(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 24:1–9, “And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.”
Balaam decided that it was time to go ahead and do what he thought was right. The Lord had told him not to curse Israel so he went ahead and blessed them as the Lord had told him before. He claimed to be using words from God, which was correct as he had waited for the Lord to give him a message before. We know that “God is not a man that he should lie” (Num 23: 19). He refused to allow Balaam to curse Israel before so Balaam knew that the Lord would not allow him to curse Israel this time. This was a significant blessing for Israel and was based on the fact that the Lord had already delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt and the Lord had promised Abraham that He would bless those who blessed Abraham’s descendants and curse anyone who cursed Abraham’s descendants (Gen 12:1–3, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” We know that Agag was a king of the Amalekites during the time when Saul was king of Israel (1 Sam 15:8, “And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.”) Agag was a name for the kings of the Amalekites in the same way that Pharaoh and Caesar were the names for the kings of the Egyptians and the Romans, respectively. Balaam knew that Israel would defeat the Amalekites and neither he nor Balak could do anything to stop this from happening because it was the Lord’s will.
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