“Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites. The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, ‘This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.'”-Numbers 22:2-4
The people of Moab are literally quaking in their boots because of what Israel had done to the Amorites.
It was pretty evident there was no way they were going to be able to stop Israel in a direct military conflict.
But what to do?
If it wasn’t possible to stop Israel via earthly or natural means, they had no choice but to stop them via SUPERNATURAL means.
Thus, they had to find a way to call on the gods to turn the odds in their favor.
Enter the sorcerer Balaam.
Balaam must have been quite a well known and highly regarded magician if he was the first one who came to mind when Balak was brainstorming what to do about the Hebrew problem.
Let’s go over some profile info about this character who was so famous among the ruling nations in the area at the time.
First, Balaam was a gentile and his occupation was that of a seer, diviner and/or sorcerer.
And just like Abraham, he hailed from Mesopotamia and lived in an area known as ARAM.
Aram is about 12 miles from CARCHEMISH and is near the Euphrates River.
Aram was a land with a fully developed mystery religion system possessing a pantheon of pagan gods.
Now here’s what’s interesting and remember it was the same for Abraham as well.
Even though Balaam was living in a land teeming with pagan deities, for whatever reason and we’re not told why, Balaam knew the God of Israel.
Again, it was the same with Abraham.
Abraham was also living in an area steeped in idol and false god worship.
Yet for whatever reason, when HASHEM called him, we’re told he accepted the call without questioning.
And let’s also not forget that before HASHEM called him, Abraham was a gentile.
But let’s get back to Balaam.
We’re going to find as we move forward that Balaam is sometimes portrayed as an evil person and sometimes as a righteous person.
I’ll be honest with you, when I was a young kid and first read this story, I had always thought that Balaam was one of the good guys because ultimately he ended up blessing Israel and seemed as one who not only knew HASHEM but respected Him and was to a degree determined to obey Him.
At the time, I had not considered that here we have a man who was known as a diviner and apparently his skills as a sorcerer were so renown that Balak had decided to hire him to take care of the “Israel problem” on his borders.
Also, in other parts of the Torah, a quite different picture of Balaam is unveiled.
Check out this snippet from Numbers Chapter 31.
“They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. 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 31:7-8
Or how about these verses from Deuteronomy 23?
“No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you”-Deuteronomy 23:3-5
Hmm, not exactly flattering picture is painted in these verses I would say.
In Deuteronomy 23, notice it says “they hired Balaam” to work his magic against the Israelites.
The idea is also expressed that had God not stopped him, Balaam had every intention of cursing Israel.
Conclusion: Balaam couldn’t have cared less about Israel.
He only ended up blessing Israel because he feared for his life if he went against this powerful God of the Hebrews.
Balaam was just a profit seeker.
He was a hired gun only interested in looking out for number one, meaning himself.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
First, Balaam was a gentile and his occupation was that of a seer, diviner and/or sorcerer.
Again. I repeat no where in bible scripture did YHWH every call Balaam and now Abraham a gentile, these men were decendents of Shem, shemites, not Japth ( father to the gentiles)
And let’s also not forget that before HASHEM called him, Abraham was a gentile.
Abraham was not a gentile either, lol, most if not all the world worshiped idols that’s why the the Isrealites were created to be the priest of the world and bring Adam seed to YHWH!
Even though Balaam was living in a land teeming with pagan deities, for whatever reason and we’re not told why, Balaam knew the God of Israel.
Abraham didn’t know God at first no different than Moses, but Balaam knew the Lord because most likely He was a profit still or before for the Lord, Samuel was also call a seer, which is a profit!
That nothing new to the True Hebrew’s of the biblue some worship YHWH in front of the congeration AMD behide closed doors their worshipping baal behide closed doors. The book of Ezekiel talks about this when YHWH took him through walls and showed him this.
You seem to be familiar with the book of Deuteronomy, then study, 28, (blessings and curses for disobedience ) 30 ( return back to me with all your heart and all your soul and I will return back to you, the Hebrew’s, but they must all do this, entire tribe of Israel not just Judah and Israel but the entire tribe must turn back with all their heart and all their soul everyone, before YHWH will help them.
Deuteronomy 32 where it states and the remembrance of Israel will be no more erase of of man minds! AMD a Stupor was placed on the true Hebrew’s minds having no idea who they are, spoken by Paul in Romans!
Thanks for the comment. Although I appreciate you sharing your thoughts, I don’t think I would agree with all of your points.
In calling Abraham a gentile before HASHEM called him, I’m basically saying the following:
FIRST PREMISE:
God has divided the world into two groups: Hebrews and non-Hebrews or gentiles.
SECOND PREMISE:
When God first called Abraham, there was no Hebrew nation in existence.
CONCLUSION:
At the time, Abraham was a non-Hebrew or gentile.
Also, consider Esau. He had the EXACT SAME FATHER AND MOTHER as Jacob, yet is he considered a Hebrew?
No, right? Hence, even though Esau has the exact same father and mother as Jacob, he is also considered
a gentile. It’s all about a declaration from God.
And of course, I totally disagree with your statement that Balaam was a prophet before God.
No he wasn’t. He was diviner or sorcerer selling his services for cash.
He was a pagan prophet out for profit.
Shalom.