Numbers 23: Balaam prophesies of Israel and Messiah

Though he was reluctant to pass it along, Balaam’s prophecy would stretch long into the future of Israel and foretell actions of the Messiah.

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Action Items

[ ] Discuss the significance of the numbers seven in the passage.
[ ] Explain what Balak was trying to accomplish by bringing Balaam.
[ ] Continue the discussion in Numbers chapter 24 to analyze Balaam’s further prophecies.

Cursing and Blessing Israel

Balaam builds 7 altars, offering bulls and rams on each of them, and meets with God. Balaam then delivers message from God and Balaam prophesies blessings for Israel, despite his attempts to curse them.

Balaam’s prophecy and its relevance to Gentiles.

Balaam was a prophet to the Gentiles which is proof that God did not leave the Gentiles without understanding. The Gentile world were not required to give the same offerings as the Israelites were required to give.

In this event, Balaam instructs Balak to erect seven altars and burn sacrifices on all of them in an attempt to appease God to convince God to go along with Balak’s request.

When God didn’t accept Balak’s bribe, Balak moved Balaam to a different vantage point and the same seven offerings were presented a second time, and then again a third time Balak moves Balaam to another location hoping to finally convince the deity Balaam is representing to change His mind about Israel to curse them rather than bless them.

Balak’s tenacity comes from the typical Gentile relationship with their gods. The “gods” of the Gentiles are fickle, and open to persuasion and open to every whim, as long as you can twist the whim just the right way. And so Balak drags Balaam here, there and everywhere to try to find the right angle to try to manipulate God in the same way the Moabites manipulate their own gods.

The people of Moab were terrified of the Israelites because of their recent successes in battle. They didn’t know that God had forbidden the Israelites to conquer Moab. The Moabites simply saw Israel was a threat and acted accordingly in the best way they knew how which was to find a famous, powerful soothsayer to invoke curses on Israel so Moab would have an advantage in battle against them.