The Berean Table

Field	Detail
Pericope	Numbers 24:1–25
Theme	The LORD who turns a hired curse into blessing reveals the coming Star and Scepter who will crush every enemy of His people.

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Opening Prayer

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Closing Prayer

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Timeline Context

Where the chapter falls in Numbers. Numbers moves in three stages: Israel at Sinai (1:1–10:10), Israel on the journey (10:11 through chapter 21), and Israel on the plains of Moab (chapter 22 to the end). Chapter 24 is the climax of the Balaam cycle (chapters 22–24), the first episode set on those plains “beyond the Jordan at Jericho” (22:1). The cycle holds four oracles:

• First oracle (23:7–10): Israel as a people “dwelling alone,” too numerous to count.
• Second oracle (23:18–24): God does not lie or change His mind; He has blessed, and Balaam cannot revoke it.
• Third oracle (24:3–9): Israel’s beauty, fruitfulness, exalted king, and lion-like strength, ending with the Abrahamic formula of blessing and curse.
• Fourth oracle (24:15–24): the Star and Scepter out of Israel, followed by short sayings on Amalek, the Kenite, and Asshur and Kittim.

Three times Balak built seven altars and offered sacrifices (23:1–2, 14, 29–30), and three times the curse he paid for became a blessing. Chapter 24 records the third attempt, Balak’s furious dismissal of Balaam, and the unrequested fourth oracle that looks to “the latter days” (v. 14).

Date and political setting. The episode falls in the fortieth year after the exodus. Aaron died on Mount Hor in the fifth month of that year (33:38), and Moses’ final addresses on the plains are dated to the eleventh month (Deuteronomy 1:3), so the Balaam episode belongs to the last months of the wilderness period. On the early exodus date that this library follows (about 1446 BC), that places the events around 1406 BC; on the later date favored by some scholars, in the thirteenth century BC. Israel had just defeated Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan (21:21–35), and Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, was terrified of the vast camp on his border (22:2–4). Moab had ties with the elders of Midian (22:4, 7), who reappear in chapters 25 and 31. Balak hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor, “near the River” (22:5), that is, the Euphrates; Deuteronomy 23:4 places Pethor in Mesopotamia, several hundred miles from Moab.

The place. For this third attempt Balak brought Balaam “to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert” (23:28), a height in the Moabite hills from which the Israelite encampment in the plains below was visible. Israel knew nothing of what was being plotted and spoken on the heights above it. The LORD defended His people without their asking and without their knowledge.

Extrabiblical witness. In 1967 excavators at Deir ‘Alla in the Jordan Valley found fragments of a plaster inscription, usually dated to about the eighth century BC, that names “Balaam son of Beor” as a seer of the gods. The text differs in content from Numbers, and it neither confirms nor contradicts the details of these chapters, but it shows that Balaam’s name was remembered in the region for centuries as a famous seer.

What comes before and after.

• Before: Israel’s victories east of the Jordan (21:21–35) and the first two oracles (chapter 23), in which Balaam confesses that God “is not man, that he should lie” (23:19).
• After: the disaster at Peor (chapter 25), where Israel is led into sexual immorality and idolatry with Moabite and Midianite women. Numbers later reveals that this happened “on Balaam’s advice” (31:16), and that Balaam was killed among the Midianites (31:8). The man who could not curse Israel with words tried to ruin it by seduction.
• Then: the second census (chapter 26), which counts the new generation that will enter the land.

Redemptive-historical placement. Numbers 24 gathers the patriarchal promises into a single prophetic vision. The blessing formula of Genesis 12:3 and 27:29, the lion of Judah and the royal scepter of Genesis 49:9–10, and the promise that “kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:6) all resurface in the mouth of a pagan seer. The oracle points forward to David, who subdued Moab and Edom (2 Samuel 8:2, 13–14), and beyond David to the Messiah, whose kingdom will outlast every empire of the world. Later Scripture never forgets the episode: Moses (Deuteronomy 23:4–5), Joshua (Joshua 24:9–10), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:2), and Micah (Micah 6:5) celebrate how God turned the curse into a blessing, while Peter, Jude, and John hold Balaam up as a warning against greed and false teaching (2 Peter 2:15–16; Jude 11; Revelation 2:14).

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Historical-Grammatical Study

Genre. Numbers 24 is historical narrative framing prophetic poetry. The narrative verses (vv. 1–2, 10–14, 25) tell the story; the oracles (vv. 3–9, 15–24) are Hebrew poetry built on parallelism, in which a second line restates, sharpens, or extends the first (“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel!” v. 5). Each oracle is introduced by the formula “he took up his discourse” (vv. 3, 15, 20, 21, 23). The Hebrew mashal, rendered “discourse,” is the word for a proverb, parable, or elevated figurative saying, and it marks the speech as solemn poetry rather than ordinary talk.

Omens and the Spirit. Verse 1 says Balaam “did not go, as at other times, to look for omens.” The Hebrew nachash (plural nechashim) means an augury or incantation. The Pulpit Commentary explains the practice as the reading of “omens and signs in the natural world observed and interpreted according to an artificial system as manifesting the purposes of God” (Pulpit Commentary, on Numbers 24:1). The law forbade exactly this to Israel (Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10–14), and Balaam himself had confessed that “there is no enchantment against Jacob” (23:23). Here he abandons his technique, and “the Spirit of God came upon him” (v. 2). The phrase ruach ‘Elohim is used of the Spirit coming upon judges and prophets for a particular task (1 Samuel 10:10; 19:23; 2 Chronicles 15:1), and it marks this oracle as a higher kind of inspiration than the earlier statement that “the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth” (23:5).

The oracle formula. Balaam introduces himself with the word ne’um, “oracle” (vv. 3–4, 15–16). Almost everywhere else in the Old Testament ne’um introduces the LORD’s own speech (“declares the LORD,” as in Numbers 14:28). Its use here claims divine origin for what follows. The self-description contains three debated expressions:

• “The man whose eye is opened” (v. 3). The rare verb shatham is glossed by Strong’s as “to unveil, be open,” and the Greek translation and the Targums took it that way. Keil, following Hengstenberg, argued that it means “closed,” the outward eye shut in ecstasy while the inward eye sees. The Pulpit Commentary concludes that “it makes no real difference whether we read ‘open’ or ‘shut,’ because in any case it was the inward vision that was quickened, while the outward senses were closed” (Pulpit Commentary, on Numbers 24:3).
• “Falling down with his eyes uncovered” (v. 4). The verb naphal (“fall”) describes being thrown down under the power of revelation, as Saul was when the Spirit came upon him (1 Samuel 19:24). Barnes explains the falling this way: “It indicates the force of the divine inspiration overpowering the seer … In Balaam and in Saul … the word of God could only prevail by first subduing the alien will, and overpowering the bodily energies which the will ordinarily directs” (Barnes, Notes on the Bible, on Numbers 24:4).
• The divine names. Balaam speaks of ‘El (“God”), Shadday (“the Almighty,” vv. 4, 16), and ‘Elyon (“the Most High,” v. 16), the titles by which God made Himself known to the patriarchs (Genesis 14:19; 17:1). The pagan seer is forced to use Israel’s own vocabulary for Israel’s God.

The imagery of the third oracle.

• Tents and encampments (v. 5): ‘ohel (tent) and mishkan (dwelling), the second being the regular word for the tabernacle.
• Palm groves (v. 6): nachal ordinarily means a stream or the valley it waters; older translations render it “valleys,” the ESV “palm groves.” The picture is of watered, fruitful ground.
• Aloes (v. 6): ‘ahalim is aloe wood, prized for its fragrance (Psalm 45:8), and it sounds almost exactly like ‘ohalim, the “tents” of verse 5. Calvin notes that the same Hebrew form often means “tabernacles” but here must refer to trees to match the cedars that follow.
• Buckets (v. 7): deli appears in the dual, “his two buckets,” the image of a man carrying two pails on a pole so full that water spills as he walks (so both Keil and the Pulpit Commentary).
• Agag (v. 7): Strong’s lists the name as “a title of Amalekitish kings.” Keil, Calvin, Poole, and Barnes all take it as a dynastic title, like Pharaoh in Egypt, rather than a prediction of the individual king Saul spared (1 Samuel 15:8).
• The wild ox (v. 8): re’em, rendered “unicorn” in older English versions, is a powerful wild bull (Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9–10).
• Lion and lioness (v. 9): ‘ari and labi’, the same pair used in Jacob’s blessing of Judah (Genesis 49:9).

Blessing and curse. The closing line of the third oracle, “Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you” (v. 9), uses barak (“bless”) and ‘arar (“curse”). It turns back on Balak his own flattery of Balaam, “he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed” (22:6), and restates the covenant promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) and Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Genesis 27:29).

“The latter days.” Balaam promises to tell Balak what Israel will do to Moab “in the latter days” (v. 14). The phrase ‘acharit hayyamim (“the end of the days”) is the same one Jacob used when he gathered his sons to hear “what shall happen to you in days to come” (Genesis 49:1). In the prophets it marks the horizon of God’s decisive future action (Isaiah 2:2; Hosea 3:5), and the New Testament announces that those days have arrived in Christ (Acts 2:17; Hebrews 1:2). Keil writes, “By the ‘end of days,’ both here and everywhere else, we are to understand the Messianic era, and that not merely at its commencement, but in its entire development, until the final completion of the kingdom of God at the return of our Lord to judgment” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, on Numbers 24:23–24).

The fourth oracle’s key terms.

• Star (v. 17): kokhab, which Strong’s glosses as “a star … figuratively, a prince.” Barnes notes that “the star has among all nations served as a symbol of regal power and splendour” (Barnes, Notes on the Bible, on Numbers 24:17).
• Scepter (v. 17): shebet, a rod or staff, and also a tribe; it is the very word of Genesis 49:10, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah” (Genesis 49:10).
• “Forehead” (v. 17): the Hebrew pe’ah (side, corner) is in the dual, “the two sides” of Moab, whether of its land (Keil, Poole) or of its head, the temples. The ESV takes it of the head, as it also does in the closely related oracle of Jeremiah 48:45, where Moab’s “forehead” is paired with qodqod, “crown of the head.”
• “The sons of Sheth” (v. 17): three readings are offered. (1) The descendants of Seth, meaning all humanity, the reading of the Jewish interpreters and the Greek translation, followed by Matthew Henry and Gill; (2) “sons of tumult,” taking sheth as a form of a word for uproar and matching “the crown of the sons of tumult” (Jeremiah 48:45), as Keil and Barnes argue (Strong’s lists a separate sheth, “tumult”); (3) a local name for a Moabite people or place now lost (Poole). The parallel with Moab favors a reference to Moab’s warriors, but the point is plain in every reading: the coming ruler will overthrow the enemies of God’s people.
• “Dispossessed” (v. 18): yereshah, “possession” — Edom, who held Seir, will be taken into another’s possession.
• “Exercise dominion” (v. 19): radah, the verb of humanity’s commission in Genesis 1:28 and of the royal hope in Psalm 72:8, “May he have dominion from sea to sea” (Psalm 72:8).

The short sayings. “Amalek was the first among the nations, but its end is utter destruction” (v. 20) plays on re’shit (“first, beginning”) and ‘acharit (“end”). In verse 21 “your nest” is qen, a pun on Qayin (Kain), the name of the Kenite clan in verse 22. Verse 22 is grammatically difficult: the ESV reads it as judgment (“Kain shall be burned when Asshur takes you away captive”), while Keil, Barnes, and the Pulpit Commentary read the particles as a negative question, meaning that Kain will not be destroyed until Asshur carries it away. Verse 24 names Kittim (Kittiy), originally Cyprus (Genesis 10:4), later a name for the maritime peoples of the west (Jeremiah 2:10; Daniel 11:30), and Eber, the ancestor of the Hebrews and of other Semitic peoples (Genesis 10:21–25).

Ancient Near Eastern background. Kings in the ancient world hired diviners to curse enemies before battle, and such curses were believed to carry real power. Balak’s plan was conventional; what was unprecedented was a God who could not be manipulated by altars or omens and who turned the hired curse back upon those who paid for it. The star was a common royal emblem in the ancient Near East, which made “a star shall come out of Jacob” (v. 17) immediately intelligible as a prophecy of a king.

First-century Jewish expectation. Edersheim records that the Targum of Onkelos and the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan applied the Star and Scepter of verse 17 to the Messiah, as did later rabbinic writings. In the second century AD the rebel leader Simon bar Kosiba, who led the revolt against Rome (AD 132–135), was hailed as Bar Kokhba, “son of the star,” in allusion to this verse; Keil notes that after the revolt failed his name was twisted into Bar Koziba, “son of a lie.” The episode shows how firmly Jewish readers had come to hear Numbers 24:17 as messianic.

Covenantal themes.

• The Abrahamic covenant: God’s unconditional commitment to bless Abraham’s seed and, through it, the nations (Genesis 12:1–3).
• The royal promise: kings from Abraham (Genesis 17:6; 35:11) and a scepter from Judah (Genesis 49:10), heading toward the covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:12–16).
• The exodus: God’s past redemption as the pledge of future victory (v. 8; 23:22).
• The holy war against Amalek: the LORD’s sworn judgment (Exodus 17:14–16; Deuteronomy 25:17–19).
• Blessing and curse: the covenant’s two sanctions, here directed toward the nations according to how they treat God’s people.

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Expanded Outline

Section 1 — The Spirit of God Comes upon the Seer (Numbers 24:1–4)

Key Insight

The chapter opens with a change of method. Twice Balaam had left Balak’s altars to seek a word (23:3, 15), and the narrator now names what those excursions involved: “he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness” (v. 1). The Hebrew nechashim are auguries, signs read from nature, a practice the law forbade to Israel (Deuteronomy 18:10). Balaam lays them aside not from repentance but because he “saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel” (v. 1). Every attempt to bend God had failed. Calvin reads the moment soberly: God “now, however, lays closer constraint upon him, and, breaking off all delay, dictates an answer, which He compels him to deliver” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:1). This is not a changed heart but a hemmed-in will, the sovereign Lord closing every exit.

Balaam “lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe” (v. 2), the very order the LORD had appointed around the tabernacle (Numbers 2:1–34). Then “the Spirit of God came upon him” (v. 2). The phrase marks a new mode of revelation. Keil observes, “Of both the earlier utterances it is stated that ‘Jehovah put a word into his mouth’ … but of this third it is affirmed that ‘the Spirit of God came over him.’” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, on Numbers 24:1–2). The earlier oracles came as words placed in his mouth (23:5, 16); this one comes as the Spirit overpowering the man himself, as He once overpowered Saul (1 Samuel 19:23–24).

Verses 3–4 are the prophetic credentials. Ne’um (“oracle”) normally introduces the LORD’s own speech (14:28), and Balaam uses it of himself as “the man whose eye is opened” and as one “who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down with his eyes uncovered” (vv. 3–4). The names ‘El and Shadday are the patriarchs’ names for God (Genesis 17:1). Calvin explains the purpose of the preface: it “has no other object than to prove that he is a true prophet of God, and that he has received the blessing, which he pronounces, from divine revelation” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:3). The oracle that follows is God’s word, whatever the character of the mouth that speaks it (2 Peter 1:21).

Yet the man with opened eyes kept a closed heart. Soon afterward he would give the counsel that led Israel into sin at Peor (31:16), and the New Testament remembers him as the one “who loved gain from wrongdoing” (2 Peter 2:15). Matthew Henry draws the lesson: “Many have their eyes open that have not their hearts open, are enlightened, but not sanctified” (Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Numbers 24:1–9). The Spirit may use a tongue without renewing a heart (Matthew 7:21–23; John 11:51).

Here the passage points to Christ by contrast. Balaam received the Spirit for a moment and against his will; Jesus received the Spirit without measure (John 3:34) and spoke the Father’s words with His whole heart (John 12:49–50). Balaam is a prophet under compulsion; Christ is the Prophet who delights to do the Father’s will (Psalm 40:8; Hebrews 10:5–7). And the Spirit who seized Balaam’s tongue for Israel’s sake is the Spirit by whom the risen Christ now works through the gospel, sending His servants, as He told Paul, “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light” (Acts 26:18).

Application

This passage should reshape how we think about spiritual gifts and spiritual life. Balaam heard God’s words, saw visions, and spoke some of the most glorious prophecy in the Old Testament, yet he was never converted. Religious knowledge, fluent speech about God, and even real spiritual gifts are not proof of a new heart (1 Corinthians 13:2). Jesus warned that on the last day many will say, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name” (Matthew 7:22), and will hear that He never knew them.

The question this raises is not only “What do I know?” but “Whom do I love?” Consider some examples:

• A Bible teacher who can explain Numbers 24 well but privately loves money and recognition.
• A gifted musician or speaker whose public ministry is admired but whose private life is never examined.
• A long-time church member who can recite doctrine accurately while nursing bitterness toward another believer.

Each needs Balaam’s warning. The remedy is not to despise gifts but to seek Christ Himself, whose Spirit gives not only light to the mind but a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26–27; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Pray that those who teach you will be holy as well as gifted, and do not measure any leader by eloquence alone (1 Timothy 3:1–7).

The passage also comforts. God did not need Balaam’s sincerity in order to protect Israel. The LORD defends His people even through unwilling instruments, and even when they do not know they are threatened (Romans 8:28, 31). Believers may rest in a God who is working for them on heights they cannot see.

A warning against misapplication: This passage does not teach that gifted Christians are probably hypocrites, and it should not drive tender consciences into endless self-suspicion. Balaam’s problem was not that he had gifts but that he loved gain and never turned to God. The answer to anxious doubt is not more introspection but looking to Christ, who promises that “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).

Section 2 — How Lovely Are Your Tents, O Jacob (Numbers 24:5–7)

Key Insight

The oracle begins in delight: “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel!” (v. 5). ‘Ohel (tent) and mishkan (dwelling, the ordinary word for the tabernacle) describe a pilgrim people whose homes were cloth and poles, yet Balaam sees beauty. Matthew Henry locates it in the order God had given: “Balaam sees a beauty in those tents, because of their admirable order, according to their tribes” (Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Numbers 24:1–9). The camp arranged in its tribes around the tent of meeting (Numbers 2:2) was a picture of a people gathered around the presence of God, and that is what made it lovely (Psalm 84:1; 133:1).

Four similes follow: “Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the LORD has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters” (v. 6). The first word, nachal, ordinarily means a stream or the valley it waters; the picture throughout is of well-watered growth. Barnes hears an echo of Eden: “The latter words contain an apparent reference to Paradise” (Barnes, Notes on the Bible, on Numbers 24:6), recalling that “the LORD God planted a garden in Eden” (Genesis 2:8). Israel, marching toward Canaan, is seen as a garden of God’s own planting, like the righteous man who “is like a tree planted by streams of water” (Psalm 1:3) and like the redeemed whom Isaiah calls “the planting of the LORD” (Isaiah 61:3). The aloe (‘ahalim) also echoes the “tents” (‘ohalim) of verse 5, so that the camp and the garden blur into one picture.

Verse 7 turns from beauty to abundance and rule: “Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters; his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted” (v. 7). The buckets are dual, “his two buckets,” spilling over as they are carried. “Seed” may mean posterity or grain sown in watered ground; either way the image is of overflowing blessing (Deuteronomy 8:7). Agag appears to be the standing title of Amalek’s kings, as Pharaoh was of Egypt’s, so the line exalts Israel’s coming king above the proudest neighboring throne rather than predicting a single battle, though Saul’s victory over an Agag became a striking early fulfillment (1 Samuel 15:8).

Israel had no king when Balaam spoke, which makes the prophecy the more remarkable (Genesis 17:6; 49:10). Calvin traces its reach: “Balaam, however little he might have been aware of it, embraced the time of David; and consequently he predicted things which were only accomplished in Christ, on whom the adoption was founded” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:7). Keil agrees that the king in view is “neither the Messiah exclusively, nor the earthly kingdom without the Messiah, but the kingdom of Israel that was established by David, and was exalted in the Messiah into an everlasting kingdom” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, on Numbers 24:7).

The garden and the king belong together, and both belong to Christ. The Word who became flesh “dwelt among us” (John 1:14), pitching His tent in the midst of His people. He is the source of the water: “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). And He is the King whose throne is higher than every rival, of whom the angel said, “of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33).

Application

This oracle should change how we look at the church. Israel’s tents were weather-beaten and ordinary, yet God made a pagan seer exclaim over them. The beauty of God’s people lies in God’s presence among them and God’s planting of them, not in size, buildings, or reputation. When we are tempted to measure a congregation by its budget or its style, we should ask whether it is gathered around the Word and the presence of Christ (Matthew 18:20).

Several attitudes need to change:

• Contempt for the ordinary church. A small congregation in a rented hall, faithfully hearing the Word and sharing the Lord’s Supper, is a garden the LORD has planted.
• Disregard for order and unity. The camp was lovely “tribe by tribe” (v. 2); quarrels and disorder mar the beauty God intends (Psalm 133:1; Ephesians 4:3).
• Dryness through neglect. The trees flourish “beside the waters” (v. 6). Believers flourish by staying near the means God uses to water His people: His Word, prayer, the sacraments, and the fellowship of the saints (Acts 2:42; Psalm 1:2–3).

It should also give hope to discouraged believers. God sees His people through the lens of His promise and His planting. A struggling church, or a Christian who feels barren, may take heart that fruitfulness comes from the Lord who waters, not from our own strength (1 Corinthians 3:6–7).

A warning against misapplication: The promise that “water shall flow from his buckets” (v. 7) does not guarantee material prosperity, health, or visible success to Christians today. Israel’s earthly abundance in the land was a type of greater spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), and the church often flourishes in the midst of suffering, as a treasure in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7–10).

Section 3 — The Lion God Brought Out of Egypt (Numbers 24:8–9)

Key Insight

The third oracle closes with power. “God brings him out of Egypt and is for him like the horns of the wild ox” (v. 8) repeats the confession of the second oracle (23:22). The re’em is the wild ox, a byword for untamable strength (Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9–10). Israel’s might is not its own; it is the God of the exodus fighting for it. The past redemption is the pledge of future victory, and so the line continues: “he shall eat up the nations, his adversaries, and shall break their bones in pieces and pierce them through with his arrows” (v. 8). Sihon and Og had just learned this (21:21–35).

Verse 9 borrows almost word for word from Jacob’s blessing of Judah. Balaam says, “He crouched, he lay down like a lion and like a lioness; who will rouse him up?” (v. 9), and Jacob had said of Judah, “he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?” (Genesis 49:9). The pagan seer is made to recite Israel’s own patriarchal blessing over the tribes.

Then comes the climax: “Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you” (v. 9). The words gather two earlier promises. God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3), and Isaac told Jacob, “Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (Genesis 27:29). Keil explains Balaam’s purpose: “To this he also links on the words with which Isaac had transferred to Jacob in Genesis 27:29 the blessing of Abraham in Genesis 12:3, for the purpose of warning Balak to desist from his enmity against the chosen people of God” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, on Numbers 24:8–9).

The irony is sharp. Balak had flattered Balaam with the claim that “he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed” (22:6). Now the same formula is spoken over Israel, and Balak, by hiring a curse, has placed himself under one. The Pulpit Commentary puts it well: “Far from being affected by blessings and cursings from without, Israel was itself a source of blessing or cursing to others according as they treated him” (Pulpit Commentary, on Numbers 24:9). The Hebrew barak (“bless”) and ‘arar (“curse”) are covenant words; they describe God’s own response to how the nations treat His people.

Calvin sees in the formula the depth of God’s identification with those He has chosen: “This mode of expression signifies that the Israelites were elected by God, on these terms, that He would account as conferred upon Himself whatever injury or benefit they might receive” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:9). The prophet Zechariah would say that “he who touches you touches the apple of his eye” (Zechariah 2:8).

All of this converges on Christ. God called His Son out of Egypt, and Matthew writes that Jesus’ return from Egypt fulfilled the word, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Matthew 2:15). He is the one of whom John was told, “behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered” (Revelation 5:5). The Lord so identifies with His people that He asked their persecutor, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4). And the blessing of Abraham reaches the nations only because “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

Application

This truth should shape how we think about God’s people. God counts what is done to His people as done to Himself, and Jesus says the same of the least of His brothers (Matthew 25:40). That changes how we speak about other Christians, how we treat a struggling church, and how we respond when believers wrong us.

It should change some behaviors:

• Careless criticism of the church. Slander, contempt, and gossip about fellow believers are not small sins; they touch the apple of God’s eye.
• Indifference to suffering believers. Paul commands us to “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Praying for the persecuted church, helping a needy family in the congregation, or welcoming a lonely member are ways of blessing those God has blessed.
• Fear of the world’s hostility. Believers who face mockery at work or opposition in their families can rest in the lion’s security: “who will rouse him up?” (v. 9). No accusation can reverse the verdict of God in Christ (Romans 8:33–34).

The passage also humbles us. Israel’s strength was God’s strength. Our victories over sin and fear are His gift, received through faith, and should lead to worship rather than pride (Psalm 44:4–8).

A warning against misapplication: Verse 9 is not a license for Christians to curse their enemies, whom Christ commands us to love and bless (Luke 6:27–28; Romans 12:14), nor a guarantee of protection for those who presume on God’s favor while living in sin; the next chapter shows Israel itself judged at Peor. Christians also disagree about how Genesis 12:3 relates to the Jewish people and to the modern State of Israel (see the Dispensational Theology section), but no reading permits turning this verse into a formula for manipulating God’s favor. The blessing belongs to the seed of Abraham, which is Christ and those who are His (Galatians 3:16, 29).

Section 4 — Balak’s Anger and the Word That Cannot Be Bought (Numbers 24:10–14)

Key Insight

The third blessing breaks Balak’s patience. “Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together” (v. 10), a gesture of fury and contempt (Job 27:23). His complaint is almost comic in its frankness: “I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times” (v. 10). Twenty-one altars, twenty-one bulls, twenty-one rams, and a famous seer had produced the opposite of what he paid for.

Balak dismisses Balaam with a sneer: “Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, ‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the LORD has held you back from honor” (v. 11). The king blames Israel’s God for his own failure. Calvin notices both the truth and the wickedness of the remark: “what he says is true, that God had kept back Balaam from honor; yet impiously, and, as it were, reproachfully, does he lay the blame upon God” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:10). Balak’s taunt is the world’s perennial complaint against those who obey God at a cost. Matthew Henry generalizes it: “Thus those who are any way losers by their duty are commonly upbraided with it, as fools, for preferring it before their interest in the world” (Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Numbers 24:10–14). Yet Scripture’s verdict is the reverse: “those who honor me I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30).

Balaam answers with his familiar protest (vv. 12–13), repeating what he had told Balak’s messengers (22:18): “If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the LORD, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the LORD speaks, that will I speak” (v. 13). The words are orthodox, and “my own will” renders the Hebrew lev, “heart.” But the speaker’s heart was not with his words. Calvin’s judgment is exact: “Balaam speaks the truth, indeed, yet in a bad spirit” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:12). He grieves over lost wages and pleads compulsion rather than conviction. His mouth is bound to God’s word while his heart remains bound to Balak’s silver.

Then Balaam offers something Balak did not ask for: “Come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days” (v. 14). The verb ya’ats ordinarily means “to advise” or “to counsel,” and interpreters have asked whether Balaam here hints at the counsel he later gave, to seduce Israel at Peor (31:16). Some older Jewish interpreters and Matthew Henry heard that note. Most, however, take the word as introducing the prophecy that follows. Poole weighs both and concludes, “But the former sense is more unforced and agreeable to the following words as they lie” (Poole, Commentary, on Numbers 24:14). “The latter days” (‘acharit hayyamim) points past Balak’s lifetime to the horizon of God’s decisive future, the phrase Jacob used before blessing his sons (Genesis 49:1).

Balaam and Christ stand in stark contrast here. Balaam would have sold his tongue if God had allowed it. Christ, offered all the kingdoms of the world if He would only fall down in worship, refused (Matthew 4:8–10). Balaam lost earthly honor unwillingly and resented it; Christ “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7), and “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). Balaam’s “What the LORD speaks, that will I speak” (v. 13) was true only on his lips; in Jesus it was true through and through (John 8:28–29).

Application

This passage should reshape how we count the cost of obedience. Faithfulness to God may cost promotion, approval, or money, and the world will call that foolish, as Balak did. Loss for the sake of obedience is not loss in God’s accounting. Moses “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt” (Hebrews 11:26).

It also exposes the difference between right words and a right heart. Balaam said the correct things, yet Jesus’ diagnosis of hypocrisy fits him: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). Orthodox speech is not the same as a surrendered heart.

Consider where the “house full of silver and gold” appears today:

• At work, when an employee is pressed to misrepresent a product or hide a problem to close a deal.
• In ministry, when a pastor is tempted to soften a hard text to keep a generous family happy.
• Among friends, when a young believer is pressured to laugh along with what Christ forbids in order to keep a place in the group.

In each case the question is not only “What will I say?” but “What do I love?” Jesus warns, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness” (Luke 12:15), and “You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). The remedy for Balaam’s divided heart is a heart that treasures Christ above every reward (Philippians 3:7–8).

A warning against misapplication: This passage does not teach that obedience always brings financial or social loss, nor that success is a sign of compromise. God often honors faithfulness in this life. Neither does it permit the Balaam strategy of keeping the letter of a command while scheming to get around its purpose, which is exactly what he did at Peor (31:16).

Section 5 — A Star Out of Jacob and a Scepter Out of Israel (Numbers 24:15–19)

Key Insight

The fourth oracle opens with the same credentials as the third, with one addition: Balaam is the one who “knows the knowledge of the Most High” (v. 16). The title ‘Elyon sets what follows on the widest stage, the Most High’s rule over all nations (Deuteronomy 32:8).

Then comes the most celebrated line Balaam ever spoke: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth” (v. 17). The verbs of seeing describe what passes before Balaam’s inward eye; the one he sees is distant in time, “not now … not near” (v. 17). The “him” is defined by what follows: a star (kokhab) and a scepter (shebet). The scepter is the same word as Genesis 49:10, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah” (Genesis 49:10), and the star is an ancient emblem of kingship. This is a prophecy of a King.

Spurgeon states the church’s historic reading: “This prophecy may have some reference to David, but we feel persuaded that the true design of the Holy Spirit is to set forth an emblem of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Spurgeon, The Star Out of Jacob, Sermon No. 3343). Calvin explains why a merely Davidic fulfillment will not do: “only sparks of God’s blessing shone forth until its completed brightness was manifested in Christ … The coming forth of the Star and the Sceptre, therefore, of which Balaam speaks explicitly, refers to Christ” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:17). Keil agrees: “In the ‘star out of Jacob,’ Balaam beholds not David as the one king of Israel, but the Messiah, in whom the royalty of Israel promised to the patriarchs … attains its fullest realization” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, on Numbers 24:23–24).

The King’s first work is conquest. He will crush Moab, the very nation that hired Balaam, and “Edom shall be dispossessed; Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly” (v. 18). Edom and its mountain land Seir will pass into another’s possession (yereshah). “And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of cities!” (v. 19). The verb radah is the language of royal rule (Psalm 72:8; 110:2). David began to fulfill this when he struck Moab and put garrisons in Edom (2 Samuel 8:2, 13–14), but Moab and Edom rebelled again (2 Kings 1:1; 8:20). The prophets carried the hope forward, promising that God’s people would “possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name” (Amos 9:12). James applies it to the ingathering of the Gentiles (Acts 15:16–17).

Matthew Henry notices the solemn edge of “not near”: “Balaam, a wicked man, shall see Christ, but shall not see him nigh” (Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Numbers 24:15–25).

Christ is the Star. He calls Himself “the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16). Peter speaks of the day when “the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). The magi came saying, “we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). Matthew does not quote Numbers 24:17, and we should not claim that he does, but the church has long heard the harmony between the star that led Gentile seekers to the King of the Jews and the Star that a Gentile seer beheld from afar.

Application

This oracle should shape our thinking about Christ Himself. Jesus is not only a Savior to be trusted but a King to be obeyed; the Star is also a Scepter. Psalm 2 ends with the call to “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry” (Psalm 2:12), and with the promise, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 2:12). Both belong together.

It should also change how we look at Christ. Balaam saw Him, “but not near” (v. 17). It is possible to know a great deal about Jesus and never come to Him. Seeing Christ from a distance is not the same as trusting Him as your own. The magi traveled far to worship Him, and “they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” (Matthew 2:10).

Specific applications:

• Submit gladly to His rule in the areas you are most tempted to keep for yourself: money, sexuality, speech, and time.
• Take courage in a hostile world. The King “must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). Opposition to the gospel, however strong, is not permanent.
• Pray and give for missions. The dispossession of Edom became, in the prophets and in Acts, the gathering of the nations to Christ (Amos 9:12; Acts 15:16–17).
• Let Scripture be your light until He comes, for Peter calls the prophetic word “a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).

A warning against misapplication: This verse gives no support to astrology, to reading the stars for guidance, or to date-setting for Christ’s return; the star is a sign pointing to the King, not a system for predicting the future. Nor does the crushing of Moab and Edom give any warrant for hostility toward any people today. Christ now conquers His enemies by the gospel, turning rebels into subjects (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).

Section 6 — The Nations Pass Away and the Counsel of the Wicked Comes to Nothing (Numbers 24:20–25)

Key Insight

Balaam’s final sayings sweep across the nations. “Amalek was the first among the nations, but its end is utter destruction” (v. 20). The words play on re’shit (“first”) and ‘acharit (“end”). Amalek was first either as the first nation to attack Israel after the exodus (Exodus 17:8) or in its boasted preeminence (so Barnes and the Pulpit Commentary). Either way, the LORD had already sworn, “I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven” (Exodus 17:14), and Balaam confirms the sentence. Saul’s campaign (1 Samuel 15) and the final destruction of a remnant in Hezekiah’s day (1 Chronicles 4:41–43) carried it out in history. Calvin looks further: “In order, therefore, to arrive at the entire accomplishment of this prophecy, we must come to Christ, whose kingdom is the eternal destruction of all the wicked” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:20).

Next, “the Kenite”: “Enduring is your dwelling place, and your nest is set in the rock” (v. 21). The word “nest” (qen) puns on Qayin (Kain), the clan’s name. The Kenites were kin to Moses’ father-in-law (Judges 1:16) and were spared by Saul because they “showed kindness to all the people of Israel” (1 Samuel 15:6). Verse 22 is obscure. The ESV reads it as a sentence of judgment, “Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned when Asshur takes you away captive” (v. 22). Keil, Barnes, and the Pulpit Commentary read it as a negative question that promises long preservation until the Assyrian captivity. Calvin took the Kenites as a name for Midianites and applied the saying to Israel’s exile. Keil’s reading of their weakness is suggestive: “they never entered inwardly into fellowship with Israel and Jehovah’s covenant of grace, but sought to maintain their own independence side by side with Israel” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, on Numbers 24:21–22). A nest in a rock is secure only for a season; security lies in the LORD Himself.

The last saying begins with a cry: “Alas, who shall live when God does this?” (v. 23). Matthew Henry hears in it a confession of God’s rule over history: “Here he acknowledges all the revolutions of states and kingdoms to be the Lord’s doing” (Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Numbers 24:15–25). Then: “But ships shall come from Kittim and shall afflict Asshur and Eber; and he too shall come to utter destruction” (v. 24). Kittim, first Cyprus (Genesis 10:4), came to stand for the western sea powers (Daniel 11:30). Older commentators saw the Greeks under Alexander and then Rome. Asshur in the east and Eber, the Semitic peoples including the Hebrews, will be afflicted, and the western conqueror will perish in turn. The lesson is clear: every empire that rises against God’s purposes falls.

The chapter ends in anticlimax: “Then Balaam rose and went back to his place. And Balak also went his way” (v. 25). Calvin sums up the whole episode: “The sum is, that the enemies of the chosen people departed in dishonor without accomplishing their purpose, since God put them to confusion” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:25). Centuries later Micah told Israel to “remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him” (Micah 6:5).

Only one kingdom does not pass away. Daniel saw “a kingdom that shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44), and Revelation announces that Christ “shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). The Star of verse 17 outlasts Amalek, Asshur, and Kittim alike.

Application

This passage should change how we view the powers of our own day. Amalek was “the first among the nations” (v. 20), and it is gone. No empire, corporation, movement, or reputation is permanent except the kingdom of Christ. That frees believers from both awe and panic before the news. “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing” (Psalm 33:10).

It also warns against false security:

• A nest in the rock. The Kenites’ dwelling looked impregnable. Wealth, health, or a strong position can feel the same way, but even a nest in a rock is not permanent.
• Proximity without belonging. The Kenites lived alongside Israel and were treated kindly, yet closeness to God’s people is not the same as belonging to God. Children raised in the church, spouses of believers, and friends of the congregation need to come to Christ themselves (John 3:3).
• Hearing without changing. Balaam heard and spoke the greatest truths, then “went back to his place” (v. 25) unchanged, and Numbers 31:16 shows what he did next. Hearing this chapter should lead to repentance and faith, not merely to admiration.

Finally, it comforts. Balak’s scheme and Balaam’s skill came to nothing. Believers facing opposition may say with Proverbs, “No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD” (Proverbs 21:30).

A warning against misapplication: Verse 24 should not be turned into a chart matching Kittim, Asshur, and Eber to modern nations or current events; the older commentators themselves differed, and the text gives outlines, not details. Nor should the fall of nations be received with cold triumph. Balaam’s “Alas” is fitting, and Christians should grieve over human suffering even as they trust God’s justice (Luke 19:41–44).

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Cross References

Comparative Gospel Study

Not Applicable as Direct Comparison — Numbers is Old Testament historical narrative with embedded prophetic oracles, not Gospel narrative. However, Numbers 24 anticipates key Gospel themes:

• The star and the King of the Jews. The magi arrived in Jerusalem saying, “we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). Matthew does not quote Numbers 24:17, and his account does not depend on it. Yet Gentile seekers from the east following a star to Israel’s newborn King form a striking harmony with a Gentile seer from the east who beheld a Star rising out of Jacob. Matthew Henry and Keil both suggest the magi may have known Balaam’s words; Scripture does not say.
• True words from an unwilling mouth. Balaam spoke God’s word while his heart resisted it. John records the same pattern in Caiaphas: “He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation” (John 11:51). In both cases God overruled an enemy’s tongue to announce His saving purpose, and in both the speaker gained nothing from the truth he spoke.
• Silver and the soul. Balaam was hired to curse God’s people and, loving gain, later gave the counsel that led them into sin. Judas asked the chief priests, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” (Matthew 26:15). Both men stood close to the truth and sold themselves for gain, illustrating Jesus’ question, “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).
• Seeing from afar. Balaam saw the King “not near” (v. 17). Jesus told His disciples that “many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it” (Matthew 13:17), and that “Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day” (John 8:56). The Gospels present the arrival of the One whom the ancient seers glimpsed only at a distance.
• The everlasting kingdom of the Son of David. Balaam foresaw a king higher than Agag and a scepter rising out of Israel. Gabriel announced that God would give Jesus “the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:32) and that “of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33). The Gospels proclaim the kingdom Balaam glimpsed, now come near in the person of Jesus.

Old Testament Connections

Pentateuch

• Genesis 3:15 — The promise that the woman’s offspring “shall bruise your head” (Genesis 3:15) stands behind the Star who will “crush the forehead of Moab” (v. 17).
• Genesis 12:1–3; 27:29 — The Abrahamic blessing and Isaac’s blessing of Jacob are restated in verse 9.
• Genesis 17:6; 35:11 — Kings promised to Abraham and Jacob anticipate “his king” (v. 7).
• Genesis 49:1, 9–10 — Jacob’s “days to come” (Genesis 49:1), the lion of Judah, and the scepter of Judah are echoed in verses 9, 14, and 17.
• Exodus 17:8–16 — Amalek’s attack and the LORD’s sworn war against it lie behind verse 20.
• Numbers 2 — The ordered camp “tribe by tribe” (v. 2).
• Numbers 23:19–24 — The second oracle’s wild ox, lion, and “no enchantment against Jacob.”
• Numbers 31:8, 16 — Balaam’s death and his counsel at Peor.
• Deuteronomy 18:9–18 — The ban on divination and the promise of a prophet like Moses.
• Deuteronomy 23:4–5 — The LORD “turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you” (Deuteronomy 23:5).

Historical Books

• Joshua 13:22; 24:9–10 — Balaam killed as a diviner; the LORD says, “but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you” (Joshua 24:10).
• 1 Samuel 15 — Saul’s war with Amalek, the capture of Agag, and the kindness shown to the Kenites.
• 2 Samuel 7:12–16 — The everlasting throne promised to David’s offspring.
• 2 Samuel 8:2, 13–14 — David subdues Moab and Edom, a first fulfillment of verses 17–18.
• 2 Kings 1:1; 8:20 — Moab and Edom rebel, showing that David’s victories did not exhaust the prophecy.
• Nehemiah 13:2 — “yet our God turned the curse into a blessing” (Nehemiah 13:2).

Wisdom Literature

• Psalm 2:8–9 — The nations given to the Son, who will “break them with a rod of iron” (Psalm 2:9).
• Psalm 60:8; 108:9 — God’s triumph over Moab and Edom.
• Psalm 72:8 — The royal hope: “May he have dominion from sea to sea” (Psalm 72:8).
• Psalm 110:1–2 — The King enthroned “until I make your enemies your footstool” (Psalm 110:1), His scepter sent out from Zion.
• Proverbs 21:1, 30 — The king’s heart in the LORD’s hand; no counsel avails against the LORD.

Major Prophets

• Isaiah 11:14 — The restored people “shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab” (Isaiah 11:14).
• Isaiah 60:3 — “And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3).
• Isaiah 63:1–6 — The divine warrior coming from Edom.
• Jeremiah 48:45 — A later oracle against Moab that reuses the language of verse 17.
• Daniel 2:44 — The kingdom that “shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44).
• Daniel 11:30 — The “ships of Kittim” (Daniel 11:30), taking up the language of verse 24.

Minor Prophets

• Hosea 3:5 — Israel seeking the LORD and “David their king” (Hosea 3:5) in the latter days.
• Amos 9:11–12 — The restored booth of David possessing “the remnant of Edom” (Amos 9:12).
• Obadiah 17–21 — Edom’s downfall and the promise that “the kingdom shall be the LORD’s” (Obadiah 21).
• Micah 5:2 — The ruler from Bethlehem whose origin is from of old.
• Micah 6:5 — “remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him” (Micah 6:5).

New Testament Fulfillment

Gospels and Acts

• Matthew 2:1–12 — The magi follow a star to the King of the Jews and worship Him.
• Matthew 2:15 — The Son called out of Egypt, echoing “God brings him out of Egypt” (v. 8).
• Matthew 7:21–23 — Prophesying in Christ’s name without knowing Him.
• Luke 1:32–33, 78–79 — The throne of David given to Jesus, and “the sunrise shall visit us from on high” (Luke 1:78).
• John 11:49–52 — Caiaphas prophesies without understanding.
• Acts 2:17 — The “last days” have begun with the outpouring of the Spirit.
• Acts 15:13–18 — James applies Amos 9:11–12, with its possession of Edom, to the ingathering of the Gentiles.

Paul’s Epistles

• Romans 8:31–39 — “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
• Romans 16:20 — “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).
• 1 Corinthians 10:1–11 — Israel’s wilderness history, including the sin at Peor (v. 8), written “for our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
• 1 Corinthians 15:24–26 — Christ “must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).
• Galatians 3:8–16, 29 — The blessing of Abraham comes to the nations in Christ, who bore the curse.
• Philippians 2:9–11 — Every knee bowing to the exalted Jesus.
• Colossians 2:15 — Christ’s triumph over the powers.

General Epistles and Revelation

• Hebrews 1:2 — God has spoken “in these last days” by His Son.
• 1 Peter 1:10–12 — The prophets searched and inquired about the grace to come.
• 2 Peter 1:19–21 — The prophetic word, “the morning star,” and men carried along by the Spirit.
• 2 Peter 2:15–16 — Balaam “loved gain from wrongdoing” (2 Peter 2:15) and was rebuked by a donkey.
• Jude 11 — “Balaam’s error” as a mark of false teachers.
• Revelation 2:14 — The “teaching of Balaam” at Pergamum.
• Revelation 2:26–28 — The conqueror shares Christ’s rule and receives “the morning star” (Revelation 2:28).
• Revelation 5:5 — “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5).
• Revelation 19:11–16 — The King of kings strikes down the nations.
• Revelation 22:16 — “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16).

Redemptive-Historical Context

Creation and fall. Numbers 24 is saturated with Eden. Israel’s tents look like gardens beside a river and trees “that the LORD has planted” (v. 6), language that recalls the garden God planted for humanity before the fall (Genesis 2:8–10). Adam’s sin forfeited that garden and brought the curse (Genesis 3:17–19). From the beginning, however, God promised that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). Balaam’s Star who will “crush the forehead of Moab” (v. 17) stands in that line of promise: the conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent is being played out on the plains of Moab.

Redemption in promise. God answered the curse with blessing through Abraham, promising, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Numbers 24 shows that promise holding firm at the edge of the land. A pagan king hires a pagan seer to curse the seed of Abraham, and God turns every syllable into blessing. The oracle then presses the promise forward into kingship: a king higher than Agag (v. 7) and a Star and Scepter who will rule the nations (vv. 17–19). This advances God’s plan by narrowing the promise toward a person, the royal seed who completes the blessing.

Patterns for God’s dealings with His people. Several patterns emerge that recur throughout Scripture:

• God protects His people from threats they do not see, and turns the schemes of their enemies against those who devised them (Genesis 50:20; Esther 7:10; Psalm 33:10).
• God can speak truth through unworthy instruments without approving them (John 11:51).
• Those who oppose God’s people oppose God Himself (Zechariah 2:8; Acts 9:4).
• The kingdoms of the world rise and fall under His hand, and none of them is final (Daniel 2:44).

Christ and the New Covenant. The promise of a Star out of Jacob reaches its goal in Jesus Christ, “the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16). He fulfills the blessing of Abraham by bearing the curse: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13), “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles” (Galatians 3:14). Under the new covenant the conquest of Edom becomes the gathering of the nations (Amos 9:12; Acts 15:16–17), and the lion of Judah conquers by being slain as a Lamb (Revelation 5:5–6). The water that flows from Israel’s buckets becomes the Spirit poured out on all who believe (John 7:38–39).

Already and not yet. The Star has risen. Christ has come, has triumphed over the powers at the cross (Colossians 2:15), and now reigns at the Father’s right hand. The latter days have begun (Hebrews 1:2). Yet the enemies are not all under His feet; the church still faces its Balaks and Balaams, and false teaching still follows “the way of Balaam” (2 Peter 2:15). Christ “must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). The morning star has appeared, but the full day has not yet dawned. Believers live between the Star’s rising and the day’s full light, confident that the kingdom announced on the heights of Peor will stand when every other kingdom has come to “utter destruction” (v. 24), and that “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” (Revelation 11:15).

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Systematic Theology Connection

The Sovereignty of God in Providence

Numbers 24 is a sustained demonstration that God rules the plans of kings and the tongues of prophets. Balak paid for a curse; Balaam wanted the wages; neither could move a syllable beyond God’s will. The chapter shows God governing both sinful intentions and their outcomes, so that the only result of the whole enterprise was blessing for Israel and dishonor for its enemies.

The Westminster Confession teaches that God “doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least” (WCF 5.1). His providence reaches even to sin, “not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering, and governing of them” (WCF 5.4), “yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God” (WCF 5.4). Balak’s hatred and Balaam’s greed were their own; the bounding and ordering were God’s. The Confession adds that God’s providence, “after a most special manner, it taketh care of his church, and disposeth all things to the good thereof” (WCF 5.7). The Shorter Catechism summarizes providence as God’s “most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions” (WSC 11).

How the passage teaches it:

• God constrains Balaam’s will and speech (vv. 1–4, 13).
• God turns Balak’s paid curse into repeated blessing (v. 10; Deuteronomy 23:5).
• God rules the rise and fall of nations (vv. 20–24).

Scripture everywhere confirms this: “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will” (Proverbs 21:1). Joseph told his brothers, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

Practical implications. Believers need not fear the plans of hostile powers, since “No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD” (Proverbs 21:30). They should pray with confidence, knowing God works where they cannot see, and they should never excuse their own sin by appeal to God’s sovereignty, since sin remains the creature’s own.

The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture

Balaam’s oracles are God’s word spoken through a corrupt man, and Moses recorded them as Scripture. The chapter therefore raises the question of where the authority of God’s word comes from, and it answers plainly: from God, not from the speaker.

The Westminster Confession teaches that “it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church” (WCF 1.1), and it describes the Scriptures in their original languages as “being immediately inspired by God, and, by his singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages” (WCF 1.8). Their authority “dependeth not upon the testimony of any man, or church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof” (WCF 1.4). Numbers 24 illustrates each point. The revelation came in an unusual manner, through the Spirit coming upon a pagan seer (v. 2). Its authority did not depend on Balaam’s character, for he spoke only what God gave: “What the LORD speaks, that will I speak” (v. 13). Peter explains the principle: “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

The passage also shows that inspiration and sanctification are distinct works. Charles Hodge writes, “The subjects of inspiration are a few selected persons; the subjects of spiritual illumination are all true believers” (Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 1). Balaam received the first without the second.

Practical implications:

• We receive Scripture as God’s word because God is its author, not because of the virtues of its human writers.
• We distinguish the authority of the message from the approval of every messenger (Philippians 1:15–18).
• We test all teachers by the written Word, since even a man who once spoke true prophecy can later teach error (Revelation 2:14; Galatians 1:8).
• We need the Spirit’s inward illumination to receive the Word savingly, not merely to hear it (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The Covenant of Grace

The heart of Balaam’s third oracle is a covenant formula: “Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you” (v. 9). It repeats God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) and Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Genesis 27:29), and it shows that the covenant God made with the patriarchs still stood over their descendants forty years after the exodus, despite all their rebellions.

The Westminster Confession calls this the covenant of grace, “wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ” (WCF 7.3). Under the law this covenant was “administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come” (WCF 7.5). Numbers 24 is one of those prophecies. It holds out a king (v. 7) and a Star (v. 17) who foreshadow the Messiah. The Confession insists, “There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations” (WCF 7.6).

How the passage demonstrates it:

• Grace, not merit. Israel was not blessed because it was faithful; chapters 11–21 record constant rebellion, and chapter 25 records worse. The blessing rests on God’s promise.
• Unity. The same blessing passes from Abraham to Israel and, in Christ, to the nations; Paul says that “the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham” (Galatians 3:8).
• Mediator. The covenant’s blessings flow through a coming King, whom the New Testament identifies as Jesus, the seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16).

Practical implications. Believers today stand under the same blessing, for “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29). Their security rests not on their performance but on God’s covenant faithfulness in Christ, and this frees them to obey from gratitude rather than fear.

The Kingly Office of Christ

The fourth oracle is a prophecy of a King: a Star and a Scepter who will crush His enemies and “exercise dominion” (v. 19). Reformed theology has always read this as a revelation of Christ’s kingly office, first shadowed in David and fulfilled in Jesus.

The Westminster Confession teaches that God ordained Christ to be “the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Savior of his church” (WCF 8.1). The Shorter Catechism explains, “Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies” (WSC 26). The Larger Catechism adds that He does this in “restraining and overcoming all their enemies, and powerfully ordering all things for his own glory, and their good” (WLC 45), and “also in taking vengeance on the rest, who know not God, and obey not the gospel” (WLC 45). The Heidelberg Catechism confesses Him as “our eternal King, who governs us by his word and Spirit” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 31).

How Numbers 24 displays this office:

• Ruling: the Scepter rises out of Israel (v. 17), and one from Jacob exercises dominion (v. 19).
• Defending: the King’s people are blessed and their enemies cursed (v. 9).
• Conquering: Moab, Edom, and every hostile power fall before Him (vv. 17–19).
• Judging: the nations that oppose God come to “utter destruction” (vv. 20, 24).

The New Testament confirms that Jesus is this King, “the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16), who “must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).

Practical implications. Christians should submit gladly to Christ’s rule in every area of life, take comfort that He defends His church, and pray for the advance of His kingdom by the Word and Spirit. His present conquest is chiefly by grace, as He subdues rebels to Himself; His final conquest will be by judgment.

Common Operations of the Spirit and Effectual Calling

Balaam is Scripture’s clearest case of a man on whom “the Spirit of God came” (v. 2), who heard God’s words and saw the vision of the Almighty, and who nevertheless died an enemy of God (31:8, 16). His life forces the question of how the Spirit’s work in gifts differs from His work in salvation.

The Westminster Confession answers directly: “Others, not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore cannot be saved” (WCF 10.4). The Larger Catechism likewise says that others “may be, and often are, outwardly called by the ministry of the word, and have some common operations of the Spirit” (WLC 68). Effectual calling is different in kind. In it God works by “enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh” (WCF 10.1).

What the passage illustrates:

• Illumination without regeneration. Balaam’s eyes were opened (vv. 3–4), yet Matthew Henry notes that such men are “enlightened, but not sanctified” (Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Numbers 24:1–9).
• Knowledge without love. He “knows the knowledge of the Most High” (v. 16) but loved gain (2 Peter 2:15).
• Gifts without grace. Compare Saul (1 Samuel 19:23–24), Caiaphas (John 11:51), and those who prophesied in Christ’s name (Matthew 7:22–23).

Scripture’s teaching on the new birth marks the difference: only the Spirit who regenerates brings a sinner to Christ (John 3:5–8; 6:44; Ezekiel 36:26–27).

Practical implications. No one should rest assurance on gifts, experiences, or knowledge alone. At the same time, those who have truly come to Christ can rejoice that their calling is God’s effectual work, which He will complete (Philippians 1:6). Churches should value character alongside gifting in those they call to lead (1 Timothy 3:1–7).

Total Depravity and the Hardening of the Heart

Numbers 24 gives two portraits of the human heart apart from grace. Balak, confronted three times with the blessing of God, grows only angrier and blames the LORD (vv. 10–11). Balaam, who has heard more truth than almost anyone of his generation, leaves unchanged and soon counsels Israel’s seduction (31:16). Neither light nor warning softened them.

The Westminster Confession describes the root of this: from original corruption “we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil” (WCF 6.4). It also describes God’s judicial response to persistent rebellion: God “not only withholdeth his grace whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon in their hearts; but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had” (WCF 5.6), and “gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan, whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under those means which God useth for the softening of others” (WCF 5.6).

How the passage shows it:

• Anger against God’s blessing (v. 10): Balak’s reaction to grace shown to others.
• Religious speech without a renewed will (v. 13): Balaam’s orthodox words and covetous heart.
• Hardening under the means of grace (v. 25; 31:16): the same revelation that would humble a believer left Balaam unmoved.

Calvin observes that “the obstinacy of the wicked is not overcome, so that they should submit themselves to God” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:10). Paul describes the same condition: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Practical implications. Knowledge alone does not save; only God’s grace can overcome a heart “made opposite to all good” (WCF 6.4). This should humble believers, who were no better by nature (Ephesians 2:1–5), and move them to pray for the conversion of those who have heard much and changed little. It should also warn every hearer not to harden the heart while it is still called “today” (Hebrews 3:13).

The Last Judgment and the Consummation of Christ’s Kingdom

The final sayings of Numbers 24 look to “the latter days” (v. 14) and to a sequence of judgments that ends with the last empire itself coming “to utter destruction” (v. 24). The chapter teaches that history is moving toward a goal: the victory of God’s King and the judgment of every power that opposes Him.

The Westminster Confession states, “God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father” (WCF 33.1). The purpose of that day is “the manifestation of the glory of his mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of his justice, in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient” (WCF 33.2). Christ wills that we be persuaded of that day “for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity” (WCF 33.3). The Shorter Catechism teaches us to pray “that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened” (WSC 102).

How the passage points to this:

• A sure end. Amalek’s “end is utter destruction” (v. 20), as God had sworn (Exodus 17:14).
• A universal scope. The powers of east and west alike fall (vv. 22–24).
• A royal Judge. The Star and Scepter conquers every enemy (vv. 17–19; Psalm 110:1).
• An everlasting kingdom. Only the kingdom of God’s King endures (Daniel 2:44; Revelation 11:15).

Practical implications. Believers can face hostile powers with patience, knowing that judgment belongs to Christ and that His kingdom cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28). They should pray for the coming of that kingdom, proclaim the gospel while the day of grace lasts (2 Corinthians 6:2), and live in holy readiness for the King’s return (2 Peter 3:11–13).

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Reformed Theology

Reformed theology reads Numbers 24 as a chapter in the one covenant of grace, in which God binds Himself to bless Abraham’s seed and, through that seed, the nations. The chapter moves from blessing (vv. 3–9) to the King who secures it (vv. 15–19) to the judgment of every rival (vv. 20–24), the covenant of grace in miniature (Genesis 12:3; 49:10). The Westminster Confession teaches that under the law the covenant was “administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come” (WCF 7.5), and that is exactly what Balaam’s oracles do.

Christ at the center. The Reformed tradition has consistently read the Star and Scepter as Christ. Calvin grants that “some beginnings existed in the person of David, but they were very far from exhibiting the fullness of the reality … The coming forth of the Star and the Sceptre, therefore, of which Balaam speaks explicitly, refers to Christ” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:17). He draws the application to the church directly: “Hence it follows that the blessing, of which Balaam speaks, descends even to us” (Calvin, Harmony of the Law, on Numbers 24:17). Spurgeon preached verse 17 as an emblem of Christ, and Keil supports the same reading on exegetical grounds.

Typology and fulfillment. Following Geerhardus Vos, Reformed interpreters read Israel’s history as progressive revelation in which earlier forms anticipate later realities. David’s conquest of Moab and Edom (2 Samuel 8) is a true but partial fulfillment, a type pointing to the greater Son of David. Meredith Kline stressed the kingdom structure of the biblical covenants, and this chapter shows that royal dimension emerging before Israel had a king. O. Palmer Robertson has traced how the promises of land and kingdom expand in Christ to encompass the nations and the renewed creation.

Israel and the church. Reformed theology holds that the blessing of verse 9 belongs to the seed of Abraham, which Paul identifies as Christ and all who are His (Galatians 3:16, 29). The church, composed of believing Jews and Gentiles, is the one people of God (Ephesians 2:11–22). The prophecy against Edom is read through Acts 15:16–17, where James applies Amos 9:11–12 to the Gentile mission. Many Reformed theologians also expect a future turning of ethnic Israel to Christ (Romans 11:25–27), but they do not see Numbers 24 as a charter for a separate future program for national Israel apart from the church.

Providence and the Spirit. The Reformed doctrine of providence (WCF 5.4) explains how God governs Balaam’s sinful purposes without being the author of sin. The distinction between common operations of the Spirit and effectual calling (WCF 10.4) explains how Balaam could prophesy without being saved. John Owen, reflecting on Balaam, held that the Spirit “did overrule the power of the devil, cast out his suggestions from the man’s mind, and gave such an impression of sacred truths in the room of them as he could not but utter and declare” (Owen, Pneumatologia).

Pastoral emphasis. Reformed preaching on this chapter typically stresses the security of God’s people under His unbreakable blessing, the danger of knowledge without grace, and the call to submit to Christ as King. R. C. Sproul and John Piper have both stressed the sovereignty of God that this chapter displays: His purpose to bless His people cannot be thwarted. The church, like Israel below Peor, is kept by a God it cannot always see.

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Dispensational Theology

Dispensational theology reads Numbers 24 through its characteristic commitments: a consistently literal-grammatical-historical hermeneutic, a distinction between Israel and the church, and an expectation that God’s promises to national Israel will be fulfilled literally in a future kingdom.

The Abrahamic covenant and national Israel. Dispensationalists see verse 9 as a restatement of the unconditional Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:3), made with Abraham’s physical descendants. John Walvoord and J. Dwight Pentecost treated the Abrahamic covenant as the foundation of Israel’s future, including its possession of the land and its national blessing. Because the covenant is unconditional, Israel’s sins in the wilderness and at Peor could not cancel it. Many dispensationalists hold that the principle of verse 9 continues to apply to the Jewish people in every age, so that nations are blessed or judged according to their treatment of Israel; some apply this to the modern State of Israel, though dispensationalists differ among themselves on how directly. C. I. Scofield was influential in popularizing the view that God’s dealings with nations are connected to their treatment of Israel.

The Star and Scepter. Dispensationalists agree that verse 17 is messianic and refers to Jesus Christ. They emphasize, however, that its complete fulfillment awaits Christ’s second coming. At His first coming Christ was born as the King of the Jews, but Israel as a nation rejected Him, and the kingdom in its literal, earthly form was postponed. At His return He will establish the millennial kingdom, reigning from Jerusalem on David’s throne, and literally subduing the nations, including the territories anciently occupied by Moab and Edom (Isaiah 11:14; Daniel 2:44).

Israel and the church distinct. Charles Ryrie identified the distinction between Israel and the church as essential to dispensationalism. On this view, the blessings of Numbers 24 are promised to Israel as a nation and are not transferred to the church. The church shares in the spiritual blessings of the Abrahamic covenant (Galatians 3:14) but does not replace Israel as the recipient of its national and territorial promises. Classic dispensationalists read Acts 15:16–17 as showing that Gentile salvation in the church age is consistent with the prophets, not as the fulfillment of Amos 9:11–12, which they expect to be fulfilled when Christ restores David’s kingdom.

Progressive dispensationalism. Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock have argued for a “progressive” dispensationalism in which the Davidic kingdom is already inaugurated in Christ’s present reign and will be consummated in the millennium. On this view, Acts 15 shows a partial, present fulfillment of the promise, while a future fulfillment for national Israel remains. This brings progressive dispensationalists closer to Reformed readings of the already/not-yet structure, while still preserving a distinct future for Israel.

The oracles on the nations. Dispensationalists typically read verses 20–24 as literal predictions with historical fulfillments: Amalek’s destruction under Saul and Hezekiah, the Assyrian captivity, and the rise of western powers such as Greece and Rome from Kittim. Some connect the final destruction in verse 24 to the end-time judgment of the last Gentile world power before the millennial kingdom (Daniel 2:44; 7:23–27).

Evaluation. Reformed and dispensational interpreters share a high view of Scripture, a messianic reading of verse 17, and confidence that God keeps His promises. They differ on whether the church is the fulfillment of Israel’s promises in Christ or a distinct people alongside Israel, and on how literally the land and national promises are to be fulfilled in the future. Both traditions call believers to worship the Star of Jacob and to rest in God’s unbreakable covenant faithfulness.

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Bibliography

Commentaries (quoted from public-domain texts)

• Barnes, Albert. Notes on the Bible (1834). Numbers.
• Calvin, John. Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses, Arranged in the Form of a Harmony. Translated by Charles William Bingham. Calvin Translation Society.
• Gill, John. Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63). Numbers.
• Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete). Numbers.
• Henry, Matthew. Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. Numbers.
• Keil, Carl Friedrich, and Franz Delitzsch. Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1857–78). Numbers.
• Poole, Matthew. Commentary on the Holy Bible. Numbers.
• The Pulpit Commentary. Numbers.

Sermons and Theological Works (quoted from public-domain texts)

• Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.
• Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology. Volume 1.
• Owen, John. Pneumatologia: A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit.
• Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Confession of Sin—A Sermon With Seven Texts. Sermon No. 113.
• Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. The Lamb of God in Scripture. Sermon No. 2329.
• Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. The Star Out of Jacob. Sermon No. 3343.

Confessional Standards

• The Westminster Confession of Faith. American revision, as published by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
• The Westminster Larger Catechism.
• The Westminster Shorter Catechism.
• The Heidelberg Catechism.

Works Referred to by Attributed Substance (in copyright; not quoted)

• Blaising, Craig A., and Darrell L. Bock. Progressive Dispensationalism.
• Kline, Meredith G. Kingdom Prologue.
• Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come.
• Piper, John. Sermons and writings on the sovereignty of God.
• Robertson, O. Palmer. The Christ of the Covenants.
• Ryrie, Charles C. Dispensationalism.
• Scofield, C. I. The Scofield Reference Bible.
• Sproul, R. C. The Holiness of God.
• Vos, Geerhardus. Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments.
• Walvoord, John F. Every Prophecy of the Bible.

Reference Works

• Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament.
• Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Greek dictionaries.
• The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Crossway.