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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comThrough the Bible Day by Day - Numbers 23:1 - 23:1
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
a Blessing instead of a Curse
Num 22:41; Num 23:1-12
Notice the position of these chapters, preceding the awful story of Baal-peor. Presently the Israelites will be perpetrating such terrible sins that it might seem impossible for God to continue to acknowledge them; yet here God stands for them and restrains the spirit of evil. He will take their chastisement, when needed, into his own hands.
With all his might Balaam strove to earn the royal gifts. Ah, thought he, that I could really feel that I was the organ of the divine malediction! But he could not feel in his heart that God’s spirit was urging him in the direction that Balak wished. The stream of destiny was not running that way. On the contrary, he could forge no weapon against Israel that could prosper, and when he tried to raise his tongue in judgment against the people of God he was condemned. It was as if God said, “Touch not mine anointed.” Psa 105:15; Isa 54:17; Rom 8:31.