arrive at the eastern border on the plains of Moab, just east of the Jordan River. The king
of the Moabites, Balak, fears that
Israel is coming to take
p 105
his land. Given Israel’s
success in defeating the Egyptians and the Amorites, Balak realizes that he cannot stop
Israel militarily. Balak tries a different approach; he attempts to weaken
Israel using
spiritual means. Balak sends messengers to the powerful diviner Balaam, asking him to
put a curse upon Israel. Once Israel is accursed and weakened, Balak hopes a military
victory will be possible.
As Balaam rides his donkey to answer Balak’s summons, a strange event occurs. The
donkey sees the angel of the Lord with a drawn sword ready to strike. Turning aside from
the road and then finally stopping altogether, the donkey incurs Balaam’s wrath.
Suddenly, the donkey is able to speak and rebukes Balaam for not trusting him and for
not seeing the angel of the Lord that is before them. The situation is humiliating, as the
great pagan diviner is blind to the spiritual realities that even a jackass can see. God uses
the ass as a vehicle
of prophetic revelation, showing that Balaam holds no real privilege or
power to harm Israel.
Once Balaam arrives, he is taken three times up to a high place where he can see Israel
and pronounce a curse upon them. But instead of a curse, God so inspires Balaam that he
can only utter prophetic oracles that bespeak the future blessing and greatness of Israel.
This frustrates Balak, just as Balaam was frustrated with his donkey. Finally, Balaam gives
a fourth blessing oracle that foresees a great
king arising from Israel, accompanied by the
sign of a great star: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh: a star shall come
forth out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Nm 24:17).
Balak’s attempt to have Balaam weaken Israel with a curse fails miserably, so Balak
initiates a new assault upon Israel. Following Balaam’s advice, he sends out the daughters
of Moab to seduce the men of Israel and get them to worship the Moabite gods. This plan
meets with great success. Many Israelites come to the Moabite sacrifices, eat their festive
meals, and bow down to the Baal of Peor and the Moabite idols. Just as he had done at
the
golden calf, Moses calls upon those loyal to the Lord to slaughter the apostates.
Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, burns with zeal and spears an Israelite and the foreign
woman he is sleeping with in one thrust. Because Phinehas was “jealous” for the Lord—
a significant word because Israel is accused of “playing the harlot” with false gods—he
and his line are rewarded with a perpetual covenant of priesthood.
p 106
The Star Out of Jacob
At the time of Christ’s birth, pagan astrologers, referred to as “wise men”
(magi) in Matthew’s
gospel, look up and wonder at a sign in the heavens. Balaam’s oracle given so long ago would likely
have been recorded among the many oracles of such pagan diviners and would have directed the
magi to Jerusalem, the ancient capital city of Israel, which would be the
logical place to search out
a newborn king of the Jews. From there the Sacred Scriptures directed the magi to Bethlehem.
The “book of nature” (the star) begins the magi’s journey, and the “book of the soul” (in the use
of human reason) directs them to Jerusalem, but it will be the “book of Scripture” that finally
reveals the Son of God. King Herod the Great, the Edomite usurper of the throne of Israel, will
fear for his reign upon hearing Balaam’s oracle, which specifically foretells that this “star” shall
dispossess Edom (Nm 24:18). This paranoid king, who had already killed his own wife and
children out of fear for his throne, will command the terrible slaughter of an obscure village’s
children.
This act of idolatry leads to a plague that smites twenty-four thousand people. What
Balak could not do militarily, nor Balaam spiritually, Israel does through the self-inflicted
wound of idolatry. The lesson is clear: The
Lord will protect Israel, but if she is unfaithful,
she will fall through her own sin. Infidelity to God can place the blessing given to Israel
in jeopardy. This will prove a very important lesson for Israel as she prepares to enter the
Promised Land at the close of this forty-year period.
A
CT
3:
T
ORAH
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