Shabbat Shalom saints of the Most High.
It is the 8th day of the 11th biblical calendar month and the 20th day of the 1st month of the Roman calendar, 2024.
I pray, trust, and hope that this week’s thoughts and reflections find you, your families, and your fellowships well in blessed, especially in these trying times.
This is “There’s a Little of Balaam in all of Us.” It is the 116th reading or portion of the 3 years Torah Reading Cycle.
This week’s reading is the beginning of what some scholars call “The Balaam Oracles” (chapters 22-24). As we progress through this and the next couple of readings, you will understand why they are called “The Balaam Oracles.” There are seven oracles in all.
Our reading on this wintry Sabbath morning is found in Numbers 22:2-40; It’s Haftarah reading in Micah 7:16-20, and the apostolic reading in 1 Peter 5:5-7.
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(22.2) Balak, King of Moab, becomes fearful of us when he sees our great numbers encamping just outside the borders of his country. His fears mount upon learning that we, through Yehovah’s mighty hand, had recently defeated his regional neighbors, the Amorites. (Recall that we handily defeated the King of Ammon, Sihon, as recorded in our last reading: 21:21, 25-26, 31-32. He sees what we are capable of.
Balak’s fears are justified. Moab is next on Yah’s list of nations marked for destruction. Recall also in last week’s reading that we sang a song of the impending defeat of Moab:
Woe to you, Moab. You are ruined, O people of Chemosh!45 He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters the prisoners of King Sihon of the Amorites. (Num 21:29 NET)
Who was Balak?
We know very little about Balak, other than that he was the king of Moab at the time of this reading.
The root of Balak means “to lay waste or devastation” or to “break and split,” or “crusher and breaker.” This should give us some background as to the caliber of leader we were facing. The Moabites were worshipers of Chemosh.
Rashi (aka Rabbi Shlomo ben Isaac, a French, Hebrew scholar and Jewish commentator of the 11th century), contends that the Moabites relied on Sihon and Og for their protection (Feinberg, Jeffrey, Walk Numbers Bible Commentary). Now that Sihon and Og were gone, Moab needed another protector against potential aggressors and threats, as he saw in us.
(22:3) So Moab (aka the Canaanites) is terrified (i.e. “gur” denotes extreme fear or terror) that we will do to them what we did to the Amorites. Moshe notes the dread that Moab had over our numbers being so close to their nation. We encamped right up against Moab’s borders, as Balak described (22:5).
Who Were the Moabites?
Who were the Moabites? Moabites, often referred to as Canaanites, occupied Moab. Moab was situated east of the Dead Sea.
Moabites are descendants of Lot (aka Avraham’s nephew by Lot’s eldest daughter, Ge 19:37), the Moabites came into possession of their land after Yah disposed of the land’s previous inhabitants, the Anakites (aka the Emim, related to the Anunnaki or Raphaim; a race of giants (Deu 2:10-11)). Yah removed them because they were an abominable people. It’s conceivable also that Yah devoted the Emim, being of corrupted Raphaim or Anunnaki descent for destruction. It is conceivable that the Moabites took on some of the previous occupants abominations, either religiously or biologically, which Yah said disqualified them from entering our congregation up to the 10th generation (Deu 23:3). Whatever the problem, Yah wanted the filth of the Moabites bred out of them before He would accept them into our commonwealth. The Moabite Ruth was engrafted into the commonwealth of Yira’el through her marriage to Boaz (Rut 1:22; 2:6; 4:10). She would bear children who would be the forefathers of King David and our Master Yeshua Messiah.
Isn’t it amazing that Yehovah would work through even a fallen race of humanity such as the Moabites to bring us the Savior? Indeed, our God is an awesome God!
A Midian Confederacy in Moab
(22:4) Balak approaches the elders of Midian for help. Who were the Midians?
Midianites were descendants of Avraham and his second wife, Keturah (Gen 25:1-2). Many centuries later, Moshe would flee to Midian and marry a Midianite (Exo 2:15-16). Moshe would have a close relationship with his father-in-law, Jethro, a Midianite priest. Jethro and his family lived in Midian. Moshe would have spent many years in Midian as he raised his family and took up shepherding as a vocation (Exo 3:1).
Turns out that Mount Sinai, or the Mountain of Elohim (in Horeb) is near Midian. And on Yah’s Mountain, Moshe meets the Elohim of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov and Yah commissions him to lead us out of Egyptian Captivity.
It’s hard to fathom why Midianites would side with the Moabite king, Balak, against us. Moshe’s wife and her family were Midianites. It would seem, then, that the Midianites would be, at the very least, impartial if not favorable towards us.
We should not become confused at the mention of Balak conferring with Midianite elders. Our story takes place within and just outside the borders of Moab, not Midian. I bring this up to affirm that these Midianite elders were not from Midian proper, but were Midian transplants living in Moab. Given that these had not recognized ties with us, it makes sense that these elders would be in solidarity with their hometown king. This just goes to show how fluid migrations and integrations of nation tribes were back then.
Midian was a confederation of people and part of the larger Midian population cohabiting Moab, submitting themselves to Balak’s rulership (Gen 36:35). Some have presumed that Balak was a Midianite. Beyond these tidbits, the actual relationship that Midian and Moab shared is uncertain. We do not find any additional record about Midian in relation to this story. However, we will see in future readings that they factor heavily in Balak’s and Balaam’s plan to take us down.
Balak Reaches Out to a Diviner for Help
(22:5) Balak sends messengers to Balaam of Pethor.
Pethor, a town in Mesopotamia, was roughly 400 miles from Moab.
Balaam’s father was Beor. Remember in the previous reading that the King of Edom denied us travel through his country? Well, turns out Beor was the Edomite king’s father. Thus, Balaam and the Edomite king were descendants of Esau. Both are our mortal enemies.
Balaam crops up many times throughout scripture: Num 22-24; 31:8; Deu 23:5-6; Jos 13:22; 24:9-10; Mic 6:5; Neh 13:2; 2 Pet 2:15; Rev 2:14.
When broken into component Hebrew parts, “bal” and “’am”, carries meanings ranging from “he who belongs not to the people” to “destroyer or conqueror of people” (Gleason Archer et al., Theological Workbook of the OT (TWOT)). His two-fold-persona was that of a charmer and conjurer. There is even a possibility that his esoteric teachings may have influenced Nikolaos of the Pergamum Assembly (Rev 2:12-17). We’ll talk more about this at the end of our time together.
A Little Background on Balaam
So, we have a biographical background on Balaam. What then do we know about the person Balaam?
Balaam possesses several titles which include diviner, sorcerer, soothsayer, and prophet. His type was common in the ancient near east. Regional potentates routinely hired men like Balaam to provide them with intelligence on their enemies; to prophesy; to bless the potentates’ impending military campaigns; and or curse the potentate’s enemies.
We quickly learned in this and in upcoming readings that Balaam appears to be spiritually superior to all others, while being inwardly and morally corrupt. In Balaam, there is a war between obedience to Yehovah’s instructions and his desire for personal gain. We learn that his desire for wealth and notoriety will defeat his inherent understanding, that obedience to the Creator’s instructions will be in his best interest in the end. His drive to accumulate wealth and amass notoriety will lead to his untimely death.
And we see through much of this reading that despite his dubious, even despicable persona, Balaam enjoyed and benefited from a significant relationship with Yehovah.
This reality is hard for many believers in the God of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov to come to terms with: how or why would a holy Elohim reveal Himself to such a questionable individual as Balaam? Our text suggests that the relationship Balaam shared with Yehovah was a complex one, such that Yah put into effect a set of restrictions on what he could and couldn’t do and say. And mostly, Balaam fully understood and respected those imposed boundaries. But let’s be clear here as it relates to having a baseline understanding of who and what Balaam was. His relationship with Yehovah aside, this man was a diviner (i.e. one who seeks to interact with the dead and with demons) which Yah views as an abomination. The sin of divination, if practiced by any of Yah’s people, is punishable by death (Lev 20:27). Thus, one who was proficient in such pagan arts would often prove invaluable to nearby warlords and kings, seeking assurances that their warring efforts would be successful. TWOT refers to such activity as searching for “a propitious omen.”
However, it wasn’t beyond the diviner to seek ways to circumvent those imposed confinements. And in a future reading we will see Balaam’s deviousness work to the advantage of his employer Balak and to Yisra’el’s disappointment. (Num 25:1-3)
Jewish tradition has mixed thoughts about Balaam:
1. That he was evil or that he was a villain of the same class as Cain, Korach, Absalom, Adonijah, Uzziah, and Haman (Hegg, T., Studies in the Torah Numbers; p. 159). The Apostle Peter wrote Balaam “loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Pet 2:15; cf. B. Sanhedrin 106a).
2. He is a master manipulator, even towards Yehovah (cf. Hegg, T., Studies in the Torah Numbers; p. 159-160).
3. That Balaam was a “wise pagan” in the class of Job and Jethro (ibid., p. 160). Jewish tradition holds that Job was Balaam’s father (b. Bava Batra 15b). “
4. He was an enigma in that he possessed a relationship with Yehovah despite being a diviner/sorcerer (Heb of “haqoseim”). The story of Job reminds us of this aspect of Jewish thought about Balaam. Recall in the story of Job that hasatan appeared in the court of heaven, before Yehovah, seeking release from Yehovah to afflict Job (1:6). The curious thing about this situation is that Yah permits the accuser of humanity to converse with him freely, and then enter and leave his presence freely. But in both situations—Balaam and hasatan—Yehovah places restrictions upon their activities.
Here in our reading, Balak sought to Hire Balaam to place curses upon us as we camped just outside the borders of his country. Balak sought to hire Balaam to use his expertise to turn the region’s pagan gods and our God against us. Balak recognized Moab could not successfully defend herself against us because of our numbers and military expertise. So, Balak did what any ANE potentate desperately seeking to hold on to his power and survive the threat of being slaughtered by a more powerful enemy. Thus, he employed a Balaam — a diviner to undermine our military effectiveness.
Balaam’s Street Credentials
(22:6) That a major military leader in that region would not attempt to take us out without consulting Balaam first shows Balaam possessed renown diviner credentials. Balak flatters Balaam in his written invitation by citing the sorcerer’s ability to bless and curse groups of people: an ability exclusive to Yehovah.
Balak beckons Balaam to come to him and invoke his curse over us. ANE pagan practice required that the hired sorcerer or diviner see the enemy while invoking his curse upon them, otherwise the curse would not work.
(22:8) To keep up appearances, Balaam instructs Balak’s delegation to await the result of his overnight consultation with Yehovah. He warns the delegation that this was a requirement for accepting the invitation.
(22:9) Jehovah asks Balaam “what men are these?” Natural question of any Bible student worth their years of study would be: Yehovah is omniscient, therefore He would know who the delegation was and what their purpose in visiting Balaam was. There is no mystery here. This is simply Yehovah posing a leading question to Balaam: to start the conversation and to let Balaam know He is paying attention to what is going on.
(22:10-13) Balaam petitions Yehovah to (1) return with the delegation, and (2) Curse the people in camp on Moab’s border. And Yehovah says no to both.
In the morning, Balaam Informs the delegation only about the first element of Yah’s denial of his petition by telling them that Yehovah told him he couldn’t go with them to Moab. He conveniently leaves out Yah, prohibiting him from cursing the people encamped on Moab’s border. He simply tells the delegation, I can’t go with you. And so the delegation returns to Moab without Balaam.
No doubt the delegation saw Balaam’s refusal to return with them to Moab as having everything to do with the sorcerer wanting more money for his services. This was likely the sentiment the delegation conveyed to Balak once they met back with him in Moab.
The Promises of Yah are Irrevocable
But let us not overlook the shrewdness of Balaam in his refusal to return with the delegation and curse us. By him conveniently leaving out the second element of Yah’s denial—i.e. Yah prohibited him from cursing us because we were a blessed people—He left the door open to or he invited another opportunity for him to secure the job. And we soon see that this worked to his benefit as he was offered a higher payment for his dubious services when the second delegation came. Nevertheless, Yah acquiesces to Balaam’s second petition. Yah gives Balaam permission to go with the delegation back to Moab. However, the second element of Yah’s original denial of Balaam’s petition remained: he was not to curse us. Why? Because the Almighty declared us to be blessed. Therefore, no soothsayer, conjurer, prophet, spiritualist, or diviner can remove that blessing. Indeed, the promises of Yah—in this case, the blessings of Yah—are irrevocable (Rom 11:29).
Despite Balaam’s faux spiritual, all-knowing facade, he did not know who we were. He certainly did not know that we were Yehovah’s chosen ones. So when Yehovah prohibits Balaam from cursing us because Yehovah has blessed us, he was acting out of blind respect for one of the pantheon of gods he regularly consulted.
The Ignorance of the Enemy
This tells us about the limited cognitive abilities of those who dare go against Yehovah and His people. Balaam knows nothing about us. So, he is contemplating entering into a contract with Balak, king of Moab, to curse us without an understanding of the spiritual situation facing him. What does this say about powerful Balaam? It says that Balaam is not Yehovah. He is a created being who knows only as much as Yehovah, the holder of all knowledge, allows him to have.
This same principle applies to the accuser of Yah’s people, hasatan (aka Lucifer). Indeed, hasatan possesses tremendous powers and knowledge, but he is not omniscient (i.e. all knowing) nor omnipresent. So, when hasatan challenges Yehovah, he is playing the equivalent of checkers while Yah is playing 3-D chess.
Did Yehovah Change His Mind?
(22:14-20) Upon receiving the delegation’s report that Balaam had rejected the job offer, Balak sends a second, more prominent delegation with a greater sum of money back to Pethor to entice Balaam to curse us. However, instead of immediately sending the delegation away because Yehovah had already ruled on the issue, Balaam petitioned the Almighty for yet a second time. And this time Yehovah permitted him to return to Moab with the delegation, with the prohibition against cursing us still in place.
Why did Yah permit Balaam to accompany Balak’s delegation back to Moab? Did Yehovah change His mind on the issue? Was Yehovah being indecisive? Or was Yah working out something in the spiritual that Balaam was not privy to understand? Was Yehovah testing Balaam? This has been a perplexing mystery among bible students for generations. Therefore, there are varied answers to the question of why Yehovah permitted Balaam to accompany the delegation back to Moab.
This is where I want to step away from our reading for the rest of our time together today and see if we can answer the question of why Yah permitted Balaam to return to Moab with the delegation.
Clearly, as the Jewish Sage Rashi contends, Balaam believed he could sway Yehovah’s mind on the matter. And given the outcome of the second petition, it would seem on the surface that Balaam Was successful in changing Yah’s mind.
But did Balaam really sway Yah’s mind on this matter?
I believe there are a couple of reasons Yehovah permitted Balaam to go with the delegation back to Moab.
The wording of the text clearly shows that Yehovah changed His mind on Balaam going with the Moab delegation. However, this apparent change of mind by Yah towards Balaam challenges what we know of Yah’s immutable character. Yah changes not (Mal 3:6). This truth is even more interesting when we consider this situation from a spiritual perspective.
Yehovah knew Balaam’s love of notoriety and wealth, as well as He knew of Balaam’s manipulative manner. Yah knew that Balak’s invitation would stoke the flames of Balaam’s greed and selfishness to where he could not resist the offer. Balaam would work every conceivable angle in order to get what he so desperately desired. Such an individual will do just about anything to get what they want, including manipulating the Creator of the Universe, if that is at all possible, which it is not.
Before Balaam approached Him about Balak’s offer the first time, Yehovah knew Balaam would work overtime to sway His mind, this despite Yah saying no to the petition. And This, beloved, is the gist of what I want to share with you. We’re talking about a spirit: the spirit of Balaam.
The spirit of Balaam Puts forth for all the world to see, a facade of spirituality as previously mentioned. But that facade of spirituality covers over or hides a wicked heart. That Wicked Heart is constantly seeking avenues and opportunities to get over on or take advantage of Yehovah, if that were possible; which it isn’t. To try to “pull a fast one” on the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that same spirit leads every Balaam of this world to believe that they are smarter than Yehovah and that in the end they will get whatever it is they want.
Here, Yah discerns Balaam’s repeated requests to accompany the Moab delegation and curse us, motivated by the desire for generous payment and the subsequent elevation of his services’ worth in the region.
This is the heart of the spirit of Balaam. This spirit seeks to defy the will and purpose and commandments of the Almighty in order to get what our flesh desires. Our uncircumcised hearts, which Balaam clearly did not possess, will stop at nothing to get whatever it desires, Yah’s instructions, will, and purposes be damned.
We, like Balaam, may approach Yehovah for permission to do a certain thing that may not be within the confines of His permissive will, purpose, and plan. Or, for that matter, we may not approach him at all. In such cases, Yehovah may outright tell us no as He did to Balaam. In almost every case, Yah tells us no to such petitions/requests. He says no to such requests/petitions because those things we want conflict with His will and plan, as well as those things, may very well lead us to destruction.
Those of us who want only what Yah wants for our lives will heed Yah’s “no” to our petition, and although we may not be happy with being denied, we get up and walk on in our Faith (Hab 2:4).
The rest of us who want what we want, regardless of Yah’s denial, will either attempt to sway Yah towards granting our desires, or simply defy Yah and do what our flesh demands. In this ongoing negotiation with the Almighty, there may come a point where He allows us to do what we are determined to do, despite His denial of our selfish desires. It’s not that Yehovah changes His mind on the matter. The reality, beloved, is that in such cases where we will stop at nothing to get what Yah has said no to, that He then gives us enough spiritual “rope to hang ourselves.” He is, after all, a God of free will. Yah will not force us to do something that we don’t want to do. However, the Almighty, in His steadfast love for us, will always provide us a way to turn back to Him and abandon our wicked pursuits. He may send us various impediments to forestall our pursuit of those unsanctioned things. Yah may send a spouse or close friend to talk us out of our evil pursuits. He may direct us to a passage of scripture that, through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, convicts our hearts and causes us to abandon our foolish pursuits. It then becomes a question of whether we will heed those impediments.
The form of the Angel of the LORD in the reading that is before us epitomizes such impediments. That angel described to himself to Balaam as “an adversary that stood in the way against him” (22:32-34). Yah provides often provides His “adversary” that stands in our way as we head down that road to destruction because our evil/wicked way is contrary to His will, way, and purpose for our lives. If we gain that which we seek, our flesh may find satisfaction for that moment in time, but our disobedience will ultimately cause our souls to reap the wages of our sinful way. The wages of our sinful, disobedience way (i.e. sin) is always death. However, heeding the adversary that Yah sends to block our way to destruction leads to His gift of life (Rom 6:23).
In our Reading (22:21-35), the story of “The Beating of Balaam’s Ass” beautifully portrays the adversarial concept of Yehovah standing in our destructive way so that we may live. It is a shadow of the Person and Ministry of Yeshua HaMashiyach, the author and finisher of our Faith.
Closing Thoughts
Yehovah is the smartest Entity to have ever existed. Yah knows His human creation inside and out. He knows what we’re about at every turn. He is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart of man (Hab 4:12). Because we are a work in progress and the human side of us from time to time yearns for things that are contrary to the will, purpose, and plan of Yehovah, we may take on the spirit of Balaam.
Yah always provides us with a means to escape the wages of our sinful flesh. He sends us His adversary to stand in our way towards destruction. All that He asks of us is that we heed His adversary.
The Apostolic Reading this week provides help in heeding Yah’s adversary and escaping the spirit of Balaam:
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. (1Pe 5:5-7 KJV)
We avoid the spirit of Balaam then by submitting ourselves to the wisdom of the elders whom Yah places in our lives, humbling ourselves before Yehovah, and casting all our cares upon Him. If we set our eyes on our Heavenly Father, seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness, then we have no need to defer to the desires of our flesh.
May you have an overcoming week in Yeshua Messiah beloved. Shabbat Shalom; Shavu’atov, blessings to you. Take care.