The Story of Balaam Pt 1

If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 22.

Numbers, chapter 22. Well, we come tonight to... We'll start a very interesting story. It's going to take a couple of Wednesdays to get through it because there are several chapters that it covers. But the title of the next couple of Wednesdays that we're together is going to be the story of Balaam. So this is part one of the story of Balaam. Now, just to build a little bit of context for us.

Last time on the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness, right? So the last time the children of Israel started seeing some small victories, right? They had conquered... The king of Arad. They had conquered Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of the Amorites. So some small victories had been taking place. Even though there was a couple of issues with complaining, God was working them through that.

But now they're coming to the very edge of the promised land. And honestly, this last story is going to be the main major event. The last major event that will take place before the children of Israel move into the promised land. After this, we'll see that another census is taken. And after that census is taken, God will remind them of some of the laws that they're going to need to know.

And then they'll be ready to move into the land. But before then, they are going to have to deal with the king of the Moabites, whose name is Balak. So we start off by talking about the strategy of Balak. So we pick up in chapter 22, verse 1, and this is what it says. Then the sons of Israel journeyed and camped in the plains. Now Balak, 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 of the sons of Israel. Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now this horde will lick up all that is around us as the ox licks up the grass of the field. And Balak, the son of Zippor, was king of Moab at that time. So again, we see the location of where the children of Israel are.

They are in the plains of Moab, just opposite of Jericho. So if you were putting in your mind where they were, they're just on the other side of the Jordan River. And they're going to pretty much stay right in this general area because it will be crossing this Jordan River from this spot where they will move in and take over Jericho. So they're going to be here for a little while.

But while they're there, we see another nation. It is an absolute fear of them. Because this group of Moabites has heard about what has been taking place with the children of Israel. They have heard about some of the victories that the children of Israel were able to have over some of the kingdoms around them. And the Moabites started getting very nervous. Now there's two things to pay attention to about these Moabites.

If you know very much about the Moabites, then you're probably one of the few people that does. But the Moabites came about because of an incestuous relationship. Between Moabites. Moabites came about because of an incestuous relationship between Moabites and the children of Israel. So Moab already has a little bit of a, shall we say, sketchy beginning. So if you will, there's a little bit of relation that they have to the children of Israel.

But we'll learn from Deuteronomy. God said, hey, leave the Moabites alone if you can because I'm not giving you any of their land. Of course, the king of Moab didn't know that. So he has only seen what's been taking place and he gets really nervous. They are very fearful of the nation of Israel. This does, however, remind us of a little bit of a promise. That God has made to the children of Israel.

And that's that God had promised them that the fear of them and the dread of them would go before them. All of the nations were starting to hear about this nation that had been set free from Egypt. And was now beginning to win these victories. And so they were very fearful. So they talked to the Midianites and they're like, hey, we need to do something about these Israelites.

And so this is the plan that they come up with. So he, meaning Balak. 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, behold, a people came out of Egypt. Behold, they cover 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. 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 fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and repeated Balaak's words to him. Now, we're introduced to this character and this character's name is Balaam.

Interestingly enough, we've never heard of this guy before. He plays an interesting role in scripture because we're introduced to him. As someone who has some sort of prophetic ability, we're going to find he has some form of connection to God. Although it seems like there's still some pagan aspects of who Balaam is. And so really, this is the only scene we have of him in all of scripture.

These four chapters that we're going to see right here where he is referenced. He then really doesn't come up again in scripture until we get to the New Testament. And in the New Testament, he's only brought up in a very negative context. Now, depending on who you read, some will say he was. Definitely a prophet of God, kind of like Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, knew God,

even though he wasn't part of the nation of Israel. And yet, there seems to be something about him that maybe doesn't have a complete knowledge of who God is. He's a mysterious character. But what we do know is that this guy is some sort of a prophet. And he has been successful in his prophecies. Because you notice that the whole reason why Balaak sent messengers to him is because he says,

it's very clear that whoever you curse... is cursed, and whoever you bless is blessed. So this is Balaak's strategy. He says, It's an interesting strategy, one that he's hoping is going to work. So, they send these messengers. They send these messengers to Balaam. And you'll notice two things about the messengers that they send, or two things about when they come to him.

It says, So we see that, first of all, they sent very important people. They sent the people that had some authority. But then the second thing that we take note of is that they sent with them, in the middle of verse 7, They came to Balaam and repeated Balaak's words to him. So they sent, They want to try to entice Balaam to come and do this deed for them by paying him a certain amount of money.

And the problem is, Balaam's going to be pretty tempted. So, we move on from there. So they're going to seek to hire this guy. Notice what it says in verse 8. So they've come to him and they've presented Balaak's words to him. And he said to them, Spend the night here, and I will bring back, word to you as the Lord may speak to me. And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam.

Then God came to Balaam and said, Who are these men with you? Balaam said to God, Balaak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, has sent word to me. Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt, and they cover the surface of the land. Now come curse them for me. Perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out. And God said to Balaam, and this is important if you're an underliner,

you should underline this. Do not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed. So Balaam arose in the morning, said to Balaak's leaders, Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you. So, as they're seeking to hire Balaam, we see first of all their first request. They've sent the elders, they've sent the money, and you can imagine as these men show up,

it would have been with some sort of pomp and circumstance, because these are the elders of a great nation. And so they show up, and they bring to Balaam a certain amount of money, and they say, this is what we need for you to do. We want to pay you to cast a curse on these people. Now Balaam really, in my opinion, handles this the right way to begin with. Some commentators you read said,

from the moment they showed up with money, Balaam should have sent them away. Well, I can't say whether that's correct or not. To me, he's handling this in a pretty good way. They come to him, they make a request of him, he does what he should. He presents the request to God, and says, what do you think I should do? And so, as they're there, he says, you guys stay here tonight,

and wait until I hear from God as to what I'm supposed to do. And so God shows up to him in some sort of a vision, and says, who are these guys? He says, I don't know, there's some guys that come from Moab, they're like, hey, really large group of people that have come from Egypt, they want me to curse them. And God is very, very incredibly specific about what he's supposed to do.

He says, he says, do not go. Now, that's really important, because they're gonna come back a second time. And we have to remember that when God says something, he doesn't generally change his mind. He usually pretty much means what he says. And so he says, do not go, you're not supposed to go with them. So, Balaam, again, in my opinion, handles this correctly.

He gets up the next morning, and he says, guys, I can't go with you. God says, I can't, you gotta take off. Now, again, I think that there are some good things that Balaam did here, and there's probably a problem with the way that he handles it. The problem with Balaam is that Balaam is a prophet for hire, right? He's not a non-profit organization. Anyway, he's a prophet for hire.

There's a bumper sticker on a car up here, I don't know if you've noticed this or not. It says, atheism, a non-profit organization. I'm like, people and their bumper stickers. Anyway, so he's a prophet for hire. Here's the problem with that. The problem with being a prophet for hire is that you stop caring as much about what God wants you to do, and you start caring more about

what the dollar wants you to do. That's the problem with the place where Balaam is right now. He's a little bit more concerned with the money that he can make than he is maybe with what God wants. Now, the good thing that he did is even though he has dollar signs in his eyes, and he is a little bit all about the Benjamins or whatever it was, he's a little bit more concerned with the money that he can make.

Whatever it was at that point, it's all about the Balaaks. Whatever it was at that point in time, he did present it to God, and God said no, and he obeyed the first time. But you know as well as I do that Balaak's not going to give up, right? So notice what it says. Verse 14, the leaders of Moab arose and went to Balaak and said, Balaam refused to come with us.

So Balaak, that's a hard one by the way to keep going back and forth. Then Balaak again sent leaders more numerous and more distinguished than the former. And they came to Balaam and said to him, Thus says Balaak, 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

curse this people for me. Now we knew Balaak was going to come with us. We knew Balaak wouldn't give up, right? Because our flesh doesn't give up and the world doesn't give up. The enemy doesn't give up. So we should expect that Balaak's going to come back with something. Only Balaak really comes back with something, right? He sends more leaders and did you notice what they were?

They were more distinguished, right? Like he just sent a couple of low-level guys the first time. At least in his mind they were low-level. Now he's sending the upper echelon, right? He's sending Matthew McConaughey on this one, right? That's right. That's what he did on this one. He sent the more distinguished people in too soon. Anyway, he sent the more distinguished people

in on this one because he thought that'll really convince them. That'll really convince them to come. And he said, let nothing stop you. After all, money at this point in time is not an issue. The most important thing is that we survive, so please come. Now at this point in time, who thinks God has changed his mind? None of us, right? What should Balaak, whom have said at this point in time?

He should have said, but God said, I can't go. No matter how persistent the temptation is, no matter how persistent the flesh feels, no matter how persistent the world is to do that thing that God has told us no to, we must always remember, but God said no and should have sent him away. However, Balaam was not quite willing to do that because again, he's all about the Benjamins, baby. Verse 18, Balaam replied to the servants of Balaak, though Balaak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, which could be an option, I could not do anything either small or great contrary to the command of the Lord my God.

I do think I agree with one of the commentators on this because they said this was probably Balaam's way of saying this might be what it takes. If you could give me his house full of silver and gold, that might convince me. Nevertheless, I'm too spiritual for that. I cannot do anything contrary to the command of the Lord my God. Now please, you also stay here tonight

and I will find out what else the Lord will speak to me. It's easy for us to be really hard on Balaam at this point in time, isn't it? And say, come on, Balaam, you should know by now. This is not what God wants you to do. God's not going to change his mind. You can keep asking him as many times as you want to. He's still going to say no. And yet, how many times

has God told us no to something? And we just keep going back and saying, but God, are you sure you meant no to that? Are you sure that's not what I'm supposed to do? Or, are you sure that is what I'm supposed to do? Just hoping that God will change his mind. Well, notice what happens. So 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 arose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the leaders of Moab. But God was angry because he was going. Now this feels a little bit interesting by God here, does it not? So God had originally told him no. Comes back the second time, and God says, fine, you can go.

But you can only say what I tell you to say. So Balaam decides he's gonna go. But then it says God is angry. And we're kind of going, what, I don't understand. Is God being a little bit psychotic here in the way that he's acting? No, God knows the heart of Balaam. Why do you think God said yes? It's an interesting question that I don't know that I fully know the answer to,

other than sometimes God gives us what we want. Out of judgment. Sometimes God gives us what we want because he's giving us over to that which will actually bring judgment into our lives. Sometimes the most merciful thing that God can do for us is tell us no. Sometimes the most dangerous thing that God can do for us is tell us yes. And that's exactly what happens

with Balaam. You see, Balaam's desire was not to go and speak the word of the Lord. Balaam's desire was to go and make a house full of silver and gold, right? That is the problem that Balaam has right now. And I believe that's why God is so angry with him. God was so angry because he saw in his heart that though he would with his mouth say, yes, I'll only say what you tell me to say,

in his heart he knew he would be swayed by the riches. And so because of that, God is gonna confront Balaam along the way, which brings us to one of the most important things. One of the most interesting scenes, in my personal opinion in the Old Testament, Balaam and the angel of the Lord. Notice what it says, but God was angry, again, verse 22, with him because he was going and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him.

Now he was riding on 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. And the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyards with a wall on this side

and a wall on that side. 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. Then the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or to the left. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam

so that Balaam was very angry and struck the donkey with his stick. Now, because God was angry with Balaam, God had intended that perhaps he would just simply end Balaam before he ever got there because he didn't want this man pronouncing some sort of a curse against his people. And quite frankly, Balaam's heart had gotten so wrong at this point in time. That God was going to pronounce judgment upon him.

And yet, God provided an advocate for Balaam. And the advocate that God provided for Balaam was his donkey. Because there the angel of the Lord stood. Now, in general, we almost always know that the angel of the Lord is actually the presence of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. And as the angel of the Lord stood there, what was in his hand? Did you pay attention?

It wasn't a knitting iron. It was a sword, right? Like he was ready to end Balaam. And so, what's the first thing that the donkey does? Which, by the way, the donkey had much more spiritual vision than Balaam did. The donkey looks at him and he's like, well, that's going to be bad. I love the guy riding on my back right now. I'm going to go off into the field.

He literally saved Balaam's life. And what did Balaam begin doing? He began striking the donkey so that he would get back on the trail. And then as the donkey continues on, the angel of the Lord stands in the path again, only there in a very narrow way between Venice and Rome. And the donkey begins to move and pushes him up against the wall and hurts his foot.

And he goes, you stupid donkey, and starts to beat him again. Finally, the angel of the Lord moves and they keep going. But then they came to a very narrow pass. There was nothing else he could do. So the donkey, in order to save Balaam's life, simply sat down. And Balaam, in all of his wisdom, began to beat the donkey. Couple of interesting things to think about here, isn't there?

How many times? Has God used someone in our lives as an advocate, as someone who was continuing to push us back onto the right path and away from God's judgment? And rather than us being so thankful that they confronted us, rather than us being so thankful that they were willing to tell us the truth when no one else was, we verbally abused them, told them that they were being judgmental, told them that they were being holier than thou, told them, I don't need you to be the Holy Spirit in my life. I know what I'm doing and I can do what I want to.

All the while, that person was doing the most loving thing they could possibly do for us by keeping us from the judgment of God. Perhaps you have been that person. Perhaps you have been the one that has seen someone going down the wrong path and you've stepped in front of them and you've said, you don't understand what you're doing. And rather than saying, oh, thank you so much for saving me from myself, they verbally thrashed you.

They verbally destroyed you. Maybe even physically did so. Well, this is what happens with Balaam and this donkey, and unfortunately, his animal has so much more spiritual vision than him. And so as he is literally striking this animal with a stick, 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?

Now. Now I've been hearing this story about Balaam since I was a little kid, right? I think I was probably seven, eight years old the first time I ever heard the story of Balaam. I am every bit as fascinated by it now as I was when I was seven or eight years old. Like I got these two old dogs at home, right? And so I look at these two old dogs and sometimes they just start barking and I just look at

them thinking at any point in time, they're going to say something to me. Like they are, they probably have some sort of more spiritual vision than I do and there's a spiritual war going on. And clearly, surely that's what Macy is talking about. Surely that's what Macy is barking at, right? Like every morning at 5.30 when Macy starts barking, I'm like, surely there's a demon

there that she is trying to cast out of the home and that's why she's awakening me at 5.30 in the morning. So I get up and I walk in there and I look at her and I'm just waiting. So far nothing has been said, but can you imagine what it would have been like to have an animal begin to talk to you? When I was a kid, I used to watch those old reruns of Mr. Ed, which by the way, I'm pretty

sure they got in really big trouble for. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Actually abused that horse as neither here nor there. Uh, but the, the famous talking, Mr. Ed, right. And I remember watching those old reruns when I was a kid and thinking, I bet that's what it was like. Like, I wonder if those big old lips were just flapping like that.

Just talking to him. What have I done to you? Right? Why are you beating on me? And so, so this dog, he just starts talking to him and of course, Balaam in his complete right mind goes, this is crazy. You're a donkey. How can you be talking to me now? Because he's so blinded by his rage. enraged at what it says. Balaam said to the donkey, can we just stop right there and say that's the

most amazing part of the entire story. Balaam didn't bat an eye. He just immediately started arguing with a donkey. And it makes you wonder who is the bigger donkey, right? I told somebody before the service. It's just, I just, two or three of the commentators were using the old King James and I'm not going to lie. 14 year old Ryan came out all afternoon. I've been laughing all afternoon.

I'm struggling here. Then Balaam said 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. I want you to remember two of his servants are with him. And in my own mind, I wonder, were all of the nobles of Balak with him too? I can't imagine that they weren't. Did they hear the donkey talking or was he talking to an animal

like he knew what was going on? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what was going on and nobody else heard it. This is a question that I want to have answered someday. Anyway, so he says, you've made a mockery of me. I wonder if at some point in time, I think the donkey probably went, you're the one talking to a donkey. Anyway, he said, I should

have killed you. 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, well, no. And then the Lord opened the eyes of the donkey. 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. It's amazing what it takes for God to finally get

a hold of us. It's amazing the foolishness that we have to go through before we finally say, now I see what you're talking about. So God finally opens up Balaam's eyes. He removes the spiritual blinders that were on his eyes, and he sees the angel of the Lord standing there, sword in hand. And all he knows to do is simply bow to the ground out of absolute humility because he understood that he had just about lost

his life. And then the angel of the Lord, verse 32, said to him, why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary because your way was contrary to me. But the donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she'd not turned aside, 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's displeasing to you, I will turn back. But the angel of the Lord said to him, I have come out as an adversary because your way was contrary to me. The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I tell you. So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak. Maybe, maybe now Balaam's heart

is going to be right because you see there was sin in Balaam's heart. What was the sin that was truly going on inside of Balaam's heart? Well, I think that there's two scriptures that really point out Balaam's sin and they're both New Testament scriptures. So hold your finger here, put your little bookmark there. And first of all, I want you to go over to 2 Peter chapter 2. I want you to look at verses

16 and 17. Did I say 1 Peter? I meant 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 2 verses 15 and 16. Peter here is warning these churches that he's writing to about false prophets and false teachers. And this is what he has to say about those false prophets and false teachers. It's mid-sentence, but we'll pick it up in verse 15. He says, Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam,

the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But he received a rebuke for his own transgression. For a mute donkey speaking with a voice of a man restrained the madness of the prophet. Go one more. Place. Go over to Jude. Jude is the one page right before Revelation. And I want you to look at verse 11. Same warning, false teachers, false prophets. And notice what it says in Jude verse

11. Woe to them for they have gone the way of Cain. And for pay, they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam and perished in the rebellion of Korah. So what was Balaam? sin. Balaam's sin was covetousness. Let me put it on a level that we can understand maybe even better than that. Balaam loved money. That was the sin that Balaam had in his heart. And he was

willing to sell his spiritual soul, if you will, for money. It was the love of his life. It was the love of his heart. All he could think about is what he could gain out of it. And I think there's an interesting lesson for those of us that are living as 21st century Christians, 21st century Christians that seem to love money. We seem to love our things. Matter of fact, it's not

escaping the pulpit either. It's all over the place in the pulpit. There's a page on Instagram. It's called Preachers and Sneakers. And Preachers and Sneakers is dedicated to revealing the pastors that are out there that are pseudo-celebrities that are spending thousands, thousands of dollars on their sneakers and on their different outfits because they are

wannabe celebrities. Matter of fact, there's a book that just came out by this page, and I think I'm going to buy this book. And it's just called Preachers and Sneakers. And it talks about the fact that these guys have become wannabe celebrities. I love part of the title of that book is Wannabe Celebrities because I'm afraid that in the culture that we live in now that we

as the church want so badly to look like the world, that we in the pulpit want so badly to look like that we'll do anything we can to do it, even if it means selling our soul for a few extra dollars so that we can have the look that everybody else has, so that we can be like everybody else in the world. And quite frankly, brothers and sisters in Christ, it should not be who we are. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. I want to make sure I've quoted that correctly and that you understand that that's got to be quoted correctly. Money is not the root of evil. Money itself is

simply an inanimate being. Money is the root of all kinds of evil. Money is the root of all kinds of evil. It's an inanimate object, just like a gun. But the love of money, what our heart does with it is the root of all kinds of evil. It causes men to give up their very souls. As a matter of fact, Jesus says that if you gain the world, it will be at the cost of your very soul. Now, I don't think that that

means that believers in Jesus Christ can't have nice things, but I do think it means that our things should not own us. We should own our things and use them for the purpose of God's glory. That our lives are meant to glorify God and our wealth is meant to glorify God. Wes Bentley, the guy that runs Far-Reaching Ministries, always talks about the fact that when God blesses us with wealth, it's so that we can further the kingdom. It's so that we can continue

the work of the gospel. And unfortunately, Balaam had given in to the fact that we can't continue the love of money and covetousness. And may I say, if that's who we are in our hearts today, then we must confess that to the Lord. It's not an unforgivable sin. It's not a sin that says you can no longer be right with God, but it is an area of our lives that must continually be

surrendered to the Lord. Back to numbers. So, Balaam has just had the most intelligent conversation he's had for quite some time now with his donkey. And we're back on track. So, Balaam, of course, says, I have sinned. I didn't know. I'll turn back if you want me to. And God says, no, keep going. Only do what I tell you to do. Verse 35, or excuse me, verse 36. 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. Balak said to Balaam, did I not send urgently? Oh, I just lost my place.

Did I not urgently send to call to you? Why did you not come to me? Am I really unable to honor you? Balaam said to Balaam, behold, I've now come 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 Balaak and came to Kiriath-Huzoth. And Balaak sacrificed oxen and sheep and sent some to Balaak. And Balaak said to Balaak, I've now come to you. Am I really unable to honor you?

And Balaak said to Balaam and the leaders who were with him. And it came about in the morning that Balaak took Balaam and brought him to the high places of Baal. And he saw from there a portion of the people. So Balaak says, hey, dude, what took you so long, man? I was like, hey, this is pretty important. And you were like, hey, maybe later. So I was like, hey, what took you so long?

Well, I'm here now, but I can only say what God wants me to. Whatever, just let's do our thing. So he takes him up on top of the mountain. And now he's going to begin to give the prophecies or the oracles over the people. So we pick up in chapter 23, verse one, and this is what it said. Balaam said to Balaak, build seven altars for me here, prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.

Balaak did just as Balaam had spoken. And Balaak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. Balaam said to Balaak, stand beside your burnt offering and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me. And whatever he shows me, I will tell you. So he went to a bare hill. God met Balaam and said to him, I have set up seven altars and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth,

return to Balaak and you shall speak to him. Now you can imagine Balaak at this point in time, right? Builds his altars, brings him to the place. And he's like, okay, do your thing. Go hear what God has to say. Okay. So it goes up. Here's from God. I have a word for you. This is what you need to speak. He comes back to Balaak and he's probably like, okay, what are you going to say? Verse six. So he returned to him. Behold, he was standing

beside his burnt offering and all the leaders of Moab. And he took up his discourse and said from Aram, Balaak has brought me Moab's king from the mountains of the east. Come curse Jacob for me and come denounce Israel. How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? As I see, him from the top of the rocks and I look at him from the hills. Behold, a people who dwells apart

and will not be reckoned among the nation who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel. Let me die the death of the upright and let my end be like his. Balaak said to Balaam, what have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies and behold, you have actually blessed them. He replied, must I not? Be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth. What an unfortunate moment for Balaak.

Everything's prepared. The Lord puts a word in Balaam's mouth. What's he going to say? It's going to be amazing. It's going to curse him. Everything's going to be done. I'm not going to have to worry about these massive people any longer. I'm not going to die. My people aren't going to die. It's going to be amazing. And then Balaam begins to speak. Balaak brought me all the

way here so that I could curse God's people. But I can't curse whom God hasn't cursed. They are, first of all, a nation that has been set apart. Isn't that great? That's the first thing he says about them. They're a nation that's been set apart, set apart from everywhere else. They are going to have numerous descendants. In other words, what you see now is nothing compared to

what's coming. Not only are they going to have numerous descendants, but they have a destiny that's to be desired. I wish I could die the same way that they're going to in the presence and the blessing of God. You can imagine Balaak saying, I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die.

Balaak's face this entire time, he's like, what do you mean? That wasn't a cursing. You just said they're going to be more numerous. They're ones to be set apart. They're ones that we should want to be like. I brought you here to curse these people and you've blessed them. And Balaam's going, I can only do what God tells me to do. I can only say what God tells me to say. And you can imagine

that even though Balaam had maybe repented, there was still that little bit of him that saw the money slipping away. He was like, well, Balaak's not going to give up that easy. Clearly, he's going to offer a house full of silver and gold. He's not going to give up that easy. He's like, I bet this is the wrong mountain. Verse 13, then Balaak said to him, please come with me to another place from where

you may see them. Although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them and curse them from there. I bet I know the problem. You're standing on the wrong mountain. You're looking at the happy Israelites. You need to see the mean Israelites. So that you'll want to curse them. So let's go find a different mountain and stand on that and see

what God has to say. Verse 14. So he took him to the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. And he said to Balaak, stand here besides your burnt offering while I myself meet the Lord over there. Then the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, return to Balaak and thus you shall speak. So second prophecy looks exactly like the first.

Same amount of altars, same amount of sacrifices. You stand there. I'll go to hear from the Lord. I think Balaam probably knew whatever God has to say wasn't going to be a curse on the people. He probably knew it was going to be a blessing for the people, but he's willing to entertain it anyway. Verse 16. Then the Lord met Balaam, put a word in his mouth and said, return to Balaak

and thus you shall speak. He came to him and behold, he was standing beside his offering, the leaders of Moab with him. And Balaak said to him, what has the Lord spoken? Then he took up his discourse and said, arise, O Balaak, and hear. Give ear to me, O son of Zippor. God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said and will he not do?

Or has he spoken and will he not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless. What he has blessed, I cannot revoke it. Has he not observed misfortune? He has not observed misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The Lord, his God is with him and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt. He is for them like the horns of

the wild ox for there is no omen against Jacob nor is there any divination against Israel at the proper time it shall be said to Jacob and to Israel what God has done behold a people rises like a lioness and as a lion it fit it lifts itself it will not lie down until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain so he comes again Balak probably really excited about what he's going to say and Balaam has to say the exact same thing number one God's blessing is unchanged and may I say just kind of as a side note about this first part of this blessing that God gives to the nation of Israel is that it is a wonderful reminder of God's continued faithfulness to the nation of Israel

it's a good reminder that God's blessing is unchanged because he is not like a man that he's going to change his mind and it's a good reminder for us as believers in Jesus Christ that if God has not changed his mind about his chosen people Israel that he has not changed his mind about you either that his blessing continues to be unchanged in your life as well no matter what the outside circumstances look like he says first of all God's blessing is unchanged and may I say just kind of as a side note about this first part of this blessing is unchanged and then he says and the Lord has brought them out of Egypt he hasn't seen anything bad in the nation of Israel and they will continue to be victorious now that last part about the fact that

they will continue to be victorious had to have been particularly troubling to Balak at this point in time because remember he's viewing a group of people that potentially are going to be coming against him in war and rather than cursing them and saying hey you're going to be defeated he says this in instead behold a people rise and fall and they will continue to be victorious and they will continue to be victorious and they will continue to be victorious and they will continue to be victorious like a lioness and as a lion it lifts itself it will not lie down until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain listen Balak wasn't just sad at this point in time because

of Balaam's inability to curse the people I think Balak was probably scared at this point in time because this is not just a hey they're going to be numerous and God is going to bless them this is a hey they're going to destroy every enemy that they come across because God has already given them the victory and so at this point in time Balak has to be thinking what am I going to do now my defeat is sealed and so of course then there's the response Balak said to him don't curse them or bless them at all in other words don't talk let's just let's be done because this is not good again I think the fear is now rising up in Balak because he's going wow that was a bad one you you kind of nailed me to the wall on that one he says stop saying anything

but Balaam replied to Balak did I not tell you whatever the Lord speaks that I must do Balak said to Balaam please come I will take you to another place perhaps it will be agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there so Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the wasteland Balaam said to Balak build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me and Balak did just as Balaam had said and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar and so we're going to stop for there

tonight there are two more chapters that have to do with Balaam we have another prophecy actually two more prophecies and then we'll see how Balaam ultimately gives the nation of Moab a little bit of an upper hand against the children of Israel so but from this we learned some interesting things first of all God's power and his power and his power and his power and his power and his power and his ability to speak through anyone and anything that he wants to but also the danger that we all face in this materialistic world that we live we have to keep our hearts focused on Jesus father we come before you and I thank you for the examples of your word Lord that these

things were written for our admonition or they were written for our instruction so that we could be complete in you and so Lord use even sections like this Lord to reveal the truth that's in our heart to reveal the truth that's in our heart to reveal the truth that's in our heart to reveal the things in our heart that need to be changed by you Lord reveal the errors of our way and continue to show us how we can walk on strong with you father we thank you for who you are and pray that you would strengthen us now in you in Jesus name amen be blessed