HISTORICAL BACKDROP (NUMBERS 22)
We are quite familiar with the story of how children of God disobeyed and wandered in the wilderness for forty long years. Well, finally they are about to enter the PROMISED LAND. At the FINAL CAMP in their long tiring wilderness journey, they are waiting in anticipation in the plains of Moab along the river Jordan. Little did they know about the deadly devise, getting cooked against them by the surrounding nations and their kings to destroy them at this FINAL CAMP of their journey.
What is this deadly trap God’s beloved children have to pass before they enter the PROMISED LAND? After everything God has done for them, do you think they will be faithful to God? Or will they fall in the dessert? Please keep reading.
JUST HISTORY vs. PROPHETIC HISTORY
The bible stories are far from being just recorded historical events or grand ma’s tales. In fact they are “PROPHETIC HISTORY,” a powerful tool God uses to warn and prepare His children to battle the upcoming deadly temptations. Reading and meditating on the story of our forefathers, reveal very important design patterns which are about to repeat in the END-TIMES. In short “HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF,” so let us be prepared when it happens and glorify our Father in Heaven.
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9
BALAK’S UNUSUAL BATTLE STRATEGY (NUMBERS 22:1-7)
Now Balak was the King of Moab at the time in the land, where people of God were encamped. Balak was terrified at the thought of fighting God’s people face to face as he knew how God has been fighting on His children’s behalf along the way, putting all the powerful armies into shame just like the Egyptian army. Balak knew how God has been protecting them day and night and providing for them in the dessert. Now Balak knew his gods couldn’t compete with the LORD OF HOSTS, God of Israel in any way. So Balak being a very cunning man, uses a different tactic, he sends out messengers to summon “Balaam” a well known prophet/sorcerer who knew the God of Israel to put a curse on God’s people. Balaam wants to fight fire with fire.
“Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed. The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination.” Numbers 22:6-7
It’s pretty strange right? A prophet who blesses and curses and also a sorcerer who accepts a fee for divination? Yeah you’re right! Balaam is a very complex character. We will be analyzing Balaam intensely in a while.
BALAAM ENTERS THE SCENE (NUMBERS 22:8-24:25)
We are quite familiar with the story of Balaam, at first he says no to Balak’s offer but Balak keeps sending more distinguished higher ranking officers with an irresistible offer, a blank cheque and finally Balaam agrees to come. We know how this little adventure with the donkey turns out on the way. Despite the warning of God, and knowing that God has already blessed God’s people Balaam opens his mouth four times to curse the people of God but he fails all the four times. Instead of cursing, blessings pour out of his mouth.
“Then Balaam got up and returned home, and Balak went his own way.“ Numbers 24:25
This is the part everyone says Halleluiah! No one can curse the people of God who are already blessed by the LORD ALMIGHTY, what a powerful and blessed group of people. Seems like a happy ending to me. But was it really? Buckle up and get ready for the scariest and not so popular part of the story.
DEADLY PLAGUE IN THE CAMP OF GOD’S PEOPLE (NUMBERS 25:9)
As soon as Balaam leaves the scene a deadly plague hit the camp of God’s people and 24000 people die from it. There’s chaos in the whole camp. “but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.” Numbers 25: 9
But why & how? Everything was just going so well. The angel of the Lord encamps around his people, no plague or pestilence will reach their tent right? What happened to the protective hedge God put around His righteous people? What went wrong? Do you think Balaam had anything to do with it, do you? Read on.
BALAAM’S BACKDOOR APPROACH
Actually Balaam had everything to do with it. When the front door approach “CURSING” did not work out as the LORD was standing on the way protecting them, Balaam comes up with a vicious back door approach, to infiltrate the camp by making the people of GOD sin and disobey. The scripture confirms that it was Balaam’s doing.
“Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.” Numbers 31:16
BALAAM’S SEDUCTION CAMPAIGN
How does Balaam do such a thing? Balaam advices Balak to send out some of the beautiful Moabite girls to the camp of God’s people to invite the men for a small party to eat, drink, dance and get a few selfies. What’s the harm in that? After all it was a little “Getting to know each other” kind of party, socializing, mixing and mingling. Quite sure they started with soft drinks and as they continued the conversation wrapped up in a little bit of flirting, dancing slowly moved to shots. Soon they lost their senses and bowed down before the Moabite Idols. The next thing they knew as they woke up next to an unknown woman that it was all “A huge Drunken Mistake.” Too late though as Lord’s anger burnt against them.
“While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the LORD’s anger burned against them.” Numbers 25:1-3
Very well played Balaam & Balak! Mission Accomplished. The real motive was to sabotage the people of God before they enter the Promised Land. Without a single drop of sweat or blood shed 24,000 of God’s people fell in the dessert.
LET’S PUT THE PIECES OF THIS PUZZLE BACK TOGETHER
You might think “Balaam & Balak is in history, why bother now?” Well, Balaam is mentioned nearly 63 times in the bible all the way from Numbers to Revelation. Every time he is mentioned it comes as a warning. Even Jesus in the book of Relation mentions, “THE TEACHING OF BALAAM” Peter mentions, “THE WAY OF BALAAM” and Jude mentions, “THE ERROR OF BALAAM” as warnings for the people of God in the ENDTIMES, who are at the FINAL CAMPS of their journey.
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Revelation 2:14-16
{ BALAAM + BALAK } A DEADLY PARTNERSHIP WITH A DEADLY MISSION
Let’s further unlock the mystery of this deadly partnership. The ancient Hebrew language is unique in such a way that a name of a person says a lot about the character as well as the purpose of life. We can understand quite a lot about who Balaam and Balak really were and their mission.
BALAAM (????????) | Verb ??? (bala’) Noun ?? (‘am)
Meaning - Swallower of people, Confuser Of The People, Accepted by people
SPECIALTY - Power to Bless and Curse (Numbers 22:6), Prophet (2 Peter 2:15-16), Sorcery/ Divination (Joshua 13:22), Reputation (Numbers 22:6), Greed for money (Jude 1:11)
BALAK ( ???) | Verb ??? (balaq)
Meaning - Empty, Devastator, Destroyer
SPECIALTY - Financial Gifts, Power, Authority, prestige
BALAAM & BALAK’S DEADLY MISSION
BALAK, THE DESTROYER, HIRES BALAAM, THE GREEDY FALSE PROPHET, THE CONFUSER OF PEOPLE WITH A WIDESPREAD REPUTATION BY GIVING HIM POWER, PRESTIGE AND FINANCIAL GIFTS TO PUT A STUMBLING BLOCK IN FRONT OF THE PEOPLE GOD AT THE FINAL CAMP OF THEIR JOURNEY TO MAKE THEM DISOBEY GOD BY SINNING, TO STOP THEM FROM ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND.
LET US DISCERN THE STRATEGIC APPROACH OF THE 21ST CENTURY BALAAMS
HISTORICAL BALAAM used a seduction campaign of women, food, drinks, sex and idol worship to lure people of God. Let us consider how the 21ST CENTAURY BALAAMS seduce people of God to leave the presence of God in the camp and sin against Him.
1. SEDUCTION THROUGH COMPROMISING DOCTRINES
“WE ARE UNDER GRACE” / “WE ARE FREE IN CHRIST” Does this mean we have “LICENCE FOR IMMORALITY?” By no means!
“They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality.” Jude 4
The Word of God warns us about the false teachers who deceive people of God to eat from the forbidden trees and make us sin against our God.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1
Many preachers no longer preach about immorality from their pulpits. They don’t differentiate right from wrong anymore. It’s all about love you know. God is love so there’s no condemnation they say. These compromising teachings are misinterpretations of God’s Holy Word and jeopardizes the HOLINESS of God’s chosen people. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Malachi 3:6) and He doesn’t lower His standards even in the 21st century. “Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” Hebrew 12:14
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1
Don’t fall into this trap, the destroyer, Satan hires the well reputed highly accepted false prophets to put a stumbling block in front of His beloved children through these seductive teachings.
It is actually high time to truly engage with the Word of God, without it we are lost.
2. SEDUCTION THROUGH UNWHOLESOME SPIRITUAL FOOD
We know the world as we speak is turning to Comfort/Junk/fast food with low or no nutritional value. The same trend is spreading for spiritual food as well and Paul warns Timothy about this unhealthy spiritual food pattern in his letter.
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
Beware of these lustful teachings, the destroyer, Satan hires false teachers to feed God’s children materialistic teachings aimed at unleashing instant blessings, prosperity, magical words and formulas. Multitudes of Christians are falling away from the biblical Truths and lustfully chasing after Magic and myths as warned by Paul in the 1st century mainly due to the lack of knowledge on the TRUTH OF THE WORD OF GOD.
3. SEDUCTION THROUGH PROPHECY FOR PROFIT
Like Balaam, they deceive people for money (another version says “have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit”) Jude 1:11
Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
2 Peter 2:15-16
Why did Balaam do such a treacherous thing? The scripture is very clear, it is because of the “MONEY MONEY MONEY.” We can see people are flocking around the false prophets who perform Money miracles and excessive supernatural acts. Jesus did not die on the cross to make us rich and help us get indulge in our materialistic desires. Through these seductive money miracle campaigns the false prophets put a stumbling block in front of God’s people.
“You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24
When we look around we can clearly see all these things happening in front of eyes in the day light. How should be protect ourselves from this DEADLY ALLIANCE OF BALAAMS & BALAK?
HOW CAN WE PUT AN END TO “BALAAMS?”
We can also learn from how to put an end to the Balaams, by looking at the end of the HISTORIC BALAAM. “The children of Israel also killed with the SWORD Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer…” Joshua 13:22. The Word of God records that he was killed by the SWORD. Let us also look at Jesus’s recommendation on how to put an end to Balaam, “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the SWORD of my mouth.” Revelation 2:14-16
There are no coincidences in the Bible, this is the recommended strategy to put an end to BALAAMS. The Word of God clearly says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12
As people of GOD it is high time to dust off OUR SWORDS, The Word of GOD to guard ourselves against the deadly strategies of the Balaams & BALAKs of our day.
Shalom!
