Shabbat Shalom!
If you have read the Torah portion for this week, you know that it is the telling of the story of Balak and Balaam (and his briefly-talking donkey) found in Numbers 22-25. Even if you have not read this week's Torah portion recently, you are probably still familiar with the story of Balak and Balaam and the donkey.But if (like me), before now you have not read the Torah portion along with the Haftarah portion (the portion of scripture from the prophets that is read along with the Torah portion every week) along with the B'rit Hadashah portion (the portion from the New Testament) for this week all in one session, then you (like me) probably only have a partial understanding of the complete story of Balaam as revealed in YHVH's Word.
This is now the second year that I have committed to reading the weekly Torah portion (including the Haftarah and portion from the B'rit Hadashah). It has deeply enriched my knowledge of and understanding of YHVH's Word. But somehow at this particular portion last year, I must have read only the part from Numbers. I must have skipped reading the portion from the prophets and from the New Testament.
When I was reading the Haftarah and B'rit Hadashah portions this week, dealing with Balaam and YHVH's warnings about his intentions and actions, I was surprised to find the rest of the story that I had not noticed before!
Perhaps many of you are like me in that you grew up learning Bible stories as children. I learned the story of Balaam and his donkey when I was a child attending Sunday School at the local church. But I don't remember that I ever heard the deeper story of Balaam at any other time in my life! Sadly, I think this happens with many events recorded in YHVH's Word...we learn them as children (or in a child-like simplicity), but then we don't go deeper as we grow older. I have skimmed over the story of Balaam as recorded in Numbers many times in my life, but up until this week I had never looked deeper into what YHVH has to say about Balaam.
So that is what I want to do in today's blog post...
I want to look deeper into the events, actions, and words in the life (and death) of Balaam as recorded in YHVH's Word.
This week's Torah Portion: Numbers 22:2-25:9
This week's Haftarah Portion: Micah 5:6-6:8
This week's suggested B'rit Hadashah portion:
Romans 11:25-32; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Jude 11; Revelation 2:14-15
Let's begin with the 3 places in the New Testament where followers of Yahshua are warned not to be like Balaam.
1 Peter, in 2 Peter chapter 2, gives us a strong warning about false prophets....how to recognize them, what they say and do, how they lead astray, what will happen to them, etc. This is quite a strong and graphic description of and warning against false prophets.
You can take time to read the whole chapter for yourself, but I will just include a few parts of it here:
These false prophets will "introduce destructive heresies," "exploit you with fabricated stories," "insult things about which they have no knowledge," "speak grandiosities of nothingness," "follow their old natures in lust for filth," "play on desires to seduce people."
They are "like animals without reason," "defects reveling in their deception," "presumptuous and self-willed," "waterless springs," "mists driven by gusts of wind," "slaves of corruption," "entangled and defeated by the pollutions of the world."
They have "eyes that never stop sinning," "a heart that has exercised itself in greed," "left the straight way and wandered off."
What is in store for them? "Their punishment is not idle." "When they are destroyed, their destruction will be total." "They will be paid back harm as wages for the harm they are doing." "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, fully knowing, to turn from the holy command delivered to them."
And then, in the middle of the chapter, in the midst of this graphic and descriptive warning, we are told in verses 15 and 16:
These people have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of doing harm but was rebuked for his sin - a dumb beast of burden spoke out with a human voice and restrained the prophet's insanity!
2 Now take a look at the book of Jude (only one chapter long). His message is closely related to Peter's...a warning against those who claim to be believers but are really false prophets.
Again, in Jude's letter, these people will "pervert God's grace into a license for debauchery and disown Yahshua the Messiah," "insult anything they don't understand," "defile their own flesh, despise godly authority, and insult angelic beings," "care only for themselves," "follow their evil passions," "flatter others to gain advantage," "cause divisions."
They are "filthy spots," "waterless clouds carried by the winds," "trees without fruit," "doubly dead and uprooted," "savage sea-waves heaving forth their shameful deeds," "grumblers and complainers," "scoffers following their own godless passions," "controlled by their impulses."
What will happen to them? They will "lie exposed as a warning of the everlasting fire awaiting those who must undergo punishment."
Enoch said this about them (verses 14-15): "Adonai came with his myriads of holy ones to execute judgment against everyone, that is, to convict all the godless for their godless deeds which they have done in such a godless way, and for all the harsh words these godless sinners have spoken against him."
And once again in the middle of this strong warning, Jude includes these words in verse 11: Woe to them, in that they have walked the road of Cain, they have given themselves over for money to the error of Balaam, they have been destroyed in the rebellion of Korach.
3 The final place in the New Testament that gives a warning about following the ways of Balaam is in the book of Revelation. This was spoken by Yahshua himself, to the church of Pergamum.
"To the angel of the Messianic Community in Pergamum, write:
'Here is the message from the one who has the sharp double-edged sword: "I know where you are living, there where the Adversary's throne is. Yet you are holding onto my name. You did not deny trusting me even at the time when my faithful witness Antipas was put to death in your town, there where the Adversary lives.
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: you have some people who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap for the people of Israel, so that they would eat food that had been sacrificed to idols and commit sexual sin. Likewise, you too have people who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore, turn from these sins. Otherwise, I will come to you very soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth. Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities. To him winning the victory I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone, on which is written a new name that nobody knows except the one receiving it."' Revelation 2:12-17
Isn't that interesting?
Some important questions are raised in these warnings. (??)
But first let's look in the Tanakh (Old Testament) for more warnings about Balaam.
1 In Deuteronomy chapter 23, Moses is relating to the people what YHVH said about who can and cannot enter the assembly of YHVH. Take a look at verses 3-5:
"No Amorite or Moabite may enter the assembly of YHVH, nor may any of his descendants down to the tenth generation ever enter the assembly of YHVH, because they did not supply you with food and water when you were on the road after leaving Egypt, and because they hired Balaam the son of Beor from Petor in Aram-Naharayim to put a curse on you. But YHVH your God would not listen to Balaam; rather, YHVH your God turned the curse into a blessing for you; because YHVH your God loved you."
2 YHVH, through Joshua, says the same thing to the Israelites just before Joshua's death in Joshua 24:9-10.
"Then Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Moav, rose up and fought against Israel. He sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to put a curse on you. But I refused to listen to Balaam, and he actually blessed you. In this way I rescued you from him."
3 Let's also look at part of this week's Haftarah portion from Micah.
Look at Micah 6:5 which says, "My people, just remember what Balak the king of Moab had planned, what Balaam the son of Beor answered him...so that you will understand the saving deeds of YHVH."
4 Finally, one more important place in YHVH's Word will give us a warning about Balaam...the description of his death in Numbers chapter 31.
1 YHVH said to Moses, 2 "On behalf of the people of Israel, take vengeance on the Midianites. After that, you will be gathered to your people."....
7 They fought against Midian, as YHVH had ordered Moses, and killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian along with the others who were slain - Evi, Rekem, Tzur, Hur and Reva, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword....
14 But Moses was angry with the army officers, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds coming in from the battlefield. 15 Moses asked them, "You let the women live? 16 Why, these are the ones who - because of Balaam's advice -caused the people of Israel to rebel, breaking faith with YHVH in the Peor incident, so that the plague broke out among YHVH's community!
You've probably noticed that for the most part we have been working our way backwards in discovering Balaam's story. Now we come to the story itself...this week's Torah portion found in Numbers 22-25.
As I said before, I'm sure you are already familiar with the story of Balaam and his donkey. So I won't go into great detail or quote long passages from his story. But I think we should look more closely at a few very important details.
First though, I'll just give a brief "nutshell" version of the story...just a reminder.
Once upon a time....The Israelites were camped near the Jordan River near Moab, ready to enter their Promised Land. Balak, the king of Moab was afraid of them, so he summoned Balaam, who lived by the Euphrates River, to come and curse the Israelites.
(?? Why was Balaam summoned? Why were his blessings and curses so well known?)
Balaam asked YHVH what to do and then told the first set of messengers that YHVH would not allow him to go with them, so they left. Balak was upset (probably furious) and sent more messengers, "higher-ups," to convince Balaam to come and curse Israel. Balaam asked YHVH again what to do, and YHVH said to go with the men but to only say and do what He instructed.
(?? Why did YHVH tell him to go with the men?)
Balaam got on his donkey the next morning to go with the men. YHVH was angry with Balaam and the angel of YHVH stood in the path of the donkey, frightening her.
(?? Why was YHVH angry with Balaam after telling him to go with the men?)
The donkey stalled...Balaam got angry and beat the donkey...the donkey started again. The angel stood in the path...the donkey stalled and leaned, hurting Balaam's foot...Balaam became furious and beat the donkey...the donkey started again. Once more..the donkey started out...the angel appeared...the donkey sat down...Balaam beat the donkey. Finally, YHVH opened the donkey's mouth and allowed her to speak (something along the lines of "hey! stop that!")...and then He opened Balaam's eyes and allowed him to see the angel.
Of course Balaam fell flat on his face and repented of his sin.
(?? What sin did he repent of?)
YHVH told him to continue with the men but reminded him again to only do and say what YHVH instructed. Balak commanded Balaam to curse Israel. Balaam said he could only say what YHVH told him to.
Okay, now let's begin to look a bit deeper into the rest of the story...
Balak took Balaam up on the high places of Baal to overlook Israel so he could curse them.
"Then YHVH put a word in Balaam's mouth...this pronouncement: 'Balak, the king of Moab, brings me from Aram...saying, "Come, curse Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel." How am I to curse those whom God has not cursed? How am I to denounce those whom YHVH has not denounced?' " (Numbers 23:5-8)
(?? What did he really want to say?)
Balak let out a shriek of anger, "What have you done to me?! I brought you here to curse my enemies, but you have totally blessed them!" He took Balaam up to another high place and told him to curse Israel. Balaam went off and asked YHVH what to say. When he came back, Balak asked him, "What did YHVH say?"
Then Balaam made this pronouncement:
"Get up, Balak, and listen!
Turn your ears to me...
God is not a human who lies or a mortal who changes his mind.
When he says something, he will do it; when he makes a promise, he will fulfill it.
Look, I am ordered to bless; when he blesses, I can't reverse it.
No one has seen guilt in Jacob, or perceived perversity in Israel;
YHVH their God is with them and acclaimed as King among them.
God, who brought them out of Egypt, gives them the strength of a wild ox; thus one can't put a spell on Jacob; no magic will work against Israel. It can now be said of Jacob and Israel, 'What is this that God has done?' "....
(Numbers 23:18-23)
(?? Again...what did he really want to say?)
Of course, Balak was angry, saying "Okay, so you won't curse them, but at least don't bless them!" He took Balaam to one more high place saying "Maybe it will please God for you to curse them for me from here." (He was just an itsy bit thick-skulled!)
At this point the story turns...and Balaam seems to have a turning-point moment, a time of revelation, a real heart-change:
The scripture says that when Balaam saw that YHVH intended to bless Israel, he looked out toward the desert and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe. Then the Spirit of God came upon him and Balaam said these words:
"This is the speech of the man whose eyes have been opened; the speech of him who hears God's words; who sees what Shaddai sees, who has fallen, yet has open eyes:
'How lovely are your tents, Jacob; your encampments, Israel!
They spread out like valleys, like gardens by the riverside...
Water will flow from their branches, their seed will have water aplenty.
Their king will be higher than Agag and his kingdom lifted high.
God, who brought them out of Egypt, gives them the strength of a wild ox.
They will devour the nations opposing them, break their bones, pierce them with their arrows.
When they lie down they crouch like a lion...
Blessed be all who bless you!
Cursed be all who curse you!"
(Numbers 24:3-9)
You can only imagine the furious response of Balak at this third pronouncement of blessing!
He told Balaam to go home without the large reward that had been planned for him.
Balaam responded that he had done what he said he would do, which was to say and do only the things that YHVH commanded him to say and do.
But as he was preparing to leave, Balaam said he had one more pronouncement - a warning of what the Israelites would do to Balak's people in the End Times (or end of days).
First he repeated his "heart-change" moment by saying that this was the speech of the man whose eyes have been opened..."
The next part is so important! Are you paying attention?
Balaam pronounced:
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not soon -
a star will step forth from Jacob, a scepter will arise from Israel, to crush the corners of Moab and destroy all descendants of Shet...
From Jacob will come someone who will rule, and he will destroy what is left of the city."
(Balaam "saw" Yahshua!)
He pronounced destruction on Amalek, on the Kenites, and then he said, "Oh no! Who can live when God does this?"
(Numbers 24:17-24)
Then the scriptures say that Balaam got up and returned home, and Balak also went his way.
This appears to be the end of the story, but immediately in the next verses we find Israel whoring with the women of Moab. "These women invited the people of Israel to the sacrifices of their gods, and Israel joined with Baal Peor. The anger of YHVH blazed up against Israel."
YHVH instructed Moses to kill the leaders who had led the people into this idolatry. Before Moses could carry out the instructions, a leader of Israel walked past, taking a Midianite woman with him. The grandson of the priest saw this happening and followed the man and woman into the tent, where he speared them to death. This action stopped the plague that had broken out among the Israelites because of their sin...but not before 24,000 of them died.
Now...we have reached the end of the story.
At this point, many questions should have come up within each of us.
(Some of my own questions have been highlighted for you throughout the story).
(?? If Balaam really did have a change of heart and a true experience with the Spirit of God, then why did he die the way he did and why is his name recorded throughout scripture as a warning of how NOT to live and act?)
(?? Why does the scripture in Numbers not tell us the rest of the story of how Balaam was involved in leading the Israelites into idolatry and whoring with the Moabites? Obviously, from what Yahshua said in Revelation 2, Balaam was directly involved in teaching Balak how to set a trap to lead the Israelites into sin. When did Balaam do this, and what did he tell Balak?)
(?? Was it the greed and lust for money that got Balaam in trouble and turned his heart to do wrong?)
(?? How can God choose to speak such amazing and eternal truth through the mouth of someone who is such a destructive "betrayer"? And for that matter, how can a donkey speak and a man not be completely astounded that the donkey is speaking?)
(?? How can we guard against false prophets who, like Balaam, say all the "right words" that sound so good and so holy and so godly and yet their intentions are to turn God's people away from Him into sin? How can we guard our own hearts from greed and wrong ungodly
intentions?)
I am not able to provide answers to all the questions that came up for me.
I know that some day YHVH will show us the answers to the things we don't understand in this age.
But what I want to focus on more than anything is the SCARLET CORD that ties everything together - the sacrificial LAMB who is also the ultimate JUDGE and forever-reigning KING of the Kingdom of Israel and all the earth!
He is the only one who can keep that which we have committed unto Him until that Day of Judgment and beyond into everlasting life.
Now is the perfect time to take a look at the rest of the Haftarah portion for this week from Micah chapters 5 and 6.
This will help tie it all together.
I will only quote part of these two chapters, but perhaps you might be willing to read the entire portion in your Bible and really focus on how this passage connects all that we have already read.
YHVH, give us insight into the amazing TRUTHS of how to live in Your Kingdom under Your Son the King. Show us the TRUTH of Your everlasting covenant with Your people Israel.
Micah 5:
"...Bethlehem, so small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth to me the future ruler of Israel, whose origins are far in the past...
Therefore he will give up Israel only until she who is in labor gives birth.
Then the rest of his kinsmen will return to the people of Israel.
He will stand and feed his flock in the strength of YHVH, in the majesty of the name of YHVH his God;
and they will stay put, as he grows great to the very ends of the earth;
and this will be peace....
(Micah "saw" Yahshua!)
Then the remnant of Jacob, surrounded by many peoples, will be like dew from YHVH....like a lion among forest animals....
Your hand will be raised over your enemies; all your adversaries will be destroyed.
'When that day comes,' says YHVH, 'I will cut off your sorceries from your land...I will cut off your carved images...no longer will you worship what your own hands have made...I will wreak vengeance in anger and fury on the nations, because they would not listen.'...
Micah 6:
"So listen now to what YHVH says: ' Stand up and state your case....YHVH has a case against his people. 'My people, what have I done to you?...I redeemed you.... My people, just remember what Balak the king of Moab had planned, what Balaam answered him...so that you will understand the saving deeds of YHVH.'.... With what can I come before YHVH to bow down before God on high?...with burnt offerings?...thousands of rams?...rivers of olive oil?...my firstborn?...the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?...
Human being, you have already been told what is good and what YHVH demands of you - no more than to act justly, love grace and walk in purity with your God."
Have you noticed throughout these scriptures the common theme of judgment? Did you notice the destruction and vengeance that comes as a result of sin against YHVH? Did you notice the SWORD of judgment...the SWORD of judgment killed two people in sin and stopped the plague affecting the whole community of Israel after Balaam met with Balak. The SWORD of judgment brought an end to Balaam's life after his sin against YHVH. In Micah, YHVH spoke of CUTTING OFF the sin of the nations. The SWORD of judgment was spoken of by Yahshua in Revelation 2...it will come from His mouth and He will make war against those who do not turn from their sin.
This is such an important part of the theme of this week's Torah portion...we cannot ignore the Judgment of YHVH. It WILL happen.
In light of this, it would also be worth it to read the last chapter of Micah.
Yes, YHVH has a case against his people. And yes, He chooses the end of the story to be this:
Micah 7:18-20
"Who is God like you, pardoning sin and overlooking the crimes of the remnant of his heritage?....He will again have compassion on us, he will subdue our iniquities.
You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea.
You will show truth to Jacob and grace to Abraham, as you have sworn since days long ago."
And to bring it full circle, I want to end by quoting from one last part of the B'rit Hadashah portion for this week...from Romans 11:
"I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but now has revealed...It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Israel, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness; and that it is in this way that all Israel will be saved. As the Tanakh says,
'Out of Zion will come the Redeemer;
he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob
and this will be my covenant with them,...
when I take away their sins.' "
(Romans 11:25-27)
I hope this journey through this week's Torah portion (complete with Haftarah and B'rit Hadashah), this journey through the life, death, and lessons of Balaam, has reminded you like it has reminded me of the importance of our intentions, our actions, our words...and mostly of the everlasting and unchanging holiness and grace and redemption found in a relationship with YHVH through His Son, the KING!
Oh the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments!
How unsearchable are his ways!
For who has known the mind of YHVH?
Who has been his counselor?...
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever!
Amen.
Romans 11:33-36
In the Name of our Sacrificial Lamb, Redeemer, Judge, and King...Yahshua.
Gina
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