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The Story of Balaam
Somewhere around 1450 years before Jesus was born, Moses led the Children of Israel on one of their last journeys in the wilderness. Well over a million people had wandered in the wilderness until all of those who were 20 years old and upwards when they came out of Egypt had died. The new generation, the oldest of which were now 59, set up their camp in the plains of Moab, just across the Jordan River from Jericho.
The King of Moab, King Balak, became very anxious at the site of more than a million people, 600,000 of them armed, trained, and experienced in battle, taking up residence on the border of his country. On top of all of that, these Israelites were fed daily with manna from heaven and drank from an inexhaustible supply of fresh water from a Rock that followed them everywhere they went.
King Balak needed help. Where did he turn? He turned to the God. Not one of his gods, but to the God of the Israelites. Basically he said, “Get me somebody who knows God!”
Ecclesiastes says that there is nothing new under the sun. The devil’s tactics have not changed. Either he is trying to get you to not like God or trying to get God to not like you. The devil’s greatest hope is that you will curse God or that God will curse you. It worked in the garden and on the cross and it is still his primary go to.
Seeing this huge number of Israelites and having heard about the victory they had over the Amorites, King Balak sent for a well-known prophet of God named Balaam. Balaam has a reputation. Whoever he blessed ended up being blessed, and whoever he cursed, ended up being cursed. As well, Balaam also had a reputation that he loved money, and the king of Moab knew Balaam could be bought.
I encourage you to read the whole account beginning in the book of Numbers. Then do a simple search of the name Balaam in the Bible and read all of the other passages that talk about him, how he felt, his character, conduct, and eventually what happened to him. You will find Balaam’s name written 59 times and in both the Old and the New Testaments, and even in the book of Revelation.
But for our purposes tonight, let’s focus on the account left us in Numbers 22. Remember, every word and each story of the Bible is a gift from God aimed at impacting our lives and making us more like Jesus today.
King Balak sent messengers to the prophet Balaam and asked him to come to Moab and curse the Israelites. Balaam checked in with God and knew God did not want him to go … so Balaam said no.
Next King Balak sent more messengers. They were more in number and were more honorable, more important, higher ranking, and more impressive than the first messengers … and he evidently offered more money to Balaam as well. The Bible calls the messengers Princes. They were Princes of both Moab and Midian along which borders the Israelites were camped. Even though Balaam knew it was not the will of God last time, he nonetheless asked God again.
God said, go for it! But do not say anything except what I say.
Just because God will allow it, doesn’t mean He approves of it.
This is one of the reasons why Jesus prayed, “not My will but Thine.”
With permission to go and instructions to keep quiet, Balaam saddled his donkey and left with the rich guys, heading for Moab. Yet there was one big problem … the Angel of the Lord knew Balaam was only looking at what he wanted and not at what God wanted. The Angel saw beyond Balaam’s promises and into Balaam’s heart. Balaam was a greedy man capable of doing anything to get what he wanted.
Numbers 22:22 Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.
There are just some things we should not have to ask God about … we should know better. God got angry because Balaam went when Balaam was not committed to obeying Him. We need to listen to and agree with the whole set of instructions before we run off half-cocked.
So, the Angel of the Lord stood on the road in front of Balaam with the intention of cutting Balaam’s head off. Balaam’s donkey saw the angel and turned into a field. Balaam struck the donkey and got him back up on the road.
Next the Angel took up a more strategic position where the road narrowed between two vineyards with walls on both sides of the road and raised his sword to kill Balaam once again. However the donkey pushed up against the wall on one side to slide past the attack and in doing so scrapped Balaam’s foot against the wall. Balaam struck the donkey once again.
Finally the angel chose a place on the road where there was no way for the donkey to get past and readied himself to cut off the head of Balaam and be done with this. When the donkey saw there were no other options, he simply laid down flat on the ground. You can guess what happened … Balaam was so angry at the donkey and struck him again.
Seeing Balaam’s abuse of this kind, loyal, considerate donkey, the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey.
Numbers 22
28 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?”
29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”
Abusers often feel like they are the ones being abused. People who get mad when they don’t get their way … angry to the point they want to harm others, even destroy or kill them … they have a problem and often they are the problem.
If you have anger, hatred, bitterness, or revenge in your heart, take a minute and consider if you are doing God’s will or if you are being tolerated by God because He loves you. Don’t mistake toleration for appreciation.
When considering Balaam I have often thought how sad it is that your best friend is a jackass … and he is the one who’s right!
The donkey defended himself by asking Balaam to recall how much he had helped Balaam in the past and how loyal he had been all of his life. About that time the Lord opened Balaam’s spiritual eyes and he saw the Angel standing in front of him with a sword in his hand.
The Angel of the Lord said to Balaam: What’s your problem with the donkey? If it had not have been for this donkey, I would have killed you these three times. This donkey is the only thing keeping you alive.
Numbers 22:34 And Balaam said to the Angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.”
“I have sinned because I did not know!” I don’t know if Balaam knew or not. I don’t know how he could not have known some things. Perhaps his was a simple claim of plausible deniability which he set up in the first place. But either way, we know:
Balaam sinned because:
1.
He misjudged the donkey.
o In Matthew 7 and in
Luke 6, Jesus warns us about judging others. You never know what God may be
requiring of or inspiring others to do.
o 1 Timothy 6:4 says it
is ungodly to hold evil suspicions concerning others.
o Proverbs 18:13 tells
us it is a shame to think you know the answer before you hear the matter. Only
a fool does this.
o And there are some
things we just don’t know … we can only surmise or assume. Don’t do that and
judge others when they may be doing God’s will, hurting your feelings, and
saving your life in the process.
o But Balaam could not
claim he didn’t know it was basically wrong to beat his donkey when the donkey
had been so loyal all of its life. Balaam was simply aggravated …
2.
He was focused only on what he wanted.
o Jude 1:11 tells us
Balaam was greedy of gain.
o 2 Peter 2:15 shows us
that Balaam was willing to compromise his integrity to get what he wanted.
3.
He did not cover God’s chosen.
o Revelation 2:14 tells
us that Balaam helped King Balak to discover Israel’s weaknesses and
vulnerabilities.
o Balaam did not
technically disobey God, but God counted it as sin … and Balaam knew he was
causing harm.
o Don’t consort with the
enemies … you know who they are … they will use what you say to hurt the plan,
the purpose, and the people of God.
o Ham uncovered the nakedness and drunkenness of Noah and God cursed him and his descendants.
Remember, it is the number one goal of the devil to get you to curse God or to get God to curse you. Don’t walk in the ways of Balaam. And don’t claim you didn’t know!
There
is a sin of not knowing! There is no plausible deniability with God.
