Commentary - Numbers 23:27-30

Bird's-eye view

In this short but telling episode, we see the dogged persistence of a man utterly committed to his rebellion. Balak, the king of Moab, has now failed twice to secure a curse against Israel. God has twice turned Balaam's intended curses into robust blessings. A reasonable man might conclude that this project is doomed, that he is fighting against God Himself. But Balak is not a reasonable man; he is a desperate pagan king whose heart is set on his own will. His solution is not repentance, but a change in scenery and a tripling down on his religious methodology. He believes that if he can just find the right location, the right angle, the right ritual tweak, he can get God to change His mind. This reveals the core of all paganism: the belief that the gods can be manipulated through human effort.

Balaam, the compromised prophet, goes right along with it. He knows full well that God has blessed Israel, but his love for the wages of unrighteousness keeps him tethered to Balak's foolish errand. The repeated construction of seven altars and the offering of bulls and rams is a picture of vain religion. It is an attempt to buy God's favor, to force His hand through meticulous, but empty, ritual. This passage serves as a stark illustration of human depravity's refusal to take "no" for an answer from God, and it sets the stage for the final, glorious, and unsolicited prophecy of blessing that God will once again put in Balaam's mouth.

Outline

Context In Numbers

This passage is the third and final round in the direct confrontation between Balak's will and God's declared purpose. In Numbers 22, Balak summoned Balaam from Mesopotamia to curse the Israelites who were camped on the plains of Moab. Despite God's clear prohibition, Balaam went, only to be famously rebuked by his donkey. In the first part of chapter 23, from the top of Baal, Balaam blessed Israel instead of cursing them (Num 23:7-10). Balak then took him to the field of Zophim on Mount Pisgah for a second try, which resulted in an even stronger blessing and a declaration of God's immutability (Num 23:18-24). Our text, verses 27-30, describes Balak's last-ditch effort to get the curse he paid for. This third attempt will lead directly into Balaam's most glorious prophecy in chapter 24, where he speaks of the coming Star out of Jacob. The entire Balaam narrative serves to demonstrate God's sovereign, covenantal faithfulness to His people. Even when Israel is unaware, God is actively defending them, turning the machinations of their enemies into occasions for declaring His blessing.

Key Issues

The Definition of Insanity

There is a popular saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. By this standard, King Balak is a raving lunatic. He has hired a renowned spiritual mercenary to curse Israel. He has built seven altars and offered fourteen expensive animals. He received a blessing. He then moved to a new spot, built seven more altars, offered fourteen more animals, and received an even more emphatic blessing. And what is his brilliant strategy now? To move to yet another spot, build seven more altars, and offer fourteen more animals.

This is more than just insanity; it is a perfect illustration of the unregenerate mind at war with God. The problem, in Balak's view, cannot be with his goal. The goal of cursing God's people is non-negotiable. The problem cannot be with God's settled will, for Balak does not truly believe in a God with a settled, sovereign will. The problem must be circumstantial. It must be the location. It must be the technique. This is the logic of all false religion. It never questions the sinful desires of the heart; it only looks for a better method to achieve them. Balak thinks he is engaged in a religious enterprise, but he is actually in a head-on collision with the Almighty. And his response is not to hit the brakes, but to press the accelerator and aim for a slightly different point of impact.

Verse by Verse Commentary

27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be right in the eyes of God that you curse them for me from there.”

Balak is persistent, we must give him that. But it is the persistence of a fool. His language is revealing. "Perhaps it will be right in the eyes of God." He is starting to use God-talk, which he picked up from Balaam. But he is using it in a thoroughly pagan way. He thinks God's "pleasure" or "rightness" is fickle, that it depends on geography. Maybe God didn't like the view from Pisgah. Perhaps the view from Peor will be more conducive to cursing. He does not understand that God's character and covenant promises are what determine His actions, not the location of a mercenary prophet. He is still operating under the assumption that God can be persuaded to be unfaithful to Himself. He is hoping to find a loophole in the divine will, a chink in God's covenantal armor. This is the hope of every sinner who refuses to repent: perhaps God will change His mind about sin, about righteousness, about me.

28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the wasteland.

The choice of location is freighted with a terrible, dramatic irony that would not be lost on the Israelite reader. The "top of Peor" is named for the local deity, Baal of Peor. This is the very place where, in the near future, Israelite men will be seduced by Moabite women into idolatry and sexual immorality, bringing a devastating plague upon the nation (Numbers 25). Balaam himself, after failing to curse Israel with his words, will succeed in bringing a curse upon them through his wicked counsel to Balak to use this very tactic. So here they stand, on the future site of Israel's great sin, attempting to curse Israel. It is a stark reminder that while God protects His people from external, magical threats, their real danger always comes from the idolatry within their own hearts.

29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”

Balaam is fully complicit. He knows God's will. He knows this is a fool's errand. God has told him plainly, "You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed" (Num 22:12). But the money is good, and the king is insistent, so he plays along. He calls for the same tired ritual. Seven altars, seven bulls, seven rams. The number seven signifies completeness or perfection, and Balaam is trying to put on a show of complete religious propriety. This is the essence of hypocrisy. It meticulously observes the outward forms of religion while the heart is entirely estranged from God. Balaam is a true prophet in that God will speak through him, but he is not a true man, for his heart loves the wages of unrighteousness more than the God whose words he is about to speak. He is helping Balak build a religious edifice of rebellion.

30 And Balak did just as Balaam had said and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

Balak's obedience is swift. When it comes to the mechanics of false religion, he is a model of diligence. He spares no expense and no effort. Forty-two prime animals have now been sacrificed in this vain attempt. This is a picture of the immense energy and resources that men will pour into their idolatries. People will sacrifice their time, their money, their children, and their own souls on the altars of their false gods, whether those gods are made of stone or ambition or greed. Balak's sacrifice is an abomination because its entire purpose is to bribe the living God into violating His own nature and His own covenant. It is a religious act fueled by hatred and a desire for destruction. God does not want sacrifices that are intended to arm the worshiper against His chosen people. He wants sacrifices of a broken and contrite heart.

Application

The story of Balak's third attempt is a story for the modern church, because the spirit of Balak is alive and well. It is the spirit of pragmatism in worship and in life. It is the belief that if we just find the right program, the right music style, the right leadership technique, or the right political angle, then we can get God to bless our endeavors, regardless of whether our endeavors align with His revealed will.

We are tempted to think that God can be managed. We build our seven altars of strategic planning and offer our bulls and rams of hard work and cleverness, and we expect God to show up and do our bidding. We want to curse our enemies, bless our tribe, and secure our prosperity. But God is not a cosmic vending machine. He is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, and He will not be manipulated. Our worship is not a tool to get what we want from God. Our worship is a response to who God is and what He has already done for us in Jesus Christ.

The lesson of Peor is twofold. First, God's blessing on His people is sovereign and unassailable. No curse from the outside can touch what God has determined to bless. Our security is not in our own strength, but in His covenant promise, sealed by the blood of His Son. Second, the real danger is not the cursing prophet on the hill, but the seductive idolatry on the plain. Like Israel, our greatest vulnerability is our own wandering heart. We are not destroyed by the schemes of our enemies, but by our own willingness to compromise with the world, to bow down at the altars of comfort, acceptance, and self-indulgence. The application, then, is to stop trying to manipulate God with our religious performances and instead, to trust in His unshakable grace, while diligently guarding our hearts from the Baal-Peor of our own age.