Balak (Destroyer)
(Sefer Bamidbar) Numbers 22:2 – 25:9

23:5- “And YHVH put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shall speak.
7- And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moav has brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse for me Yaakov, and come, defy Yisrael.
8- How shall I curse whom Elohim has not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom YHVH has not defied?
9- For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell
alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10- Who can count the dust of Yaakov, and the number of the fourth part of Yisrael? Let me die the death
of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
18- And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Tzipor:
19- Elohim is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?
20- Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and He has blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
21- He has not beheld iniquity in Yaakov, neither has he seen perverseness in Yisrael: YHVH his Elohim is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
22- Elohim brought them out of Egypt; he has as it were the strength of a wild ox.
23- Surely there is no enchantment against Yaakov, neither is there any divination against Yisrael: according to this time it shall be said of Yaakov and of Yisrael, What has Elohim wrought!
24- Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.
24:3- And he took up his parable and said, Balaam son of Beor said, and the man whose eyes are open, said:
4- He has said, which heard the words of Elohim, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a
trance, but having his eyes open:
5- How goodly are thy tents, O Yaakov, and thy tabernacles, O Yisrael!
6- As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of aloes which YHVH
has planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.
7- He shall pour the water out of His buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and His king shall be higher than Agag, and His kingdom shall be exalted.
8- Elohim brought him forth out of Egypt; he has as it were the strength of an wild ox: he shall eat up
the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
9- He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: Who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that
blesses thee, and cursed is he that curses thee.
15- And he took up his parable and said, Balaam son of Beor said, and the man whose eyes are open said:
16- He has said, which heard the words of Elohim, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw
the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
17- I shall see Him but not now: I shall behold Him but not near: A Star shall come out of Yaakov, and a
Scepter shall rise out of Yisrael and shall smite the corners of Moav and destroy all the sons of Shet.
18- And Edom shall be a possession, Seir a possession for his enemies; and Yisrael shall do valiantly.
19- Out of Yaakov shall come he that shall have dominion and shall destroy him that remains of the city.”
 

“He is YHVH our Elohim; his judgments are in all the earth…And has confirmed the same to Yaakov
for a law, and to Yisrael for an everlasting covenant, Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of
Canaan, the lot of your inheritance.”
(1 Chronicles 16:14,17-18)

“Surely Adonai YHVH will do nothing, but he reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets.
The lion has roared, who will not fear? Adonai YHVH has spoken, who can but prophesy?”
(Amos 3:7-8)

 
“For YHVH Tzivaot has purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and
who shall turn it back?”
(Isaiah 14:27)

“YHVH loves the gates of Tzion more than all the dwellings of Yaakov. Glorious things are spoken
of thee, O city of Elohim. Selah.”
(Psalms 87:2-3)

Balak Summary:
1. Prophetic Parables Prevailing over a Peculiar People:
Far beyond Balak’s destructive intent to disengage a nation from a promised destiny is an account of the unconquerable power of the prophetic word. Resonating the report given centuries earlier to the prophet Avraham, the contracted seer, Balaam, cannot but bless the children of Yisrael. As he initially witnessed the sons of Yaakov, this prophet for profit could not accommodate the malevolent devices of the Moabite king; rather than generate curses from hell beneath, Balaam could only bless the chosen inheritors of Canaan as he began viewing the nation by a heavenly perspective, as Numbers 24:2 tells:
“And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Yisrael abiding in his tents according to their tribes;
and the spirit of Elohim came upon him.”
Undeniably, the fate of this recently redeemed race was one of ordered position and oracular possession
into a land once sworn to their beloved patriarch. Confirming the covenant with Yitzchak and Yaakov, the son of Beor brought forth words that would pervade the hearts of their descendants, even to this day.
In four glorious utterances, history would log a deeper description of Yisrael’s irrefutable destiny. Not to be reckoned with the nations, the portion given to this am segulah, was to be a separated sect, innumerable like the dust of the earth and free from perversity, as it is written in Deuteronomy 18:9:
“When thou are come into the land which YHVH thy Elohim gives thee, thou shall not learn to do
after the abominations of those nations.”
Lead by the established scepter of Yehudah, the majestic people would bear the King, the lion-hearted Mashiyach, who would prevail over all despicable divination and destructive drives against Elohim’s chosen flock. Even as there would be evil intentions against them, such plans would come to nought. Indeed HaShem made clear His purposes for Avraham’s seed, Genesis 22:17 declaring:
“That in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven
and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.”
In the stiffest of warnings, Zechariah 12:9 tells of the fate of them seeking to devour these goodly tents:
“And it will be in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Yerushalayim.”
 

2. Released by Sayings, Revealed Secrets are Set in Stone:
Unlike the fickle words and wills of men, the words spoken by the mouth of HaShem’s prophets will be fulfilled. In this emphatic conviction, Isaiah 55:10-11 confirms Elohim’s unequivocal resolve:
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither but waters the
earth, and, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: So shall My word be that
goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Not to be confused with an attempt from heaven to make such a prophetic proclamation come to pass, the sureness of these Divine declarations are rather to be understood as that which has already been determined. The concept of true prophecy is in truth an emanation and revelation of what is yet to be.
In this understanding the prophet Jeremiah remarks in ibid. 23:18 more pertinent questions, viz.:
“For who has stood in the counsel of YHVH and has perceived and heard His word? Who has
marked His word, and heard it?”
Without a doubt, Elohim’s faithful ones are to rest in confidence, believing the words of Isaiah 46:10 :
“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.”