🔢WEB · Numbers 23:2
What does Numbers 23:2 mean?
"Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram."
— Numbers 23:2 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.
Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height.
God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”
Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
Explanation
Numbers 23:2 describes a simple act of obedience within a larger, unusual episode: Balak, the king of Moab, follows the instructions given to him by Balaam, and together the two men offer a bull and a ram on each of the altars that had just been built. The verse itself is brief and descriptive, but it marks the completion of preparations for what is about to become a prophetic encounter with God.
The context is essential to understanding the verse. Balak, fearful of the Israelites who were approaching his territory after their exodus from Egypt, hired Balaam, a prophet or diviner from Mesopotamia, to curse Israel so that Moab might defeat them in battle. In the verse immediately before this one (Numbers 23:1), Balaam instructed Balak to build seven altars and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for sacrifice. Verse 2 shows Balak carrying out this instruction precisely, and both men jointly offering the sacrifices—one bull and one ram on each altar. This ritual was likely intended by Balak as a means of invoking divine favor or securing a curse against Israel through the customary practices of ancient Near Eastern divination and sacrifice.
Theologically, the verse is significant because it sets the
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