Had balaam possessed a sincere spirit of obedience, he would have found in the first instructions numbers 22. The events of balaam and balak are found in the bibles book called numbers. Balaam, of course, had no power, in himself, to curse israel, but, if god were willing to curse israel, balaam would be rewarded through balak. Balak, king of moab, afraid of the invading israelites who vastly outnumbered moab, asked balaam to come and curse the people of israel. Balaams donkey sees an angel of god and refuses to move any further. Balaam had specifically seven prepared, in an attempt to counteract the seven altars the jewish forefathers had built. In this segment chuck missler discusses the most absurd war. Jesus says in his letter to pergamum, but i have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of balaam, who taught balak to put a stumbling block before the children of. The messengers are not faithful in returning balaams answer to balak. The princes come to balaam and tell him what balak has asked. Commentary critical and explanatory on the whole bible unabridged.
Just as the donkey complains of being beaten three times so later balaam complains of being duped by balak three times. The next morning balak took balaam up to bamoth baal, and from there he. Numbers 22 commentary matthew henry commentary on the. Dec 22, 2018 balaam, a sorcerer, was summoned by king balak of the moabites to curse the israelites as moses was leading them toward canaan. What do nonbiblical sources tell us about balaam see central commentary, p. Numbers 22 consists of balaks delegation, balaams response, the trip to moabduring which the angel of the lord blocks his path three times and balaams donkey speaksand balaks reception of the diviner at the border. Because he went of his own accord with the princes of moab, and did not wait till they came to call him, i. Balaam is a diviner in the torah old testament whose story begins in chapter 22 of the book. But balaams error and the source of his wickedness came from sabotaging the israelites as they entered the promised land. On his journey to meet the princes of moab, balaam is stopped by an angel of the lord after beating his d.
The story of balaam in the book of numbers provides us with a case study of a. May 31, 2016 commentary on numbers 22 and the story of the prophet balaam. Then, when balaam goes to god, he leaves out some of what the princes said. Book of balaam son of beor inscription at tell deir alla.
Just as god opens the mouth of the donkey to speak so he later opens balaams mouth to speak. The warning of the book of balaam, son of beor, who was a seer of the gods. The fourth book of moses, called numbers commentary by robert jamieson chapter 22 num 22. Numbers 22 commentary matthew henry commentary on the whole. This is part of a larger series on the pentateuch to be found at th. Balaam, by the powers granted him by god, had the opportunity to demonstrate the power of the true god against the deception of false gods and idols. Echoing the bible exactly, the phrase balaam son of beor is found three times in the first four lines of the balaam wall inscription that dates to 750 bc. The next morning balak took balaam up to bamoth baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the israelite camp. Commentary on numbers 2223 balak hires balaam tough. Balak said as much when he summoned balaam to curse the israelites numbers 22. The torah records how, after being thoroughly humiliated by his talking donkey, balaam, the nonjewish sorcerer and prophet commissioned by balak king of moab to curse the jews, found himself incapable of cursing them. The events of balaam and balak are found in the bibles book called numbers, chapters 2224. Balak tries to recruit the prophet balaam to curse the children of israel in order to weaken them and save moab from impending defeat. When king balak heard of balaam s arrival, he went out to meet him and took the prophet up to the heights sacred to baal.
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of balaam son of beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. Numbers 2224 english standard version esv balak summons balaam. Moab, the land that balak ruled, lay on the east side of the dead sea. What information do we learn about balaam from why balak wishes to hire him. Then balaam said to balak, build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams. And balak brought balaam unto the top of peor, that looketh toward jeshimon. The apostle describes balaams sin here to be, that he ran greedily into an error for reward, judges 11. Balak was a king of moab who appears in the old testament in numbers 2224. According to this narrative, balak, king of moab, sent messengers to the soothsayer, requesting him to come and pronounce a curse against israel, with whom the moabites were at war, and of whom they stood in dread. At balaam s request, balak builds seven new altars in this high place just for balaam to sacrifice upon.
Two of the commentaries had never been checked out before. The story of balaams donkey here is a sort of miniature version of the later story. Then the children of israel moved, and camped in the plains of moab on the side of the jordan across from jericho. God told balaam, in a vision, that he should not go with balaks emissaries. After god gives his answer, balaam reports back to the princes, this time leaving out some of what god said.
Balaam returned to balak, raised his voice and began to speak. When king balak heard of balaams arrival, he went out to meet him and took the prophet up to the heights sacred to baal. Balaam, a sorcerer, was summoned by king balak of the moabites to curse the israelites as moses was leading them toward canaan. Now when balak heard that balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the city of moab, which is on the border at the arnon, the boundary of the territory. Commentary on numbers 22 and the story of the prophet balaam. His prophecies result from an attempt to curse israel in exchange for the money and honor of a frightened king of moab, balak son of zippor verses 27. Now when balaam saw that it pleased the lord to bless israel, he did not go as. Balaam mounted his female donkey and left with the messengers. David guzik commentary on numbers 22, where a god speaks through a donkey. Jan 02, 2020 balaam was apparently willing to do this but said he needed gods permission verse 8. Even if balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, i cannot go against gods. Brought balaam unto the top of peor the eminence on the abarim range which stood a little north of nebo, and nearer the israelite encampment, commanding a view of the whole host.
There they built seven altars, upon each of which they sacrificed an ox and a ram. When balaam pronounced a blessing or a curse, it worked. The diviner has balak build seven altars, on each of which he offers a bull and a ram numbers 23. God speaks through the mouth of the donkey to tell him not to curse the israelites. As the book of numbers is not very well known, a summary of balaams story is. When balak son of zippor, the king of moab, prepared to fight against israel, he sent for a sort of new age guru whose name was balaam to put a curse on gods people. A son of beor and a prophet of pethor in mesopotamia. Every ancient reference to balaam considers him a nonisraelite, a prophet, and the son. A man named balaam suddenly appears in the book of numbers. Balak promised to pay balaam handsomely for bringing evil upon the hebrews, whom he feared. Balak tried to engage balaam for the purpose of cursing the migrating israelite community.
Outside this story, balaam is alluded to a handful of times in the tanakh. Three times balak attempts to force a curse on israel out of balaam s mouth and three times he fails. His hypocritical importunity with god when the fresh messengers came from balak demonstrates his aversion to gods declared will. The fascinating story of balak and balaams failed attempts to curse the jewish people, in which a talking donkey and a swordwielding angel also take starring. I found the three good commentaries that were not in my own library. Now balak the son of zippor saw all that israel had done to the amorites.
All the account they give of it is, balaam refuseth to come with us v. For the right fee, hell bless or curse whomever you want. In the night god came to balaam, telling him not to curse the israelites. In this torah portion, balak, the king of moab, asks balaam to curse the israelites after he sees them defeat various nations in battle. At this chapter begins the famous story of balak and balaam, their attempt to curse israel, and the baffling of that attempt. Revelation also states that balaam taught balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of israel. Numbers 2224 esv balak summons balaam then the people. The fascinating story of balak and balaam s failed attempts to curse the jewish people is found in numbers 2224. Balaam did show balak the back door to negatively affect the israelites and 25,000 israelites were condemned to hells judgment, while the overall purpose of. King balak sends for his prophet twice and balaam barely responds. Balak puts balaam to work almost immediately upon arriving. Introduction while i was preparing to teach on the prophet balaam, i went to the church library to check out some of the best commentaries on the book of numbers. Gods people are long afterwards told to remember what balak the king of moab consulted, and what balaam the son of beor answered him, that they might know the righteousness of the lord, mic. May 11, 2015 commentary on numbers 2223 balak hires balaam may 11, 2015 bill pratt 2 comments the israelites have traveled around the borders of edom and have arrived in the land of moab, across the jordan river from the city of jericho.
Commentary on numbers 2223 balak hires balaam may 11, 2015 bill pratt 2 comments the israelites have traveled around the borders of edom and have arrived in the land of moab, across the jordan river from the city of jericho. Then balaam went alone to a solitary place, hoping to receive the word of the lrd. Three times balak attempts to force a curse on israel out of balaams mouth and three times he fails. Balaam the 1901 jewish encyclopedia bible encyclopedia. And according to balak, the king of moab whod really like to defeat and destroy the israelites, balaams work really does the tricki know that whomever you bless is blessed, and whomever you curse is cursed 22. He is not an israelite but apparently a syrian who lived in pethor, a town situated near the euphrates just south of carchemish numbers 22. For example, deuteronomy includes an injunction not to allow the ammonites and the moabites into the israelite fold deut 23. So balak took balaam to the top of peor, that overlooks the wasteland. What is the doctrine of balaam and also of the nicolaitans in the book of revelation. And balak did as balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar. The story of balaam and balak is also made reference to in chapter 10 of 2 meqabyan, a book considered canonical in the ethiopian orthodox tewahedo church. Verses 714 and the elders of moab and the elders of midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand. Balaq was a king of moab described in the book of numbers in the hebrew bible, where his dealings with the prophet balaam are recounted.
Balaam son of beor is definitely an oddball among the prophets. God told balaam, you must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed verse 12. Finally, the structure of these three chapters in numbers is important. This segment comes from the numbers commentary published by koinonia house. As i was in the process of checking them out, i discovered something interesting. What is the doctrine of balaam and of the nicolaitans in. Then balak said to balaam, did i not earnestly send to you, calling for you.
His story is in the context of the time of the israelites journey to the promised land. In chapters 2224, balak, the king of moab, employs balaam, a diviner from mesopotamia, to manipulate the god of israel so that he will curse the israelites, rather than bless. If you cant beat em, join em introduction when we move from numbers 24 to numbers 25, we might suppose that we have left balaam behind. Numbers 2224 new king james version nkjv balak sends for balaam. The narrative relating to balaam is found in numbers 22xxiv. The etymology of his name is uncertain, and discussed below. Some of these references appear to be allusions to the balaams curseblessing story.