Who was Balak in the Bible?

King of Moab, son of Zippor, who sought to resist Israel in advancing to the promised land, and hired Balaam to curse them: he was taught by that false prophet to seduce Israel to idolatry by means of fornication with their women. Num. 22, 23, 24; Joshua 24:9; Judges 11:25; Micah 6:5.

Balak, king of the Moabites, it is who, alarmed at the victories of the Israelites, sends for Balaam to curse the people. "Balak" seems to mean "waster," a name in designed contrast, as it would appear, with his genealogy, being but ben-Zippor, "son of a sparrow." What grandiloquent titles do men assume to cover their real insignificance! and how much more do they glory in power for destruction, — in being a Caesar or a Napoleon, — than in the angels' message of peace and good will! Balaam the son of Beor answers to this Balak as in all respects a fit associate. He is a "devourer of the people," son of the "consumer," sought for his skill in cursing, and ready for a bribe to destroy a nation out of hand. No doubt he professes fealty to Jehovah, but without real knowledge of Him, as his acts plainly show. In his efforts to destroy the people of God, it cannot be even pleaded that he hates them: he would only destroy them in cool blood for gain.

Balak (waster) saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. He knew that the people had come out of Egypt . He was sore afraid; the fate of the Egyptians and Amorites seemed to foretell his own; his heart, therefore is filled with fear and hatred, and he desired to oppose and curse Israel . He allied himself with the elders of Midian. It is nothing less than the history of anti-Semitism in a nutshell. Gentile nations, Christian in name, still hate and fear the people whom no Pharaoh and no soothsayer could overcome, a people disobedient, judged and suffering, still always conquering. Like Balak, opposing Gentile nations and kingdoms will yet rise in fear and hatred against Israel before Israel 's coming King will sweep them aside, and what Balak heard from the prophet's lips in his day--the complete destruction of the world-powers by the appearing of the glorious king of Jeshurum--will be the fate of these nations. Balak sends for Balaam, a prophet and a soothsayer. Who was Balaam? His name is a terrible one, "the devourer of people"; his father, Beor, "the consumer"; his native place, Pethor, meaning "interpretation." He must have known Jehovah to some extent, for he asked of Him and God answered his request. At the same time he was known for his skill in cursing nations and for his readiness for gold and silver to destroy them by his powerful spells. He may have practiced his soothsaying for many years, becoming rich by it, when, probably, one day he heard of Jehovah, who had done such great things for and among the wandering nation. Most likely for selfish reasons he sought God, like Simon, the sorcerer, who offered the apostles money for the power to heal the sick, thus Balaam may have desired the acquaintance of God, seeking revelations from Him for the sake of gain, and Jehovah revealed Himself to him. It is very significant that Balaam is mentioned in that important prophetic Epistle of Jude, where he stands as a type of the great apostasy at the end of this age. Balak, the representative of the anti-Semitic world-powers, and Balaam, the half hearted prophet, a type of apostate Christendom, forming an alliance against Israel .

When Jehovah told Moses of the diabolical conspiracy against Israel he might well have said in the language of the Psalmist: "Thou hast seen it; for Thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with Thy hand. Break Thou the arm of the wicked; and as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till Thou find none" (Ps. 10:14-15). When he told the people of the danger which had threatened them, Moses said: "They hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless Jehovah thy God would not hearken to Balaam; but Jehovah thy God turned the curse into a blessing to thee, because Jehovah thy God loved thee" (Deut. 23:4-5). Precious words — "because Jehovah thy God loved thee!" But how poor the response from faithless human hearts!

When Moses and the children of Israel sang their song of triumph on the shores of the Red Sea, they said; "the peoples shall hear and be afraid … the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them … fear and dread shall fall upon them" (Ex. 15:14-16). This was fulfilled to the letter when the King of Moab and his people beheld Jehovah's pilgrim host encamped upon their frontiers forty years later. There were in the camp of Israel 601,730 men able to carry arms; with women and children there were probably at least three million souls, admittedly a vast company. Balak was alarmed; the more so because Israel had recently destroyed three military Powers which had ventured to oppose their march. The King of Arad had gone down; likewise Sihon, King of Heshbon, and Og, King of Bashan (Num. 21). Sihon had some time previously waged a successful war with Moab, and had annexed some of her territory; how then could Balak hope to stand up 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 is as truly interested in the affairs of nations as in the difficulties and sorrows of individual men and women; but Balak knew nothing of God. If the rulers of our own time would humbly spread out their troubles before God, much grief and destruction would be spared. Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah are two fine examples of kings turning humbly to God in moments of national peril (2 Chron. 20; 2 Kings 19).

When Balak, the king of Moab, saw "all that Israel had done to the Amorites … Moab was sore afraid of the people". There was really no need for Moab to fear Israel, for God was not giving the inheritance of the children of Esau or that of the children of Lot to Israel (Deut. 2:5, 9, 19). The enmity towards God's people was not on account of anything that Israel had done, or threatened to do, to Moab. Nor does it appear that Balak expected any attack from Israel, for he said to the elders of Midian, "Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field" (Num. 22:4). Moab did not relish the thought of having God's people as their neighbours, and they wanted to get rid of them.

Knowing nothing of God, Balak hastened to form alliance with Midian and Ammon (Num. 22:4; Deut. 23:3-4). Not being satisfied that military power would suffice to withstand the conquerors of Sihon and Og, he sent messengers to a noted soothsayer — Balaam the son of Beor, living in Mesopotamia. Israel's victories were already being attributed by outsiders to divine power. Thus Rahab said to the spies; "We have heard how Jehovah dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt, and what ye did to the two Kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things our hearts did melt" (Joshua 2:10-11). In sending for Balaam, Balak sought to oppose the supernatural by the supernatural. The Mesopotamian prophet was reputed to have influence with the invisible world. "I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed … Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people" (Num. 22:6).

Still within Moab, Israel moved again to the plains and camped near Jordan, across from Jericho. Moab had no power to withstand them, however, though Balak, king of Moab, was in terror of them because of their great number (v.3).

He saw his only hopeful resource to be in a man who had a reputation of great success in occult practices, Balaam, the son of Beor. Balak sent messengers to Balaam to urge him to come and put a curse upon the people who had come from Egypt, so that Balak might be able to defeat them and drive them out of his land. For he said he understood that both Balaam's blessings and his curses were effective (v.6). Balaam was clearly dependent on satanic power, though he evidently did not realize this himself unless he knew he was guilty of deliberate deception.

The last section of the wilderness book begins with the story of Balak and Balaam. An enemy, the Gentile Balaam, has to speak the words of prophecy, predicting wonderful blessing and glory for the hosts of Israel . The advancing Israelites inspired terror and Balak (waster), the king of Moab, not willing to meet Israel in open battle, sent for Balaam (devourer of the people) to put his powerful magic spell upon Israel and curse them.

Little did Balak and his people realise that their antipathy towards His people was enmity against their God. In sending for Balaam to curse God's people, Balak had issued a challenge to the mighty God of Jacob, which God was not slow to accept. There is no word in Balak's message to Balaam of any evil purpose against him, for his words are, "Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me". Balak did not, as Rahab did, connect Israel's coming out of Egypt with the Name of Jehovah. He only considered a "people come out of Egypt"; but the faith of Rahab said, "we have heard how Jehovah dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt" (Joshua 2:10). The forty years that had passed since that great event had not dimmed in Rahab's mind the mighty power of Israel's God.

Not realising that poor Israel could never have been delivered out of Egypt, or have come through their forty years in the wilderness, without their God, Balak fondly imagined that he could enlist the aid of Balaam, an agent of Satan, to overcome them. It is clear that Balak knew that 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".

In Balak we see what man is without the knowledge of God, caring only for his own advancement and prosperity in this world, and not caring to know the God with Whom he has to do, even though God enters into his life when he is found in hostility against His people. Under the influence of the god of this world whom he served, for he doubtless worshipped "Chemosh, the abomination of Moab" (1 Kings 11:7), he sought the aid of an agent of Satan to carry out his evil designs against God's people.