Numbers 22

Over the next four chapters we follow the story of a very interesting spiritual war. A key figure in that conflict was a man named Balaam, a sorcerer known to the king of Moab.

The king was a firm believer in the ways and words of Balaam's sorcery, and he wanted to hire him to curse the Israelites. This desire to curse God's people was born out of fear, since the people of Israel had multiplied greatly, and had defeated those who stood in their way as enemies.

Balak, the king of Moab was convinced that the curse of Balaam would be a sure thing. We remember the words of God when He spoke to Abram so many centuries earlier in Genesis 12: “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.”

God spoke to Balaam and warned him not to do what Balak wanted, not even to go with those who came to call him to the king. Balaam treated the Lord as yet another god who he was able to contact as a sorcerer. He did not want to cross Yahweh on this matter, but the sorcerer did not obey the Lord from a pure heart.

Balak sent messengers a second time with an even more persuasive offer. He had money. He was a king who could make life difficult for those who refused his entreaties. But Balaam at least knew that Yahweh was more to be feared than the king of Moab.

Nonetheless, this time the Lord instructed Balaam to go. He must have had a point in letting this sorcerer move into position against Israel. God would surely vindicate His own Name and save His people. He could turn the curses of enemies into blessings for Israel, bringing low those who dared to lift a hand against His nation.

Balaam set off according to the Lord's instruction, yet he met an obstacle that only his donkey could see. In his mad raging he was ready to kill the animal. Yet God gave the donkey a voice which he used to correct the sorcerer.

Balaam was an expert in unauthorized access to spiritual realms. He was a sorcerer who was sought after by a powerful king. Yet he was unable to see the angel of the Lord standing before him.

Then the Lord Himself opened Balaam's eyes to see the unseen one, and the magician fell on his face before the angel of the Lord. Even though God had told Balaam to go meet with Balak, the Lord's message through His angel revealed Balaam's inner corruption. “I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me.”

This unusual encounter reinforced the Lord's earlier instruction. Balaam would not be permitted to say anything on his own. God would use this man to give a message from the Lord, and would not permit that message to be tainted by the imaginations of the sorcerer's own perverse heart.

Balaam got the point. He said to Balak, “The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.”

The Lord could bring a sorcerer to fall on his face before him. A magician's ability to do with the unseen world what no man was permitted to do was no serious threat to Almighty God. No one can stop the Lord.

When Jesus came as the final prophet, He did not need to be backed into a corner in order to say only what God gave Him to say or to do only what God told Him to do. This was the continuous impulse of His sinless being. Balaam knew how to play some spiritual tricks, but Jesus was the only authorized way to eternal life.

God had promised Abram in Genesis 12 that those who cursed Israel would be cursed, and that those who blessed Israel would be blessed. He also said that through Abram all the people groups of the earth would be blessed. Jesus, the seed of Abraham, has become the source of blessing for all who turn to Him for life. He did not come here for money. He came as the perfect expression of divine love.