NUMBERS 22:21 “BALAAM AND HIS DONKEY” – PART 2
A) As I said last week, Balaam is one of those strange, mysterious
characters in the Bible.
* The Bible tells us in 2 Pet. 2:16 that Balaam was a prophet.
* But it becomes very obvious that he was not a true prophet – He was
a false prophet ... He was a phony.
* He serves as a warning to the people of God.
B) Keep in mind that the children of Israel were on their way
to the Promised Land.
* The old generation is dying out ... The new generation is getting ready
to enter into the land.
* As they move, they are conquering their enemies – chapter 21.
C) Now in chapter 22, they’re going to encounter a different kind of enemy.
* They’re going to find an enemy of the mountain, and they’re not even aware
that that enemy is there.
* In fact, there’s no evidence that they really know what’s going on
behind the scenes here.
D) I want us to look first of all in chapter 22 .......
* And I want to talk to you about .......
(1) GOD’S PLAN
A) Num. 22, lets us know that the children of Israel are on the way.
* And Balak, who is the king of Moab, hears about them.
* In v.2-3, he has seen what they have done to the Amorites.
B) The Bible says that he was frightened of them ... He was scared
of them, in which he didn’t have to be.
* Because we are told in Deut. 2 that the Lord commanded the children
of Israel to pass on by them.
* There wasn’t going to be any confrontation – But he is frightened.
C) He decides that he’s gonna have to call upon supernatural powers.
* He has heard about a man named Balaam and he has some reputation.
* Balak sends some officials there, some delegations, and the message to
Balaam is, “Come and curse these people for me.”
D) Balaam’s reputation has preceded him because we are told in v.6b .......
* That Balak the king had heard that whoever Balaam cursed was cursed
and whoever he blessed was blessed.
E) So he had a reputation ... He sends for him ... He wants him to
curse the children of Israel.
* May I remind you that the Bible says in 2 Pet. 2:15 says that Balaam
loved the reward of unrighteousness.
F) He was interested in money ... He was in this thing for money.
* They come over to him and they basically say, “We want you to come back
with us and we want you to curse the children of Israel for us.”
* So he said, “You spend the night, and I’m going to go see what the Lord says.”
G) In v.9 and following, Balaam talks to the Lord about it.
* The answer comes back crystal clear – God says to Balaam in v.12 “Thou shalt
not go with them: thou shalt not curse the people; for they are blessed.”
SO WHAT DOES BALAAM DO?
A) He comes back the next morning in v.13 and says that the Lord
says I can’t go ... So they go back and tell the king that.
* The king sends back to Balaam more delegations, and basically tells him
to name his price and he’ll give it to him – So Balaam does – v.18 .......
B) Then in v.19, he says, “I will go and pray again.”
* Now look at what God told Balaam in v.20 .......
* God says, “Go ahead.” – Sometimes God will let us do our own foolish
things to teach us a lesson.
* So Balaam goes – v.21 ....... But watch v.22 .......
C) When the donkey sees the angel with sword drawn, v.23, she turns
aside and takes off into the field.
* Balaam gets mad at his donkey and beats her.
D) Then the angel appears again in v.24-25 in the path, and the donkey
sees the angel again.
* She runs over against a wall and crushes Balaam’s foot.
* In v.26, the angel stands there and there is nowhere for the donkey to go.
E) She can’t go to the left or to the right, so she just falls down.
* Balaam is pitching a fit – v.27 .......
* Now here’s the funny part – v.28 ....... Then v.29a .......
* v.29b “You’ve made a mockery of me – If I had a sword, I’d kill you.”
F) The donkey basically says in v.30, “Have I ever done you wrong?”
* They are talking to one another – Now look at v.31 .......
G) v.33 “Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise,
I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.”
* v.34 “Then Balaam confessed to the angel of the LORD, I have sinned.
I didn’t realize you were standing in the road to block my way.
I will return home if You are against my going.”
* Then in v.35, God tells him to go with the men, but you will only speak
that which I tell you to speak.
H) He comes to Balak in v.36 and following and that brings us
to our second thought.
* First of all we have God’s plan – Now we have .......
(2) GOD’S PROCLAMATION
A) Balaam comes to Balak the king, and they fuss a little bit.
* The king says, “I want you to curse these people.”
B) Balaam says, “I can’t say anything except what the Lord puts in my mouth.”
* Then in a series of messages here, and they are much too lengthy and much
too detailed to do justice to in a Bible study of this length .......
* But you will find that God makes a proclamation.
C) Every time Balaam tries to curse the people of God, he blesses them.
* In Num. 23:5, it says, “And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth.”
* Look in v.7 ....... But in v.8, he says, “How shall I curse whom God .......”
D) What he’s basically saying is, “I can’t curse those whom God has blessed.”
* He goes on down and says in v.9, “For from the top of the rocks .......”
* He’s saying that Israel is different from the other nations – They are a
special, chosen people.
E) Israel always got in trouble when they tried to be like the rest of the
nations of the world.
* The same thing happens to God’s people ... You always get in trouble when
you start trying to live like the old world.
* 2 Cor. 6:17 says that we are to come out and be a separate people.
F) He says in v.10 “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the .......”
* What Balaam is saying is that he wants to die like these people are going
to die, the death of the righteous.
* But you see, you can’t die the death of the righteous if you’re not willing
to live the life of the righteous.
G) One writer put it this way, “All who would go to heaven when they die
must begin their heaven while they live.”
* Basically, he blesses the children of Israel ... Right here is one of the reasons
for the support of evangelical Christians for the nation of Israel.
* This stems back to Gen. 12:3 where God says, “I will bless them that bless thee
and curse them that curse thee.”
H) God has said, “You bless Israel and I will bless you.”
* That does not mean that we always approve of what the nation of Israel does.
* We don’t – I don’t ... That doesn’t mean that you go along with their improper
behavior or actions.
* But it does mean they are the special people of God and that there should be
a basic support toward the children of Israel.
JUST LOOK THROUGH HISTORY AT THE NATIONS WHO’VE HATED ISRAEL
A) God has judged them – The same thing is going to happen to Islam.
* Bottom line with Islam is hatred for the Jewish people, hostility for the
Jewish people ... Before it’s over, God will deal with Islam and ISIS.
B) I’m not afraid of Islam or ISIS ... God’s going to deal with them.
* He dealt with Nazi Germany ... He dealt with Babylon.
* The first attempt here is to curse them, but they are blessed ... The second
attempt is in v.12 and following.
C) He sets up an altar and puts sacrifices on it and goes through the whole
religious ritual that he follows .......
* But every time he opens his mouth, God gives him a blessing for Israel.
* In v.18 it says, “And he took up his parable, and said,” and in v.19a “God is not
a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent.”
D) What he’s saying is that God is not a man – God is not human.
* v.19b “Hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, .......”
* v.20 “Listen, I received a command to bless; God has blessed,
and I can’t reverse it.” ... v.21 says, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob.”
E) That’s an interesting statement – “God has not beheld iniquity in Jacob,
neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel:”
* Does that mean that Israel hasn’t sinned? – No ... But it simply means that
God looked at them in a special way.
F) Here’s the New Testament truth ... When God looks at you as a believer,
He sees you in the Lord Jesus Christ.
* Col. 3:3 says, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
G) When we are saved, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us and so
God looks at us and He sees us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
* That is a great passage ... But then he goes on in the last part of v.21 and says,
“And the shout of a king is among them.”
H) This is the picture of the celebration of a king and his army as
they come back.
* Basically what he’s saying here is that God is with Israel, not only in their
blessings, but God is with Israel in their battles – That’s the second message.
BALAK IS GETTING IMPATIENT
A) Balak tries again – He is getting pretty impatient about this time.
* He has hired this guy to curse Israel, and every time he opens his mouth
he is blessing Israel.
* Look in Num. 23:25 ... We see Balak getting fed up with it.
* He says, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all – Just don’t
say anything.”
B) Balaam says in v.26 “Didn’t I tell you that I can do only what the
LORD tells me to do?”
* He’s saying that you’ve got me started now, I can’t stop.
C) He moves on in Num. 24 – In that chapter Balaam seems to abandon
all efforts in the occult.
* In v.2, Balaam lifts up his eyes – He sees Israel abiding in the tents
and it says, “And the Spirit of God came upon him.”
D) In the Old Testament the Spirit of God came upon individuals
and they weren’t always necessarily living right.
* It was a different way of working ... God’s Spirit comes upon him.
I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ CHAPTER 24
A) It’s one of the most beautiful, remarkable statements about
God’s plan for Israel to be found anywhere in the Bible .......
* And it all comes from the lips of a man who was a false prophet.
* God can get His message out any way He wants to get it.
B) In this chapter he talks about the fact that God is going to
bless them; and Balak the king has a hissy fit again .......
* And he angrily smites (claps) his hands together.
* v.10 says, “You blessed these people three times – Get out of here ... Flee to
your place ... He said in v.11 “God has kept you back from honor .......”
* “You’re not going to get anything out of me.”
C) Balaam basically replies to him and says, “Look, I told you that
I’ve got to say what God tells me to say.”
* In v.14 he says, “And I will advise thee what this people shall do to thy
people in the latter days.''
D) In v.15 he takes up that last parable, the last message.
* In that message he gives a message of future hope for the people of God.
* In v.17 God shows him on and beyond the Old Testament day.
E) God showed this man Balaam all the way into the New Testament,
and he says in v.17 “I shall see him, but not now.”
* Someone’s coming ... “I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a
Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel.”
F) Fifteen hundred years later a group of astrologers showed up in
Jerusalem one day and they said in Matt. 2:2 .......
* “Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we have seen .......”
* Rev. 22:16 says that Jesus, our Savior, is the bright and the morning star.”
(3) GOD’S PEOPLE
A) Balaam has not been able to curse them, so evidently Balaam has decided
that if I can’t curse the people of God, then I will corrupt them.
* We are told in Num. 31:16, that Balaam is behind what happens in Num. 25.
B) Here’s what happens in Num. 25.
* The Moabites talked the Israelites into coming over for one of their pagan
festivals, and the Bible says in v.3 “And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor.”
* That’s the first mention of Baal, the chief Canaanite god, the god of agriculture.
C) They taught that if the crops weren’t coming in as they should, then they needed
to pray to Baal and they needed to offer sacrifices unto this fertility god.
* Involved in that religious system was sexual perversion of all kinds.
* Here’s what happened ... Balaam got the children of Israel involved in idolatry,
and it led to immorality – It always goes together, idolatry and immorality.
D) You see what happens – In v.6 an Israelite man, whose name is Zimri,
in v.14, takes a Midianite woman named Cozbi, in v.15.
* What basically happens is they openly and brazenly commit fornication.
* It kind of reminds you of America today, the open immorality of our day.
E) In v.7, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, sees it.
* He rises up and takes a javelin and plunges it into the bodies of each one
of those and they die.
F) You say, “That’s pretty heavy stuff.” – Yes, it is.
* But you have to keep in mind that God had been for centuries trying to
get His message to these pagan nations .......
* And God has been trying to say to His own people that you are to live
separated and are to live different lives for Me.
* v.9 – On that day there was a plague and 24,000 people died.
CLOSE
A) You come to the end of the chapter and the children of God have
committed immorality, and we are told in Num. 31:8 .......
* That when Israel was finally judged, when they finally do battle with
Midian, it says in v.8 “And they slew the kings of Midian.”
* And then at the end of the verse, “Balaam also, the son of Beor,
they slew with the sword.”
B) Here’s the New Testament warning.
* In 2 Peter 2:15-16, it warns about the way of Balaam.
* In Jude 11, it warns about the error of Balaam.
* In Rev. 2:14, in the message to the church at Pergamos, it warns about
the doctrine of Balaam.
C) The doctrine of Balaam was that he taught the people of God that
it’s not really sin if it’s one of God’s people committing it.
* He’s talked a lot of believers into believing that somehow it’s not
really sin when they do it.
* But let me tell you – It’s sin regardless of who does it – Saved or lost.
D) God wants us and commands us to live holy and righteous lives.
