Numbers 23:1-12; If God Is For Us~ 20260628 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
2026.06.28 Numbers 23:1-12; If God Is For Us;Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20260628_numbers-23_1-12.mp3
Miriam is dead. Aaron is dead. Moses will not enter the land. He is absent from the narrative of Numbers 22-24. Aaron was commissioned to put YHWH’s name on the people in blessing:
Numbers 6:24 The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Aaron is gone, but God is still able to bless his people, and he can use whomever he wishes.
Israel is camped on the plains of Moab, opposite Jericho. God’s people had taken the long detour around Edom when they refused them passage, because God refused to give Israel the land of their relatives. They passed by Moab and crossed the Arnon into Amorite land and conquered Sihon and Og and possessed the land from the Arnon river to Mt. Hermon in the north, to the borders of Ammon (the Ammonites were also relatives through Abraham). Moab, ignorant of God’s word of protection over them (Dt.2:9), and in fear because of their circumstances, attempted to wage spiritual warfare against this great horde who had already defeated the ones who defeated them. They were no match militarily, so they attempted to weaken them spiritually by hiring the pagan diviner Balaam from Aram. God had forbidden Balaam to go (22:12), but on his persistence, allowed him to go with the clear restriction ‘but only do what I tell you’ (22:20). Because he went, God’s anger was kindled, and he sent his Angel to oppose him ‘because your way is perverse before me’ (22:32). His dumb donkey was more perceptive than the spiritually blind seer, turning away from destruction three times, receiving blows from her master, whose anger was ignited because of the disobedient beast.
Numbers 22:28 Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
Balaam’s anger flared against his animal who embarrassed him by disobeying him in order to save his life. God’s anger flared against Balaam, who disobeyed his first command “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed” (22:12).
The Lord has to open the eyes of this spiritual man who claims to have his eyes open, to enable him to see what his donkey had already seen, the Angel of YHWH standing with drawn sword to oppose him. Balaam acknowledges his ignorance of this spiritual being’s presence, confesses his sin, and offers to turn around ‘if it is evil in your sight’ (22:34). If!
Numbers 22:35 And the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.
Balak comes out to meet him, expresses his frustration at the delay, but Balaam has learned just a little from his humbling journey, and answers
Numbers 22:38 ...’Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.”
Balak sacrifices oxen and sheep, likely as a feast for his esteemed guest, and in the morning he ‘brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.’
Chapters 23 and 24 consist mainly of Balaam’s four oracles, framed by the preparations to receive a word, and the response to that word.
Preparations for the First Oracle
Numbers 23:1 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, 4 and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering.
Seven altars, seven bulls, seven rams; numbers like seven were full of symbolism and significance; seven the number of perfection or completion, like the seventh day of rest from creation, or the seven lamps for light in the tabernacle, blood sprinkled seven times to purify or set apart. Here in this occultic context, the number was likely more superstitious.
Balaam said ‘perhaps’. Perhaps YHWH will come to meet with me. He acknowledges that he could not guarantee the effectiveness of his practices, that YHWH God of Israel is free to reveal himself to whom he wishes whenever he wishes; and he is just as free to withhold revelation when he chooses not to reveal himself. Balaam is not in control of this situation; he is subject to YHWH’s will and YHWH’s purposes.
Ezekiel 21 gives us some insight into the occult practices of ancient diviners:
Ezekiel 21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shakes the arrows; he consults the teraphim; he looks at the liver. 22 Into his right hand comes the divination ...
Although we are not told in this passage, it is possible that the liver and other parts of these sacrificial animals were examined in an attempt to discern secret messages. But that is not where the message was received. God met Balaam. Balaam pointed to his procedure of offering seven bulls and seven lambs on seven altars, but YHWH put a word in Balaam’s mouth. God had already demonstrated that he can open a donkey’s mouth, and he can just as well control a pagan diviner’s mouth to speak his truth. Quite apart from any merits of the sacrifices, God chose to reveal himself. He chose to communicate.
Oracle 1: Blessing from Bamoth-baal
And this is the word YHWH gave him to speak:
Numbers 23:7 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“From Aram Balak has brought me,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
and come, denounce Israel!’
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?
9 For from the top of the crags I see him,
from the hills I behold him;
behold, a people dwelling alone,
and not counting itself among the nations!
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!”
The LORD is the Source of True Blessing
Balak summoned Balaam to curse Israel; Balak had requested:
Numbers 22:6 Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
But in Genesis 12, YHWH promised Abram:
Genesis 12:2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
YHWH God claims to be the true source of blessing and cursing, and no pagan diviner, no matter how learned or skilled or powerful in dark arts, can overturn what God has decreed.
After rehearsing the glorious gospel, Paul exults:
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If God is for us, if God has blessed us, and he has abundantly blessed us in the gospel: he did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all; if God is for us, who can be against us? No physical or supernatural power will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus said:
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
We are kept according to 1 Peter 1:5, not by our own strength but by God’s omnipotent power.
A People Set Apart
In verse 9 Balaam describes the character of God’s people as ‘a people dwelling alone, not counting itself (or not counted) among the nations’. God said
Deuteronomy 14:2 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
God’s choice of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob set them apart from every other nation; he gave them laws and customs that distinguished them from all the other nations, ultimately to be a blessing to the nations. They are a holy people, a separate people, a unique people; a people set apart to be God’s own treasured possession. They are not one nation among many, just another people group. They have been set apart, holy to the Lord.
Innumerable as the Dust
And in verse 10 Balaam’s words affirm that the promise of God to Abraham from Genesis 13 has been fulfilled;
Genesis 13:16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.
The Lord re-affirmed this promise to Jacob as he fled from his brother Esau:
Genesis 28:14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
The Glorious End of the Upright
Balaam calls Israel upright, and desires that his own end, his own death and what happens after would be like theirs. He understands that God’s blessings will follow them even beyond death, and he wants to be a part of that. He acknowledges that God’s blessing is on them, and he would rather be identified with righteous Israel than with unrighteous Balaak seeking to bring a curse on them.
Response: What Have You Done To Me?
Numbers 23:11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” 12 And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
Balak’s question is interesting; what have you done to me? He still assumes that the power to bless and to curse resides in Balaam, that God could be manipulated to do what he wishes, that God could be bought with sacrifices of costly animals that ultimately already belong to him. He feels that Balaam has of his own will done the opposite of what he is hiring him to do. He takes it as a personal offense against himself. The question Balak ought to be asking is ‘what have I done to myself?’ Balak and his people, the Moabites, had nothing to fear; as descendants of Abraham’s relative Lot they were under God’s protection. But out of fear and ignorance of God’s word, they sought through the dark arts of a sorcerer to bring a curse on God’s people, and thus put themselves under God’s curse.
Balaam is beginning to learn something; much like his own donkey he is serving as a mouthpiece for the words that YHWH puts in his mouth. The messenger of YHWH stands ready with sword drawn to prevent this greedy sorcerer from going beyond God’s omnipotent word. “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
An Invitation to Experience God’s Blessing
There is an invitation here; an invitation to experience God’s blessing by blessing Israel. Balaam longed to ‘die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!’ This was not out of his reach. God promised Abram ‘I will bless those who bless you.’ God’s promise is available even to a pagan sorcerer to experience God’s blessing by aligning himself with God and with his people.
Balaam has a choice; continue to pursue temporary gain in a futile attempt to curse those God has blessed, a way that is perverse before him (22:23), or turn and reject the promised riches of Balak and truly seek the blessing of Israel. How will you respond?
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2026.06.28 Sermon Notes
Numbers 22:1-12; If God is For Us
God’s blessing on his people
Numbers 6:23-26
‘Have I now any power of my own to speak anything?’
Numbers 22:38
YHWH freely reveals his word in spite of all human efforts
Numbers 23:1-6; Ezekiel 21:21
God alone is the source of true blessing
Numbers 22:6; Genesis 12:1-3
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31-39; John 10:27-30; 1 Peter 1:4-5
A people set apart
Deuteronomy 14:2
Innumerable as dust
Genesis 13:16; 28:14
Will you align yourself with God and his people and experience his blessing?
Genesis 12:1-3
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org