Balaam’s Third Oracle
24:1 When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. 2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of God came upon him, 3 and he took up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,1
4 the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
falling down with his eyes uncovered:
5 How lovely are your tents, O Jacob,
your encampments, O Israel!
6 Like palm groves2 that stretch afar,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes that the LORD has planted,
like cedar trees beside the waters.
7 Water shall flow from his buckets,
and his seed shall be in many waters;
his king shall be higher than Agag,
and his kingdom shall be exalted.
8 God brings him out of Egypt
and is for him like the horns of the wild ox;
he shall eat up the nations, his adversaries,
and shall break their bones in pieces
and pierce them through with his arrows.
9 He crouched, he lay down like a lion
and like a lioness; who will rouse him up?
Blessed are those who bless you,
and cursed are those who curse you.”10 And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. 11 Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, ‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the LORD has held you back from honor.” 12 And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 13 ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the LORD, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the LORD speaks, that will I speak’? 14 And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days.”
Balaam’s Final Oracle
15 And he took up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
16 the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
and knows the knowledge of the Most High,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
falling down with his eyes uncovered:
17 I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the forehead3 of Moab
and break down all the sons of Sheth.
18 Edom shall be dispossessed;
Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.
Israel is doing valiantly.
19 And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion
and destroy the survivors of cities!”20 Then he looked on Amalek and took up his discourse and said,
“Amalek was the first among the nations,
but its end is utter destruction.”21 And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said,
“Enduring is your dwelling place,
and your nest is set in the rock.
22 Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned
when Asshur takes you away captive.”23 And he took up his discourse and said,
“Alas, who shall live when God does this?
24 But ships shall come from Kittim
and shall afflict Asshur and Eber;
and he too shall come to utter destruction.”25 Then Balaam rose and went back to his place. And Balak also went his way.
Footnotes
[1] 24:3
Or closed, or perfect; also verse 15
[2] 24:6Or valleys
[3] 24:17Hebrew corners [of the head] (ESV)
Category: Scripture
Balaam’s First Oracle
23:1 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, 4 and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. 7 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“From Aram Balak has brought me,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
and come, denounce Israel!’
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?
9 For from the top of the crags I see him,
from the hills I behold him;
behold, a people dwelling alone,
and not counting itself among the nations!
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part1 of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!”11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” 12 And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
Balaam’s Second Oracle
13 And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.” 14 And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD over there.” 16 And the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” 17 And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?” 18 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“Rise, Balak, and hear;
give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
19 God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
20 Behold, I received a command to bless:
he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
21 He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,
nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The LORD their God is with them,
and the shout of a king is among them.
22 God brings them out of Egypt
and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
23 For there is no enchantment against Jacob,
no divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
‘What has God wrought!’
24 Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up
and as a lion it lifts itself;
it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
and drunk the blood of the slain.”25 And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” 26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the LORD says, that I must do’?” 27 And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert.2 29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
(ESV)
Balaam’s Donkey and the Angel
22 But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. 24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25 And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. 26 Then the angel of the LORD went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” 30 And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”
31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. 32 And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse1 before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” 34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” 35 And the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.
36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, on the border formed by the Arnon, at the extremity of the border. 37 And Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?” 38 Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” 39 Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. 40 And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him.
41 And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.
Footnotes
[1] 22:32
Or reckless (ESV)
Balak Summons Balaam
22:1 Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. 2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. 4 And Moab said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River1 in the land of the people of Amaw,2 to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. 6 Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
7 So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message. 8 And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. 9 And God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” 10 And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, 11 ‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” 12 God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” 13 So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.” 14 So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”
15 Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. 16 And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, 17 for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’” 18 But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more. 19 So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.” 20 And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” 21 So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.
(ESV)
Categories
Going Deeper
Joshua (1.13.24)
By the end of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible covering the Creation Era, the Patriarchs Era, and the Exodus Era), Israel has been brought into the blessing of covenant relationship with the Lord and has become a great people, but they remain outside the Land of Promise, on the plains of Moab. Now, after so many years of wandering, Joshua, the “new leader of God’s people,” is ordained to lead God’s people into the land, take it, and divide it among them as their inheritance from the Lord.
In chapters 1-5, we see Joshua take the lead position and give a charge to the people to obey God in all things—to study His Word and to follow His guidance. The Lord said to Joshua this in His charge:
Joshua 1:7-8 “… be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
We, too, can hear these words and remember the vital importance to study and know God’s word, so we have guidance in our lives for all that God has for us.
Next, God uses a faithful outsider, a prostitute named Rahab, to help His people escape the enemy. Then He guides them to the Jordan and makes way for them to cross on dry land by parting the waters like He did at the Red Sea. The Lord our God is truly our great guide. My prayer is for you to look to Him and His loving word, the Bible, and the counsel of the Holy Spirit for guidance in all you do in your life.
The book of Joshua closes with the Israelites settling in and finally enjoying rest. The people are, more now, faithful to God in their service to Him, which is the center point of Joshua’s farewell to the leaders of God’s people. In this, Joshua urges the Israelites to continue to follow the Lord and worship Him alone. “So be very careful to love the Lord your God” (Joshua 23:11), and “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve … But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). The people had seen God deliver them from many enemies and miraculously provide for all their needs, but they were prone to wandering from the Lord.
This is a great reminder to us today. Even though we may have experienced God at work in our lives, we, too, must continually renew our commitment to obey Him above all other authority and to worship Him alone.
Now, I want to take a closer look at one passage found in Joshua 5 verses 13-15. Let’s look at it together:
Joshua 5:13-15 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
- The holy Lord: Who God is and why it matters
Joshua is out by himself, and he looks up. What is he doing? Forty years before, the Israelites are out of slavery and headed back to their ancestral land, and their ancestral land is now occupied by another people. This means if they are going to get it back, there is going to be a fight. So, just like we still do today, before marching in, they sent in spies or scouts to survey the enemy to see what they are up against.
All but two of the scouts said, “We will never overcome those huge fortified cities. We are going to die in there.” The only two who had confidence they could do it were Joshua and Caleb. Because the people rebelled against God and showed Him no confidence, God sent them back out into the wilderness for 40 years, until a new generation was ready to follow a now older Joshua, who had been put in charge after Moses’s passing, into battle to claim the Promised Land.
Now, he is standing outside the huge fortified walls of Jericho on the eve of their attack, and it is clear that the other scouts were right about one thing: The Israelite people did not have any amount of needed resources to take that city by human effort. Only with God’s mighty divine provision and power would they be able to conquer the fortified walls of Jericho. He is out there, most likely, seeking God for his battle plan, because Joshua knows his own plan is already defeated.
He looks up to find that he is not alone but lingering in the shadow is an unknown man with a drawn sword! Now, when a man is in your space with a drawn sword, it’s probably not to offer you shade. So, Joshua draws an immediate line and asks, “Are you for us or against us?” Meaning, “If you are for our people, you will bow before me as your leader, or if you are for the enemy and you have your sword drawn, it’s about to go down.”
The stranger’s response is unique. He says, “NO!” in verse 14. What he means is “neither.” What he is saying is, “You are asking the wrong question. I am the commander of the army of the Lord. (YHWH). The question isn’t am I for or against you; the real question is, ‘Are you for or against me?’”
Realizing who this is, Joshua falls to the ground in worship: “And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, ‘What does my lord say to his servant?’” (Joshua 3:14). Israelites did not worship other men, nor did they worship the created angels. They only worshiped God! Joshua knows whose presence he is in.
Joshua 3:15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
What is cool about this is that it is a very similar interaction that God had when He called Moses at the burning bush. Just like the burning bush, this mighty warrior is both breathtaking and scary all at the same time. This is a picture of God’s holiness.
My question for you today is do you get the holiness of God?
The holiness of God is His unmatchable majestic, perfection, and purity.
If you do, then you will fall face down before Him. Why?
- Because you have nothing to offer that comes close to matching Him.
- Because you are so stained with impurity in your sin in the brightness of His perfection.
When Isaiah sees God high and lifted up and the seraphim cry out to God in song shouting “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD God almighty,” Isaiah’s response is, “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips.” What is so profound about this is that for Isaiah, he was a prophet and preacher, and his lips were what he was most proud of. But in the presence of God, he admits his best attribute is garbage compared to GOD.
We need to get the holiness of God. We need to come face to face with how unmatchable He is, how perfect He is, how pure He is, how mighty He is! Why? Because only in light of this will you and I see who we really are in His shadow. Only then do you and I really begin to see our sin. Because if you just look to your fellow man to see how you stack up, you will look hard enough to find people that make you feel good about yourself compared to them. This is why man’s love affair with the old adage, “I am a good person,” is so damning! Because compared to man, maybe that is true, but compared to the holiness of God, it is a laughable lie.
We need to see the holiness of God so we can see the fullness of our sin.
We need to see the depth of our depravity so we can feel bad about ourselves.
Many tragically miss this clarity of our sin in light of God’s holiness and in doing so they miss the good news! We need to see the depth of our depravity in light of the holiness of God, so we see our need for one thing: the cross of Jesus Christ!
2. The holy servant Lord: What Christ did and why it matters
The only thing big enough to mend the enormous gap that rightly separates me in my sin from God in His glory is the cross.
Praise God for the cross of Jesus Christ!
Only when God reveals Himself to you and shows you His unmatchable majestic perfection and purity—His holiness thereby revealing your utter wickedness and weakness in sin—only then will you fall face down before Him and lay your deadly doing down and worship Him. Only then will you realize that by no effort of man will you ever conquer the fortified walls of your life that keep you from the Promised Land.
The mercy of God on His elect is the source of all our praise. Why? Because He should have righteously taken out His sword of justice and cut off our guilty heads. But He didn’t! God’s people needed delivering, so God became human! In this encounter between Joshua and the man holding up his sword, who is the man holding the sword—this commander of the Lord’s?
Alec Matier says that only the angel of the Lord God can come among people safely. The angel appears as a merciful accommodation whereby the Lord can be present among a sinful people. But, if He were to go among them Himself, His presence would consume them.
So, the angel of the Lord is that mode of divinity whereby God can keep company among sinful people. Does that remind you of anybody? There is only one other in the Bible who is both identical with and also distinct from God. One who, without abandoning the full essence and prerogatives or diminishing the divine holiness of deity, is able to accommodate Himself to the company with sinners. One who, while affirming the wrath of God, is yet a supreme display of His out-reaching mercy. The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament can be appreciated only if we understand him as a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ Himself.
This is the grace of God, who sends His Son to take the sword for His people so that we can have His holiness and therefore watch the walls of sin crumble at our feet, so we can march into the Promised Land and forever feast with the King! This is the good news of the holy Lord!
Genesis 3:24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
The sword of eternal justice: The only way back to God is to pay the ultimate price. The only way back to God is to go under the sword. To be “at one” with God, we needed atonement. The spotless Jesus was crucified! He was the one who was able to take on the sword for His people.
In John 17:19, Jesus says, “I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”
God shows up, and Joshua is rightly scared and full of reverence before God, and what does he get up and do? He leads his people in great courage up to the wall. And what do they do? They don’t lean on the power of man, on their best laid plans, or great tools of war. No. Joshua walks them around while blowing trumpets, so when the walls fall down, the One who receives all the praise is only God Himself. Joshua is the Christ-like servant leader that faithfully surrenders to His God and obediently serves his King. Like Joshua, we can faithfully surrender to our God and obediently serve our King in the battle in which He has put us.
3. His holy servants: Who we can be in Christ and why it matters
Two things:
- To be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God
- To be different than the world
To be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God
Why does Joshua need to take off the sandals? In Leviticus, there was holy use and common use. The difference was things that were used exclusively for God were holy, and things used for man were common.
“I will serve you if …”
Do you realize anytime you give God this ultimatum, you are highlighting the fact that it is not really God you are serving or living for, but it is the things you want Him to give you? The “if” is the rival against God for your greatest affections. But God will have no rivals. His first commandment is “Have no other gods before me.” If you have “ifs” that you put between you and God, you are placing conditions on Him.
The life of a holy servant means you are wholly devoted to Him—not partially devoted. “Partially devoted” is an oxymoron.
To be different than the world
When understanding the word “holy” in the Bible, it often means separate. It is separate than other things used for common things. It is set apart. This means holy people will be different than the world. Why was the early church so revolutionary in the Roman dominant culture in which they lived? Why was the gospel so transforming in that day? Because their faith was truly radical!
Four big areas we can see how they lived very different than the world around them:
- Integrity: In a lie-to-advance-yourself culture, they were honest to a fault.
- Sympathy: In a quick-to-shame-the-guilty culture, they were for forgiveness.
- Chastity: In a live-loose-and-hedonistic culture, they were faithful to sex only within marriage.
- Generosity: In an acquire-wealth-and-success culture, they were recklessly open-handed in sharing what they had.
May we be people of holiness. May we hold high the worthiness of God, not just in our praise of Him, but in the way we live our lives for Him.
By His grace and for His glory
Joshua “Shepherd” Kirstine
Soldiers For Jesus MC
Chaplain Council
SFJbible.com