Balaam the prophet

[Kaatje]

It's a strange story. A fortuneteller who says true things, but is still a false prophet. A talking donkey. And God seems to change His mind several times. What's up with that?

The people of Israel are approaching the Promised Land. They politely ask for passage through the territory of the Edomites and the Amorites, but in both cases they are refused and then attacked. Israel defends itself, and then conquers their territories.
Balak, the king of Moab, sees them coming and panics. What can he do? Militarily he is no match for Israel. Perhaps the magician Balaam can come and place a curse on the Israelites? Balak sends people to get Balaam. They bring a huge reward.

But God has already informed Balaam that he is not allowed to go, because the people of Israel will be blessed, and not cursed. So Balaam politely declines, and assures Balak's men that it is not a matter of money. But is that really true?

Balak sends a new delegation, of even higher rank, and with even more wealth. Balaam then pleads with God – "Are you really against my going?" Then, strangely enough, God relents. He gives Balaam permission to go, but only to say what He tells him. So Balaam goes.

But then he is stopped by the Angel of the Lord. The donkey refuses to go any further, and explains why. With words. God does not want Balaam to go. Balaam says, “Then I won't go.” But then God again gives Balaam permission to go on.
Balaam goes to Balak, but he cannot say anything negative about Israel, and blesses them three times!

God said: Don't go with them! Do not curse them, for they are blessed!” (Numbers 22:12)

God blesses Israel and protects them from curses and invocations of evil. He does not deviate from that.
But… there is the issue of free will. God has made His will known to Balaam, but He still gives Balaam permission and freedom to act against His will.

Here God shows not only to Balaam, but also onto us, what He really wants in the situation. Balaam gets the message and offers to go back, but he doesn't really want to. And that's the point.
What we want, our desires, are extremely important to God. Even if they go against His will.
God will not take away our freedom, He gives room to our choices. God loves us and invites us to surrender to Him. But He will not force us. He gives us permission to make our own choices, but make no mistake: God's ultimate plans and purposes will not be thwarted.

Balaam's desire to get the riches was granted, but in the end the nation of Israel was blessed and not cursed, just as God said.

 

[Quantrill]

It's a strange story. A fortuneteller who says true things, but is still a false prophet. A talking donkey. And God seems to change His mind several times. What's up with that?

The people of Israel are approaching the Promised Land. They politely ask for passage through the territory of the Edomites and the Amorites, but in both cases they are refused and then attacked. Israel defends itself, and then conquers their territories.
Balak, the king of Moab, sees them coming and panics. What can he do? Militarily he is no match for Israel. Perhaps the magician Balaam can come and place a curse on the Israelites? Balak sends people to get Balaam. They bring a huge reward.

But God has already informed Balaam that he is not allowed to go, because the people of Israel will be blessed, and not cursed. So Balaam politely declines, and assures Balak's men that it is not a matter of money. But is that really true?

Balak sends a new delegation, of even higher rank, and with even more wealth. Balaam then pleads with God – "Are you really against my going?" Then, strangely enough, God relents. He gives Balaam permission to go, but only to say what He tells him. So Balaam goes.

But then he is stopped by the Angel of the Lord. The donkey refuses to go any further, and explains why. With words. God does not want Balaam to go. Balaam says, “Then I won't go.” But then God again gives Balaam permission to go on.
Balaam goes to Balak, but he cannot say anything negative about Israel, and blesses them three times!

God said: Don't go with them! Do not curse them, for they are blessed!” (Numbers 22:12)

God blesses Israel and protects them from curses and invocations of evil. He does not deviate from that.
But… there is the issue of free will. God has made His will known to Balaam, but He still gives Balaam permission and freedom to act against His will.

Here God shows not only to Balaam, but also onto us, what He really wants in the situation. Balaam gets the message and offers to go back, but he doesn't really want to. And that's the point.
What we want, our desires, are extremely important to God. Even if they go against His will.
God will not take away our freedom, He gives room to our choices. God loves us and invites us to surrender to Him. But He will not force us. He gives us permission to make our own choices, but make no mistake: God's ultimate plans and purposes will not be thwarted.

Balaam's desire to get the riches was granted, but in the end the nation of Israel was blessed and not cursed, just as God said.

It is a difficult part of Scripture without a doubt. But to me, not because the donkey spoke. The Serpent spoke in (Gen. 3:1).

The difficulty to me lies in whether or not Balaam was a prophet of God. You indicated he was a 'fortuneteller' and a 'false prophet'. But was he?

Balaam always indicated he could say nothing against what the LORD was telling him. (Num. 22:13) (Num. 22:18) (Num. 22:35) (Num. 22:38) (Num. 23:5,9) etc. etc.

And throughout this event Balaam never gave a false prophecy.

My opinion is this. Balaam was not a false prophet. He was a true prophet of God. His error, his perverse way, (Num. 22:32), was seeking gain through his being a prophet. He was a prophet seeking a profit. And his later advice to cause Israel to sin was not false prophecy, but trying to gain favor with Balak and the Moabites. It was his counsel that was perverse. (Num. 31;16) And that cost him his life. (Josh. 13:22)

My opinion.

Quan trill

 

[Kaatje]

The difficulty to me lies in whether or not Balaam was a prophet of God.
And throughout this event Balaam never gave a false prophecy.

You are absolutely right. Everything he prophesied was thruth.
Because God wouldn't let him say anything else.
But still, he was an enemy of God and his chosen people.
He couldn't curse God's people with his words, but he certainly did with his deeds.
He advised Balak to seduce the Israelites into tresspassing unto God.
His ultimate aim was to destroy them for earthly gain.

If we apply Gen. 12:3 we could say that God cursed him for cursing Israel.
I would respectfully maintain, that even though his words were true, it didn't make him a true prophet.
(The donkey spoke truth also, without being a true prophet )

And let's read the text you quoted, (Josh. 13:22), his obituary as it were.
Here, he is refered to as a "man who practiced diviniation", and not as a prophet.

Ultimately, we might call him a "true" prophet, but not so much of God, but more against God?

 

[Quantrill]

I agree with what you said. He is a complex individual for sure. And he certainly was against Israel and God when he counseled what he did.

His position as a prophet would be one outside of Israel as this was his first encounter with Israel. His conversations with God show, to me, that he was familiar already with God. Much like that with Melchizedek who Abram met, who was greater. All the promises were now in Abraham. Yet there was a Melchizedek before Abraham and Israel.

In (Josh. 13:22) either Balaam or Beor is called a 'soothsayer'. But they certainly wouldn't carry the title of a prophet as that was for Israel. Joseph used the same term divine describing himself. For as yet there was no Israel.

Quantrill

 

[Quantrill]

I forgot to give the verse showing Joseph used the term 'divine'. (Gen. 44:15)

Quantrill

 

[Kaatje]

I forgot to give the verse showing Joseph used the term 'divine'. (Gen. 44:15)

Quantril

The difference between the two is, that Joshua (through the Holy Spirit) called Balaam a man of diviniation, while in Joseph's case, it was the thought of an Egyptian man, what he thought of Joseph.

 

[Quantrill]

The difference between the two is, that Joshua (through the Holy Spirit) called Balaam a man of diviniation, while in Joseph's case, it was the thought of an Egyptian man, what he thought of Joseph.

That is true in (Gen. 44:5). But in (Gen. 44:15) it is Joseph himself who professes the ability to divine. "And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?"

Quantrill