(Through the Bible) Numbers 21-28 — Chuck Smith

Israel's Journey Around Edom

Let's turn in our Bibles to Numbers 21. Now, the children of Israel have been in the wilderness for about 39 years, and they are now beginning to make their move towards the promised land. We're coming down to the end of this long sojourn in the wilderness.

Miriam is dead. Aaron is dead. And most of those who came out of Egypt who were 20 years old at the time they left Egypt are now dead. And as they are moving now towards the land, you remember, they have circumvented Edom.

Now, they're coming up on the eastern side of the land itself, not coming directly through the southern part of the land of Israel up through Hebron and that area, but they're going clear around. In fact, they went around Hebron.

I mean, they went around Edom and are circling in and coming in above actually the area of Galilee, the Golan Heights area up in there. They've made a big circle around and they're going to come in to the land from the eastern part from about the Dead Sea north approximately.

In fact, when they make their first initial thrust into the land, it will be at Jericho, which is just north of the Dead Sea region. But they've encircled Edom and now are coming towards the land and they are dealing then with the Moabites and the Amorites who lived up in that northern area.

The southern part was Edom. North of Edom was Moab. North of Moab were the Amorites. And so, they are circled clear around and coming in from another direction. It must have been quite a journey with that many people.

Well, over a million and a half people. It surely was an interesting experience. And when King Arad, the Canaanite which dwell in the south, heard that Israel came by the way of the spies, then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.

And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord and said, if you will indeed deliver this people into our hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. So, the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites.

And they utterly destroyed them and their cities. And they called the name of the place Hormah. And they journeyed from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to compass or to circle the land of Edom. And the soul of the people were very discouraged because of the way.

It was a hard route. It was a long way around rather than coming directly into the land. And it was discouraging for them because of that long route encircling around Edom. So, they were smitten by these Canaanites and they said, God, You just help us and we'll totally wipe them out.

And God helped them and they wiped them out. And now they made this big compass circling around Edom, not passing through Edom, coming up the rift valley by the Dead Sea, but passing clear around that thing.

Complaining, Thanksgiving, and God's Provision

Now the people spake against God and against Moses and said, why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there water, and our soul loatheth this light bread.

Now again, they are complaining against God. Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? We have no bread. We have no water. And we're sick of this manna, this light bread. Now as we pointed out this morning, in every circumstance of life, there are things that you can complain about.

I'm sure that if you want to, you can find something to gripe about in any situation that you face. So also, in every situation that you face, you can find something to be thankful for. And there are people who in every situation are looking for that for which they can gripe.

And there are those people that in every situation, they are looking for those things for which they can give thanks. In other words, there are people that are always looking on the good side, and there are people that are always looking on the drab side of life.

People who are chronically complaining, people who are chronically giving thanks. It becomes a pattern of a person's life. Now it is God's will that your pattern be that of thanksgiving. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus.

And God wants you to live a thankful life. God wants you to appreciate what He has done for you. Now, it is true that manna became no doubt a very monotonous thing. It wasn't very flavorful. It was sort of a mild, bland food, but yet it was extremely nutritious.

All that they needed to sustain them was in it as far as vitamins, minerals, and so forth. It was an excellent food. It was angels' food according to Psalm 72 or so. He fed them with angels' food. And yet, the people chose to complain instead of to give thanks.

Oh God, You're so good. You haven't failed. The manna is there every morning. Lord, You've supplied us all the way. You've sustained us, Lord. You've been so good to us. No, oh, this stuff, I'm sick of it.

Manna, manna, ack! And people are that way. And God in judgment because of their complaining sent fiery serpents among them. They were all so deadly, and as they would bite the people, the people would go into convulsions and die.

And they realized that it was a judgment of God because of their complaining. They came to Moses and they said, we have sinned in that we have spoken against God and against You. There was a confession of their sin.

That's always important. The Bible said if you seek to cover your sin, you're not going to prosper. But whoso confesseth his sin shall be forgiven. You try to hide your guilt. You try to deny your guilt.

God can't do anything for you. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, there are sometimes when people confess sins, but it isn't really a true confession of their heart.

Pharaoh said, I sinned against the Lord. But he went back and did the very same thing over again. Here the people said, we have sinned. They recognized that their complaining was a sin. That God's judgment had come upon them.

Moses, pray for us. Ask God to help us. And so Moses prayed. And instead of God just ridding the snakes out of the camp, God said to Moses, now make a brass serpent. Put it on a pole and set it up in the middle of the camp.

And it shall come to pass whenever a man is bitten by a snake as he is dying, if he will look at this brass snake on the pole, he'll be healed. So God let there be something that the people could do. In other words, you can live or die.

It's your choice. Living is very simple. All you have to do is look at this snake, this brass serpent on this pole, and you'll be healed. You'll live. Dying is very simple too. All you have to do is not look, and you're going to die.

Someone said, what must I do to be lost? Nothing. Just keep living like you are. Doing the things you do. And you'll be lost. What must I do to be saved? All you have to do is look at Jesus Christ in faith, in trust, believing in Him.

Salvation is very simple. And so, Moses made this brass serpent, put it on the pole, and it came to pass that as the people were bitten by these snakes, if they would look upon this brass serpent, they would be healed.

They would live. And thus, God gave an interesting foreshadowing of the cross of Jesus Christ. The serpent is always a symbol for sin. Because Satan came in the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Brass is always a symbol of judgment. They confessed we have sinned. The brass serpent on the pole was a symbol that your sin has been judged. Now, if you'll just look at the brass serpent, the place where your sin was judged, you'll be healed.

The Brass Serpent and Idolatry

Later on in Hezekiah's day, the people had made this brass serpent. They kept it. It was an interesting artifact. And they kept it as they journeyed into the land and as the judges and kings through all this period, they kept this brass serpent.

And at the time that Hezekiah was king over Judah, the people were worshiping this brass serpent. They had made an idol out of it. They were covering and offering prayers before it. Worshiping the brass serpent.

What does it indicate when a person begins to worship an idol? Number one, it indicates that he has lost his consciousness of God's living presence. I'm no longer conscious that God is present with me.

Thus, I am looking for something that will remind me of the presence of God. And so I get some kind of a little reminder, a memento, some kind of an image or whatever that can remind me of God's presence.

But the fact that I need an object shows that I've lost the consciousness of the presence of God. Number two, it indicates that somehow deep inside, I am longing for that which I have lost. I'm longing for a meaningful relationship with God.

I'm longing for a meaningful consciousness of God. And thus, I am setting up reminders. Things that can bring my attention and my mind to the fact of God's presence. Thus, it is always a sign of spiritual deterioration or degradation.

And at the time that Hezekiah became king, he took this brass serpent that Moses had made and he broke the thing in pieces because the people were bowing down, worshiping and praying before it and all.

And he broke the thing in pieces. And he said, Nehushtan! Dummies! It's not a god. The Nehushtan means a thing of brass. It's not a god. All it is is a piece of brass. You know, it's tragic when people begin to worship a building or begin to worship objects.

We had a church one time in which we were remodeling the platform and we decided to remodel the pulpit. I was going to build a new pulpit. And this lady came up and said, Brother Smith, oh, you can't replace that pulpit.

Oh, Brother So-and-so made this and oh, there have been so many anointed sermons. Oh, it would be terrible if you didn't make that pulpit. But oh, you know, on and on. And oh, I knew that there was going to be a church split because we wanted to replace the pulpit.

Churches split over the dumbest things because people are so dumb. They get attached to things because they've lost the consciousness of God's vital presence in their life. Oh, I remember the sermon that was preached.

Oh, it was so powerful. And the pastor held on to that pulpit and his knuckles were white and the anointing of God was on him. Oh, don't get rid of the pulpit. Well, the pulpit was ugly. And we were modernizing the whole...

Well, it was the ugliest platform you ever saw. Just old fashioned, ugly, broken down chairs. And the whole thing was just ugly. So we wanted to modernize the whole thing. Got some nice modern chairs.

And so I built a new pulpit, but I built it right around the old one. Used the old one as a base and I just put new wood around it and modernized it and all, new design to it. And it matched the rest of the platform then.

And this woman came to church and just about had apoplexy when she saw the new pulpit. She came storming up to me, eyes flashing. She said, I told you that that pulpit couldn't go. And I said, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Come here, come here. I want to show you something. And I took her around and I showed her behind the pulpit. Here's the old, ugly pulpit. You know, everything was there. It's still the same pulpit. I just built around it.

And it sufficed her. It was, oh, praise the Lord. We've still got our pulpit in there. Now, Hirshtan, take an ax to it. It's just a thing of wood. There's nothing holy about it. It's just an old, broken down piece of furniture.

People get attached to the... Oh, that's where I accepted Jesus. Oh, you can't do anything to that church, you know. It was interesting when we were in the little sanctuary a block away. And we had grown to the place where we were going to have to move.

And so, the only thing we could do is put up a big old circus tent. And so, that's what we did. Put up the circus tent out here. And people were going around saying, oh, I hope we don't lose this neat, warm feeling when we move into a tent.

Oh, that tent, I don't know. I just hope we don't lose this beautiful, beautiful feeling that we have when we move into a tent. After two years in the tent and this church building here was completed, they're saying, oh, I hope we don't lose this beautiful, warm feeling in the tent when we move into a building.

As though it were a building or a tent. The beautiful, warm feeling comes from the love of Jesus Christ working in our hearts and in our lives. And we could be meeting out on the grass or down at the beach.

Anywhere. And that neat, beautiful, warm feeling would be there because the beautiful, neat, warm feeling isn't in the building. It isn't in furniture. It's in the hearts of God's people. And it's sad when people lose that consciousness of God or begin to equate the presence of God to a place, to a building, to an artifact, to a piece of furniture, or to a brass serpent or something else.

Hezekiah wisely broke that thing in pieces and said, no, just a thing of brass. It's not a god. Now, if you go to the St. Ambrose Cathedral in Milan, Italy, you can see the glued together pieces of brass and the people going up and offering their prayers and kissing the glass cover and so forth again.

Because according to their story, someone picked up the pieces and now they've got it on display and they're using it again. Nehushtan. But more important, in the New Testament, Jesus tells us the true significance for this brass serpent lifted on a pole.

The New Birth and the Cross

For when Nicodemus came to Him at night and sought the way of salvation, Jesus said, Nicodemus, there's only one way, man. You've got to be born again. Nicodemus said, born again? What do you mean? I'm an old man.

I can't go back to my mother's womb and be born a second time. What do you mean born again? Jesus said, Nicodemus, there are two births, one physical, one spiritual. And that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't be uptight because I tell you, you've got to be born again. But how can these things be? And Jesus, in answer to the question of how can a man be born again, how can these things be, answered Nicodemus and said, for as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

That's how a person is born again. By looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as He was lifted up on His cross. And see that there God has judged my sins. And Jesus bore the judgment of God for my sins. As the brass serpent was the symbol of sin being judged, it was looking forward to God judging man's sins upon the cross.

And God laid upon Him the iniquities of us all. And He bore the sins of the world. And there God judged the sins of the world on the cross of Jesus Christ. And now you who are dying because of this deadly affliction of sin, all you have to do to live is to look to the cross of Jesus Christ and see that God has judged your sin and believe in Him.

So the brass serpent on the pole in the wilderness was looking forward to the judgment of sin upon the cross when Jesus would be lifted up there upon the cross and bear once and for all God's judgment for man's iniquities.

The Book of the Wars of the Lord and the Well at Beer

And so, the children of Israel set forward and pitched at Obad. And then they were now starting this journey on around and it tells of various places where they were camping. Verse 14, and it said, Wherefore, it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord.

Now, that's an interesting book. I've never read it. And I suppose it's been lost and we probably won't find it. But there's a missing book. The book of the wars of the Lord. But did you know that the Lord had wars?

And what He did at the Red Sea? The Brooks of Arnon and so forth. And so they came on around and they went to Beer. Now, the word Beer means well. B-E-E-R. It's well. Beersheba is a well. Here, they just came to Beer, the well.

That is the well that the Lord spoke to Moses about. And He said, gather the people together and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O Well, within my soul. No, they didn't sing that part.

So, here's where you got the lyric for that song. Spring up, O Well. And they encouraged the people to sing unto it. Sing unto that well. And the princes dug a well. And the nobles of the people digged it by the direction of the lawgiver with their shovels.

Israel's Conquest East of the Jordan

And from the wilderness, they went to Matana. And then on to the top of Mount Pisgah, from which they were able to look over the land that God had promised as they were now in the country of Moab. Now, Israel sent messengers to the king of the Amorites asking for permission to pass through his land as they did to Edom.

The king of Edom refused. Came down to meet them with his army. But because the Edomites were actually relatives to them, they just went away peaceably and went all the way around Edom. But they weren't really related to the Amorites.

And so, when the king Sihon of the Amorites came out with his army, Israel smote him with the edge of the sword and possessed the land from Arnon to Jabok, even unto the children of Ammon, for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

So, they took over the area that was being possessed by the Amorites. Now, this is from the area east of the Sea of Galilee, north of Moab. And Jabok comes into the Jordan just south from Galilee. And so, that area of the Golan, present-day Golan Heights, but not up as far as Syria, on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee was the area where the Amorites dwelt.

That is the land that the children of Israel conquered. And later, part of the tribes settled in that land. It's great cattle country. And the Reubenites, the tribe of Reuben were great cattlemen and also were the tribe of Gad.

And so, half of the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Reuben settled and remained permanently. Well, as permanent as the Israelites remained. They remained though on that eastern side of the Jordan River and settled that area up in there.

Israel took all the cities and dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites. In some of the major cities, Hezbollah, which was one of the major cities. It was actually the capital city of the area of the Amorites.

And so, they declared their victory and so forth in sort of a song or proverbs. And so, then they turned and they went by the way of Bashan. And the king of Bashan came out to meet them with all of his people.

And the Lord said to Moses, Fear him not, for I have delivered him into your hand and all of his people and his land. And you'll do to him just like you did to Sion the king of the Amorites. And so, they smote him and his sons and the people and there was none left alive and they possessed his land.

So, they're beginning to possess that land there on the northern end of Israel and on the eastern banks of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. And so, the children of Israel set forward and pitched in the plains of Moab, moving now south from this position on this side of the Jordan River or on the eastern side of the Jordan River by the city of Jericho.

Balak, Balaam, and the Blessing of Israel

And Balak, the son of Zippor, saw that Israel, all that he had done to the Amorites and Moab was very afraid of the people because they were many. And Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.

And Moab said to the elders of Midian, now shall this company lick up all that are round about us as the ox licks up the grass of the field. And Balak, the son of Zippor, was the king of the Moabites at that time.

And so, he sent messengers unto Balaam, the son of Beor, to Pephor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people to call him saying, behold, there is a people that has come out from Egypt.

Behold, they cover the face of the earth. They abide over against me. Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me, this people. For they are too mighty for me. Peradventure I shall prevail that we may smite them and that we may drive them out of the land.

For I know that whom you bless is blessed and whom you curse is cursed. And so, the elders of Moab with the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hands. And they came to Balaam and spake to him the words of Balak.

And he said unto them, stay here tonight and I will bring you word again. And the Lord shall speak unto me. And the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. And God came to Balaam and said, who are these men that are with you?

And Balaam said unto God, Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, has sent them unto me saying, behold, there is a people that has come out of Egypt, which covers the face of the earth. Come and curse me them that I might be able to overcome them and drive them out.

And God said unto Balaam, listen, thou shalt not go with them. Thou shalt not curse the people for they are blessed. So that's God's direct command. Now, this guy Balaam, interesting character. It would definitely appear that he was a prophet of God, though he was not from Israel.

That God did indeed speak to him. In fact, some of the most remarkable prophecies of the Old Testament came out of the mouth of Balaam. What was his background? How is it that he knew God and was able to relate to God in such a special way?

I don't know. It would seem that he was used to creating enchantments or curses. And that's actually what the king wanted him to do is to create some kind of a curse against these people. Now, he had a reputation for power in putting curses on people.

And so the king sent the rewards of divination. In other words, when you go to a prophet to seek advice from God, you'd always take some kind of a gift for the prophet. That was the custom of the day.

Even in Israel, that was a custom. Going to the prophet, you'd take a gift for the prophet and ask him to seek the Lord for you. But it was always customary to take a gift for the prophet. And so the king sent these messengers with a gift, with a command that he would put a curse on these people that had come out of Egypt and were now bordering his land.

I know whomever you curse is cursed. Whoever you bless is blessed. So, Balaam sought the Lord and the Lord said to him, Don't go to the king and don't curse these people. God's direct command to Balaam.

And so Balaam rose up in the morning and he said to the princes of Balak, You better go home, for the Lord refuses to give me permission to come with you. So the princes of Moab, they went back to Balak and they said he won't come.

He said the Lord won't let him come. And so, Balak the king sent back more honorable princes. Men of greater stature as far as the government was concerned. And the king said, Don't let anything keep you from coming, for I will promote you to great honor and I'll give you whatever you want.

So, come and curse these people. So, now more important princes, offers of, you know, you write the check or you name the price. I'll do wonderful things for you. I'll promote you to great honor and I'll do anything you ask.

But don't let anything keep you from coming. So, Balaam answered the servants of Balak and said, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the Word of God to do any less or to do any more.

So, he said, wait tonight and I'll find out what the Lord will say unto me. Now, I can imagine that this night Balaam was really laying it upon the Lord. Lord, please. Because he was thinking about these great rewards that have been offered to him by the king.

All this loot. Man, he was really drooling. Lord, you know, I'll be good. I promise. But let me go, Lord. Just let me go. Please, Lord, let me go. I assume that this was the case because the Lord gave him permission to go, but yet when he went, it wasn't God's will for him to go.

And I do believe that it is possible for us to enter into a gray area of what is termed the permissive will of God. Yes, God will permit you to do it, but He doesn't want you to do it. And I believe that a person can zero in right in the heart of God and the direct will of God for his life.

You can be right on dead center with God's will for your life. And I think that there is a gray area that you can get over into which God will permit you to do it. But it isn't really His direct will.

He isn't really pleased with it. But you've insisted. You're pressuring. You're forcing. You're whining. You're crying. Ah, go on then, you know. Oftentimes, your kids, you know, they've laid it on you like that.

And you say, okay, go ahead and go. But you really don't want them to. You're so tired of hearing them gripe and whine and complain. Get out of here. Go ahead. Go on. Tired of hearing your complaining.

And so, I assume that this was the case because God said, all right, go. And God said to Balaam, at night, if the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them. But the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.

So Balaam rose up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. And God's anger was kindled because he went. God was angry with him for going. Now, God expressed His direct will in the beginning.

Don't go with them. Don't curse these people. That was God's direct will for his life. But he was going off into an area. God permitted him to go. But God was angry with him for going. Leaving the place of the center of God's will.

I think that it is possible for a person to do that. But out of the center of God's will, you can run into all kinds of problems. All kinds of adversities. And before he had gone very long, very far down the road, an angel of the Lord stood in the path with a drawn sword, ready to take off his head.

But fortunately, his donkey saw the angel, though he didn't. And so the donkey turned off the path. And Balaam took his stick and hit the donkey and got it back on the path. And they were going through a vineyard.

And in those vineyards, they have rock walls along the pathway to keep people from going over and picking grapes. And so he's going between these rock walls, past these vineyards. And the angel of the Lord stood in the path again.

Balaam didn't see him, but the donkey did. And the donkey sort of tried to edge over against the wall and got Balaam's leg pinned up against a rock. And he beat that poor little donkey again. And so again, he got him going down the road.

And the third time, the angel of the Lord stood in the path. But this time, there was nowhere for the donkey to go. So he just sat down. And Balaam began to beat him again. And God opened the mouth of the donkey.

Now to me, it is an interesting thing. The great pride that some people have because God has spoken through them. Spoke through me. You know, like you're something super special because God spoke through you.

It is true, God still speaks through donkeys today. And that should deflate anybody who thinks there's something special and something really glorious. You know, people ought to bow to them because God speaks through them.

God opened the mouth of the donkey and the donkey turned to Balaam and said, Hey, man, do you think it's right beating me these three times? Look, have I ever done anything like this to you before? Haven't I always been a good little donkey?

Balaam said, you bet your life I'm doing right. If I had a club, I'd kill you, you rotten beast. Boy, talk about being mad. That's really being mad when a donkey talks to you and you talk back to him.

Instead of being just dumbfounded, you know, if a donkey talked to me, I just, you know. He is mad. He wished he could kill that donkey at this point. It's amazing how out of tune and out of sorts we get when we're out of God's will.

You know, we're wanting to do our own thing and God puts a block in the way and boy, we become angry. We become upset because God is blocking this which I've got in my mind to do. You get out of the will of God and you can really get out of sorts in every area of your life.

Your whole life just gets out of sorts completely. And so, at this point, God opened the eyes of this prophet and he saw the angel of God standing there with a sword. And the angel spoke to Balaam and said, you better be thankful for that dumb little donkey you got because had he not turned his side, I would have taken off your head.

Balaam said, oh, I'll go right home. I'll turn around and go right back home. And the angel said, no, you've come this far. You know, it's in your heart to go. You go ahead and go, but you just make sure that you don't say any more than what God tells you to say.

And so, Balaam went on to the king. And so, the king brought Balak up into a high mountain where he might overlook all of Israel camped down there in the valley. They came to Kirjath Hazoth, the city of the streets, literally.

And so, Balaam said to the king, build me seven altars here. I'll offer sacrifices unto God. So, they built seven altars and he offered seven oxen and seven rams. And Balaam said to the king, now you stand here and I'm going to go up and maybe God will speak to me.

And whatever God shows me, I will tell you. And so, he went to a high place and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, I've prepared seven altars and I've offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.

And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, return to Balak and tell him this. And so, he returned to him and he was standing by the burnt sacrifice with all of the princes of Moab. And so, Balaam took up this parable and he 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.

How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see Him, and from the hills I behold Him, and lo, the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

And 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. And the king said, hey, why have you done this unto me?

I've brought you to curse my enemies, not to bless them. And Balaam answered and said, I must take heed to speak that which the Lord has put in my mouth. Now, this one part of this prophecy is interesting.

He said, may I die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like His. It's an interesting thing how many people want to die the death of the righteous, but they don't want to live the life of the righteous.

They think of Christianity as something that is good to die by. Well, I wouldn't want to die any other way. But it's something that's great to live by. And yet, there are people that aren't so interested in living a life of righteousness, only dying.

Let my last end be as His. I want to die the death of the righteous. But if you want to die the death of the righteous, then you better live the life of the righteous. So, Balaam said, come and I'll show you another place.

Because you didn't see all of them here. There's another part of them. Maybe you can curse this part over here. And so, he took them to the top of Mount Pisgah. And there again, they built seven altars.

And they offered seven rams and seven bullocks, one on each altar. And so, Balaam went to meet the Lord. And the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, go again to Balak and tell him this.

And so, he said, rise up Balak and hear, hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor. 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?

Now, this is a very interesting scripture, but it is even more interesting in its context. What is the context? The context is that God has spoken his blessing upon the nation Israel. Now, he's trying to get God to turn and to curse the people that God has blessed.

And God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent or should change. Hath he not spoken and shall he not do it? The immutability of God's word. He doesn't change. He's not a man.

If God has declared his blessing, his blessing shall come. That's the context. But it is a very important scripture that declares to us the nature and the character of God. Because there are some passages of Scripture in the Old Testament that from the passage, you might infer that God changed his mind in a situation.