Balaam
Notes
Transcript
Interesting account....
Who is Balaam? Prophet of God? Good guy?
Why did God say, “Go,” and then get angry when he left?
Details are needed, details that the original audience knew but we have to dig some digging to find out. Those details help us to get a better understanding.
We will do that today as we work through this account found in Numbers 22-25.
Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.
Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.
The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”
So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said:
“A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”
Who is Balaam?
Joshua 13:22 “In addition to those slain in battle, the Israelites had put to the sword Balaam son of Beor, who practiced divination.”
Balaam used divination, consulting of the spirits.
Today we will see how he prayed to the LORD, but he was not a true follower of the LORD. He knew who the LORD is, but consulted other spirits as well.
The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.
“Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the Lord gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him.
God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”
Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’ ”
But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”
The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.”
So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”
Then Balak sent other officials, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. They came to Balaam and said:
“This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.”
But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God. Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the Lord will tell me.”
That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”
Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. 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. 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.
Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 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.
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. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff.
Why would God be trying to kill him after telling him to go?
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?”
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.”
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.
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.
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. 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.”
What does it mean, his ‘path was reckless’?
What does it mean, his ‘path was reckless’?
Balaam was following his desire for the money. He was going, but his heart was set on getting the reward, not on doing what God told him to do.
2 Peter 2:15 “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.”
God knew this. God sees the hearts of all men.
So why did God tell him to go?
Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the Lord will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry. I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.’
“Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!
“ ‘When any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing in Israel separate themselves from me and set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet to inquire of me, I the Lord will answer them myself. I will set my face against them and make them an example and a byword. I will remove them from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
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.”
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.
Was Balaam repentant?
Was Balaam repentant?
When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory.
Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”
“Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”
Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth.
Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him.
Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.
God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”
So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.
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.’
How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?
From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations.
Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my final end be like theirs!”
Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”
He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
Takes him to another spot. Same ritual.
God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
Go to a third place.
Spirit of God came on Balaam and he prophesied.
Then gives yes another message.
“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.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of all the people of Sheth.
Edom will be conquered;
Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
but Israel will grow strong.
A ruler will come out of Jacob
and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Then Balaam got up and returned home, and Balak went his own way.
It would seem that Balaam was repentant, and that this was the end of the story with him. But it is not. In fact, something else happened after he got home. We will see that Balaam apparently returned to the Midianites.
This detail was not in this chapter of Numbers, but it does come up later.
Let’s keep reading.
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women,
who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.
So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.
The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”
Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand
and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;
but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
God goes on to tell the Israelites
The Lord said to Moses, “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them. They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.”
So the Midianites could not buy a curse on Israel to have them destroyed.
But they did get them to worship Baal and engage in sexual immorality.
Why would the Midianites have any dealings with the Israelites, the people on account of which they were full of fear and dread? Why were the Midianite women enticing the Israelite men?
If we go to Numbers 31 we will find the ‘rest of the story’.
The Lord said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”
They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man.
Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.
They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.
They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,
and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.
Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.
“Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them.
“They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people.
Was Balaam truly repentant when confronted by the angel of the LORD on the road and he declared, “I sinned?”
He was scared to death and was not about to go against the LORD.
He was used by God to pronounce God’s blessing on Israel.
The Spirit of God even used him to prophecy about the coming of Jesus!
But Balaam was still about the money. And though he could not pronounce a curse, he found a way for Midian to destroy Israel. Idolatry and sexual immorality. He came back and showed the Midianites the way to defeat Israel, and he paid the price.
He looked good on the outside, but inside, he still had the idol of wealth and success.
What do we see about man?
May Look good on the outside, but inside full of idols
Not destroyed from without but from within
Balaam - wealth
Israel - sexual immorality
last week - power and authority; over self and over others
This is something we need to be aware of and look out for in our own lives.
Balaam is referenced in Revelation as well.
Just like God told Ezekiel, he uses these people who consult him with idols in their hearts as examples.
“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
This church could not be destroyed from the outside by persecution.
However, it could be destroyed from the inside.
The major issue? Sexual immorality.
What do we see about God?
He is faithful and protects his own
He demands obedience
He sees the heart
He punishes disobedience
He rewards faith-trusting and obeying
Where is hope?
God communicates
God warns
God rewards faith
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
