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Baalam

Once all of the warriors and people who were destined to die in the wilderness wandering had died, it was now time to stage the people to enter the Promised Land. Israel was instructed to leave Lot’s descendants alone but they were allowed to utterly destroy the Amorites. Once the Amorites were defeated, the king of Moab was afraid that they also would be annihilated. NUM 22:4 And Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this horde will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field." Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time and he counsels with the elders of Midian about how to deal with Israel. King Balak decides to send for a prophet whom he is familiar with and calls him to curse Israel so that the king would be able to overpower them and run them off. King Balak of Moab sends servants to Balaam, son of Beor, and pleads with him to curse these people. The servants tell Balaam that the king had heard that whomever he blesses is blessed and whom he cursed is cursed and that the king wants him to curse Israel.

 

Many people believe that Balaam was a false prophet, but I don’t. The very fact that the king knew that Balaam’s blessing was active and worked in behalf of those he blessed was evidence of a true prophet. We even have a scriptural witness to the fact that God listened to Balaam, DEU 23:5 "Nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you. You may be saying, this scripture states God did not listen to Balaam, but what this scripture is referring to is that Balaam wanted to curse Israel for the king but God would not comply and instead caused Balaam to bless Israel. So God, the God of Israel, did acknowledge Balaam as a real authentic prophet. This should not disturb us seeing that God has always loved and is concerned for all mankind. Prophets are not just reserved for a Jewish state and now the church but a universal calling and gifting. Abraham is the first person to be called a prophet and I am sure he was not the only one in his time. Enoch is said to have prophesied, (Jud 1:14) so prophets and prophesy was alive and well throughout all generations.

 

This study is not intended to look closely at the prophetic call but authority which is a component of any godly person, whether prophet, apostle or just a plain old believer. It is important for us to understand that Balaam had authority as a prophet even though he was not an Israelite. Not only did he say he would not say anything that God was not saying but he would not go with Balak’s servants because God (through an angel) would not allow him to go. Then Balak sent more distinguished men to try and convince Balaam with great riches and notoriety if he came and cursed these Israelites. Look at how Balaam responds; NUM 22:18 And Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the Lord my God. This is not an attitude of a false prophet. Balaam decides to go and seek God again and find out if He changed His mind about allowing him to go with Balak’s men.

 

Let’s look more closely at exactly what Balaam heard from God. The first time Balaam sought God about the kings request scripture says, NUM 22:12 And God said to Balaam, "Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people; for they are blessed."  This is why Balaam told the first group sent by the king to go back without me for God will not let me go. The second time Balaam seeks God about this issue he hears, NUM 22:20 And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do." It would seem that God changed his mind sometime between the first word and this second word.

 

At this point we need to talk about our idea of who speaks to us when we say, “God said to me or told me....” Now we may declare it to be God who spoke to us but if we really understand the way heaven is set up and who does what, we would quickly realize that it was most likely an angel of God who spoke to us as opposed to God the Father or even Jesus. This doesn’t mean that God himself will not or cannot speak to us but that He established the angels as those who minister to us. HEB 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? Even though the Hebrew word eloheem is most commonly translated God it does not always refer to the person of God but of supernatural beings. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Vol 3 pg.81 says, “At the same time, it is fairly obvious that neither el nor eloheem has originally the same meaning as is contained in the name Yahweh. These words denote a divine person by species rather than an individual divine person. As genetic (generic?) terms for ‘God’ they have their roots in polytheistic religion. The divine individual, the numinous Thou, is as little denoted by them as is an individual person by the generic ‘man.’” In saying this we must understand that it was not God who changed his mind when speaking with Balaam but the angel who attended to him and spoke in behalf of God. In other words this angel who at first told Balaam he could not go with the men later changed his mind and told him to go but only speak what God tells him to.

 

Balaam in the morning saddles his donkey and heads off with the men sent by the king. Along the way an angel comes against Balaam with the intent to kill him. Balaam is unaware of this angel who has his sword drawn with the intent to use it on Balaam. His faithful donkey sees the angel and tries to avoid him but in the process the donkey makes Balaam so mad that he says if he had a sword he would slay this poor faithful donkey. This is when God opens the eyes of Balaam and he sees this angel standing in his way with his sword drawn. NUM 22:32 And the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was contrary to me. v33 "But the donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now, and let her live." This angel made a statement that he came after Balaam as his adversary because “your way was contrary to me.” We are confronted with a situation that seems to make little sense and we need to make some conjectures about what is actually happening here.

 

What we have seen so far is that the first time Balaam seeks God concerning the king of Moab’s request he is told he cannot go with the men. The second time Balaam seeks God he then is told go with the men but only say what I tell you. Then Balaam leaves with the men and on his way an angel stands against him threatening to kill him. We can surmise that the first angel (not God himself) spoke to Balaam telling him not to go was somehow overruled by possibly a higher ranking angel who had authority over the land and the first angel. Either this is the case or Balaam just soulishly manufactured the idea that he was given the green light to go with the men. While it is possible that Balaam manufactured the permission to go, I do not believe that this is correct. If the first angel was overruled by a higher ranking angel then Balaam was not in the wrong for leaving with the men. If it was a self deception then he risked his life by going. Whichever the case maybe Balaam did in fact risk his life by going. We must however admit to the fact that God did have mercy on Balaam by allowing his faithful animal to see the angel and attempt to avoid him. The angel attributes the donkey’s evasive maneuvering to why Balaam was allowed to live and yet the angel could have killed Balaam at any time.

 

The most puzzling part of this situation is in what this sword bearing angel says after the initial encounter. The angel tells Balaam, “Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was contrary to me.” It is evident that Balaam did not really want to do God’s will in the matter. Balaam was offered wealth and notoriety if he would just curse these people and that is what Balaam really wanted. This is why the angel declares him to be an adversary and his way contrary. Yet when Balaam offers to go back home (this would be in accord with the first thing Balaam heard) the angel instead repeats the second directive. NUM 22:34 And Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the way against me. Now then, if it is displeasing to you, I will turn back." v35 But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, "Go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I shall tell you." So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak. This angel who stands ready to kill Balaam is the angel who tells him what to prophesy, seeing that this is the second time it is said to him, “you are to say only what I tell you to say.” The angel’s statement confirms the fact that Balaam did hear correctly to go with the men if asked. Balaam just put himself at risk by not wanting to do God’s will but he was hoping that God would change his mind and have Balaam curse Israel. If the angel had told Balaam to return we would have known that this was really what God wanted but because he repeated verbatim what Balaam said he heard, we know that it was an accurate word.

 

This scriptural account brings up several issues about spiritual authority. Balaam was a spiritual authority with the ability to stand as a prophet and speak prophetically. Not only is it required for the prophet to speak only what God is saying but he should also want what God wants and his own personal agenda should not interfere with his calling. We don’t know if Balaam was rich or poor but one thing we can be sure of, he was led away by the prospect of wealth and notoriety. The other thing we should recognize is that there was a change in the word to the prophet. The first word was “do not go” but the second was “go but only speak what I say.” We should not be so religious that we think the first word is absolute. The answer we receive from God can be just a temporary delay.

 

The story continues when Balaam reaches Balak. Balak is angry that Balaam did not come earlier and asks Balaam to curse Israel. Balaam takes his stand and says I cannot say anything other then what I am told. (Num 22:36-24:25) Balaam does not curse Israel but blesses them three times which irritates Balak. The third prophetic blessing that Balaam spoke was initiated by God for Balaam knew God was not going to curse Israel and he decided to not even seek God in behalf of Balak but was getting ready to leave when a prophetic utterance came upon him. So what is it that tarnishes Balaam’s prophetic image? From this story he did not do anything that was wrong. In Numbers chapter thirty one we find a statement that connected Balaam with a plague which took 24,000 Israeli lives. NUM 31:16 "Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord. So it would seem that while Balaam could not and would not compromise his prophetic call. Balaam did not have the moral fortitude so he counseled Balak about how to get God to reject Israel. It would seem that Balaam told Balak to have the Moabite women seduce the Israeli men and draw them into their houses of worship, thus making God angry with Israel. NUM 25:1 While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. 25:2 For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 25:3 So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the Lord was angry against Israel.

 

This is a sad commentary about a prophet of God who was duplicitous in his gifting and calling. While he would not speak other than what God was speaking he did not love God enough to protect His interests. If Balaam could not get wealth or notoriety through his prophetic gifting he would do it through evil council. I am sure that Balaam knew what to counsel Balak based on the prophetic insight he gained while he prophesied blessing over Israel. There are two New Testament scriptures that declare Balaam’s error. REV 2:14 'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. 2PE 2:15 forsaking the right way they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

 

We should be careful not to fall into a similar situation as Balaam. We can have integrity when it comes to speaking for God but be totally bankrupt when it comes to living a godly life. Selfish ambition caused Balaam to go beyond decency. His counsel did not alter God’s plan for Israel but resulted in twenty four thousand Israeli deaths. 

 

We should notice that this was not the end of this situation. God told Moses to take revenge on the Midianites for what happened to the sons of Israel in this matter of Peor as his last job. God made it clear that Moses would die after judgment on the Midianites was complete. The king of Moab seems to be the main person responsible for hiring Balaam but the elders of Midian were no doubt also involved (NUM 22:4) A thousand men from each tribe, twelve thousand in total went to war against the Midianites. NUM 31:7 So they made war against Midian, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed every male. v8 And they killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. God did not allow Israel to take revenge upon Lot’s descendants, the Moabites (This shows God’s continued blessing to Abraham and his family), but they destroyed Midian and their five kings along with Balaam himself. Balaam suffered for not blessing and protecting the people God wanted blessed.

 

The fact that God punished the Midianites and Balaam for their attempt to destroy Israel and didn’t touch Moab is very sobering. We have already seen how Lot and his family were delivered because of Abraham. Their deliverance had nothing to do with Lot’s own righteousness. Moab tries to destroy their own relatives (Abraham’s offspring) and God overlooks these actions. Moab is Lot’s descendants so again God because of Abraham overlooks their sin. Is there any of us who have an Abraham in our family which covers our sin before God? Have we been passed over for judgment not because we are righteous but because God is honoring this godly relative? We should not deceive ourselves by thinking we are holy when we are living in gross sin.

 

The angel that confronted Balaam had an opportunity to kill him before he brought this problem upon Israel. The angel even said that he would have killed Balaam if not for his donkey. This situation should have put the fear of God in Balaam and crushed his desire to try and find a way around what God wants. Scripture declares that it was Balaam’s counsel that brought the women to seduce the Israeli men which caused the judgment of God. God is not passive about His people or His authorities but will judge both. Balaam will always be remembered for the prophetic words he spoke over Israel against the desires of the king of Moab though his life ended in judgment and disgrace.