Balaam: A Character Study

by J. MARTIN | Category: N/a | Dec 1951

It is not unusual in Old Testament names that the meaning thereof indicates something of the character of the bearer of the name. Derivatively, Balaam means "not a people," or "an alien." Compare with this Lo-ammi of Hosea 1.9, meaning "not my people" (see Peter's reference in 1 Peter 2.10).

Balaam was a Gentile, hailing from Mesopotamia (Deuteronomy 23.4), and, despite his sublime parables (in Numbers 22. to 24.), was a subtle enemy to God's "called-out" people. He is indeed a very strange character, an enigma. Few men have been graced to utter such wondrous words as he was, and yet, himself be so unmoved by the truths that the LORD put into his mouth (Numbers 23.16). Solemn lessons can be learned from the Holy Spirit's description of his reactions to Balak's requests to curse Israel, and from the surprisingly many references thereto in the Scriptures, old and new.

The occasion of Balak's calling in the services of Balaam to curse Israel was on their approach to the entering of the promised land. Balak feared very much this called-out people, and he erred in thinking that the curses of a Gentile could frustrate the purposes of God. Balaam, too, realized that he was impotent to speak anything other than what the LORD would permit. But he compromised in his actions. He asked the messengers of Balak, the elders and princes of Moab and of Midian, who came with the "rewards of divination in their hand," to lodge with him for the night. Their gold and silver and promised promotion were the dreadful lure. He was eaten up with,, the love of money, and despite the divine embargo, "Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people," he dallied, he compromised, he finally went his own way, and almost lost his life at the hand of the angel of Jehovah in his mad effort. His ass, seeking her own way, taught him a lesson, but only for a brief moment. The verdict of the angel of Jehovah should be noted, in the light of Peter's use of this man's experiences, "Thy way is perverse (R.V.M., headlong) before Me" (Numbers 22. 32). We wonder at the dread power of the adversary, that he could so blind the mind of Balaam by filling his vision with a desire for gain, that even the sublime God-given words did not deter him from his erroneous way. The greed of the bag also enwrapped the mind of another man, Judas Iscariot, who, though graced to hear wondrous words of wisdom and grace from the Lord's own lips, yet sold Him for thirty pieces of silver!

The first parable (Numbers 23. 7-10), spoken from a "bare height," deals with Israel's separation and safety, and centres around, "Lo, it is a people that dwell alone." Balaam was almost moved by this vision when he wrote, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his,"-a request he never realized! The second parable, spoken from "the top of Pisgah," deals with Israel's assured blessing and victory, and circles around the word, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob .... the shout of a king is among them" (Numbers 23. ). Whatever error or sin others may have detected or remembered, and some were grave enough, God graciously had righteously covered them over.

Then to another place, "the top of Peor," Balak took Balaam, and from this bare height he looked "toward the wilderness," and uttered his third parable, concerning the beauty and strength of Israel, "as gardens by the river side." This third parable was sufficient, for the time being, to break off the bargaining of Balak, who had promised promotion, for the LORD had kept Balaam from honour (Numbers 24.11). Before each goes- to his own people Balaam again takes up his parable and describes Jacob's glorious future, right on to the coming forth of "a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre out of Israel."

One would have wished that the episode had ended there-but ah, no! The enticements of the daughters of Moab effected what Balaam failed to do, the downfall of Israel on the threshold of the land (Numbers 25.1-9). Who or what was behind all this? It was "the counsel of Balaam to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor" (Numbers 31. 16). Balaam's end was indeed sad. He died by the sword in the company of the kings of Midian (Numbers 31.8).

Space forbids our dealing in detail with the Old Testament warnings. But please read the warning against an Ammonite and a Moabite entering the assembly of the LORD (Deuteronomy 23.3-6).

Joshua, too, towards the end of his day, recalls the lesson from God's dealing with Balaam, when he is encouraging the people of Israel to serve the LORD (Joshua 24.9-10, 15).

In a later day, Nehemiah found the references in the book of Moses to the Ammonite and the Moabite, and the work of Balaam. This resulted in "that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude" (Nehemiah 13. 1-8).

Micah, in an earlier day, asks Israel to recall the glorious answers of Balaam concerning their own nation (Micah 6.1-8).

It is therefore not surprising that Paul, and Peter, Jude and John, should each refer to this unique man and the lessons that are woven around his actions and words. To the insidious work of Balaam (we believe) Paul refers in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 10.8). Here, too, we are told that "these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition .... wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

Jude, writing about the same time as Peter, warns against some who "ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire" (Jude 11). Here we have the root of the matter; error, Greek plane means "a wandering, a forsaking of the right path."

This leads, as Peter says, to some following "the way (Greek hodos) of Balaam .... who loved the hire of wrong-doing " (2 Peter 2.15). This is a way, a course of conduct, set opposed to "the way of the truth" (2 Peter 2.2). And, finally, we hear the Master's warning to the church in Pergamum. "I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel" (Revelation 2.14). The hire of wrong-doing burned into Balaam's soul, and destroyed the man whose lips had been graced of the LORD to speak some of the sweetest messages concerning Israel.

J. MARTIN | Dec 1951
N/a