One True God

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I have friends who will say they are “keeping their fingers crossed” over a situation, but nothing is effective except prayer to a heavenly Father. (James 5:16) Some will pray to saints, Mary, even the Devil, but our only intercessor is the Lord Jesus. (Isaiah 53:12) There is no other way to knowledge, peace, faith, and comfort than the one True God. We will see today that Balaam the false prophet is hearing from the One True God but also dabbling in the occult, as if God needed help. 

Balaam’s third oracle begins in Numbers Chapter 24.  Balak, Moab’s king is not giving up on his quest for a means of victory over Israel.  He is acting out of fear.  The future of his country is depending on him.  However, as in the first two messages, God continues to give Balaam a message of blessing.  Before this third oracle, it says that Balaam did not resort to divination this time as he had in the past.  Divination is seeking wisdom from an inanimate object.  In these times, Moabites may have used the liver from one of their sacrificed animals to try to find a message from a god.  (NIV Application Commentary) Or they may have tried to interpret other omens and take a message from an everyday occurrence like a superstition.  This practice borders on witchcraft and is expressly forbidden many times in the Bible.  

“God spoke authoritatively to his chosen people through Moses.  What Moses wrote was God's revealed will.  It was the only access they had to true information about their relationship to things hidden from normal means of learning (general revelation).  Moses wrote: "The secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29).  The word "occult" means secret or hidden knowledge.  Divination is any practice not specifically ordained in scripture that seeks to gain secret knowledge (i.e. spiritual knowledge God has not revealed).  God purposely limits His people's access to such spiritual knowledge for their own good.  That which is outside of "the things revealed" is not for us.  Why?  Because there are spirit beings out there who have been practicing the art of deception for many thousands of years.  They are good at what they do.  If we dabble in their world we will be deceived.” (http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/dangersofdivination.html) 

The elders of Moab brought the divination fee to Balaam in Numbers 22:7. The Bible says that the sin of divination is like rebellion and adultery like the evil of arrogance. 1 Samuel 15:23.  Deuteronomy 18:14 says that the nations Israel will drive out practice divination and listen to those who practice it.  God says His people are not permitted to practice divination.  They have God and His Word; this is where they need to seek wisdom, guidance and direction. 

Numbers 24 says Balaam did not resort to divination this time and he saw the whole nation of Israel in the wilderness.  Saying Balaam did not resort to divination this time indicates that he was putting on a show of examining the organs of the sacrifices and looking for signs from other gods before the other two oracles.  God still gave him a message for Balak in spite of these acts of rebellion.  A pagan or unbeliever cannot discern that there is only one True God and therefore tries to appeal to all the gods. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Balaam and he spoke an oracle that again blessed the Israelites. This spirit is a spirit of prophecy and does not indicate indwelling as today’s Christians enjoy.  In the Old Testament, the Spirit would come upon a man but that did not mean he was a Christian. 

The oracle begins with Balaam talking about himself as one whose eyes see clearly, who hears the Word of God and “sees a vision from the Almighty.” (Numbers 24 verses 3-5) “As Saul had his experience on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), so Balaam had his experience on the road to Moab. In both cases there was a revelation. In the case of Saul, it was a revelation to grace; in the case of Balaam, it was to judgment.  In both there was the protection of the true people of God by those who wished to do them harm.” (Expositor’s Commentary p. 905) 

Then Balaam praises Israel in this oracle. He again talks about how God delivered Israel, how they have the strength of an ox and how they are like lions and lionesses (strong, majestic, no predators). Then, in the second part of verse 7, Balaam talks about Israel having a king.  

Here is a prophecy of Israel having a king.  God is their king right now, but in 1 Samuel 8, the nation of Israel asks for a king so they can be like other nations.  “David reigned over the twelve tribes, descended from Joseph and his brother ‘stars,’ [see Genesis 37] which comprised a multitude as numerous as the stars.” (NIV Application p. 712) 

King Balak is so angry after this third oracle, that he tells Balaam to go home and says he will not pay him anything.  He tells Balaam that he could have gotten great riches.  Balaam probably regrets this but knows that God kept him from cursing Israel. Even if Balaam had pronounced curses on Israel in rebellion to God, God would not have listened. (Joshua 24:9-10) 

God says he would not listen to Balaam.  This could indicate that, although God spoke blessings through Balaam, it was Balaam’s desire to meet the king’s needs and deliver at least one curse. After Balaam was dismissed by king Balak, he delivered four parting oracles.  These oracles are unsolicited, free of charge, flowing from a mouth under God’s control. Balaam’s fourth oracle tells Moab of a scepter from Israel that will crush Moab and Seir. So now Balaam is blessing Israel and cursing Moab.  Balak is not even recorded as saying anything. He is probably beside himself. 

Because of other Scriptures about Balaam that we looked at before and will look at more in-depth next week, we can infer that Balaam really wanted to curse Israel and earn a monetary award from the king of Moab. Balak’s anger is roused toward Balaam for blessing instead of cursing but Balaam had no control over this circumstance. Balak told him to leave. He is disgusted with the situation. We have the full story and know that God protected His people and frustrated these two men who learned that money cannot buy everything.