Num. 25, Update on Balaam (2)

·       Num. 23:5: Then the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth … 23:16: Then the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth.  Balaam uttered for messages from God to the king of Moab.  With the first two we see that the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth.  But in 24:1 we see that Balaam willfully tried to get the LORD to change His message.  Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times, to seek to use sorcery, by the set his face toward the wilderness.  Again, he wants the money from Balak.  This is the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Peter 2:15).  Jude, in a similar context as Peter, equates this to false teachers today who run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit (Jude 1:11).  Yet Balaam knew he could not tell the LORD what to do, so he only told Balak what the LORD said.

·       Note that before the third and fourth messages (which are given without interruption), when Balaam tried to do things differently in hope of a different outcome, that the LORD did not just put a word in his mouth. And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes, and the Spirit of God came upon him (Num. 24:2).  In the first two messages Balaam knew that he could not curse those whom God had not cursed, and that God was not a man that He should lie.  But in the last two messages, Balaam gave mighty prophesies concerning Israel and the Messiah, and for this he had to have the inspiration of the Spirit.  The result is that his eyes were opened, he heard the words of God, he saw in a vision of the Almighty, and fell down in worship with his eyes wide open.  Thus, in message #3 (24:3-9), Balaam prophesies Israel’s success in that age, in entering into the land and defeating the nations.  Then in message #4 (24:14-24) the Spirit takes Balaam into the “latter days,” prophesying of the Messiah and the ultimate victories over Israel’s greatest enemies.  He also prophesies God’s blessing on the Kenites, the family of Moses father-in-law, priest of Midian.  They were not Israelites, but they blessed Israel and thus were blessed by God.  This is yet another reminder that today, in the “latter days,” the promise is still in effect: I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you (Gen. 12:3).  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you’ (Ps. 122:6).

·       Num. 25:3: So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel.  “Baal of Peor” means “lord of Peor.”  They joined themselves to the local “god.”  In 25:14-15, the union of the children of leaders from Midian and the tribe of Simeon, was an attempt to bring the two together.  As when Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter and other foreign women.

This story is pertinent for today, and the prophesies of Balaam, received from the LORD, are certainly pertinent as we live in the “latter days.”