The Slight Hand Of Balaam

And Balaam rose up in the morning, 

and saddled his ass, and went with the 

princes of Moab. And God's anger was 

kindled because he went: and the angel

 of the LORD stood in the way for an

 adversary against him. Now he was riding 

upon his ass, and his two servants were 

with him. And the ass saw the angel of the 

LORD standing in the way, and his sword

 drawn in his hand: and the as turned aside 

out of the way, and went into the field: 

and Balaam smote the ass,

 to turn her into the way.

Numbers 22:21-23

     This study about Balaam and about the Doctrine of Balaam takes a very surprising turn a turn that many dispute, is very controversial, it even seems preposterous that a donkey would speak and speak so that he could be heard. Maybe you question this about a talking donkey and cannot understand how and why God would use a donkey to speak. So, then, let us look at this story and see how it too will lead us to understand why God speaks against the Doctrine of Balaam.

      First, God told Balaam not to go with the dignitaries from King Balak. God was clear: do not go and do not bring a curse upon Israel. Pretty clear: would you not agree? Remember, Balaam was a seer of a pagan cult from the Euphrates River area and now was being hired to curse Israel by King Balak. Why would Balaam undertake this job? Money, prestige, greed would be the driving force for Balaam to travel some 370+miles just to bring a curse upon Israel. Could not he, as a seer, do this from his home town? Did he have to go to Balak to do what Balak wanted? No! So there must be another reason and that reason can be found that Balaam did not follow the command of God and three times spent time with the men from Balak. Balaam's refusal, as he said, to not even take those gifts offered to him by Balak is a ploy to get even more from Balak, so he feigned to not want anything from Balak. Sort of reminds me of the story about Bre Rabbit when he said to those who wanted to harm him: "do not throw men into the briar bush" but what those men did not know was the Bre Rabbit could go into the briar bush and not be harmed. Bre Rabbit said one thing when he meant another: this is what Balaam was doing for if not then he would immediately obey the words of God. Balaam was not a believer in Jehovah god and only understood God from his belief in the gods of his land that were not supreme gods and could change their mind, etc.

    God said "do not go." But Balaam was intent on going and receiving a better reward from Balak. It seems that God saw the intent of Balaam and then if Balaam wants to go against His will then He will let him. God will do the same for you too! So, Balaam rose up in the morning to go to King Balak, but God reminded him that he was to do what God had already told him to do. There is a bull-headedness in Balaam so he persisted in getting what he wanted from Balak and was willing to use the words of God to get that which he wanted. Why else would Balaam keep returning to get new instruction from God?     

     It is clear what God forbade Balaam to do but Balaam was unwilling to simply do the will of God. We too must be careful to do exactly what God has commanded. Is God changing His mind? No! Remember, Balaam knew the will of God, he just did not want to do it. Balaam wanted to disobey God and go with the men from King Balak for if he went to King Balak he would receive a reward, and knowing that Balak already offered a large gift and reward it seem that Balaam was intent on getting more so he had to go around the will of God.

     Let me remind you: God does not approve of everything He allows. God does not approve of murder and yet millions of unborn babies are murdered every year under the word "abortion." God is not pleased with this or with Balaam and his desire to get his way and his way was and is evil. When God allowed Balaam to go to King Balak it was God's permissive will and God's permissive will is to allow men o do those things which He has forbidden. Just because God allows men to sin does not mean that He approves of sin. 

     Why does God allow sin? God allows you to be human and to use your human brain and to do that effectively, God has revealed what pleases Him. God will use whatever, even sin, to fulfill His purposes. God does not do this so that He will receive glory for God does not need glory from you but you need to glorify God in your life and to that you must follow His commands as He as commanded: nothing added. God may hold back His punishment for a time but there will be a time that God will act against sin. The Great Flood is a good example of God's patience and then His action to destroy sin and if God was not merciful, you would not be here.

     Balaam feigned that He was following God's commands but in reality that was not true. Balaam was using God to gain rewards. Greed was in the heart of Balaam. Use God to get and this is done in so many ways even in some so-called Christians today. It seems as those Christians are doing the will of God but their motive belies there words and actions. 

 So now, Balaam gets up on his donkey and here the story gets strange so I will address this in tomorrows blog God willing.

And they said unto him, Ask counsel,

     we pray thee, of God, that we may

know whether our way which we go 

    shall be prosperous. And the priest

said unto them, Go in peace: before

    the LORD is your way wherein ye go.

                        Judges 18:5-6

God has given you the way: go in it

Richard L. Crumb

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Why Did God Change His Mind With Balaam?

And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, 

If the men have come to call you, rise up, 

with them and say only the thing that I speak 

to you--it you shall do. And Balaam rose up 

in the morning and saddled his ass and 

went with the leaders of Moab. And the anger 

of God glowed because he went. 

Numbers 22:20-23a 

     Now the real Balaam begins to be seen for what he was and why the Doctrine of Balaam is abhorrent to God. Balaam was told by God the first time he inquired of God (verse 9) that he was not to curse Israel but this did not end with this visit by God. Balaam kept accepting those who came to him from Balak and hearing all that Balak was willing to give to him if he would come and curse Israel. The gifts were getting bigger and better with each visit from the men of Balak. Why continue to accept those men from Balak and even have them stay the night? It seems good if you only read the verses concerning this, but was it, are those who are children of God supposed to have them in your home? NO! The Apostle John enlightens us about this: "Whosever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2John 9-11). Some people come to your home to get you to become one of their peoples and do not  teach the true doctrine of Christ and some will invite them into their home hoping to win them over to their belief. We are, as Authentic Christians, not to do this. It is ok to speak with them somewhat at your door, but never in your home. Do not do what Balaam did and for why Balaam did what he did. 

     God did not allow Balaam to go and to curse Israel but Balak would not take no and sent more to entice Balaam to come and do this dirty work. First Balaam only uses the word Elohim (God) as to whom he was getting his answer of no, then he uses the word Jehovah (the tetragrammaton) so he did know something about the God of Israel and if he did no this, then he more than likely knew of the promises to Israel by God. Balaam did not stand on what the will of God was towards Israel and he kept getting those enticements and here it seems as if God changed His mind and allowed Balaam to go with the men from Balak. 

     At first seemed commendable that Balaam response according to what God willed but Balaam kept things going and in time Balak offered Balaam to "Name your own price." Does it not sound that Balaam said that he would not come and any price? It seems so but is this true? It seems that Balaam was using time and using God to further his own interests. In fact Balaam even says that Jehovah is his God (verse 18). Yet if this was true why then invite the delegation from Balak to spend the night? Balaam did this under the guise that he would inquire of God for further instructions as if God would change His mind and allow him to go and curse Israel. Really? What more did Balaam need? If Jehovah was his God then why not just do what God demanded of him? Did Balaam expect God to reverse His will towards Israel, if so what profit would there be to continue to negotiate with Balak and this is what Balaam was doing by inviting the delegation from Balak into his home. Did not Balaam have a clear "NO?" Yes!

     Now God allows Balaam to go but not to say anything that was not of the will of Jehovah. Was God changing His mind? No! Let us apply this to our lives: God will, if you continue to not do what He has said to do, to do what you really want to do and by His allowing this God then will use your sinning against His will to further His purpose. We do not sin to get God to further His purpose for if we sin we will reap what we sow and yet God will not take that consequence from us and will use it, and you will not get any benefit from it, to do His good pleasure. Balaam knew the will of God and yet he was not willing to do it. God has His permissive will but God's permissive will is not His eternal will and this permissive will allows you to be a human: God does not take your humanity away just because you believe in Him. Divine punishment is often delayed so that sin would be fully developed so that the wickedness of sin can be clearly seen. 

     The "real" Balaam is now manifesting itself by Balaam's continue use of God for his own profit and saying that it was God who he was obeying but he was not for if so then it would only take the one time when God said "NO!" Balaam is now on his way to see Balak and the story of the talking donkey will be the lesson on the next blog. Do you believe that a donkey could talk? Do you believe that this narrative is a true narrative? How can you and I understand this story and know if it is true or not? This will be discussed and we will see how the Doctrine of Balaam is abhorrent to God. 

Howbeit thou art just in all 

     that is brought upon us;

for thou hast done right, but 

     we have done wickedly:....

Behold, we are servants this day,

    and for the land that thou gavest

unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof

    and the good thereof, behold, we are

servants in it:

                       Nehemiah 9:33,36

God's patience is not His permission

Richard L. Crumb

Was Balaam A "Good Guy" Or Taking Advantage Of The Situation?

But I have against thee a few things;

 because thou hast there those holding 

the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak 

to cast a snare before the sons of Israel, 

to eat things sacrificed to idols and 

to commit fornication.

Revelation 2:14

      Yep! We are still on this verse. We must not just pass over this as just another narrative about some historical event. In this book, Revelation, Jesus is speaking to us things we must know and this doctrine of Balaam must be known for if one just reads the narrative in Deuteronomy he/she might not understand what actually occurred. Critical thinking is a must here and not be led astray that Balaam was a "good" guy." Remember: Balaam was not an Israelite. Balaam came from Mesopotamia and was associated with the cult Mithra. In fact for Balak to seek him out he had to have had a reputation as a great seer. We have further learned that Moab, and Ammon, were relatives of Israel for they were descendants of Lot. This is the narrative about this fact: "And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not what shy lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day" (Genesis 19:35-38). Furthermore, we know that the Moabites were fearful of the Israelites. Israel defeated the Ammonites their neigbor and relative, but also the Moabites were economically fearful that they Israelites would eat the fruit of the land leaving little for the Moabites. So Balak sent for Balaam to curse Israel.

     We can confidently conclude that Balaam was not a true prophet of Jehovah and in fact was not a believer in Jehovah. Why did God forbid Balaam to cast a curse on Israel? Knowing that Balaam's curse would be in vain why forbid him, was it not due to the fact that Balaam's powers came from Satan and not from Jehovah? Yes! The city of Pethor is possibly the modern city Pitu and Pethor is the city of Balaam and is found by an Assyrian table to be associated with that of Carchemish. It was a Hittite city where there was "the tower of Balaam" in Asher Dan 1160 B.C. When one studies about Asher Dan he/she will find about the cult of Dan and of Baalbek, and come to know that in this area much paganism was the religion. 

     The knowledge about Israel, was it known by Balaam? He must have known something for he uses the name Jehovah. Furthermore, he was give information about Israel without using the name Israel but about the people that came out of Egypt. The exodus of the Hebrews out of Egypt was apparently known all over for this was a large event where the Pharaoah and his army was defeated at the Red River. Again, if Balaam knew about Jehovah and about how the Israelites were under His protection how could he have ever entertained the idea of cursing Israel?

     The plot thickens! The men from Balak who had traveled some 370+ miles to see Balaam were asked by Balaam to stay the night with him. God asked the question: "And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee" (Numbers 22:9)? Does God know who they are? Yes and He does not need Balaam to inform Him about them. Why then does God ask this question? God not only knows the answer He is seeing how forthright Balaam is with his answer. Balaam gives the answer about these men: "And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying, Behold, there is a people  come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out" (Numbers 22:10-11). What were those men doing in Balaam's house if Balaam knew about Israel and about Jehovah God? It is never good to invite those who oppose you and your religion into your house or to have anything to do with them outside of work. Balaam was not to show them hospitality, nor we, so why did Balaam invite them in? Was there a deeper and darker reason?

     God came to Balaam, apparently in a dream and rebuked Balaam and said: "And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed" (Numbers 22:12). Balaam did not go and heeded Jehovah. This did not deter Balak for he sent more men to encourage Balaam to come and curse Israel and even offered promotion and even more, but Balaam said: "And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD (Jehovah) my God, to do less or more" (Numbers 22:18). Balaam invite them once again to stay the night and to give Balaam time to call upon the LORD for more direction. God said to him that if they wanted him to go with them that he was to go but should only do what He would say for him to do. 

     So far it sounds as if Balaam was a "good" guy doing all that God had asked him to do. So why was the "Doctrine of Balaam not to be followed? Well there is more to this story that we must come to know and by good critical thinking and allowing Scripture to speak to us we will find out the why.

Fret not thyself because of evildoers, 

     neither be thou envious against

the worker of iniquity. For they shall

    soon be cut down like the grass,

and wither as the green herb.

                Psalm 37:1-2

Learning is a step-by-step process: be patient

Richard L. Crumb