I believe it is a safe assumption that everyone has known at least one person who just has a bad reputation in general. That person is always associated with bad things and bad places. Whether that reputation was justly garnered varies from case to case. While reading through Numbers, I found particular interest in Balaam, the prophet. I decided to do a little research to see if I could find out a little bit more about him, and by all accounts, this guy gets a pretty bad rap. However, I did not really see anything in Numbers that would have caused this bad reputation. Sure, he hit his donkey a few times, but who hasn’t done that, right? So, in lieu of this newfound “bad guy,” I decided to find out exactly what kind of guy he was.
Balaam is introduced in Numbers 22-24. Balak, the king of Moab, request Balaam to come and curse the Israelites so he could defeat them. Balak even offered to pay the prophet. However, Balaam refuses these offers twice, but upon seeking God’s a will a third time, he heard the Lord say it was ok for him to go. The Lord’s only stipulation being found in Numbers 22:20; the Lord said to Balaam, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” So, Balaam went to the king of Moab. On his journey, he is met with an angel of the Lord blocking his path. At first, I thought Balaam would be forced to turn back, but the Lord gives him permission to continue while reiterating his stipulation. Once Balaam reaches his destination, Balak asks him to curse the Israelites on three separate occasions. Each time, Balaam seeks the voice of the Lord, and in turn, blessed the Israelites instead. As a last act, the prophet tells the Moabite king that Israel will soon overthrow him. Balak, furious, sends Balaam back to his own land. *SIDE NOTE* This is an extremely short summary of Balaam’s story, I recommend you read it for yourself as it is very interesting and suspenseful.
From my reading of Balaam’s story, I could not possibly fathom how he has garnered such a bad reputation. 2 Peter 2:15-16, Jude 11, and Revelation 2:14 all attribute the prophet with some nasty qualities and group him with other despicable names. A particular passage that caught my eye was this: “Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. 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” (2 Peter 2:15-16 ESV).
This suggests that Balaam was told not to journey to Balak, but in Numbers 22:35, the angel of the Lord clearly tells Balaam to continue with the men. Many sources label Balaam as soothsayer (a glorified fortune teller). However, I do not think this is a fair label. Balaam is blatantly seen seeking the voice of the Lord, and each time, he follows through with what he hears. Smith’s Bible Dictionary says “He yielded to the temptations of riches and honor which Balak set before him; but God’s anger was kindled at this manifestation of determined self-will, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him.” Yet again, I think it is important to point out that Balaam was given full permission to go after the angel appeared to him. Further still, Jewish literature paints Balaam as “one of seven heathen prophets,” and as being absolutely intent on cursing the Israelites. However, Balaam consistently tells Balak that he will only speak what he hears from the Lord.
Other sources blame Balaam for the sinfulness of the Israelites described in Numbers 25. The Israelites “took Moabite and Midianite women and worshipped the Moabite god, Baal-peor.” Once again, there is no direct information found in Numbers 25 to link Balaam to the incident. The only thing that immediately causes me to question the truth of this accusation is the similarities in name between Balaam and Baal of Peor. But, upon further research, I found nothing that would cause me to believe Balaam was serving Baal.
In my opinion, there is not sufficient information found in the text to justify the awful reputation bestowed upon Balaam. Perhaps it was common knowledge in the days of Moses that Balaam was a bad guy who was manipulating the gift of prophecy. However, the account of this tale in Numbers does not offer any proof of this accusation. I can’t help but feel sorry for Balaam. With the information provided in Numbers, it seems that he was paying much more attention to the Lord than many of the Israelites.
I found this video that is a good example of stories in the bible being taken out of context, or in this case, blatantly told the wrong way.
No comments:
Post a Comment