-BALAAM: Prophet For Profit
King Balak of Moab grew more and more nervous as he watched the Israelite army’s steady advance against his small kingdom. In those days, seers and sorcerers, and their curses and/or blessings, were common practice among those who wished to appeal for supernatural help in their military campaigns, So Balak sought to enlist the services of the best, Balaam, son of Beor, whose reputation as a wizard with clout was well known: “I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed” (Num. 22:6 NIV). Balaam’s credentials have since been enhanced by a 1967 discovery in the modern Kingdom of Jordan (Moab in Balaam’s time) of fragments of a mid-ninth century plaster wall bearing passages attributed to “the Book of Balaam the son of Beor, a seer of the gods.” This evidence indicates that his pronouncements were highly regarded long after his untimely and inglorious death.
Prophet?
Though some call Balaam a prophet, there is no basis for considering him a spokesperson for Jehovah. To be sure, he’d done his homework. He knew all about Israel and a lot about their God. He appeared to make a credible case for his own integrity and authenticity as a prophet when he claimed consultations with Jehovah and swore to speak only what Jehovah told him.
But after weighing all the evidence, one detects the sour note of insincerity in his pious protestations. Was his great care to “speak only what God puts in my mouth” (Num. 22:38) really the conscientious obedience of a willing channel for Jehovah’s words? Or was it the frustration of one who knew through experience, that like it or not, he was powerless to say or do anything contrary to the divine will – a limitation which, in this case, could cost him plenty?
Let’s not suppose that Balaam’s one-on-one conversations with God were a mark of mutual friendship. Professional that he was, he had learned to speak “spiritual” fluently, but that was not the same as knowing God personally. Jehovah’s vital interest here was His favorite people, “the apple of His eye” (Zech. 2:8); Balaam was the interloper, the intruder. God can and will do anything to protect His own interests and the well-being of His people. Jehovah’s relationship with Balaam was simply one of curbing his dastardly enterprise when it threatened what was precious to God – restricting him, not permitting nor guiding him. It was no more surprising nor out of character for God to talk to a pagan practitioner when His people are a target of evil than it was for Him to address the stubborn seer through the unaccustomed voice of a donkey when he was not readily attentive to God’s own voice.
Unmasked
If the Old Testament account seems to allow for Balaam’s legitimacy, the New Testament rids us of any such notion. Three brief passages clearly establish Balaam’s true character: 2 Peter 2:16, Jude 11 and Revelation 2:14.
First, in his second letter, Peter warns about false prophets in the last days, immoral people characterized by partying, seduction and greed, who “have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness” (2 Pet. 2:13-16). These despicable people are viewed as disciples of Balaam, who, like the Mafia, found the purveyance of corruption to be a lucrative business. Greed was more important than good; profit better than purity.
Second, Jude 11 laments the infiltration, into the community of believers, of the spiritually insensitive who, “like unreasoning animals” follow their base human instincts and have no respect for authority. Jude says they have “taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.”
Cain was spiritually insensitive with respect to the sacrifices that pleased Jehovah, and insensitive both humanly and with respect to his accountability to God in murdering his brother. Lamenting the severity of his punishment he was nevertheless unwilling to take his cues from God nor submit to Him and His will, and walked “out from the Lord’s presence” to live life on his own terms in the land of Nod – which means “wandering,” suggesting a pointless, fruitless existence (Gen. 4:2-16).
Korah’s rebellion was his arrogant challenge of Moses, God’s established authority. This led to his spiritual defiance (Num. 16:1-40).
Balaam’s error, here again, is greed and the life and attitudes it produced. Material profit was Balaam’s highest and most prominent motivation. The same priority of profit is not unknown among some so-called “spiritual” leaders in our time.
Third, according to Revelation 2:14, the teaching of Balaam was “to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.”
Fatal Tactic
Failing to curse Israel and collect a fat paycheck from Balak, Balaam resorted to another tactic. After he returned home (Num. 24:25), Israel’s “men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them” (Num. 25:1-3).
The context paints a sordid picture of rampant idolatry and immorality. While God was instructing Moses how to deal with the mess, one more Israelite boldly brought a Midianite princess into the camp to his tent. Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, exercised judgment on them and God was appeased, though a plague swept through the congregation killing 24,000 people.
In Numbers 31 God instructed Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites for it all. Israel burned all the Midianite towns and took the women and children captive. But “Moses was angry with the officers of the army … who returned from the battle. ‘Have you allowed all the women to live?’ he asked them. ‘They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people’” (Num. 31:14-16). Judgment must be executed on these, too.
Thus, Balaam taught Balak and the Midianites to get to Israel by seducing them into immorality and idolatry, which brought Jehovah’s own hand of judgment on them – far more severe than any curse that Balaam could have conjured.
Balaam was a classic opportunist. He had no moral sensibilities, but was ready to do whatever worked. The only motivator that mattered was money.
But it didn’t pay for long. In Israel’s battle to take Jehovah’s vengeance on Midian, “they also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword” (Num. 31:8). It seems Balaam didn’t return home this time, and his association with Israel’s and God’s enemies became his death warrant.
The bottom line is that Balaam was a false prophet, an enemy of God’s people – and thus, of God Himself. He had no sense of spiritual values, and knew no spiritual motivation; he was available for hire to anyone. He was conversant with the spirits and the formulas for blessings and curses, and even had something of a working knowledge of Jehovah the God of the Israelites, but only for the purpose of manipulating Him, as if that were possible.
The Lesson
The lesson for us is not that God works with corrupt and amoral characters like Balaam, but that He has pledged Himself to His people’s preservation and welfare. And when anyone sets out to harm them or interfere with His plans for blessing, He will turn even curses to blessings. Jehovah God is sovereign, and He is sovereignly protective of His people, both in ancient times and today. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).
By Bill Van Ryn
With permission to publish by: Sam Hadley, Grace & Truth, 210 Chestnut St., Danville, IL., USA.
Website: www.gtpress.org
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