◄ Numbers 23:2 ►
So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Study Bible
So Balak did
The phrase indicates obedience and action taken by Balak, the Moabite king. In the Hebrew context, the word for "did" (עָשָׂה, 'asah) often implies not just action but completion of a task. This reflects Balak's desperation and willingness to follow Balaam's instructions to the letter, hoping to secure a curse against Israel. Historically, this obedience underscores the ancient Near Eastern practice of kings seeking divine favor or intervention through prophets or seers.

as Balaam had instructed
Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet, is a complex figure in the biblical narrative. The Hebrew root for "instructed" (אָמַר, 'amar) can mean to say, speak, or command. Balaam's role here is pivotal; he is seen as a conduit for divine communication, albeit one whose motives are questioned. This highlights the tension between divine sovereignty and human agency, as Balaam's instructions are ultimately under God's control.

and Balak and Balaam offered
The act of offering (קָרַב, qarab) in Hebrew is a significant religious ritual, often associated with drawing near to God. The joint participation of Balak and Balaam in the offering signifies a shared intent and purpose. This collaboration between a king and a prophet reflects the ancient belief in the power of sacrifices to influence divine will, a practice common in many ancient cultures.

a bull and a ram
The choice of a bull and a ram for the offering is noteworthy. In the ancient Near East, these animals were considered valuable and potent symbols of strength and leadership. The bull, in particular, was often associated with fertility and power, while the ram symbolized sacrifice and submission. This choice underscores the gravity of the situation and the desire to present a significant offering to elicit a favorable response from the divine.

on each altar
The construction of multiple altars (מִזְבֵּחַ, mizbeach) indicates the seriousness and scale of the ritual. Altars were central to worship and sacrifice in ancient Israelite and surrounding cultures, serving as a physical point of contact between the divine and human realms. The use of multiple altars suggests an attempt to amplify the ritual's effectiveness, reflecting Balak's intense desire to secure a curse against Israel through every possible means.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Balak
The king of Moab who is fearful of the Israelites and seeks to curse them through Balaam.

2. Balaam
A non-Israelite prophet or diviner hired by Balak to curse the Israelites, known for his interactions with God.

3. Moab
The region ruled by Balak, located east of the Dead Sea, often in conflict with Israel.

4. Altars
Structures built for the purpose of offering sacrifices, in this case, seven altars were constructed.

5. Sacrifices
The offering of a bull and a ram on each altar, a common practice in ancient Near Eastern religious rituals.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereignty Over Human Plans
Despite Balak's intentions, God’s will prevails. This teaches us to trust in God's ultimate control over our lives and circumstances.

The Futility of Opposing God's People
Balak's efforts to curse Israel are in vain, illustrating the futility of opposing God's chosen people. We should be encouraged that God protects His own.

The Importance of Obedience to God
Balaam's account is a cautionary tale about the dangers of disobedience and greed. We must prioritize obedience to God over personal gain.

The Role of Sacrifices in Worship
The sacrifices offered by Balak and Balaam highlight the ancient practice of seeking divine favor. In the New Covenant, we are reminded that Christ is our ultimate sacrifice.

God's Faithfulness to His Promises
The account underscores God's faithfulness to His promises to Israel, encouraging us to rely on His promises in our own lives.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the account of Balak and Balaam illustrate the principle found in Genesis 12:3 regarding blessings and curses?

2. In what ways can we see God's sovereignty at work in our own lives, similar to how He worked in the account of Balaam and Balak?

3. What lessons can we learn from Balaam's actions about the dangers of prioritizing personal gain over obedience to God?

4. How does the concept of sacrifice in the Old Testament point us to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the New Testament?

5. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's protection or faithfulness in a situation where you felt opposed or threatened. How does this account encourage you?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 12:3
God's promise to Abraham that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. This is relevant as Balak seeks to curse Israel.

Deuteronomy 23:4-5
Reflects on how Balaam was hired to curse Israel, but God turned the curse into a blessing.

Micah 6:5
Reminds Israel of the account of Balak and Balaam as a demonstration of God's protection and faithfulness.

2 Peter 2:15
References Balaam's error and greed, warning against following in his footsteps.
Sermons
The Sacrifice of Balak and BalaamW. Jones.Numbers 23:1-4
People
Aram, Balaam, Balak, Jacob, Moses, Zippor
Places
Aram, Bamoth-baal, Egypt, Moab, Peor, Pisgah
Topics
Altar, Balaam, Balak, Bull, Bullock, Male, Offered, Offereth, Offering, Ox, Ram, Sheep, Spoken
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Numbers 23:2

     4681   ram

Numbers 23:1-4

     4615   bull

Library
An Unfulfilled Desire
'... Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!'--NUM. xxiii. 10. '... Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.'--NUM. xiii. 8. Ponder these two pictures. Take the first scene. A prophet, who knows God and His will, is standing on the mountain top, and as he looks down over the valley beneath him, with its acacia-trees and swift river, there spread the tents of Israel. He sees them, and knows that they are 'a people whom the Lord hath blessed.' Brought there …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Philo of Alexandria, the Rabbis, and the Gospels - the Final Development of Hellenism in Its Relation to Rabbinism and the Gospel According to St. John.
It is strange how little we know of the personal history of the greatest of uninspired Jewish writers of old, though he occupied so prominent a position in his time. [173] Philo was born in Alexandria, about the year 20 before Christ. He was a descendant of Aaron, and belonged to one of the wealthiest and most influential families among the Jewish merchant-princes of Egypt. His brother was the political head of that community in Alexandria, and he himself on one occasion represented his co-religionists, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Balaam's Wish Num 23:10
 …
John Newton—Olney Hymns

The Night of Miracles on the Lake of Gennesaret
THE last question of the Baptist, spoken in public, had been: Art Thou the Coming One, or look we for another?' It had, in part, been answered, as the murmur had passed through the ranks: This One is truly the Prophet, the Coming One!' So, then, they had no longer to wait, nor to look for another! And this Prophet' was Israel's long expected Messiah. What this would imply to the people, in the intensity and longing of the great hope which, for centuries, nay, far beyond the time of Ezra, had swayed …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Nature of Spiritual Hunger
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness Matthew 5:6 We are now come to the fourth step of blessedness: Blessed are they that hunger'. The words fall into two parts: a duty implied; a promise annexed. A duty implied: Blessed are they that hunger'. Spiritual hunger is a blessed hunger. What is meant by hunger? Hunger is put for desire (Isaiah 26:9). Spiritual hunger is the rational appetite whereby the soul pants after that which it apprehends most suitable and proportional …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Memoir of John Bunyan
THE FIRST PERIOD. THIS GREAT MAN DESCENDED FROM IGNOBLE PARENTS--BORN IN POVERTY--HIS EDUCATION AND EVIL HABITS--FOLLOWS HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS AS A BRAZIER--ENLISTS FOR A SOLDIER--RETURNS FROM THE WARS AND OBTAINS AN AMIABLE, RELIGIOUS WIFE--HER DOWER. 'We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.'--2 Cor 4:7 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.'--Isaiah 55:8. 'Though ye have lien among the …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

How those are to be Admonished who Abstain not from the Sins which they Bewail, and those Who, Abstaining from Them, Bewail them Not.
(Admonition 31.) Differently to be admonished are those who lament their transgressions, and yet forsake them not, and those who forsake them, and yet lament them not. For those who lament their transgressions and yet forsake them not are to be admonished to learn to consider anxiously that they cleanse themselves in vain by their weeping, if they wickedly defile themselves in their living, seeing that the end for which they wash themselves in tears is that, when clean, they may return to filth. …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Fragrant Spices from the Mountains of Myrrh. "Thou Art all Fair, My Love; There is no Spot in Thee. " --Song of Solomon iv. 7.
FRAGRANT SPICES FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF MYRRH. HOW marvellous are these words! "Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in thee." The glorious Bridegroom is charmed with His spouse, and sings soft canticles of admiration. When the bride extols her Lord there is no wonder, for He deserves it well, and in Him there is room for praise without possibility of flattery. But does He who is wiser than Solomon condescend to praise this sunburnt Shulamite? Tis even so, for these are His own words, and were …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners Or, a Brief Relation of the Exceeding Mercy of God in Christ, to his Poor Servant, John Bunyan
In this my relation of the merciful working of God upon my soul, it will not be amiss, if in the first place, I do in a few words give you a hint of my pedigree, and manner of bringing up; that thereby the goodness and bounty of God towards me, may be the more advanced and magnified before the sons of men. 2. For my descent then, it was, as is well known by many, of a low and inconsiderable generation; my father's house being of that rank that is meanest, and most despised of all the families in …
John Bunyan—Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

Christ a Complete Saviour:
OR, THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST, AND WHO ARE PRIVILEGED IN IT. BY JOHN BUNYAN Advertisement by the Editor. However strange it may appear, it is a solemn fact, that the heart of man, unless prepared by a sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, rejects Christ as a complete Saviour. The pride of human nature will not suffer it to fall, as helpless and utterly undone, into the arms of Divine mercy. Man prefers a partial Saviour; one who had done so much, that, with the sinner's aid, the work might be …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Of the Decrees of God.
Eph. i. 11.--"Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."--Job xxiii. 13. "He is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth." Having spoken something before of God, in his nature and being and properties, we come, in the next place, to consider his glorious majesty, as he stands in some nearer relation to his creatures, the work of his hands. For we must conceive the first rise of all things in the world to be in this self-being, the first conception …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Heavenly Footman; Or, a Description of the Man that Gets to Heaven:
TOGETHER WITH THE WAY HE RUNS IN, THE MARKS HE GOES BY; ALSO, SOME DIRECTIONS HOW TO RUN SO AS TO OBTAIN. 'And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.'--Genesis 19:17. London: Printed for John Marshall, at the Bible in Gracechurch Street, 1698. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. About forty years ago a gentleman, in whose company I had commenced my …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Thirdly, for Thy Actions.
1. Do no evil, though thou mightest; for God will not suffer the least sin, without bitter repentance, to escape unpunished. Leave not undone any good that thou canst. But do nothing without a calling, nor anything in thy calling, till thou hast first taken counsel at God's word (1 Sam. xxx. 8) of its lawfulness, and pray for his blessings upon thy endeavour; and then do it in the name of God, with cheerfulness of heart, committing the success to him, in whose power it is to bless with his grace …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Unchangeableness of God
The next attribute is God's unchangeableness. I am Jehovah, I change not.' Mal 3:3. I. God is unchangeable in his nature. II. In his decree. I. Unchangeable in his nature. 1. There is no eclipse of his brightness. 2. No period put to his being. [1] No eclipse of his brightness. His essence shines with a fixed lustre. With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.' James 1:17. Thou art the same.' Psa 102:27. All created things are full of vicissitudes. Princes and emperors are subject to …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Numbers
Like the last part of Exodus, and the whole of Leviticus, the first part of Numbers, i.-x. 28--so called,[1] rather inappropriately, from the census in i., iii., (iv.), xxvi.--is unmistakably priestly in its interests and language. Beginning with a census of the men of war (i.) and the order of the camp (ii.), it devotes specific attention to the Levites, their numbers and duties (iii., iv.). Then follow laws for the exclusion of the unclean, v. 1-4, for determining the manner and amount of restitution …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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