Who Is This Balak? Who Is Balaam? We Need To Know Before Learning Of The Doctrine Of Balaam

But I have a few things against thee,

 because thou hast there them that 

hold the doctrine of Balaam, 

who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block 

before the children of Israel, to eat 

things sacrificed unto idols, 

and to commit fornication.

Revelation 2:14

     Who is this Balak? Who is this Balaam? What was their doctrine that was wrong? How did this doctrine of Balaam cause a stumbling block? How did this doctrine cause the Israelites to sacrifice to idols, and to commit fornication? Is there any remnant of this doctrine in our present day Churches and are you doing that which this doctrine teaches you to do or allow when in fact it is abominable to God? The answer to these questions are of the utmost importance for if they were not then the Holy Spirit would not have included them for us to read, and to avoid. 

     Balak: Who is this man? Balak was the son of Zippor king of Moab. Balak in the Hebrew language means "devastator." The context in Numbers 21 describes the problem the Hebrews had with the Amorites when they needed to pass through their land and upon the request by Moses to Sihon king of the Amorites Moses was not allowed to pass through the land. In fact Sihon went to war with Israel but he lost and Israel possessed his land. A problem that the Moab people had was that the Amorites had fought against Balak. Moses fought the Amorites killing all, none were left alive. Moab being a land connected to the land of the Amorites caused great fear to Balak so he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor to speak to the Israelites. In fact before they did this they cried out to their gods and upon the divination they went to Balaam with the words of Balak. Here is where this story gets interesting: The Moabite's god was Chemosh (Numbers 21:29; Jeremiah 48:7,13,46) and the means "destroyer, or "subduer," of "fish god." This god  was the deity of the Ammonites as well. Later King Solomon introduced this worship to Israel (1Kings 11:7) but later it was abolished by Josiah (2Kings 23:13). Jeremiah reminds us this: "Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and they daughters captives" (Jeremiah 48:46). Chemosh is Mesha-melek meaning Chemosh is king and indicates that Chemose and Malik or Moloch were one and the same deity. Both are noted in Judges 11:24 that Chemosh and Moloch is their god (1King 11:7,33). Chemosh and Molech have the same origins and both the people of Moab and Ammon were descended from the two sons of Lot (they were half-brothers by his two daughters, Moab and Ben-Ammi. Remember, we are always having to deal with the consequences of our actions, beliefs, so we must be careful and any study about Lot and how there came to be these two sons is a good and beneficial study but I do not have the time to bring a study on this at this time for we are dealing with the narrative about the doctrine of Balaam. 

     Balak was fearful of the Israelites and sought help from his god and wanted to use Balaam in this effort to protect his people from the Israelites that had destroyed the Ammorites a neighboring people. Balak at first conferred with his ally the Midianites before sending his elders to seek Balaam's curse on the Israelites. The mission to have Balaam to curse the Israelites was in vain so Balak attempted to ally with the Midianites so that the Midanites would cause the Israelites to commit fornication with their maids. The Midianites were descendants of Abraham borne by the wife Abraham, Keturah (Genesis 25:1). They lived in the land of Moab so Balak had some relationship with them so that he could ask them to seduce Israel. We can read in Numbers 31:17-18: Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known a man intimately, spare for yourselves." Why spare the virgins? They would not be able to perpetuate the Midianites. But here is a problem: these virgins were believers in Chemosh and Molech and would be involved in seducing Israel to go after false gods. Israel would join in the worship to Baal of Peor angering God and Moses when coming to knowledge about this had the men killed who worshiped to Baal of Peor: (Numbers 25:1-5).

     I have taken time to give some historical information so that you can see that Balak while being afraid of Israel went to an ally who apparently knew that they were evil and would be willing as he thought to fight and seduce Israel. He was wrong that they would openly confront Israel but they did as they say in computer lingo, going in the back door. Balak had another plan and this was to use Balaam and Balaam was to curse Israel. Balak was hoping by this means to drive the Israelites out of their land. 

     Well, I did not get to the doctrine of Balaam that God resented and spoke against the Church at Pergamon. Monday I will address this doctrine and until then I suggest that you read about Balak and Balaam in Numbers starting at Chapter 22. I know you will have questions and I hope to be able to answer those questions. As you can see we must take time to understand historically so that we can decipher the meaning and how it applies to us. 

     Be preparing now for the Sabbath.

Behold, O God our shield, and look

    upon the face of thine anointed. 

For a day in thy courts is better than

    a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper

in the house of my God, than to dwell in

    the tents of wickendness.

                    Psalm 84:9-10

Your faith will grow and your salvation assured

Richard L. Crumb