Balaam's Rationalizations [Numbers 22-24]


The story of Balaam began back in Numbers 22 (and continues through 23 and 24) when the king of Moab, Balak  sent for the prophet, Balaam, to curse the people of Israel. This is what God told Balaam at that point.

Numbers 22

 9Then God came to Balaam and said, "Who are these men with you?"

 10Balaam 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.'"

 12God said to Balaam, "Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed."

 13So 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."


That should have been the end of the story if Balaam did as God commanded. However, greed drew Balaam into a closer relationship with Balak, the enemy of God's people. Instead of standing on the word of God already given, Balaam went back to God to see if He would change His mind and let him go help Balak. God permitted Balaam to go, but God was angry that Balaam was trying to manipulate God's will to gain the hope of riches from the king of Moab. All of this led Balaam into deeper and deeper trouble with God and with the king.

As Balaam kept sacrificing and going off to hear God speak the same message over and over. In Numbers 23,  Balaam was even reminded that God meant what He said in the first place:

Numbers 23

    19"God is not a man, that He should lie,
         Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
         Has He said, and will He not do it?
         Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Apparently, Balaam wasn't listening because he kept on sacrificing and asking God to curse His people that God promised to bless.

A couple of times in these passages you read that Balaam had the unspeakable joy of hearing God in ways that others could not.

Numbers 24

         "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
         And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened;
    4The oracle of him who hears the words of God,
         Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
         Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered,

And yet, instead of appreciating this gift, he tried to find a way to use it to get money as if somehow he could manipulate God into serving his greediness. Here are the New Testament passages that refer to this Old Testament fellow.
 
1. 2 Peter 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. Jude 1:11
      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. Revelation 2:14
      'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.

Apparently, in the end (according to Revelation 2:14 above) Balaam gave Balak some human advice on how to entice the people of Israel into sin through idolatry and immorality. In that way, Balaam did introduce a curse into the Israelite community.

Now, not just special people, but every believer has access to an unbelievably powerful relationship with God, even better than Balaam had! We have His Spirit in us to lead and guide us as we keep going to Him to grow us in intimacy with Him. And yet, we, like Balaam, can rationalize what God has plainly told us for all sorts of things. Money is just one of the enticements. There are so many ways we seek to manipulate God's will to get what our flesh thinks it needs.

Praise God that He never gives up on us.
Thank God for Jesus that our sin is not accounted against us. Thank God that He tenaciously protects and blesses His children as seen in Numbers 22-24. But we can waste some of those blessings available to us as we allow our flesh to dictate our thoughts and actions.

We praise You God that You work everything for good for those who love you (Romans 8:28-29) and that the good is conforming us to Jesus. Cause us to identify our rationalizations that feel so right and normal to our flesh. Grant us the desire and ability to put off those rationalizations and to put on Your truth instead. We can't, but You can!!!



       

Beth Warlick, 8/2/2010