Numbers 24 presents old prophecies fulfilled - and new prophecies issued!
Even though Moabite king Balak believes that things will eventually break his way, the seer Balaam has already figured out that God is intent on blessing Israel and is not going to change His mind. Balaam no longer needs to go off by himself for an audience with God (vs. 1). He knows what God is going to say, and so Balaam just says it, straight out.
In what is now his third oracle, Balaam sings rapturously of Israel, focusing on the beauty of her tents and encampments and seeing victory and deliverance ahead for the nation.
In one particularly stirring verse, Balaam utters the observation, "Blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you." Sound familiar? It should! This is a direct fulfillment of the promise that God gave to Abram when He first called him back in Genesis 12! ("I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse." ~ Genesis 12:3)
King Balak has finally had it. Three strikes, and this prophet is out!
But Balaam isn't finished. He ends with a final word in his fourth oracle that looks ahead with startling clarity to some developments far ahead of his own time.
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near - a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel..." (Kind of gives you goose bumps, doesn't it?)
Balak probably considered Balaam a miserable failure. He was brought to Moab to curse Israel, but God had something else in mind: that Balaam would speak God's truth and present to Israel's enemies the facts of what would happen, both in their lifetimes and in the distant future. As far as that part of his mission goes, Balaam was successful. He told the king the truth.
However, Balaam still bears a shameful reputation in Christian circles. The New Testament writers did not think very highly of him at all. II Peter 2:15-16 says, "They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of doing wrong, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness." And Jude also weighs in: "Woe to them! For they go the way of Cain, and abandon themselves to Balaam's error for the sake of gain, and perish in Korah's rebellion" (Jude 11).
Can you see why a study of the Old Testament is so profitable for understanding the New?
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