Balak is the king of Moab who hired Balaam to curse Israel.
Come now,
curse this people for me,
since they are too mighty for me.
How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
Balaam taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel.
Balak son of Zippor sees Israel come out of Egypt and cover the land. He is afraid. He sends to Balaam son of Beor with fees for divination and asks for a curse. God will not give it. Balak takes the prophet from high place to high place. Each time the word comes out as a blessing. Balak’s anger is kindled. He sends Balaam home. The curse he bought is the curse he does not get.
- The hire is the point. A king wants a stronger mouth than his own army.
- Moses records that the harm came another way. On Balaam’s advice the people acted treacherously at Peor.
- Jesus names Balak in the letter to Pergamum. The teaching of Balaam is what he taught this king: a stumbling block, idol food and sexual immorality.
Balak could not buy the curse. He could use the counsel. The Baal of Peor is the altar where that counsel landed. A refused oracle did not keep the king from the stumbling block.
He paid for a curse.
God gave a blessing.
The stumbling block was the counsel he received.
- Balak is king of Moab, son of Zippor.
- He fears Israel and hires a prophet rather than only a sword.
- Three places, three blessings. His anger does not change the word.
- He did not get the curse. He got the advice that stumbled Israel.
- Jesus names him with Balaam’s teaching, not as a forgotten king.
- The star from Jacob is spoken in his hearing.
- The Fear – This people is too mighty for me.
- The Hire – Fees for divination, a curse for sale.
- The Places – High place after high place.
- The Anger – I called you to curse, and you have blessed.
- The Counsel – A stumbling block before the sons of Israel.
- The Name – Still spoken by Christ at Pergamum.
- Numbers 22:4-6 – “Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam… ‘Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me.’”
- Numbers 23:11 – “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.”
- Numbers 24:10-11 – “Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam… ‘I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times.’”
- Numbers 31:16 – “These, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor.”
- Revelation 2:14 – “The teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.”
Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me.
I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.
Balaam taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel.
A king can buy a prophet. He cannot buy a curse God has refused. The harm came by counsel. Do not take Balak’s way around the word.
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