CHAPTER 23

(1452 B.C.)

SACRIFICES

¹And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. (There is only one Altar, i.e., Cross, not seven. Man always tends to change what God has originally ordained. Why? It is easier to walk after the flesh, than it is to walk after the Spirit [Rom. 8:1].)

²And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram (God will never sanction a corruption of His Word).

³And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he shows me I will tell you. And he went to an high place (where exactly that was, we are not told).

⁴And God met Balaam (as to how, again we arent told): and he (Balaam) said unto Him (God), I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.

⁵And the LORD put a word in Balaams mouth, and said, Return unto Balak and thus you shall speak (the Lord ignored the so-called sacrifices, exactly as He ignores every sacrifice presently which is not the Cross).

FIRST PROPHECY

⁶And he (Balaam) returned unto him (Balak), and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.

⁷And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel (Satan has not stopped this type of attack from then until now).

⁸How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD has not defied? (The doctrine of Balaams first Prophecy is that of Rom., Chpt. 9-11. It is that God has chosen, numbered, separated, and blessed the Children of Israel.)

⁹For 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. (And so it has been from then until now. Israel is different than any nation in the world, and it is because they are the chosen of God. Admittedly, theyve been away from the Lord for a long, long time; however, that is soon to change, which will take place at the Second Coming.)

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? (From his vantage point, Balaam, more than likely, could only see one of the four great camps into which the host was divided, so say the Jewish Targums.)Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! (The Righteousness of which Balaam speaks is a spotless, Divine Righteousness. It can only be obtained by Faith in Christ, and what Christ has done at the Cross [Rom. 6:3-14]. By saying this, Balaam meant that God would be to blame if he did not so die. Sadly, he did not die the death of the righteous.)

¹¹And Balak said unto Balaam, What have you done unto me? I took you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have blessed them altogether.

¹²And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD has put in my mouth?

¹³And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray you, with me unto another place, from where you may see them: you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there. (The People of God cannot be cursed. Jesus answered the curse of the broken law at the Cross of Calvary, which, as well, handled every other curse, and of every description [Gal. 3:13].)

¹⁴And 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. (The first seven evidently not being enough, he builds seven more altars. While law is open-ended, Grace is complete within itself.)

¹⁵And he said unto Balak, Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD yonder.

¹⁶And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.

SECOND PROPHECY

¹⁷And 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 has the LORD spoken? (This heathen recognized Jehovah as God, but only among many other gods.)

¹⁸And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto Me, you son of Zippor:

¹⁹God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man that He should repent (God does not change; through the loins of Abraham and the womb of Sarah, the Lord had raised up the Jewish people; even though they have strayed, as stated, they will be brought back, because God has said it, and He doesnt lie): has He said, and shall He not do it? or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?

²⁰Behold, I have received Commandment to bless: and He has blessed; and I cannot reverse it (Satan and all his power cannot reverse the Blessings of God upon the one who follows a path of obedience [Lk. 9:23-24]).

²¹He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither has He seen perverseness in Israel (this speaks of Justification by faith): the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them (Christ is that King).

²²God brought them out of Egypt; he (Israel) has as it were the strength of an unicorn (probably refers to the African Rhino).

²³Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel (no witchcraft against the People of God will ever prosper): according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God wrought!

²⁴Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion (the Lion of the Tribe of Judah [Rev. 5:5]): he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain (predicts the fate of the Antichrist [Ezek. 39:3-5]).

²⁵And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.

²⁶But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told I not you, saying, All that the LORD speaks, that I must do?

²⁷And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray you, I will bring you unto another place; peradventure it will please God that you may curse me them from there.

²⁸And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looks toward Jeshimon.

²⁹And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams (the third group of seven, but to no avail).

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