Context No. 657 of 4322 · Numbers
Context · Reflection
Numbers 22:12-17: in context
12God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” 13Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your land; for the LORD refuses to permit me to go with you.” 14The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” 15Balak again sent princes, more, and more honorable than they. 16They came to Balaam, and said to him, “Balak the son of Zippor says, ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me, 17for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.’”
Israel is camped in the plains of Moab at the end of the wilderness years, and the sight of them terrifies Balak, the king of Moab. He cannot beat them in the field, so he sends for Balaam, a seer with a name for effective blessings and curses, and hires him to curse Israel. God's answer to Balaam is plain. Do not go with them, and do not curse the people, for they are blessed. Balaam tells the king's envoys he cannot come.
So Balak raises the price. He sends a second delegation, more numerous and more honorable than the first, carrying a larger promise: very great honor, and whatever Balaam names. Nothing about God's answer has changed; only the offer has. And that is enough to make Balaam say, wait here, and let me ask the LORD once more (22:19). He had the answer. He goes back to the question because the reward for a different answer went up. The New Testament would remember him as the prophet who loved the wages of wrongdoing (2 Peter 2:15).
Balaam reopened a settled question the moment the offer sweetened. What have I decided to pray about again only because the price of yes went up?
Sources
- Numbers 22:12: God's clear answer, that Balaam must not go and must not curse a blessed people
- Numbers 22:18-20: Balaam asking God a second time after the richer offer arrives
- 2 Peter 2:15 with Numbers 31:16: Balaam remembered as the prophet who loved reward, whose counsel later corrupted Israel