בָּלָק
Balak / Destroyer
Numbers 22:2-25:9
HafTorah Portion Micah 5:6-6:8
Brit Chadasha Romans 11:25-32

     “In the path that man wishes to follow, he is led.” Chesbon HaNefesh.
     This parsha opens with Balak, the king Moab realizing the Israelite’s strength. Numbers 22:3 states: ‘…and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites….This horde is going to lick up everything around us as an ox licks up the grass of the field.’
    In Numbers 22:6 Balak sends men to Balaam with a message to ‘come and put a curse on these people because they are too powerful for me’ an apparently effective military strategy of the ancient world. Balaam tells the messengers to spend the night and he will return with the answer that God will give him.
     This is where the test for Balaam begins.  In Numbers 22:9 God asks Balaam who these men were.  God knew who the men were so the question and test was for Balaam.  Balaam tells the messengers he cannot go for the Lord has refused to let him go.  Balak sends a greater caravan with princes and a promise for a reward if he will just come and curse the people.  This is the beginning of Balaam’s failure.
    Balaam feigns righteousness as he answers the princes ‘that even if Balak gave me his palace filled with gold, I could not do anything.’  That should have been the end of the conversation, as God had already told him not to go to curse the Israelites. Yet, Balaam tells the messengers to spend the night and he will find out what God will tell him to do. This was a stalling tactic, revealing Balaam’s true character.
     In Numbers 22:36-37 Balak goes to meet Balaam at the border of his territory and complains ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’ Balak’s impatience is obvious as Balaam had already arrived.   Balak sacrifices cattle and sheep, giving some to Balaam and the princes of Moab. Balaam should have refused the offering of the pagan sacrifice, but he partook.
      God knew the heart of Balaam.  He knew the idols of his heart.  God allowed Balaam to enter into this drama to show the nations that He is always in control, even thru people.
    Are we allowing God to rule our lives or are we pretending to make our own paths. Are we someone’s pawn? Or are we God’s servant.
      Romans 16:18  ‘Such people are not serving Yeshua our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.’
      Peter 2:1 ‘But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.’
      Luke 16:15 ‘He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.’
     Galatians 1:10  ‘For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Messiah.’
     Balak, the king of Moab was following and continued to follow his own practices, his own path. Numbers 24:25 ‘Then Balaam got up and returned home and Balak went his own way.’    
     But prior to these two departing from each other, Balaam offers the fourth blessing from Adonai.  Which is the Messianic promise.  Is it so strange that God would use this prophet for a Messianic promise.
Numbers 24:17-19 “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult. 18 “And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession,
While Israel does valiantly. 19 Out of Jacob One shall have dominion, and destroy the remains of the city.”
     There are many questions about the story of Balak and Balam and the would-be curses that turned into blessings. Was Balaam a true man of God, or was he a fraud, a magician, a sorcerer, a practitioner of dark arts? Did he really have powers to curse?  It is interesting that the entire episode occurred away from the Israelites. No one from their side, not even Moses, was there to witness it. The only witnesses were Balak, Balaam, and some Moabite princes. Would the Israelites have engaged in immorality and idol worship with the Moabite woman had they know how evil the Moabites were?  
      In Joshua 24:9-10, when Joshua came to renew the covenant, he gave a summary of Israelite history, singling out this event for attention: “When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.”
     The prophet Micah, said in the name of God, “My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered  “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
      Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian exile had the Torah read to the people, reminding them that an Ammonite or Moabite may not enter “the assembly of the Lord” because “they did not meet the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.” Nehemiah 13:2.  
     The answer may be in the final oracle of Balaam – The Messianic Promise.

Balak / Destroyer
Numbers 22:2-25:9
HafTorah Portion Micah 5:6-6:8
Brit Chadasha Romans 11:25-32   

     Balak’s name means destroyer or devastator. He thought that by using the prophet Balaam, he could curse the people of God. The curses were meant as a form of evil inclination to bring destruction upon God’s people. 
     On the surface, it might seem that Balaam was obedient to God, cared about God’s people, and was a prophet of God. After all, the famous words, “A star shall go forth from Jacob,” were not spoken by Moses but by Balaam.
      The sages teach that when “God put a word in Balaam’s mouth” (Numbers 23:5) to bless the Israelites, it was like a hook. These words of blessing caused Balaam pain, like a fish getting hooked. The words were God’s, not Balaam’s, and because of his arrogance, he wanted his own words spoken, which led to the four prophecies or oracles. If he were truly of God, he might have stopped after the first prophecy and left Balak, yet he had a desire to curse the Israelites, as we learn from Joshua 24:9-10.
     Numbers 31:16 really shows the evil of Balaam’s character, as it states that he was responsible for encouraging the Moabite women to seduce the Israelite men at Baal-peor. 
         In Pirkei Avot, the disciples of Abraham and the disciples of the wicked Balaam are compared. ‘Whoever exhibits these three traits is a disciple of Abraham our patriarch, and whoever exhibits three other traits is a disciple of the wicked Balaam. The disciples of Abraham our patriarch have a generous eye, a modest spirit, and a humble soul. The disciples of the wicked Balaam have an envious eye, an ambitious spirit, and an arrogant soul.’
     The evil character of Balaam is also confirmed in 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, (a prophet for hire) and Revelation 2:14.  These passages use Balaam as an example of false teachers who prioritize personal gain over God's word.  In Joshua 13:22 Balaam is described as a soothsayer.  Anyone, even an evil character like Balaam, can follow directions or go through the motions of service to God. However, Balaam failed to understand that spirituality and a relationship with the Creator are not achieved solely through external actions, but through faith and genuine love, not only for God but also for His people. Especially, one must know that those actions are not a means for man to control God. 
      Numbers 22:18-19 also reveals the character of Balaam. Was it necessary to inform the servants of Balaak that he wouldn’t take profit?  Why not just say ‘no, I won’t’? But his reply reveals the truth about his inner desire – riches.  He also allowed the second set of ambassadors to stay the night. There was no reason to enquire of the Lord again, for he knew the word of the Lord, but he hoped in his heart the Lord would change His mind. ‘And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, ‘If the men have come to call you, rise, go with the men but only what I bid you, that shall you do’. Numbers 22:20. 
     Before the first prophecy, Balaam is confronted by the angel through his donkey and in Numbers 22:28-29, his arrogance is revealed again. After he beats the donkey, which was protecting him, the donkey opens his mouth to speak and asks Balaam why he beats him.  Instead of pondering the situation – a donkey speaking? – he immediately blames the animal and accuses the animal of abusing him! ‘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?”  And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”
    Another view of Balaam’s presumptuousness is Numbers 23:1, as in the four prophecies, where Balaam, not God, sets the stage and tone for the offerings.  The instructions, as in other offerings to God throughout Scripture, did not come from God but rather from Balaam himself. Balaam communicated his prophecy through his own faculties, through a self-centered outlook.
          Balaam tried to lay waste to God’s people, but God has blessed His people with His covenants- if we are in covenant. Our disobedience, presumptuousness, and arrogance will keep us from His covenant kindness.
     Many negative spirits can influence people today. The Jezebel spirit, the Absolom spirit, the divisive spirit, the critical spirit, and also the Balaam spirit. The character traits that define the Balak spirit include the premature delivery of a prophecy. When God gives a prophetic word, are we in a rush to release it without first applying the word to our lives? Second, Balaam set up the worship/altars according to him and Balak, both pagan men.  Worship this way might be likened to false holidays, random ways to worship that are out of the order of God; 'for God is a God of order not chaos. These chaotic systems randomly and without order speak in tongues, flashing, flaying, holy laughter, being slain in the spirit, barking, running and even the worship with snakes.
     Scripture is clear about the importance of genuine prophecy; it is also clear in giving us several warnings about false prophets. One example of this comes from 1 John 4:1 –‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.’ 
     Not just a few, but many false prophets have gone into the world. We are not to accept every prophecy as from God or receive everyone who carries the self-imposed title of prophet or words of ‘Thus sayith the Lord’. 

 

בָּלָק
Balak / Destroyer
Numbers 22:2-25:9
HafTorah Portion Micah 5:6-6:8
Brit Chadasha Romans 11:25-32

    After this parsha, later in the prophets and Brit Chadash, we read of Balak and Balaam. 
    Joshua 13:22 ‘Balaam also, the son of Beor, the one who practiced divination, was killed with the sword by the people of Israel among the rest of their slain.’
    Joshua 24:9-10, when Joshua came to renew the covenant, gave a summary of Israelite history, singling out this event for attention: “ Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand.’
     The prophet Micah said; “O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord.” Micah 6:5
      Nehemiah, after the Babylonian exile, had the Torah read to the people, reminding them that an Ammonite or Moabite may not enter “the assembly of the Lord” because “they did not meet the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.” Nehemiah 13:2.
     The Doctrine of Balaam: Revelation 2:14 ‘But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.’ 
    The Way of Balaam: 2 Peter 2:15-16 ‘Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.’
    The Error of Balaam: Jude 1:11 ‘Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.’
     What is a spring without water? It is a natural well that fails to give forth the waters of Life. Wells, springs, and water are all idioms for the Holy Spirit, wisdom, and the pure bride. The spirit of Balaam brings death rather than life. Mists driven by a storm give us a similar picture. Jude uses equivalent expressions in his warning.
      Cheshbon HaNefesh (Accounting of Our Souls) teaches: “In the path that man wishes to follow, he is led.” The entire chapter of 2 Peter 2 refers to this type of character, especially 2 Peter 2:17 ‘These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.’ And 2 Peter 2:20-22 ‘For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Yeshua HaMashiach, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” 
    Peter bases this on Proverbs 26:10-12 ‘The great God who formed everything
Gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages. 11 As a dog returns to his own vomit,
So a fool repeats his folly. 12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.’ The spirit of Balaam is hasty, presumptuous, and greedy whose sole aim is to make a profit. People who are possessed by this spirit have forsaken the right way and gone astray towards the idol of their heart. 
    This spirit is hasty in prophesizing over people, ‘God gave me a word for you…’ This lofts the Balaam spirit into authority because it was given the Word from God, bypassing the receiver altogether. God spoke to him or her rather than to you. They often stop you to pray over you right then and there as to what they think they need to pray for. The person with a Balaam spirit becomes the spiritual authority, or so it thinks. 
    It is written that the greatest force against the Yetzer Hara is awareness. When one has a clear and solid awareness of the truth about the purpose of life and his spiritual state, the soul is strengthened and the Yetzer Hara is weakened.
     What are the paths that our flesh might follow?  3 John 1:11 ‘Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.’ 
     What is the path that we should follow?  
     Psalm 119:105 ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’
     Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.’
    Psalm 16:11 ‘You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.’

 


Balak / Destroyer
Numbers 22:2-25:9
HafTorah Portion Micah 5:6-6:8
Brit Chadasha 1 Corinthians 1:20-31

     “In the path that man wishes to follow, he is led.” Chesbon HaNefesh.
     This parsha opens with Balak, the king Moab, witnessing the strength of the Israelites. Numbers 22:3-4 ‘… ‘and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites…. this horde is going to lick up everything around us as an ox licks up the grass of the field.’
    In Numbers 22:6 Balak sends men to Balaam with a message to ‘come and put a curse on these people because they are too powerful for me’ an apparently effective military strategy of the ancient world. Balak’s motive was to defeat them.  Balaam tells the messengers to spend the night and that he will return with the answer that God will give him.
     God instructs Balaam not to go, then Balak sends more officials. Balaam again inquires with God. God instructs him to go but wait.
      The prophet, Balaam who was called to curse the children of Israel for Balak, utters in Numbers 23:8-9: ‘How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? 9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. There! A people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations.
Numbers 23:10 ‘Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number one fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!”
     What a profound statement made by the pagan prophet Balaam: to not think itself one of the nations, to not reckon among the nations, to dwell alone in solitude.  Israel was set apart. Even Balaam saw it.  God’s people were to be outsiders, a different and distinctive people, a people who swam against the tide and challenged the idols of the age. Largely, God’s people, Judah specifically remained Judah and refused to assimilate to the dominant culture or convert to the dominant faith. We are to be the same.  We as followers of Yeshua and walking in the covenants of God. We are to be different. We don’t assimilate into the nations; we are not of the world. ‘If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.’ John 15:18-19.  1 John 2:15 ‘Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’
     Often, we say that the world is only material or political things. It is, but the ‘world’ is much deeper than that. The trappings of the world are the snares to us given by the great deceiver. He is considered the prince of the world, Ephesians 2:2. He is the ruler of the darkness in the world, John 12:31 and he blinds, 2 Corinthians 4:4. There is dark, and there is light. Where is the grey area?
     Balaam’s second prophecy holds so many answers to the character of God and His will.
     Numbers 23:18-24 ‘Then Balaam made his pronouncement: “Get up, Balak, and listen! Turn your ears to me, son of Tzippor! 19 “God is not a human who lies or a mortal who changes his mind. When He says something, He will do it; when He makes a promise, He will fulfill it. 20 Look, I am ordered to bless; when He blesses, I can’t reverse it. 21 “No one has seen guilt in Ya‘akov, or perceived perversity in Isra’el; Adonai their God is with them and acclaimed as King among them. 22 “God, who brought them out of Egypt, gives them the strength of a wild ox; 23 thus one can’t put a spell on Ya‘akov, no magic will work against Isra’el. It can now be said of Ya‘akov and Isra’el; “Here is a people rising up like a lioness; like a lion he rears himself up — he will not lie down till he eats up the prey and drinks the blood of the slain.”
     Verse 19 states that God is not human or mortal, thus He does not change His mind.  His promises do not waiver. Jacob is guiltless and no one can cast a spell on them. How profound!
     Numbers 23:19 is a second witness to Malachi 3:6 ‘But because I, Adonai, do not change,
you sons of Ya‘akov will not be destroyed.’
     Some will try and insist that a spell is cast upon them like the old excuse “the devil made me do it.” But if one is walking in the covenants of God, there is no spell that can be cast.  We can be influenced, and we can succumb to the snare that creeps up on us, but we cannot be cursed. We are told to be vigil against those that would like to sway us which 1 Peter 5:8 warns us about. Satan cannot directly curse God’s people. So, he finds another approach.
      Balaam, appears that he is a true prophet of God. He took the time to ask God what to do, and he listened when God instructed him not to go with Balak’s men. The king sent his men back a second time with more money to persuade this seer to come curse Israel, and again he refused. He seems very spiritual and obedient to the will of God. But in Numbers 22:18-19 we see a clue: ‘Then 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 word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. 19 Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.’
     He already received the word from God. But he is stalling, and really wants to do his own will. God allows us to do what we want to do even when we directly oppose His will.  Why? Because in verse 18 we see that is his heart is really on the bounty- the silver and gold.  Why mention it? Just say no. Peter writes about Balaam in 2 Peter 2:15-16 ‘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.’ Jude 11 also mentions the greed of Balaam, ‘Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.’
     In Revelation 2:14 John tells us that the fault lies with Balaam, ‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Bilaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.’ 
       In 2 Peter 1:3, Peter/Kefa states regarding Yeshua, ‘His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue’…(remembering that He is the Torah incarnate, He is the Word made flesh, John 1:1). 
     Peter closes this first chapter with a serious warning: ‘And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.’ 1 Peter 1:19-21.
     Like many false teachers and prophets today, Balaam was consumed with greed, wanting to do his own will and was a stumbling block to the children of Israel, causing them to sin. He became the great influencer. We must ask ourselves, how have God’s people been influenced today to sin against the Word of God and His will?