Joy in the Messiah

בָּלָק
Balak / Destroyer
Numbers 22:2-25:9
HafTorah Portion Micah 5:6-6:8
Brit Chadasha Romans 11:25-32

     “In the path that man wishes to follow, he is led.” Chesbon HaNefesh.
     This parsha opens with Balak, the king Moab realizing the Israelite’s strength. Numbers 22:3 states: ‘…and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites….This horde is going to lick up everything around us as an ox licks up the grass of the field.’
    In Numbers 22:6 Balak sends men to Balaam with a message to ‘come and put a curse on these people because they are too powerful for me’ an apparently effective military strategy of the ancient world. Balaam tells the messengers to spend the night and he will return with the answer that God will give him.
     This is where the test for Balaam begins.  In Numbers 22:9 God asks Balaam who these men were.  God knew who the men were so the question and test was for Balaam.  Balaam tells the messengers he cannot go for the Lord has refused to let him go.  Balak sends a greater caravan with princes and a promise for a reward if he will just come and curse the people.  This is the beginning of Balaam’s failure.
    Balaam feigns righteousness as he answers the princes ‘that even if Balak gave me his palace filled with gold, I could not do anything.’  That should have been the end of the conversation, as God had already told him not to go to curse the Israelites. Yet, Balaam tells the messengers to spend the night and he will find out what God will tell him to do. This was a stalling tactic, revealing Balaam’s true character.
     In Numbers 22:36-37 Balak goes to meet Balaam at the border of his territory and complains ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’ Balak’s impatience is obvious as Balaam had already arrived.   Balak sacrifices cattle and sheep, giving some to Balaam and the princes of Moab. Balaam should have refused the offering of the pagan sacrifice, but he partook.
      God knew the heart of Balaam.  He knew the idols of his heart.  God allowed Balaam to enter into this drama to show the nations that He is always in control, even thru people.
    Are we allowing God to rule our lives or are we pretending to make our own paths. Are we someone’s pawn? Or are we God’s servant.
      Romans 16:18  ‘Such people are not serving Yeshua our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.’
      Peter 2:1 ‘But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.’
      Luke 16:15 ‘He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.’
     Galatians 1:10  ‘For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Messiah.’
     Balak, the king of Moab was following and continued to follow his own practices, his own path. Numbers 24:25 ‘Then Balaam got up and returned home and Balak went his own way.’    
     But prior to these two departing from each other, Balaam offers the fourth blessing from Adonai.  Which is the Messianic promise.  Is it so strange that God would use this prophet for a Messianic promise.
Numbers 24:17-19 “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult. ¹⁸ “And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession,
While Israel does valiantly. ¹⁹ Out of Jacob One shall have dominion, and destroy the remains of the city.”
     There are many questions about the story of Balak and Balam and the would-be curses that turned into blessings. Was Balaam a true man of God, or was he a fraud, a magician, a sorcerer, a practitioner of dark arts? Did he really have powers to curse?  It is interesting that the entire episode occurred away from the Israelites. No one from their side, not even Moses, was there to witness it. The only witnesses were Balak, Balaam, and some Moabite princes. Would the Israelites have engaged in immorality and idol worship with the Moabite woman had they know how evil the Moabites were?  
      In Joshua 24:9-10, when Joshua came to renew the covenant, he gave a summary of Israelite history, singling out this event for attention: “When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.”
     The prophet Micah, said in the name of God, “My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered  “He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:5
      Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian exile had the Torah read to the people, reminding them that an Ammonite or Moabite may not enter “the assembly of the Lord” because “they did not meet the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.” Nehemiah 13:2.  
     The answer may be in the final oracle of Balaam – The Messianic Promise.

Balak / Destroyer
Numbers 22:2-25:9
HafTorah Portion Micah 5:6-6:8
Brit Chadasha Romans 11:25-32   

     Balak’s name means destroyer or devastator. He thought that by using the prophet Balaam, he could curse the people of God. The curses were meant as a form of evil inclination to bring destruction upon God’s people. 
     On the surface, it might seem that Balaam was obedient to God, cared about God’s people, and was a prophet of God. After all, the famous words, “A star shall go forth from Jacob,” were not spoken by Moses but by Balaam.
      The sages teach that when “God put a word in Balaam’s mouth” (Numbers 23:5) to bless the Israelites, it was like a hook. These words of blessing caused Balaam pain, like a fish getting hooked. The words were God’s, not Balaam’s, and because of his arrogance, he wanted his own words spoken, which led to the four prophecies or oracles. If he were truly of God, he might have stopped after the first prophecy and left Balak, yet he had a desire to curse the Israelites, as we learn from Joshua 24:9-10.
     Numbers 31:16 really shows the evil of Balaam’s character, as it states that he was responsible for encouraging the Moabite women to seduce the Israelite men at Baal-peor. 
         In Pirkei Avot, the disciples of Abraham and the disciples of the wicked Balaam are compared. ‘Whoever exhibits these three traits is a disciple of Abraham our patriarch, and whoever exhibits three other traits is a disciple of the wicked Balaam. The disciples of Abraham our patriarch have a generous eye, a modest spirit, and a humble soul. The disciples of the wicked Balaam have an envious eye, an ambitious spirit, and an arrogant soul.’
     The evil character of Balaam is also confirmed in 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, (a prophet for hire) and Revelation 2:14.  These passages use Balaam as an example of false teachers who prioritize personal gain over God's word.  In Joshua 13:22 Balaam is described as a soothsayer.  Anyone, even an evil character like Balaam, can follow directions or go through the motions of service to God. However, Balaam failed to understand that spirituality and a relationship with the Creator are not achieved solely through external actions, but through faith and genuine love, not only for God but also for His people. Especially, one must know that those actions are not a means for man to control God. 
      Numbers 22:18-19 also reveals the character of Balaam. Was it necessary to inform the servants of Balaak that he wouldn’t take profit?  Why not just say ‘no, I won’t’? But his reply reveals the truth about his inner desire – riches.  He also allowed the second set of ambassadors to stay the night. There was no reason to enquire of the Lord again, for he knew the word of the Lord, but he hoped in his heart the Lord would change His mind. ‘And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, ‘If the men have come to call you, rise, go with the men but only what I bid you, that shall you do’. Numbers 22:20. 
     Before the first prophecy, Balaam is confronted by the angel through his donkey and in Numbers 22:28-29, his arrogance is revealed again. After he beats the donkey, which was protecting him, the donkey opens his mouth to speak and asks Balaam why he beats him.  Instead of pondering the situation – a donkey speaking? – he immediately blames the animal and accuses the animal of abusing him! ‘Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”  And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”
    Another view of Balaam’s presumptuousness is Numbers 23:1, as in the four prophecies, where Balaam, not God, sets the stage and tone for the offerings.  The instructions, as in other offerings to God throughout Scripture, did not come from God but rather from Balaam himself. Balaam communicated his prophecy through his own faculties, through a self-centered outlook.
          Balaam tried to lay waste to God’s people, but God has blessed His people with His covenants- if we are in covenant. Our disobedience, presumptuousness, and arrogance will keep us from His covenant kindness.
     Many negative spirits can influence people today. The Jezebel spirit, the Absolom spirit, the divisive spirit, the critical spirit, and also the Balaam spirit. The character traits that define the Balak spirit include the premature delivery of a prophecy. When God gives a prophetic word, are we in a rush to release it without first applying the word to our lives? Second, Balaam set up the worship/altars according to him and Balak, both pagan men.  Worship this way might be likened to false holidays, random ways to worship that are out of the order of God; 'for God is a God of order not chaos. These chaotic systems randomly and without order speak in tongues, flashing, flaying, holy laughter, being slain in the spirit, barking, running and even the worship with snakes.
     Scripture is clear about the importance of genuine prophecy; it is also clear in giving us several warnings about false prophets. One example of this comes from 1 John 4:1 –‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.’ 
     Not just a few, but many false prophets have gone into the world. We are not to accept every prophecy as from God or receive everyone who carries the self-imposed title of prophet or words of ‘Thus sayith the Lord’.