Blessings & Curses

Prayer

Journey Nears Its End

So, the Israelites now near the end of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, they come to the land of the Moabites. Helpful here to take another look at our map, to get a better idea of this last part of their journey.

(Map) - Remember, this started in the Desert of Sinai, made their way toward Desert of Paran, where they ended up in Kadesh (and where last week’s story took place). That’s where they sent spies into the land of Canaan (and rejected the opportunity to enter into the land). Condemned to wander for 40 years, they are now making their way toward Moab (by the way, if you’re so inclined, you can read the full list of their travels in Numbers 33.)

I want you to note that before, their way into the Promised Land was a direct shot north, up through the Negev. But now, they are making their way eastward. As we’ll see, they are going to make their way into the Promised Land from the east, crossing over the Jordan River. This route, however, requires them to travel through occupied lands - lands occupied by several different nations (Edomites, the Amorites, and the Moabites), all of which will play out differently.

That begins with the Edomites, we see this in Numbers 20, right after the story we looked at last week, where Moses struck the rock to get water for the Israelites. So the Israelites ask permission to travel through the land of the Edomites, promising not to veer off what’s known as the King’s Highway, not to get food from any of the fields or vineyards. But the Edomites refused, not just refused, but brought out their large army, so Israel turned away from them - and traveled around the land of the Edomites. As a side note, Aaron dies at this time.

After avoiding the Edomites, the Israelites come upon the Amorites - two different kings. First one being Sihon, and second, Og. The Israelites making the same request as they did with the Edomites - that the Amorites would allow them to pass through their land, with the promise that they would stay on the road and not mess with anything. This time, however, the when the Sihon brought out his army against the Israelites, they fought and defeated him, capturing the their cities and occupying them. They did the same with Og, King of Bashan.

So, now the Israelites actually have some land of their own - but this is not the land God had promised them. That’s the land to the west, toward the Mediterranean Sea. But there’s one more people group in the land they are now occupying, the Moabites - and they are well aware of what the Israelites did to their neighbors - Numbers 22:1-3...

Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho. 2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, 3 and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.

This brings us to King Balak and the Moabites. And as we saw, they are scared. They are afraid of being wiped out like the Amorites had been. So they try a different strategy altogether - rather than fight them (or at least before they try to fight them) King of Moab decides he wants divine power used against the Israelites - he wants to curse them.

So, what do you do when you want to curse a people group? Apparently you hire a seer, a prophet. Which brings us to Balaam son of Beor. Though you may know him more from his donkey. Balak sends emissaries to Balaam, who in turn seeks counsel from the Lord God. The Lord tells him not to go, so he doesn’t.

So Balak sends a second set of more distinguished dignitaries and the offer of a greater financial reward. And again, Balaam rejects them. But this time God comes to him at night and tells him to go with them - but only do what God commands.

Let’s pick up the story from there, Numbers 22:21-35...21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again. 26 Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. 28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” 29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.” 30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” “No,” he said. 31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. 32 The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.” 34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.” 35 The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.

Now, the story gets a little strange here, on two different levels. The most obvious, of course, is the whole talking donkey thing, but we’ll get to that in a moment. The first is that God gets angry with Balaam for going with Balak’s officials in response to his request and sends an angel to block his way, standing in the road with a drawn sword. Didn’t God tell Balaam to go? Wasn’t he responding faithfully to what God commanded him, seeking God’s guidance?

Now, we don’t see it here, but it appears there’s more going on here than meets the eye. That though Balaam on the outside seems to be more than willing to do whatever God asks - in spite of the large rewards Balak is offering, internally, his heart is off, his motives skewed. And if you pay close attention, you get clues as to Balaam’s heart...

Vs. 33, where the angel declares to Balaam why he is opposing him - “because your path is a reckless one before me.” Other translations describe it as “perverse” and contrary.

Vs. 34, Balaam recognizes his sin, he readily admits that he was in the wrong, and offers to go back to his home. So we know on some level Balaam recognizes that he is in the wrong, that he is doing evil, and confesses to it.

But we get even more insight in other places in Scripture, let me offer two examples - Deuteronomy 23:5, However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. God would not listen to Balaam - Balaam tried to curse the Israelites, but God turned it into a blessing. Balaam’s intent, his heart, was to curse the Israelites.

2 Peter 2:15-16, talking about false teachers, They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

Who loved the wages of wickedness - loved getting paid for doing the work, in this case, it was wickedness, wicked work. He wanted that money! It’s clear that though Balaam may have been saying the right things, what he really wanted to do was curse the Israelites (and get paid handsomely for doing so).

The second strange thing is that donkey! And though Balaam is blind to him, the donkey sees the angel standing there in the road, sword in hand. The donkey is no dummy - so he veers off the road into a field. And gets beaten by Balaam for his efforts.

This plays out two more times, angel appearing in places where it becomes increasingly difficult to try to pass - and each time the donkey avoids the angel, Balaam beats it.

It’s at this point that God opens the donkey’s mouth to speak to Balaam - have to love the contrast, the donkey’s calm, reasoned rebuke of Balaam (am I normally in the habit of doing this?) verses Balaam’s unhinged anger (I would have killed you!). Reveals Balaam’s character - not godly.

Only then does God open his eyes so he, too, can see the angel standing there with his drawn sword, at which point he falls and prostrates himself before the angel. The angel tells him that he would have killed him if the donkey had not turned away each time - the donkey saved his life!

This part of the story ends with Balaam confessing his sin and God allowing him to go on to meet with Balak.

The story of Balak and Balaam continues for two more chapters, Numbers 23 & 24, with Balak taking Balaam up a mountain that overlooks where the Israelites are encamped. Balaam then builds seven altars, offers sacrifices on each of the altars, and then seeks a word from the Lord.

God gives him a word - but instead of a curse, God gives him a blessing for his people. Here’s part of the blessings he spoke forth on behalf of God, Numbers 23:7-8...Then Balaam spoke his message: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’ 8 How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?

As you can imagine, Balak is not happy - Balaam was being paid to curse the Israelites, not bless them! The whole scenario plays out two more times as Balak takes Balaam to two different mountaintops with different vantage points. After the third time, Balaam does issue curses - but they are not against the Israelites. Instead they are curses against some of the nearby nations, including Moab itself.

One fun note, in the midst of these words that God gives Balaam, there’s a prophecy about Jesus: Numbers 24:17, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”

So, what do we take from this, story of Balaam, this seer, this prophet - with ill intent, who gets shown up by his own donkey - and is ultimately used by God to proclaim a blessing on his people. Let me offer two thoughts:

My first thought is rooted in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

This is God’s MO, to use the foolish things to shame the wise, the weak things to shame the strong, use the lowly and the despised - to nullify the things are, the things that puff themselves up, that think they are wise and strong and something.

Balaam was this known seer, famous prophet. We certainly see that from the evidence of the Deir Alla inscription! And in the fact that Balak seeks him out and is ready to reward him handsomely.

Balaam seemed as if he were doing the right thing, he seemed to be responding obediently to God. But in his heart, the wages of wickedness, desire for profit - by the way, we’ll see more of Balaam’s wickedness next week - what he really wants to do is curse the Israelites, both for the money and because he was against them.

How humbling to be this big, famous prophet - then God uses a donkey, a lowly, brute beast, to humble him. The donkey sees what he cannot (and he’s supposed to be the seer, the one who sees, sees visions, sees the divine things), and he doesn’t see the angel opposing their path, but the donkey does. And it’s the donkey who speaks truth to him - and he’s supposed to be the prophet, the one who speaks the words of truth, to be the very mouthpiece for the gods! And he’s talking in his anger about killing the donkey. The donkey is the voice of reason, of wisdom, in this story.

Such a great example of this truth, of God choosing the lowly, the despised, the foolish through which to reveal his power, his wisdom, his glory. If you consider it, it’s exactly what he’s doing with nation of Israel - they started out as slaves! And God is taking this nation of slaves, with no power, no land, nothing - and he’s making them into this great nation, giving them a land of their own. And if anything is obvious after all the stories that we’ve looked at in our journey through the Old Testament so far - it’s that these people would have never done this on their own - it’s only because of the wisdom and power of God.

And of course the cross itself, the very thing Paul is talking about in that 1 Corinthians passage, is where God most clearly uses the foolish and weak things to shame the wise and humble the strong. What is more foolish than the Creator of the universe offering himself on a cross for the sake of his people - people who had turned away from him? Could you be more weak or shamed being nailed to a cross? Here’s where our God reveals his power, his wisdom, his glory.

It’s a reminder that the Gospel is always about God’s power and wisdom and glory, not ours. The way to Jesus is always through humility. Always through a willingness to humble ourselves. To lay our very hearts before him, our intentions - what you want, o Lord.

Other thing I don’t want you to miss - God’s desire and intent to bless his people. We almost forget them because they play no active role in these chapters, they’re just hanging in their camp, down below. All the action is happening around them - Balaam on his donkey traveling to see Balak, Balak taking him to three different mountain tops. The Israelites are clueless that any of this is happening.

They don’t know the evil intent of Balak, and of Balaam, to bring curses upon them, and instead, how God is working on their behalf to not just protect them, but to bless them, to bring his divine favor upon them. Every time, over and over, God is blessing them.

It speaks to this wonderful truth that God is for us in ways we have no idea about. This is who God is. His great desire is to bless, to pour out his goodness - and he’s doing it all the time, even when we have no idea it’s happening. We’re just going about our lives, doing our thing - and God is up above, pouring out blessings on us.

How many times had God poured blessings into our lives - and if you look back, you realize that he was working in ways you had no idea about…an unexpected (and needed) financial gift…stumbling across the right friend at the right time...

We’re coming up on our second anniversary of our church building - and talk about a surprise blessing! At a time when the Session was questioning whether or not we might need to close the church, God was working to provide a building - and a future for us! All the pieces coming together - family who owned it deciding to sell, two offers made before us falling apart, a generous donor who paid for it all!

Spiritual Discipline - the whole idea of spiritual disciplines is to be intentional about taking time to stop and be attentive to God, to grow in God awareness. To grow in our capacity of the awareness of God in our lives. For a period of time I met with a spiritual director - and as I talked about things in my life, he would always ask, “Where do you see God in all this?”

Discipline of Confession - is to be attentive to your heart, and work God is doing in you. Act of faith, trusting that God is working to draw you closer to him, forming and shaping our hearts to be like Jesus. Something Balaam didn’t do. But we want to. We’re asking God to help us see our sin (and our growth!). Learn to be curious about your heart, as you experience anger, fearfulness, irritation, defensiveness.

Counting your blessings - training to be more attentive to God’s blessings in your life. Three different things every day. Because we know and trust that we have a God who wants to bless us richly - and does!