🔢WEB · Numbers 23:15
What does Numbers 23:15 mean?
"He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”"
— Numbers 23:15 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
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?”
He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
Explanation
Numbers 23:15 records a simple, practical instruction. Balaam, the prophet Balak had hired, tells the Moabite king to remain standing beside the altar where sacrifices have just been offered, while Balaam himself withdraws briefly to meet with God. It is a transitional line, quiet and unremarkable on the surface, but it sits at a pivotal point in a dramatic contest between human intention and divine purpose.
The setting is the account of Balak, king of Moab, who feared the encroaching nation of Israel after their victories over neighboring peoples during the wilderness wanderings. Unable to defeat Israel militarily, Balak hired Balaam, a prophet-diviner from Mesopotamia known for his spiritual power, to curse them. Numbers 22-24 tells this story in detail, and chapter 23 records the first two of Balaam's oracles. Before each oracle, Balak builds altars and offers sacrifices, hoping to manipulate God into granting a curse. This verse comes right after the first oracle, in which Balaam blessed Israel instead of cursing them, leaving Balak stunned and hopeful that a second attempt, with a different location and vantage point, might succeed.
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