Numbers 23:1-5: a reflection

1Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 2Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. 3Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height. 4God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.” 5The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

Balak, the king of Moab, has hired the prophet Balaam to curse Israel, hoping to weaken them with a curse. Balaam prepares altars and sacrifices and goes off to seek a word, and Balak stands waiting for the curse he has paid for. But when God meets Balaam, something happens that Balak did not bargain for: the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and this is what you shall say. The prophet hired to curse can only speak what God gives him, and God, as the following oracles show, gives blessing, not cursing.

Notice who is really in control here. Balak thinks he can buy a curse against God's people; Balaam thinks he can perhaps earn his fee. But God overrules them both, putting his own words in the prophet's mouth, so that the very man hired to curse Israel ends up blessing them. The intended curse is turned, by God, into blessing. The hostile scheme against God's people cannot succeed, because God controls even the mouth of the one hired to harm them.

There is deep reassurance in that about the schemes and curses aimed at God's people. When others plot against us, wish us harm, speak against us, we can remember that God overrules even hostile mouths. He can turn intended curses into blessing, thwart the schemes aimed at us, and protect his own in ways the schemers never anticipated. Balak paid for a curse and got a blessing, because God was in control. When you face hostility, opposition, or those who would speak against you, trust the God who controlled Balaam's mouth. He is able to turn what is meant for harm into good, and to protect his people against every scheme.

Lord, Balak hired Balaam to curse your people, but you put your own words in the prophet's mouth and turned the intended curse into blessing; you controlled even the mouth of the one hired to harm them. When others scheme against me, wish me harm, or speak against me, remind me that you overrule even hostile mouths. You can turn intended curses into blessing and thwart the schemes aimed at me. Help me trust the God who controlled Balaam's mouth, who protects his people against every scheme and turns what is meant for harm into good.