Reflections from April 29, 2011

An interesting lesson in following God today as we read about Balaam and Balak. Balaam was a gentile prophet that was renowned throughout the land and was paid for his services to bless and curse others. Balak, King of the Moabites, wanted Balaam to curse Israel because he was afraid of them. When Balak sent messengers to him with a handsome fee, Balak went to God to determine what he should do, and God told him he will not be permitted to go and curse Israel. So Balaam tells the messengers in Numbers 22:18,
"Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more."

Now, had that been the end of it, things would have been fine for Balaam; however, he wouldn't let it go because Balak came back and offered him more, in fact, whatever he wanted! So God eventually granted Balaam permission to go, even though he was angry about it.
In fact, He blocked his way with an angel stopping the donkey that Balaam was riding. The donkey saw the angel, but at first, Balaam didn't, he went to beating the donkey to get it to move. Apparently, he could only think about the plunder that he was going to get. Finally, Balaam saw the angel as well, and the angel reiterated God's command that Balaam will only speak the words given directly by God.

It's important to note that God did not "change His mind" here. It was more that Balaam was out of touch with God. As Chuck Smith says at blueletterbible.com, "It's amazing at how out of tune and out of sorts we get when we're out of God's will. You know, we're wanting to do our own thing and God puts a block in our way and boy, we become angry. We become upset because God is blocking this, which I've got in my mind to do. You get out of the will of God you can really get out of sorts in every area of your life; your whole life just gets out of sorts completely." We do the same thing with our children, we relent and give them permission to do something even though we know they shouldn't. It's almost like letting them learn a lesson the hard way.

Balak meets with Balaam and takes him to high places of Baal to pronounce a curse on Israel, and every time Balaam offers a blessing. He tells Balak in Numbers 23:12,
"Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?"

Scripture here offers an unusual twist between Balaam the gentile prophet, Balak the Moabite king, and God. Balaam was caught between God and Balak, but he had no choice except to follow God's command. At times we find ourselves caught up between doing what's right, and doing something for the benefit of another, even though it may be wrong in God's eyes. Like Balaam, we need to recognize this, and ensure we offer honor to God through our actions indicating the He is Lord over us.

In Numbers 24, we see Balak's anger boil over for Balaam's continued blessings on Israel and Balaam replies in Numbers 25:13,
"If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak."

Balaam went on to give his final oracle over Israel.

For information regarding these blessings, consider reading secular information in wikipedia by clicking here.

In the end, Balak causes trouble on Israel because he gets them to participate in cult worship, including prostitution. God is extremely angry with them, and orders Moses to kill those responsible. It turns out that Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, fulfills the wrath of God and receives His blessing in Numbers 25:11,
"Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zeolous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal."

Phinehas' actions were like those we should engage in; that is, to not have zeal for activities like religious ceremonies and what not. Our zeal should match God's zeal and be used to perform His works, not ours.

Blessings to all