This month I would like to discuss chapters 23-25 of the book of Numbers. Here we meet with one of the most enigmatical characters of the Old Testament: Balaam. It is evident that he was a prophet whose fame extended far beyond the confines of his own country. It would be about 500 miles from his home on the river Euphrates, at Pethor to the land of Moab. Yet Balak considered Balaam sufficiently influential to send for him to curse Israel. He decided that military prowess was sufficient to conquer Israel and sought the immediate help of Balaam.
On the first occasion of a visit of the messengers of Balak, Balaam sought for the advice of God. And God told Balaam,”Thou shalt not go with them, thou shalt not curse this people, for they are blessed”. Balaam obediently declined the invitation. But Balak was not to be put off. He sent some more influential people and offered greater rewards. It seems that Balaam hoped that God would have changed His mind. And, although God’s reply still declared that He favoured Israel, Balaam went hopefully along. We all know the incident of the ass speaking; in general we can say that it is the least important, but best known incident in the life of Balaam. Peter (2 Pet. 2. 16) says that the dumb ass forbade the madness (“wrong-mindedness”) of the prophet. Balaam must have known that his visit could only anger Balak, as it did. Several months would have elapsed between Balak first sending for Balaam and the prophet’s arrival in Moab, because of the distance and means of travel.
Balak soon got down to business, and took Balaam to where he could see the people of Israel encamped below, and Balaam began his parables. On the first and second occasion he went away from Balak and “God met him”. Then Balaam returned with his message, and we will see that the parables are in a perfect sequence, and that each has a specific thought —we will call it a keynote. I purpose to discuss these keynotes without attempting to explain the prophetic fulfilments, which are difficult to assess.
First Parable
This parable has as its keynote the thought of the separateness of Israel: “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Num. 23. 9). We remember that this was a message from God, given at a time when His people were wanderers, looking for the promised land. When Balaam added, “Let my last end be like his”, it is not surprising that Balak was disgruntled, and said to Balaam, “What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether”. It does seem that Balak was dubious about God whose words the prophet professed to utter, and thought this was but the trick of Balaam. So Balak determined to take Balaam to another place, and said, “Curse me them from thence”.
Second Parable
Again Balaam went away and met with God, returning with another message. This time the keynote was “Sanctification”, as Balaam declared “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel”. Because God had seen fit to overlook the wrongdoings of this nation, and had chosen to bless them (Num. 23. 2021), they were a holy people.
And Balak was angry: “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” The situation was worse than ever, from his point of view, for the words of Balaam had actually improved the position of Israel, as Balak saw it. So Balaam pressed the point: “Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do.”
By now, even Balak was aware of the God who put words into the prophet’s mouth, as his next request showed, “Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee into another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence” (Num. 24. 27).
Third Parable
This time Balaam did not leave Balak, but the spirit of God came on him, and he pronounced the next parable, which has a keynote of fulfilment. It appears to contain a millenial vision, with a picture of trees which the Lord hath planted (Num. 24. 6), and a king “higher than Agag”. This latter reference cannot be to the Agag of Samuel’s day, which was still far in the future, and probably refers to Gog, as the derivation of the word is the same. Again, as Balaam, at the beginning of this and the next parables says, “which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling — but having his eyes open”, a post-resurrectional vision is implied.
Fourth Parable
Again the Spirit of God came on Balaam, and Balaam had a vision of Sovereignty (see Num. 24. 1719). Balaam is said to “take up his parable . . .” seven times, the last four times coming under this heading of sovereignty.
Also, as the fourth parable refers to the Star of Jacob, would it not be of significance that the wise men, centuries later, also came from the east; may it not be that the prophecies of Balaam were preserved by those eastern people? There are many questions we could ask about these matters. It would be easy to fill a book with studies of the parables of Balaam. We will confine ourselves to thoughts of relevance to ourselves.
Balaam sets before us four successive basic principles. Firstly, separation from the world, which leads to sanctification and holiness. These are applicable to the time of our mortality, when we go to seek God (as Balaam did), to get God’s message. Later will come, with the indwelling of the Spirit of God, reward and, finally, sovereignty.
Balaam realised that the weak link in the chain, the link within the control of Israel, was that of separateness. He also realised that if this separateness could be undermined, the rest of the link would disappear. So he taught Balak the well known principle, “If you can’t beat them, join them”. He taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, or as the record tells us, “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab — and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods” (Num. 25. 1-2).
Whether Balak rewarded Balaam we do not know. From Balak’s point of view, he certainly deserved it. From Israel he received his deserts, for they slew Balaam (Joshua 13. 22). The motives of Balaam continue until today, for they are indeed the motives of humanity, to seek the earthly way of life.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One