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Week 7. Day 2. Numbers 23-25.

Balaam, the ‘prophet for hire’ is not a ‘goodie’ in the story – far from it. His intention is to curse Israel, and be paid well to do so. But the Lord actually causes him to pronounce blessings. Notice the humour again in these chapters. Balak (king of Moab) is paying Balaam to curse Israel, but each time Balaam ends up blessing them. Notice the absurdity of Balak keeping on trying again and again, from different places, as if a change of location will make a difference. God has promised to bless his people, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop this!

In fact, the oracles of Balaam contain some of the richest theology in the book of Numbers. Some key verses:

23v19-21 God has promised to bless his people and be with them, and he will not change this plan!

24:5-6 Israel is described in Eden-like language

24:17 A promise of a ‘star’ (referring to a king) who will arise and who will crush wickdness (c.f. Gen 3:15)

Num 25 When Balak fails to get Balaam to pronounce curses on Israel, he tries a different tactic, and entices them to commit sexual immorality. (Num 31:16 will tell us that Balaam was also involved in inciting this, even though he is not mentioned in Num 25.)

NOTE: Days 1-5 of each week contain the scripture reading for that week. Day 6 has just the 'key chapters'. If you want a briefer version of this plan that still takes you through the whole Bible, you could just read the key chapters featured on day 6. Day 7 has the podcast video where we discuss the week's reading.