"Numbers 23:19" from eBible.com: Online Bible Search & Bible Study Community

Numbers 23:19

Balaam's Second Oracle

13Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will see only a part but not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”14So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

15Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”

16The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this message.”

17So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?”

18Then he uttered his oracle:
“Arise, Balak, and listen;
hear me, son of Zippor.

19God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?

20I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it.

21“No misfortune is seen in Jacob,
no misery observed in Israel.Or He has not looked on Jacob's offenses / or on the wrongs found in Israel.
The LORD their God is with them;
the shout of the King is among them.

22God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.

23There is no sorcery against Jacob,
no divination against Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’

24The people rise like a lioness;
they rouse themselves like a lion
that does not rest till he devours his prey
and drinks the blood of his victims.”

25Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”

26Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?”

Topics: God word gods faithfulness integrity be steadfastness lie can indecision vacillate prevaricate existence nature_of_god believedtrusted

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Darren32608 - (eBible Novice) about 1 year ago.

Got this from Tony Jones' blog at theoblogy.blogspot.com <b>Don't Utter Meaningless Statements</b> A friend emailed me today, wondering about something I said at the late night theological discussion at the Austin National Youth Workers Convention. I said, "Human beings should not make meaningless statements like, 'God cannot lie,' or ask meaningless questions like, 'Can God create a rock so big that even God cannot move it?'" Len wrote that he must have misheard me, because Numbers 23:19 states, "God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" "God cannot lie" is a meaningless statement, I replied. It shouldn't be uttered. Look more closely at Numbers -- it doesn't say that God cannot lie, but that he should not lie. The point is ethical, not ontological. That is, it's a statement about God's trustworthiness, not about his being. As a human, I should never start a sentence with "God cannot....," because, "God can..." is the only accurate statement. I believe, ontologically, that God is capable of all things. Thus, human statements that attempt to retard the agency of God are nonsensical and should not be uttered.

toLive4Him

- (eBible Novice) about 1 month ago.

Do I really believe God is not a man? Since our Earthly fathers are our first empression of God, many of us struggle with seeing God as an Almighty Being rather than a weak man. God disappoints me only when I see Him as an incapable or lying man and not as a loving sovereign God that is not only willing but capable of keeping all the promises He makes.