Numbers 23:1 And Balaam said unto Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams."

The number seven in biblical numerics stands for spiritual completeness. By using seven altars was for the sake of being pleasing and acceptable to the Lord.

Numbers 23:2 "And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram."

Belek did just as Balaam requested, and build seven altars, and provided the seven bullocks and seven rams to be offered on the seven altars. These were done to obtain the favor of YHVH, in whatever is done, blessings or cursings.

Numbers 23:3 "and Balaam said unto Balak, "Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the Lord will come to meet me: and whatsoever He sheweth me I will tell thee." And he went to an high place."

We will see in the next chapter that in the first two approaches to the Lord, Balaam sought to approach him through enchantments. The "high places" are where you go for seeking enchantments. Remember that Balaam was a prophet practicing magic and mysticism, and this of course would be the place to go for enchantments. Balaam went up by himself, for he did not know what would happen when he was there, and so he asked Balak to wait there with the sacrifices.

Numbers 23:4 "And God met Balaam: and he said unto Him, "I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram." 

The word "met" in the Hebrew text is "karah", which means to meet in a hostile sense. Balaam met with God and told God to look what we have done in your honor. Of course God can read Balaam's mind, and He knew what Balaam was trying to do.

Numbers 23:5 "And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak."

Remember from the last chapter, God put the words in Balaam's ass's mouth, and the animal spoke, will God put a word in Balaam's mouth here, and Balaam went back to Balak and spoke the words of the Lord. This is why people think that Balaam was a prophet of YHVH. However, with that kind of thinking they that donkey would also be a prophet of God. But remember that God will use whomever He will. The Lord did use him to bring this message to king Balak, to sanctify Himself and the children of Israel.

Numbers 23:6 "And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab."

As Balaam returned from the high place, Balak was standing by the burnt sacrifice along, with the princes of Moab. They want to know what God has told Balaam.

Numbers 23:7 And he took up this parable, and said, "Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, Our of the mountains of the east, saying, `Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.' "

So Balaam took up these parable. This form of prophecy was not used by any of the other prophets of YHVH; and it is presented as a song or parable. In the parable Balaam is reminding Balak that he was called out of Aram, and brought from the mountains of the east to curse Jacob, and threaten the children of Israel. When you see the word "Jacob" it is talking about all of the tribes of Israel.

Numbers 23:8 "How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?"

Balaam is telling Balak, How can I curse the ones that the Lord has blessed, and whom the Lord had not threatened? Israel carries the blessings of Abraham, and to place a curse on Israel is to place a curse back on yourself. There is simply no curse that Balaam could give that would have an affect on them.

Numbers 23:9 "For from the top of the rocks I see him,And from the hills I behold him: Lo, the People shall dwell alone, And shall not be reckoned among the nations."

Balaam is saying that I can see these people from the rocks in the high places, yet the children of Israel shall dwell separated from among the nations and not be part of the heathen nations. Israel's God is YHVH our heavenly Father, and all the other nations have their own man formed religions and gods of Molech and Baal and all the other forms of worship.

Numbers 23:10 "Who can count the dust of Jacob, And the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my last end be like his!" 

To understand this part of the proverb we go to Genesis 13:15, 16; "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." [15] "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." [16] This promise continues right to the end of this earth age of flesh man. This is telling Balaam that Israel has grown so large that you can't even count one of the four camps of Israel. These Israelites had not become completely righteous yet, because of their lack of trust and belief in God. God has chosen these people, and Balaam is saying, let me just die the death that they will die.

Numbers 23:11 "And Balak said unto Balaam, "What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether." 

I can see the shock on Balak's face, as he tells Balaam, "I hired you to curse Israel my enemies, yet you have blessed them altogether." The point here is that Balaam didn't bless Israel, it was YHVH the Lord that blessed Israel. Remember from verse five, "And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth..." Balaam spoke only what God placed in his mouth.

Numbers 23:12 "And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which is Lord hath put in my mouth?" 

Balaam even told king Balak in Numbers 22:32 that he would only say what the Lord puts in his mouth; and he is reminding the king of those words here. "I can't speak of anything of my own accord, only the word of the Lord."

Numbers 23:13 "And Balak said unto him, "Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence." 

Balak didn't take no for the answer, but he wanted to bring Balaam a little closer, and maybe Balaam would change his prophecy. The point was to have Balaam see more of the Israelites, his mind would change.

Numbers 23:14 "And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar."

Remember that Pisgah is the place where Moses would view the promise land, and die. From this location, king Balak built seven more altars, and provided the seven bullocks and seven rams for each of the altars. Seven, seven seven, three sevens as before.

Numbers 23:15 "And he said unto Balak, "Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder." 

Here again, Balaam is going to see enchantments from the sacrifice that they had offered. On the third attempt, Balaam will not try against to seek enchantments.

Numbers 23:16 "And the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Go again unto Balak, and say thus."

Remember that Balak did worship heathen gods, but he did know who the God of Israel was.

Numbers 23:17 "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 hath the Lord spoken?" 

Balak is standing by the altars and waiting anxiously for Balaam's response. Balak is now aware that the words that Balaam speaks is YHVH words out of the mouth of Balaam.

God is now speaking directly to king Balak, and telling him to stand up and listen. Focus on what I am about to say; pay attention.

Numbers 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie; Neither the son of man, that He should repent: Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?"

God is not a liar, but he says exactly what He will do. His Word is true and you can count on it. When God makes a promise, there are condition on those promises. You keep your part of those conditions, and you can count of God providing the blessing to fulfill those promises.

Numbers 23:20 "Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; And I cannot reverse it."

Balaam is asking Balak here, God has given a commandment to bless Israel, and you want me to reverse that blessing. I simply cannot do that. Who am I to reverse what God has done?

Numbers 23:21 "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, Neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel: The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them."

This king that is among Israel is YHVH our heavenly Father. This is the reason that other nations are not messing over Israel, is that He is dwelling amongst them and fighting their battles for them.

This is a bad translation, for there is no such thing as a unicorn. It is a wild ox. We have seen the strength of God as he held back the water of the Red sea and provided all the protection for the past forty years for them.

Numbers 23:23 "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, Neither is there any divination against Israel: According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, `What hath God wrought!'"

There can be no magic spell in Jacob, nor can you dream up curses of divination to come upon Israel. "What hath God wrought!" means there is no need to try to dream up some curse against Israel, it just won't work. You don't need a seer or diviner to tell you what God wants, he tells you directly in His Word what He wants from you. There in the holy of holies God met directly with Moses and told him what he wanted, and the words to say.

Numbers 23:24 "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, And lift up himself as a young lion: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, And drink of the blood of the slain." 

"The people shall rise up as a great lion" is one of the blessings that Jacob placed on Judah in Genesis 49:9; "Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?" Judah would rise up and be a champion and protector of his brothers. God is telling Balak that if you fight Israel, you are going to lose.

Numbers 23:25 "And Balak said unto Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, not bless them at all." 

King Balak is getting tired of listening to the words of the Lord, so now he is telling Balaam not to curse them or bless them.

Numbers 23:26 "But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, "Told not I thee, saying, `All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do?" "

Old Balaam the preacher for hire, is seeing his profits for this job going out the window. He came to place a curse on Israel, and then go home with many riches. It just is not working out that way.

Numbers 23:27 "And Balak said unto Balaam, "Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence."

Yes that is very true, Balaam, you said that what you say will only be what the Lord told you to say. This is what Balaam has done so far, he has spoken only the word of the Lord. Balak wants to reward Balaam, and not give up on the curse yet, so he is going to take him to another hill, and maybe this place will please God.

Numbers 23:28 "And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon."

Balaam is taken up on a little higher hill, and they will set up their altars all over. This area is up on the mount of Baal-Peor, and this hill will eventually end up as part of the tribe of Reuben's inheritance. From this position all of the tribes encampments can be seen, and maybe from this location Balak can get his curse. Here you can look down and see the entire encampment.

Numbers 23:29 "And Balaam said unto Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams." 

This is the third time that the seven, seven, seven will take place, seven altars, seven bullocks, and seven rams for the sacrifices. Same procedure as before.

Numbers 23:30 "And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar."

So this is the third attempt to get God to change his mind. Same sacrifice, same process to approach God to get him to change His mind.