Moses: Balaam, the Devil's cunning (Part 1)
Charles E. Wigg
These chapters begin
with the description of an unholy alliance between the Midianites, (men of
strife), and the Moabites, the descendants of Lot and the child that was born as
the result of a drunken and incestuous relationship. The Midianites, (the name
Midian means strife, brawling, or contention), were the direct descendants of
Abraham from Keturah who Abraham married after the death of Sarah. The meaning
of their name gives a clue as to their character. Poor Lot ended his days in
shame, when in a drunken state he had sex with his two daughters, who had
escaped with him from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Because of their
ancestry, (Lot was a righteous man, but a backslider), God extended his mercy to
their descendants, and though they were no match for the Amorites under the
leadership of Sihon and Og, and had been robbed of some of their territory by
these people, yet God told His people that they were not to meddle with them or
to attack them, telling that He had given them their territory, because they
were the sons of Lot. (Deuteronomy 2:9).
Suspicion:
Though the Children of Israel were not permitted to attack them, yet
they saw these people as a threat to them, and though they knew that they were
no match for them in the military sense, yet encouraged by the Midianites, they
wanted to place a curse on them spiritually so that they might overcome them in
time. They had been attacked, robbed, and cowed into submission by the giants
Sihon and Og, and the soldiers that they commanded, (and they had accepted this
as inevitable), yet the Children of Israel had overcome these giants and their
people with apparent ease; (through the help of the Almighty Jehovah), so they
knew that they could not overcome Israel by military means, thus they turned to
the demonic powers and put their trust in them to enable them to overcome these
peaceful hordes. From this we are compelled to believe that they would rather be
dominated by the Amorites, or by the demonic powers that Balaam was able to
manipulate, than by the kind and loving Jehovah. Because He was the Great and
Holy God, and they could not tolerate holiness, but preferred instead to live in
sin.
Balaam: There was a Midianite of great fame who lived at
Peor in Mesopotamia, a witch doctor who dabbled with the occultic powers, and
covered his actions with an outward recognition of Jehovah the true God. Balaam
had cause to fear the awesome power of the Almighty Jehovah, and he had heard
reports of the miraculous things that Jehovah had done to the mighty nation of
Egypt, and of the renown of Moses who led the people. Thus though we are told
that he loved the reward of unrighteousness, yet he was afraid to go outside of
the will of the Almighty.
Balak then discussed the situation that confronted him,
with his allies, the descendants of Midian. It was therefore agreed to send a
high-powered delegation to Peor to attempt to enlist the aid of this man. The
delegation was then to include Princes and Nobles of both nations. When they
reached Balaam’s house, he very cunningly made them to wait for an answer,
telling that he had to wait overnight and to see what Jehovah would say about
the matter. At the same time he probably hoped that the offered reward would be
increased. Jehovah was loath to execute judgement on the guilty nation of
Israel, the people that He had blessed. Nevertheless He must in righteousness
fulfil His word. So He did come to Balaam that night, and He enquired who the
men were,(that Balaam had in his house), and for what purpose they had come. He,
who knows everything, already knew this, but yet He asked Balaam, wanting to
hear the confession from his mouth of their evil intention. On hearing this He
refused to give Balaam permission to go, telling him that he was not to curse
the people, because they were blessed. Balaam was not prepared to risk incurring
the wrath of God Almighty, and he refused to go with the men.
We are not meant to think that because of this the
soothsayer was acting out of love to Jehovah, it was just that he feared
incurring the wrath of the Almighty. He realised the danger that was involved in
disobeying the command of the Living God. It is to be feared that even though we
are the children of God, and that His love for us was so great that He gave His
only begotten Son to die for us, yet (sadly), so often we are not ashamed to
directly disobey God’s clear command, that is written in His word. However our
obedience to God’s word is to be based on our love for Him, (John 15:10) and we
are not to be motivated by the fear of the consequences that may result from our
disobeying His word. We are told that if we do disobey and incur the judgement
of God, yet He does this in love, so that we will not come under the judgement
that this wicked world will experience. (1Corinthians 11:31-32). This is the
judgement that Balaam feared, and eventually received, because he was slain by
the swords of the very people that he wanted to curse. (Numbers 31:8).
Thus we are meant to see the longsuffering of God with
His guilty people, and His reticence to embark on their judgement, rather than
to be deceived into thinking that Balaam was a true prophet of Jehovah, and that
his obedience to God’s word was based on anything other than the fear of the
consequences of disobedience to that word. So the nobles returned to Balak
with the rewards of divination still in their hands. [To be concluded]
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[Reproduced by
permission of the
Author]