The Full Picture

Numbers 22

Numbers 22:22–35 ESV

But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.

Balaam was a money hungry prophet that when asked by the enemy of Israel to prophesy against Israel he went with it. This story takes place on the way to give the prophecy. We see through this that Balaam did not have the right focus, he didn’t want to see the full picture. The angel of the Lord was right there in the path and for a prophet he should have seen this but he was to concerned with other things and eventually his donkey ask him what is wrong with him. The donkey says that I have never done this before, why do you think I am doing it now. Eventually the eyes of Balaam are opened and the angel tells him that his way is perverse. Here the prophet offers to turn back but is instead told to go on but instead of cursing he is going to end up blessing. Even still Balaam gives the enemy the information that they need to defeat Israel, they need to draw the people away from the true God.

Throughout the New Testament we are warned of false teachers, those who try to lead us astray. This is the tactic that we will see the enemy employ later on and it works. The thing is though that we have the full picture. Balaam beat his donkey because he did not see what is going on. Today in our world we know exactly what is going on because the Bible tells us. The only way we know though is through reading the Bible. People will try to lead us astray but if you know what the Bible says you can stand against that. Reading a devotion book does not count, listening to this podcast does not count, reading your Bible is all that counts towards this. Just like Balaam will eventually tell this enemy to do Satan is trying to do to us today, lead us away from the one true God.

Don’t fall for the tricks of the enemy, no matter what they offer you. Moving from here next week we will get down to the core of all the issues that we have been seeing, that is the heart.