MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT BALAAM

WHY DO WE HAVE THIS STORY?

When you first read the strange story of Balaam and his donkey; you might be asking why on earth God allowed this to become a part of the Torah.

Most people pick up on the miracle of the donkey talking to his master; and that is relevant; but not so much as the rest of the deeper meanings we can find in this tale.

THE DEVIL AND BALAAM

I can’t think about the donkey talking to his master without feeling like it is a clear picture of us as we let the devil master our days.

That donkey needed a new master!

Balaam was evil in every way.  God had to send help and he did it in the form of an angel wielding a huge sword.

In order to help Balaam to see the situation and get the whole picture though; the donkey had to sit down and stop going forward for the wrong reasons.  We all have to come to that place whenever we realize we have been listening to the wrong master.

If we stop dead in our tracts, like this amusing donkey; God will come to our rescue.

So there is a lot to learn from Balaam’s donkey; but  this week we want to take the bones of this study of Balaam to a greater depth.

WHAT DO THOSE ORACLES MEAN TO US?

God gave Balaam oracles to speak over Israel. These oracles were concerning how Israel’s God was victorious and how Israel would be blessed and inherit the land. Today, we want to look closer at these oracles and discern more of their meaning.

We also want to look deeper into all the strange circumstances that developed around Balaam.

How on earth could the moves of an ancient sooth-sayer apply to our lives today?

When you look at the character of Balaam; it isn’t very hard to answer that question.

A LOOK BACK

To completely understand Balaam’s life; you have to go way back in ancient history.  You have to take a long look at the family tree that he fell from.

Remember Laban, Jacob’s horrid father-in-law who tricked Jacob into working for him for 14 years instead of seven to obtain Rachel as his wife?

Laban lived to be very old; so some think that Balaam was actually Laban at a later date in history.  However; most believe that Laban was Balaam’s grandfather.

Knowing how wicked Laban was; we have to assume that Balaam was taught to be wicked from the day of his birth.

Bethuel was the son of Nahor, the brother of Abraham.

Bethuel was also Rebekah’s (Isaac’s wife)  father.

Rebekah married Isaac and had two twin sons named Jacob and Essau.  When they grew up, Rebekah sent Jacob back to her father’s house to find his bride, which eventually turned out to be Rachel.

Rachel’s father was Bethuel and her brother was Laban.  Laban had a son named Beor, who became the father of Balaam.  That fact brings us to three generations of Jacob haters.

As I’ve already hinted above, some of the ancient writings are confusing in the way they say things.  A few people think that Laban was actually Balaam with a changed name in a life after the times that Jacob lived and worked with him.  However, most commentaries will tell you that Laban’s evil and wicked nature was passed down through his son Beor and then to his grandson who was Balaam.

BALAAM’S FAMILY TRADITIONS

Laban’s grandfather (Abraham’s brother Nahor) actually began the chain of evil generations that sprang forth and led up to the lifetime of Balaam.

These men were all idol worshipers, and they participated heavily in wicked activities that included magic and sorcery.  They were all greedy and would do any form of evil to make a buck.

We saw how deceitful they could be when we studied the life of Jacob.  After Jacob left Laban’s employment and took his daughters and his grandchildren to live in another far away land; Laban developed a hatred for Jacob that was passed down from himself to Beor and then to Balaam.

The Zohar speaks of how Balaam became “a disciple of” Laban, and states that for all practical purposes they functioned as the same person.  (Maybe this explains some of the name confusion when we study Laban and Balaam.)

Balaam is described as a total opposite to Moses.  Moses was good and pure; Balaam was evil and wicked.  They were NOTHING alike.

The Zohar speaks of Laban’s worship of a serpent idol called teraphim.  Balaam was said to have participated in this worship with him.  Balaam became widely known as a great sorcerer, seer, magician and expert on things of the occult.  The Talmud speaks of how  Balaam was so known for his expertise for placing curses on people’s enemies, and it talks of how at one time Balaam actually worked for Pharoah as an adviser.

Some have noted that  Balaam was actually the one to suggest that Pharaoh use the nation of Israel as captive slaves to perform all of the labor for his great building plans.

BALAAM INTERPRETED PHARAOH’S DREAMS

The Midrash speaks of Pharaoh having a nightmare.

He saw an old man sitting before him upon a throne and the old man had a balancing scale.

All of the richest and most powerful leaders of Egypt were placed on one side of the scale and a lamb was placed on the other side.  The side with the little lamb outweighed the side of the powerful leaders.

Balaam explained the dream to Pharaoh.

He said a child would be born to the Israelites who would destroy the land and kill the people.  Then he would lead the Israelites to freedom.

Balaam told Pharaoh that this child must be killed.

All of Pharaoh’s wise men agreed with Balaam and this is what caused the killing of the Israelite babies in Egypt when Moses was placed in the Nile River by his mother in order to escape being murdered by the government.  The people were commanded to throw all male children under two years of age into the river.

GENERATIONS OF HATE AND EVIL DEEDS

So from this little bit of history we can deduct that it was Laban’s hatred for Jacob that had been passed down to Balaam which actually caused the persecution and slavery of the Jews in Egypt.  (This isn’t spelled out in the scriptures of your bibles, you have to dig this information from historical records of the times.)

By now our vision of Balaam is looking a lot worse than it was at first glance.

Getting back to our first point; if one were to consider a similar situation that could take place in modern times; an updated comparison story might be one where the President of America was found seeking out a medium or psychic for help in solving a national emergency.  That psychic might even be known for hating certain people groups and wishing them wiped off the map forever.

Or, another similar modern day story parallel might be about the merciless acts of abortion which are being carried out all across the land.  Both stories would involve cruel killings of children.

On a lot of days; America can look a lot like Egypt; and many of our leaders can seem to be mirrors reflecting Balaam’s hatred for Jacob and the things of God.

All of the above could be modern-day situations that are similar in nature to the ancient; should they happen.  Perhaps the “should” in that statement is very understated.

Don’t laugh too hard at this picture; because you might be surprised at some of the things that have actually taken place over the annals of history because of presidents and official leaders of the white house seeking strange answers in very strange ways.

There definitely have been modern times of glorifying the killings of babies.

Today’s world is a LOT like the world in the days of Balaam.

LEARNING FROM PAST MISTAKES

Passover is coming up soon.  Our seder meals will depict all of these things that happened in Egypt.

In the course of the night we will talk about the ancient plagues as yet another plague is casting its shadow across our land today.

How long is it going to take?

Are we not able to learn from past mistakes?

Balak wanted Balaam to curse Israel.  Even that part of this story sounds updated and familiar.

Has anyone EVER cursed Israel and won?

This would become a spiritual battle and put a spiritual curse on Israel because  if they fought a physical battle Balak knew his army was not strong enough to defend Moab from the millions of Israel.

Balak didn’t wait to see if Israel was actually going to attack Moab (which they were not actually planning to do.) He acted on his own wrong assumptions. If Balak would have left things alone; we probably would not even be telling this story.

STALLING IN ORDER TO GET MORE MONEY

We have already heard the story of how Balaam told Balak’s men that God did not want him to go perform the requested task; then after Balak sent a second group to ask him; Balaam decided to go to Moab and see if he could curse Israel for Balak.

At first it might seem strange that Balak would ask Balaam’s help in performing the curse.

Balak was capable of and also known for delivering curses.

We are told in Jewish traditions that Balak was capable of performing sorcery; but he did not know how to complete the desired curse with his mouth.  In other words, he did not know the correct words in the correct language; and Balaam DID know these words in the Hebrew language.

God told Balaam he could not go; then later he allowed Balaam to go but said that he would only be able to do what God told him to do when he arrived.

Balaam went ahead secretly hoping to find great personal gain from the trip. Upon leaving; he had every intention of cursing Israel and receiving the payment for the curse.

AN ANGEL WELDING A SWORD

On the way Balaam encountered an angel with a sword that only Balaam’s donkey could see. The donkey had a hard time getting past the angel to go the way that Balaam wanted him to go; so Balaam beat the donkey twice. Eventually, God opened Balaam’s eyes to see the angel and the angel asked why Balaam was being so mean to his donkey. The angel was actually sent to kill Balaam for going against God’s will to curse Israel; but the donkey’s resistance had been in the way and this saved Balaam from the angel’s sword.

Balaam had a literal conversation with this donkey and the donkey complains that he has only been good to Balaam and asks why he was being beaten for his loyalty. Finally they reach an understanding and continue down the road toward Moab.

IRONY ON THE WAY AND IRONY IN THE CURSE

The irony here is how the so-called great seer could not even control his own donkey with his own words; so how could his words possibly be effectual in cursing Israel?

This “prophet” who was known for “seeing” could not even see the angel that his animal had seen on the roadside.  You could say that it was noticeable that Balaam was dumber than a donkey.

Later, when Balaam arrives and opens his mouth to curse Israel for Balak; only blessings come out.

Clearly this happened only because God took control of Balaam’s mouth and he wound up giving blessings instead of curses several times; and even wound up also throwing in a whole lot of future prophetic and insightful oracles.

THE ORACLES OF GOD FROM BALAAM

These oracles uttered by Balaam under God’s control have proven accurate from the times of Balaam and all throughout the history of mankind.

Historians studying the city of Moab in 1967 found an inscription of the prophecies of Balaam. They noted in their study that Balaam’s specialty was that of animal divination.

In animal divination the animal is killed and its liver is inspected to figure out the will of the gods. Pagans living in that time and in that part of the world believed that if you knew the right “magic words and rituals” you could make the gods do what ever you wanted to happen.

Balak figured he could use Balaam’s processes of divination and rituals to force the God of Israel to stop blessing His people and allow a victory for Moab.

GOD REVERSES BALAK’S PLANS

We all know this deception didn’t go as planned!

Just the opposite happened; and Balaam was used of God to proclaim blessings for Israel.

The voice of Balaak rang out loud and clear even for all of the pagans that surrounded the nation of Israel and all of the people in the land were allowed to hear and to know of them.

These blessings came forth in the form of oracles from God, which God put into Balaam’s mouth.

Balaam, though he was not godly, could not help but proclaim them. The servant that was hired to curse turned out to be the servant that was used to bless.

ANOTHER SIMILAR STORY

I can’t read this story without thinking of  the times of Mordecai and Haman in the days of Esther.

Remember how Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman? Haman had planned to hang him on the gallows that he had built.

Then a day came when the King read in the pages of the history of his kingdom of how Mordecai had done a deed that had saved his life and the King remembered that Mordecai had not yet been rewarded for this good deed.  The King decided to reward Mordicai and he had Haman to perform the act.

Haman had to lead Mordecai around the city sitting upon the King’s horse, wearing the king’s robe and having the King’s ring upon his finger.  Mordecai was told to yell out to all that passed by in the streets that this was how the King rewarded those who were loyal to his kingdom.

Hamen was humiliated and eventually (thanks to Queen Esther) hung in his own gallows.

Balaam always reminds me of Haman.

Both of them remind us of Satan.

WHAT DO THE ORACLES MEAN TO US TODAY?

Good story; but; what do we know and understand about these oracles that God put into the mouth of Balaam today?

We know that the first four oracles blessed Israel and cursed their enemies.

Don’t you wonder if God was remembering how humiliated Jacob had been by Laban and now God was reversing the situation publicly in front of  Jacob’s enemies and everyone for all of the rest of Jacob’s ancestors?

When we come to the fourth oracle; Balaam’s words from God speak of times in the future.

“I see Him but not now; I behold Him, but not near, A Star shall come out of Jacob, a Scepter shall rise out of Israel: and He shall have victory over all of His enemies – including Moab. The One out of Jacob, the Messiah, will be victorious over all who oppose Him.”

This fourth oracle clearly proclaims the coming of a Messiah.

All of Israel’s enemies had wanted to wipe them off the map; but here the words proclaimed a Messiah would come from Israel.

How ironic.

Balaam is forced to announce the good news of the Gospel just after he has proclaimed God’s blessings over Israel three times in a row.

All of these blessing proclaiming good news came from the mouth of a pagan prophet who had been humbled by a TRUE God.

What could ever be better?

LAST THREE ORACLES ARE FOR THE FUTURE

The fifth, sixth and seventh prophesies begin with the announcement of the defeat of Amalek.

Amalek was the first King to attack Israel as they left Egypt after their time of bondage.

We hear of God speaking against Amalek all through the scriptures and modern-day prophets have come to know that whenever you hear of Amalek; you can know that he is symbolic of Satan and evil.

We hear this proclaimed in the story of David and Saul, and again in the story of Esther and the King.  The enemy of God is always called Amalek.

Is it Amalek that is personally hated by God; or is it the evil spirit that lives within Amalek that God abhors?

Amalek was an advocate for Satan.  He was the most wicked king that ever walked the earth.  God could see straight through his humanity and see the evil spirit that controlled him.

Amalek has come to earth in many forms and personalities since those days.  Each time God has intervened and defeated this enemy.

HOW THE ORACLES APPLY TO TODAY

God always declares that Amalek must be wiped-out and removed from the earth.

Here Balaam proclaims (against his own will) the defeat of Amalek by the Assyrians.

This happened later in history; just as Balaam said it would.  Yet; in a way, it still happens daily among the true church.  The spirit of hate and evil cannot exist with the spirit of God.

What do all of these oracles mean though?

Were they only for Israel or do they mean something more for the future of today’s church?

I truly think they were a warning for any nation of any time who decides to unite in hatred against Israel and live their lives in the way of Satan.

God will always looks after His people.

Yes; the Israelites had sinned and sinned often, but the people had offered sacrifices on the altar from the tabernacle in repentance for those sins. When God looked down at them He only saw the same thing that Balaam saw from up on the mountain when he looked down on Israel’s troops while standing next to Balak on that pagan mountain full of Baal worship.

Anyone looking down from that place and seeing Israel on that day saw a beautiful, orderly formation of tribes and they were all neatly laid out in the perfect shape of a cross.

To look at them was to see the prophecy of the coming Messiah and the salvation of the people.

In the fourth prophecy; Balaam actually speaks of the Messiah. He says “I see him, but not yet.” Then he speaks of “a star out of Jacob” and a “scepter from Israel.” Against his own will; Balaam proclaims that a Messiah is coming.

We have spoken of the fifth oracle and how Amelek will be destroyed.  Those words from God’s mouth to Balaam to the enemies of Israel were:

Then Balaam saw Amalek and spoke his message:  Amelek was first among the nations, but their end will be utter destruction.

PROPHECY OF CAPTIVITY

Balaam also proclaims oracles that speak of two other times that are coming. The next prophecy/oracles are worded like this:

Then he saw the Kenites and spoke his message:  “Your dwelling place is secure, your nest is set in a rock; yet you Kenites will be destroyed when Ashur takes you captive.”

“Alas!  Who can live when God does this?  Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus; they will subdue Ashur and Eber, but they too will become ruin.”

Each of the oracles spoken have rang out truth; both for the past, present and future of humanity.

THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

We know that for three times Balaam was willing to go against God and curse Israel, but could not.

Each time Balak took him to a different place, and each time it was God who made the words come out of his mouth and Balaam had absolutely no control over them.

This all reminds me of how the devil tempted Jesus three times by taking him to high places and offering him things that most men would trade their souls for.

Jesus only gave God’s Word as answers to Satan.

Christ was not tempted to sin; though the devil tried his best.

Our Savior was not at all like Balaam.

He could not be bought.

This was in complete reverse to the things that happened with Balaam; but in both times – God was in control.

God is ALWAYS in control.

A SAD STORY WITH A TERRIBLE ENDING

Balaam was such a sad story.

Despite all of God’s intervention in his life, Balaam never repented and remained defiant and a hater of Jacob.

He even later was guilty of corrupting Israel by devising a scheme to tempt the men of Israel to commit fornication.  You would have thought after he had seen so much of the power of God at work that he would change and turn.  He did not.

We will hear even more of Balaam’s sad story in later lessons of the Old Testament.

Our world is full of Balaam’s.

They are very common among men.

They claim to be religious, and they claim to be followers of God’s ways; but they are merely in the clever disguises of the culture and they wait patiently to pounce upon others for personal gain and glory.

These modern-day Balaams pose in religious positions as spiritual prostitutes selling their services and seducing others into acts of disobedience.

They twist the scriptures to justify their own doctrines and they persuade people to live immoral lives in the name of God.

Modern-day Balaams  spend their lives cursing the righteous because they don’t always agree with their theologies.  They are full of wicked, evil deeds and false teachings.

Micah 6:5 became a reminder from God for the nations who might be tricked by all the many Balaams:

“My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered.  Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”  

As the people lived in the land that God provided they were to remember the things that God did not want within the land.

Yes; until Messiah comes again; there will be Balaams to contend with, but take heart!

Our Deliverer is coming.