Single lesson
Balaam's Blessings and Oracles
Numbers 23:1–24:25
These chapters record Balaam’s repeated parables or oracles about Israel and other peoples, not just a story to retell. Students will trace who is addressed, notice symbolic language, and identify where the words bring warning or hope.
Before you teach
Balak wants Balaam to curse Israel, so they go to different places and prepare altars more than once. Each time, Balaam says he must speak only what Yahweh gives him. The passage then presents a sequence of oracles about Israel, Moab, Edom, Amalek, the Kenite, Asshur and Eber.
Students will be able to identify the audience of at least two oracles, name one warning and one hope, and explain one symbol using the passage’s own wording.
Welcome: What kind of passage is this?
5 minExplain that this reading contains repeated parables or oracles spoken by Balaam. Ask students to listen for who is addressed, what Balaam is allowed to say, and where the text uses images instead of plain description. Point out that Balaam repeatedly says he must speak the word Yahweh gives him.
Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:12, Numbers 23:18, Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:13, Numbers 24:15
Read and explain: Blessing cannot be reversed
10 minRead Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:8, Numbers 23:11, Numbers 23:19, Numbers 23:20, Numbers 23:22 and Numbers 23:24. Highlight the audience: Balak wants Israel cursed, yet Balaam says he cannot reverse God’s blessing. Explain that the wild ox and lion are word pictures in the oracle that speak of strength and rising power in the text.
Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:8, Numbers 23:11, Numbers 23:19, Numbers 23:20, Numbers 23:22, Numbers 23:24
Discuss: A third blessing full of images
8 minRead Numbers 24:1, Numbers 24:2, Numbers 24:5, Numbers 24:6, Numbers 24:7 and Numbers 24:9. Note that Balaam does not go to use divination this time, and the Spirit of God comes on him. Ask students to list images such as tents, valleys, gardens, aloes, cedars, water and lion, then discuss which lines sound hopeful for Israel.
Numbers 24:1, Numbers 24:2, Numbers 24:5, Numbers 24:6, Numbers 24:7, Numbers 24:9
Make and respond: Build a symbol chart
10 minStudents make a two-column chart headed Hope and Warning. They add images from the oracles and write a short meaning supported by the verse wording. Remind them to stay close to the passage, using expressions such as blessing, exalted kingdom, destruction or captivity, rather than adding hidden meanings.
Numbers 24:7, Numbers 24:9, Numbers 24:17, Numbers 24:18, Numbers 24:20, Numbers 24:22, Numbers 24:24
Closing: Who heard these words?
7 minFinish by reading Numbers 24:10, Numbers 24:13, Numbers 24:14 and Numbers 24:25. Review that Balak is the immediate hearer, while the oracles also speak about Israel, Moab, Amalek and the Kenite. Invite students to share one warning and one hope, and one reason this passage should be read as oracles with symbolism.
Numbers 23:7, Numbers 24:10, Numbers 24:13, Numbers 24:14, Numbers 24:17, Numbers 24:20, Numbers 24:21, Numbers 24:25
Questions to explore
In Balaam’s own words, why can’t he simply say what Balak wants?
Look for repeated lines where Balaam explains that he must speak the word Yahweh gives him, even when Balak wants a curse.
Numbers 23:12, Numbers 23:26, Numbers 24:13
Which pictures in the third oracle sound hopeful for Israel, and what do those pictures suggest from the text itself?
Use the images of tents, gardens, water, kingdom and blessing, and explain them with nearby words instead of outside ideas.
Numbers 24:5, Numbers 24:6, Numbers 24:7, Numbers 24:9
Where do you see warning in the later oracles, and who is spoken about there?
Check the sayings about Moab, Edom, Amalek, the Kenite, Asshur and Eber, and name the people mentioned in each warning.
Numbers 24:17, Numbers 24:18, Numbers 24:20, Numbers 24:22, Numbers 24:24
Make, think or respond
Oracle Symbol Chart
What you’ll need
- Bible text
- paper
- pencils or pens
- ruler
- coloured pencils
Try it together
- Draw a chart with three columns: Symbol or image, Verse, Hope or warning.
- Read Numbers 23:22, Numbers 23:23, Numbers 23:24, Numbers 24:5, Numbers 24:6, Numbers 24:7, Numbers 24:8, Numbers 24:9, Numbers 24:17, Numbers 24:18, Numbers 24:20, Numbers 24:22 and Numbers 24:24, adding at least six images from the text.
- For each image, write a brief meaning using words from the same verse or the next listed verse, such as strength in Numbers 23:22, blessing in Numbers 24:9, exalted kingship in Numbers 24:7, destruction in Numbers 24:20, or captivity in Numbers 24:22.
- Circle one image that speaks hope and one that speaks warning, then share why you chose them from the wording of the verses.
- As a group, compare answers and keep only meanings that can be supported by the passage wording.
This activity helps students connect symbols to the text’s own message of blessing and kingship in Numbers 24:7 and Numbers 24:9, strength and conflict in Numbers 23:22, Numbers 23:24 and Numbers 24:8, and warning through destruction or captivity in Numbers 24:17, Numbers 24:20, Numbers 24:22 and Numbers 24:24.
Adapt for your group
- For less confident readers, pre-select four images such as lion, water, star and sceptre, and let them match each one with a verse and a simple text-based meaning.
- For more confident students, ask them to separate immediate audience, named peoples and future-focused lines, especially by comparing Numbers 24:14, Numbers 24:17, Numbers 24:20, Numbers 24:21, Numbers 24:22 and Numbers 24:24.
An optional closing prayer
Suggested prayer: God, please help us listen carefully to your word, notice what this passage says, and respond with honesty and wisdom.
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Numbers 23
1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.
3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height.
4 God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”
5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7 He took up his parable, and said, “From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.
8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be listed among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or count the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.”
14 He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”
16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?”
18 He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
19 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?
20 Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.
21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.
22 God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has God done!’
24 Behold, a people rises up as a lioness. As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”
25 Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”
26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?”
27 Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”
28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.
29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
Numbers 24
1 When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to use divination, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
2 Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him.
3 He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says;
4 he says, who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:
5 How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your dwellings, Israel!
6 As valleys they are spread out, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which Yahweh has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters.
7 Water shall flow from his buckets. His seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag. His kingdom shall be exalted.
8 God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall consume the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.
9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed.”
10 Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times.
11 Therefore, flee to your place, now! I thought to promote you to great honor; but, behold, Yahweh has kept you back from honor.”
12 Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, saying,
13 ‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond Yahweh’s word, to do either good or bad from my own mind. I will say what Yahweh says’?
14 Now, behold, I go to my people. Come, I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.”
15 He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says;
16 he says, who hears the words of God, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:
17 I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and crush all the sons of Sheth.
18 Edom shall be a possession. Seir, his enemy, also shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly.
19 Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city.”
20 He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall come to destruction.”
21 He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock.
22 Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive.”
23 He took up his parable, and said, “Alas, who shall live when God does this?
24 But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction.”
25 Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.
Source passages
Something to make together
These activities connect with the passage. Choose one that suits your group and the time you have.
