Balaam And God's Will (Num. 22:1-21)

1/30/2009 11:12 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Balaam and God’s will

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Numbers 22:1-21

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Then the sons of Israel journeyed, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho.  2  Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.  3  So Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel.  4  Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this horde will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field." And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.  5  So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, "Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me.  6 “Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed."  7 So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and repeated Balak’s words to him.  8 He said to them, "Spend the night here, and I will bring word back to you as the LORD may speak to me." And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam.  9  Then God came to Balaam and said, "Who are these men with you?"  10  Balaam said to God, "Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, 11  ‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out.’"  12  God said to Balaam, "Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed."  13  So Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s leaders, "Go back to your land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you."  14  The leaders of Moab arose and went to Balak and said, "Balaam refused to come with us."

            15 ¶  Then Balak again sent leaders, more numerous and more distinguished than the former.  16  They came to Balaam and said to him, "Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Let nothing, I beg you, hinder you from coming to me; 17  for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.’"  18  Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD my God.  19  "Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the LORD will speak to me."  20  God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do."  21  So Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab.”

            So begins the story of Balaam as written by Moses in chapters twenty-two thru twenty-five in the book of Numbers.  Dr. Wiersbe calls this an interlude in the traveling of Israel on their way to the Promised Land.  I must say at this point that Balaam and especially his donkey have been something that I have been interested for a long time from the first time that I read through the Bible in 1979.  I have always thought that if God could use Balaam’s donkey he could use me and I will study more of his donkey tomorrow, God willing.

            Balaam was a man in touch with the devil, a man who would curse people for pay, a man who though seemed at first to be in touch with the LORD was not a true believer in the God of Israel and would only do things for money, yet God used even this evil man to accomplish his purposes and spoke to him as seen in these verses covered in today’s SD.

            It must be remembered that Moses had contacted the people of Moab earlier to ask them if they could travel through their land to get to their destination and the king refused to allow them to do so and actually went out with his army to show his power, yet now he is afraid of these people because of what they had done to the Amorites in an earlier battle.  God was not yet ready to destroy Moab because they were related to Israel, as they came from Lot who was Abraham’s nephew.  (They in fact came from incest with one of Lot’s daughters and Lot). 

            The king of Moab and Midian got together to discuss this problem of Israel and they knew that they could not defeat them so they decided to call on Balaam to see if they could pay him to curse Israel.

            At this point I want to copy and past some NT verses that have to do with Balaam:  “1.  The way of Balaam—2Peter 2:15  ‘forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;’  ‘2.  The error of Balaam—Jude 11,  Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.’  ‘3.  The doctrine of Balaam—Rev. 2:14, ‘But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.  (KJV)’”

            When these men from Moab and Midian came to Balaam they gave his the king’s offer and he spoke with God to see if it was alright to curse Israel, of which the LORD told him NO!  The men then returned and came back with a better offer and it was one that Balaam wanted to accept because there was more money involved.  God told Balaam in verse twenty, “If the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them,” but Balaam did not wait for them to come to him probably because of his greed, but left anyway for Moab, a 350 mile journey.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  People are not always what they appear to be and this was surely the case with Balaam.  This could be the case with this lawyer that Sandy has too and so I think that it is best to have much prayer about this before we proceed and then if he assures us that he would never charge us any money no matter what then we can proceed with this case.

My steps of Faith for Today:

1. Trust the Lord to direct our path today and each day.
2. Learn more of who the Lord is each day.
3. Learn to be content in all things.
4. Review Romans chapter six.

1/30/2009 11:47 AM