Today we begin Numbers Chapter 24.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.
For the King James version, click here.
Numbers Chapter 24 represents the 3rd and final oracle that Balaam utters in his attempt to curse Israel.
However, during this 3rd time, we notice a difference in both Balaam’s attitude and speech.
Balaam is beginning to realizing that this God of Israel is unlike any other deity he’s dealt with before.
As a result, Balaam ceased his divinations and stopped looking for omens.
Let’s take a look at verse 2.
“And Balaam lifted up his eyes,
and he saw Israel abiding in his tents
according to their tribes;
and the spirit of God came upon him.”
-Numbers 24:2
Up until now, the Lord had been literally putting His own Words in Balaam’s mouth but now we’re told that the Spirit of God came upon Balaam and then he spoke using his own words.
Can you see the difference?
In the first two oracles, the words Balaam spoke were the exact words directly from the mouth of HASHEM Himself.
However, in this third oracle, Balaam is speaking his own words under the illumination of HASHEM’s Spirit that rested upon him.
The reason I bring this up is because this third oracle is a lot like the speeches and teachings of the apostles in the New Testament.
The words the apostles spoke were still their own words but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The point I want to make is that the words the apostles spoke were NOT the specific and pure undiluted words of God as if HASHEM Himself was literally whispering into their ears when they taught.
But what they taught did reflect SOUND GODLY PRINCIPLES even if the words and phrases themselves came through the filter of their culture and personalities.
And of course Yeshua who we’re told received the Spirit beyond measure spoke in such savvy-astonishing ways, his listeners were left spellbound with their jaws dropped.
Yeshua was especially gifted in transcending the unexplainable through parables that made heavenly truths understandable for those who had open hearts and “ears to listen” as he often said.
Again, the reason I bring this all up is because I feel it is wrong to dissect Paul and Peter’s every word as if they were direct quotes from HASHEM Himself.
They were not.
Their words and teachings were given within certain contexts and within a certain culture.
To think that one could lift their words above and beyond the context and culture in which they were speaking is to commit an error that has led to all of the many denominations currently existing in Christendom (About 40,000 now? Heck, I can’t even count anymore.)
Rabbi Shaul (otherwise known as the Apostle Paul among the gentiles) had a big job on his hands when he began his missionary work.
When speaking with the Jews, he had to defend himself and explain to them that the advent of Yeshua did NOT mean the Law had been done away with, but that instead Yeshua had elevated the meaning of God’s instructions to an even higher and heavenly plane.
And when approaching the gentiles, he had a totally different challenge on his hands altogether.
Trying to explain God’s instructions to a gentile or someone who did not have the cultural benefit of growing up among God’s people would be like trying to explain calculus to a 6th grader.
Paul tried his best but he had to sometimes perform incredible feats of verbal gymnastics to properly explain what the coming of the Messiah meant, what exactly is salvation, and how we should live our lives etcetera.
In closing, just understand this.
Many of the Old Testament prophets (like Balaam in his first two oracles) literally had HASHEM’s divine words placed into their mouths.
However, with Paul and the apostles in the New Testament, they spoke their own words but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
There is a difference.
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