Numbers 23:2

2 Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam ¹offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

Numbers 23:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 23:2

And Balak did as Balaam had spoken
Ordered seven altars to be built, and prepared seven bullocks and rams for sacrifice:

and Balak and Balsam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram;
both seem to be concerned in offering the sacrifices; Balak, though a king, it being usual for kings to be priests also, as Melchizedek was, and Balaam as a prophet; and these sacrifices were offered to the true God, as seems clear from ( Numbers 23:4 ) and to which Balak, at the direction of Balaam, agreed, in order to gain the Lord on his side, that he might prevail over the people of Israel.

Numbers 23:2 In-Context

1 And Balaam said to Balak, "Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams."

2 Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

3 And Balaam said to Balak, "Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you." And he went to a bare height,

4 and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, "I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

5 And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."

Cross References

• 1. ver. 14, 30