Key Verses: Numbers 23:8, 23:19, 23:23
Balak takes Balaam to high places overlooking Israel and builds altars, expecting a curse. But each time Balaam opens his mouth, only blessing comes out. In the first oracle he asks, “How can I curse whom God has not cursed?” and marvels at a people set apart and beyond counting. In the second, he declares that God is not like man — “God is not man, that he should lie... has he said, and will he not do it?” — that God has blessed Israel and no one can revoke it, and that “there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel.” Balak, increasingly desperate, moves him to another vantage point, hoping for a different result.
The heart of these oracles is the unchangeable faithfulness of God: what He has spoken and promised He will surely do, and His blessing on His people cannot be reversed by any human or spiritual power. “God is not man, that he should lie” stands as one of Scripture’s great declarations of divine constancy, the bedrock of every promise. That the curse of a famous seer is turned, again and again, into blessing shows dramatically that Israel’s security rests not in itself — for its failures fill this very book — but in the covenant word of a God who does not change His mind. No divination, no enemy, no scheme can prevail against those the LORD has determined to bless, a comfort that reaches to all who are in Christ.
Key Terms & Words:
- אֶקֹּב (eqqov) - Numbers 23:8 - “Curse”; what Balaam cannot do to those God has not cursed
- לֹא אִישׁ אֵל (lo ish El) - Numbers 23:19 - “God is not man”; the ground of His unchanging faithfulness
- קֶסֶם (qesem) - Numbers 23:23 - “Divination”; powerless against Jacob
Cross-References:
- 1 Samuel 15:29 - “The Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret”
- Malachi 3:6 - “I the LORD do not change”
- Romans 11:29 - “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”
- Titus 1:2 - The hope of eternal life, which “God, who never lies, promised”
Discussion Questions:
- Why can Balaam only bless, no matter how many times he tries to curse?
- What does “God is not man, that he should lie” ground your confidence in?
- How does Israel’s security in these oracles point to the security of those in Christ?