“How am I to curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How am I to denounce
those whom Adonai has not denounced?
From the top of the rocks I see them,
from the hills I behold them —
yes, a people that will dwell alone
and not think itself one of the nations.”
-Numbers 23:8-9
Where we last left off, Balaam had just slaughtered the sacrificial animals and their carcasses are now burning on the altars.
Balaam tells King Balak to wait besides the smoking altars as he goes to have a word with the God of Israel.
When Balaam reports that he has sacrificed on the 7 altars, the Lord doesn’t reply.
In fact, He completely ignores Balaam’s attempt at appeasement here.
This makes sense because God didn’t command Balaam to perform any sacrifices.
God simply responds by instructing Balaam exactly what he is to say when he returns to King Balak who is anxiously waiting by the seven altars at the mountaintop with high expectations that Israel will be cursed.
Unfortunately for King Balak, he’s in for a big disappointment.
When Balaam returns to King Balak, he pronounces the following:
“How am I to curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How am I to denounce
those whom Adonai
has not denounced?”
Here Balaam is reiterating what he had already told Balak, that it is not possible for one to put a supernatural curse on that which God has blessed.
Upon hearing that, King Balak must have popped a blood vessel.
But it gets worse (from Balak’s prospective that is).
Balaam then goes on to prophesy a prosperous and glorious future for Israel.
Note the words, “Who has counted the dust of Jacob or numbered the ashes of Israel?“
This is basically a reiteration of God’s first promise to Abraham that his descendants would multiply as the sands of the sea.
However, there is another interesting thing Balaam says and it marks a revolutionary change from this point on.
Take a good look at verse 9.
“From the top of the rocks I see them,
from the hills I behold them —
yes, a people that will dwell alone
and not think itself one of the nations.”
I want you to pay close attention to what I’m about to share with you here.
In the original Hebrew, it says, an AMMIM will dwell alone and not think of itself as one of the GOYIM.
Note those two words: AMMIM and GOYIM.
Actually, I want you to burn those two words into your brain because the theological implications are tremendous.
From this point forward in Scripture, AMMIM will be the Biblical term used to refer ONLY to God’s chosen people (which is only and will always only be Israel)…
…and….
all the other folks on the planet, in other words, those NOT belonging to Israel will be called GOYIM.
An incredible linguistic transformation has just taken place at this point in Scripture.
Up until now, the word GOYIM has just meant “nations” in the general sense and could have included Israel.
However, from now on, the word GOYIM will be a term that will only refer to the non-Hebrew nations.
From this point on and for all eternity, the word GOYIM can NEVER be applied to Israel.
Wanna know why the United Nations is so hostile to Israel?
I think it’s because divine providence has established what we’ve just learned right here: that Israel is NOT part of the nations!
So separated does HASHEM see His Chosen People from the rest of humanity, that He has decreed that the word “nation” shall no longer apply to them.
How interesting and ironic that God chose a gentile sorcerer to proclaim this FACT to the whole world!!!
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