Chapter 4.7
Balaam’s Ass
King
Balak, The Teachings of Balaam
Balaam’s
conversation with his Ass
Hebrews
Hormones, & Strange Foods
Set
ups, Back room deals, Vote buying
Kickbacks,
Pay offs, Promotions of honor
First Word
Have you ever heard of a Senator or a
Congressman who was sent to represent the people’s interest and they “sort of”
got what they were promised, but his decisions seem to favor more that which
enriched him personally. It’s
interesting, that in scripture, there is much spoken of about Congressman
Balaam and how he SCREWED the Hebrews, but there is no detail on how
he did it.
This study is to EXPOSE HOW the Congressman SET
UP the
Hebrews in order to get a PAY OFF.
Who was Balaam?
Balaam in the Greek
means “subverter”,
or “devourer of
the people”. In Hebrew Bil’am
means “One NOT of
the people”;
a “Foreigner”.
He was from the city of Pethor beyond
the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia. He’s
father was Beor who at some point was a king of Edom. (Balaam
sold his skills for the proper price.)
During his time, God spoke through “Oracles” to communicate with His people. Whatever an Oracle spoke would happen. Balaam had a widespread reputation of being
able to prophesy
curses and blessings upon people. He could marshal up unseen forces into battle. Real
or not, the magical art of “a curse by a prophet” could depress and
demoralize an entire army.
Balaam was known as a “seer of the gods” and skilled in divination
and performative acts. He was a heathen soothsayer and a Prophet of God at the same time.
He did not realize that the God of Israel was not like the pagan deities
that he was use to MANIPULATING. In
the beginning Balaam
was a
Everything about Balaam was spoken of as “Good” until at some point he
yielded to his secret desire for a reward, then he backslid
and became just another soothsayer seeking payment; an abomination to God.[1] The spirit of the
Lord left him, just like it did King Saul
Soothsayer is a term used
for “Sayers
of the truth” and is tied to the term Divination
which is a system of ascertaining “The divine will of God”, such as is allied to idolatry, and in necromancy,
which evokes the
dead and in astrology, magic and secret sacred spells.
Balaam typifies the attitude of Israel who had the same privilege of
communicating with God, and knew the law, but they did not DO the law.” Be doers of the word not just hearers. It’s in the Book
To help you keep up with who’s who.
President Balak is the King
in consternation over Israel’s invasion.[2] Congressman
Balaam is God’s Oracle with conflicts between magic and providence.
Setting the Stage
The King of Moab; Balak heard that the Israelites were camped along the
Jordan near them and had gut wrenching fear and terror, a sickening dread that
they would attack and slaughter the Moabites and the Midianites just like they
had done to the Amorites. He did not
know that God had already prohibited Israel from attacking the territory of
Moab.
He had heard about the Oracle Balaam; that whoever he “bound with an
inflexible curse” would be cursed, so Balak sent for Balaam to use
his secret arts to
alter Israel’s destiny. Balaam implied
that he would go with them and curse Israel, but it was God that refused to let
him go, so he turned down the REWARDS and sent the
messengers packing back to King Balak.
It should be noted, that he omitted telling them Israel was already
blessed of God.
1)
The first trip
request:
The journey was some 500 miles; about 20
days between Pethor and Moab. From the
first trip and to the second return trip, gave Balaam about 40 days to think
about
2)
The second trip
request
promised more goodies and a promotion to great honor; Balaam thought about it
and said “stick around” for the night and he would check with God again. The book says
in the NT
that the Soothsayer Simon tried to buy the Holy Spirit; Peter said. ”Thy money perish
with thee,” hold that thought.
President Balak told Congressman Balaam that if he voted the
way he wanted him to vote that he would see to it that he would get the real
estate land deal he was looking for and a bunch of tax free unmarked laundered
100 dollar bills. Quickly Congressman
Balaam said he would check with God again,
just in case He had something more or different to say.
What Balaam states on every occasion is to the letter of what God said, but in his heart he is checking
with God again hoping He will say something different so he can get some STUFF. We are like that; we have God’s word and we know
what to do, but we just need to check just one more time to see if there is
another way to interpret what God has said so we can get what we want. If you TORTURE the Bible
enough it will CONFESS anything you want
it to.
God is not like
man; He will not lie or change His mind: If He said it, He will do it.[3]
Numbers
22:12 – God said “Don’t go; the Israelites are blessed
12 But God said to Balaam, "Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, BECAUSE THEY ARE BLESSED. NIV
God is Angry
This brings us up to
where God has already given Balaam His instructions and knows Balaam wants Him
to change His vote so he can get some
So God finally says OK, go with them; but only say what I tell you
to say. He was to “rise up” to go ONLY if the men came to him, but Balaam could not
wait for them to come and rose up to go immediately and God was angry with him
knowing that “the
reward” was really what was in his heart.
Balaam gets on his “dumb ass”
and proceeds down the trail and God puts an Angel in the path to give Balaam a
haircut; to part his hair with the Angel’s sword. God gets Balaam’s attention when his “dumb ass” sees the Angel with his sword
drawn.
NOTE: The sword was drawn against Balaam, his ass and perhaps Israel too. The term “dumb” was to point out that the ass
could hear, but not speak; although Balaam was a specialist in animal
divination, it was God that opened the mouth of the Ass to speak, not Balaam. The ass proceeds to have a conversation with
Balaam who does not think it strange at all that his ass is talking to
him. I was personally amazed that the
ass does not preach; but only complains.[4] The Lord opened the eyes of Balaam just as he
opened the mouth of the Ass. - Balaam had to learn from his Ass before he could
learn from God. God can use any
circumstance to communicate His message.
The divine purposes of the Almighty cannot be thwarted.
God used a dumb ass in a humorous way to humiliate the one who was supposed to be a SEER
I think it’s neat to see how God used a “dumb ass”;
the simple thing, “the weaker vessel” to show His Omnipotence; His Glory and
His Power. Finally Balaam “Sees the Light” shining on the
sword of the angel and with superficial
repentance confesses with lip service that
he has sinned as he ponders THIS DIFFERENT
AND UN-MANIPULATED GOD of the Israelites. [5]
With God’s permission he continues to travel on to King Balak to tell
him what God has told him to say.
Ordinarily Balaam could say pretty much whatever he wanted to say; but
not this time; however, Balaam has “another plan” working in his spirit.
NOTE: Balaam has disrespect for God’s word and integrity; he lacked a desire to do God’s perfect will. In hypocrisy
he thinks he persuades God to let him go. He didn’t
wait like he was told; he coveted a
reward. Balaam became stubborn and pervasive
and didn’t
REALLY repent.
Balaam
obeys –
Sort of
NOTE: It should be pointed out that Balaam is the only
known GENTILE, being endowed
with prophetic gifts. He pronounced four blessing on the Israelites; gave 16
prophecies and even prophesized about the birth of Jesus Christ.[6] It’s because of Balaam’s words that gleams of
Devine Light came into the darkness of the heathen nations. When Balaam saw the camp of Israel; God
changed his planned Cures into Blessings.[7]
Josephus the
Jewish Historian and High Priest was born the year of the
Crucifixion of Jesus; he was given by the Roman occupiers, all the Hebrew
scrolls to write the History of the Nation of Israel.
This is the account of what Josephus says
actually happened; and I encourage you to get Josephus’s book “The Antiquities
of the Jews” for your library; it’s
amazing.
The Devine Directive: God told Balaam to “go with them, but do only what I tell
you.” The spiral down for Balaam begins
when he chooses to address King Balak even though God did not tell him to do
so. Balaam has his mind on all the goods that King Balak had promised him if he
would just curse the Israelites which God has forbidden him to do. So Balaam has figured another way to do what
God said, and still get the goods too.
Some students of the Word and commentaries believe Balaam went away
un-rewarded, empty handed; but not Josephus.
Congressman
Balaam speaks out of his ass again. In a nut shell, he said that he could not
curse the Hebrews, but he had Plan B; a stumbling block of idolatry and
immorality that would cause the Hebrews to sin against God and cause Him to
withdraw his protection and blessings from them. This is known as
“the matter of Baal-Peor”
Josephus – Chapter 6
6:127 And spake thus
to them – O Balak, and you Midianites that are here present (for I am obliged
even without the will of God to gratify you), it is true no ENTIRE destruction can seize upon the nation of the Hebrews,
neither by war, nor by plague, nor by scarcity of the fruits of the earth, nor
can any other unexpected accident be their ENTIRE ruin.
6:128 For the providence of God is concerned to
preserve them from such a misfortune; nor will it permit any such calamity to
come upon them whereby they may
6:129a so that if you have a mind
TO GAIN A VICTORY OVER THEM for a short space of time
YOU WILL OBTAIN IT BY FOLLOWING MY
DIRECTIONS.
The Balaam Plan according to Josephus
This is really going to mess with your BELIEF SYSTEM; this is where
Balaam spells out for the Moabites and the Midianites to prostitute their beautiful daughters to the Hebrews; invite them into their homes and
indulge in their new strange foods with
potions offered to idols and after a while they will fall in love
with them and want to marry them.
But then withdraw the daughters and the Hebrews will follow, but they
cannot have them as wives unless they reject their One God
known only to the nation of Israel and accept the gods that are known to
many nations. Sounds like a LONG CON; A deeply contrived scheme of seduction. Instead of open war, they have plotted the
ruin of Israel through CORRUPTION and IDOLATRY.
Understand this; the Congressman
was a good guy and followed the precepts of God till he started thinking about
compensation which he previously had refused. A slippery path. After giving President Balak “the plan”,
Congressman Balaam departs with his PAY OFF and starts
his return trip home, but he never makes it there and remains among the
Midianites till his death; which wasn’t very far away.[8]
“The Way of Balaam” is a NT condemnation
of those who in GREED
will tempt and teach others to compromise their faith and moral standards for the hope of a
reward.
Josephus -
Chapter 6
6:129b Do you
therefore set out THE HANDSOMEST of such of your daughters as are most
eminent for beauty,
and proper to force and conquer the modesty of those that behold them, and
these decked
and trimmed
to the highest degree you are able. Then
do you send
them to be near the Israelite’s camp and
give them in charge, that when the young men of the Hebrews desire their
company, they allow it them.
6:130 and when they
see that they are enamored of them, let them take their leaves; and if they
entreat them to stay, let them not give their consent till they have
persuaded them to LEAVE OFF
THEIR OBEDIENCE to
their own laws and the worship of that God who established them, and to worship
the gods of the Midianites and Moabites; for by this means God will be angry at them.
The Plan works
Don’t get the idea
that this just happened on one occasion; it was habitual; what slowly started
out as a visit for a little intercourse turned into an unbridled indulgence of
lust. They voluntarily ate their food
and bowed down to their gods and participated in boundless revelry. This was one whole army division out of four
that followed the women.
The Hebrews hormones were in full ripeness and loved the women and wanted to “intermarry”
with them; which God’ law had forbidden such to happen. The foreign women agree to marry the Hebrews
only if they renounced their God, their laws, their ways of worship and worship
only the gods of their land;
Numbers 25:2 –
They ate and bowed down to their gods.
2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices
of their gods: and the people did eat, and BOWED DOWN TO THEIR GODS.
KJV
Josephus - Chapter 6
7:132 but they had
brought them to be enamored of them, and their inclinations to them
were grown to ripeness, they begin to think of departing from them; then it was
that these men became greatly disconsolate at the women’s departure, and they
were urgent with them not to leave them, but begged they would continue there,
and become their wives; and they promised them that should be owned as
mistresses of all they had.
7:133 This they said
with an oath, and called God for the arbitrator of what they promised; and this
with tears in their eyes.
8:137 “If then”, said
they, “If this be your resolution; since you make use of such custom and
conduct of life as are entirely different from all other men, insomuch that
your kinds of food are peculiar to yourselves and your kinds of drink not
common to others,
IT WILL BE
ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY IF YOU WOULD HAVE US FOR YOUR WIVES that you do
withal worship our gods; nor can there
be any other demonstration of the kindness which you say you already have, and
promise to have hereafter to us, than this that
you worship the same gods that we do”.
8:138 For has anyone
reason to complain, that now you are come into this country, you should worship
the proper gods of the same country? Especially while our gods are common
to all men, and your such as belong to nobody else but your selves.
9:139 Now the young
men were induced
by the fondness they had for these women, to think they spake very
well; so they gave themselves up to what they persuaded them, and transgressed
their own laws; and supposing there were many gods, and resolving
that they would sacrifice
to them according to their laws
of that country which ordained them, they both were delighted with their strange food,
and went on to
do everything that the women would have them do, though in contradiction to their own laws.
It Got Worse
SENATOR Zimri; a highly
respected tribal leader, married a Midianite woman and took her to his tent; he
stood up in front of the Hebrews and said interracial marriage WAS OK for the
Hebrews.
Listen to this: The Senator said “Nobody
should deprive us of the sweetness of life, which consists in
acting according to our own wills and is the right of free men” and the young
men with “Itching
Ears” rallied to him. WOE to those who call evil good and
darkness light.
It was shortly after this that some valiant men took the sword and
killed the Senator the tribal leader and his wife and also killed all those who
were PARTNERS in the wickedness; those that
could have stopped the young men from this sin, but did not and became ENABLERS and partakers in the same sin.
God sent a plague (Devine Justice) to kill all those remaining that were not
killed by the virtuous men. Like the
amputation of a diseased limb, Twenty four thousand young Hebrew army men that
had sinned lost their life that day and the plague was stopped. The contagiousness of their corrupt manners in
the camp was ended and the land was purged.
Isaiah 5:20 –
Woe to those who call evil good and darkness light
20 WOE TO THOSE
WHO CALL EVIL GOOD AND GOOD EVIL, who put darkness for light and light for
darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
NIV
Josephus Chapter 6
11:145 But Zimri
Rose up after him, and said…
11:146 Thou deprive us of the sweetness of life, which consists in acting
according to our own wills, and is the right of free men.
11:148 I have married,
as thou sayest rightly, a strange woman.
11:152
Phineas, a
man in other respects better than the rest of the young men…. Was greatly
troubled at what was done by Zimri
11:153 So he came into
Zimri’s tent, and slew him with his Javelin.
12:154 Upon which all
young men that had a regard to virtue, and aimed to do a glorious action,
imitated Phineas’s boldness, and slew those that were found to be guilty of the same crime
with Zimri. Accordingly, many
of those that had transgressed perished by the magnanimous valor of these young
men.
12:155
and
the rest all
perished by a plague, which distemper God himself inflicted upon
them. So that all those their kindred,
who , instead of hindering them from such wicked actions, as they ought to have
done, and persuaded them to go on, WERE
ESTEEMED BY GOD AS PARTNERS IN
THEIR WICKEDNESS AND DIED.
Accordingly there perished out of the army no fewer than 24 thousand at
this time.
Wipe them out
Baal Peor: Baal
was the god that the Moabites and the Midianites worshiped on the top of mount
of Peor and which the young Hebrews
had voluntarily accepted.[9] Moses sees what has happened and mounts up
the troupes and goes against Midian and kills everyone; he cut off the heads of
the ring leaders and hangs them up openly in the sun before the Lord to turn
His anger away from Israel and stop the curse.[10] They took spoil of everything that they had
as Moses had commanded except for 32,000 virgins who were taken captive.
All the kings including President Balak are
killed and even Congressman
Balaam who ran greedily for the
reward became collateral damage too.[11]
Note: None of Israel’s valiant army received any
harm. “Touch not my anointed.” [12] Balaam
started off with just his own error, but then he taught others to error. Many Public Servants start
off in the right way, but go into error because of money; the desire for the
wages of unrighteousness, then they teach the new ones the same thing. What a wicked web we weave.
Josephus Chapter 7
1:159 Now Moses sent an army
against the land of Midian for the
causes aforementioned
1:161 When they were
come, and they had joined battle with them, an immense multitude of the Midianites fell;
nor could they be numbered, they were so very many and among them fell all
their kings.
1:163 (The commander) came back,
bringing with him an army that had received no harm, and a great
deal of prey; fifty-two thousand beeves (plural of beef), seventy-five thousand six hundred sheep,
sixty thousand asses, with an immense quantity of gold and silver furniture,
which the Midianites made use in their houses; for they were so wealthy, that
they were very luxurious. There were
also led captive about thirty- two thousand virgins.
Teachings of Balaam
It is clearly possible
to be the mouthpiece of truth, and yet have neither part nor lot in it. Now when you see a rebuke for people
following the
teaching of Balaam you can
understand the trickery and deceit that transpired to cause the Hebrews to sin
against God.[13] What King Balak meant for a curse was turned
into a blessing for the Hebrews.[14] Even though the Hebrews stumbled and a whole
army of deceived Hebrew soldiers lost their lives; the nation as a whole was
not utterly cast down.[15]
Now the Hebrew soldiers thought there was probably many gods and it
seemed logical to them that they could worship anyway they wanted too; just so they worshipped. All the spokes in a wheel
lead to the same hub. That’s the LIE of Satan today; there are many ways to worship God.
Ignorance is no excuse of the Law. You can get a speeding ticket even if you
didn’t know that the speed limit had changed. There are consequences for sin even if you are
ignorant of God’s law. If the blind
leads the blind; they BOTH will fall into
the ditch.[16]
Balaam’s Ass
A SET UP: This
study was not really about Balaam’s Ass; that’s just to get your
attention. It’s about how Satan doesn’t
just happen to trick
us; he plans; schemes and connives and contrives
long term catastrophes
that even the elect would be fooled if
that were possible; it’s called the LONG CON.[17]
If you are not studying God’s word, then you are just having a conversation with your
ass. You are stuck with your
own BS,
your BELIEVE SYSTEM, your traditions and just what you have heard others
say.[18] Study to show yourself approved of God; handling
His word correctly. Don’t be tossed
about; blown here and there by every wave of new teachings.[19]
Know the doctrines of God, Preserve them,
and Teach
them Generation
to Generation.[20]
The Take Away
Balaam was supposed to be a SEER, but was so
engrossed in REWARD that he could
not see the Angel of the Lord about to part his hair. His DUMB
ASS did
see the Angel and three times tried to get out of the way. God uses the weaker
things to confound the wise.
The purpose of this event was to embarrass
the SEER, that his Ass had
more insight than he did. With his
attention totally on God, Balaam understands that it’s best not say anything that
God doesn’t tell him to say; the “present” situation scares him into compliance.
Religion was everywhere; the Agnostic “free thinkers”
worshiped the gods and deities of their own home town. If they went to another
town, they were duty bound to show respect to the deities in that town; some of
these had temple prostitutes that for some reason were quite popular and it was
this mentality that Balaam used to seduce a fourth of the armies of Israel. This concept is in total opposition to the GOD OF ISRAEL.
Balaam denied God’s precepts and taught
others to do the same. He slipped in
among the people and led them into idolatry and sexual immorality. The
blind leading the blind; Zimri; a highly
respected tribal leader; supported Balaam and said “Nobody should deprive us of
the sweetness of life, which consists in acting according to our own wills and
is the right of free men. Sounds good
doesn’t it. He became a PARTNER and an ENABLER in the willful defiance of God’s Laws.[21]
Conclusion; Jude, the half-brother of Jesus
writes; to contradict the Faith that was once
delivered to the Saints involves not only
denying our doctrine, but also turning from holiness. Walk in the
spirit and you will overcome the temptation of the lust of the eyes, the
lust of the flesh and the pride of life.[22]
Jude 3-4 –
Balaam slipped in and turned them from holiness
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to
write to you about the salvation we share, I
FELT I HAD TO WRITE AND URGE YOU to contend for the
faith that was once for all
entrusted to the saints.
4 For CERTAIN
MEN whose condemnation was written about long ago HAVE SECRETLY SLIPPED IN AMONG YOU. They are GODLESS MEN, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and DENY
JESUS CHRIST our only sovereign and Lord. NIV
[1] Numbers 22:7 – Balaam
took a fee for his divination -- Joshua 13:22 – Balaam was later called a
soothsayer.
[2] Genesis 36:32 – Balak was
the king of Edom
[3] Numbers 23:19 – God does
not change His mind or lie like a man
[4] 2 Peter 2:15-16 – The
dumb ass fusses in the voice of a man -- Numbers 22:28-29 – God opens the mouth
of Balaam’s Ass
[5] Numbers 22:22 – God is
angry and sent an angel to part Balaam’s hair -- Numbers 22:31 – Balaam finally
sees the light; sort
of
[6] Numbers 24:17 – Balaam prophesizes about the birth of Jesus Christ
[7] Numbers 24:2-4 – God
changed his curses into blessings.
[8] Numbers 24:25 – Balaam
gave his plan and went home with his booty. -- 2 Peter 2:15 – Balaam was PAID OFF
[9] Revelation 2:14 – The
Doctrine of Balaam; a stumbling block to Israel
[10] Deuteronomy 4:3 - The LORD destroyed the followers
of Baal from among them -- Numbers 25:4 – Cut off their heads and hand them up
for a lesson
[11] Joshua 13:22 – Balaam
lost his life because of greed -- Jude 11 – Balaam ran greedily for reward and
perished
[12] Psalms 105:15 – Touch not my anointed
[13] Revelation 2:14 – The
teachings of Balaam – Sexual immorality -- 2 Peter 2:15 – Balaam loved the
money wickedness brought
[14] Deuteronomy 23:4-5 – God
turned the curse into a blessing
[15] Psalms 37:24 – We may fall, but we are not utterly cast down
[16] Luke 6:39-40 – The Blind
leads the blind; will they not both fall into a pit
[17] Ephesians 6:11-12-
Schemes of the Devil; Spiritual forces of evil -- Mark 13:22 – False Prophets
show Signs and wonders to seduce the believer
[18] 2 Timothy 4:3-4 – Men
will seek their own desires instead of sound doctrine
[19] Ephesians 4:14-15 – STUDY, Don’t be
tossed about; blown here and there -- 1 Timothy 4:16 – Watch and preserve your life
and doctrine --2 Timothy 2:15 – Study the word; handle the truth correctly -- Titus 2:1 – Teach sound doctrine generation to
generation
[20] 2 Corenthians 11:13 –
False workers masquerading as Christians --
Titus 1:9 – You must know sound doctrine and refute those that oppose it
[21] 1 John 2:16 – LUST of
the eyes and LUST of the flesh and PRIDE of life
[22] Galatians 5:16 – Walk in
the Spirit to overcome temptation
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