ESV Chronological Plan, Day 57 | Numbers 22-24

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read Numbers 22:1-24:25

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

According to the outline laid out on Day #52, we are in the section of Numbers that I've called "The Balaam Conspiracy" (Numbers 22-31). Israel has won their first bit of land (in chapter 21), but they have to wait through this section of the book before they can finally start settling in it and portioning it out in chapter 32. There's a mysterious figure named Balaam who arises, who three times tries to curse Israel--and then finds a new strategy to bring misfortune on the people, which actually succeeds. In this section, Balaam appears to be one way but really is another. Even when we don't see him, he's in the background. And only with the defeat of Balaam are the people of Israel finally able to move forward into the Promised Land.

Balaam son of Beor in Archaeology. We have, not only proof of Balaam's existence, but also an independent (pagan) prophecy of his that has been discovered through archaeology.

Echoes of the Promised Deliverer from Genesis 49. Balaam's prophecy, for the first time since Genesis 49, brings up the subject of the Promised Deliverer of the Old Testament, the one who will come through the line of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah to restore humankind to the peace with God that we enjoyed in the Garden of Eden. This is the one who will crush the head of the serpent, be slain in the process, and yet go on to rule eternally over a worldwide kingdom without end. Jacob prophesied over the descendant, the Messiah, who would come through Judah: "Judah is a young lion... He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness--who dares to rouse him?" (Genesis 49:9). Balaam says of him, "He crouches, he lies down like a lion or a lioness--who dares to rouse him?" (Numbers 24:9). Jacob had said "The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until He comes to whom it belongs* and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him" (Genesis 49:10). Balaam says of Him, "a scepter will arise from Israel" (Numbers 24:17).

*A note on the text in Genesis 49:10 - This is taken from a sermon manuscript that I wrote on this passage: 'Now depending on what different translations you have with you this morning, they might say different things [in Genesis 49:10]. And what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to make sense of what the word ‘Shiloh’ means—maybe it’s a town called Shiloh, maybe it’s a word that means “that which belongs to him” or “to whom it belongs.” Just to run through these all really quickly and get them all out of the way; the town Shiloh and this word here are spelled differently, so that’s not it. A tribute in the sense of, the scepter won’t depart from him until he gets shiloh, “that which belongs to him,” doesn’t make much sense. His scepter belongs to him. It wouldn’t depart from him once he got what belonged to him; the scepter is his. So that’s not it either. The last option is the one that most translations side with now, which is “the ruler’s staff will not depart from between [Judah’s] feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come.” That’s a prediction of the Promised Deliverer. There is one final king from the line of Judah, and the scepter of royal authority truly belongs to him. And he will hold it forever—He is truly the Promised Deliverer; the coming King. The Jewish people who lived before and after Jesus interpreted this passage the same way. So one ancient Jewish translation in Aramaic [Targum Pseudo-Jonathan] puts it, “the ruler’s staff will not depart… until the King Messiah shall come.” A group of ancient documents found in Judea called The Dead Sea Scrolls, they say, “until the coming of the Messiah of righteousness.” So we’ve seen that this is a king, and we’ve seen that this is a specific king, and we’ve seen that he comes from the line of Judah, and we see that he holds an eternal throne. And then the last line says, “to him shall be the obedience of the nations.” So this is a future king of Israel, from the line of Judah, who will be king over not just Israel but all the nations of the earth.'

Pushing for God to support our desires. Balaam puts a godly-sounding spin on it, but the truth is that he continues to try to push after God has said no. If this doesn't sound like a bad thing, then you've never had to go shopping with a toddler at a grocery store. But the truth is that we continue to do this all the time. We ask that God would make some sort of way for us to abandon our responsibilities, chase after what is foolish, skirt the limits of what we know is right, and then we ask for blessing instead of brokenness to be the result of that. But God's rules aren't there to be shackles for us. They're there because the alternative to following them is brokenness. We are free to go our own way but we will only find ourselves running face-first into the brick wall of how God created the world to function--when we go astray, we don't so much break God's commandments as we break ourselves against them. (In fact, if you want a more immediate physical experience of how this works, try going up to your second story window some time, and try to break the law of gravity.) The truth is that God's "no" is often a grace to us. We don't always have to understand it, but it is better to trust him.

RESPOND | WHAT IS OUR PART?

On this last one about Balaam pushing for his plan, I think, I often believe that I see the big picture better than I really do. I believe that if all of my plans were carried out, everything would be in good shape. But sometimes God puts a block in place and I can't go forward. If this is situational, I can pray for God to remove the barrier, even if being a follower of Christ means I can't do anything to solve the problem on my own (Example: if I want to go on a nice vacation, but the cost of fixing a sudden breakdown in my car prevents it, I can ask God to provide some side-work to make up for the cost, but I can't go and go and rob a bank). If this is related to God's commands, then I just need to accept that there are responsibilities on my life that I can't abandon, and courses of action that God tells me are dead ends, and I have to actively trust him and walk forward. I can tell you, out of 20 years of being a Christian, that to the extent that I have followed him, he's never failed me yet (and He's not going to). So when when we get a "no" from God, let's trust that it comes from a place of love.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US CLOSER TO GOD?

Here is a suggested prayer prompt: "God, give me the patience to wait for you, and the sensitivity to discern what you are saying to me right now. I want to trust you--not just that you exist, but that you are good and that you would not withhold even one thing from me except for that you care about my joy. So help me to respond to you as a trusting child. If you say not today, I'll wait. If you say no, I will be fine with that. If you say go, God I will go where you lead. Because I know that my joy is in you."