“[false prophets] having eyes full of adultery that never
cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed,
accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having
followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of
unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute
donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.”
(2 Peter 2:14–16, NASB95)
Balaam is most well known in Deuteronomy chapter 22-24 for
the incident when Balak the king of Moab had called upon Balaam who practiced
divination or was a false prophet (Joshua 13:22) who God confronted to be His
worker of blessing on the people of Israel. It was on the way to this first
encounter with Balak that the angel of the Lord (or a manifestation of the Lord
Himself) appeared to Balaam’s donkey, even speaking through the donkey to get
Balaam’s attention. Balaam was incensed and repeated struck it when his donkey
would not move past the angel of the Lord with sword in hand. Even when the
donkey spoke Balaam did not figure out that something bigger was going on. We
read, “And the Lord opened the
mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you
have struck me these three times?” Then Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you
have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have
killed you by now.” The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which
you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so
to you?” And he said, “No.”” (Numbers 22:28–30, NASB95)
It was not until the next verse that he gets the real
picture. “Then the Lord opened the
eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord
standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way
to the ground.” (Numbers 22:31, NASB95) In showing Himself to Balaam, the angel
of the Lord told Balaam, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times?
Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was contrary to me.”
(Numbers 22:32, NASB95) In response to this Balaam admitted his sin. Through
the next couple of chapters, the king of Moab instructed Balaam several times
to curse the people of Israel only to have Balaam bless them instead. The
encounter afterward went like this each time: “Then Balak said to Balaam, “What
have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have
actually blessed them!” He replied, “Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”” (Numbers
23:11–12, NASB95; see also 23:25-26; 24:10-14). With each we have recorded for
us an oracle given by Balaam. After the last one we read, “Then Balaam arose
and departed and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way.” (Numbers
24:25, NASB95)
At this point we would think that Balaam, who had been a
false prophet, might have seen the light and changed his ways. But with the
very next verse we read, “While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to
play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the
sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So
Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the Lord was angry against Israel.” (Numbers 25:1–3, NASB95) So,
what did this have to do with Balaam? This is where the history and context of
Scripture helps to fill in some of the blanks.
As we begin Deuteronomy chapter 31 Moses was instructed by
the Lord to avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. In verse 8 we see
part of the list of those who were slain. “They killed the kings of Midian
along with the rest of their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the
five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.”
(Numbers 31:8, NASB95) And verse 9 tells us who they let live. “The sons of
Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle
and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered.” (Numbers 31:9,
NASB95) This sounded like a merciful thing to do, but there was more to the
story. Moses would confront his officers for not doing as they were instructed
with these words, “Have you spared all the women? “Behold, these caused the
sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the
plague was among the congregation of the Lord.””
(Numbers 31:15–16, NASB95) Evidently Balaam’s encouragement was at the heart of
their turning. Balaam had been used by God, but Balaam’s heart had not been
changed and he returned to his false ways which ended not only in his death by
the death of many others.
Just as we read in the verses that Balaam never ceased from
sin, so it is true for other false prophets who entice unstable or easily
swayed people to walk in their ways. In Acts 13:6-11 we read of another false
prophet Bar-Jesus:
“When they had gone through the whole island as far as
Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus,
who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man
summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the
magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the
proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled
with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, and said, “You who are full of all
deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will
you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? “Now, behold, the
hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a
time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about
seeking those who would lead him by the hand.” (Acts 13:6–11, NASB95)
Bar-Jesus and Paul were going head-to-head in speaking to
the Sergius Paulus. Paul was presenting the word of God and the magician tried
to turn him away. Then we read that Paul turned his attention to Bar-Jesus,
rebuked him for his deceitful and fraudulent ways, and spoke a judgment from
the Lord that he would lose his sight or a season, which is exactly what
happened. The good news found in verse 12 is, “Then the proconsul believed when
he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.” (Acts
13:12, NASB95)
The presence of evil is real. False prophets are abundant.
But God’s Word is the best response and His Spirit makes it effective to
restrain evil and open eyes and change hearts such that men are amazed and people
believe and are saved.
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