Throughout the ages, donkeys have been labeled with the characteristic of being stubborn animals. However, in today’s Scripture passage we’ll be looking at someone who was much more stubborn than any donkey, a man named Balaam. In fact, it was his donkey who was more attentive to the Lord, and who saved his life. Stubbornness was only one of the faults of Balaam, as he was a false prophet, was greedy for money, and was also willing to join with the enemies of God and God’s people.
As a quick background to our Scripture account today, the Israelites had left captivity in Egypt and were enroute to the Promised Land. Balak, the king of Moab was afraid that the Israelites would pass through his country and possibly overthrow them, so he sent for the false prophet Balaam, to call forth curses on them (Numbers 22:1-7). In past ages people strongly believed in the power of the spoken word, and both curses and blessings were taken very seriously. Balaam was a practitioner of the occult, and knew of the true God, Yahweh, knew His voice when he heard it, but was not a believer or follower. When Balak’s messengers came, God specifically told Balaam not to go with them, nor to curse the Israelites (Numbers 22:8-14). However, when Balak offered him great riches, Balaam was willing to disobey the voice of God, and go with (Numbers 22:15-20).
God told Balaam that if he was so set on disobeying God’s command, he could have his way, but that he was not to utter a single word except what God told him to. Are there times when we know what God wants us to do or not to do, but we are so stubborn and set upon having our own way, that we won’t listen to Him? Sometimes God lets us have our own way, knowing we will fall flat on our face in a mess of trouble. Balaam was too greedy for money that he disobeyed what God had initially said (II Peter 2:15-16; Jude 1:11). Sometimes we are so blinded by our own desires, whether for money, power, prestige, or love, we won’t listen to God, either.
Balaam saddled up his donkey and left to go assist King Balak of Moab against God’s people (Numbers 22:21-35). Because God knew that his motives were completely wrong, He grew angry at Balaam and sent an angel with a sword into his path. Balaam’s donkey was more in tune with God than Balaam was, and she saw the angel. She knew enough to turn aside and not proceed on this foolish journey. Three times she turned aside, and three times Balaam beat her until finally God opened the donkey’s mouth to speak and reprove him. God spoke again to Balaam, severely warning him to not speak a word against His people, except what words He alone gives him to speak. Let’s be sure that we never become so stubborn, hard-hearted, and greedy that God has to use drastic measures, such as a donkey speaking to us, to get our attention!
Balaam spoke four messages that were blessings from God to the Israelites, and not curses. In the second message we read a promise and statement that God has made to all of us, telling us that He is not a man like us, and He does not, and cannot, speak lies (Numbers 23:19). What He says is true. He is completely reliable and dependable. When God says something, He will do it. People that we know are often unreliable. God is reliable and unchanging. God keeps every promise that He makes. He will never deceive us, never disappoint us. God will never change His mind about what He has said. His Word will always come to pass.
In Balaam’s fourth message God gave him a prophecy that is connected with Christmas (Numbers 24:17). This is a portion of prophecy which predicted the coming of the Messiah, and a star which would signal His birth. This is probably the prophecy that the Magi were familiar with, and when they saw the special star, it led them to seek out Jesus, who is also known as the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16).
As we conclude our study of Balaam, we find that he came to a tragic end due to the sins in his life. After these events we read about today, Balaam led many in Israel into apostasy (Numbers 31:16) by casting a stumbling block to lead them to sin by eating things sacrificed to idols and committing fornication (Revelation 2:14), which eventually led to his death.
Though Balaam’s life shows that God can use anyone to fulfill His plans, he serves as a warning that God evaluates our motives and our actions. He had heard the voice of God a number of times, yet never truly turned to Him, or give his life over to Him.
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I pray that you have enjoyed and benefited from these Bible meditations that I have written for this blog. I hope you will prayerfully consider donating as the Lord might lead you. This blog is not run through a large ministry with a wide funding base. I am an individual with limited financial resources. Thank you and God bless.
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