Book Of Numbers Chapters 21:10-25:9_The Doctrine Of Balaam

Num.21:31 So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.  

Num. 21:35 So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.

Numbers 22:1-41 Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho. ² Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, ³ and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites. ⁴ The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, ⁵ sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said: “A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. ⁶ Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.” ⁷ The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said. ⁸ “Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the Lord gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him. ⁹ God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: ¹¹ ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’” ¹² But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.” ¹³ The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” ¹⁴ So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.” ¹⁵ Then Balak sent other officials, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. ¹⁶ They came to Balaam and said: “This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, ¹⁷ because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.” ¹⁸ But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God. ¹⁹ Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the Lord will tell me.” ²⁰ That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.” ²¹ Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. ²² But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road. ²⁴ Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again. ²⁶ Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. ²⁷ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. ²⁸ Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” ²⁹ Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.” ³⁰ The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” “No,” he said. ³¹ Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. ³² The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. ³³ The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.” ³⁴ Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.” ³⁵ The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials. ³⁶ When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. ³⁷ Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?” ³⁸ “Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.” ³⁹ Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. ⁴⁰ Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him. ⁴¹ The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.

In Moab, King Balak took the prophet Balaam up to a high place called Bamoth Baal and told him to curse the Israelites. Balaam first offered fourteen sacrifices on seven altars and met with the Lord (Num.23). He then declared the message God gave him: a blessing on Israel: Numbers 23:8 How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced? (4Vs blessing)
King Balak upset that Balaam had pronounced a blessing on Israel rather than a curse, but he had him try again, this time from the top of Pisgah (Num. 23:14). Balaam sacrificed another fourteen animals and met with the Lord. When he faced Israel, Balaam again spoke a blessing: Numbers 23:20 “I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it”  (7Vs blessing)

But the king decided to try one more time, taking Balaam to the top of Peor. Again, Balaam offered fourteen animals on seven newly built altars. Then Numbers 24:2 “the Spirit of God came on him and he spoke his message”.       The third message was not what the Moabite king wanted to hear: (7vs blessing) Ends with: Numbers 24:9b “Blessed is he who blesses you, And cursed is he who curses you.”
Balaam’s three prophecies of blessing on Israel infuriated the king of Moab, who tells the prophet to go back home with no reward: Numbers 24:11 “Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded”.

Before he left, Balaam gave the king four more prophecies. In the fourth prophecy, Balaam foretold of the Messiah: Numbers 24:17-19 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth. ¹⁸ Edom will be conquered;  Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. ¹⁹ A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.” This passage is a beautiful prophecy of the coming Messiah. The Messiah will eventually rule over all nations that surround Israel. (Red Heifer-Serpent-Rock)

5,6,7 were prophecies against Israels enemies as well. Balaam’s seven prophecies were seven blessings on God’s people; and it was God’s enemies who were cursed. (why Balaam bad?)

Balaam was a wicked prophet. Although he was a wicked prophet, he was not a false prophet. Balaam did hear from God, and God did give him true prophecies to speak. However, Balaam’s heart was not right with God.

Balaam figured out a way to get his reward from Balak. Balaam advised the Moabites on how to entice the people of Israel with prostitutes and idolatry. He could not curse Israel directly, so he came up with a plan for Israel to bring a curse upon themselves. Balak followed Balaam’s advice, and Israel fell into sin, worshiping Baal of Peor and committing fornication with Moabite/Midian women.

Numbers 25:1-3 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, ² who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. ³ So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

Numbers 25:4-9 The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.” ⁵ So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.” ⁶ Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷ When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand ⁸ and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; ⁹ but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

(It doesn’t say anywhere we read it was Balaam who recommended this)

Numbers 31:16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. 

When the frontal assault failed, Balaam took a back-door approach.
Balaam’s name and story became infamous, and he is referred to several times in the New Testament.
DESTRUCTIVE DOCTRINES

2 Peter 2:15-17 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.

THE SIN AND DOOM OF UNGODLY PEOPLE

Jude 1:11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

TO THE CHURCH IN PERGAMUM

Revelation 2:14,16 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. (16) Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Putting these truths together gives us a clear picture of the doctrine of Balaam.

The doctrine of Balaam is not only a serious problem, but a devious one.

It is the attitude that we can somehow be a friend of the world and still serve God.   James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.    (Submission to God)(FENCE-LAO-3)

The doctrine of Balaam teaches compromise, tricking Christians into forgetting we are called to be separate and holy. The doctrine of Balaam makes believers indistinguishable from the unbelieving world. (LIGHT)

The doctrine of Balaam is the belief that “a little sin” doesn’t hurt, especially if there’s some financial or personal benefit involved.

A person following the doctrine of Balaam is willing to compromise their beliefs for the sake of economics, popularity, money, sexual gratification, or personal gain. It’s the attitude that treats sin as “no big deal.”

Christians can’t—and shouldn’t—totally shun the presence of sinners or unbelievers because it’s those people we are trying to reach with the Gospel, but we are obligated to stand up for TRUTH, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND GOODNESS, regardless if it’s what other people want to hear or not.

Satan’s tactics today aren’t all that different. Since he cannot curse God’s people directly, he will use the back-door approach, and greed, idolatry, and sexual immorality are his go-to temptations.   (Lust of the eyes, Lust of the flesh and the Pride of Life)