Ep. 52. Numbers 22-25 | Balaam
EPISODE 52
BALAAM: NUMBERS 22-25
Once again, we find that if we limit our understanding of Balaam to the narrative that holds the bulk of his story, we will come to an incomplete and, in this case, wrong conclusion. Aaron has died, and the people of God have wandered for thirty-nine and a half years in the wilderness. King Balak wants to put a curse on these Hebrews before they see him destroyed, and he hires Balaam to do the cursing.
Balaam seems almost holy and righteous as he insists he can only say what God directs him to say and subsequently blesses the people of God four separate times. Balak becomes more unhinged each time until he says, "I called you to curse my enemies and behold, you have blessed them these three times. I would have honored you, but the Lord has held you back from honor." Again, Balaam seems noble as he says, "If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the LORD, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the LORD speaks, that will I speak?"
Then Balaam gives us one of our most beautiful prophesies concerning the coming Christ. "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab [See Genesis 3:15] and break down the sons of Sheth." Jesus is the one, "but not now," him, "but not near." We are left here with not a little bit of admiration for Balaam. But we need to be careful readers. Balaam wanted the riches of Balak, and though God moved his tongue, his heart was moved by money. Balaam suggested to King Balak, "If you just have your people intermarry with the Hebrew nation and have them worship your gods, then they shall be your allies rather than your enemies. So there at Peor, the people of God intermarried with the pagans, and their hearts were dragged away after false gods, resulting in the deaths of 24,000 souls. (God was still purging the people twenty years old and older who had rejected him 38 years earlier)
Balaam is the third mentioned in Jude to be a picture of the false teachers and was put to death in just a few month's time. In understanding any portion of Scripture, it is always helpful for us to see how the rest of Scripture handles the same story.
ADDITIONAL READING: Numbers 31:16; Jude 1:11; 2 Peter 2:15; Revelation 2:14; Deuteronomy 23:4-5; Joshua 13:22; Joshua 24:9-10
