“But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. [Revelation 2.14]
In reading today's OYCB reading, there is no mention of Balaam having any conversation with Balak discussing how to cause Israel to sin.
In fact, there are 70 uses of Balaam's name in the Bible (NLT). Of those 70 instances of Balaam's name, 57 of them are in the context of the story found in Numbers 22-24. Of the 13 additional instances of Balaam's name, in each one he is mentioned as an enemy of Israel.
Numbers 31.16 gives our first indication of what went wrong:
“These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD’s people. [Numbers 31.16]
And Revelation 2.14 above describes it in more detail.
Numbers 25.1-3 tells exactly what happened even though Balaam's name is not mentioned as having instigated it:
While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women. These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the Lord’s anger to blaze against his people. [Numbers 25.1-3]
How did this happen? As far as Numbers 22-24 goes, Balaam did ok by God it would seem - at least God seemed to be working in and through Balaam. By the last verse of Numbers 24 we have no indication of Balaam having any other influence upon Balak, but he did.
Why would the Bible leave out such an important conversation in which Balaam instructed Balak how to "trip up" Israel?
My guess is because the conversation never happened! Instead, if we look closely at Revelation 2.14, we might deduce that Balaam's "teaching" might very well have been unbeknownst to Balaam himself. Perhaps Balaam's sacrifices and devotion to God, which were evident, revealed how Israel might be tripped up.
How about this? What if one of those seductive, sexy Moabite women happened by Balaam during his interaction with Balak and Balak only saw Balaam give a lingering glance at her, thus putting the idea in Balak's mind how to "trip up " Israel in their devotion to God?
My speculation here is just that... but be sure of this, Balaam, whether directly or indirectly, whether with words or with actions, gave Balak all the information he needed to know how to curse Israel.
Balaam would have been much better off had he just stayed home. And, that is the moral of the story!
Father, help me to understand that arguing with Your clear direction - even just casually asking again - is a recipe for disaster.
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