Lives of Scripture

Balaam, a prophet from Pethor with a real if compromised reputation for hearing from God, was hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the encroaching Israelites (Numbers 22:1-6). God initially told Balaam not to go, then permitted him to go but warned him to speak only what God commanded (22:12, 20). On the road, the angel of the LORD blocked the path three times, visible only to Balaam's donkey, which balked and was beaten each time until God opened the donkey's mouth to rebuke Balaam directly, after which Balaam's own eyes were opened to see the angel himself (22:22-31). Delivered to Balak, Balaam built altars and offered sacrifices across three separate attempts to curse Israel, but each time God put a blessing in his mouth instead, culminating in the striking messianic oracle of a star and scepter rising out of Jacob (23:1-24:25). Furious, Balak dismissed him without payment (24:10-11). Yet Numbers 31:16 later reveals that Balaam himself had counseled the Moabites and Midianites to seduce Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality at Baal-peor, since he could not curse them directly (compare Numbers 25); Balaam was ultimately killed in Israel's later war with Midian (31:8). The New Testament remembers him as a byword for a prophet who loved 'the wages of unrighteousness' (2 Peter 2:15-16; Jude 1:11; Revelation 2:14) -- a man through whom God spoke true and even messianic words, yet whose own heart pursued profit over faithfulness.