If the Truth Be Told…

“And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:  God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”  Numbers 23:18-19

Yesterday’s blog left off with Balaam smarting from his injuries that he received as a result of his seeking to make a name for himself rather than seeking to do God’s will.    We might say that his donkey told him “what for”.  After Balaam understood the danger that he had put himself in, he wanted to return home, but the Angel of the LORD directed him to go ahead on his journey to meet Balak, King of Moab, telling him that he was only to prophesy what God intended.  Balak got word that Balaam had reached one of the cities of Moab and went forth to meet him.  Balak wanted to know what took him so long.  He was ready to promote Balaam to an honor of some sort and couldn’t understand why Balaam wasn’t “johnny on the spot” in his journey.  After all, isn’t wealth and/or prestige all that a person desires?

Balaam and Balak went to KirjathHuzoth, one of Moab’s cities, and Balak offered sacrifices of oxen and sheep likely believing that these sacrifices would cause Jehovah God to find favor for Moab against Israel.  The Moabites were descendants of Abraham’s brother, Haran, who had passed away, thus were not the children of Abraham and not part of God’s chosen people, but they were acquainted with the God of Israel.  The next morning, Balak took Balaam up on one of the hills of Moab so that he could see the land and the people who were its inhabitants.  Balaam requested of Balak to build seven altars and prepare seven oxen and seven rams to sacrifice.  Balak acquiesced to his request, and Balaam told him to wait by the burnt offering and said that he would go meet with the LORD.  Whatever God told him, he would tell Balak.

God met with Balaam as Balaam acknowledged the sacrifice that had been prepared for the LORD.  God told Balaam to go back to Balak and tell him that Balak had requested him to come and curse Israel, but how could he curse those whom God had not cursed nor how could he defy those whom God had not defied?  Balaam praised Israel for their strength and might and wished that he were one of them.  Balak, who likely had been feeling very smug about his chances to defeat Israel, believing that his offering to the LORD obligated the LORD to give him victory, was surprised, to say the least.  “What have you done to me?  I asked you to curse my enemies, and you have blessed them!”  Balaam answered Balak by telling him that he could only prophesy what God had said.

Balak thought that if they changed locations, he might have a better shot at a more favorable outcome.  What is it that they say about doing the same thing over expecting a different outcome?  They repeated the entire process on the top of Mt. Pisgah.  Balaam went again to meet with the LORD, and the LORD said, “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”, which Balaam repeated to Balak and also said that God blessed Israel and there was nothing he could do to change it.  Balak replied, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all”.  I suppose Balak thought his chances were better without any blessing or cursing.  Balaam again said that he had told Balak that he could only say what God told him to say.

Would you believe that Balak wanted to change locations again?  Some people just won’t give up even when they know they are defeated.  This time they were on Mt. Peor.  Balaam had finally come to the understanding of who God is, the sovereign God of all and praised Him for His care of Israel which he made known to Balak who was very angry at Balaam.  He said, “I called you to curse my enemies, and you have blessed them three times.  Leave this place.  I was going to promote you with great honor, but the LORD kept you from this honor.”  Balaam replied, “If you had given me a house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond what God had said to me, either good or bad, but what He said, that was what I had to speak” (paraphrased).

As Balaam continued to speak, he gave a prophecy of Jesus Christ, the Star out of Jacob and the Scepter which would rise out of Israel who would smite Moab (24:17).  Because Balaam had been obedient to the LORD, he went from a diviner in the occult, to a prophet who prophesied of the coming of the Savior of the world.  If the truth be told, it is always better to tell the truth than to say what you think people want to hear.