The Old Testament records various deeds of Balaam, whose name is mentioned three times in the New Testament emphasizing the importance this man had in the Old Testament largely because of the error he made in repeatedly asking God whether or not it was the will of God for him to go to the place of Balak, to curse the children of Israel. God had clearly told him not to go, but he repeatedly asked him if he could go. He was testing the Lord if He could yield to his desires. The children of Israel were a blessed nation and God himself identified his name as the Holy one of Israel. The children of Israel are blessed; and who would venture cursing the blessed children of Israel? God made a covenant with Abraham that he will bless Abraham, and whoever blessed him God will bless Him, and whoever cursed him God will curse him. God called Israel as his first born. Genesis 17:7-9 records how firm God’s covenant with Abraham was. “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee...”
Who could change God’s covenant or who could tempt him to change his plans of blessings on Abraham and his posterity? Was not Balaam deliberately heading for curse to fall upon him? The Jews called upon themselves punishment when Jesus was about to be crucified. They voluntarily asked for the blood of Jesus to rest upon them, and God granted them their desire, eventually their suffering was enormous. Historians record how greatly Jews suffered in AD 70. Here Balaam was inviting curse for himself by working against God’s covenant with Abraham and his seed. Balaam connived with his conscience and compromised his values to earn worldly wealth. His desire to make money had gone to the extent of going with the men of Balak, the son of Zippor.
Balak had Balaam fall in to his subtly laid trap of glimpses of worldly wealth that he promised to pay to him if he had cursed the children of Israel, who conquered nations and were forging ahead to defeat Moab, where he was the King. The error that Balaam made appears to an ordinary believer as obedience to God, but in fact the subtle way he yielded to the temptation of worldly wealth at the cost of his decision to curse Israel was too much to ignore. True, it appears that God told him to go and he went. True, it appears that he was going to pronounce what God wants him to do, but the error he made was not indeed an obedience to God or God’s word but his way of making God to yield to his desires. In one of the verses in the Old Testament his true character is portrayed. “...through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord...” (Numbers 31:16)
Balaam was known as an influential person, whose blessings brought blessings and whose curses brought curses upon the people and he should have known that the children of Israel were blessed. These blessings were the result of the covenant God made with Abraham. The children of Israel had journeyed from Egypt until the close proximities of their destination, Canaan. God led hem all through their journey and was there with them providing them heavenly food and battling on their behalf with their enemies. He redeemed them from the bondage of slavery under Pharaoh and made them to walk on the dry land in the midst of the Red Sea by parting the sea into two, while he drowned Pharaoh and his mighty armies in the Red Sea waters that came upon them immediately after the children of Israel completed slow walk on the dry land in the midst of the Red Sea. He was their light and shade in their journey. He was their rock of refuge in all their battles and made bitter waters sweet for their drink. He gave waters from the rock when Moses hit it with thread that God blessed.
Continued: Please click here to read Part - III
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