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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
Was Balaam a True or False Prophet?
Numbers 23-24, II Peter 2
Intro
If you don’t know Balaam’s story, you are behind the 8-ball. Most Christians don’t really know who Balaam is, which is a shame, because he is one of the most-referenced characters in the Bible. Balaam’s name comes up 59 times in Scripture.
In comparison, Mary is only mentioned 14 times. And yet, every Christian knows who Mary is. But not many know about Balaam. Balaam is mentioned in the Bible more than Noah, more than Sarah, more than Levi, more than Rachel, more than Isaiah. So if you don’t know who Balaam is, it’s about time you do.
That’s why I’ve done a couple of episodes now on the prophet Balaam. He is a lightning rod for weird stuff, and that makes his story fertile ground for a podcast about weird stuff in the Bible.
Here’s a question I’ve been wondering about: was Balaam a true prophet or a false prophet?
I ask because everything Balaam says comes true, and that’s the test of whether someone’s a true or false prophet, right? Except,
II Peter 2, a chapter all about false prophets, says:
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.
So, everything Balaam says was a true prophecy, yet the New Testament still implies that he was a false prophet. Is this confusing or what?
So I find this to be weird.
I think I have a solution to this problem, and I’ll share it with you today. Turn to Numbers 23 and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Recap
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about Balaam one more time as we talk about what actually happened when Balaam finally made it up that mountain.
To refresh you or catch you up, Balaam is a prophet with a genuine gift. He truly hears from and speaks the Words of God. However, Balaam has a strong desire to use his prophetic gift to make money off of it. And so over the previous two lessons, we’ve reviewed how Balaam was offered a job by King Balak of the Moabites. Balak is wigged out by all these Israelites encamped in the valley nearby. He is afraid the Israelites are here to conquer him. In reality, they probably would have left him alone, but Balak doesn’t want to take that chance, so he has hired Balaam to go up on this mountain and curse the Israelites.
Perhaps you say: what would that do if Balaam cursed the Israelites? And the answer is: I don’t rightly know. Perhaps it would have unleashed demonic forces to work against the Israelites? That’s my best guess. But if that’s the case, it’s interesting how much power our words hold.
It also, I believe, demonstrates the truth of Ephesians 6, that we do not war against flesh and blood. We are in a spiritual battle, even with the words we say. It has an effect in the spiritual realm. We can’t “see” what happens in the spiritual realm like we do in the physical, but we do see the effects. There are causes in the spiritual causes that have physical effects, and there are physical causes that have spiritual effects- such as our words. Our prayers. Those are something that start in the physical the make changes in the spiritual that then boomerang back and make changes in the physical. Our battles are in the spiritual realm.
How do I know it would have been a really bad thing for Balaam to go up on this mountain and curse the Israelites? Because God had the Angel of the Lord come down with a sword to kill Balaam to keep him from doing it. However, Balaam’s donkey saved his life. God literally opened the donkey’s mouth and gave him words to speak; the donkey said “check yourself before you wreck yourself.” And that got Balaam’s attention.
And God has allowed Balaam to go on up this mountain, but with a caveat: only say the words that God puts in your mouth.
So that’s the warning Balaam has been given. Will he listen? Will he use his prophetic gift for good or for evil? Is he a true prophet or a false prophet? That’s what we’re going to figure out today.
What Happened Up on that Mountain
Numbers 23:7-12
7 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“From Aram Balak has brought me,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
and come, denounce Israel!’
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
9 For from the top of the crags I see him,
from the hills I behold him;
behold, a people dwelling alone,
and not counting itself among the nations!
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!”
11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” 12 And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
Balak is upset- he says, “Let’s go up on a higher mountain and try this again.” So Balaam and Balak climb up to a higher mountain and once again Balaam prays- and I know Balaam is praying for permission to curse Israel because he really wants that money- and God gives Balaam another blessing to speak over Israel.
Balak loses his temper again. He says, “Let’s try this one more time, on an even higher mountain,” so they go up on an even higher mountain. And Balaam once more speaks a blessing over the camp of Israel.
My favorite part is verse 25. Balak is like, “neither bless them nor curse them at all! Shut up Balaam, you’re only making it worse!”
And so, Balak’s big scheme fails. Every time he has tried to get Balaam to curse Israel, instead Balaam has blessed it.
If you can read the Bible and keep an eye out for humor, there’s some humor in this whole scenario. I would pay big bucks to be able to go back in time and watch Balak hopping around trying to shut down Balaam’s prophecies.
And so as I said, Balak and balaam kept climbing higher and higher on this mountain and giving more and more oracles of blessing on Israel, and they did this three times until it finally says in
chapter 24…
10 And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. 11 Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, ‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the Lord has held you back from honor.”
And Balaam’s response is to hang on- God is giving me a FOURTH transmission. A fourth oracle, this one about the future. And Balaam actually gives this Messianic prophecy, a prophecy about Jesus:
Numbers 24:17
I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
So truly, Balaam gave some incredible prophecies. You may not know this, but this was not the very end of Balaam’s story. He did some bad things after this; he wasn’t permitted by God to directly curse Israel, but he did tell Moab how to get Israel to sabotage themselves. That’s an interesting story as well, it’s called the Doctrine of Balaam, and we may come back to it on a future episode.
But for today, I want to focus on just Balaam’s prophecies. He is a prophet. Everything he prophesied in scripture is true. He even gave a prophecy about Jesus. And yet he’s listed in the New Testament among the false prophets.
Characteristics of Balaam
II Peter 2 is about false prophets, from the first verse to the last.
Verse 1
But false prophets also arose among the people
And then all the way through it, it’s all about false prophets, including when you come to
Verse 15
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.
You also receive a warning about Balaam in the book of
Jude, verse 11
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.
And there’s also a warning about Balaam in
Revelation 2:14
But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel
So again, the doctrine of Balaam is something I’ll probably come back to in a future episode. But we see these warnings, especially clustered at the end of the New Testament, to watch out for the way of Balaam, the error of Balaam, and the doctrine of Balaam.. This guy who gave true prophecies, yet was condemned as a false prophet.
Motive Matters
Here’s why Balaam was a false prophet: even though he said the right things, he had evil motivations in his heart.
Motive matters. Balaam said all the right things, yet he desired the wrong things in his heart.
The way of Balaam- which was in II Peter 2:15- was that he loved money more than righteousness. As we read, he loved gain from wrongdoing. The NKJV says he loved the wages of unrighteousness. He would rather be rich than be holy.
The error of Balaam- which was in Jude 11- where it said apostates have “rushed for profit into Balaam’s error”- the error of Balaam is to use ministry for personal profit. And that was what was in Balaam’s heart.
Even when he said the right things, and often did the right things outwardly, the Lord looks on the heart. Outward obedience was not enough. Saying the right thing was not enough for God to accept Balaam. Because the Lord looks on the heart, as it says in I Samuel 16. And in both the Old and New Testaments you find these quotes: these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.
Jude’s admonition is that we watch out for people who say all the right things because their motives might not be pure. And be a careful student of someone’s character and not just their spiritual gifts.
Don’t assume that just because someone has a spiritual gift that it means that they’re right with God. Spiritual gifts are not spiritual fruit.
I have questioned God about this before. I’ve known people who had great spiritual gifts but didn’t have a Godly lifestyle to back it up. And I’ve questioned it to God before; I said God, I don’t understand why this person is used this way when they have these moral problems or these character flaws.
Well, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. That’s Romans 11. That means God gives gifts to His children and once the gift is given, God doesn’t change His mind. If God puts a calling on someone’s life,
Or I’ve heard Christians who the gift of speaking in tongues yet also had some other pretty disgusting things come out of their mouth. And I’d question God on it: why does the Holy Spirit empower that tongue with spiritual gifts when they use that same tongue for gossip or slander or foul language? But you know what, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
God gives spiritual gifts out of grace and mercy. Thats what the Greek word for spiritual gifts means - charismata - grace gifts. They are by God’s grace. Just like salvation. You can’t do anything to earn them. They are for the Holy Spirit to distribute as He wills. It doesn’t make you better than anyone else for having them.
But spiritual gifts are not spiritual fruit. If God gives you a spiritual gift, you’re not benefitting the body of Christ unless you use it properly. If God graces you with a gift, you are not going to be blessed in heaven simply because you had a gift. You’ll be judged based upon how you used it.
To whom much is given, much is required.
Balaam had the gift. But he didn’t have the character to properly steward it.
Housekeeping/Mailbag
And if you keep reading his story, you see that he was motivated to use his gift just because he wanted to earn money off of it- and later on, he stabbed Israel in the back. Now, I will probably come back and finish his story at some point. Would you like me to go ahead and finish it up next week, or would you rather than I go on ahead with the next Old Testament story in Jude 11- about Korah and his rebellion? I’ll leave it up to the audience. Let me know if you’d like me to wrap up Balaam now or to move ahead with our Jude study looking at Korah.
Leave a comment or send me an email: weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com
Closing Thoughts
In closing, we started talking about Balaam in the first place because of Jude 11. Let me just remind you: Jude is the book about apostasy: falling away from the truth of Christianity. It’s a book about the minefield you need to watch out for: all the traps that you can step on and blow up your relationship with God.
Jude 11
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.
Balsam’s error was that he would rather have a little extra cash than do the right thing.
It actually wasn’t just a little extra cash. He was offered a lot to buy his integrity.
What’s your integrity worth? Because we can be hard on Balaam all day, but I’ve seen some Christians sell their integrity for a lot less.
They’ll cut corners or lie on their taxes all to save a little dough. Some Christians out there will sell their integrity for $5. At least Balaam made his worth a lot.
What’s your integrity worth? What would you sell it for?
I hope you don’t have a numerical answer to that question.
Don’t love money more than doing what’s right. Because that’s on the path to apostasy. No matter how many spiritual gifts you have, the Lord looks at the heart.
Balaam was a prophet who truly heard from God and shared God’s words. Yet because he loved money more than righteousness, because of his evil motivations, he was a false prophet. There’s more to being a prophet than simply getting prophecy right. You have to get your heart right, too. Nobody is too spiritual to be above righteous standards.
Remember that the Bible is not weird. We are because we didn’t realize that spiritual gifts are not the same as spiritual fruit.
But now we do. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time.