Why do Balac’s repeated requests for a curse result in blessings for Israel?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The Lord puts the words in Balaam’s mouth, and Balaam says he can speak only what the Lord commands. Moving to another place does not produce the curse Balac seeks: Balaam says he has been brought to bless and cannot hinder the blessing.

Chapter breakdown

Balaam tells Balac to build seven altars and prepare seven calves and seven rams. Balac does as instructed, and together they place a calf and a ram on each altar. Balaam tells Balac to stay by his burnt offering while he goes to see whether the Lord will meet him; he promises to speak whatever the Lord commands. He goes quickly, God meets him, and Balaam reports the seven altars and a calf and ram on each. The Lord puts the word in his mouth and sends him back to speak to Balac. Balaam returns to find Balac beside his burnt offering with all the Moabite princes.

Balaam takes up his parable, saying that Balac, king of the Moabites, brought him from Aram and the eastern mountains to curse Jacob and hasten to detest Israel. He asks how he can curse someone God has not cursed, or detest someone the Lord does not detest. He says he will see Israel from the tops of the rocks and consider them from the hills: this people will dwell alone and not be counted among the nations. He asks who can count Jacob’s dust or know the number of Israel’s stock. He wishes his soul might die the death of the just and his own last end be like theirs.

Balac asks what Balaam is doing: he sent for a curse on his enemies, but Balaam blesses them instead. Balaam asks whether he can say anything other than what the Lord commands. Balac takes him to another place where he can see part of Israel, though not all, and asks him to curse them there. At a high place on Mount Phasga’s summit, Balaam builds seven altars and puts a calf and ram on each. He tells Balac to remain by his burnt offering while he goes to meet the Lord. The Lord meets him, puts the word in his mouth and sends him back with what to say. Balac stands by the sacrifice with the Moabite princes and asks what the Lord has spoken.

Balaam begins his parable by telling Balac, son of Sephor, to stand, listen and hear. He says God is not a man who lies or a son of man who changes. If God has said something, will he not do it? If he has spoken, will he not fulfil it? Balaam says he was brought to bless and is unable to hinder the blessing.

The parable says there is no idol in Jacob and no image god seen in Israel. The Lord their God is with them, and the sound of the king’s victory is among them. God brought Israel out of Egypt; his strength is compared to a rhinoceros. There is no soothsaying in Jacob or divination in Israel. In their times, Jacob and Israel will be told what God has done. The people will rise like a lioness and lift themselves like a lion, not lying down until they devour the prey and drink the blood of the slain.

Balac tells Balaam neither to curse nor bless Israel. Balaam reminds him that he said he would do whatever God commands. Balac proposes another place, wondering whether God might allow a curse from there. He brings Balaam to Mount Phogor’s summit, looking toward the wilderness. Balaam again asks for seven altars, seven calves and seven rams. Balac does as instructed and puts a calf and ram on each altar. The chapter ends with this preparation, before the next speech.

The story inside

Balac changes the place from which Balaam sees Israel, but the source of Balaam’s words remains the same. At both the first site and Mount Phasga, the Lord meets Balaam, puts the word in his mouth and sends him back. Balac’s request concerns a curse; Balaam’s reply concerns the command he must speak.

The second parable makes that limit explicit through its questions about God’s truthfulness and fulfilment, followed by Balaam’s statement that he cannot hinder the blessing. Balac next asks for neither curse nor blessing, then proposes another location. The account records these changing requests without explaining a pagan theory about geography or sacrificial bribery. It ends at Phogor with the altars and animals prepared; the next speech is not yet narrated.

Lessons worth keeping

1
A changed location does not change the recorded source of the words. The Lord gives Balaam what to say at both sites, and the requested curse does not follow.
2
The second parable ties the blessing to God’s word. Its questions ask whether God will do and fulfil what he has said; Balaam then says he cannot hinder the blessing.
3
The chapter’s ending matters. Phogor’s altars are prepared, but the speech there has not yet occurred in this chapter. Keeping that limit prevents a later result from being treated as already known.

Test your recall

How do the repeated meetings with the Lord explain the difference between Balac’s requests and Balaam’s speeches?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 16892–16916
Numbers Chapter 23 Balaam, instead of cursing Israel, is obliged to bless them, and prophesy good things of them. 23:1. And Balaam said to Balac: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams. 23:2. And when he had done according to the word of Balaam, they laid together a calf and a ram upon every altar. 23:3. And Balaam said to Balac: Stand a while by thy burnt offering, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet me, and whatsoever he shall command, I will speak to thee. 23:4. And when he was gone with speed, God met him. And Balaam speaking to him, said: I have erected seven altars, and have laid on everyone a calf and a ram. 23:5. And the Lord put the word in his mouth, and said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak. 23:6. Returning he found Balac standing by his burnt offering, with all the princes of the Moabites:
Lines 16917–16931
23:7. And taking up his parable, he said: Balac king of the Moabites hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, said he, and curse Jacob: make haste and detest Israel. 23:8. How shall I curse him, whom God hath not cursed? By what means should I detest him, whom the Lord detesteth not? 23:9. I shall see him from the tops of the rocks, and shall consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 23:10. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them.
Lines 16932–16955
23:11. And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest them. 23:12. He answered him: Can I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth? 23:13. Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence. 23:14. And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram, 23:15. He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt offering while I go to meet him. 23:16. And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him. 23:17. Returning he found him standing by his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites with him. And Balac said to him: What hath the Lord spoken?
Lines 16956–16964
23:18. But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor: 23:19. God is not a man, that he should lie, nor is the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfil? 23:20. I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder.
Lines 16965–16979
23:21. There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the sound of the victory of the king in him. 23:22. God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. 23:23. There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought. 23:24. Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.
Lines 16980–16998
23:25. And Balac said to Balaam: Neither curse, nor bless him. 23:26. And he said: Did I not tell thee, that whatsoever God should command me, that I would do? 23:27. And Balac said to him: Come and I will bring thee to another place; if peradventure it please God that thou mayest curse them from thence. 23:28. And when he had brought him upon the top of mount Phogor, which looketh towards the wilderness, 23:29. Balaam said to him: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams. 23:30. Balac did as Balaam had said: and he laid on every altar, a calf and a ram.