And we're going to be studying the book
of Numbers, chapter 22.
We're going to be studying the life and
the foolishness and folly of a man called
Balaam, who, though he was a prophet of
God, misused his gifts and his relationship for
personal gain.
There's a lot of things in the Bible.
You must remember that this was written over
3,000 years ago, 3,500 to be
exact, about, and written by Moses.
And it was written in an ancient language
that now is resurrected in the land of
Israel today.
They speak ancient Hebrew.
They don't speak Aramaic as in Jesus' day.
In fact, there's something beautiful about that, that
the people of Israel today speak Biblical Hebrew.
Because there were so many people coming into
Israel from Poland and from Romania and from
Russia and from America with different languages, rather
than learn Yiddish, which was an Eastern European
mixture of German and Hebrew, or learn Russian
or learn English, they all learned Biblical Hebrew.
And that's the national written and spoken language
of Israel today, for the first time in
history.
They never spoke Biblical Hebrew.
Maybe they did in Moses' day.
But in Jesus' day, they spoke Aramaic and
they wrote in Greek.
That's why the New Testament was written in
Greek.
So in modern history, that's the first.
Now, being written in Biblical Hebrew, there are
many ways...
Aramaic and they wrote in Greek.
That's why the New Testament was written in
Greek.
So in modern history, that's the first.
Now, being written in Biblical Hebrew, there are
many ways that...
One thing about the Bible that's so amazing,
it's such a compact history.
It's a compact revelation.
You know, you might see a book like
War and Peace or The Rise and Fall
of the Third Reich or something.
It's volumes.
They've got one called The History of Civilization.
It's ten, twelve volumes.
Here we've got the history of the Jews,
the history of the early church, and the
history of the greatest man that ever walked
the earth in this little book.
And because of that, many details are omitted.
Remember at the end of John, it says
that if possible, if all the things that
Jesus did were written, the world itself could
not even hold the books.
Do you know why it says that?
Now, of course, if they wrote everything that
you ever did for thirty years, every time,
even every detail, every bite of food, and
he took another bite of food, the world
could hold, you know, of one person's life.
Because when he says in John there, if
they wrote everything that Jesus did, Jesus didn't
just do things while he was on the
earth.
He created the earth.
And he lived for all eternity.
That's why the earth could not hold everything
he's ever done.
That's a literal statement.
Even if somebody could write it all down,
the world couldn't hold it.
Because eternity is not holdable or fillable in
infinity.
Anyway, I was reading this today.
No, I wasn't reading this today.
I was reading it this afternoon, after I
decided to teach on this.
We've gone through a whole thing recently about
God told me this, and God didn't tell
me that.
And leadership in our ministry has been quite
puzzled, you know.
What does it mean to hear from God?
And how can we so quickly say next
week we didn't hear from God after we
said we have heard from God?
And the ramifications of such.
And I was just thinking about the story
of Balaam.
And I said, well, I've got to teach
this study and get it on videotape so
that people coming in the ministry or people
going through the school could learn this invaluable
lesson that Balaam learned the hard way.
One of the most miraculous accounts in the
whole Bible.
One of the most incredible accounts.
This is the story where a mule, a
donkey, actually talks.
There's a lot of people that have trouble
with that, you know.
They say that the donkey does not have
the mouth parts for speech.
Well, that doesn't keep God from making the
donkey talk.
People that say, Jonah, there's no way Jonah
could stay alive in the belly of the
whale with the whale's incredible gastric digestive juices.
You know, and so on.
There's no way that all his animals could,
that people could live in an enclosed structure
with 300 species of animals.
Without dying from gassy schemes.
You know, with God there's always a way.
It's really natural for him to do things
that are...
So we're going to be studying this story.
The curtain opens in chapter 22.
The children of Israel are wandering through the
desert on their testing ground and their punishment
from God for not being obedient through faith.
And God is letting them wander.
They happen to be here in the land
of Moab.
Starting in verse 1, it says, Then the
sons of Israel journeyed and camped in the
plains of Moab beyond the Jordan, opposite Jericho,
right across the river from the current land
of Israel.
Now Balak, the son of Zippor, you don't
want to say zipper, saw all that Israel
had done to the Amorites.
They had just beaten up and slaughtered and
killed and plundered the Amorites.
Now, here's Israel traveling around a country without
a homeland.
And they walk through the valley and they
start bringing divine retribution from God and killing
these races of people that are living in
God's chosen land for the Israelites.
Now we can discuss and think about all
night why would God do such a thing?
Why would God have people kill cattle and
women and children?
Of course, the liberal's way to get around
it is that God really didn't do that.
That was man's interpretation.
He did it and blamed God.
These were races of people who were so
reprobate, not just spiritually, but were so corrupt
physically.
They were having practices of burning their children
in the fire, witchcraft, demonization, sex with animals,
and homosexuality running rampant, disease, venereal disease running
rampant to where the only way to keep
the disease from the children of Israel was
to completely kill off...
We used to wonder, why would God have
them kill the cattle?
In some cases, he didn't let them kill
the cattle.
In some cases, he did.
Now, God always has health reasons for certain
things.
Just like circumcising a baby, boy, on the
eighth day.
They didn't find out until the last 30
years that the eighth day of a human's
life, he has more natural blood coagulants in
his blood than any other day in his
life.
The first day, he's got a little bit
of coagulants, and it goes up sharply, and
the eighth day it peaks never to reach
that point again the rest of his life.
In other words, the blood will scab over
and stop bleeding quicker on the eighth day
than any other day of a human being's
life.
Now, people would say, well, did God make
that for the law, or did he make
law for that?
I don't know, but I know that God
told them eight days, and they didn't know
why.
They just had to obey, and now science
tells us why.
That's kind of strange.
They say, God says, kill all the cattle
and the women and children off in this
place.
Why?
Some of these people were so diseased from
sex with animals and sex with children that
to allow them to keep even the children
as slaves and grow up in their midst
would have completely destroyed through plague the children
of Israel.
And remember, there wasn't prisons.
You couldn't travel with prisons.
There was no humane way of handling it.
Well, you guys just go take the bus
to Tijuana.
There was no place to send them, and
I'm not going to justify God.
God is justified.
He doesn't need me to justify him.
All I can say is that I know
God had a godly reason for having them
do this.
So they just wiped out the Amorites, pretty
much, and Balak, who's the king of Moab,
the son of Zippor, saw all that Israel
had done to the Amorites.
So Moab was in great fear because of
the people, for they were numerous, and Moab
was in dread of the sons of Israel.
Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now
this horde will lick up all that is
around us if the ox licks up the
grass of the field.
And Balak, the son of Zippor, was king
of Moab at that time.
So he sent messengers to Balaam, the son
of Beor at Hethor, which is near the
river, in the land of the sons of
his people, to call him, saying, Behold, a
people came out of Egypt.
Behold, they covered the surface of the land.
They are living opposite me.
Now therefore please come, curse this people for
me, since they are too mighty 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.
Now there's too many people in the Bible
that just show up.
There's too many people, where they were brought
up, how they came to the Lord, how
they were chosen by God to have such
a reputation.
Whoever you bless is blessed.
Whoever you curse is cursed.
He doesn't have to prove that.
Apparently, Balaam has already established a reputation of
being a pretty heavy dude.
As far as if he says, this person's
blessed, they're really blessed.
And if they're cursed, it's all over for
the people.
And God speaks to him as if he's
familiar with speaking with him much in his
life.
And there's a lot that we need to
add in stories like this to understand.
Take it for granted at this point, and
I'll prove it to you as we go
through, that Balaam knows the Lord.
And everybody knows that Balaam knows the Lord.
Who would hire a guy to come and
curse your enemies if they didn't know that
this guy really worked for he whom
you bless is blessed, and he whom you
curse is cursed.
So the elders of Moab and the elders
of Midian departed with the fees for divination
in their hands.
And they came to Balaam and repeated Balak's
words to him.
And he said to them, spend the night
here and I will bring word back to
you as the Lord may speak to me.
And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam.
Then God came to Balaam and said, who
are these men with you?
Now, I really appreciate the fact that when
God has a conversation with people, he asks
them seemingly, he uses the expression, dumb questions.
Like, Adam, where are you?
Why does God ask us questions he already
knows the answer to?
This has nothing to do with knowing the
future.
This just has to do with knowing the
present.
To find out what our answer will be.
Peter, do you love me?
Adam, where are you?
Cain, where is your brother Abel?
Think about it.
God will ask you obvious questions.
Sometimes it will bother you, as with Peter.
God, Jesus, you know I love you.
Feed my sheep.
Peter, do you really love me?
Do you love me more than these?
God will ask you questions that you already
know the answer to, that he already knows
the answer to, to try to show you
something.
Like, the time when I was praying for
people to move into ministry, and I said,
God, do not forsake us.
And he came back to me, just like
that, as audible as you would speak to
me, and said, now would I ever forsake
you?
And it wasn't, I won't forsake you.
It was a question.
Now, would I ever forsake you?
And it overflowed with joy, because I knew
the answer to that.
It was almost like a Jewish mother.
Now, would I ever forsake you?
I'm serious.
It was just so warm and fatherly and
loving.
Then God came to Balaam in verse 9
and said, who are these men with you?
Balaam said to God, Balak the son of
Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to
me, saying, behold, there is a people who
came out of Egypt, perhaps I may be
able to fight against them and drive them
out.
And God said to Balaam, do not go
with them, you shall not curse the people,
for they are blessed.
Period.
End of quote.
That's it.
You shall not go.
He didn't even say, you shall not go.
Do not go with them.
Can't get any clearer than that.
And God doesn't always tell you why.
God does not always tell you why.
He might just say no.
But God even, he had such a good
relationship with God apparently, that God told him
why not to go.
You shall not curse the people, for they
are blessed.
Not only I don't want you to go,
but this is the reason I don't want
you to go and why I don't want
you to do what they're asking.
So Balaam arose in the morning and said
to Balaak's leaders, go back to your land,
for the Lord has refused to let me
go with you.
And the leaders of Moab arose and went
to Balaak and said, Balaam refused to come
with us.
And more distinguished than the former.
We're going to go back and look at
this in a minute.
And they came to Balaam and said to
him, thus says Balaak, the son of Zipporah,
let nothing I beg you hinder you from
coming to me, for I will indeed honor
you richly and will do whatever you say
to me.
Please come then, curse this people for me.
Now let's stop.
Look at Balaam's answer to them.
Back in verse 13.
Now, if I was really a man of
God and somebody said, I want you to
sin.
I want you to do something.
Go ask God if you can do it.
And God says, no, this is a bummer.
Don't do it at all.
These people are blessed.
I don't want you to hurt them.
What he should have come back and said
was, I can't curse the people, for they're
blessed.
But what does he say?
Go back to your land, for the Lord
has refused to let me go with you.
What does that mean?
Because he gets paid for his work.
He's what they call, it's even before when
Samuel was on the earth, they didn't have
prophets.
They called them seers.
This is even before seers.
They were called diviners.
Or divinators.
And they were paid for their work.
You brought a gift when you sought the
word of God from them.
Remember when Elijah was approached?
Or was it Elisha?
By Naaman.
And he came with loads of clothes and
talents of silver and gold.
You didn't go to a man of God
without a gift in those days.
So, he knew there was some big money
to be made.
Now, I'm adding this, and he'll prove it
later.
I'm just telling you in front.
Balaam liked the bucks.
Now, some of you might like money too.
Some of you might think of good things
you can do with it.
But you can never put them both in
the same category with obeying God and liking
money.
The love of money, it says, is the
root of all sorts of evil.
Not money itself, the love of it.
Do not go with him.
You shall not curse people for their blessings.
Balaam says, he won't let me go.
Now, say you ask, somebody asks you to
go on a date.
And you go to your mom and say,
Mom, can I go out with this guy?
She says, no, I don't think that this
guy has character enough for you.
Or you need to be studying your algebra
for the big test Friday or whatever.
There's two ways to go back to the
guy that asks you.
Well, I asked my mom, and she pointed
out some really good reasons why I can't
go.
And I really trust her, and I really
believe that she's wise, and I really believe
that I'm supposed to obey her.
Plus, she pointed out some really good things,
you know, and explained to me.
I have to study for my tester.
Well, I'd really like to go, but the
old lady won't let me go.
Right?
You know what I mean?
Now, all that does is encourage the guy
to find a way to get you to
disobey your parents.
Right?
That's all it does.
If you tell the guy in such a
way that you believe it's your conviction, where
he doesn't think it's your parents that he's
got to get around, but your own heart,
that he has to not only overcome your
authority, but he has to overcome your own
heart, if you know that I want to
do something that God or a parent or
authority won't let me do, you'll find a
way to talk me, or try to talk
me, into disobeying that.
But if you know that I wouldn't do
such a thing in my own heart, then
you'll give up.
Devil knows it too.
You go to God and say, God, I
really want a husband.
I really want a wife.
I really want this guy.
I really want this ministry.
And you don't have a joy in your
heart.
And you can't go back to the people
who are praying for you or ask you
to go to that college or ask you
to go to that ministry and say, God
doesn't want me to go.
And boy, I'm really glad.
I'm going to do what God says.
Or, gee, I'd really like to go, but
the Lord won't let me.
That's wicked.
And you open yourself up for all sorts
of attacks.
If the devil knows you're convinced that God's
wisest and that it's the best thing for
you not to do, he doesn't have a
point of attack.
All he can do then is try to
attack your convictions.
But if he knows that your convictions are
not in line with God's program and God's
principles, boy, then all he's got to get
you to do is believe your convictions are
better, smarter, or more pleasing to you than
God's principles.
You understand that?
It's very important.
You understand.
There's a big difference with obeying God on
the outside and obeying Him with a joyful,
agreeable, thankful, knowing He's wise at heart.
You can't, you can't understand this principle too
much.
Okay?
I wish I could go.
Leaders of Moazer Road went to Balak and
said, Balak refused to come with us.
And Balak again sent leaders, only now, more
of them, and more distinguished than the former.
Oh, I mean, we're going to have to
razzle-dazzle this guy's eyes.
We're going to have to tempt him.
It's only temptation.
He sends more of them.
Oh, I'm more important.
They've sent the important people.
Last time, he just sent the messengers.
This time, he might have sent his son
-in-law or the vice, the corporate vice
president of the Moab company, general chariots, or
whatever, you know.
He sends a delegation of more distinguished.
I'll never forget when Carter was in the
White House and the, they were having the
funeral for Tito, the president of Yugoslavia who
died.
He was in the White House because he
wasn't going to leave the Rose Garden because
the hostages were in Iran.
He suddenly gave up his principles to go
try to run for president and lost, of
course.
He probably would have, may have won if
he would have stayed there as a principal.
And, and he wouldn't go to the funeral.
And every big shot in the world went
to the funeral.
The president, Leonid Brezhnev of Soviet Union went.
President of France went.
The prime minister of England went.
The king, Prince Charles went.
Everybody went.
He sent the vice president.
Everybody couldn't believe it.
This Tito, Tito had been around for years,
you know, 40 years, whatever.
Head of Yugoslavia and he sends the vice
president.
He's the only, he was the only head
of a country that wasn't there for the
funeral.
Now, I wouldn't have gone either.
I'm not saying he should have gone.
I mean, I wouldn't have gone, you know,
all the way across the land just to
be a, you know, a figurehead for somebody
that died that wasn't a good person to
start with because everybody else was going.
So they send temptation in the form of
number, quantity, and quality.
Right?
More numerous, more distinguished.
Satan will not only up the amount of
temptation, but he'll up the quality if there
can be such a thing as calling it
quality temptation.
If you saw a $5 bill lying on
somebody's dresser, would you be tempted to steal
it?
Nope.
If you saw a $5,000 bill lying
on somebody's dresser, would you be tempted to
steal it?
I hope not.
They asked men and women around the country,
they asked them this question.
How much money would it take for you
to sleep with a stranger, have sex with
a stranger?
The average for the men was $10.
$10.
The average for the women was $10,000.
And when they got up to a million
dollars, almost everybody said yes, I'd sleep with
a stranger for a million dollars.
And what I'd answer back to them was,
well then you're willing to be a whore.
You're willing to be a prostitute.
All you're changing is the amount of money.
You're willing to put away your convictions for
money.
Would you do it for a billion dollars?
No.
Would you go to hell for a billion
dollars?
No.
There's people that would.
So when Satan ups the quantity and the
quality of the temptation, the amount, instead of
silver he'll give you gold.
Well, if you can be bought at any
price, then God doesn't care about the price.
He cares that you can be bought.
Would you leave the Lord's will for a
tall, dark and handsome prince charming that had,
he was a pastor and he'd been in
a Bible school and he could make $50
,000 a year and everybody loved him and
he was, he made records and he could
sing and he could dance and he led
people to the Lord by the droves and
he looked beautiful and he was tall and
he was gentle and he was loving and
he was everything you ever wanted and God
said, no, would you still marry him?
He was the best Christian you ever met.
Not to mention the nicest looking, the most
talented, three years older than you.
His parents like you, your parents like you.
God says no, to you, not him, but
just you.
He thinks the Lord wants it to happen
but you know God said no.
God said you're going to marry plain Frank.
And Frank doesn't even like you.
And Frank's okay, you know.
He's about 20 pounds overweight.
He's only been a Christian about two years.
Doesn't have any skill but he really loves
the Lord.
He loves to pray but God
has made it clear to you that you
really like me.
Okay, you got the picture?
What's your price?
At what point are you willing to disobey
God?
For what?
What is there that can buy you?
Are you for sale?
Is God for sale in your life?
Is obedience for sale?
So, 15.
And Balak again sent leaders more than numerous
and more distinguished than the former.
They came to Balaam and said to him,
Thus says Balak, the son of Zipporah, Let
nothing, I beg you, hinder you from coming
to me for I will indeed honor you
richly and I will do whatever you say
to me.
Please come and curse this people for me.
Balaam answered and said to the servants of
Balak, Here is Balaam's zeal.
Does he have real zeal?
He was a man of God.
He really was.
God doesn't speak to people who aren't men
of God.
He was a prophet of God.
He was a leader of the people in
God's name.
He wasn't a devil worshiper.
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 do anything either small or great contrary
to the command of the Lord my God.
Very zealous statement.
And now please, you also stay here tonight
and I will find out what else the
Lord will speak to me.
Now, the error of Balaam is obedience to
God plus.
Or it's obedience to God but.
Or it's obedience to God and.
Something else.
Yes, I'll obey God but stay here tonight.
Stay again.
Now he sent a delegation putting them up
for the night.
You didn't say go away.
Get thee behind me.
Split.
I will not do this.
I don't even want to be tempted.
Flee temptation it says.
Resist the devil.
He will flee from you.
Hang out and let me let me go
talk to God.
Let me pray about it.
How many people have gone to hell praying
about it?
How many people have disobeyed God saying well
I really have a burden for this.
I really feel led to do that.
I really have a piece about this.
I'm going to go pray.
I've really I can't believe the amount of
people that say well I really prayed about
it.
Then I say but did God tell you?
Praying about something is not spiritual.
Hearing from God and doing what God says
is spiritual.
Praying about something Mormons pray.
Christians pray.
Buddhists pray.
The devil himself probably has tried to pray
in front of people to impress them.
Don't ever come to me and say well
I'm going to do this.
I really prayed about it.
Unless you can finish the statement I prayed
about it and God has answered me and
he told me I'm supposed to do this.
It doesn't impress me that you prayed about
it.
And it doesn't impress impress God that you
prayed about it.
Because most selfish prayer is just one way
prayer.
It's like picking up the phone dialing a
number doing all the talking and hanging up
before the person can talk back.
God came to Balaam at night and said
to him if the men have come to
call you rise up and go with them
but only the word which I speak to
you shall you do.
Nothing harmful in that.
Nothing angry in that.
Here's the whole key.
This verse this reaction of God to Balaam
coming a second time and asking remember the
first time God says who are these people
and what do they want.
This time God isn't saying who are these
people and what do they want.
God comes and says to Balaam if the
men have come to call you rise up
and go with them.
Now remember there's details left out.
I'm not going to add to the word
of God.
I'm just going to tell you what's obvious.
Balaam went of course and said in verse
19 now please you also stay here tonight
and I will find out what else the
Lord will speak to me.
Maybe I can get the consolation prize.
Maybe I won't get the riches and the
honor and the house full of silver and
gold but I might be able to tell
him something pleasing and get a tip.
Maybe instead of a million dollars he'll give
me a thousand dollars.
That's the problem when you have a business.
That's the problem.
It can even happen here.
We can make decisions based on how much
income it will bring in.
God forbid.
But we can make decisions.
Whenever you have ministry mixed with finances there's
always the temptation to alter a decision or
alter a policy just for financial reasons.
Now if God lets you or God leads
you to alter a policy and it brings
financial blessing there's nothing wrong with that.
But if your sole reason for doing something
is so that you will be financially remunerated
or paid off in some way that's evil.
It's wicked.
Especially when it's attached to ministry.
That's the problem.
Balaam had a ministry and he also had
a business called the diviner's shop.
The diviner's house.
I will find out what else the Lord
will speak to me.
What else?
Oh, what an evil word.
God, I know you told me no but
what else can you tell me about this?
Don't ever ask God for anything else when
he gives you the final word on something.
When he gives you a definite word.
He gave him a definite word.
No.
And he told him why.
Goodbye, Balaam.
I'm going now.
So God gave him the final word and
he says I'm going to go find out
what else.
Well, God gave him what else and God
contradicted himself.
Did he?
Yeah.
God told him no because he was in
a certain situation.
Now he comes back to him what I
consider a disobedient and greedy man and God
gives him and tells him the word that
he deserves to hear.
Sure.
Go.
Why?
You'll see in the very next verse.
So Balaam arose in the morning and saddled
his donkey and went with the leaders of
Moab but God was angry because he was
going and the angel of the Lord took
his stand in the way as an adversary
against him.
Now, why would God tell him to do
something that he was angry if he did?
Because God never tells you to do something
after he tells you not to do it
unless he explains why he's changing his path.
God might say go offer your son as
a burnt offering on Mount Moriah to Abraham
and then say now he says do not
harm the boy for now I know you
fear me.
Now I know you love me more than
anything else.
So he says I am changing my direction
to you because I have learned this or
because you have proven this.
But God says no all one time and
then says alright go and doesn't give any
reason.
Be careful.
God is very strict.
He's very strict.
And when God says no and then you
ask him a second time God will say
alright go ahead do what you want.
He doesn't even say it that way in
here.
I'm adding to the flavor of the thing
by you can see in 22 God was
angry.
So when God was saying alright you're not
going to be obedient do what you want.
Sure go ahead and go.
And I'll have a little surprise waiting for
you down the road.
You must you must know that God usually
will only answer you once.
And very many of us because of our
relationship with God being so low quality compared
to New Testament Christianity or even Old Testament
Revelation the quality of our walk and communication
with God is so when we hear something
from God it's so far in between.
When we really get a direct message from
God in our Christian life in 1981 the
quality of Christian life is so so below
standard that when one of us hears something
from God or gets an answer from God
it's so exciting that we don't need to
hear again for another couple of months.
I mean I've only had about five mountaintop
experiences in my whole Christian walk.
And I could probably live the rest of
my life without hearing from God again if
I had to and still be a Christian.
I don't want to.
But remember Solomon only heard from God three
times in his life as far as I
know.
And you know the times when God appears
to people is very look at Abraham you
can read the story of Abraham God Abraham
goes years you know God goes to Abraham
and says you're going to have a son.
Alright.
You don't hear from him for 13 years
later.
Meanwhile Abraham's gone out and had a son.
Wrong son.
No.
Oh.
Oops.
You know.
Well go ahead and bless him anyway Lord.
Nope.
You got to get rid of that one.
The son I promised was due this next
year.
I forgot to tell you when.
I didn't really forget to tell you I
was testing you.
How would you like for God to say
I'm going to give you a wife.
And that's it.
That's all he said.
Five years later he shows up and says
alright I'm ready to give you a wife.
But I've already got Sheila.
You know.
You'd feel pretty dumb wouldn't you.
Especially if Sheila was inside the tent snickering.
I got her.
Now.
We live in a very civilized time.
When God doesn't have you get rid of
wives and kids anymore.
You know.
And I'm very grateful for that.
But there was some this is before the
law.
I mean this is before this is I
mean the law of Moses I guess had
been given but this was before there was
any kind of civilized ways in the land.
This was a time when even David had
many wives and Jacob had multiple wives and
so on.
I mean there was all kinds of things
being tried out and tested and so on
and so forth.
So Balaam goes and here we've got an
angel of the Lord takes his stand in
the way of an adversary it's an enemy
against him.
Now he was riding on his donkey and
his two servants were with him.
Verse 23 When the donkey saw the angel
of the Lord standing in the way with
his drawn sword in his hand the donkey
turned off from the way and went into
the field but Balaam struck the donkey to
turn her back into the way.
Then the angel of the Lord stood in
the narrow path of the vineyard with a
wall on this side and a wall on
that side.
There was a little kind of a bridge
a walled bridge.
Okay.
When the donkey saw the angel of the
Lord she pressed herself to the wall and
pressed Balaam's foot against the wall so he
struck her again.
And the angel of the Lord went further
and stood in a narrow place where there
was no way to turn to the right
hand or to the left.
When the donkey saw the angel of the
Lord she lay down under Balaam so Balaam
was angry and struck the donkey with his
fist.
And the Lord opened the mouth of the
donkey and she said to Balaam What have
I done to you that you obstruct me
these three times?
Balaam is so shocked he answers her.
I mean really.
He's so shocked he talks back to her.
He doesn't go Why are you talking?
He's so mad.
He's so upset.
And why is he upset?
You'll see in a minute.
Balaam said to the donkey Because you have
made a mockery of me.
He's riding with the people the officials, right?
Right?
Balaam Balaam He's riding with the officials the
princes the president of general chariot back to
Balak and they're all going and this guy
he's a prophet he doesn't even know how
to handle his donkey Right?
It'd be like you're in a motorcade and
all of a sudden your car starts veering
off to the left You know?
Get back here You know?
And your car starts having a mind of
its own.
He's never had his donkey do this before.
Because you have made a mockery of me
if there had been a sword in my
hand I would have killed you by now.
That's how mad he was.
He was foaming at the mouth.
He's never been so embarrassed in all his
life.
His donkey was showing him to be a
poor horseman.
And the donkey said to Balaam Am I
not your donkey on which you have ridden
all your life to this day?
Have I ever been accustomed to do so
to you?
He said no.
No.
Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam
and he saw the angel of the Lord
standing in the way with his drawn sword
in his hand and he bowed all the
way to the ground and the angel of
the Lord said to him Why have you
struck your donkey these three times?
All of a sudden everybody is concerned about
donkeys.
Pretty smart donkey though.
Donkey was smart.
Saw the angel of the Lord and said
I'm not going that way.
Behold I have come out as an adversary
because your way was contrary to me.
God's explaining further.
Doesn't usually do that to people.
The word contrary literally you can see in
your footnotes there you can see in the
footnote means reckless.
Your way was careless reckless.
You had no care for the fear of
the Lord.
But the donkey saw me and turned aside
from me these three times if she had
not turned aside from me I would surely
have killed you just now.
And let her live.
God speaks to him and says your donkey
just saved your life.
You better keep her off spring for generations.
He said raise this donkey you got a
smart donkey here she saved your life.
She was trying to keep you out of
trouble.
And Balaam said to the angel of the
Lord I have sinned for I did not
know that you were standing in the way
against me.
Now then if it is displeasing to you
I will turn back.
Now as I read that before the first
impression to that statement now if it is
displeasing to you I will turn back was
that that's pretty good it showed Balaam's heart
he's willing to turn back.
But now I see it's actually a wicked
answer.
Total wickedness.
What do you mean if it is displeasing
to you what more do you need?
You can tell you got a broken foot
your donkey just broke your foot you've got
God himself the angel of the Lord himself
standing before you with a drawn sword telling
you that your way is contrary and you're
asking if it is displeasing I will turn
back.
God wrote him off right there.
That was the ultimate.
It was.
It was the absolute ultimate.
God wrote him off.
If he really would have been doing what
God wanted him to do he would have
said God now God still could have told
him to go if he wanted to but
the correct answer would be I have sinned
I am repenting which means I'm turning around
God I'll meet you back at the hut
you know I'll meet you back at the
cave I won't go another step he told
me not to go I'm not going.
Now God then might have said no now
you can go I want you to go
I've got something for you to do now
God always turns off things for his own
glory you know that we don't need to
discuss that principle tonight God still did it
even though you'll find out at the end
of this story Balaam gets killed by the
children of Israel the end of Balaam's life
is to be murdered by God's people not
murdered but slaughtered by God's people so he's
written off he's had it he's not God's
chosen anymore and I believe it's right there
now then if it is I will turn
back but the angel of the Lord said
to Balaam go with the men but you
shall speak but go in the word which
I shall tell you so Balaam went along
with the leaders of Balaam when Balaam heard
that Balaam was coming he went out to
meet him at the city of Moab which
is on the Armin border at the extreme
end of the border oh yeah down there
then Balaam said to Balaam did I not
urgently send you to call you why did
you not come to me am I really
unable to honor you so Balaam said to
Balaam behold I have come now to you
am I able to speak anything at all
the word that God puts in my mouth
that I shall speak there is something in
the second sentence that reveals Balaam's attitude