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Thursday, January 14, 2016

Bible Lesson: Parables Of The Old Testament: Balak Admonishes Balaam To Curse The Israelites

Bible Lesson: Parables Of The Old Testament: Balak Admonishes Balaam To Curse The Israelites

Bible Texts: Number 23/24 KJV

Numbers 23:1-30 KJV
1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.
2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.
3 And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure The Lord will come to meet me: and whatsoever He sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place.
4 And God met Balaam: and he said unto Him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.
5 And The Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.
6 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom The Lord hath not defied?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
11 And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.
12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which The Lord hath put in my mouth?
13 And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
14 And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
15 And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet The Lord yonder.
16 And The Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.
17 And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath The Lord spoken?
18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:
19 God is not a man, that He should lie; neither The son Of Man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?
20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel: The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of A King is among them.
22 God brought them out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.
23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!
24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.
25 And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
26 But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that The Lord speaketh, that I must do?
27 And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
28 And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward jeshimon.
29 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.
30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

Numbers 24:1-25 KJV
1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased The Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
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.
3 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
4 He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of The Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!
6 As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which The Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.
7 He shall pour the water out of His buckets, and His seed shall be in many waters, and His King shall be higher than Agag, and His kingdom shall be exalted.
8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: He shall eat up the nations His enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with His arrows.
9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
10 And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.
11 Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honor; but, lo, The Lord hath kept thee back from honor.
12 And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying,
13 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of
The Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what The Lord saith, that will I speak?
14 And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.
15 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
16 He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of The Most High, which saw the vision of The Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
17 I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: there shall come A Star out of Jacob, and A Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
18 And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for His enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly.
19 Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
20 And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.
21 And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
22 Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
23 And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!
24 And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.
25 And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his way.

Balak was a Moabite king, who greatly feared the power and strength of Israel. He tried to procure the services of on one Balaam, a prophet, diviner, one who had a gift of prophecy, to place a curse upon the people of God.

At first, God told Balaam not to go, but upon enticement of riches, and honor, Balaam finally went with king Balak, to see what The Lord would say.

The Lord again tried to influence the prophet not to go.

II Peter 2:12-17 NKJV (Depravity of False Teachers) (Balaam and his donkey Numbers 22:21-41)
12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,
13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,
14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.
15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever

King Balak took Balaam from one altar to another to see if he could curse the people of God, his enemy.

Numbers 23:7 KJV
...Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.

But curse Israel, he could not, but pronounce blessings upon Israel, that he did.

Deuteronomy 32:9,10 KJV
9 For The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.

Psalm 121:1-8 KJV
1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from The Lord, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper: The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

The life of Balaam, itself, became a curse. For though he could not summon a curse upon Israel, through his love of riches, he fashioned a way for King Balak, to yet see Israel cursed.

Numbers 31:14-16 KJV
14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle (Israel fought the Midianites).
15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against The Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of The Lord.

Revelation 2:14 KJV (Christ's warnings to the church of Pergamum.)
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac (Balak) to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel,
  1. to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and
  2. to commit fornication.
Balaam's plan was to lead Israel into for foreign adultery and foods offered to pagan idols.
And it worked, and thousands of Israelites died under The Lord's curse.

Judgment, Numbers 25 (The Moabites)/ Numbers 31 (The Midianites).

And the end of Balaam, the one who loved riches and honor more than the blessings of The Lord.

Numbers 31:7,8 NLT
7 They attacked Midian as The Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men.
8 All five of the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

What was it Solomon wrote....

Song of Solomon 2:15 KJV
"...the little foxes, that spoil the vines..."

Hebrew 12:1,2 KJV
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus The Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of The Throne Of God.

Psalm 19:14 KJV
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer.