: And Balac said to him, Come yet with me to another place where thou shalt not see the people, but only thou shalt see a part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence. 14: And he took him to a high place of the field to the top of the quarried rock, and he built there seven altars, and offered a calf and a ram on every altar. 15: And Balaam said to Balac, Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go to enquire of God. 16: And God met Balaam, and put a word into his mouth, and said, Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak. 17: And he returned to him: and he also was standing by his whole-burnt-sacrifice, and all the princes of Moab with him; and Balac said to him, What has the Lord spoken? 18: And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balac, and hear; hearken as a witness, thou son of Sepphor. 19: God is not as man to waver, nor as the son of man to be threatened; shall he say and not perform? shall he speak and not keep to his word? 20: Behold, I have received commandment to bless: I will bless, and not turn back. 21: There shall not be trouble in Jacob, neither shall sorrow be seen in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, the glories of rulers are in him. 22: It was God who brought him out of Egypt; he has as it were the glory of a unicorn. 23: For there is no divination in Jacob, nor enchantment in Israel; in season it shall be told to Jacob and Israel what God shall perform. 24: Behold, the people shall rise up as a lion’s whelp, and shall exalt himself as a lion; he shall not lie down till he have eaten the prey, and he shall drink the blood of the slain. 25: And Balac said to Balaam, Neither curse the people at all for me, nor bless them at all. 26: And Balaam answered and said to Balac, Spoke I not to thee, saying, Whatsoever thing God shall speak to me, that will I do?

Balak now limits Balaam’s view to part of the people. Perhaps a different prospect will produce a different word. The changed position reveals an unchanged heart: the king treats Israel’s blessing as something that might disappear when approached from the right angle.

The second oracle summons him to listen. God is not a stronger version of Balak, moved by the same pressures at a greater scale. He does not yield His promise to threats or bargains. Brenton’s paired questions, “shall he say and not perform? shall he speak and not keep to his word?”, place the certainty in God Himself. This is the ground of Christian hope too: Hebrews 6:17-18 joins the unchangeable purpose of God to the impossibility of His lying.

The declaration that trouble and sorrow will not be seen in Israel belongs to this blessing against Balak’s attempted curse. It cannot mean that Israel’s sins or sufferings have ceased to exist. Numbers has already narrated both, and the next chapter after Balaam’s oracles will expose a fresh apostasy. Covenant protection against hostile divination is not immunity from the consequences of disobedience.

The centre is the Lord’s presence: “the Lord his God is with him” (23:21). The God who brought Israel out of Egypt remains the source of its strength. Brenton’s older word “unicorn” is part of the translation’s animal imagery here; the argument concerns powerful deliverance, not a doctrine about a fabulous creature.

Verse 23 contrasts divination and enchantment with what God Himself will perform. The king’s apparatus for obtaining control is useless against a people whose future depends on the Lord’s action. That contrast reaches our own fear of hidden spiritual power. Faith turns from secret techniques to God’s revealed word and the life of prayer and repentance. Israel’s later betrayal at Peor will show where vigilance is truly needed: the people whom an external curse cannot destroy can still consent to sin.

Gems from the Fathers 💎: A promise free of our passions

Origen’s Homilies on Numbers 16.3 contrasts human speech distorted by anger, fear, greed, or boasting with God’s speech, which is free of those disorders.2 This illuminates the phrase “not as man to waver.” God’s steadfastness is not stubbornness. The promise comes from His truth and wisdom, not from a wounded need to prevail. Reading the verse in that way also corrects our own promises: sincerity requires a heart willing to act upon what the mouth has pledged.

Balak finally asks for neither curse nor blessing. He would prefer silence to truth that defeats his purpose. Balaam answers that the Lord’s speech, not the king’s preference, governs his task.

One more altar, the same desire (Numbers 23:27-30; Greek/Brenton 23:27-30)

Numbering note: The chapter ends at verse 30 in both frames. These preparations introduce the oracle in Numbers 24:1-9.

Brenton chapter 23

27: And Balac said to Balaam, Come and I will remove thee to another place, if it shall please God, and curse me them from thence. 28: And Balac took Balaam to the top of Phogor, which extends to the wilderness. 29: And Balaam said to Balac, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven calves, and seven rams. 30: And Balac did as Balaam told him, and offered a calf and a ram on every altar.

The third site is the top of Phogor, or Peor, facing the wilderness. The story’s repetition is exact enough to expose the king: a new place, the same sacrifices, the same wish. More religious effort has not made him more obedient. It has become a way of postponing obedience.

The Christian life has holy repetitions: prayer, repentance, the Eucharist, and the Church’s feasts. Their purpose is to bring us repeatedly before the same Lord, so that our will may be changed. Balak reverses that direction. He repeats the rite in the hope that the divine verdict will change instead. Christ’s prayerful obedience to the Father heals precisely this reversal. We approach God to receive His will, not to wear it down.

The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪

No verse-addressed appointment of Numbers 23 appears in the Coptic lectionary index consulted for this study. The chapter nevertheless supplies a direct biblical examination of how we worship: the same repeated act can become either humble return to God or refusal to hear Him.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

Make the desired end into today’s obedience. Balaam wants the death of the righteous. Choose one act consistent with that hope now: repair an injury, confess a concealed sin, repay what you owe, or make peace without waiting for the other person to begin. A holy end grows from a life entrusted to Christ.

Receive blessing without presumption. The failure of Balak’s curse should free us from obsession with hidden attacks. It should also make us sober about temptation. Spend less attention imagining what an enemy might do and more guarding the consent that only you can give.

Allow prayer to change its petitioner. When the same grievance returns in prayer, examine whether you are asking for light or only repeating a preferred verdict. Pray for the good of the person you have cast as an enemy. Such prayer can expose the anger that even correct religious words were sheltering.

The altars stand on another height, but God’s word remains the same. Lord, save me from travelling far to avoid a truth already near. Give me the peace of receiving Your promise and the humility of obeying it. Let my hope for a righteous death become faithfulness in the life You have given me today.

Footnotes

  1. Origen, Homilies on Numbers 15.1-2, W. A. Baehrens, ed., Origenes Werke VII (1921), pp. 128-132, text and scan 🔗. ↩

  2. Origen, Homilies on Numbers 16.3, Baehrens (1921), pp. 139-140, text and scan 🔗. ↩

Reading statusLoading your browser-local progress
Saved only in this browser

Created: | Updated:

Page Connections

Backlinks