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First Church of Balaam

     The Moabites had relied on the mighty Amorite kings Sihon and Og for protection. They believed if these two kings could not stand against Israel, what chance did they have? They entertained this fear (Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real) even though before, YHVH had forbidden Israel to attack Moab (Deu. 2:9, 19).

     Moab and Midian came together in response to the perceived threat from Israel. Seeking some formula to save itself, Moab hoped that the Midianites, among whom Moses had lived when he fled Egypt, could shed some light on the reason for his success, and how he could be defeated. Sounds a bit like the Samson and Delilah story here. The Midianites said Moshe’s power lay in his mouth, so the Moabites sent for someone whom they believed could use the power of his mouth for their benefit.

    Enter Mr. Joe BalaamJ . Well after all, we don’t really know for sure if Balaam was his last name or his first do we? He might have been named Joseph BalaamJ . Balaam wasn’t really known for his blessings on people. One way you can discern that is, if he had, Balak would have sent for him to merely bless him and his people from being attacked. Another reason is the scripture says they brought with them charms for Balaam. Balaam was known for using charms and casting spells (Rashi). You’ll notice Balaam goes to sleep and gives them their answer the next morning. This is because YHVH spoke to Balaam in dreams. The first round of men came and Balaam told him he could not go with them. So Balak sent higher ranking groups of men. Now Balaam goes.

    We all know about the little encounter Balaam’s donkey had along the road. If Balaam was so spiritual, then how come a donkey could see the angel and he couldn’t? Didn’t you ever wonder about that, or is it only me who asks these sorts of questionsJ ? The entire incident was a vision, that’s why! Rashi cites that the three times the angel blocked the donkey represented the three Patriarchs. The first time the angel prevented him from moving forward, but he could have gone to the right or the left. This symbolizes that Balaam could only curse the descendants of Abraham who had strayed off to the right or the left, i.e. the descendants of Ishmael or of Keturah. However, he could not curse the descendants of Isaac. The second time the donkey had only a narrow space to escape the sword. This alludes to Isaac who only had one unworthy son, Esau, whose been known to use a sword himself. The third time there was no room at all to move, symbolizing the offspring of Jacob, all of whom was righteous and could not be cursed by Balaam. That Rashi, he sees Patriarchs in everything! I bet if you would have handed him a stick of butter he would have said, “Oh this butter reminds me of Abraham and how he wanted the one true God, unlike his father who only wanted margarine, cheap imitations of the real thingJ .” Go ahead and smile, after all, it keeps people wondering what you’re up toJ . No disrespect was intended to Rashi, he was a brilliant scholar.

       So YHVH reminds him that he is only to say what he’s told to say. So Balaam arrives and Balak takes him to a pagan idol site on a hill. Here where Baal was worshipped, Balak believed perhaps the pagan idol might inspire Balaam to curse the people when he looked down at them. After all, Balaam was called a sorcerer (Joshua 13:22).

       What did Balaam do before he was to utter the curse over Israel every time? He built seven altars and offered up seven rams and seven bulls. There is a reason the number seven keeps popping up here so much. Seven people in history had erected altars to YHVH: Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moshe. Although Balaam had been warned not to do anything without YHVH’S command, he felt the warning only applied to his attempts to invoke the impure powers of sorcery, but not to forbidding him to serve YHVH in a traditional manner.

       We know that Balaam was not able to curse Israel here. So what does Balak do, he changes the location he takes Balaam to. In three times he could not utter a curse against Israel. Nothing works, because no one can curse what YHVH has blessed. Notice what it says in the first verse of chapter twenty four. It says Balaam did not turn to divinations as he did at other times. Here’s another verse showing Balaam used items of witchcraft in previous times.

        We see in the end of the parashah that YHVH used Balaam to bring forth many prophecies, but he never could utter curses over the people. What he did do however, was to tell Balak how to get the Israelites to commit sin and their God would punish them for him! (Rev. 2:14 tells you what sins they did) I’m sure that piece of information earned Balaam a handsome sum of money.

       So notice right away in chapter 25, we see Israel getting off track and going for the daughters of Moab. It states they had feasts with them and prostrated themselves to their Moabite gods. They even became attached to their gods. In the Talmud it says (this is Talmud now, not scripture) the Moabite women only enticed the general population, since in verse one it says they consorted with the people, which generally means the masses. The women of Midian however, tried to entice the Jewish leadership. They went straight to the big guns. Failing in that, they went to the lesser leadership and succeeded in snagging Zimri, a prince of the tribe of Simeon. Big trouble followed for Israel! YHVH told Moshe to take the leaders of the people and hang them. You notice it was the leaders who were hung, that might make you think twice about wanting leadership positions in the bodyJ . But the people also suffered a plague and twenty four thousand died until Phineas (grandson of Aharon) ran through an Israelite man and a Midianite woman with a sword who were together intimately.

       We’ve always taught that other people suffer for your sin, it’s not a me and my sin problem, but it’s a me, my sin, and everyone else problem. Over and over we see where the overall population of Israel suffered because of what a portion of the people did. Has YHVH changed today? The scripture says he never changes, so do innocent people die and suffer for what we do now, yes! Does the body of Messiah suffer when the televangelist is selling the word and in the business of Christianity for a prophet? I’m not trying to condemn “every” televangelist, but I do see a lot who I would question their fruit. I’m no mans judge and every mans fruit inspectorJ . Are people who are selling YHVH’S word in order to make big money any different than Balaam? I personally do not believe so. If the pastor in your local church would not continue if the church cut off his paycheck, then maybe that church should be called, The First Church of Balaam (ouch). Shalom