Numbers 23 explained: A Hired Curse Becomes a Blessing

Altars before the curse (vv. 1-6)

Balak, king of Moab, feared the Israelites camped near his land and had brought Balaam, a well known seer from Aram far to the east, to curse them. Seven altars with a bull and a ram on each were meant to win divine favor before Balaam went off alone, but the text says the LORD chose the words Balaam would speak.

First message: I cannot curse (vv. 7-10)

Balaam admits he came to curse Israel but says he cannot curse a people God has not cursed. He describes them as set apart from other nations and too many to count, echoing God's old promise of countless descendants, and even wishes his own death could be like theirs.

Balak tries a new view (vv. 11-17)

Balak is furious, and Balaam replies that he can only say what the LORD gives him. Balak then takes him to the field of Zophim on Pisgah, a lookout where only the edge of the camp is visible, perhaps hoping a different view would bring a different answer, and the same altars and sacrifices are offered again.

Second message: God does not change (vv. 18-24)

Balaam says God is not like a person who lies or backs out of a promise, so the blessing cannot be reversed, and that no magic or omen will work against Israel. The poem pictures God as king among them, with strength like a wild ox and a lion that devours its prey, a violent image of the military power their neighbors feared.

Neither curse nor bless (vv. 25-30)

Balak now just wants Balaam to say nothing at all, yet still hopes a third spot might work. He chooses the top of Peor, a height that Numbers later links with the worship of a local god called Baal of Peor, and the altars are built a third time.

Key verse: Numbers 23:8

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Balaam was a genuine prophet of the LORD whose heart went wrong through greed, or a foreign sorcerer whom God simply overruled against his will.

Something to think about

Have you ever been expected or paid to say something, and found you could not honestly bring yourself to say it?