Balaam was a sorcerer with an unusual yet authentic power of divination. He spoke to the Lord and relayed messages from the Lord at times but don’t be deceived – he was as ungodly as they get. He was greedy for money and used his ability as a seer for profit.
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The Bible tells us he was the son of Beor and lived in the city of Pethor on the Euphrates River. His reputation must have been great and his ability made him more famous in the craft of divination than anyone in his time. For example, after the 10 plagues and Israel’s redemption from Egypt, the Israelites were marching across the desert to the Promised Land. On the way, one of the many things they did was to wipe out the vast army of the Amorites. Following that miraculous victory, Balak, the King of Moab feared that he would be next.
“‘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, 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. 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.’
Numbers 22:4-6
The reputation of Balaam was so great that many generations later God mentioned him as he was recounting the many miracles performed on their journey.
“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.”
Joshua 24:9-10
In fact Balaam was offered any amount of money or anything he wanted to curse Israel (Numbers 22:15-18). This was the greatest financial opportunity of his lifetime and coupled with his greed, he couldn’t resist. He really wanted to go but the Lord told him not to go. When he pleaded a second time, the Lord told him he could go, but he would only be able to bless, not curse the Israelites. Balaam must not have been listening very well because it seems like when he heard he could go his mind was on all the money he could earn and he set off to Moab. God must have known his heart so the Angel of the Lord (the preincarnate Christ) blocked the path of the donkey he was riding. Then the donkey spoke to Balaam! Then the Angel of the Lord spoke to Balaam and made sure he understood that he could only say the words the Lord put in his mouth. He could only bless, not curse the Israelites. Upon arrival in Moab, Balak met him and they performed a series of ritualistic sacrifices. King Balak watched and listened hoping to hear a magic curse that would allow him to be victorious in battle but again and again Balaam blessed the Israelites – much to the disgust of Balak who threatened to send him home empty handed.
But before he left, Balaam tried his best to salvage the opportunity to get his big payment. He used his knowledge of the Lord and his ways to devise a plan which would yield the same result as a curse. Basically, instead of starting with God to curse the Israelites, he started with the Israelites to enrage God which would result in God punishing them. The result would be, in essence, the same as a curse. So he gave instructions to Balak to begin by having the women seduce the Israelite men. (Numbers 31:16) To save their nation, these women must have donned their best jewelry, perfumes and seductive clothing. They used the power of seduction to lure the men to not only their tents, but also to their ceremonies where idol worship was prevalent. Before long, the Israelite men were practicing regular acts of sexual immorality and idol worship. God hates both of these things and sure enough, his punishment was not far behind. Israelites began dying because of a divine plague.
“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. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 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; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.”
Numbers 25:6-9
Later, the Lord gave Moses instructions to assemble a force to attack. Every male they found was killed. They came across Balaam and killed him too (he should have seen that coming). They burned all the cities and took all the possessions, animals, women and children. However, it was determined that any woman who had ever slept with a man should be killed as well. They only kept the girls who were virgins. The Israelite officers did a thorough roll call and determined that not one soldier was lost in battle! As an act of atonement for their prior indiscretions, the soldiers offered to the Lord every article of gold that was acquired from the spoils. It turned out to be 420 pounds of gold. In U.S. dollars, that would be millions.
“Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold—all the crafted articles. All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the Lord weighed 16,750 shekels. Each soldier had taken plunder for himself. Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.*
Numbers 31:51-54
Balaam’s fame did not end when he died. This story that revolves around his actions is mentioned in 7 Old Testament books and 4 New Testament books of the Bible. Every student of the Bible should be familiar with the incredible tale of Balaam. Now that we’ve reviewed the core facts of the main narrative, we should review the warnings of the Apostles and Christ himself.
The Way of Balaam
“They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness (2 Peter 2:15).”
The Apostle Peter defines the way of Balaam as a false teacher (pastor, leader, Bible teacher) who loves the wages of wickedness. The second chapter of 2 Peter is a scathing rebuke of many repulsive behaviors which includes the common sin of greedy church leaders.
The Error of Balaam
“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 (Jude 1:11).”
Balaam knew some things about the Lord but his error was that he didn’t understand what many unsaved do not understand – that God can be just and justify sinners by the sacrifice of Christ. Balaam understood that God would punish sinners which is why he gave the advice to seduce them with women. In the end God, exercising his mercy and justice, forgave the nation of Israel and continued on with his divine plan. Individually, we experience justification from God on the same basis of the resurrected Christ. “He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26).” God’s plan of salvation requires divine insight to comprehend and only true believers grasp the miracle of God’s justice available because of the sacrifice of Christ.
The Teaching of Balaam
[Christ’s words in the letter to Pergamum] “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 (Revelation 2:14).”
Balaam taught Balak to have the women seduce them Israelite men and lead them into sexual immorality and idolatry. All teaching that encourages acceptance of worldly values intermingled with Christian values will be judged as evil. Many churches teach sin is acceptable either directly or indirectly by accepting sinful behaviors without any rebuke or discipline. Godly teaching condemns sinful behavior. “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 (James 4:4).”
A handy list of references which mention Balaam or refer to his story:
- Numbers 22:1-25:18, 31:1-54: Balaam’s story—his encounter with Balak, prophecy about Israel, and Israel’s sin with Moab.
- Deuteronomy 23:4-5: Balaam’s attempt to curse Israel, but God turned it into a blessing.
- Joshua 24:9-10: Balaam’s failure to curse Israel by God’s intervention.
- Nehemiah 13:2: Recounts God’s blessing of Israel despite Balaam’s curse attempt.
- Micah 6:5: Reference to Balaam and Balak in God’s reminder of His acts.
- Psalm 106:26-29: Israel’s idolatry at Peor, leading to judgment.
- Hosea 9:10: Israel’s sin at Baal Peor.
- 1 Corinthians 10:8: Paul’s warning against sexual immorality referencing Israel’s sin at Peor.
- 2 Peter 2:15-16: Condemnation of Balaam’s greed and wickedness.
- Jude 1:11: Warning against following Balaam’s error.
- Revelation 2:14: Critique of the church at Pergamum for tolerating Balaam’s teachings of idolatry and immorality.
Note of clarification regarding Moabites and Midianites
In reading the narrative in Numbers, Moses mentioned Moabites and Midianites sometimes as if they were interchangeable terms. In fact they are distinctly different people groups descending from different genealogical lines.
Moab was born to Lot’s elder daughter as a result of her incestuous relationship with her father. That still makes him remotely related to the Israelites since Lot was Abraham’s nephew.
Midian was one of Abraham’s sons through his wife Keturah. That makes him remotely related to the Israelites.
Though they are two distinct lines, they apparently were allied at this time and working together to protect their land from the threat of the Israelites who had just wiped out the Amorites (Numbers 22:4). They were both present when Balaam gave them advice to use the women to lure the Israelites into sexual immorality and idolatry (Numbers 25:1, 18). Some survivors must have escaped or were not present at the battle because Moabites and Midianites lived on and showed up in later generations. Ruth, for example, was a Moabite and is listed in the genealogy of Christ. Midianites raided the Israelites for years before their encounter with Gideon.
An Interesting Footnote
The whole story began with Balak, the King of Moab, fearing an attack of the Israelites. So he contacted Balaam and received the advice to entice the army which led to their complete defeat. As it turns out, God had previously instructed Moses to be careful not to harass the Moabites because he had allocated their land to them on account of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. The Israelites had no intention of attacking Moab in the first place. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession. (Deuteronomy 2:8-9)'”
Closing Thought
We can also observe God’s protection of Israel from the threat of Balaam’s curse and they didn’t even know it was happening! In the same way, we know that God is protecting us in our journey through life from threats we aren’t aware of. I’m sure we express thanks to the Lord for protection from known threats and close calls, but remember “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). We would do well to be thankful for God’s protection from Satan’s secret schemes meant to harm us.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
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New International Version (NIV)
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