Learning To Listen to God

Balaam – Disaster on a Donkey

•Money Talks!

•What is the price Satan must pay for our disobedience?

•Is it extremely high?•Or very low?

•Not all that glitters is gold…

•Not every price is money.•Sometimes it’s pleasure.•Or power.•Or fame.•Or love.

•An enigmatic Bible figure

•Today, let’s focus on Balaam, son of Beor

•Let’s consider his disaster before God because of his love for money and power.

•Was Balaam a prophet?

•Some insist that he was not truly a prophet of the Lord.•He was not of the nation of Israel.•He is apparently a well-known and respect soothsayer, or diviner. He makes his living by “wizardry”.

A little background information:

Numbers 22:5 -- Balaam lived in Pethor, near the River (Euphrates), which was in Mesopotamia.

The people of the area were definitely pagans and polytheists.

His services were sought by the people of Moab and Midian.

See map

Pethor/Euphrates

Midian

Moab

Jericho

•Familial Background

•Moab is related to Israel through Lot and his incestuous encounter with his oldest daughter after Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19:37)

•Midian is related to Israel through Abraham and his concubine Keturah (1 Chronicles 1:31-32)

Balaam has a reputation

Numbers 22:6-7 -- Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed." The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination….

Balaam’s statement:Numbers 22:18 -- But Balaam answered them,

"Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.

When Lust Meets Loyalty

The proposal – Numbers 22:6 -- Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed."

God’s First AnswerNumbers 22:12 -- But God said to Balaam,

"Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed."

God’s first answer: DO NOT CURSE THEM!

The second proposal

Numbers 22:16-17 --They came to Balaam and said:        "This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, 17 because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me."

God’s Second Answer

Numbers 22:20 -- That night God came to Balaam and said, "Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you."

Balaam had good motives but a weak faith

Vs. 18 -- … I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God.

Vs. 19 -- …I will find out what else the Lord will tell me.

When is a donkey smarter than a man?

Vs. 21-34

Was this really a disaster?

The Lord turns all the curses into blessings

Numbers 23:8ffNumbers 23:18ffNumbers 24:3ffNumbers 24:20ff

So what’s the real harm?

Balaam suffered from a love of money

1 Timothy 6:10 -- For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

He put the Lord to the test

Matthew 4:7 – “Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

He was double-minded

James 1:6-8 -- But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

James 4:8 -- Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

The final end of Balaam

Numbers 31:8 -- Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

Numbers 31:16 -- "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people.

Balaam’s Legacy

2 Peter 2:15 -- They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

Jude 11 -- Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.

Revelation 2:14 -- You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.