And he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is on the river in the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, a people is come out from Egypt; behold, they cover the face of the land, and they abide over against me.
Balak, king of Moab, has watched Israel destroy the armies in front of him. Now he sends messengers to a distant land to hire one man. Two questions follow: why does a frightened king hire a soothsayer instead of praying, and what does it mean that Israel never knew about the plot?
One writer counts the camp, then weighs Balak's fear against what he should have done with it:
The King of Moab and his people saw Jehovah's travelling host camped on their border. In the camp of Israel there were 601,730 men able to carry arms. With women and children there were probably at least three million people. Balak was alarmed. He was all the more alarmed because Israel had just destroyed three military powers that dared to oppose their march: the King of Arad, Sihon King of Heshbon, and Og King of Bashan. Sihon had earlier fought a successful war with Moab and taken some of her land. How then could Balak hope to stand against a nation which had destroyed his powerful neighbour? When men are in trouble, the proper thing is to turn to God in prayer. He cares about the affairs of nations as much as He cares about the troubles and sorrows of individual men and women. But Balak knew nothing of God.
Balak did not look for help nearby. He sent to Mesopotamia, and one writer explains the thinking behind it:
He was not satisfied that military power would be enough to withstand the conquerors of Sihon and Og. So he sent messengers to a well-known soothsayer — Balaam the son of Beor, who lived in Mesopotamia. Outsiders were already crediting Israel's victories to divine power... In sending for Balaam, Balak sought to oppose the supernatural by the supernatural. People said this Mesopotamian prophet had influence with the invisible world.
The names in this verse carry meaning. One writer sets Balak's name against his parentage, and Balaam's against his trade:
"Balak" seems to mean "waster." The name looks like a deliberate contrast with his family line, since he is only ben-Zippor, "son of a sparrow." What grand titles men take to cover how small they are! Balaam the son of Beor matches this Balak in every way. He is a "devourer of the people," son of the "consumer." Men sought him out for his skill in cursing, and he was ready to take a bribe and destroy a whole nation. No doubt he claims loyalty to Jehovah, but he has no real knowledge of Him, as his actions show. In his efforts to destroy the people of God, you cannot even say he hates them. He would destroy them in cold blood, for money.
Balak's message never names Israel. He describes them by where they came from and how many they are. One writer sees the same fear and hatred repeating long after Balak:
He knew that the people had come out of Egypt. He was very afraid. The fate of the Egyptians and Amorites seemed to foretell his own. So fear and hatred fill his heart, and he wanted to oppose and curse Israel. It is nothing less than the history of anti-Semitism in a nutshell. Nations that call themselves Christian still hate and fear this people, whom no Pharaoh and no soothsayer could overcome — a people disobedient, judged and suffering, yet always conquering.
Balaam did not send a quick refusal. One writer explains the delay:
If Balaam's heart had been right with God, he would have dealt with Balak's message at once. It would not have cost him a moment's thought to send a reply. But Balaam's heart was all wrong... His heart was set on going, because it was set on the silver and gold. But at the same time he made some reference to God — an appearance of religion put on as a cloak to cover his greed. He longed for the money; but he wanted to get hold of it in a religious way.
Israel knew nothing about any of this. One writer draws out what that silence means:
The people of Jehovah were now in grave danger. They had been ungrateful and disobedient all through their wilderness journey. They did not know about the danger, so they did not pray to God about it. But Jehovah Himself took the matter up, and there we are reminded of His unchanging favour. He loved the people, despite all that they were, and He would not allow the enemy to harm them.
- Fear sends. Balak watched Israel destroy three kingdoms. Trouble should drive a man to prayer. Balak knew nothing of God, so he sent for a man.
- Fear buys. Armies had not stopped Israel, so Balak fought the supernatural with the supernatural. He hired a far-off soothsayer said to have influence with the invisible world.
- Fear hates. His message names no nation, only "a people has come out of Egypt" — the fear and hatred one writer calls anti-Semitism in a nutshell.
- The hireling. Balaam's heart was set on the silver and gold. He wrapped that greed in religion, wanting the money in a religious way.
- The unseen defence. Israel never learned of the danger and never prayed. God took the matter up Himself, because He loved them.
And now come, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are mightier than I perhaps I may be able to smite them, and drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.
Balak, king of Moab, watches a nation camped on his border. He reaches for the one weapon he thinks can stop them: a hired curse from a famous prophet in Mesopotamia. His words treat blessing and cursing as goods a man can sell. But can anyone curse a people God has already blessed?
Moab's terror was real. The danger was not. Israel had no orders to touch Moab at all.
There was no need for Moab to fear Israel. God was not giving Israel the inheritance of the children of Esau or that of the children of Lot (Deut. 2:5, 9, 19). The hostility toward God's people was not because of anything Israel had done, or threatened to do, to Moab. Balak does not seem to have expected any attack from Israel. He said to the elders of Midian, "This horde will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field" (Num. 22:4). Moab did not like the thought of having God's people as their neighbours, and they wanted to get rid of them.
Balak could not stand their presence, not any threat they made. Commentators trace that reaction back to its source.
We see the hostility of the world against the people of God brought out, and especially against the power of the people of God. God's power was with His people, and this drew out the hostility of Satan. … When that happens, Satan seeks to force others into open opposition to the people of God. Their presence becomes unbearable to their enemies.
Israel had already conquered Sihon and Og. Balak knew his army was not enough, so he changed weapons.
He was not satisfied that military power would be enough to withstand the conquerors of Sihon and Og. So he sent messengers to a well-known soothsayer — Balaam the son of Beor, who lived in Mesopotamia. Outsiders were already crediting Israel's victories to divine power… In sending for Balaam, Balak sought to oppose the supernatural by the supernatural. People believed the Mesopotamian prophet had influence with the invisible world.
Balak's own rule about blessing and cursing pointed the wrong way for him. God had already said who is blessed and who is cursed.
Balak is in complete and all-distorting darkness. First Israel was forbidden to touch Moab. Next he says, "He whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." He was seeking to bring the curse on Israel when God had said, "Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you." So he was simply bringing it on himself.
Balak's confidence rested on Balaam's name among people. God's verdict on him was the opposite.
Balaam clearly had a great name among men. Balak had said, "I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." But before God he was perverse, self-willed, covetous, and an enemy of His people. There was great religious pretence — the claim to be a servant of the true God — but he was a wicked and foolish man… The same features are not hard to see in some people today. They appear great in the eyes of men, yet they are still perverse, rebellious and foolish.
Balak's request is not finally about Moab's border. The real test comes at the end of Israel's journey, just before they enter the land.
Balak sends for Balaam. The great question in this moving scene is this: "Can Satan succeed in cursing the people of God, so as to stop their entrance into the land of promise?" It is not merely a question of redemption and of the joy of redemption at the beginning of their course. The question comes at the end, when all their unfaithfulness has come out — their unfaithfulness even after the Lord has brought them to Himself. Can Satan succeed then? No.
Moses later explained to Israel why the hired curse came to nothing.
Moses told the people about the danger that had threatened them. He said: "They hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you" (Deut. 23:4-5). Precious words — "because the LORD your God loved you!"
- Fear. Moab dreaded a people who had no orders to harm them. The world resents God's people for their presence and their power, not for any harm they do.
- Hire. Balak could not win by force, so he tried to buy the invisible world and fight the supernatural with the supernatural.
- Boomerang. His own rule about blessing and cursing turned on him. God had already said that whoever curses His people is cursed.
- Reputation. Balaam was great in the eyes of men and perverse in the sight of God. A big name proves nothing.
- Love. God turned the curse into a blessing, and He did it because He loved His people.
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed, having the rewards of divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.
Balak, king of Moab, is afraid of Israel camped on his border. He does not raise an army — he hires a prophet. The men who leave in this verse carry the fee in their hands, and the whole episode asks one question: can anything bought prevail against a people God has blessed?
Balak did not send for an army. He sent for a man in touch with unseen powers, and the fee in the messengers' hands gave the errand away.
Balak imagined that he could enlist the aid of Balaam, an agent of Satan, to overcome them. He did not realise that poor Israel could never have been delivered out of Egypt, or brought through their forty years in the wilderness, without their God. It is clear that Balak knew he was sending his princes to one who was in touch with the forces of evil, for they had "the rewards of divination in their hand".
The instinct is older than Moab. Trouble sends people searching everywhere but to God.
Ever since man was driven out of Eden, he has been restless. He is never more restless than when he is in trouble, or when he thinks he sees trouble approaching. He searches north, south, east, and west for help, or for a way of escape. So Balak took alarm when the people of Israel came close to his borders. He sent messengers to neighbouring kingdoms seeking alliances. He also sent messengers to Mesopotamia to bring the famous diviner Balaam. He would have done better to get down before God, who never turns aside the requests of those who feel their need of Him.
The verse calls the travellers "elders" — a title that was not Israel's alone.
In Numbers 22:7 we read of the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian, so the term was not confined to Israel. The word is saqen, which implies "aged man"; they were no doubt also men of repute.
The two peoples travelled together for a reason.
Balaam no doubt was a Midianite, and there was an intimate connection between the Moabites and the Midianites. At the first Balak consulted the elders of Midian, and the elders of both Moab and Midian went together to seek the aid of Balaam and his sorceries.
The ESV calls the payment "the fees for divination"; older wording says "rewards of divination". Balak had studied his man, and sent the fee ahead of his request.
Balak's messengers went to Mesopotamia "with the rewards of divination in their hands". Balak knew that the false prophet "loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Peter 2:15), so he sought to make sure of him by sending "cash in advance!" But the treacherous deceiver brought Jehovah's name into it. He lodged the messengers for the night, pretending to seek the mind of God.
Balaam did not refuse God outright. He kept consulting Him with his mind already made up.
If Balaam's heart had been right with God, he would have made very short work of Balak's message. A reply would not have cost him a moment's thought. But Balaam's heart was all wrong, and we see him in chapter 22 in the sad condition of a man pulled by conflicting feelings. His heart was bent on going, because it was bent on the silver and gold. Yet at the same time he still made some reference to God. It was an appearance of religion put on as a cloak to cover his greedy practices. He longed for the money, but he wanted to get hold of it in a religious way.
Every coin was wasted. The prophet himself would later admit it.
Balaam, who used enchantments, had to confess, "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel." Balak sent the elders of Moab and Midian to him "with the rewards of divination in their hand". And when Balaam claimed to go and meet Jehovah, he went "to seek for enchantments" (Num. 24:1). No natural power could overcome the people of God. No power of Satan could prevail against them either.
Others have walked the same road since.
They have followed the way of Balaam. There is nothing original about their performances. They follow a well-beaten track first trodden by Balaam of infamous memory, who sold his prophetic gifts for money. He was not the first person to prophesy for money; that has always been a custom in religions that worship idols. But he appears to have been the first to offer to prophesy for money in the name of the Lord. With Balaam the supreme question was "Will it pay?"
- Fear hires. Balak's fear sent him searching abroad for help. He should have got down before God, who turns no one away.
- Fear pays. The fee in their hands shows Balak knew the kind of man he was hiring. He paid in advance.
- Fear allies. Moab and Midian were closely tied. Both sent their elders, respected older men, on one errand.
- Fear dresses up. Balaam wanted the silver, and wanted it in a religious way. He consulted God about a matter his heart had settled.
- Fear fails. No enchantment stands against Jacob. The money bought nothing. "Will it pay?" still marks the prophet who is for sale.