Morning Repost: Numbers 23: Balaam's First Prophecy
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. 3a 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.”
There are various types of offerings for differing purposes in Torah. It is the burnt offering here mentioned. At least they understood that in order for the favor to shift from Moses and Aaron to Balak of Moab, the king must be accepted by Yahweh. They must enter through this door— slaying the innocent victim who died in their place. But rather than one altar, they built seven. Why seven instead of one altar? Perhaps that was the number of the assembly— the king, the prophet and the princes. Or perhaps they wished to impress Yahweh with the multiplicity of their offerings. "Alas! what are seven altars, or seventy times seven sacrifices, offered from a wicked heart! But in all ages it is the same. If GOD would but compound with the ungodly, and indulge them in their sins, they will pay him with any expensive sacrifices. Dearest JESUS! be thou my altar, my priest, my only sacrifice: and be it my noblest desire to be accepted in thee, the Beloved. Ephesians 1:6-7." (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
Why bulls and rams? In Leviticus chapter 1 there were three types of animals to sacrifice in the burnt offering, based on your station in life. "1) Offerings from the herd (bull), vv. 3-9. (2) Offerings from the flock (a sheep or a goat), vv. 10-13. (3) Offerings of birds (turtledoves or pigeons), vv14-17.” (Deffinbaugh) "One offerer might bring a bullock--another an offering from the flock--another only an offering of fowls. There was evidently much mercy in this provision; for if poverty, or even disinclination, prevented an Israelite from bringing the highest offering, he was permitted to bring a lesser, in order that he might not be deprived entirely of the blessings connected with the burnt-offering." (B. W. Newton) The birds were permitted for the poor of the people. Notice there were no poor among the group of king, prophet and princes.
There had been a day when the heads of families built altars and instructed family members on the precepts of the faith. But these were the days of the tabernacle in the wilderness. And thus there was centralized worship and instruction, and that only by Aaron and his sons. Who was this son of Zippor? This therefore is apostasy from the beginning.
If any man felt a need, he could bring a burnt offering. “Not any Israelite merely. Numbers 15:14. Here we may discover an early provision for admitting heathen to the worship of Jehovah as proselytes of the gate.” (Whedon) "Bring an offering... Whereby they were led to Christ; as the apostle showeth in that excellent Epistle to the Hebrews, which is a just commentary upon this book." (Trapp)
Balaam tells Balak “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me..."
3b 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?"
The prophet then ascended the desolate height to seek Yahweh; yet, for Israel of antiquity, He came down. There are two groups here addressed- Jacob and Israel. and they are not the same. Jacob is the descendants of Jacob by the flesh only. But Israel is his spiritual descendants. When Abraham was still childless, he thought that Eleazar— a servant in his house— was the promised heir. But the Word of Yahweh came to him “saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’” (Genesis 15:4-5) The promise included the physical, as well as the spiritual. The sand represents the natural and the stars the supernatural seed— those born again of the Word of Yahweh. “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) We come by the same way.
"Who can count the dust of Jacob …?” God had promised Abraham that his physical descendants would be as innumerable as the ‘”dust of the earth’” (Genesis 13:16) From the top of the rock Balaam saw him. And thus god had fulfilled his promise in that day. They were a people dwelling alone- not reckoning themselves among the nations. They had Moses, as a prophet, Aaron and his sons as priests and the Levites as the laity at the taberacle in the wilderness… while the other nations had kings and only sought false gods.
And who can… number one-fourth of Israel? These stars have shown forth in each generation as lights unto their brethren and unto the nations. They are the spiritual seed of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, renamed Israel after he wrestled with God and prevailed. “Name meaning ‘one who struggles with God’ or ‘God struggles’ (Gn 32:28, NLT mg). It was given to Isaac's son Jacob and to his descendants (35:9- 12; cf. Dt 6:1- 4).” (Tyndall Bible Dictionary) The name is given to anyone who does likewise.
These are described by David as that vine that Yahweh transplanted from Egypt to Canaan; “you drove out the nations and planted it.” (Psalm 80:8) They were a smaller subset of the people in that day, but it has grown and flourish and the Gentiles have been grafted in…. Indeed, who can number one-fourth of Israel? “Sweet thought! though the flock of JESUS be but a little flock when comparatively considered; yet it is in itself an innumerable company. Reader! if it be your portion to be of the number of the ransomed which shall return to Zion, you will find the house of GOD to be neither scanty nor small. Multitudes have already entered it, and multitudes are continually pouring into it from all the quarters of the earth. Revelation 7:9; Matthew 8:11. But how awful a thought is it, that any man, like Balaam, should know and confess the privilege of dying the death of the righteous, while confessedly living the life of the ungodly. Oh! for the apostle's blessed state! Philippians 1:20— according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whetherby life or by death. (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
Jacob- the deceiver – must keep seeking, but Israel is blessed of Yahweh. In regards to the prophet for hire— “Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? pretending a great regard to the word of God, and to great carefulness to speak it, exactly and punctually as he received it, whereas he was forced to it, and could not do otherwise.” (Gill)
Numbers 23: Balaam’s Second Prophecy
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’?”
Balaam now commands another burnt offering of the king. One should have done, if it was accepted. And he then meets with Yahweh again on his behalf "over there".... appearing not to ascend the desolate height again.
All that King Balak of Moab was concerned with was the earthly. Yahweh God had multiplied Jacob and He has blessed Israel with eternal salvation, and He had promised both of them- the congregation in the wilderness- the earthly Canaan together. God does not repent. God had blessed them; shall He not confirm what He had said to this generation? Behold, I have received a command to bless...(20) "...and will complete the blessing of them, by bringing them into the land he has given them..." (Gill)
Note that this does not imply that God's promises are unconditional. He had told the former generation that if they obeyed His commands, they would inherit the land. Yet, they died in the wilderness due to disbelief. But indeed God had told Jacob that his physical descendants would inherit the earthly possession. And so, for Joshua and Caleb's sake, this was that very generation.
So likewise, "the blessings which God has designed for his spiritual Israel, and bestows upon them, are irreversible; they are blessings indeed, spiritual ones, and are for ever; he blesses them with himself, as their covenant; God, their portion here and hereafter, with Christ his Son, and all things with him, with righteousness, peace, and pardon, with his Spirit and the grace thereof, with sonship, heirship, and eternal life.” (Gill's Exposition)
He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel… (21) This is a difficult passage; for if we take the words as spoken of the congregation in the wilderness, "as their iniquity and their perverseness were almost unparalleled, such words cannot be spoken of them with strict truth. [However: ] If we consider them as spoken of the patriarch Jacob and Israel, or of Jacob after he became Israel, they are most strictly true, as after that time a more unblemished and noble character (Abraham excepted) is not to be found in the page of history, whether sacred or profane; and for his sake, and for the sake of his father Isaac, and his grandfather Abraham, God is ever represented as favoring, blessing, and sparing a rebellious and undeserving people; see the note on Genesis 49:33. In this way, I think, this difficult text may be safely understood.” (Adam Clarke) Yahweh is God is with him- the man Jacob. And the shout of a King is among them— the congregation in the wilderness- for all to hear.
God brings them out of Egypt… (22)God “literally, is bringing them. The use of the participle denotes the continuance of the action. He who brought them forth out of Egypt was still conducting them on their march. … It was vain for Balak to resist them on their course, seeing that to contend with them was to contend against God.” (Ellicott) He has strength like a wild ox. The body of Jacob has strength from God like “a wild bull, the now extinct Aurochs, formidable for its size, strength, speed, and ferocity.” (Barnes)
For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. “The verse may be rendered as follows: For there is no augury in Jacob, and there is no divina-Hon in Israel. At the (set) time it is told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath done (or, doth).” (Elliott) It was forbidden; see Leviticus 19:3. Yet He now speaks as a diviner telling them what is about to happen when the time comes for this people to rise and to enter the land of Canaan. “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.” (24)
“The ordinary meaning of the words nahash (omen, or augury) and kesem (soothsaying, or divination), the use of the same preposition in Numbers 23:21 which is there rendered in, and more especially the second clause of the verse, seem to decide the meaning of the former clause to be as it is here given. The Israelites had no need of augury and divination, seeing that God revealed to them His acts. His counsel, and His will. ‘What is here affirmed of Israel,’ says Hengstenberg, ‘applies to the Church of all ages, and also to every individual believer. The Church of God knows from His own Word what God does, and what it has to do in consequence. The wisdom of this world resembles augury and divination. The Church of God, which is in possession of His word, has no need of it.’ (History of Balaam and his Prophecies, p. 441).” (Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers)
Numbers 23: Balaam’s Third Prophecy
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.
"At first (Num 23:25) Balak had in his vexation desired to stop the mouth of Balaam, but afterwards he thought it wiser to make yet another attempt to change the mind of God; as a heathen, he still thought that this might be done by dint of importunity and renewed sacrifices. Another place... unto the top of Peer. On the meaning of Peer see on Numbers 25:3. This Peer was a summit of the Abarim ranges northwards from Pisgah, and nearer to the Israelites. The adjacent village, Beth-Peer, was near the place of Moses' burial (Deut 34:6). From the phrase used in Deuteronomy 3:29; Deuteronomy 4:46, with which the testimony of Eusebius agrees, it must have lain almost opposite Jericho on the heights behind the Arboth Moab. From Peer, therefore, the whole encampment, in all its length and breadth, would lie beneath their gaze.” (The Pulpit Commentaries)