◄ Numbers 23:27 ►
"Please come," said Balak, "I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there."
Study Bible
“Please come,” said Balak,
Balak, the king of Moab, is speaking here. His desperation is evident as he seeks to manipulate the situation to his advantage. Balak's repeated attempts to curse Israel highlight his fear and recognition of Israel's power, which is rooted in God's blessing. This reflects the broader biblical theme of the futility of opposing God's will. Balak's actions are driven by political and military concerns, as the Israelites' presence threatens his kingdom.

“I will take you to another place.”
Balak's strategy involves changing locations, hoping that a different setting might influence the outcome. This reflects ancient beliefs in the power of specific places and altars to affect divine will. The idea that a change in location could alter God's decision underscores a misunderstanding of God's nature, who is not bound by geography. This also illustrates the pagan practices of the time, where location and ritual were thought to sway the gods.

Perhaps it will please God
Balak's use of "perhaps" indicates uncertainty and a lack of understanding of the God of Israel. Unlike the capricious deities of the surrounding nations, the God of Israel is consistent and unchanging. This phrase highlights the contrast between pagan beliefs and the monotheistic faith of Israel. Balak's hope that God might change His mind shows a misunderstanding of God's covenant faithfulness to Israel.

that you curse them for me from there.”
The desire for a curse reflects the ancient belief in the power of spoken words to affect reality. In the biblical context, blessings and curses are significant, as seen in the covenantal blessings and curses outlined in Deuteronomy. Balak's request is ultimately futile, as God's promises to Israel cannot be overturned by human schemes. This also foreshadows the New Testament understanding of Jesus Christ, who transforms the curse of sin into a blessing for believers through His redemptive work.

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

2. Balaam
A non-Israelite prophet or diviner who is hired by Balak to curse the Israelites but is ultimately used by God to bless them instead.

3. Moab
The region ruled by Balak, located east of the Dead Sea, representing opposition to Israel.

4. Israelites
The people of God, journeying to the Promised Land, whom Balak fears due to their numbers and God's favor upon them.

5. God's Sovereignty
The overarching theme where God demonstrates His control over the situation, ensuring His people are blessed rather than cursed.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereignty Over Human Plans
Despite human intentions, God's will prevails. Balak's repeated attempts to curse Israel were thwarted by God's sovereign plan to bless His people.

The Futility of Opposing God's People
Balak's actions demonstrate the futility of opposing those whom God has chosen to bless. This serves as a reminder that God's protection is over His people.

The Importance of Obedience to God
Balaam's account is a cautionary tale about the importance of obedience to God over human desires or pressures. Even when tempted by rewards, Balaam ultimately had to submit to God's will.

Trust in God's Protection
Just as God protected Israel from curses, believers today can trust in God's protection and faithfulness in their lives.

God's Unchanging Nature
The consistency of God's character is evident as He remains faithful to His promises, as seen in His dealings with Israel.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Balak's persistence in trying to curse Israel reflect human attempts to thwart God's plans, and what can we learn from this?

2. In what ways does Balaam's experience illustrate the importance of aligning our actions with God's will, even when faced with external pressures?

3. How can the account of Balak and Balaam encourage us to trust in God's protection over our lives today?

4. What are some modern-day examples where people or systems attempt to oppose God's people, and how should Christians respond?

5. How does the account of Numbers 23:27 connect with the broader biblical theme of God's faithfulness to His promises?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 12:3
God's promise to Abraham that He will bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him, highlighting the futility of Balak's attempts.

Deuteronomy 23:5
A reflection on how God turned Balaam's intended curse into a blessing for Israel, emphasizing God's protective nature.

Proverbs 21:30
Illustrates the principle that no wisdom, understanding, or counsel can prevail against the Lord, as seen in Balak's failed attempts.

Romans 8:31
Reinforces the idea that if God is for us, who can be against us, mirroring the protection over Israel.
Sermons
The Third ProphecyD. Young Numbers 23:27-24:14
People
Aram, Balaam, Balak, Jacob, Moses, Zippor
Places
Aram, Bamoth-baal, Egypt, Moab, Peor, Pisgah
Topics
Agreeable, Balaam, Balak, Bring, Curse, Mayest, Peradventure, Perhaps, Pierce, Please, Sight, Thence
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Numbers 23:26

     7774   prophets, false

Numbers 23:18-26

     1421   oracles

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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