Eyes To See Balaam

Eyes To See Balaam Balaam’s story begins with King Balak and the Moabites being “terrified” and “filled with dread” because the Israelites had settled next to them. Why were they so afraid? Numbers 22:2 says they “saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.” They saw only what the natural eye could see, and naturally concluded that they were the next to suffer defeat at the hands of God’s chosen people. What they did not know was what the eye of faith alone could see in God’s Word – that the Lord had told the Israelites, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land” (Dt. 2:9). One of faith’s great blessings is the ability to know God’s mind – something neither Balak nor Balaam could know. Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel in order to stop an attack that was never to come. And while Balaam sought to curse Israel, every time he tried only blessings came forth. How does the world view Balaam? In 1967, archeologists digging in Jordan (ancient Moab) discovered an inscription celebrating the prophecies of Balaam. For centuries after his death, Balaam was recognized as an agent who could communicate with the gods through sorcery and animal divination (Num. 22:40-41; 24:1). Some still do today. How does the Bible view Balaam? While the archeological discovery reveals that the world saw him as a skilled soothsayer, three New Testament writers condemned him for his wrongdoing. Peter says he “loved the wages of wickedness,” Jude refers to his “error” as greed, and John says that he enticed people to idolatry and sexual immorality (2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11; Rev. 2:14). The Old Testament presents him in a dim light when his donkey is able to “see” the angel of the Lord before Balaam. So why devote our features to someone the Nelson Study Bible refers to as “thoroughly reprehensible ... a paradigm of evil, a nearly satanic figure”? Because, unfortunately, his kind are still around today. By Larry Ondrejack