curse them – Praying Pint

48.e. “Wilderness” – 12.k. “Balaam’s Second Oracle”

Num 23:11-30 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?” And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.” And 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. Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD over there.” And the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?” And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, O son of Zippor: God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox. For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain.” And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the LORD says, that I must do’?” And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert. And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

The king of Moab was understandably disturbed. He paid good money for a curse against Israel, and the prophet blessed them instead. Balaam spoke as a true prophet, but a corrupt prophet. We sense that he was disappointed that he couldn’t please the king who promised him lots of money. Balaam had already told Balak that he could only speak what the LORD told him. Balak wanted to change the word Balaam spoke over Israel from a blessing to a curse. Balak hoped that by changing the place where Balaam stood and changing the perspective he had as he looked out on Israel, then the prophecy would change. Because Balaam seemed so impressed by the size of Israel in the first oracle (Numbers 23:10), Balak thought it was better to put him in a place where he could only see a portion of Israel for the second oracle.

Once again, Balaam could only speak the word that God put in his mouth. Balaam either could not or would not create his own message and claim it was from the LORD simply to please King Balak.

God is not a man, and can’t be bribed or impressed with riches.

God does not lie, and He does not change His mind (that He should repent) as man does.

God always performs His word. If God has spoken, He will perform it.

God has all strength, and has the power to perform what He promises.

One important feature of the Mosaic covenant was its promise of blessing and cursing (as in Leviticus 26). God promised to bless a generally obedient Israel, and curse a generally or significantly disobedient Israel. When Balaam noted that God had not observed iniquity in Jacob nor has He seen wickedness in Israel, it was a way to say “Therefore, under God’s covenant with them, they will be blessed.” For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel: This was a strong and direct way for God to say to Balak (and Balaam), “You can’t curse Israel. Your sorcery can have no effect.” Instead of being defeated by sorcery or divination, Israel was like the lion that will devour its prey.

Balak was very frustrated and essentially said, “If you can’t curse them, then at least don’t go and bless them!”

Balaam is again presented as corrupt, but not a false messenger or prophet. Balaam’s greed and corruption were not a good example. Balaam simply could not shape God’s message to please his audience. (Guzik)

A person can study Scripture for years and gain much knowledge about them. They can quote them, hang them on the walls in their homes, and even make some decisions about how they interact with others based on them. It is not about knowing scripture but rather knowing Jesus Christ the redeemer and savior of which scripture speaks. Without this godly wisdom, all of the knowledge of scripture is fruitless in a person’s redemption. A person may know of Jesus through scripture but they do not know Him. They may know He is the Son of God, Lamb of God, Redeemer, Savior, and coming again King but they do not know Him. They have not seen the need for this savior. They have not seen their sin. They have lived in such a way that for all practical reasons, they are a great person void of vises others fall prey to. Yet their heart is void of Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Don’t get me wrong, knowing God’s Word, feeding on His Word, desiring to be taught by His Word so that you might live in such a way that continues to grow in a fuller understanding and knowledge of God’s grace, mercy, and love so that you will honor and glorify Jesus Christ in thought, word, and deed – this is not only good but beneficial to our faithful walk to eternity in heaven.

47.y. “Wilderness” – 12.d. “Balaam refuses to come with us.”

Num 22:7 So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message. And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. And God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.” So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”

Immediately, the heart of Balaam was revealed. Though he was obviously a man with significant spiritual gifts, he was not a man with a genuine heart after God. He was “seeking God’s will” regarding something that was plainly not His will. Balaam began on a dangerous course – entertaining, planning, setting his heart on something he knew to be sin, and looking for a spiritual excuse to pursue the sin. Because of his love for money, Balaam tried to manipulate God into granting him a special exception. God had no obligation to respond to a greedy, self-seeking heart like Balaam’s. But in mercy God did respond, warning Balaam to have nothing to do with these men. Balaam did know these were evil men who had come for an evil purpose – to hire a prophet – but Balaam did not act accordingly. (Guzik)

If Balaam had been a true prophet and a faithful servant of Jehovah, he would at once have sent the messengers away and refused their request, as he must then have known that God would not curse His chosen people. But Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness. This corruptness of his heart obscured his mind, so that he turned to God not as a mere form, but with the intention and in the hope of obtaining the consent of God to his undertaking. And God came to him in the night, and made known His will. (Keil)

When we know God’s Word and it is clear on right and wrong, and yet, we try to come up with a way to lessen our sin or tolerance of what is wrong, we fall into a path that will allow human reason and logic to cloud the Word of God. We do well to stand firm against taking part in any plans that we know are not of God, God-honoring, being an example for others to follow, or that cause us to lose unity within our fellowship with other believers. Just because we are weak in our understanding and knowledge does not give us room to play in the realm of what is wrong in God’s eyes.

4.i. “To keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Nehemiah 13:1 On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.

Psalms 119:9    How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Psalms 119:11    I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Proverbs 6:23    For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

James 1:27   Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

“As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.” Do you ever wonder what the state of mind is in those who hear and act on God’s word? We know from earlier in Nehemiah the people were floundering in their walk with God. A small number (40,000 – 50,000) had been allowed to return to their homeland. Jerusalem was in ruin and the people were spread out in other towns and villages of Judah. They all did what seemed right to them at the time. They were harassed by the surrounding people, they had to establish new fields for grain, pastures for flocks, homes to live in. They had to repopulate. In all of this activity, they seemed to have gotten caught up in, this led to them forgetting about serving, honoring, glorifying, following, and obeying God. Then Ezra the scribe and priest was sent and what he saw and heard about, he called out the sin of the people. He read the Book of the Law to them and had it explained so that the people had an understanding of what it meant to honor, follow, and obey. Their heart, mind, and soul were open to hearing the word and they confessed their sin and committed to retiring to honoring, serving, following, and obeying God’s Law. We must remember that there had been 70 years of captivity so many of these people returning were second and third generation from those who initially rejected God’s Law. In captivity there would have been no temple worship, no reading from God’s word, and much exposure to foreign gods and practices. It can be understood why they did what seemed right in their own eyes because they were void of God’s Word.

What is our excuse? What possible reason do we have? We have not been forced into captivity or had the Word of God removed from us. We have not been forced to live apart from God’s temple or forced to stop worshiping God. And yet, we choose to live as we have been. We neglect God’s Word, we are complacent at best in our service, and our heart, mind, and soul are deaf to the leading His Word would give us. When our heart, mind, and soul, has chosen to be in captivity of the influence of the world we will only be able to do what seems right in our own eyes. We will only be doing what seems right by the standards and expectations of the culture we live in. To break the chains of captivity our heart, soul, and mind must change. An intentional choice must be made in our hearts to seek and desire God’s word with the single purpose of honoring, serving, glorifying, following, trusting, and obeying Jesus Christ. We must want to hear God’s Word speak into our life for this single purpose above all of the things this world has to offer. In this heart, mind, and soul-deep commitment we will find that when we hear God’s Word leading us we will immediately act on it accordingly.