Balaam

Numbers 22-25

            Chronologically, somewhere between the end of chapter 20 and the beginning of chapter 21, we jumped to the end of Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness. They are now approaching their promised land, and the nations that stand in their way are starting to fall. We have read of the fall of Arad, Sihon, and Og, who all occupied territory south and east of what we know as the promised land. In chapters 22-25, we meet Balak, king of Moab. He experiences a reversal of Israel’s attitude 40 years ago. Then, Israel feared the nations; now the nations fear Israel.

            Not wanting to face Israel in battle Balak contracts with Balaam, some sort of practitioner of dark magic. Balaam knows the name of the God of Israel (Lord), but he is no believer. It is telling that the word “God” appears in Numbers a little over 30 times and 20 of them are in these chapters. In contrast, the name “Lord” occurs over 350 times in Numbers, 24 of which are in these chapters. The generic word “God” indicates that Balaam is no monotheist, much less a worshiper of Yahweh of Israel. He is a man who will use any and all religions for his own purposes and gain.

            The Lord confronts him and lets him go about his business, but only if he will speak blessings on Israel. So seven times, despite his best intentions, Balaam blesses Israel instead of cursing them. Finally, Balaam, who really wants this payday, tries a different tactic: he enticed them into adultery and idol worship. (There is a strong connection between sexual immorality and the religions of that region. Many of those cults used shrine prostitutes, so literally immorality led to idolatry.) We don’t find out that the scheme was Balaam’s until much later; his responsibility is clearly stated in Revelation 2:14.

            In the Catechism we speak of God’s enemies as the devil, the world, and our sinful self. In this case, the Lord protected Israel from the devil (represented by Balaam’s magic and divination) and the world (Balak’s hiring of Balaam), but the Israelites’ own base desires led them to sin.