Thomas had been a Christian for most of his adult life. People knew him as steady, careful with Scripture, and slow to argue. One Tuesday evening in his study, Thomas sat with his worn Bible open to Genesis 12. He had read the chapter dozens of times before, but tonight the words landed differently. “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse,” he read aloud. Then he stopped.
For years he had heard pastors and friends apply this promise directly to the Jewish people and to the modern State of Israel. “Bless Israel and God will bless you.” The logic had always felt simple and comforting. But as Thomas read the surrounding verses again, something shifted.
Thomas decided God was speaking directly to Abraham, not to his future children, not to a nation, and not to a political state that would exist thousands of years later. The promise was personal, spoken to one man in response to his obedience in leaving his homeland.
Thomas closed his eyes and prayed. Over the next several weeks he read the passage in multiple translations, compared it with the rest of Genesis, and studied how the New Testament spoke about Abraham’s promises. He came to a quiet but firm conclusion: the specific blessing-and-cursing promise belonged to Abraham alone. It was not automatically transferred to his physical descendants or to any future government.
Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East involving the nation of Israel, many Christians are starting to question the concept that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel. While there is truth to the claim that Genesis 12 uses a singular pronoun, which indicates the promise only applied to Abraham, that is not the only passage which contains this concept. It is also found in Numbers 24, a passage which makes it clear that the blessing and cursing declaration applies to the entire Jewish people, not just Abraham.
When Israel arrived on the boundary of the Promised Land, Balak, king of Moab, called Balaam to come and curse Israel because Balak was afraid of Israel’s strength. Balaam came to Balak, but insisted he could only speak what Yahweh told him to speak. After offering a bull and a ram on each of seven altars, Yahweh gave Balaam a word, which was a blessing upon Israel and not a curse.
Balak took Balaam to a different spot, where Balaam once again offered a bull and a ram on each of seven altars. Once again, Yahweh put a word in the mouth of Balaam. The pronoun “he” in verse 18 refers to Balaam.
Num. 23:18 Then he took up his discourse and said,
“Arise, O Balak, and hear;
Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!
Num. 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it?
Balaam highlighted the differences between God and man. Men can lie and equivocate because they are not all-powerful. God does not have that limitation. He can do anything He wants to do.
Num. 23:20 Behold, I have received a command to bless;
When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.
Balaam correctly understood that he could not speak contrary to God’s instruction.
Num. 23:21 He has not observed misfortune in Jacob;
Nor has He seen trouble in Israel;
Yahweh his God is with him,
And the shout of a king is among them.
Notice the word “king”. At this point, Israel did not have a king, nor would they have one for another 500 years. However, Balaam correctly predicted that one day Israel would have a king, indicating Israel would continue to exist and prosper.
Num. 23:22 God brings them out of Egypt,
He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
Num. 23:23 For there is no omen against Jacob,
Nor is there any divination against Israel;
At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob
And to Israel, what God has done!
Num. 23:24 Behold, a people rises like a lioness,
And as a lion it lifts itself;
It will not lie down until it devours the prey,
And drinks the blood of the slain.”
Num. 23:25 ¶ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!”
Num. 23:26 But Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Whatever Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?”
Notice the name “Yahweh”. Yahweh is the personal name that refers to the One and Only true God, the Creator of the universe. Balaam did not merely say he had to speak whatever any god said to him. Balaam clearly claimed to be following Yahweh, the God of the Bible.
Num. 23:27 ¶ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be right in the eyes of God that you curse them for me from there.”
It is curious that Balak kept trying. If Balak truly believed Balaam had the ability to utter a curse that would help Balak, then it seems
Balak would have also believed that a blessing from Balaam would help Israel and was an unconquerable obstacle. Balaam had clearly blessed Israel; therefore, Balak should have understood that he was not going to defeat Israel.
Num. 23:28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the wasteland.
Num. 23:29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
Num. 23:30 And Balak did just as Balaam had said and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.
Num. 24:1 ¶ And Balaam saw that it was good in the eyes of Yahweh to bless Israel, so he did not go as at other times to encounter omens, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
Num. 24:2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel dwelling tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him.
Notice the phrase “the Spirit of God came upon him”. The author of Numbers made it clear that the following oracle uttered by Balaam was from God.
Num. 24:3 Then he took up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
And the oracle of the man whose eye is uncovered;
Num. 24:4 The oracle of him who hears the words of God,
Who beholds the vision of the Almighty,
Falling down, yet having his eyes opened,
Num. 24:5 How fair are your tents, O Jacob,
Your dwellings, O Israel!
Num. 24:6 Like valleys that stretch out,
Like gardens beside the river,
Like aloes planted by Yahweh,
Like cedars beside the waters.
Num. 24:7 Water will flow from his buckets,
And his seed will be by many waters,
And his king shall be lifted up higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.
Num. 24:8 God brings him out of Egypt,
He is for him like the horns of the wild ox.
He will devour the nations who are his adversaries,
And will gnaw their bones in pieces,
And shatter them with his arrows.
Num. 24:9 He crouches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lion, who dares rouse him?
Blessed is everyone who blesses you,
And cursed is everyone who curses you.”
Notice the last two lines of Balaam’s oracle. Balaam, speaking under the direction of the Holy Spirit, clearly said everyone who blesses the people of Israel is blessed and everyone who curses the people of Israel is cursed.
Many people today dispute the notion that God blesses those who bless Israel. It is true that this promise applies to the people of Israel, not the modern nation of Israel. However, the modern nation of Israel is a subset of the people of Israel. Therefore, blessing or cursing the modern nation of Israel is blessing or cursing a subset of the people of Israel.
This passage does not mean we should blindly approve anything the nation of Israel does. They make mistakes and deserve to be criticized from time to time. On the other hand, the nation of Israel exists specifically to defend the people of Israel, which means we should do things that help the nation of Israel, and not do things that hurt the nation of Israel.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”