Balaam was an interesting character....mentioned in a few places in both the Old Testament and New Testament....and worth meditating upon. Here is the story. The Israelites....on their way to Canaan....after forty years in the wilderness....and after defeating Sihon and Og....caused great worry to Balak....king of the Moab....so much so that he sent up north....by the Euphrates river....for the....apparently well-known non-Israelite prophet and sorcerer Balaam. He wanted him to call down a curse....or prophesy against the great number of approaching Israelites.
Balaam told the emissaries from Balak to stay overnight while he checked with God to see if it would be OK. God told him that it was not OK....that these people were blessed. So the emissaries....or princes....went back and told Balak that Balaam would not come....but Balak would not give up and sent even more emissaries....more impressive emissaries.....with the same request. Balak was begging Balaam...and trying to entice him with great honor and riches....of which Balaam told him that even if he gave him silver and gold enough to fill Balak's house....that he could not prophesy more than what God told him! It sounds like Balaam was a pretty honorable guy doesn't it....but that wasn't the case.
Here is where it gets a little tricky....and we have to use a little conjecture. The men were going to stay overnight again....and God told Balaam that if they come to him....to go with them but only say what I tell you to say. Morning came....and Balaam went to the emissaries and told them that he would go. Something is amiss here. Balaam was a little too eager to go....so on the journey is when Balaam's donkey sees the Angel of the Lord standing before him....and turns into a field....and crushes Balaam's foot against a wall....and then just lies down.....and Balaam winds up beating the donkey three times....before God puts man's words into the donkey's mouth...to ask Balaam why he doing this.
Balaam now knows that he is in big trouble with God....but God tells him to go with the emissaries but to say only what he is supposed to say. Meanwhile....Balak is like a conman trying everything he can think of to get Balaam to curse the Israelites....of which Balaam won't do....not with that Angel of the LORD lurking by somewhere anyways.
Balak finally gives up....here is where Balaam is mentioned in Deuteronomy and Joshua and Micah and then in 2 Peter and in Jude....and in Revelation! Somewhere along the way Balaam tries....and succeeds....to curse Israel....without directly cursing them....as he went to the Israelites and talked them into joining in with the pagan cultures....which they did....against direct commands from God! God punished the offending Israelites with a plague....just like He did with this world in 2020....and Scripture records that later Balaam died in battle against the Israelites....and Balak probably had the same fate!
Is this just a history lesson? I don't think so....not with Balaam being mentioned....and warned about....three times in the New Testament! Think along with me....and pray along with me. Why is Balaam so important. What is it that God is telling us about the love of money....and trying to fool Him....and leading Israel astray? How can this fit into these last days?
Deuteronomy 23:4,5.....because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.
Micah 6:5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”
2 Peter 2:15.....Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Jude 1:11......Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Revelation 2:24.....“But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin.
Note: The verse in Revelation is from the letter John was given to give to the church at Pergamum! This is end-times stuff folks!
