Seder 120: Numbers 23----Balaam's First Two Oracles: No Curses Against Israel

Balak, the leader of the Moabites, had summoned Balaam from his home near the Euphrates to come and curse the children of Israel, who were camped near his border.  Balaam hoped to carry out Balak's wishes but had to admit that he could only say what Yahweh, the God of Israel, allowed him to say.  

Balaam delivered four oracles, recorded in Numbers 23 and 24.  In the first he affirmed the promises that God had made to Abraham.  "Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel?" he asked (Num 23:10), echoing the promise made in Gen 13:16.  

He described Israel as a holy people, set apart from other nations.  "Behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations!" he declared (v 9).  Kevin Chen points out that the words for "dwell" and "alone" in verse appear together in only one other place in the Torah, in Moses' blessing of Israel in Deut 33:28: "So Israel lived in safety, Jacob lived alone, in a land of grain and wine, whose heavens drop down dew."  Balaam, like Moses in Deut 33, was describing an ideal, eschatological Israel.

Balak was upset that Balaam had blessed the Israelites instead of cursing them.  He decided that a change of venue might help.  Perhaps Balaam's "reception" would improve if they moved to a different hill.  

However, Balaam's message from Pisgah was consistent with his oracle from Bamoth-Baal.  "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind," he began, affirming that Yahweh keeps his promises (v 19).  

Again, Balaam reported God's long-term goal for Israel:  "He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel" (Num 23:21).  The Hebrew words for "misfortune" and "trouble" are often used for wickedness and perversion.  The Israelites had at times exhibited those things during their journey, even recently, but Balaam was looking beyond the present to what ultimately would be true.  

Balaam had to acknowledge, "For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel" (v 23).  The word for "enchantment", nachash, is related to the word for "serpent" in Gen 3.  Chen suggests a connection here with Gen 3:15.  The serpent would not be able to defeat Israel.  Instead, the seed of the woman would defeat the seed of the serpent.  

Balak's anger at Balaam grew.  He said to Balaam, in effect, "If you can't say anything bad about the Israelites, don't say anything at all!" (v 25).  Still, he took Balaam to a third location, hoping for a different result.  Balak in Jewish tradition has been compared to Pharaoh.  Pharaoh tried in three ways to reduce the population of Israel (through enslavement, threatening the Hebrew midwives, and ordering that babies be drowned), and Balak tried three times to have Israel cursed.