🔢WEB · Numbers 23:14
What does Numbers 23:14 mean?
"He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar."
— Numbers 23:14 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.”
He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”
Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?”
Explanation
Numbers 23:14 describes a moment in the strange and fascinating account of Balaam, a foreign prophet hired to curse Israel. The verse simply states that Balak, king of Moab, led Balaam to a place called the field of Zophim, on top of Pisgah, where Balaam built seven altars and sacrificed a bull and a ram on each one—fourteen animals in total, offered in an elaborate ritual meant to prepare for pronouncing a curse on the people of Israel.
The broader context is essential to understanding this verse. Israel, having just left Egypt and wandered through the wilderness, was camped on the plains of Moab, poised to enter the Promised Land. Balak, terrified of this vast and victorious nation, hired Balaam, a prophet-for-hire from Mesopotamia known for his spiritual power, to curse Israel so that Moab might defeat them in battle. This was already the second attempt at this ritual. In Numbers 22, Balaam had built seven altars at a different high place, Bamoth-baal, offered similar sacrifices, and then delivered a blessing instead of a curse—much to Balak's dismay. Undeterred,
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