Time ~ 3. Wandering in the Wilderness
Span ~ 40 years
Books ~ Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
Figures ~ Moses
Begins with ~ Exodus from Egypt across Red Sea
Ends with ~ Entry into promised Land across Jordan
Time ~ 3. Wandering in the Wilderness
Span ~ 40 years
Books ~ Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
Figures ~ Moses
Begins with ~ Exodus from Egypt across Red Sea
Ends with ~ Entry into promised Land across Jordan
While God by Moses God taught the Israelites who were on the verge of taking possession of the promised land, God also counselled the nations in that land through prophets such as Balaam. And just as Moses sometimes let God down, Balaam also fell into error.
The Israelites were God's chosen people. They were going to drive others out of the land of Canaan. However God was not being a respector of persons. The people in those territories were being conquered because they sought what they wanted to hear, instead of seeking God's truth. The Moabites’ silly attitude to what God was saying to them is a perfect example.
Balaam was a prophet of the one true God among them. This story, about what Balaam said to Balak king of Moab, is recorded in Numbers chapters 22-24.
The Bible story of Balaam is “strange yet true”. It is found in Numbers 22, 23, 24. It happened to the Moabites while the Israelite multitude was camped in Moab listening to Moses.
The Moabite leaders, alarmed at the intrusion of the Israelites, called upon the services of one of their diviners, the prophet Balaam, who got his powers from God. Balaam told them what God said. The king pressed Balaam for another message. Balaam gave him none but God's.
Balaam, however, went along with the strategy of pressing the Lord to give godless men the message they wanted. God used Balaam's donkey to convince Balaam that God was not going to bend, and so Balaam apologised to God's angel.
Balaam, for the sake of money, was too easily led astray from God's truth as we see from Num 31:8,16, 2Pe 2:15-16, and Rev 2:14.
On this occasion, however, Balaam kept to God's message. Every time the leaders of Moab asked Balaam to have another go at divining the message they wanted, the Lord gave him a stronger version of the truth. Balaam repeated it faithfully. His attitude was, "I must be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth."
God was prepared to kill Balaam for being too ready to pander to the king of Moab. However, on this occasion, God used the mistreated donkey to spare Balaam's life.
This reminds us that God's own Son was a "lamb" mistreated so that we who have sinned might live and not die. There is some irony in this, because a Moabite woman, Ruth, was later to be so devoted to God and his people Israel, that God allowed her to be an ancestor of David, and therefore of Jesus Christ (Ruth 1:1-22, 4:13-22).