Overflow Daily...ish: Balaam’s Curse

11 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.” 12 And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
Numbers 23:11–12

Interestingly enough, when most people think about Balaam they do not actually think about Balaam. Nope, they know the name, but immediately they are reminded of Balaam’s donkey. This is quite the unusual story and one filled with irony because the seer could not see, but his donkey could. This account is not ironic only in this sense, but also due to the fact that Balak, the king of Moab, has hired Balaam to curse the people of Israel, but in the end the Israelites are blessed by Balaam.

Balak knows that whoever Balaam blesses will be blessed and whoever he curses will be cursed and is hoping to escape the fate of the kings of Sihon and Og (Num 22:6). But this is all in vain because the Lord turns these curses into wonderful blessings for the people of Israel by pronouncing their greatness of numbers and how the Lord is their king who keeps them from disaster (23:7-10; 23:18-24; 24:3-9).

And this is especially comforting to the believer, knowing that we serve a God who is unchanging. He is the same God of the Old Testament, maintaining the same perfect righteousness, faithfulness, and love as He has had before. The God who will not just preserve His people during internal struggles with personal sin, but is able and willing to protect His people from external threats, to include threats they are unaware of.

But there is one more point I would like us to consider in this account. David Dockery summarizes it as such,

What Balaam could not do, however, Israel’s own base inner impulses could and did do. While in the plains of Moab, they came upon the licentious cult of Baal at Peor and soon were attracted to its allurements. Only the zeal of Phinehas, son of the high priest Eleazar, prevented wholesale apostasy. With his spear in hand, he slew the ringleaders of the affair. Thus he brought atonement, but not before thousands of his fellow Israelites perished in a plague sent by God.

Lest we fall into the trap of thinking that God will do everything and we are not required to work out our salvation in fear in trembling, let this be a lesson. While God will be faithful, we are to be faithful to Him as well. It is a conscious act, by His grace, that we are to abide in Him.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alex

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