Bereans Corner
Bereans Corner
Thru the Bible - #137-Numbers 22 - Balak Sends for Balaam
Welcome to Berean's Corner, the podcast where we go through books of the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse, Wherever you are in the world. Thank you for joining. Grab a glass of water, a cup of coffee or tea and let's get into today's lesson. All right, welcome back people. It has been a while since I have heard from you all and since you have heard from me my apologies.
Speaker 1:Between work and being out of town a couple of weeks, I have been absent since we were last in the book of Numbers, where we did chapter 21,. But we are back. I hope that you have been praying for me, as I have been doing the same for you, but today we are in Numbers 22. So open up your Bible there. And the title of today's lesson is Balak Sins for Balaam, numbers 22, and let's read Numbers 22,.
Speaker 2:And let's read Numbers 22. Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho. Now Balak, son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites. The Moabites said to the elders of Midian this horde is going to lick up everything around us as an ox licks up the grass of the field. So Balak, son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at the time, sent messengers to summon Balaam, son of Beor, who was at Pithor near the river in his native land. Balak said A people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. Now come, 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 country, for I know that those you bless are blessed and those you curse are cursed. The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said. Spend the night here, balaam, said to them, and I will bring you back the answer the Lord gives me. So the Moabite princess stayed with him. God came to Balaam and asked who are these men with you? Balaam said to God, balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away. But God said to Balaam Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people because they are blessed.
Speaker 2:The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak's princes Go back to your own country, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you. So the Moabite princes returned to Balak and said Balaam refused to come with us. Then Balak sent other princes, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. They came to Balaam and said this is what Balak, son of Zippor, says Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me. But Balaam answered them. Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything, great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord. My God, now stay here tonight, as the others did, and I will find out what else the Lord will tell me. That night God came to Balaam and said Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.
Speaker 2:Balaam got up in the morning, settled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab, but God was very angry when he went and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between two vineyards with walls on both sides. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he beat her again. Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn either to the right or to the left.
Speaker 2:When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord. She laid down under Balaam and he was angry and beat her with his staff. Then the Lord opened the donkey's mouth and she said to Balaam what have I done to you to make you beat me these three times? Balaam answered the donkey, you have made a fool of me. If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now. The donkey said to Balaam Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you? No, he said. Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell face down. The angel of the Lord asked him why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her. Balaam said to the angel of the Lord I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now, if you are displeased, I will go back. The angel of the Lord said to Balaam Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.
Speaker 2:So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. Balak said to Balaam Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn't you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you? Well, I have come to you now. Balaam replied, but can I say just anything? I must speak only what God puts in my mouth. Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath-Huzoth. Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep and gave some to Balaam and the princes who were with him. The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamath Baal and from there he saw part of the people alright now.
Speaker 1:The last time we were together we looked at the Israelites and they conquered Arab, the bronze serpent and the two victories over the Amorites and Bashan. Today we are looking at one of the most famous chapters in the Old Testament in this interaction between Balak and Balaam. Now I'm going to let you know that this is one of my favorite sections of Scripture. It is one of the most intriguing stories. There is a lot in these interactions between these two men that we will be looking at in the next coming chapters. Now what we have done is we have broken this chapter down into five parts. The first part, the israelites camp in moab. We see this in verse one. Then the sons of israel journeyed and camped in the plains of moab beyond the jordan, opposite jericho, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan, opposite Jericho. This verse starts out with then, which points us to the fact that something happened before this. So let's see what that is. So hold your finger right here and I'm going to go back to Numbers 21, the previous chapter. I'm going to start at verse 33 and go back through 22, 1 to put it together. Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan and Og. The king of Bashan went out with all his people for battle at Adrai. But the Lord said to Moses do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand and all his people and his land, and you shall do to him as you did to shahan, king of the amorites, who lived in his bond. So they killed him and his sons and all his people until there was no remnant left him and they possessed his land. Then the sons of israel journeyed and camped in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan, opposite Jericho. It's always good to get the context and for us to remember that when these scriptures were written, and written on scrolls, there were no chapters, there were no books, there were no periods, there were no verses. These things were written and they rolled on. So sometimes I like to go back to show what happened before, to kind of show you how it rolls into the next thing.
Speaker 1:Now we will move to part two. The first invitation from Balak is sent to Balaam and is rejected. We see this in verses 2 through 14. Now Balak of Peor excuse me, the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. So Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous. And Moab was in dread for the sons of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian now this horde will lick up all that is around us and the ox, excuse me, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.
Speaker 1:And Balak, the son of Zippor, was king of Moab at that time. So he sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, at Patar, which is near the river, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying behold, a people came out of egypt. Behold, they covet the surface of the land and they are living opposite me. Now, therefore, please come curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed and he whom you curse is cursed. So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand and they came to Balaam and repeated Balak's words to him. And he said to them spend the night here and I will bring word back to you as the Lord may speak to me.
Speaker 1:And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam. Then God came to Balaam and said who are these men with you? And Balaam said to God, balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me. Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they covered the surface of the land. Now come curse them for me, perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out. God said to Balaam do not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed. So Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak's leaders go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to. Let me go with you. And the leaders of Moab arose and went back to Balak and said Balaam refused to come with us.
Speaker 1:Now, balaam was a prophet for hire. He lived in a town called Petar, which was on the west bank of the Euphrates. Now, that's a key thing to remember. Right there, he's a prophet for hire, which means that he is not truly a prophet of the Lord. He is not doing what the said the Lord. He is a prophet of the Lord. He is not doing what the said the Lord. He is a prophet for hire, which is the reason why Balak sent for him part three.
Speaker 1:Balak tries again with another invitation to Balaam, and it is accepted. We see this in verses 15 to 21. Then Balak again sent leaders more numerous and more distinguished than the former, and they came to Balaam and said to him thus says Balak, the son of Zippor let nothing, I beg you, hinder you from coming to me, for I will indeed honor you richly and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then curse this people for me. And Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary, contrary to the command of the Lord, my God. And now, please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord will speak to me. God came to Balaam at night and said to him if the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them, but only the word which I speak to you shall you do so? Balaam rose, arose in the morning and settled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab. Now listen, balaam is playing games here. Let's look at verse 18 again. Let's look at verse 18 again. Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak. Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the Lord. My God, why does he mention silver and gold? Because that's what's on his mind. You see, this guy has his mind made up.
Speaker 1:I want to go and read a story that J Vernon McGee told in his commentary. That kind of was very similar to. It's about another man, but it's similar to what Balaam is doing right now. So he talks about this preacher. He says there was a preacher and, uh, the story goes like this the preacher comes home and says honey, I had a call to the church over in the next town. Now you know, it's a bigger town, richer town, bigger church, more members and fine folk over there. I've been called to go over there as pastor and I'm up and I'm going upstairs to pray about it and find out what the Lord's will is for us. His wife answered. She said I'll go upstairs to pray with you. Oh no, he said you stay down here and pack. See, just like Balaam, this pastor already had his mind made up.
Speaker 1:Now listen, that pastor came in the house, told his wife I've been called by the Lord to go to this next town over to be the pastor at this new church. It's a bigger church, it's a richer church, it's a it's the people are more distinguished, right. And what did he say? He said I'm going to go upstairs and pray and ask the Lord what is his will. When his wife said okay, honey, I'll come upstairs and pray with you, he said oh, no, no, no, you stand downstairs and pack. I'll go upstairs and pray. See that man didn't hear from the lord. That man heard from his own heart. He heard the dollar signs clinging and that's what he wanted to do. He listened. He already had his mind made up. The same thing is happening here to balaam.
Speaker 1:Balaam has his mind made up, he already knows he's going to go. Pretty much probably the moment he heard the words silver and gold, he already knew he was going to go. But what he's doing is he's playing games to make it seem like he's waiting to hear from the Lord. And there's something else he said too. That was very interesting. At the end of verse 18 he said uh, I do not. I mean, I could not do anything, either small or great. Contrary, contrary to the command of the Lord, my God. Isn't it interesting that he says the Lord, my God, when this man isn't loyal to anybody. You're gonna learn right here and in these following chapters that Balaam is loyal to Balaam and was going to enrich Balaam.
Speaker 1:All right, let's move on to part four. Balaam is opposed by the Lord. We see this in verses 22 to 35. But God was angry because he was going. You heard that right. God is angry with Balaam because he's going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding his donkey and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field, but Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path to the vineyards with a wall on the this side and the wall on that. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again and angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she laid down under Balaam. So Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick.
Speaker 1:I want to pause right there for a minute. Animals have instincts that sometimes we don't have notice that Balaam doesn't see the angel of the Lord, but the donkey does. The donkey sees something that frightens. That frightens her, and she really is doing her best to try to save her master, even though he doesn't know this. Pick it back up at verse 28.
Speaker 1:The Lord opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to Balaam what have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? Then Balaam said to the donkey that was always interesting to me Like it sounds like Balaam wasn't surprised at all. He wasn't pressed at all. He wasn't shocked at all. He wasn't pressed at all. He, he wasn't shocked at all. The donkey speaks to him and he just speaks back to the donkey because you have made a mockery of me. If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now. And the donkey said to Balaam am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life to this day. Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you? And he said no, he's having a conversation with the donkey.
Speaker 1:Then the lord opened the eyes of balaam and he saw the angel of the lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand and he bowed all the way to the ground. And the angel of the lord said to him why have you struck your donkey these three times? You know? He said, why are you abusing your animal? Behold, I have come out as an adversary because your way was contrary to me, remember? Balaam said a little bit ago I can't do anything contrary to the Lord. But the Lord is telling him you're doing exactly what's contrary to me. Back to verse 33. But the donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now and let her live. Balaam said to the angel of the Lord I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the way against me. Now then, if it is this pleasing to you, I will turn back. But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I shall tell you. So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak.
Speaker 1:Now, I have always been interested to know, if Balak's uh, what did Balak's men think? Because I must, I would it's safe to assume that they also didn't see the angel of the Lord. And what did they think when they saw Balaam talking to this donkey? Did they actually hear the donkey talk? Or are they looking at Balaam and thinking like, what's wrong with this dude? I mean, he's talking to this donkey as if this donkey is talking back to him. Now, balaam knew that the donkey was talking, but I'm assuming, and I'm pretty sure, that these men didn't. And for anyone who comes across this and says, wow, you know, uh, you know, and I and I'm not talking to you all, I'm really more talking to to unbelievers and they will come back and say, wow, you know, uh, you know, do you really believe that a donkey talked? Do you really believe that this man was talking to a donkey? You know?
Speaker 1:Yes, I do believe, and if you have been with me for a while, all these years, that we have been going through the Bible, if you remember what I said in Genesis 1,. I'm going to go back and say it again, genesis 1, chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I have always said that. That one verse right there. If you can read that verse and you can believe that verse, nothing else in the Bible is impossible.
Speaker 1:Everything in the Bible, everything else in the Bible is easy to understand and easy to believe. That's where I am. Everything in the Bible is easy for me to believe. I believe it. I some things I don't understand, but I still believe it. I believe that they happen because I believe that every word of the scripture was God breathed, as Peter said.
Speaker 1:I believe that everything was written down by me and that God, that the Holy Spirit, chose himself to write down and that, if you can believe that first verse, that God created the heavens and earth, if you look at this, go out, just go outside one night and just look at the sky, especially on a clear night, and you just look at all of those, those billions and millions of billions, however many stars up there, when you really think about it and you can look at that and you can believe that the Lord put those things in the sky in the beginning that he set these things in order that way. The rest of the Bible is not hard to believe. All of the miracles that happen, they're not hard to to believe, and that's just my opinion. If you believe that one verse right there that god created the heavens and the earth, what does that? What am I saying? I'm saying that nothing is impossible with god. So, yes, I believe that the lord opened the donkey's mouth. I believe that balaam heard the donkey, the donkey heard Balaam as they talked back and forth. Now I'm not so sure that Balak's men did. That may not have been something that the Lord wanted for them. Okay, let's move on to part five.
Speaker 1:Balak and Balaam meet verses 36 to 41. When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, which is on the Arnon border, at the extreme end of the border. Then Balak said to Balaam did I not urgently send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I really unable to honor you? So Balaam said to Balak behold, I have come down to you. Am I able to speak anything at all? The word that god puts in my mouth, that I shall speak. And balaam went with balak and they came to kiriath, huzak and balak sacrificed oxen and sheep and sent some of excuse me and sent some to balaam and the leaders who were with him. Then it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal and he saw from there a portion of the people.
Speaker 1:Now there are a couple of things to note here, you know. First, uh, balak is upset with Balaam. Go back to verse 37. Balak said to Balaam did I not urgently send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you? Because you got to remember, it took him two times to get Balaam to come.
Speaker 1:Now, for my research, I found out that this was actually a long trip, I think I. I'm sorry, I'm sorry everybody. I didn't put it in my notes, but I believe that this was like a pretty much like a couple weeks journey to get to where Balaam was. You got to remember. You know these people traveled by animal, by foot, and sometimes about five miles is the most that they got. So I want to say that I looked up somewhere that said that from where Balaam was to where to from where? From Balak to Balaam was several weeks.
Speaker 1:So remember, balak sent his people the first time. Balaam rejected, which means that they had to travel there. Let's just, let's just call it uh, let's call it four weeks. It took them four weeks to get to Balaam. Balak's men get there, balaam turns him down. It's gonna take them another month to get back. So now it's now been two months. He sends them back again, so that's three months. Balaam accepts and comes back. So now it's four months. So it's been months now.
Speaker 1:So Balak is upset with Balaam because he's like look, you know who I am, you know what I have, the possessions I have I can give you. Why did you not come to me the first time? Next is they went to sacrifice, which was interesting to me. At the end of chapter 22 it says that Balaam sacrificed oxen and sheep and sent some to Balaam and the leaders who were with him. Now it's interesting that Balak is trying to act like he is of the Lord and he is doing a sacrifice, you know, trying to make himself appear to be holy. Now they went to a place that's about two and a half miles south of Mount Nebo called Baymoth Baal. This is where they went uh, to look down on the Israelites. As you look at verse 41 again. Then it came, uh, to excuse me. Then it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal and he saw from there a portion of the people, and that's where they were. They were, they were at Mount Nebo. So this is where he took him to see a portion of the people. All right, everyone. That brings us to the end of Numbers, chapter 22.
Speaker 1:As always, I hope that you got something from this message. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope it was educational and nourishing to you. As always, pray for me. Pray that I stay strong in these scriptures and that we continue the race, the journey to get through all 66 books, and I am praying for you as well. I appreciate you all a great deal. I appreciate you for coming back and listen to me teach the word of the Lord. You are all my brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope that all is well with you and until next time when we get into numbers 23, because this uh, this uh, you know, back and forth between this relationship, I should say between balak and balaam is not over with, so join us next time when we pick it back up at numbers 23 that is all for now, god bless.
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