The People Who Cannot Be Cursed: Where God Says 'No,' Faith Stands

The Israelites then marched on and encamped in the steppes of Moab, across the Jordan from Jericho. Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Moab was alarmed because that people was so numerous. Moab dreaded the Israelites, and Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this horde will lick clean all that is about us as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor in Pethor, which is by the Euphrates, in the land of his kinsfolk, to invite him, saying, “There is a people that came out of Egypt; it hides the earth from view, and it is settled next to me. Come then, put a curse upon this people for me, since they are too numerous for me; perhaps I can thus defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whomever you bless is blessed indeed, and whomever you curse is cursed.” The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian, versed in divination, set out. They came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message. He said to them, “Spend the night here, and I shall reply to you as GOD may instruct me.” So the Moabite dignitaries stayed with Balaam. God came to Balaam and said, “What do these men want of you?” Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: Here is a people that came out from Egypt and hides the earth from view. Come now and curse them for me; perhaps I can engage them in battle and drive them off.” But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not curse that people, for they are blessed.” Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s dignitaries, “Go back to your own country, for GOD will not let me go with you.” The Moabite dignitaries left, and they came to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.” Then Balak sent other dignitaries, more numerous and distinguished than the first. They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak son of Zippor: Please do not refuse to come to me. I will reward you richly and I will do anything you ask of me. Only come and damn this people for me.” Balaam replied to Balak’s officials, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, big or little, contrary to the command of the ETERNAL my God. So you, too, stay here overnight, and let me find out what else GOD may say to me.” That night God came to Balaam and said to him, “If the men have come to invite you, you may go with them. But whatever I command you, that you shall do.” When he arose in the morning, Balaam saddled his jenny and departed with the Moabite dignitaries. But God was incensed at his going; so an angel of GOD took a position in his way as an adversary.He was riding on his jenny, with his two servants alongside, when the jenny caught sight of the angel of GOD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. The jenny swerved from the road and went into the fields; and Balaam beat the jenny to turn her back onto the road. The angel of GOD then stationed himself in a lane between the vineyards, with a fence on either side. The jenny, seeing the angel of GOD, pressed herself against the wall and squeezed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he beat her again. Once more the angel of GOD moved forward and stationed himself on a spot so narrow that there was no room to swerve right or left. When the jenny now saw the angel of GOD, she lay down under Balaam; and Balaam was furious and beat the jenny with his stick. Then GOD opened the jenny’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” Balaam said to the jenny, “You have made a mockery of me! If I had a sword with me, I’d kill you.” The jenny said to Balaam, “Look, I am the jenny that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?” And he answered, “No.” Then GOD uncovered Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of GOD standing in the way, his drawn sword in his hand; thereupon he bowed right down to the ground. The angel of GOD said to him, “Why have you beaten your jenny these three times? It is I who came out as an adversary, for the errand is obnoxious uncertain. to me. And when the jenny saw me, she shied away because of me those three times. If she had not shied away from me, you are the one I should have killed, while sparing her.” Balaam said to the angel of GOD, “I erred because I did not know that you were standing in my way. If you still disapprove, I will turn back.” But the angel of GOD said to Balaam, “Go with the men. But you must say nothing except what I tell you.” So Balaam went on with Balak’s dignitaries. When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at Ir-moab, which is on the Arnon border, at its farthest point. Balak said to Balaam, “When I first sent to invite you, why didn’t you come to me? Am I really unable to reward you?” But Balaam said to Balak, “And now that I have come to you, have I the power

Numbers 22:1–20 sets the stage on the plains of Moab. Israel has just defeated the Amorites, and Balak king of Moab panics. He sends for Balaam, a diviner from Pethor, hoping spiritual weapons can defeat what military might cannot. God intervenes directly: 'Do not go with them. You must not curse that people, for they are blessed' (v. 12). This unbreakable divine verdict becomes the anchor for our reflection on faith.