Numbers 23:13 - Meaning and Application

Here, then, is the second attempt made to curse Israel. The place is changed, (Numbers 23:13). Balak thought that Balaam, after seeing the whole camp of Israel from the rocky heights (Numbers 23:9), had either become too impressed by their beauty to curse them, or too afraid of them to try. So he brought him to another place where he could only see part of the people. Balak hoped that the smaller view would make them seem less impressive, and that he might at least get Balaam to curse the part in sight. He likely planned, if that succeeded, to press on against the rest of the camp too. This shows how restless and determined the enemies of the church are in their attempts to destroy it. They leave nothing untried. How we should wish for the same zeal and planning in doing good for God’s glory.

The sacrifices are repeated. New altars are built, and on each altar a bull and a ram are offered, while Balak stays just as close to the sacrifice as before, (Numbers 23:14-15). If we were as eager to seek blessing as Balak was to seek a curse, we would not complain about the cost or the effort of worship. Balaam again waits before God, and God meets him a second time, putting another word in his mouth, not to take back the first word, but to confirm it, (Numbers 23:16-17). If God did not tell Balaam to seek him in vain, then he will certainly not say that to any of Jacob’s children. They will surely find him, not only as their teacher and guide, but as their generous reward.

When Balaam returned, Balak was eager to hear the message: “What has the Lord said?” Are there any better signs now, any hope of success? That should also be our question when we come to hear God’s word, (Jeremiah 23:35).

Then comes a second turning of the curse into a blessing by God’s overruling power. This blessing is even larger and stronger than the first, and it leaves no hope of changing it. Since Balak had been so quick to ask what the Lord had said, Balaam now speaks directly to him, (Numbers 23:18): “Rise up, Balak, and hear.” He had a message from God, and even a king must listen carefully and respectfully. He must hear with full attention, so that not a word is missed. Eglon, a later king, rose from his seat when he was about to receive God’s message, (Judges 3:20).

Balaam tells Balak two things that must have deeply disappointed him. First, he tells him there is no reason to hope that Israel can be destroyed. It would be useless to try, and Balak would only deceive himself if he expected success, for three reasons.

First, God does not change, (Numbers 23:19). “God is not a man, that he should lie.” People change their minds, and then they break their promises. In that sense, they lie because they repent. God does neither. He never changes his mind, so he never takes back his word. Balaam had already admitted that he could not change God’s purpose, and now he draws the conclusion that God himself will not change it. This is because man is weak and changing, while God is perfect and steady. It is impossible for God to lie, (Hebrews 6:18). And when Scripture says that he repents, it does not mean that he changes his mind. It means only that he changes the way he acts. He is one in purpose, and nothing can turn him.

Balaam appeals to Balak himself on this point: “Has he said, and will he not do it?” If God has spoken in his purpose, will he fail to act? If he has spoken in his promise, will he not make it good? We must think of God as always true to himself and to his word. His decrees cannot be changed, and his promises cannot fail. Balaam then applies that truth to Israel: “He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it” (Numbers 23:20). That is, Balaam cannot get God to reverse it. Israel had long been a blessed people, a people whom the Lord had blessed. Abraham’s blessing had come upon them. They were born under the covenant blessing and born for the blessing of Canaan. Therefore they could not be cursed unless God, who is eternally true, should break his own word.

Second, Israel is not currently marked out for judgment, (Numbers 23:21). “He has not seen iniquity in Jacob.” This does not mean there was no sin in Israel, or that God did not see it. It means there was not such a level of sin as would make God give them up to ruin. They were bad, but not so bad as that. Also, there was no idolatry among them, which is especially called sin and wickedness. Since the golden calf, nothing of that kind had appeared among Israel. They were provoking God in other ways, but not by falling back into idol worship. Balaam knew that nothing would separate them from God except sin. As long as God saw no ruling sin among them, he would send no destroying curse. So long as they kept themselves from sin, Balaam saw no way to harm them. The lesson is plain: while we keep from sin, we keep from harm.

Some read these words another way: “He has not seen wrong against Jacob, nor will he see trouble in Israel.” That is, God will not allow injustice done to them to stand. He will not leave Israel injured, but will defend them and punish those who wrong them. God will not quietly watch the harm done to his people. What is done against them he takes as done against himself, and he will repay it.

Third, the power on Israel’s side cannot be resisted. Balaam shows Balak that fighting against them would be pointless. They have God’s presence with them: “The Lord his God is with him” in a special way, and he has not been driven away by their sin. They also have the joy of that presence, and they rejoice in it as in a king’s victory cry. They shout over their enemies, sure of success, and they glory in God as their King and Defender. They had also seen the benefit of God’s presence and power before, for God had brought them out of Egypt, (Numbers 23:22). The power that did that could never be held back or beaten. Since God had begun so gloriously with them, he would surely finish gloriously too. While God was with them, they also had the strength of a wild ox, able to stand against all who opposed them. See (Numbers 24:8).

Such is the strength God gives to his people. From this, Balaam saw that it was useless to try to harm them by every trick he knew. He admitted that he was defeated. There is no curse that can stand against Jacob, so no curse can defeat him. The curses of hell cannot overcome the blessings of heaven. People may keep trying such things, but they will always fail.

Some have noted that Jacob can picture the church in a low and troubled state, while Israel pictures it in a thriving and honored state. But whether the church is high or low, whether it has many friends or few, whether outward events look favorable or harsh, the result is the same, no weapon formed against it will succeed. God can easily, and surely will, frustrate every plan and purpose of the powers of darkness against his church, so that they will not succeed in destroying it.

Balaam also saw that this would be remembered later. “According to this time,” meaning with respect to what was now happening, people would say about Jacob and Israel, “What has God done!” They would say it with amazement, joy, and thankfulness, and they would challenge the nearby nations to show any similar care from their own gods. The defeat of the church’s enemies should always be remembered, to God’s glory. There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, that is, the God of Israel.

What Balaam says here about the greatness of Israel’s God above all the gods of the nations may be what Moses had in mind when he said, “Their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges” (Deuteronomy 32:31). Balaam himself was one of those witnesses. So Balak had no reason to hope that Israel could be ruined. In fact, he had more reason to fear harm from them, because they would likely bring destruction on the nations around them. If he and his land escaped, it was not because he was too strong for them, but because he was not included in their mission.

Balaam says, “Look and tremble.” The people who had been calmly camped for a time were like a lion lying down at rest. Soon they would rise like a lion that cannot rest until it has seized its prey and drunk the blood of the slain. This points to the victories Balaam foresaw over the Canaanites. They would not lay down their arms until they had fully conquered the land before them. When his neighbor’s house was on fire, he had good reason to think his own house was in danger.

What happened after this disappointment? Balak and Balaam both became tired of the whole matter. Balak now wanted his diviner to keep quiet. Since Balaam could not say what Balak wanted, Balak wished him to say nothing at all. “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all” (Numbers 23:25). “If you cannot curse them, then I ask you not to bless them. If you cannot help my forces, at least do not oppose them or discourage them.” God can make those who turn from him tired of all their many plans (Isaiah 47:13; Isaiah 57:10).

Balaam still admitted that he was under God’s rule. He pointed back to what he had said at the start of this whole effort, “All that the Lord speaks, I must do” (Numbers 23:26). This teaches, first, that a man does not direct his own steps. He may make many plans in his heart, but God’s purpose will stand. Second, it teaches that just as no weapon formed against the church will succeed, so every tongue that rises against her in judgment God will silence and condemn (Isaiah 54:17).

Still, they decided to try again. They thought it was beneath them to be defeated, so they kept going, even though it only brought them further shame. This was the third attempt.

First, they changed the place. Balak was finally convinced that the problem was not Balaam’s fault, as he had once thought, but that Balaam was really being restrained by God. So now he hoped to bring him to a place where God might at least allow him to curse Israel (verse 27). Balaam and Balak were probably encouraged to try again because God had allowed Balaam to go the second time, even though he had forbidden him the first time. Since they had succeeded in pushing that point once, they hoped to do the same again. In the same way, when sinners are spared and judgment is delayed, they often become even more determined to do evil.

The place Balak chose was the top of Peor, the highest place in his whole land, where Baal was likely worshiped, and so it was probably called Baal-peor. He picked this place because he thought that if it was the dwelling place of Baal, the god of Moab, then perhaps the Lord, the God of Israel, would not or could not come there to stop the curse. Or he may have thought that, since it pleased his god, it would also please the Lord, and that Balaam would then be put in a better mood. People can have very foolish ideas about God, and their thoughts about him are empty and false. The Syrians once imagined that the Lord was the God of the hills but not of the valleys (1 Kings 20:28), as if his power depended on location.

Second, they repeated the sacrifice, seven bulls and seven rams on seven altars (verses 29, 30). They kept spending more on these offerings, even though they had no promise that their effort would succeed. Let us, then, who have the promise that the final vision will speak truth and not lie, not grow discouraged by delay. Let us keep praying and not give up (Luke 18:1).