Numbers
Chapter
23
1~~Then
Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare
me here seven oxen/bulls and seven rams." {a front - designed to impress!}
2~~And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken. {The King did just as Balaam said - Balaam is feeling his power!} And Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.
3~~ And Balaam said to Balak, "You stand by your burnt offering, and I will go perhaps the Lord will come to meet me and whatsoever He shows me I will tell you." And he went to a bare hill {a sub-hill from the place where the offerings were made}.
4~~Now God met Balaam and he said unto Him {mouth opened - should be EARS open!}, "I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each alter."
5~~And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and this is what you will speak."
6~~And he returned unto him, and, behold, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7~~And he took up his discourse {actually gave a simile}, and he said, "From Aram {Syria} Balak has brought me.
Moab's king, from the mountains of the east.
'Come, curse . . . Jacob for me.
And come . . . denounce Israel.' "
{Note: In the original this simile is a 'rhythm rhyme' piece of poetry. Jacob - Jews out of fellowship. Israel - Jews in fellowship.}
{Overruling
Will of God}
8~~"How
shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce, whom the
Lord has not denounced?"
9~~ "As I see him {Israel} from the top of the rocks and I see Him from the hills . . . BEHOLD a people who dwell apart {first client nation to God} and shall not be reckoned among the {Gentile} nations."
10~~"Who can count the dust of Jacob or number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright/righteous, and let my end be like this!"
{Note: God had him say this because where Balak took Balaam he could only see a fourth of the people - shocks Balak! The last part says 'and let me be numbered with them in their righteousness - God is still having Balaam say this.}
{Overrulling
will of God - Verses 11-12}
11~~Then
Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to
curse mine enemies, but, behold, you have actually blessed them."
12~~ And he {Balaam} answered and said, "Must I be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?"
{Note: Second mountain Pisgah (where Moses will later check off) Verse 13-27}
13~~And Balak said unto him, "Please come with me to another place, from where you may see them. You will see but the utmost part of them, and will not see them all. And you curse them for me from there."
14~~ And he took him into the field of Zophim {high plateau}, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15~~ And he said unto Balak, "You stand here by your burnt offering, while I myself go and meet the Lord yonder."
16~~ And the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Go again unto Balak, and you will speak as mandated!"
17~~ And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, "What has the Lord spoken?"
18~~And he took up his simile, and said,
"Arise, oh Balak, and hear;
Give ear to me oh son of Zippor."
{Note: More of the poem from earlier}
19~~"God is NOT a man . . . that He should lie! Nor the son of man, that He should change His mind! He has said {made a promise}, and he will do it! Has he spoken? A will He not make it good? "
20~~" Behold, I have received a command to bless. When He has blessed, I cannot reverse it."
21~~"He has not observed misfortune/iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen trouble in Israel. {Nothing to spank them for at the moment}. The Lord His God is with him {Israel}, and the shout of a king is among them." {At this time they recognize GOD as KING - the Lord of Israel!}
22~~"God brings them out of Egypt {His faithfulness}. He is for them like the horns of a "cape buffalo" (sp) {one of the most dangerous of all Game}."
23~~"For there is no omen against Jacob {I can not curse them!}, nor is there any divination against Israel {enchantments etc.}. At the proper time, it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, what God has done! {even the Jews of the day did not know all that God had done for them.}
24~~"Behold, the people rises like lioness {the female lion}, and it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain."
{Note: The lioness is an analogy for the Jewish Military. She does all the hard work. She provides the food and does the work. The male lion is lazy and just goes over and eats what SHE provides!}
25~~ And Balak said unto Balaam, "Do not curse them at all, nor bless them at all! {STOP STOP STOP!}."
26~~But Balaam answered and said to Balak, "Did I not tell you, saying, 'All that the Lord speaks, that I must do?' "
{Next
try!}
27~~Then
Balak said to Balaam, " Please come, I will take you to another
place, perhaps it will be agreeable God that you may curse them for
me from there."
28~~So
Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, which over
looks
the entire area {wilderness - from here Balaam can see ALL of Israel
- plain of Moab below.}.
29~~And Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars, and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams."
30~~And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
{Note: Again this is all ritual without reality and none of it is 'pleasing to God'.}
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