Learning a Lesson from Balak and Balaam (Numbers 22:1-21)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Balaam and King Balak, by Maerten de Vos, 1585

Israel moved from there to the hills of Moab, where they camped across the Jordan River from the town of Jericho.

When King Balak of Moab and his people heard how many Israelites there were and what they had done to the Amorites, he and the Moabites were terrified and panicked. They said to the Midianite leaders, “That huge mob of Israelites will wipe out everything in sight, like a bull eating grass in a field.”

So King Balak sent a message to Balaam son of Beor, who lived among his relatives in the town of Pethor near the Euphrates River. It said:

I need your help. A large group of people has come here from Egypt and settled near my territory. They are too powerful for us to defeat, so would you come and place a curse on them? Maybe then we can run them off. I know that anyone you bless will be successful, but anyone you curse will fail.

The leaders of Moab and Midian left and took along money to pay Balaam. When they got to his house, they gave him Balak’s message.

“Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and tomorrow I will tell you the Lord’s answer.” So the officials stayed at his house.

During the night, God asked Balaam, “Who are these people at your house?”

“They are messengers from King Balak of Moab,” Balaam answered. “He sent them to ask me to go to Moab and put a curse on the people who have come there from Egypt. They have settled everywhere around him, and he wants to run them off.”

But God replied, “Don’t go with Balak’s messengers. I have blessed those people who have come from Egypt, so don’t curse them.”

The next morning, Balaam said to Balak’s officials, “Go on back home. The Lord says I cannot go with you.”

The officials left and told Balak that Balaam refused to come.

Then Balak sent a larger group of officials, who were even more important than the first ones. They went to Balaam and told him that Balak had said, “Balaam, if you come to Moab, I’ll pay you very well and do whatever you ask. Just come and place a curse on these people.”

Balaam answered, “Even if Balak offered me a palace full of silver or gold, I wouldn’t do anything to disobey the Lord my God. You are welcome to spend the night here, just as the others did. I will find out if the Lord has something else to say about this.”

That night, God said, “Balaam, I’ll let you go to Moab with Balak’s messengers, but do only what I say.”

So Balaam got up the next morning and saddled his donkey, then left with the Moabite officials. (Contemporary English Version)

 Art by Sefira Lightstone

Israel was at the cusp of finally entering the Promised Land. They had been delivered out of Egyptian slavery, wandered in the desert for forty years, and defeated all the tribes of the Transjordan in order to get to where they were going.

Fear had fallen on all the people surrounding Israel because of their success. The nation of Moab knew that Israel would not be defeated in battle; but maybe they could be defeated in a different way. So, they hired a professional seer to put a curse on Israel.

The seer, or diviner, Balaam, initially refused the offer, even though it was a lucrative one. But he finally acceded and went, with the caveat that he could only do what the Lord tells him to do.

Balak, the Moabite, desperately wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balak essentially hired the most famous and effective diviner he could find. He fully expected all this to work in his favor, in order to give him an advantage over Israel.

Was Balaam a real prophet of God, or just a self-serving shaman? Although our text for today is essentially positive in its tone, subsequent generations look back on Balaam and understand him as in league with evil. (Numbers 31:8, 16; Joshua 13:22; Micah 6:5; Jude 11)

Although as biblical readers we might be somewhat flummoxed about what to really make of Balaam, he really serves as a mirror to the nature of humanity. For we are all people who are capable of both great evil and altruistic good, and everything in between. There is no such thing as a person who is all bad or all good; all of us are some sort of mix of the two.

Therefore, every one of us needs to be vigilant in how we shall then live – what choices we will make, what sort of goals we will establish, and what kind of people we will listen to and follow. If we seek to take some lessons from this story, perhaps we might do well to consider the motives of the main characters Balak and Balaam.

Balak was filled with dread and fear. Sickening fear and anxiety is most certainly one of the great emotional and spiritual hazards of our time. His debilitating fear was that he and his nation would be destroyed by Israel.

Yet, if you consider this, it is a groundless anxiety. Israel was all too willing to pass through on their way to the Promised Land without a fight. It was only when attacked that they fought back and destroyed other nations.

Balak wasted a bunch of wealth and worry on something that wasn’t even going to happen, unless he himself provoked it. It is likely that worry, fear, and anxiety, like Balak, is not serving you well; it’s keeping you under the tyranny of what might happen. And it is in such a state that we make poor decisions, such as consulting diviners to assuage us of the worry.

Balaam allowed himself to be manipulated into believing he could make his small fortune. After all, this nation of people needed him, and he perhaps vainly imagined he was doing the right thing and being above board.

But Yahweh is not like other gods. In reality there was no way Balaam was going to cajole God to get what he wanted. It may have worked that way in paganism, but wasn’t going to happen with the sovereign Lord of the universe. In the end, it was God who used Balaam for God’s own purpose – and not the other way around.

Some people want they want, and arrogantly assume that if they pray a lot and have their requests offered on many prayer chains, or that if they just use the right language and exhibit enough passion, that God will surely have to answer them and give them what they want. But Christian prayer is not like other prayer:

When you pray, don’t talk on and on as people do who don’t know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask. (Matthew 6:7-8, CEV)

Everything comes down to trusting God and obeying his commands. When all is said and done, after all the fear and worry are spent, there is God, waiting for us to come and place faith in the divine law and promises.

Everything you were taught can be put into a few words:

Respect and obey God!
This is what life
    is all about.
God will judge
    everything we do,
even what is done in secret,
    whether good or bad. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, CEV) Amen.

It’s About Love (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Now concerning meat that has been sacrificed to a false god: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes people arrogant, but love builds people up. If anyone thinks they know something, they don’t yet know as much as they should know. But if someone loves God, then they are known by God.

So concerning the actual food involved in these sacrifices to false gods, we know that a false god isn’t anything in this world, and that there is no God except for the one God. Granted, there are so-called “gods,” in heaven and on the earth, as there are many gods and many lords. However, for us believers,

There is one God the Father.
        All things come from him, and we belong to him.
And there is one Lord Jesus Christ.
        All things exist through him, and we live through him.

But not everybody knows this. Some are eating this food as though it really is food sacrificed to a real idol, because they were used to idol worship until now. Their conscience is weak because it has been damaged. Food won’t bring us close to God. We’re not missing out if we don’t eat, and we don’t have any advantage if we do eat.But watch out or else this freedom of yours might be a problem for those who are weak. 

Suppose someone sees you (the person who has knowledge) eating in an idol’s temple. Won’t the person with a weak conscience be encouraged to eat the meat sacrificed to false gods? The weak brother or sister for whom Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge. You sin against Christ if you sin against your brothers and sisters and hurt their weak consciences this way. This is why, if food causes the downfall of my brother or sister, I won’t eat meat ever again, or else I may cause my brother or sister to fall. (Common English Bible)

Consider an issue you care about… 

Likely, one of the big reasons you care is that you either see some abuse, neglect, inattention, or lack of love applied toward someone or a group of people. So, you want to see it be different. 

Now, here comes the interesting part: We are motivated by love, but we often end up addressing the problem or issue in the realm of thought and/or belief. We may rely on the political, theoretical, and intellectual to solve the problem.

Our hearts might be open and attuned, and yet we may turn to knowledge and rules to achieve the change we deeply desire.

The Apostle Paul knew that we are primarily lovers – not thinkers or believers. Thinkers and believers traffic in knowledge and belief systems. Although these are important, they are not the primary or ultimate ends for the Apostle. 

Instead of leading with the head, Paul led with the heart. He tackled the divisive issue in the Corinthian Church about whether one can eat food sourced from a pagan temple and originally sacrificed to idols by saying:

“Knowledge makes us proud of ourselves, while love makes us helpful to others.”

Paul began with love and ended with love. The issue of particular kinds of food was neither an intellectual nor a faith issue – it was a love issue. 

Paul’s answer to the problem dividing the Christian believers on food was that food is a secondary issue. Rather, to look at the food issue through the lenses of love, makes it clear what you ought to, or ought not to do. In coming at the issue from this angle, it doesn’t make our thinking and our believing somehow irrelevant; it just places it in its proper place, and supports love.

Whenever our opinions and thoughts, and our faith and beliefs are handled without love, then special interest groups begin to form. A division occurs based upon what we think and believe about certain things. But when love is supreme, knowledge is no longer the tail wagging the dog.

Love is meant to enlighten us. Love illumines not only to the problems among us, but love is also the answer to those issues we care about most. And if we will keep this in both our minds and in our hearts, then we have both added to our knowledge so that we can encourage and build-up others, without discouraging others and tearing them down. 

It really is all about love.

Love rejoices in the truth,
    but not in evil.
Love is always supportive,
loyal, hopeful,
    and trusting.
Love never fails! (1 Corinthians 13:6-8a, CEV)

Loving God, you demonstrated your own love for us through sending us your Son, the Lord Jesus, who is the perfect embodiment of love. May Christ be so manifested within me that love becomes not only the motivator to change, but also the answer to change; through the power and help of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Have Some Spiritual Discernment (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Prophet, by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, 1902

Prophets or interpreters of dreams may promise a miracle or a wonder, in order to lead you to worship and serve gods that you have not worshiped before. Even if what they promise comes true, do not pay any attention to them. The Lord your God is using them to test you, to see if you love the Lord with all your heart. Follow the Lord and honor him; obey him and keep his commands; worship him and be faithful to him. 

But put to death any interpreters of dreams or prophets that tell you to rebel against the Lord, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. Such people are evil and are trying to lead you away from the life that the Lord has commanded you to live. They must be put to death, in order to rid yourselves of this evil. (Good News Translation)

It’s a foolish notion that a servant of God can have a moonlighting gig with another god. A shortsighted philosophy believes that worshiping God on the Sabbath allows one to then do whatever they want on the other six days. And a downright deadly act is to become enamored with a miracle and then follow the miracle worker who did it, even though they want nothing to do with devotion to the Lord.

It only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bushel basket of them. Just one rotten egg in a six egg omelet will ruin the entire thing. And one bad prophet amongst the people will end up destroying the congregation. Evil isn’t something to dabble with; instead, wickedness is something to rid yourself of altogether.

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Jesus (Matthew 5:29-30, NIV)

Jesus declared that believers must take decisive, drastic, and radical action against idolatry. Serving other gods, along with the one true God, requires an amputation. The biblical text of both Testaments leaves us no room to believe that it’s okay to dabble in things that the Lord condemns. And if we think we are not hurting anybody to hold onto such a thought, we very much need to think again.

True prophets and preachers don’t lead people into idolatry, no matter how spectacular their omens, wonders, or miraculous signs. False prophets and preachers exist only to test the sincerity of a believer’s love for the Lord. Israel was to take decisive and radical measures to rid themselves of false gods. Failing to do so would certainly lead to idolatry.

These are the regulations and the case laws that you must carefully keep in the fertile land the Lord, your ancestors’ God, has given to you to possess for as long as you live on that land:

You must completely destroy every place where the nations that you are displacing worshipped their gods—whether on high mountains or hills or under leafy green trees. Rip down their altars and shatter their sacred stones. Burn their sacred poles with fire. Hack their gods’ idols into pieces. Wipe out their names from that place.

Don’t act like they did toward the Lord your God! (Deuteronomy 12:1-4, CEB)

Believers of every era need to learn that the occurrence of supernatural manifestations, and/or wild success in ministry, does not automatically authenticate the prophet or preacher.

Theology always takes precedence over miraculous signs and wonders. A growing church doesn’t necessarily mean that God’s favor rests upon it, anymore than a declining church signals God’s displeasure. This is why we are to never add to or take away from God’s Word to people. (Deuteronomy 12:32)

“It is the nature of false prophets to create a conscience where there is none, and to cause conscience to disappear where it does exist.”

Martin Luther

If Christians are ever invited to disobey and rebel against the words and ways of Jesus, they are to refuse the offer. This, of course, requires actually knowing God’s Word and handling the worship of God and the interpretation of God’s Word with great care, humility, and wisdom.

There are many times that false preachers are quite sincere, believing that they are proclaimers of truth, when they are really leading others astray. We are always to be students of Holy Scripture, consistently discerning the difference between truth and error, right and wrong. Let us be careful to avoid the situation of the believers in the New Testament book of Hebrews:

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14, NIV)

Let’s be people who take the time and effort to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus; and be patient and humble enough to learn over time what truly pleases the Lord.

Blessed God, give your servant a discerning heart to govern, lead, and teach your people, so that we may all be able to distinguish between right and wrong, doing your divine will and obeying your divine commands, to the glory of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christ and Culture (Revelation 2:12-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Altar of Pergamum is considered one of the greatest surviving monuments from antiquity, now located in the Pergamum Museum, Berlin, Germany

“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.

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

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. (New International Version)

I’ve lived in one or two places in my life that I might have secretly described as the city where Satan lives. Jesus, however, in words to an ancient church, put it out there that they were living in such a place.

We aren’t told why Jesus described the city of Pergamum that way. Many ancient and important places typically had a prominent temple to some Greek god or goddess. In Pergamum, there existed a temple to Asclepius, the god of healing, symbolized by a snake – which isn’t exactly a positive icon in the worship of God.

The bad names didn’t stop there. Balaam is mentioned. He was a foreigner to Israel who is associated with false prophecy and leading worshipers of God astray. Balaam was blamed for the people’s idolatry and immorality before entering the Promised Land. (Numbers 31:16)

“Probably the greatest tragedy of the church throughout its long and checkered history has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture.”

John R.W. Stott

The name “Nicolaitans” is likely a Greek form of saying “Balaamites.” Thus, they are one in the same thing. It seems that Jesus was pointing a finger directly at particular religious practices consistent with the tradition of Balaam, namely, eating food sacrificed to idols and committing sexual immorality.

Idols and temples and eating were a hot button issue in the earliest church. All the places that churches were established, there were a significant number of Gentile converts from Greek religion to following Christ and worshiping God. And it was anything but a nice easy clean break from the old to the new.

I would surmise that the Balaamites and Nicolaitans are a group of Christian converts from paganism who were embracing a more syncretistic religion, and urging others to do the same – to maintain and engraft some of the Roman values and Greek religious practices so that the church would become more socially accepted and economically viable. Perhaps, they may have reasoned, there would be less persecution and things would generally go better for everyone.

“Some Christians want enough of Christ to be identified with him but not enough to be seriously inconvenienced.”

D.A. Carson

Whereas the Apostle Paul had a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between the church and the culture, the communication to the church at Pergamum was a definitive statement that Nicolaitans are immoral idolaters and the only thing to do in such a case is for them (not the entire congregation as a whole) to repent, stop the syncretism, and start devoting themselves completely to the worship of God alone.

Jesus himself was advocating for a firm refusal in trying to achieve respectability, to make compromises in religious practice. It certainly appears that, at least in the case of Pergamum’s converts, there was to be absolutely no connection with the old religion – not even with eating any meat or anything else that came from the pagan temple.

The Greek god Asclepius was connected with medicine and healing. So, why would this be such a problem for the fledgling church? Why would the city of Pergamum be labeled as the place where Satan lives?

Pergamum was a prominent city. It’s Greek culture, cultural and social traditions, and religious center represented the pinnacle of pagan society. This perhaps explains in part why early Christians viewed the place as a bastion of the devil.

Antipas, the Christian Bishop of Pergamum, is said to have been martyred there at the end of the first century, C.E. – which is around the time when many scholars believe the Book of Revelation was composed.

Whatever was actually going on at the time, there were most certainly significant tensions between the Christian and pagan communities which existed in the ancient city of Pergamum. Avoiding persecution, even death, may have been foremost in the minds of the Nicolaitans – who wanted accommodations with paganism that went too far, even for Jesus.

“Christ claims no man purely as a natural being, but always as one who has become human in a culture; who is not only in culture, but into whom culture has penetrated.”

H. Richard Niebuhr

It’s always been a difficult thing for Christians of every historical age to know how to deal with being in a society that is of a different culture and religion. And every generation of believers need to struggle through and reaffirm what Christian faith looks like wherever they live in this world, and in whatever cultural context they find themselves within.

In the letter to the church at ancient Pergamum, we perhaps find some guidance in Christ’s affirmation of holding onto Christian faith and keeping up a public profession of fidelity to him; and in Christ’s denunciation of diluting that Christian faith with too much accommodation to pagan culture.

Not every believer is going to agree in how to practically proceed with such matters. Yet these are issues worth having constructive conversations about, rather than simply digging into an established personal trench and, from there, lobbing unhelpful volleys of words at those who disagree.

Almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are a jealous God who will not accept any attachment to other gods. I affirm you as the Most High God, and you will not give your honor or acclaim to idols. Please help us your people to avoid putting anything or anybody above or below you. Amen.