Bible Word of the Day
Balaam (A Prophet Who Misused His Gifts)
Meaning
Balaam was a prophet who was hired by King Balak of the Moabites. The king not understanding the role of the prophets did not realize a prophet can only deliver messages from God and not influence God or make things happen. Balak hired Balaam to curse the nations of Israel. This event occurs at the end of the forty years of wilderness wanderings. Recall after leaving Egypt the people disobeyed God and Moses and they refused to enter the Promised Land. Therefore God cursed that generation and made them wander the desert for forty years. During that period of wandering God fed the people with manna and none of their clothing or shoes wore out. However, at the end of these forty years of wandering the Israelites had to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. Therefore Balak king of the Moabites tried to stop them by hiring Balaam to curse them. Balaam at first correctly refused the offer, but has Balak offered more and more money his greed caused him to agree to curse Israel. However, problems quickly arose because whenever Balaam saw the Israelites and tried to curse them God caused only blessings for Israel to come out of his mouth along with cursing for Moab.
Balaam should be an example to all those who fail to listen to God’s guidance to their own destruction. It’s this story of Balaam from which we learn about the talking donkey. Balaam while traveling to meet up with Balak brought his donkey to carry the load. However, going over a hill top pass the donkey stopped and refused to move forward. Balaam beat the donkey several times, then the Lord, for this moment only, gave the donkey the ability to speak and the donkey questioned Balaam’s foolishness. Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes and he could now see the “Angel of the Lord” standing in front of them with His sword drawn ready to kill Balaam. And that’s why the donkey refused to move forward. Balaam was warned only to speak those words which God gave him to speak. As a result Balaam could only bless Israel and curse King Balak and the Moabites. The “Angel of the Lord” is a very special term and it refers to divinity or to God Himself. We have to remember when we see the phrase “Angel of the Lord” we are seeing a reference to the pre-incarnate Christ. In other words, this is an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament before His incarnation.
“And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. Then he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying: ‘Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall 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.'” (Book of Numbers 22:4-6)
“So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. Now the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road.” (Book of Numbers 22:21-23)