Balak’s attempt to secure a curse against Israel becomes a contest over who controls the word spoken about the people: though the king repeatedly changes the location and offers honor, Balaam can only deliver the message God gives him, and his three declarations bless Israel.

Fear and the summons

After Israel defeated Sihon and Og and camped on the plains of Moab, Balak saw the victories and feared the people’s numbers. Moab’s elders described Israel as a force that might consume the land like an ox grazing a field. Balak therefore sent messengers to Balaam at Pethor, asking him to curse Israel so that Moab might prevail in battle and drive the people away.

The messengers carried rewards for divination. Balaam asked them to stay overnight while he sought God’s word; God told him not to go with them or curse Israel, because the people were blessed. Balaam sent the first delegation back, explaining that the LORD would not permit him to go.

A renewed offer and a constrained mission

Balak responded by sending a larger, more distinguished delegation and promising Balaam great honor and whatever he requested. Balaam replied that even a house full of silver and gold could not authorize him to go beyond the word of the LORD. After God told him to go with the men but speak only what God commanded, Balaam set out with Moab’s princes.

When Balak met him near the border of the Arnon, Balaam made clear that he had no independent power to speak: he could utter only the word God put in his mouth. Balak nevertheless took him to successive vantage points, hoping that a different view of Israel might yield a curse. At each site the king arranged seven altars and offerings of seven bulls and seven rams, while Balaam waited for a message and returned to speak it.

Three blessings instead of a curse

From the first height, Balaam declared that he could not curse a people God had not cursed. He described Israel as set apart from the nations and too numerous to count, and expressed the wish that his own end might resemble the end of the righteous. Balak protested that he had hired Balaam to curse his enemies, but Balaam insisted that he had to speak what the LORD placed in his mouth.

At the field of Zophim on Pisgah, the second oracle stressed that God does not lie or reverse what he has spoken: Balaam had been commanded to bless, and could not take the blessing back. It presented the LORD as present among Israel, recalled God’s bringing the people out of Egypt, and declared that neither enchantment nor divination could prevail against them. Balak’s response was to ask Balaam at least to refrain from blessing as well as cursing, but Balaam again said he must do what the LORD spoke.

Balak then took Balaam to the top of Peor. Seeing Israel arranged tribe by tribe, Balaam did not seek enchantments as before; the spirit of God came upon him. His third oracle praised Israel’s encampments and pictured flourishing abundance, an exalted kingdom, and a people rising like a lion. Balak struck his hands together in anger and ordered Balaam to return home, saying that the LORD had prevented the honor he had promised.

The final oracles and the episode’s close

Before departing, Balaam reminded Balak that no payment could make him speak beyond the LORD’s word. He then announced what Israel would do to Moab in the end of days, foretelling a star from Jacob and a scepter from Israel, alongside the subjugation of Moab and other peoples. Further pronouncements named the eventual destruction of Amalek and the troubles awaiting other nations. Balaam returned to his people, and Balak went his way.

The episode reverses the purpose of the royal summons at every turn: Balak seeks a weapon against Israel, but the repeated ritual preparations yield words that affirm Israel’s blessing and future strength. Its conclusion also distinguishes the intended curse from the later conflict with Moab: after Balaam and Balak part, Israel’s subsequent disloyalty at Shittim and the ensuing plague are narrated separately.