NUMBERS
The Adventures of Balaam
Numbers 22:1-24:25
INTRODUCTION
When we come to the story of Balaam, we have to address the question why Moses devotes so much attention to a story which (1) does not directly involve any of the Israelites and (2) which occupies more space than any other of the episodes in the five books he wrote. Few episodes, if any, take up as much space as this one episode. Why? As we study the story, the reason will be made all the more clear; however, at this point we just need to recognize the significance of this story to Moses.
Remember the historical setting of this episode. In the previous chapters, we saw the Israelites emerging from the wilderness as a force to be reckoned with. Although they had refused to take on the Edomites and Moabites, the Israelites had not refused because of cowardice; they refused to fight them because of the blood ties they enjoyed with these 2 nations. When faced with an enemy, though, who had no blood ties with them, the Israelites readily met hat enemy in battle. For example, when the Amorites who lived on the eastern side of the Jordan River attacked Israel, she responded by annihilating them. Now this victory sent shock waves throughout the land because the Amorites were the most powerful of the Canaanites tribes. If the Amorites could not withstand the Israelites, then neither could any other of the nations in the area.
One nation in particular who was worried with just cause was Moab. The land of Moab had once included the territory now ruled by Sihon; however, he had conquered Moab and had forced her to give up the land north of the Arnon River to him. If Moab could not defeat Sihon and the Amorites, then she surely would not be able to defeat the Israelites who had dealt Sihon a crushing defeat. Another reason that Moab was worried about his shift in power was that he Israelites were heading for lands which bordered her land. If the Israelites had just been on the way through, then the Moabites might not have been concerned; however, Israel was going to be settling in the land adjacent to her, ultimately in a place too close for comfort. Instead of trusting that he Israelites were going to honor their blood ties with the Moabites, Moab felt hat something had to be done.
BALAAM IN SUMMONED (22:1-20)
Balak, the king of Moab, knowing that he cannot defeat Israel at his point, decides that he needs supernatural help, if he is going to check Israel and her growing military power. Upon the advice of some Midianite advisers, he sends emissaries to a soothsayer named Balaam who lives in Mesopotamia (Aram) to induce him to come and curse the Israelites. Two things need to be noted here. First, Balaam is not what we would call a believer in God. We know that because the OT calls him a soothsayer—one of the classes of sorcerers, etc., the Bible condemns. Instead, he is the OT version of Simon the Great (Acts 8) who was interested in God only because of the power God gave His servants. Balaam knows of the God of Israel and His power; however, he is interested only in using that power to advance his own agenda. Second, this episode presumes that a curse is effective if it is just uttered. According to the ancients, the spoken word is a powerful weapon. Whereas today we tend to dismiss the power of the spoken word, the truth is that a spoken word can wound or heal more powerfully than most of us want to admit.
When Balaam receives the messengers, they inform him of Balak's desires and also of Balak's promise to reward Balaam handsomely. Knowing that he is dealing with the deity of another nation and that the deity is powerful indeed (had He not destroyed the Egyptians?), Balaam says that he must consult first with the God of the Hebrews before he can promise anything. Balaam apparently does not believe that only one God exists; however, he is pretty impressed with this God of the Israelites and feels that he must consult with Him first.
When Balaam meets with God, the Lord asks Balaam the identity of the men with him. What God is actually saying is "What are you doing associating with these men?" Balaam should know better than granting an audience to these men who seek the destruction of Israel; God is bringing this to his attention. When Balaam summarizes what Balak wants, God commands Balaam not to go with these men and not to comply with Balak's wishes—the cursing of Israel. Balaam sends the emissaries back to Balak with the message that God will not allow him to curse Israel.
Balak is surprised to find his request rebuffed. So he sends another delegation to Balaam, this time composed of greater luminaries than the previous delegation. Balaam once more receives the delegation and their promises of great honor and financial reward, and once more approaches God for permission to go to Balak and curse the Israelites. This time, God relents and allows Balaam to go to Balak. Balaam, along with the delegation returns to Balak and Moab.
BALAAM'S DONKEY (22:21-35)
Now as Balaam is heading towards Moab with the delegation, the Lord becomes angry with Balaam, and sends an angel to block his path. Why is the Lord angry with Balaam for going to Moab if the Lord is the One who gave him permission to go in the first place? One of 2 explanations is probably true. (1) It may be that as Balaam gets closer to Moab, he was beginning to change his mind about what he was going to do once he met with Balak. The wheels were probably turning and he was probably trying to figure out a way to curse Israel and not incur God's wrath. A great financial reward was staring him in the face if he cursed Israel, and he did love the money (see 2 Pet. 2:15). (2) Remember that God had at first refused his request to go to Moab, and yet Balaam had persisted in asking. Many of us are like that in that we are not asking for God's will but rather we are asking for God's blessing upon whatever we are doing. Well, sometimes God grants us permission in order to teach us to ask for His will, not His blessing. Sometimes He gives us what we want and then we discover it's not what we really want. Trusting God means that we really believe He loves us, wants the best for us, and will joyfully receive whatever He sends our way.
I believe that the past few SS lessons have really applied to the situation we're facing as a church. The incident at Kadesh-Barnea in which Israel was faced with the choice of following God into the Promised Land or refusing to go applies to our present situation at FBC. If we are willing to go wherever God takes us with this building, He is going to lead us into a wonderful future (this does not apply just to the decision regarding the building but to all the decisions God asks us to make). Moses at the rock applies to us because whereas Moses did not do anything criminal, he still did not obey God. Whatever option we take with the sanctuary will not be criminal, but will it be what God wants us to do? Today's lesson says that God many times gives us exactly what we want, and yet once we get it, we realize it was a drastic mistake and may be too late to rectify the situation. We're not to delude ourselves into thinking that the decision about the sanctuary building (or other things) doesn't matter. It does matter. We can be like Balaam and decide for ourselves what we need to do with this building and then ask God to bless it, but if we do, we may be headed for disaster—maybe financially but definitely spiritually. If we decide that we are going to follow God in whatever He wants us to do, God is going to bless us and unlike Balaam we are going to experience God's pleasure and favor in our lives.
How does God let Balaam know that He is unhappy with him? The angel wielding a sword three times blocks the path of the donkey carrying Balaam along the road. Once the donkey has to go into a field to avoid the angel's wrath; next, the donkey has to press aside the wall, jamming Balaam's foot against the wall; and finally, the donkey just lies down in the road because going any further is going to result in death for Balaam. Balaam responds by striking the donkey with a rod. Supernaturally, the donkey questions Balaam as to why he struck him. Had he not been his faithful servant all these years and shouldn't that have cued Balaam that something was amiss?
Two things about this episode. First, because Balaam had hardened his heart against God, he was not the one who received the vision of this angel—the donkey was. How humiliating. The man considered the most spiritual man in the Middle East saw only the path, whereas his dumb donkey received visions from the Lord. Next time Balak sends for someone who knows God, he needs to send for Balaam's donkey instead of Balaam. Second, God was communicating to Balaam by having his donkey act strangely. Balaam instead of trying to discover the purpose behind this irritating circumstance tried to control the circumstance. When our finances go south, we immediately try and get a second or third job to correct the situation. When our health persistently deteriorates, we first check every doctor in the world. People irritate us; therefore, we try to control them or do away with them. Our first response should be, "Lord, what are You doing in this circumstance?" Many of us have donkeys irritating us, and we're beating the donkeys rather than discovering what God is doing through those donkeys. Anyway, at this point Balaam is able to see the angel who is blocking their path. The angel informs Balaam that he is going to allow him to pass; however, he had better be sure that when he meets with Balak that he say only what the Lord commands him to say regarding Israel.
This episode is interesting because it shows (1) that God will refuse to deal directly with those who are "spiritual" (actually pious) when they are in rebellion to God and (2) that God would rather reveal Himself to a stupid donkey than to someone created in His image who persists in rebellion. God sometimes has to speak through our little children to get our attention because we've grown insensitive due to rebellion. Sometimes even that pagan who works or lives by you sees more of God than we do because of rebellion in our hearts. Can God speak through anything or anybody? Yes, He even spoke through the very person who was going to murder His Son—Caiaphas (John 11:51).
God may not always speak directly through us (1) because He wants to teach us humility or (2) because we may be in rebellion. The first reason is not bad. God wants us to depend on others in a healthy sense; therefore, sometimes He speaks to us indirectly through others. The second is not good. Sometimes we've placed so many barriers in the way that God refuses to speak to us. In Balaam's case, the barrier was the love of money (2 Pet. 2:15). For others, it may be pride, anger, greed, lust, etc. The key, though, to seeing God is being pure in heart and submitting to whatever God wants us to do.
BALAAM BLESSES ISRAEL (22:36-24:25)
At this point, Balaam approaches the borders of Moab. Balak is so eager to get the process going that he rushes to meet Balaam instead of wasting time by having Balaam go deeper into Moab the capital city. Upon their meeting, Balaam warns Balak that he is under obligation to say only what God commands him to say. He is not free to do whatever he wishes; neither is he able to manipulate the God of Israel. Balak brushes these comments aside, confident that Balaam will succumb to the lure of riches and will then curse Israel.
Balak takes Balaam to a mountain overlooking the outer edges of the Israelite camp so that he will be able to see at least one part of the camp. Balak sacrifices 7 rams and 7 bulls in the hopes that the God of Israel will look with favor upon Balak and his sacrifices, and change His attitude towards Israel. To Balak's astonishment, Balaam lifts his voice and blesses Israel. Balaam claims that he cannot curse Israel because God has blessed Israel. He knows that God has blessed Israel because of the vast multitude which makes up Israel (faithfulness being an OT proof of God's blessing). Moreover, Balaam is so impressed with Israel that when he dies, he will die the kind of death righteous Israel will die (23:7-10).
Although Balak is upset, he is nevertheless determined to have Balaam curse Israel. Twice Balak repeats this procedure and each time Balaam blesses Israel. After the second blessing, Balak practically says, "If you can't find anything bad to say, then say nothing at all!" (23:25). Unfortunately, Balak refuses to leave well enough alone. He is determined to have Israel cursed. This proves to be his undoing. The last time Balaam blesses Israel, he prophesies that one day a great ruler will come from Israel and that he will crush Moab (and the surrounding nations—24 :15-19). Instead of being pleased that God was going to make Israel honor her blood ties with Moan, Balak out of panic tries to have Israel cursed and ends up bringing down a curse upon himself and Moab. Too many of us are like Balak in that we refuse to let well enough alone and try to force things to go like we want. And just like Balak, we experience disaster. Balak angrily dismisses Balaam, reminding him that he had lost a great opportunity to be showered with riches and honor. Although the story ends here, this is not the last we will see of Balaam. He will return later to do terrible harm to Israel.
PURPOSE OF THE STORY
The question facing us is why this story is so prominent in the OT. Remember that it takes up even more space than the crossing of the Red Sea, the sacrifice of Isaac (which lasted 3 days), the fall in the Garden of Eden, etc. Moreover, this story which occupies such a large amount of space does not involve directly any Israelite character. Neither Moses nor Aaron is even mentioned in this account. It concerns only a pagan king, a pagan sorcerer, and a few pagan emissaries, and yet it occupies 3 chapters in the books of Moses. Why was it so important to Moses and why should it be so important to you and me today as well?
Probably more than any other story in the OT, this one specifically reveals God's attitude towards Israel and the care and protection He provides for His people. God revealed this attitude and this protection earlier in the stories about the crossing of the Red Sea and the plagues. These were lessons in action. This is a lesson in language, and specific language at that. In other words, just like the DOT sign says, "Don't Mess with Texas," so the sign of this passage should say, "Don't Mess with God's People." Throughout her history, God told Israel to relax and trust that He would take care of her. Whenever she trusted God, Israel experienced national security, her borders were secure; however, whenever she turned to stronger nations like Egypt and Babylon for protection, the result was disaster. We can be well assured of the fact that our loving Father is going to protect us. This is the major lesson of this story.
Not only does this apply to the nation of Israel; it applies to individual Christians as well. People need to be very careful in the way they treat God's people. In the same passage Peter castigates Balaam for his love of unrighteous riches, he vents against those who arrogantly mistreat and judge others, especially Christians (2 Pet. 2:10-11). If angels refuse to mistreat God's people because of the dire consequences which follow upon mistreating God's people, how much more should we who are mere mortals be afraid of mistreating other Christians? God loves His people. He calls them His children and the bride of His Son Jesus. Any father worth his salt is going to defend his children; any young man who thinks himself a man will protect His bride. Well, God is a better Father than you or I will ever dream of being. Christ is a better groom than we could ever hope to be. If we as sinful men protect our children and our brides, how much more so does our heavenly Father and loving Brother. All we need to focus on is following Him. When we do that, we can rest in perfect peace that He is going to protect us.