Numbers 23:14
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. 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.
The king of Moab summoned Balaam from Aram in the east to curse Jacob and defy Israel so that they might be destroyed. Balak then led Balaam from place to place, bringing him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah in the vain hope of inducing him to turn the blessing of Israel into a curse. There Balaam presented burnt offerings of a bullock and a ram on each of seven altars and then went off alone to commune with the angel of God.
The change of location did not change the message, for Balaam could not curse the people because God's blessing rested on them and God held back the curse, so he returned and blessed Israel. He declared that he could not curse or denounce those whom God had not cursed or denounced, for he had received orders to bless and God had given a blessing that could not be undone, since God does not speak falsely or alter His intent. Seen from the rocks and hills, Israel lives apart and is not counted with other peoples; God finds no wickedness or rebellion in them, their God is with them and a King's triumph is among them; no sorcery or fortune-telling can succeed against them, and people will speak of what God has accomplished for them.
Balaam was a corrupt and hypocritical seeker of gain whose heart wanted to curse God's people for reward, yet divine power controlled the greedy prophet and compelled him in lofty inspiration to announce Israel as God's chosen people kept by God's almighty power, so even the Moabites could perceive it. The episode reveals God's goodness and mercy in giving clear light directly from His throne as added evidence before the Moabites' guilt was complete, a final gleam upon a stubborn people who had set their will against God's will. The unwilling prophecy of blessing to which the verse belongs is sacred poetry and song, among the earliest known and most sublime poetic utterances, distinguished by beauty of expression. The repeated effort to turn blessing into cursing shows that human praise and fear of people cannot move one who stands firm and is upheld by divine power.