--- title: "Numbers 23 - Study King James Bible with cokes commentary on the holy bible" description: "Read Numbers 23 with cokes commentary on the holy bible commentary. 1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. 2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak a" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23" --- [ Read](/kjv/numbers/23)[ Commentary](/study/numbers/23)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/numbers/23) Audio 1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. 2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on *every* altar a bullock and a ram. 3 And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place.* 4 And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon *every* altar a bullock and a ram. 5 And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 6 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, *saying*, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. 8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, *whom* the LORD hath 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 Jacob, and the number of the fourth *part* of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!* 11 And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed *them* altogether. 12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth? 13 And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. 14 ¶ And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on *every* altar.* 15 And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet *the Lord* yonder. 16 And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 17 And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken? 18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: 19 God *is* not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do *it*? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received *commandment* to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. 21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God *is* with him, and the shout of a king *is* among them. 22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. 23 Surely *there is* no enchantment against Jacob, neither *is there* any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God 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. 25 ¶ And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. 26 But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do? 27 ¶ And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. 28 And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon. 29 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on *every* altar. [Numbers 22](/study/numbers/22) [Numbers 24](/study/numbers/24) ## Commentary To verse 1 ***[Numbers 23:1](/kjv/numbers/23/1)*****.*****Build me here seven altars,*****&c.—** That is, say some, in honour of that God who had consecrated the number *seven*by ceasing from his works of creation on the seventh day. That Balaam sacrificed to Jehovah, the true God, there can be no question; but Psalmanazar's reasons why he erected seven altars seem the most probable. He observes, that the kind and number of *victims*here mentioned is not only enjoined by the Mosaic law upon various occasions, but also to Job's three friends, by way of atonement for their trespass. [Job 42:8](/kjv/job/42/8). But as to this number of *altars,*we no where read of any such, nor indeed of any more than one at a time, either under the patriarchal or Mosaic dispensation. A greater number was not compatible with the notion of one Supreme Being, whom Balaam professed to worship; but if he reared them to seven planets, which were esteemed the greatest and most powerful of all the subordinate deities, as we have great reason to suppose he did, because that kind of theology had been some time in vogue in Egypt, and spread itself in all those parts;—then it is plain, that he applied to them in that manner only as to the most powerful mediators, to render a Supreme Deity propitious to his wishes. See on the foregoing chapter, *Second Principle,*page 576. What makes this interpretation the more probable, is, that upon his meeting with God at the conclusion of the first of those grand ceremonies, he addresses him in these terms, *I have prepared seven altars, and offered upon each of them a bullock and a ram,*Num 23:4 but does not in either part mention the word *to thee,*as He would of course have done, had these altars been designedly reared, or the victims been offered to him; so that he means no more, according to the theology then reigning, than this: "I have invoked, by the usual rites, the seven planets, or inferior deities, to whom thou hast committed the government of the world, to interpose their mediation with thee, on the behalf of Moab and Midian." What confirms this interpretation the more, is, that after Balaam has declared the tenor of the divine answer, in terms the most opposite to Balak's wishes, that monarch does not desire him to apply himself to some other inferior deities, there being little reason to hope that these should prove more successful than the former; but only desires him to repeat the same sacrifices to them from some other eminence, ([Numbers 23:13](/kjv/numbers/23/13).) which might prove more favourable than this: to which we may add, that the last two trials are performed at the desire of, and in compliance with, the superstitious king, and not by the prophet's advice or choice, who could not but certainly conclude, from the express tenor of the first divine answer, the impossibility of obtaining a reversion of it. However, as this worship and invocation of the planets was one of the main branches of heathen idolatry, against which God had so solemnly declared his displeasure, and done so many wonders both in Egypt and other places to extirpate it out of the minds of those infatuated nations, we may reasonably rank it among the unlawful means which Balaam made use of upon this occasion, and which Moses mentions under the name of *divinations,*or *enchantments.*See chap. [Numbers 24:1](/kjv/numbers/24/1). Others he might, and probably did use, which Moses has given us no further account of, than where he tells us, that when Balaam found, at the third trial, that God was determined *to bless Israel, he went not as at other times to seek for them;*but set his face towards *the wilderness: i.e.* towards the Israelitish host; and, having received the divine impulse, delivered his third blessing on them, in more emphatical and magnificent terms than he had done at the two former; till Balak, quite out of patience at his expressing himself in so high and extraordinary a manner, at once silenced and dismissed him with contempt and disgrace; ch. [Numbers 24:10](/kjv/numbers/24/10). ***[Numbers 23:2](/kjv/numbers/23/2)******. Balak and Balaam offered on every altar*****—** Kings in ancient times were priests also, whereof we have a striking example in Melchisedeck; see [Genesis 14:18](/kjv/genesis/14/18). So that Balak might be priest of the Moabites as well as king, and thus officiate with Balaam in the sacerdotal functions; though some have thought that he did no more than barely present the sacrifices to be offered by Balaam for him and his people. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23","name":"Numbers 23 - Study King James Bible with cokes commentary on the holy bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Numbers 23 with cokes commentary on the holy bible commentary. 1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. 2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible","name":"cokes commentary on the holy bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers","name":"Numbers"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/numbers/23","name":"23"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```