By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé
Michael says that,
“The Old Testament is the story of interesting facts and profound lessons. It’s all there for you to read.”
Today, this statement will be so clear as we turn our primary attention to the facts and lessons regarding a mystic, a practitioner of magic arts,, who at last week’s close, had just received a message from King Balek. Many things might be said of Balaam, the mystic, but Michael and I want to start with just one. Balaam was a man who looked before he leapt.
Let’s begin with a brief review. As we left off, King Balek of Moab, having seen over two million Israelites camped on the plains of his kingdom, was beside himself with fear and that without quarter.
The Israelites had proven their military mettle by summarily defeating King Balek’s relatives, the Amorites, so that the King certainly could not be comforted by his own inability to prevail against them in battle At home, his own people had begun to doubt his competence to defend them and had turned to the elders of another country, Midian, and its elders, for assistance. Now, doubt had set up shop in its most dangerous location yet. King Balek had begun to doubt himself. Having done so, he looked to a man, a complete outsider, to place a devastating curse on the Israelites and, thereby, make their numbers more manageable for battle.
This man, who lived far away, would soon receive emissaries for whom distance was no impediment, due to the desperation of their mission. Summoned by King Balek, these emissaries, the elders of both Moab and Midian, made the journey to the man, a soothsayer, well versed in the laying on of both blessings and curses. The man, the one King Balek wanted to make his man, was Balaam, the mystic. In the King’s mind, everything with regard to the threat Israel posed was riding on Balaam and his magic.
When the elders arrived in Pethor, Balaam’s hometown along the Euphrates River, they wasted no time in informing Balaam of what circumstances had occasioned their visit. They told Balaam that King Balek wanted him to make the journey to Moab and, upon reaching this distant land, to curse the Israelites camped in Moab, camped within sight of the Promised Land.
This was not to be a gratis mission. King Balek sent his emissaries with “the fee for divination.” (Numbers 22:7) NIV. An interesting term this, it implies three important facts
First, Scripture doesn’t say “a fee;” it says “the fee.” Apparently, there was a set fee in exchange for which the blessings and curses services of Balaam would be tendered.
Secondly, we can draw the inference that this fee was well known to a King living far away.
Finally, this implies that Balaam was a bit of a luminary of his craft. Part of the elders‘ message from the King was,
“For I know that whoever you bless is blessed and whoever you curse is cursed.”
(Numbers 22:6) NIV
Today, we would say of Balaam that “His reputation preceded him.”
Balaam listened to the elders’ proposed assignment and then he hesitated. As stated, Balaam was a man who looked before he leapt There was a reason for this and it is about to provide us with the central theme of this truly fascinating story:
“”Spend the night here,’ Balaam said to them, ‘and I will report back to you with the answer the LORD gives me.”
(Numbers 22:8)
Wait a minute! This Balaam’s wheelhouse is divination – for a fee – divination which includes curses, as well as blessings. And yet, he is telling these representatives of King Balek that he needs the night to consult with the LORD before he makes a move. How surprising for us to hear, how unwelcome this news to the elders.
Right away, one thing is clear in reading this story: we are not going to be able to place Balaam in a box. As noted last week, this Bible passage has ambiguity, an essential element of suspense. It will not disappoint.
Michael raises a fascinating point:
“We are understandably surprised that Balaam, a soothsayer, would want to talk to God. But, in the first place, isn’t it even more remarkable that God talks to Balaam, whose stock and trade is magic?”
Truly! It makes us wonder about their history together and how long Balaam has avoided taking one step in any direction without consulting with the Creator God of the Universe. As to this history between them, Scripture is completely silent. By the end of this study, Michael and I believe we will all have some reliable insights of our own in this regard.
With the officials sent by King Balek now settled for the night,
“God came to Balaam and asked, ‘ Who are these men with you?’
Balaam said to God, ‘Balek, son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.”
(Numbers 22:9-11) NIV
God answers immediately:
”But God said to Balaam, ‘Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on these people, because they are blessed.”
( Numbers 22:12) NIV
Michael says,
“If you’re going to talk about God, you’ve got to be with God.”
How true, and how pivotal is this conversation between God and Balaam? How does Balaam’s curriculum vitae read? He is known for two services : he blesses and he curses. And for which is King Balek willing to pay? He wants, exclusively, a curse…on Israel! And what has God said with regard to the Israelites? He said that Balaam must not curse them because they ARE ALREADY BLESSED —. BY GOD!
By all reason, that should have been the end of the matter. And it was..at first. Balaam went to the officials the next morning and said,
“Go back to your own country for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”
(Numbers 22:13) NIV
This is such an interesting way of putting what God said. Doesn’t it leave the impression that Balaam might have been amenable to the idea of going with them, but that the LORD had overridden his otherwise agreeable inclination.
Oh, how telling is the way something is said. Balaam didn’t say, “These people are blessed by God Himself! I wouldn’t even consider such a curse, and please convey my complete opposition to King Balek.”
The elders saw the equivocation in Balaam’s words and conveyed THIS to the King who was a million miles from giving up on a curse against Israel. For,
“Then Balek sent other officials more numerous and more distinguished than the first. They came to Balaam and said:
‘This is what Balek, son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.”
(Numbers 22:15-17) NIV
So, King Balek has upped the ante. Balaam’s next words in response to this, on their face, look excellent. But are they?
“But Balaam answered them, ‘Even if Balek gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.”
(Numbers 22:18) NIV
Sadly, these words are reversed in their excellence by what follows. Balaam is speaking:
“Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the LORD will tell me.”
(Numbers 22:19) NIV
What else? What was possibly left for the LORD to say? He had given Balaam the last word on the subject;
1)Don’t go with them
2)Don’t curse the people
3)Because the people the king wants you to curse are blessed
That seems to be the close of any further discussion. However, rather than sending the King’s officials packing, Balaam, the man of perfect words, but ambiguous intentions, wants yet another audience with the LORD.
So, once again, the LORD appears.
“That 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.” (Numbers 22:20) NIV
What? Did the LORD change His mind? What new facts had been presented by the elders? Only one: the reward from King Balek to Balaam had increased. This was what was on Balaam’s mind when he asked for another meeting with God!
Can you imagine the words out of Balaam’s mouth while speaking to the God of the Israelites, the proposed victim of the curse? We can imagine them: “LORD, King Balek has offered a greater reward so are you sure I shouldn’t curse these people whom you call blessed?”
God’s outward reaction was to acquiesce to Balaam and say, “Go, but do only what I tell you.” Of course, this was not the heart of God, who knew Balaam’s temptation had overtaken him. Because of this,
“Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials.”
(Numbers 22:21) NIV
And God? What was His state of mind?
“But God was very angry when he went…”
(Numbers 22:22) NIV
Clearly God, Who is mercy itself, yet never airbrushes a person or a situation, saw Balaam’s empty words co-existing with his raw financial ambition, and He was, as Scripture stated, extremely angry.
Further, God saw the future and what a meeting between King Balek and Balaam would mean to Israel. What did God see? Will the mystic hold firm to what God will tell him to say or will he capitulate? God’s man or Balek’s man?
Next week, we will turn to the moment when these two men meet. Balaam and King Balek, a collaboration God tried to prevent. It was a partnership with all of the potential of a dry forest and a match —. Explosive and destructive. — with the fate of the Israelites, now within sight of the Promised Land, hanging in the balance.