BALAAM: THE MYSTERY MAN

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Understanding important truths from the Bible….

BALAAM, THE MYSTERY MAN

Numbers 22:15-19 NKJV

¹⁵ Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more honorable than they.

¹⁶ And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me;

¹⁷ for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’”

¹⁸ Then 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 go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

¹⁹ Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” 

Balaam is a man of mystery.  His familiarity with God, his ability to use the Covenant name, and God’s conversation with him sets him apart.  It is not as if nothing is known about him.  He is mentioned nine times beside the account of him in Numbers 22-25.  He is never mentioned favorably.  He is cunning, self-serving, deceitful, and always greedy.  Anything he said was suspect.  He manipulated his host to get the last cent he could.  He tried to deceive God.  He suborned the faith of Israel.  And he was always as Peter described him, “The way of Balaam…, who loved gain for wrongdoing.  II Peter 2:15. 

The mystery of Balaam is his relationship with the true God.  How did he come to know him?  And what was the nature of this relationship?  These are questions for which we will not find a final answer.  There are choices offered to us of his background that could account for his knowledge of God.   

He could have been of the same lineage as Abraham and the remnants of the true knowledge of God were in his family.  He could, though probably not, have been a descendant of either Ishmael or Esau.  In either family there could have been Covenant knowledge.  But more likely to me he was a descendant of Abraham through his concubine Keturah, Genesis 25:1-6.  Because of God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be blessed, it is most reasonable to think that these offspring of Abraham knew the true faith for a period of time.  That it had become confused and that there was such a great apostate as Balaam is the way of religion in the Scriptures.  We can see this in both the descendants of Seth and those of Shem. 

As mysterious as his background was, the character of Balaam is to the same degree clear.  The truth about Balaam becomes evident in Numbers 22:19.  His understanding of God was no different than his understanding of man.  God was to him a mighty powerful force or person.  But He was one who could change His mind and He was open to negotiation. 

Balaam was for sale.  His protestations to the side, they were never more than negotiations.  As a dealmaker, he never considered Yahweh as more than one of the factors in his negotiation and he never intended to honor his word to either Yahweh or Balak. 

He would accommodate Yahweh’s instructions to his advantage and leverage Balak to the maximum honor.  The results were he suborned Israel’s faithfulness to God, brought about the destruction of the Amorites, and lost his life.  And further he became the poster boy of a religious leader for sale.  The lesson to be learned is that a man who is completely without worth or character can become a great cause for sin in the church.  What they present to the church may be ever so appealing and it may reach to the highest level of leadership, cf Numbers 25:1-18 and as you read give special attention to vss 14-15.  The responsibility of the church is to confront this apostasy for what it is and completely destroy it.  Numbers 25:16-18

Revelation 2:14   But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 

Application:

A.     You must beware of any seduction away from the holiness required in the Scriptures.

B.     Remember the church has always been and will continue to under spiritual attack.