Week 40

This Weeks Passage: Numbers 22:2 – 25:9

Do you remember Lot?  That was Abrahams nephew.  Do you remember how they got into a quarrel over the land.  Lot was growing and Abraham already was huge and now there wasn’t enough room for them both, so Abraham gave Lot the choice of whatever land he wanted and he would go the opposite direction.  Lot chose the land near Sodom and Gomorrah.  So, here we are years later and Israel is minding their own business on their way to the promised land, and who takes notice of them and is worried about losing their land.  It’s Lot’s descendants the Moabites.  Israel has no beef with the Moabites they are family, but the leader Balak is worried about losing his little piece of land and decides to employ the services of a quasi prophet/diviner named Balaam to curse them.  It’s one of the best stories in the bible, and Balaam is a real piece of work.

Don’t be fooled by Balaam’s religious talk, he is thoroughly wicked in heart and his aim is always about making a profit for himself.  Balak sends his men to go and ask Balaam to curse Israel so they won’t take his precious land.  Balaam was known for his ability to bring curses upon others.  There is a belief that he could communicate with all the different gods of the many nations to achieve his goals, he was probably polytheist.  He knows the God of Israel and comes to him to get permission to curse them, but that is the key, he knows the God of Israel, but he didn’t serve the God of Israel.  He came to Him three times and was told not to go or to curse them three times.  Interestingly, God planned to kill him three times, but his donkey saves his life each time.  This makes him start beating his donkey not realizing what he did.  The donkey speaks a great word of wisdom.  In essence the donkey says, you think you are so great that you plan to curse an entire nation with your words, but you can’t even kill your donkey without a sword.  That shuts Balaam up pretty quick especially once he sees the angel that was planning to kill him.

This story has depth that most rarely take the time to learn.  For one, it’s a look at an enemy’s plan and how God protected His people without their even realizing what He did for them.  It’s also about the heart of the wicked, on one side Balak should have had no concern as Israel meant them no ill will, but it shows how we can be deceived because of an evil heart about the intentions of others.  Third, we see the false piety of a so called prophet whose only motive was really making gain for himself.  The bible says the workman is worthy of his labor, but the apostolic community considered Balaam to be an example of someone who misuses their religious authority for their own profit.  You can find numerous passages about this beginning with 2 Peter 2:15.

As we bring this weeks message to a close, I also want to remind us of another point of the story.  God uses the righteous to deal with the hearts of the wicked and sometimes it doesn’t seem fair, but God in His wisdom sees things from a different perspective.  Sometimes we get to face the same situation over and over.  I like to say we never fail the test we just keep repeating it.  But, sometimes like Job, God chooses to use the righteous to prick the heart of the wicked, and we need to learn to stand our ground and trust that God has a purpose for why we are in the trial.  There doesn’t have to be an explanation, it has nothing to do with something we’ve done wrong.  It’s just the trials of life that God allows to teach us, grow us, develop us and ultimately conform us into His image.  The scripture says Jesus learned obedience through His suffering (Hebrews 5:8), what does that say for us?