Portion 40 of 54 · Numbers
בָּלָק
Balak
A king hires a prophet to curse Israel, and every time he opens his mouth a blessing comes out.
Start by reading it
Numbers 22:2–25:9
4 chapters. About 16 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Micah 5:6–6:8
What happens
- 01
Balak of Moab sends for Balaam to curse the people camped on his border.
- 02
Balaam's donkey sees an angel he cannot, and speaks.
- 03
Three times he goes up to curse and three times he blesses instead.
- 04
Then Israel falls into idolatry at Peor without anyone cursing them at all.
The thing most people walk past
The enemy prophet writes the morning prayer
'How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob' is said on entering a synagogue every morning. The line was spoken by a foreign seer who had been paid to say the opposite.
One verse to carry
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, Thy dwellings, O Israel!
A blessing from an outsider's mouth, kept and repeated daily by the people it was aimed against.
A question to sit with
No curse could touch them, and then they harmed themselves. What is the book saying about where danger actually comes from?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.