Israel’s numbers had grown way too much so Balak, King of Moab, spoke with the leaders of Midyan and decided to hire a prophet to come and curse Israel to drive them out of the land.
So off the messengers go.
Numbers 22:4 Balak the son of Tzippor was king of Mo’av at that time. 5 He sent messengers to Bil‘am the son of B‘or, at P’tor by the [Euphrates] River in his native land, to tell him, “Listen, a people has come out of Egypt, spread over all the land and settled down next to me. 6 Therefore, please come, and curse this people for me, because they are stronger than I am. Maybe I will be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land, for I know that whomever you bless is in fact blessed, and whomever you curse is in fact cursed.” 7 The leaders of Mo’av and Midyan left, taking with them the payment for divining, came to Bil‘am and spoke to him the words of Balak. 8 He said to them, “Stay here tonight, and I will bring you back whatever answer YHVH tells me.” So the princes of Mo’av stayed with Bil‘am.
9 God came to Bil‘am and said, “Who are these men with you?” 10 Bil‘am said to God, “Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo’av, has sent me this message: 11 ‘The people who came out of Egypt have spread over the land; now, come and curse them for me; maybe I will be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” 12 God answered Bil‘am, “You are not to go with them; you are not to curse the people, because they are blessed.”
13 Bil‘am got up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Return to your own land, because YHVH refuses to give me permission to go with you.” 14 The princes of Mo’av got up, returned to Balak and said, “Bil‘am refuses to come with us.”
15 Balak again sent princes, more of them and of higher status than the first group. 16 They went to Bil‘am and said to him, “Here is what Balak the son of Tzippor says: ‘Please don’t let anything keep you from coming to me. 17 I will reward you very well, and whatever you say to me I will do. So please come, and curse this people for me.’” 18 Bil‘am answered the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of YHVH my God to do anything, great or small. 19 Now, please, you too, stay here tonight; so that I may find out what else YHVH will say to me.” 20 God came to Bil‘am during the night and said to him, “If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you.”
21 So Bil‘am got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Mo’av. 22 But God’s anger flared up because he went, and the angel of YHVH stationed himself on the path to bar his way.
In this story of Balaam we see a bit of a confusing exchange between Balaam and Abba.
At first, Balaam is told not to go. Then he’s told to go but say what Abba says. So he goes, then God gets angry with him and sends an angel to stop him. Then the angel tells him to go ahead:
34 Bil‘am said to the angel of YHVH, “I have sinned. I didn’t know that you were standing on the road to block me. Now, therefore, if what I am doing displeases you, I will go back.” 35 But the angel of YHVH said to Bil‘am, “No, go on with the men; but you are to say only what I tell you to say.” So Bil‘am went along with the princes of Balak.
So what does God want here?
I think the real question is: what does Balaam want here?
Let’s see if we can play closer attention to how this all transpired.
The men arrive with payment and a request to curse Israel. Balaam tells the men to stay the night with him and he will see what Abba says on the matter.
God tells Balaam plainly: “You are not to go with them; you are not to curse the people, because they are blessed.”
Balaam then tells the men of Moab and Midyan: “Return to your own land, because YHVH refuses to give me permission to go with you.”
So they go back and tell Balak exactly that. So Balak sends even more impressive men and basically tells him to name his price.
And in an indirect way, he does. A palace full of gold and silver.
So here Balaam sits. Abba told him not to go and he knows that. But the price has just gone up to. He has a blank check and all he has to do is speak poorly of these people wandering around the desert.
Think about yourself right now. How many people do you speak poorly of -- for free? How many people do you curse -- for free?
Now imagine someone would give you a palace full of gold and silver to do what you’re already doing. You’d call that “blessed,” right?
Enough of us, let’s get back to Balaam.
The second round of men are now with him, he tells them to stay again, and he would consult YHVH a second time.
Abba tells him: “If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you.”
(note: This word “summon” properly means “to call out” and it has a wide variety of applications. So there is a vague reference here that appears to allow for wiggle room depending on how you want to interpret it. “So, Balaam, if you are being forced to go to the king, then go. But you are to only say what I tell you to say.” Was Balaam being forced to go? Maybe. Or maybe he wanted that to be the case.)
You now have this king that clearly has a high status in the region sending messengers to Balaam twice as if he’s demanding his presence.
“Fine,” Abba says, “you can go but only say what I tell you to say.”
Notice what happens next, though. Balaam just wakes up, saddles his donkey and goes off with the princes of Moab. He never once says to these high ranking officials that he would not curse the people of Israel. Afterall, that’s why they are there.
So Balaam lets the men assume he’s coming to curse the people and never corrects the men. Besides, if he goes he’ll get paid, right?
Balaam’s intentions may have been to say what Abba told him to say but he never communicated that with these men. He led them to believe the curses were coming or else they never would have brought Balaam to the king.
Now, because of his silence, God gets angry.
And it took an encounter with an angel and talking donkey to shake him into repentance. Even though he “technically” didn’t do anything wrong, he deceived people into thinking he’d be ok with doing something wrong. And that’s wrong.
He then repents and tells the angel he’ll go back “if what I am doing displeases you.”
The angel sends him on but again warns him to only say what YHVH tells him to say.
So he goes to Balak.
Here’s this man standing before A king of the earth and THE King of the Universe.
Think of the inner battle happening right now within Balaam. He knows what he’s to do but how do you go about telling the powers in the earth what God told you to do?
He should have spoken boldly to Balak and told him Abba would not let him curse them right then and there. This would have put an end to the charade and each man would have gone their own way.
But even in this moment, he craftily answers Balak, “Here, I’ve come to you! But I have no power of my own to say anything. The word that God puts in my mouth is what I will say.”
Even now, he’s still letting Balak believe he will curse the people. Even after his donkey spoke to him. Even after his close encounter with death in the tight space. Even now, he’s still not willing to speak boldly the truth Abba has given him.
He even goes so far as to have Balak build altars and make burnt offerings. Still Balak is being deceived.
Balaam then goes off on his own to talk with Abba and comes back to pronounce the blessing over Israel.
After all of that has gone on from the return of the first messengers, only now does Balak know what Balaam has known all along.
Sure, Balaam was ultimately obedient but look what he had to go through to get there. He could have avoided a lot of grief had he just been honest with himself and those men back in Aram.
Now back to us.
From time to time, we will be presented with an offer that seems too good to be true. We pray and perhaps get a check but the second pressing always carries more value. We think about all the good we can do with the additional money or high position. If we are blessed then we can bless others.
And because we set our treasure in this space, our heart quickly turns.
When our heart is deeply connected to the treasure, Abba then turns us over to it. There are stipulations, though.
Since you’re going to do it anyway, at least do what he says and say what he tells you to say.
But this isn’t easy, is it?
The powers you are sidled beside have a very different vision and they expect you to execute that vision. I mean, they are paying you good money to do it. They have given you authority but you must operate within that authority they have established. It’s because of their resources you get to enjoy a comfortable life.
But we put lipstick on this pig and say that this is all Abba’s doing. I mean, you’re blessed, right?
So what do we do? Why are we here?
There seems to always be a battle between knowing what Abba says and what we desperately want for ourselves.
The question is, which one wins?
Since temptation is so effective, we tend to go for the things we want over the things Abba wants.
We even seek “confirmation” by asking people to pray whether to move forward with that thing we desire. And oddly enough, we take the responses that align with our vision and ignorantly call that divine.
But maybe Abba is speaking in a still small voice.
Can you hear Him despite all of the noise? Can you quiet yourself enough to hear His word to you?
So what do you do? Why are you here?
Despite what seems logical, it is not to be blessed.
We are here to bless His people.
Do you?