March 17, 2021
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Reading along with us in Numbers? Here’s today’s reading:
Numbers 22 (NIV)
Balak Summons Balaam
1 Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.
2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, 3 and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.......Continue Reading
Balaam is quite the immature representative of God. It’s clear he hears from God which is what attracts Balak to him but he behaves like a child. He hears God tell him no but he continues to ask and test the limits. God even spoke to him thru a donkey and still that doesn’t snap him out of it! Ultimately God let’s him follow his path of disobedience like he did with Pharaoh and his hard heart.
Numbers 22
Numbers 21 & 22
What an enigmatic character this Balaam is. On one level he hears from God, but on the other he is greedy and clearly in the passage is willing to give prophecies for the right price. He is enticed more by profit than the word of God. The New Testament only speaks of him in negative terms in 2 Peter 3:15, Jude 11 and Revelation 2:14. And yet how gracious God is to work on his behalf and give him a chance to get it right. So God tells Him not to go. So that should be the end, right? Not for Balaam or us when we don’t like what God tells us, so we try to find an angle to get the answer we want. There is a little bit of Balaam in each one of us. So God gives him the answer that Balaam wants to hear (he wants to get paid). Yet He sends an angel to stand in his way and gives voice to his donkey. God mostly wants Balaam not to prophecy against the Jews. The best way for that to be accomplished is for Balaam not to go. But since Balaam persists and wants to go, God lets him but sends an angel to reenforce the point that he is not to say anything contrary to what God says.
It does teach us to be cautious when we are engaging with God to make sure that we are hearing from God and doing what He wants rather than trying to massage the will of God to ultimate get what we want, but doing it all under the auspices of following God. We would never do something like that, right………
Numbers 21
Numbers 22
Balaam hears from God despite his willful disobedience. I wonder how God talked to Balaam because He spoke to Moses face to face and Moses saw His form, but I gather that Balaam did not have that relationship with God…..although he did have his ass talk to him!
I sometimes wonder if I am hearing the Holy Spirit or if it is just me answering/speaking through my own thoughts. It is never contrary to God’s word, so it isn’t that clear, it is more an answer when I seek clarification for some action or other. I like when I go to God’s word and it is just “coincidentally” an answer. The best way to hear from God.
I am studying Joshua with the ladies study and it is interesting to see what the Israelites previous encounter in the land was here about 40 years or so prior.
Numbers 22
20That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”
Balaam’s Donkey
21Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. 22But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.