Each Day in the Word, Monday, May 5, 2025

Numbers 23:27-30; 24:1-14 NKJV

27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland. 29 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.

24 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times, to seek to use sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him.

Then he took up his oracle and said:

“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor,
The utterance of the man whose eyes are opened,
The utterance of him who hears the words of God,
Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
Who falls down, with eyes wide open:

“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob!
Your dwellings, O Israel!
Like valleys that stretch out,
Like gardens by the riverside,
Like aloes planted by the Lord,
Like cedars beside the waters.
He shall pour water from his buckets,
And his seed shall be in many waters.

“His king shall be higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.

“God brings him out of Egypt;
He has strength like a wild ox;
He shall consume the nations, his enemies;
He shall break their bones
And pierce them with his arrows.
‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’

“Blessed is he who blesses you,
And cursed is he who curses you.”

10 Then Balak’s anger was aroused against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have bountifully blessed them these three times! 11 Now therefore, flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor.”

12 So Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, 13 ‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak’? 14 And now, indeed, I am going to my people. Come, I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter days.”


For as unscrupulous as the prophet Balaam was, wicked king Balak of the Moabites couldn’t get him to pronounce a curse on the people of Israel in his first two attempts, because God caused him to bless Israel instead. So Balak demanded that Balaam try one more time, from a third location.

Seven altars were built, like the first two times, and seven bulls and seven rams were offered. Here Moses informs us that Balaam had been using some kind of sorcery to determine the LORD’s answer before, and the LORD had His reasons for working through such forbidden methods. But now Balaam realizes that the LORD God intends to bless Israel, so, instead of using sorcery to get an answer, he looks out at the encamped Israelites, and the Spirit of the LORD comes upon him to pronounce a third (and later a fourth) prophecy.

This third prophecy declares how God views the children of Israel. Their tents where they dwell are “lovely,” or in Hebrew simply, “good.” That is, they have God’s favor, and because of it, they will prosper. And, although they currently have no king, their kingdom will eventually be exalted. The Spirit, through Balaam, cites God as the source of Israel’s strength, as He led them out of Egypt some 40 years earlier and as He continues to bring them into the Promised Land. And since God is on their side, no one will be able to stand against Israel. Now, as they are poised to enter the land of Canaan, God’s promise to Abraham will surely be fulfilled, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Gen. 12:3, cf. Num. 24:9). So if they are wise, the enemies of Israel will get out of their way, because no foe can be victorious over them.

All this was said of Old Testament Israel in general, but as we’ll see later this week, it did not apply to every individual in Israel, but only to those who remained faithful to the LORD. So, too, Jesus has promised that “the gates of Hades will not prevail against My Church” (Matt. 16:18). We should take great comfort in that saying! But we should also remember that each one of us must continue clinging to Christ in faith if we wish to remain in the Church that prevails.

Let us pray: O Lord, may Your blessing remain upon us as we trust in Your bountiful goodness to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

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