[In case you missed Part 1 or Part 2 of our long journey] We heard Balaam’s inaugural address in part in Numbers 24:3-9, first introduced in Part 1. Now we return to his journey toward the ceremonies of that momentous occasion.
[ctt title=”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 down and fell on his face.” tweet=”Numbers 22:31 after an ass had to tell a prophet to see the angel of the Lord.” coverup=”8dHCr”]
32 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times.
How about this: your way is ‘perverse’ יָרַט [yarat] before the Lord! Your self-driven actions precipitate, push headlong and drive recklessly. You oppose the LORD! In fact, even your ass [אָתוֹן] saw the Angel of the Lord, but you did not.
Can you imagine the reaction of the prophet Balaam? First, his ass rebukes him, and now he finally sees the Angel of the Lord with a drawn sword asking why he struck his faithful donkey.
“… If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.”
34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.”
Awoken from Sin
35 And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.
[At the end of their long 400 mile journey a King prepares for the Inauguration of a new era with the great prophet of God on his side, so he thinks.]
38 Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.”
[Indeed, what can a man or woman belonging to the Lord say, except the word of the Lord?]
41 And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.
Next, we see ceremonies of the high event planned by Balaak. Seven altars become the focus of Inauguration events. But Balaam does the unexpected and blesses Israel.
“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?
… 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.” …
18 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“Rise, Balak, and hear;
give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
19 [ctt title=”God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. ” tweet=”Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? – Numbers 23:19″ coverup=”97P9C”]
Balak objects once more and desperately takes Balaam to a third place to worship and proclaim the ‘good omen’ of inauguration of a new era where Israel will not prevail. If you recall Balaam’s inaugural address from the beginning of our story, the speech follows from the third mountain ahead.
When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. 2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of God came upon him, 3 and he took up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened…
… 14 And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days.”
Prophesy of the latter days
15 And he took up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
16 the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
and knows the knowledge of the Most High,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
falling down with his eyes uncovered:
Balaam will now speak of things to come.
I would like to turn to the King James translation, revealing from the original Hebrew much more than a clashing of kings. My conclusion and image from the wilderness of this parable may challenge your perspective of this inauguration. Here I will share links to the scripture for your further Bible study.
and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab
I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star [ כּוֹכָב ] out of Jacob [יַעֲקֹב], and a Sceptre [שֵׁבֶט] shall rise [קוּם] out of Israel [יִשְׂרָאֵל], and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
An apocalypse spoken for the land of Moab and all the descendants of Sheth [שֵׁת ]. The land of Moab destroyed; but who are these ‘children of Sheth?’
Let those with ears to hear hear the parable of Balaam, a parable of veiled meaning. שֵׁת [pronounced, shāth] means, “compensation,” but you will recognize the proper Hebrew name for which שֵׁת is used, “Seth,” third son of Adam.
Consider the destruction of all the sons of Seth!
[ctt title=”Could another inauguration of evil in the high places bring about completion of these last days? For even brash sons of perdition and a prophet turned from God would not heed the warnings of an ass.” tweet=”Hear the parable of Balaam for another unexpected inauguration.” coverup=”Fos4Z”]
Let us pray that leaders of powerful countries heed the Word of the Lord.
“I am the Son of David, the Lion of Judah, Redeemer of Israel, Savior of the nations.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. Amen.
God’s true intention for marriage preceded original sin.
Genesis 2:18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
I must confirm from a terrible emptiness and great incompleteness: It is not good for a man to be alone… so alone without God’s help meet (mate).
22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
What a joy! What promise – and this, before sin.
Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
Genesis 4:17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch…
Genesis 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
In the beginning, marriage.
Genesis 5:6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters.
The Bible does not mention the names of the wife of Seth or the names of the help meets of most of these ancestors of Noah, but they had wives and sons and daughters – family, with a husband and a wife and their children.
Noah was married. Noah’s sons, who were also grown men and had the faith to obey God and Noah, had wives who were saved along with them.
In the beginning, marriage. Not one whisper of any relationship of family other than marriage. Not one mention of any end of marriage, even for these first forefathers who lived hundreds of years with their wife and grown children. Not one mention of any alternative, until further sin of compromise entered into the lives of Abram, Jacob and others. (We will address the issues of their multiple wives later.)
In the beginning, God ordains that “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” And yes, it’s okay that they are naked and unashamed in their own bed chamber; for as it was in the beginning, they are now one.
A man desires to know a woman. A husband desires to know his wife. A wife is a part of her husband, not to be torn away any more than a man would tear out his own rib.
I am witness that a wife torn away from our oneness is more deeply painful than the tearing out of any rib. For by divorce she has cut away with anger into your heart.
I too am witness to a wife being torn away by death. As for most husbands and wives, most shall part one prior to the other in the death of their beloved ‘other half.’ Your wifetorn away, her soul separated from you for a time, is a pouring out of your own heart.
Husbands and wives this is the temporal end of the vows of your earthly commitment; but union with the soul and the uniting of these souls to God is quite something more.
It is not good that man (or woman) should be alone.
Are you a blessing to your husband? (Are you a blessing to your wife?)
What is your daily witness to your covenant of marriage before God?
The relationship is with her husband: “And Adam knew Eve his wife…” the conception is by her husband and the birth is through the woman. She conceived and bare a son, Cain, who is a man created in her womb by God.
More time passes as their boys grow up, as happens seemingly quickly in all families. Description of these young men now is of their vocations – work. It is a description of the purpose of their work and their attitude of relationship toward God in this land East of Eden.
Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.
(No specifics here, just that both came to worship the Lord – a relationship and a thankfulness of an offering. Yet how thankful? God must judge.)
And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.
(Imagine that! God likes someone else better than ME!) Is envy not also evil?
So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
Is the Lord God, your Creator who knew you in your mother’s womb not the loving Father who will accept what you do when you do well?
Of course. Do not compare your offering to your brother. Do what is good in the eyes of the Lord.
Again, a rule so simple. Yet Cain failed to rule over his sin.
Skipping over (though not lightly) his murder of his brother and continuing in the story of Adam and Eve and the first generation of this first family, evicted from Eden. Cain is driven even further from Eden and further from his biological parents, Adam and Eve.
How they must have grieved over the loss of the younger brother. And now God drives the older brother even further from the first parents of this first broken family.
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
Genesis 4 continues the story of Cain, but let us remain on the ground absorbed with the blood of Abel and the grieving parents, Adam and Eve. (O, to be back in Eden; but it can never be.)
Adam and Eve age, even as Cain, a grown man continues to age and have children and grandchildren of his own in another place. (The Bible does not relate the beginnings of most of the women married to these men.)
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
Grandchildren, blessed grandchildren; and they call on the name of the Lord.
Adam and Eve have not forgotten the Lord. They obviously raised Seth in the knowledge of the Lord.
5 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
(Adam, 130 years old and his slightly younger wife, Eve, had another baby!)
We can barely imagine a mortal man living nine centuries, instead of struggling to survive just one… generally even fewer years of our mortality.
4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
The generations of the cursed ground are then counted in this first Book of Moses through the sons of Noah.
Then the Lord would have need to cleanse the earth and begin once more…
“I am the Son of David, the Lion of Judah, Redeemer of Israel, Savior of the nations.
“I am the Son of David, the Lion of Judah, Redeemer of Israel, Savior of the nations.
