Greetings!
Shabbat Shalom saints of the Most High.
It is the 15th day of the 11th biblical calendar month and the 27th day of the 1st month of the Roman calendar year of 2024.
I pray, trust, and hope that this week’s Thoughts and Reflections find you, your families, and your fellowships well in blessed.
This is “God’s Blessings and Promises are Irrevocable.” It is the 117th reading or portion of our 3-year Torah Reading Cycle.
What follows is my commentary (i.e. my thoughts and reflections) on of this week’s Torah Reading, which is contained in Numbers 23:1-25:9. (I would encourage you to read the passage using whatever Bible translation suits you. Except for just a few verses, I have not recorded the entire text of our reading to save time and space.)
Seven Altars and Seven Sacrifices — The Futile Efforts of Evil Man to Get God’s Attention
(23.1-3) The sacrifices that Balaam instructs Balak to offer are not in accordance with the worship instructions Abba gave us. The number 7 factors prominently here: 7-altars, 7-rams, and 7-bulls. However, it is uncertain whether they adhered to some prescribed pagan manner while performing this ritual. Yah spent the better part of the book of Leviticus instructing us on his exacting method of conducting sacrifices (i.e. for worship). No sanctioned priests presided over these sacrifices. It is also unclear as to whom these sacrifices were being offered to. The text does not inform us as to the significance of this ritual.
The other thing that strikes me as curious is that it is unclear if all that Balaam is doing (and having Balak do) is for a show or is it following some pagan prescription. After Balak performs the sacrifices, Balaam instructs him to remain by his sacrifices while he goes and “meets” with “Yehovah.” The text is specific that the diviner (aka Balaam) was going to meet up with Yehovah, the Elohim of Yisra’el. I find this interesting because Balaam does not infer to Balak if he was going to meet with any other god of the pantheon that he ascribed to. The text infers he was specifically going to meet with Yehovah.
(23.4) The text states Balaam meets with Yehovah. I find it very interesting that Balaam tells Yehovah, the omniscient or all-knowing Creator of the Universe, what he had done to prepare for his meeting with Him. Could it be that the offering he had Balak perform was a ritual specific to Balaam’s relationship with Yehovah?
How Could Yehovah Place His Holy Words in the Mouth of a Pagan Such as Balaam? Un-Boxing Yehovah.
(23:5) The text states Yehovah placed His word in Balaam’s mouth (wayyasem YHVH dabar bepi bil’am) of which he was required to speak (te dabber) over us. What can we gather as it relates to Yehovah putting His word in a human’s mouth? Especially a human who is not His own? How does that actually work?
The English term “word” in our text is “dabar“. Its usage in verses such as Isaiah 2:4 and Jeremiah 18:18 infers instructions that are given to individuals by Yehovah through His Torah instructions and prophesies (i.e. His prophets). Dabar denotes specific messages from Yehovah to certain people. (Reference: Levine, Baruch. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary.)
This situation aligns perfectly with Balaam’s earlier statement to Balak and his delegation that he could speak only that which Yehovah permitted him to speak. (22:18, 38)
The common Hebrew idiom of Yehovah placing His Word in a prophet’s mouth shows the prophet was “receiving of a direct revelation from Yahweh.” (R. Dennis Cole, Numbers, vol. 3B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 402.) This concept is generally applied to Yah’s prophets. We’re told by Yah:
I will raise up a prophet for them ⌊from among their countrymen like you, and I will place My words into his mouth, and he shall speak to them ⌊everything that I command him⌋. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 18:18.)
The idea of Yah putting His “dabar” into the mouth of His prophets and having them speak His Word, as it had been given to them, may not seem possible in Balaam’s case. Balaam is, after all, a sorcerer — a diviner — a magician. How could Yehovah place such a holy thing as His “dabar” into the mouth of such a despicable creature as Balaam?
Indeed, Yehovah’s ways are not are ways. What may appear counterintuitive to us in some veins of spiritual thought makes perfect sense to the Great I Am. He knows exactly what He’s doing, and He is not always obliged to reveal to us why He does certain things.
In our discussion on Torah Reading 116, I posed a question about why Yehovah would have a relationship with someone like Balaam. This mystery has a close connection to that question. And I would submit to you, in response to these mysteries, that we, as Yah’s elect, must resist placing our Elohim in a box. He knows what He is doing. His Ways are not our ways. He will achieve His purposes and will in us and in the world as He sees fit to do so.
Reader be Aware
(23:6) Balaam returns to Balak and the leaders of Moab, who he previously instructed to wait for him by the 7 altars.
It is here that I need to mention an important difference between the Masoretic and the Septuagint texts as it relates to this verse. The Septuagint adds to the narrative:
“ … and the Spirit of God came on him (i.e. Balaam).” (Rick Brannan, Ken M. Penner et al., The Lexham English Septuagint, Second Edition. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), Nu 23:6.)
There is no mention of the Spirit of Yah coming upon Balaam in the Masoretic-based texts. Why do you suppose this is so?
Reasons like this have prompted me to incorporate the use of the Septuagint into my Torah studies. The Hebrew manuscripts used in the 11th century translations by the Masoretes were compromised — at least it appears so. It’s not uncommon to find such discrepancies, and all indications are that the Septuagint is more reliable than the Masoretic-based texts. Why? When dividing the ancient Hebrew texts, the rabbis of old exercised extreme caution. So guarded were they in their dividing Yah’s original Words of Life that they often took liberties to alter the manuscripts and texts in order to manipulate the text to convey their personal and religious convictions. They showed extreme bias in their convictions. Their extreme biases often helped along their guardedness in terms of how they interpreted the scriptures (e.g. their insistence that it was their responsibility to place of a fence around Torah).
But now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag, we face the question of how could Yah’s Holy Spirit come upon a pagan such as Balaam? This hard to fathom question may be the reason the Rabbinic scribes left this statement out of manuscripts that the Masoretes would later use in what would become the premier transcription of the Tanach up to this day.
Well, as counterintuitive as Yah’s Spirit coming upon a pagan such as Balaam and causing him to utter inspired oracles over us, this event shows Yah is not above using all aspects of His creation to bring about His will and purpose on the earth. (Did He not in our previous reading use an ass to get Balaam’s attention?) This is a fundamental reality that we must come to terms with if we want to deepen our understanding and relationship with the Almighty. We must learn not to limit or confine Yah into religious ideals of our own or somebody else’s making.
Yah described Himself to us through the Prophet Isaiah:
(8) For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith Yehovah. (9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than yours ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. (KJV)
Balaam Lifting Up His Oracles Over Us
(23:7) What does Moshe mean when he describes Balaam as lifting up his oracle? What is an oracle?
After setting straight in the minds of his readers that one’s Jewishness does not bring one to a justified state in Yehovah’s eyes, he takes a moment to discuss the advantage of the Jew in Yah’s plan of salvation, restoration, and redemption.
Not to be confused with the oracles that Yehovah entrusted to us (Rom 3:2), the English term “oracle” or “parable” used here is “me-sal” or “ma-sal” in the Hebrew. Ma-sal is defined as a proverb, wisdom, a parable, or a saying (Klein, Ernest, Etymological Dictionary of Hebrew), a prediction, a prophecy, wisdom as associated with King Solomon (Clines, David, Dictionary of Classic Hebrew); sentences with ethical wisdom (BDB).
Yehovah’s Spirit came upon Balaam and in a raised voice he recited or called out the words (i.e. “dabar”) that Yehovah placed in his mouth. Commentator Baruch Levine describes what Balaam was doing here was “raising his recitation” as opposed to “raising his voice.” (Numbers 21-36: A New Translation-AYB4A)
We Become Known to Balaam as Blessed of Yehovah
(23:7-10) No longer were we a nameless people before the Moabites and the pagan diviner Balaam. The name Jacob (Ya’achov) and Israel (Yisra’el) feature prominently in Balaam’s oration.
Here, Balaam rehearses to all creation the events that brought him to this point in our saga. As an aside, he reveals to us the existence of an imperceptible battle that is being waged between the kingdom of darkness and Yah’s people:
(23:8) How may I curse whom El has not cursed, and how can I denounce whom Yehovah has not denounced? (LEB)
To curse or to not curse.
And the answer to Balaam’s contentious spiritual question is that he cannot curse nor condemn us because Yah has not cursed us nor has He condemned us.
This is a leading verse because it causes us to recognize that Yehovah designated us for life and goodness and victory over our enemies. This is in stark contrast with that which Yah has designated Moab and Balaam for which is destruction.
Balak hired Balaam to place a curse on us because Balaam’s reputation was such that he was effective in swaying the pantheon of Mesopotamian gods to do his bidding. However, Balaam was being tasked to sway our Elohim to turn against us. Yehovah will not turn against us because we are in covenant with Him. Yehovah has the final say what happens to us. The will and plans of others against us through the use of their dark arts are impotent, as they cannot stand against the will and plans of the Creator of the Universe. (JFB) indeed, if Yah be for us, who can stand against us?
The Unknown Spiritual Warfare Waging Around Us
The struggle that was going on unknowingly above us and outside of our view involving Yehovah, Balaam, and Balak is a physical portrait of the ongoing spiritual war that goes on around us in real time. As foolish as it may seem to us, knowing that the enemy’s ongoing battles against Yehovah and those that are His beloved, the realities of the enemy’s futile efforts do not force him to stop his onslaught. He, like Balak, will continue to engage in a full-court press against Yah’s people regardless of how pointless it is. It’s not that the enemy is ignorant of the futility of their persistent war against the Creator. I believe that evilness or iniquity, when it fully takes hold in the creature that foolishly seeks to defeat their Creator, that it blinds them. It is not about defeating Elohim because they inherently know that they cannot defeat Him. Rather, it is about, at the very least, successfully striking some blow to Yah and His people that will somehow discomfit them; that their sucker-punch will somehow forestall or upend the Creator’s plans, at least for the moment.
The Apostle Paul described this ongoing spiritual warfare to his Messianic Ephesian readers as cosmic in nature. So unnatural is this warfare that it requires special weapons in order to overcome the onslaught of the enemy. Thus, the apostle instructed his embattled readers to recognize the spiritual nature of the ongoing battle that was waging around them and, in response, put on the whole armor of Elohim. (Eph 6:10-20) The point to which the apostle is making, which translates over into our reading here before us, is that the ultimate battle is our God to wage and win. Our role, even though much of the warfare that is being waged is against us, is to be strong in the might of Yehovah and to stand in the truth and power of His Word, walk unwavering in His righteousness, believe the Yehovah and His Son for their steadfast deliverance, and pray without ceasing.
Yah’s Irrevocable Blessings
We possessed Yah’s irrevocable and irresistible blessings, not because we were obedient. We were not always obedient. In fact, we were disobedient more than we were obedient. Yah described us as “stiffnecked”. (Exo 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9; Deu 9:6, 13, 16) Rather, Yah blessed us because He chose us. Yehovah set us apart from all other peoples of the earth to be His special possession. (Exo 19:5; Deu 14:2; 26:18) Therefore, as the Apostle wrote, if Yehovah be for us, who can stand against us? (Rom 8:31)
Yah chose and blessed us as Nazarene Israelites. Again, not because we are special or because we are so obedient. Rather, Yah blesses us because He Himself loved our Master. Therefore, because our Master is beloved of Yah, that state of being beloved of Yah is extended fully on to us. (Eph 1:6). Praise Yah!
Our blessings as we encamped just outside the border of Moab resulted from Yah choosing our Father Avraham and the covenant He cut with Him. Yah promised to bless us who were of his seed. This is grace in action. This is Yehovah stepping into and operating His kingdom amid the affairs of His human creation. Is this not a wonderful thing? We can fully rely on the promise Yah made with Avraham because He is an Elohim that does not lie. He is faithful and will carry out that which He has promised to do despite the persistent opposition of the enemy.
Torah teacher and commentator Tim Hegg of Torah Resources states that our blessings in Yehovah extend beyond His divine and powerful keeping. We were also blessed in the promise of Yahoshua HaMashiyach, who would be “the pinnacle” and “source” of ours and the world’s blessings. (Hegg, T., Studies in the Torah Numbers, p. 170)
Yah promised our patriarch Avraham that he would bless those who bless him (and, by extension, his seed) and curse those who cursed him. (Gen 12:3; Num 22:6)
Today we see reported on various legacy media platforms a world at large, tripping over themselves to demand and even bring about the destruction of the nation-state of Israel. The world is ignorantly thumbing their noses at Yehovah, who promised to bless those who bless and curse those who curse His chosen ones. I can’t help but think that those who engage in such Balak-like activities are digging their own graves. Yah will not be mocked and He will do what He promised to do. Right now, those who are seeking the destruction of Yah’s people, as flawed as they may be, are experiencing the Creator’s grace and mercy. They have as yet not come to the same fate as Balak, Balaam, and Moab, but if they persist in their satanically driven cursing of our Jewish brethren, Yah’s patience with them will come to its end and they will experience the Almighty’s righteous wrath. My prayer is that Yah will have mercy upon those who are calling for the destruction of Israel, as most of them know not what they are doing. They are foolishly, and sometimes, willfully, ignorant. May the scales of blindness fall from their encrusted eyes and their hearts and minds turn to the God of Israel through a trusting faith in the Person and ministries of Yeshua Messiah. May Yah continue to safeguard His chosen ones and bestow upon them the wisdom to fulfill their divine tasks. Furthermore, may Yah protect and deliver all innocents (from both sides) of this ongoing conflict. May Yah’s kingdom come soon and His will be done on this earth as it is in heaven. Amein.
(23:9) Because from the top of the rocks I see him, from hilltops I watch him. Behold, a people who dwell alone, they do not consider themselves among the nations. (LEB)
Could this be a prophetic utterance or a foreshadowing glimpse of the Body of Messiah (aka the true Church; Nazarene Yisra’el) that Yeshua said He would build and the gates of hell could not prevail against her? (Mat 16:18) I believe it is. Are we not of the seed of Avraham?
Consider the specifics of the people whom Balaam is desperate to curse: (1) She dwells alone (i.e. Yah has her to Himself) and (2) she will not be reckoned among the nations (i.e. she is set apart from the nation peoples of the world to be a unique possession unto Yah). Beloved, aren’t these the very character traits that we, the Body of Messiah, have been called to?
Indeed, Balaam’s oracle asks: “Who can calculate the seed of Ya’achov? And who can number the multitude (some translations use the term seed) of Yisra’el?” (23:10a; LXX)
This is a reiteration and confirmation of the Abrahamic Covenant. Recall Yehovah promising Avraham: “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be number.” (Gen 13:16) “And He (Yehovah) brought him (Avraham) forth abroad, and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them:’ and He said unto him, ‘So shall thy seed be.’” (Gen 15:5; KJV) “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” (Gen 22:17; KJV) “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 28:14)
Dust (‘a-par) as used in this context, is an idiom for descendants. Indeed, we had become a great nation in terms of our numbers. Recall that Balak described us to Balaam through his delegation as “a crowd that would lick up all around them and like a bull devour the grass of the field…a people who went out from Egypt that covers the surface of the land.” (22:4-5)
Indeed, we had become a great people in terms of numbers. However, I would submit to you that mention of us as being a multitude (LXX) or dust (LEB) in Balaam’s oracle goes beyond our mere numbers. Again, this oracle is prophetic in scope. What Balak and Balaam and the princes of Moab were seeing was a foreshadow of Avraham’s incalculable seed — the Body of Mashiyach — true Yisra’el that is unique among the nation peoples of the world and that does not reckon herself among the nations. Balaam was pointing to the Body of Mashiyach, most importantly, in the Messianic Age to come:
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number (aka dust) of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. (Rev 7:9; KJV)
What Moab and Balaam were seeing encamped before them was a prophetic, symbolic snapshot of Revelation 7:9. Just a thought.
Our Glory is in Yehovah
Our commitment to walking out Torah contributed to the beautiful vision that Balaam witnessed of us as a gloriously blessed people, whom he was prohibited from cursing. Although not walking out Torah perfectly, we were still a people of the Kingdom of Elohim. Indeed, the Kingdom of Elohim, although in part, had come to this area of the world and hasatan and his ilk were not happy about it.
Torah teacher and prolific author Tim Hegg of Torah Resources adds to this discussion of our glory being in Yehovah and His ways the fact that our nation comprised a “mixed multitude”. (Exo 12:38) Mr. Hegg writes:
“The Israel Bilam sees and blesses is a “mixed multitude” (Exo 12:38), meaning that Israel includes those of the nations who have joined themselves to Israel’s God and therefore to His people — there is no distinction. The native born and the sojourner together make up Israel.” (Hegg, T., Studies in the Torah Numbers, p. 169)
The One Who Would Curse Us Ends Up Blessing Us
(23:11-12) Balak took this first of Balaam’s four oracles as a blessing over us. This, of course, was the opposite of what Balak had sought to hire Balaam for, which was to curse us. This reality infuriated Balak.
Balaam’s response to Balak’s rebuke of Balaam’s oracle is consistent with his previous admonitions: that he was subject to the will and word of Yehovah. He could speak only that which Yah places in His mouth. Indeed, Balaam, despite being a pagan, did not resist the working of the Ruach Kodesh (aka the Holy Spirit) that was operating on him. This should serve as a reminder to us. The Apostle counseled his Thessalonian readers to not quench or extinguish the Spirit. (1 The 5:19; cf. Eph 4:30; Isa 63:10; Act 7:51) Here we have a pagan, steeped in the dark arts, who inherently understood that it was a fool’s errand to resist Yah’s Set Apart Spirit. When will we take to heart Balaam’s retort to Balak?
As stinging a rebuttal as this may have been, Balak was not to be swayed from his purpose of having us cursed. (23:13) The realities of the situation would not penetrate Balak’s hardened heart and closed mind. To Balak, Balaam simply had to be persuaded to do something he apparently didn’t want to do. Balak sets out to change Balaam’s visual perspective of us by taking him to a fresh vantage point. By showing Balaam a different vantage point or perspective of us, Balak hoped to persuade him to curse us. (23:14) Interestingly, the Masoretic text provides a specific location for this new vantage point, while the LXX is vague in its description, being that of a high projection of land to the summit of a hewn stone. Balak repeats the sacrificial ritual of the first location and oracle recitation and, again, Balaam goes off to consult with Yehovah. (23:15) Again, Yehovah places His words in Balaam’s mouth and upon returning to the new site, Balak anxiously asks him what Yehovah said.
Yehovah Reveals Himself to a Pagan People
(23:18-24) This second oracle is powerful. Through the diviner Balaam, Yehovah reveals divine aspects of His Person and character to Balak and all creation. All creation can know these critical character traits.
- Yehovah does not lie.
- He does not change his mind. Yah keeps His promises, and He does what He declares and purposes to do, despite the schemes and foolishness of humanity.
- When Yehovah blesses an individual or a people, no human or demigod can un-bless them. Here, Balaam’s hands are tied.
- When Yah is for His people, and He establishes it to be so, no trouble nor strife can penetrate their ranks because Yah has deemed it to be, and He is with them. They are as royalty and are distinguished among the nations.
- The power of El: ‘El mosi’am in relation to His set apart people is likened to that of a wild ox. That power is protective and royal in nature. In powerful ANE kingdoms, kings and their gods were depicted in statute reliefs riding winged wild ox. Well, here Yehovah is revealing to Balak and his court His role as the powerful liberator of Yisrael. (Reference: Levine, Baruch, Numbers 21-36: A New Translation and Commentary) This revealed protective trait by no means is not meant to characterize Yehovah as an ox. Rather, it appeals to the ancient mind of the monarch Balak, who would be familiar with such powerful symbolism. Not to mention that it also plays into Balak’s earlier description of us being as like a bull that devours the grass of the field. (22:4)
- The Septuagint version of this omen gives the sense that the lives of Yah’s people are not determined by divination or the magic arts, unlike the Moabites and Balaam. Rather, Yehovah works directly for His elect ones. The Masoretic version gives us the sense that no sorcery nor divination can prevail against Yehovah, for Yehovah is for Yisra’el and He will protect her from any such things.
- Yah’s people will ultimately be victorious over her enemies.
You’re fired!
(23:25-26) In utter frustration, Balak blurts out to Balaam that he doesn’t want him to do anything either for or against Yisra’el at this point. There is a sense of hopelessness in Balak’s response to Balaam’s second oracle. Nevertheless, Balaam reaffirms the prohibition not to curse us and to only utter that which Yehovah gives him to say. Yet, no doubt after a brief cool-down period, Balak takes Balaam to a third vantage point. This time he takes Balaam to the summit of Peor, which looked down upon the face of the whole desert wilderness. (23:27-30) Peor is one of the highest mountains in Moab. The people worshiped Ba’al on this mountain. (Num 25:3, 5, 18, 31:16; Deu 4:3; Jos 22:17; Psa 106:28) Thus, Peor held significant spiritual (pagan) significance for the Moabites in that region. Again, Balak arranges the same sacrifices as he did the previous two times and looks to Balaam to do his thing.
Yehovah Finally Makes Sense to the Pagan
(24:1-2) However, this time Balaam doesn’t go off alone to seek Yehovah’s instructions as he did the previous two times. The text reveals that Balaam finally acknowledged that he could not persuade Yah to change His stance regarding us. So, he did not consult the omens as the LXX describes but gave Himself to the move of the Holy Spirit and the words – the dabar that Yehovah put in his mouth. From Peor’s summit, he looked down upon us. The LXX states that Yah’s Spirit came upon Balaam and (24:3) he began his third discourse (Hebrew of “ne’um“).
We find a discrepancy in this verse between the LXX and the Masoretic-based text. The Masoretic-based text starts the oracle off with Balaam uttering: “The declaration of Balaam, son of Beor, the declaration of the man whose eyes are closed.” (LEB) The LXX starts this oracle off with “Balaam son of Beor says, the person who sees clearly says …” Given the likely meaning of this introduction, the Septuagint’s rendering is the correct one. Balaam starts this oracle by proclaiming to creation that his understanding of Yehovah has been increased and that he now knows, at least in part, the will and character of Yehovah. Furthermore, he now understands who we are to Yehovah: that we are Yah’s set apart people. Blessed and protected.
And so, he continues to deliver his oracle from the perspective of an enlightened spiritualist. He now understands what he is dealing with, especially in relation to who we are. He is no longer blinded to the reality of Yehovah and His chosen ones. (24:4-9) Our encampment resembles a beautifully enriched grove, receiving its nourishment from a nearby stream. We as a people are beautiful, not because we are comely in form, but we are beautiful in relation to the One we served. Our situation is “tov,” good. This is a call back to the well known Hebrew discourse: “hinneh ma tov umah na’aim” or “behold how lovely and how beautiful!” (cf. Isa. 52:7) Here, amid a stark and barren wilderness, Yehovah Elohim had planted a fertile and beautiful garden. But in reality, what had our Elohim planted in the wilderness just outside of Moab? He had planted His Kingdom. What Balaam was describing to creation here in his oracle is the manifestation of the Kingdom of Elohim (i.e. the “Malchut Elohim”).
The oracle goes on to describe a powerful king emerging from our ranks. That king would be more powerful than Agag of Gog (aka the Amalekites). Gog was the most powerful nation in the region leading up to Saul’s reign. Who that king may be is difficult, if not impossible, to say. But the LXX describes him as prevailing over many people and his kingdom becoming increasingly great.
There’s talk of fruitful trees and water and a powerful king. Although most commentators are resistant to say, I will go out on a limb and suggest that the things that Balaam is describing here are Messianic in nature. He’s prophesying about the coming of our Master Yeshua Messiah and His reign upon the throne of David. Furthermore, it’s a prophecy about the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the nations.
The oracle describes how Yehovah brought us out of Egypt in a humbled state and how we will become a powerful nation. Balaam likens us to a lion.
And finally, Balaam confirms the portion of the Avrahamic covenant that promises blessings unto those that bless us and curses upon those that curse us. (Gen 12:2-3)
A Few Last Things!
(23:10-13) Outraged, Balak fires Balaam and sends him packing, back to Pethor. Balaam seeks to justify his failure to curse us with yet another set of disclaimers that he could only do and say that which Yehovah permitted him to do and say. However, he refused to be dismissed easily. Balaam tells Balak, through a fourth oracle, what will soon become of him, his people, and the surrounding nations.
Looking Foreward Towards Yeshua Messiah
(23:14-24) Through poetic discourse, Balaam foretells of a great person who will emerge from our ranks who will destroy Moab and her rulers. We would subjugate Edom. The Amalekites were the first of the nations after we crossed the Red Sea to challenge us. They were an arrogant and ruthless people and they would antagonize us for generations. Eventually, we would destroy the seed of Amalek. (LXX)
Balaam sees the Kenites whom he describes as being secure in their dwelling places among the clefts of the high rocks of En-gedi, they would over time be reduced in their military prowess by a succession of enemies (JFB Commentary on the Whole Bible). Their end would come in Assyrian captivity. (reference: 2 Kin 15:29; 17:6) And as powerful as Assyria would be, there would come even more powerful kings (i.e. Greeks and Romans) that will conquer Assyria and us. These conquering nations will meet their demise.
Does this oracle not detail a raw overview of every great nation, regardless of their military capabilities, being brought low and ultimately being brought to an end? Is this not a foreshadowing, of sorts, of a lead-up to the coming Messianic Kingdom that will crush and consume every human nation/kingdom?
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up ya kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Da 2:44–7:26.)
I submit we are living in the days leading up to this glorious, eternal Kingdom. Balaam saw, through his various vantage points throughout the deliverance of his four oracles, a foreshadow of the coming Kingdom of God.
Bye-Bye Balaam — Don’t Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out
(24:25) The LXX records that after delivering this last oracle, Balaam arose and returned to “his territory” (presumed to be Pethor) and Balak returned to his headquarters in Moab.
We Fall From Grace — Our Apostasy
(25:1) Our camp was located east of the Jordan, in a region called Shittim (aka “sit-tim”). Shittim was our last stop before we crossed the Jordan to take possession of the Land. (reference: Num 33:48-49) Unfortunately, we fell into apostasy. Being in such proximity to Moab, our men “prostituted themselves (Hebrew of “zanah”) with the daughters of Moab.” “Zanah” carries a meaning of indulgence in “idolatry” and “unfaithfulness to Yehovah.” (Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary) More so, “zanah” refers to adultery and fornication, both series transgressions of Torah. We get from the stem of “zanah” the term “harlot” or “whore”. (references: Gen 34:31; Jos 2:1-3; Pro 23:27; Hos 4:13-14) The sin that comes from “zanah” is an assault against and defilement of the bodily temples of Yehovah and against Yehovah Himself (1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:12-20; 1 The 4:3-8). They that engage in “zanah” as the Apostle describes will not inherit the Kingdom of Elohim. (1 Cor 6:9-11)
Bible students often focus on the sexual sin associated with “zanah,” but we must recognize the broader sin that is associated with “zanah”: that of complete and utter spiritual apostasy; the worship of the false gods of this world. We talk about the whoring we engaged in at Shittim, which led to physical marital infidelity. The greater violation is the spiritual infidelity we engage in. In our worship of Ba’al Peor, we became unfaithful to our Husband, Yehovah. (25:2) In fact, Moshe writes we became “joined together” (the LXX says Israel was consecrated) to Ba’al Peor. (25:3) The Hebrew term used here is “yis-sa-med” contextually means to be “yoked” or “bound”. It carries a deeper meaning of being committed to a thing. We had become committed to the Ba’al religion: we had taken part in Moab’s sacrifices to Ba’al, feasting at their offerings, and bowing down and worshiping their idols. (25:2) We had devolved into utter apostasy. So, the whoring and profaning that Moshe described us as doing went far deeper than prohibited and abominable sexual transgressions.
Our apostasy incensed Yehovah so that He commanded Moshe to gather our tribal leaders together and hang them before the Almighty in the heat of the sun. (25:4) Why kill our tribal leaders over something that they themselves may not have been involved in?
Right after the establishment of the covenant, our tribal leaders took on the responsibility of ensuring law and order within their respective tribes and families.
25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
26 And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. (Exo 18:25-26 KJV)
That we’d fallen into such apostasy shows our leaders were participatory in the apostasy, or at the very least, negligent in their sacred leadership duties. Yah holds our sacred leaders accountable for ensuring that our community does not fall into apostasy. This was so back in the day regarding Moab, and it remains so today. Far too many secular and faith leaders have become corrupted and have feloniously neglected their duties. This is why the so-called church is in the fallen state she is in today.
(25:5) Thus, the wages for sin are indeed death. (Rom 6:23)
Besides having our leaders hanged for their complicity in the apostasy, Moshe commanded our judges to kill those of us who had become joined to Ba’al Peor. This wrathful onslaught resulted in terrible weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle. (25:6)
Amid this nightmare, an Israeli brazenly brought a Midianite prostitute into and through our encampment for all to see. (25:6) Acting with righteous indignation, Aharon’s grandson, Phinehas, pursued the couple to the Israeli’s tent and ran them both through with a spear. (25:8) This act of righteous indignation brought an end to the plague (i.e. the killing), which resulted in the deaths of some 24,000 of our people.
Godly righteousness can bring an end to sin-induced death. It just takes God’s people to stand firm and do the right thing.
Our saga continues in reading 118.
Shabbat Shalom. Shavu’atov. Have an overcoming week in Yeshua Messiah beloved of Messiah!