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Numbers 23 Bible study: God is not a man
Balak moved Balaam from height to height, hoping a new view would bring a curse (23:13, 23:27). It never did. Each time "the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth" (23:5), and the word was blessing, because "God is not a man, that he should lie" (23:19). "Return to Balak" (23:5) and "I can’t reverse it" (23:20) use one Hebrew verb: Balaam could be sent back, the blessing couldn’t.
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“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?”
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“In Numbers 23, Balak takes Balaam to another place, hoping he can curse Israel from there.”
Is that in Numbers 23, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Seven altars, and a word
Balaam asks for "seven altars" and "seven bulls and seven rams" (23:1), and "Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram" (23:2). Balaam leaves Balak at the altars: "Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me" (23:3), and "He went to a bare height" (23:3). When "God met Balaam", Balaam tells him about the altars: "I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar" (23:4). Nothing is said in reply about the altars. "The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, 'Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak'" (23:5). It happens again on the second height: "The LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth" (23:16). Balaam had told Balak, "I will speak the word that God puts in my mouth" (22:38). Now the chapter shows it.
Where it leads to Jesus
My words will not pass away
Numbers 23:19leads toMatthew 24:35
Balaam says of God, "Has he said, and he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?" (23:19), and so "He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it" (23:20). Isaiah says, "the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8), and in Hebrew stands is qum, the verb the WEB gives as make it good in 23:19. Jesus said of his own words, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). Jesus doesn't cite Numbers 23, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some hear Jesus saying of his own words what this chapter says of God's: what he has spoken will be done. Others read his saying as about what he had just foretold, "this generation will not pass away until all these things are accomplished" (Matthew 24:34), with no link to this chapter.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Numbers 23
That was a taste
The rest of Numbers 23 is waiting in Favor
- Hired to curse, and he blessed
- What God has said stands
- What rises up
- The last height: Peor
- 16 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Numbers 23 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
כָּזַבkazavsay ka-ZAV
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "lie, be a liar". Strong's: "to lie (i.e. deceive), literally or figuratively". "God is not a man, that he should lie" (23:19). The Hebrew Bible uses this verb 18 times, and this is its only use in the five books of Moses. The same verb is in the psalmist's words, "All people are liars" (Psalm 116:11), and in Habakkuk's word that the vision "won’t prove false" (Habakkuk 2:3). Balaam sets God against people: a man may lie, and God doesn't.
For your group
Numbers 23 Bible study questions
- 1"God is not a man, that he should lie" (23:19). Where do you find it hardest to believe that God will do what he has said, and why?
- 2Balak kept moving to a new place, hoping for a different answer (23:13, 23:27). When have you gone looking for a different answer instead of accepting the one you had?
- 3Balaam said, "Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!" (23:10). What is the difference between wanting a good end and living a life that leads there?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Numbers 23 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home