The Curse of Balaam
I think I have actually been sore from my workouts yesterday. But today has been a fairly good day. I attended a funeral mass for the 46 year old husband of the COO of Northern Colorado Rehabilitation Hospital. He was killed suddenly in a motorcycle accident last Friday. The Priest did an excellent job in his personal remarks to the family. To me it provided a sense of comfort, reassurance, perspective and hope. I believe we find it to be true, “when our eyes are turned toward Jesus, the things of earth grow strangely dim…”
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…. “…Ammonites and Moabites did not give you bread and water when you came out eof Egypt. And they hired Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor in Northwest Mesopotamia, to put a curse on you. But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam. He turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you….” Deuteronomy 23:4,5 NCV “The Israelites killed many people during the fighting, including Balaam of Beor, who tried to use magic to tell the future.” Joshua 13:22 NCV
The story about Balaam is an interesting one. We read the full account in the Book of Numbers. The Moabites feared Israel due to their size and reputation, so they hired a sorcerer to be a curse on them. Balaam told them he won’t go, then they offered him more money and he told them, the Lord told him to go. And then we find the unusual account of Balaam’s donkey talking to him, because they donkey could see the angel of the Lord blocking his path. (Numbers 22-23)
Even though Balaam said he could only speak “what the Lord told him” I believe what he said even surprised him. His last oracle seems to point to that, “This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of a man who sees clearly…” (Numbers 24:15)
However, what Balaam did not do with his words, he did with his advice. The Moabite women lured the Israelite men to a feast to worship their god and they engaged in sexual activity with the women, bringing on them God’s judgment. As a result, we see the Lord giving instructions to His people on how they were to deal harshly with the Ammonites and Moabites in the future.
What is interesting is, this sin seemed to be one that haunted God’s people for years to come. In the Book of Revelation we see these word to the Church at Pergamum, “But I have a few things against you: You have some there who follow the teaching of Balaam. He taught Balak how to cause the people of Israel to sin by eating food offered to idols and by taking part in sexual sins.” (Rev. 2:14)
We don’t know exactly what Balaam told Balak, but we can see the results. Balaam was successful in placing a curse on God’s people. Not by his words, but by luring them through deceptive practices that made them vulnerable to disobeying the clear instructions of the Lord.
What are we to conclude? I would propose that as people of faith, we can understand the blessings of the Lord that are ours. We have the Lord’s promises and He is faithful to bring them to pass. But God’s promised blessings can be thwarted by our own vulnerabilities and temptations.
In writing to the Corinthians, Paul encourages them to be forgiving of a disciplined church member and then cautions them as to why their response is important, “…that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” (2 Cor. 2:11)
Even in doing the right thing, we can be vulnerable to the schemes of the “enemy.” This causes us to be on guard and focused on living our life in a way to experience the fullness of the life of blessing the Lord has for us.