Parshat Balak – by Raphael ben Levi
For the first time in 4,000 years in May 1948 Israel gained sovereignty and independence in the land of Israel, and to a measure freedom and equality in the Diaspora. It was a miracle of immense proportions and prophetic implications that the majority of believers have ignored or underestimated even to this day. However, in the generation following, the storm clouds of anti-Semitism has steadily returned with a vengeance. Israel stands isolated in the international political arena, is still surrounded by enemies and is the only nation among the 193 within the United Nations whose very right to exist is constantly challenged and placed under threat.
It is in relation to this that we review the attempts of the pagan prophet Balaam to curse Israel alongside its consequences that provide us with a powerful summary of Jewish history and destiny, and more so for the implication for our lives as believers in our spiritual warfare against the enemy.
The opening words of the parsha in ch. 22:2 state that “…Balak [the King of Moab] son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.” (Num. 22:2)
The Amorites were warlike mountaineers and the terms “Amorites” and “Amalekites” are used synonymously for the Canaanites. Their king, Og, is described in Deut 3:11 as the last “of the remnant of the giants” which places them in the class of a hybrid people the same as those the 12 spies (meraglim) encountered earlier when checking out the land of Canaan.
The Amorites were totally decimated when they fought God’s covenant people, this warlike, powerful nation represented by the nephalim, and so the Moabites panicked as the Israelites approached their land and territory: “The Israelites journeyed and encamped in the plains of Moab, on the east side of the Jordan [River] at Jericho. 2 And Balak [the king of Moab] son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 And Moab was terrified at the people and full of dread, because they were many. Moab was distressed and overcome with fear because of the Israelites.”
The pagan nations trembled at the mention of Israel because they knew that none could prevail against them even when they were attacked by a nation represented by giants that could be likened to a David and Goliath confrontation.
When we walk hand in hand in covenant relationship with the living God, the same thing is true. No enemy can stand against us for the Lord God Almighty is our protector and comforter and He is the Judge over all creation to whom every knee must bow. We have this confidence to stand firm against all expressions of evil equipped with the full armour of God no matter how impossible the conflict may appear.
The Moabites, whose King was Balak, (to lay waste) were descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot. Moab was born by Lot’s daughter following the fall of Sodom after she and her sister committed incest with their father. According to the sages, they believed the whole world alongside Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed and humanity would disappear if there was no one to continue it. (Gen 19:37-38) Their actions were, misinformed and godless, that led directly to the formation of the Moabites, a people steeped in evil. Today, they are camouflaged with subtle differences but with the same agenda – to annihilate God’s people and set up a counterfeit kingdom in place of the Kingdom of God through the religion of Islam.
It is interesting that in Judges 3 we read how these same people, the Moabites actually conquered Israel and enslaved them at a later date for 18 years during the reign of Eglon king of Moab. God allowed Eglon to conquer Israel because of Israel’s sins. When we remove God’s covering over our lives we become vulnerable to every form of Satanic attack which has been the downfall of many.
And so, the Israelites had encamped on the borders of their territory, and “…Moab was distressed and overcome with fear because of the Israelites.” Sometimes we underestimate the authority and power we carry as believers and become intimidated by outward appearances – the facts over the reality. What is the reality? Scripture states that one true believer will chase 100 and two 10,000! There is no power in the whole of the universe who can stand against the Most High God, in whom we are His ambassadors. All of creation must bow the knee to Him, to the One whose name is above all names, Yeshua our Messiah for greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world! When we are clothed in the armour of God the enemy must scatter and the demons shudder and flee in all directions! God’s protection will surround us even when we may not be aware of it as was the case here with the Israelites!
The Moabites knew they were powerless against God’s covenant people and in their dismay approached Balaam the hireling and false prophet for help: “Now come, I beg of you, curse this people for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” 22:6
It’s a similar tactic employed by Israel’s enemies in modern times. When they failed to defeat them militarily they used the Balaam approach by seeking to delegitimise (curse) Israel through social media, propaganda and political manoeuvrings (eg. UN, UNESCO, BDS, bribery) and igniting anti-Semitism that is always festering just underneath the surface within the nations.
Ba’al-am meaning, “Lord of the people” came from a ruling Moabite family in Pet-hor, a city in Mesopotamia. It can also mean “Without a people” (‘Bli-Am’) which perfectly described his character. He was someone with an orphan spirit, a loner who separated himself from others, showed no loyalty towards anyone and isolated himself providing his ‘services’ to the highest bidder. He was a ‘mercenary’ ‘without a people’ whose life was characterised by emptiness and greed in an attempt to fill the void. This was his flaw. As the Talmud states, (Sanhedrin 105a) Balaam was a man without loyalties.
And so Balak, the king of Moab, offered Balaam large financial enticements to pronounce a curse upon the Israelites because he understood that what he could not succeed in doing militarily could be achieved by using different tactics. Balaam at first refused, maybe because he knew that if he failed his reputation and livelihood would be ruined. But with greater offers of enticement he agreed because such is the reckless nature of greed and the love of money.
The place where Balaam chose to curse Israel is as significant as the words he spoke. Balaam spoke from a high place, a mountain top where child sacrifices were offered to the pagan god Molech. But God permitted him to speak only blessings over the Israelites to demonstrate that His Divine purposes over His covenant people cannot be reversed. This has been the history of Israel, which has continually vexed and infuriated the nations.
In all of this, God demonstrated His mercy towards Balaam by doing something unprecedented. It’s a story we are all familiar with. On his journey to meet with Balak, Balaam crossed the path where an angel of the Lord stood to destroy him because of his folly. Balaam was spared only by the intervention of a donkey. It is a profound picture of God’s love and mercy for one steeped in evil and sin. No-one is ever beyond the pale in the sight of God while they have breath. Yet, Balaam remained unrepentant and died by the sword leaving behind empty-handed all his accumulated wealth to others and an eternity in Hell. Num. 31:7
What was Balaam’s error? Each time Balaam opened his mouth to curse the Israelites, he found himself instead uttering words of blessing. It was when he discovered that he could not curse the Israelites through a direct approach, he used a different tact by luring them into immorality with their surrounding pagan neighbours. This was his folly that led directly to his death.
Balaam’s notoriety is given much coverage in the New Testament as a warning against the love of money. In Rev 2 the angel of the Lord rebukes the believers at Pergamum: “Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.” (Rev. 2:14)
And in 2Pet, the apostle describes those with the spirit of Balaam who: “…left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness….”
The spirit of lawlessness as described in 2Thes. 2, that precedes the arrival of the Anti-Christ, is manifesting as a contagion that has spread throughout the world. God has called us to “watch and pray” as we await the imminent return of Yeshua. And therefore, we stand firm as we walk worthy of His calling.
God is preparing for Himself a bride, believers who are uncompromising in their relationship with Him who earnestly follow Him and walk in His perfect will and oppose all forms of manifestations of Balaam. The Hebrew word “emunah” is the word for “faith.” But the biblical understanding is better translated as “faithfulness”, a covenantal attribute of God that is a bridal definer of every true believer. Even when in our weakness we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny who He is. (2Tim 2:13) God always provides a pathway for return and restoration and is faithful and just to cleanse us from all iniquity. (1John 1:9)
God’s faithfulness is beautifully defined in the Book of Lamentations: “22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,“therefore I will hope in him.” (ch.3)
Who among us has the courage to run the race of faith, single-minded, without compromise, with eyes firmly focussed upon Yeshua? For now has come the time when we may soon have to choose between the fellowship of His sufferings and the ‘fellowship’ of expediency or self-interest.
In closing, the Late Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks made this statement, “There are people with great gifts, intellectual and sometimes even spiritual, who nonetheless fail to achieve what they might have done. They lack the basic moral qualities of integrity, honesty, humility and above all loyalty. What they do, they do brilliantly. But often they do the wrong things. Conscious of their unusual endowments, they tend to look down on others. They give way to pride, arrogance and a belief that they can somehow get away with great crimes. Bilaam is the classic example, and the fact that he planned to entice the Israelites into sin even after he knew that God was on their side is a measure of how the greatest can sometimes fall to become the lowest of the low.
Those who are loyal to other people find that other people are loyal to them. Those who are disloyal are eventually distrusted and lose whatever authority they might once have had… We follow those we trust, because they have acted so as to earn our trust. That was what made Moses the great leader Bilaam might have been but never was.”
The entire story of Balaam seemed to pop out from nowhere, comparable to the one episode restricted to Luke’s Gospel shared about Yeshua’s childhood. Although it may appear as a random incident with relatively little significance, the very opposite is true. And so it is the same with Balaam.
Everything unfolded without the Israelites having an inkling about what was going on besides Balak, Balaam, and some Moabite princes. If the Israelites had been aware of the danger they were in and God’s sovereign protection over them, they may well not have subsequently fallen into immorality with the Moabite women. It was an insidious trap laid by Balaam who knew that although he could not come against the will of God through cursing the Israelites, enticing their minds into sin was a choice of the people that provided the necessary loophole leading to disastrous consequences.
It is the same for every believer. The Divine covering over us, whether we may be aware of it or not is dependent on us “dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, and abiding under the shelter of the Almighty.” (Ps.91)
The prophet Micah, cautioned the Jewish people to “…remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered,” followed a few verses later with the words: “He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:5, 8).
Our ‘covering’ is enfolded in our relationship with God and our spiritual warfare is intrinsically linked to the fruit as manifested and defined in Gal. 5.
It is an amazing thing that God expressed His love for Israel in the blessings of the false prophet and anti-Semite, Balaam. That is where God gave voice to His love song, “I see them from the mountain tops, gaze on them from the heights: This is a people that dwells apart, not reckoned among the nations.” “Lo, a people that rises like a lion, leaps up like the king of beasts.” “How good are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!” These words that expressed God’s love for His people were God’s not Balaam’s. And that same love, a love that cannot be broken, an eternal love that can never fail, is one that is perfectly reflected in Yeshua:
