{"id":62341,"date":"2023-02-11T21:49:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-11T21:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=62341"},"modified":"2023-02-11T21:49:45","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T21:49:45","slug":"balaam-part-2-of-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=62341","title":{"rendered":"Balaam\u00a0 (Part 2 of 7)"},"content":{"rendered":"

From: The Preacher<\/strong><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0 The Persistent Snare<\/strong><\/p>\n

Balaam was renowned for his power to pronounce blessings and curses.\u00a0 His words were so potent that kings considered them more powerful than all their armies, so they would usually put their trained soldiers in second place to the pronouncements of that great prophet.\u00a0 That was his CV, which attracted King Balak of Moab to hire him for the critical task of cursing the Israelites on their way from Egypt through his territory to their Promised Land.<\/p>\n

First, the king sent trusted \u201cmessengers,\u201d inviting the prophet to his palace (Numbers 22:5).\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t appear that the prophet even answered those DHLs.\u00a0 Next, the king sent an eminent delegation of \u201cthe elders\u201d of Moab and Midian (Numbers 22:7).\u00a0 Balaam housed those for the night.<\/p>\n

While he lodged his guests, the prophet went about his night prayers, \u2018seeking the face of God,\u2019 as we would say, to know if he should go with them or not.\u00a0 That night, God clearly said to him, \u201cThou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed\u201d (v.12).\u00a0 (A fitting word for prophets with the penchant to threaten curses upon blessed heads.)<\/p>\n

In the morning, Balaam dismissed the emissaries, saying to them in no ambiguous terms, \u201cGet you into your land: for *the LORD refuseth<\/b>* to give me leave to go with you\u201d (v.13).\u00a0 They returned to their boss with Balaam\u2019s reply, but King Balak was not about to give up.\u00a0 Hell seemed to have hired that king to distract the prophet to his doom.<\/p>\n

Balaam was a topic in the Parliament of Midian (Numbers 22:4).\u00a0 He was hot news in the social media of the time.\u00a0 The courier agencies knew his address at their fingertips.\u00a0 Kings consulted and consorted with him.\u00a0 The prophet was at the edge of great fame or great shame.\u00a0 It was all in his hands.<\/p>\n

What seems to be the third delegation comprised princes, \u201cmore numerous and more distinguished than the first\u201d; a larger entourage of more eminent diplomats (v. 15, NIV).\u00a0 Each time, the offer was made more alluring.\u00a0 This time, it had gone too high to be casually dismissed.\u00a0 Beyond their public displays of righteousness, Satan seems to know certain prophets\u2019 prices.\u00a0 Some heads carry an oil so precious that the desperate devil would do anything to pollute it.<\/p>\n

The third delegation had come with more sumptuous \u2018brown envelopes\u2019 and, in case Balaam considered their offer too little, they promised much more: promotions, \u201cvery great honour,\u201d and an open cheque of \u201cWHATSOEVER thou sayest\u201d (v.17).\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 It was so tempting that Balaam pretended that God had not spoken clearly enough. Even God could change His mind at such offers.<\/p>\n

Again, Balaam housed those emissaries for the night.\u00a0 This time, it seemed, God had had enough of the prophet\u2019s lustful rigmaroles and pretentious prayers \u2018seeking the mind of God.\u2019\u00a0 God said to him, \u201cIF the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them\u201d (v.20).\u00a0 Balaam did not wait for the men to come for him.\u00a0 At least God had given what looked like a green light, or so his fogged vision presented it. \u201cAnd Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab\u201d (v.20).\u00a0 He must have savoured the sirens and the honour of the diplomatic retinue as they made their way lavishly from his house, through cities and kingdoms, to where his hirers waited.<\/p>\n

He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth (Acts 8:32).<\/p>\n

Satan never gives up without a fight, which is one \u2018good\u2019 thing about the bad devil (James 4:7).\u00a0 Jesus had three consecutive \u2018if thou be\u2019s\u2019 in the wilderness.\u00a0 Satan wouldn\u2019t flee at a first defeat, or the next (Matthew 4:1-12).\u00a0 Balaam might have been unaware, but Balak was on a mission from Hell.\u00a0 It was not entirely about getting the help of the prophet, it was also about getting Balaam off his divine path, even if it meant seducing him with all the gold that Balaam loved.<\/p>\n

Balaam\u2019s clients seemed to have learned that weakness in the man of God: \u201che loved the wages\u201d \u2011 call it \u2018seeds\u2019 if you care.\u00a0 Even if they were \u201cthe wages of unrighteousness,\u201d he claimed that his altar \u2018sanctified\u2019 the gift (2 Peter 2:15).\u00a0\u00a0 Balak exploited that weakness, each time sending \u201cprinces, more, and more honourable\u201d than the previous (Numbers 22:15), until resistance was broken and he got the prophet out for the kill.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Mission of Balaam<\/strong><\/p>\n

What was Balaam\u2019s mission?\u00a0 Simple: take sides with enemies against the people of God, innocent people of God; plant mines in the path of a people who had done him no wrong at all, only because he had been hugely paid!<\/p>\n

To be so blinded by reward as to be indiscriminate in the handling of spiritual matters; to have his actions dictated by reward rather than by the voice of God, he must have really strayed.\u00a0 To so meticulously seek to put God\u2019s people in subjection to their avowed enemies because of selfish benefits; to put colossal stumbling blocks before a people gladly escaping ancestral enslavements at last, that prophet must have really been blinded by greed.<\/p>\n

Balaam was an Edomite, a descendant of Esau the son of Isaac, hired to curse the Israelites, descendants of Jacob the son of Isaac.\u00a0 Was Balaam being manipulated by what intercessors would call \u201cfoundations\u201d?\u00a0 Did his stubborn mission have to do with the feud between their two ancestors?\u00a0 Nothing in the story suggests that.<\/p>\n

Ok, was Balaam bewitched?\u00a0 If so, by whom?\u00a0 There was no greater mystic in all the land.\u00a0 Who then could have bewitched him?\u00a0 O no, it was silver, not sorcery.<\/p>\n

Balaam was so desperate to see his clients prevail, that when curses failed, he proceeded to advise Balak to send his seductive girls among the people of God, to lure them into idolatry and fornication.\u00a0 In that way, said the paid prophet, Balak didn\u2019t have to fire a shot.\u00a0 Israel\u2019s own God would wipe them out.\u00a0 He showed the enemies of God the weaknesses in the house of God.\u00a0 He taught them how to \u2018conquer\u2019 the masses of God\u2019s people, because he had been paid (Numbers 25:1-9; 31:16).\u00a0 Are there today Balaams in the land who for a fat fee would strike unthinkable alliance with an enemy camp against the people of God.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 The Palace of the Prophet<\/strong><\/p>\n

For each refusal (or reluctance) of Balaam, King Balak sent a more eminent delegation.\u00a0 The delegation that swept the prophet comprised princes from the two nations of Midian and Moab.\u00a0 That is how important Balaam was.\u00a0 He did not deal with ordinary folks.\u00a0 He tackled matters of international concern.\u00a0 When kings got to their limits, they consulted him (Numbers 22:7-8).<\/p>\n

Balaam hosted each set of those dignitaries.\u00a0 He would say to them, \u201cLodge HERE this night\u201d (v.8).\u00a0 He did not need to go far to get a proper place fit for elders and princes.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t need to wait a week to find enough place for all those dignitaries.\u00a0 There was always enough room \u201chere.\u201d\u00a0 To have been able to host such eminent personalities, Balaam must have had a large estate.\u00a0 He must have been a blessed man of great means; more than many others in his rank, but one blessed preacher who was never satisfied with what he had.\u00a0 The same strength that had brought him fame was about to bring him shame.\u00a0 Peter called it greed, as we shall later see.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/everyday.ng\/2023\/02\/balaam-part-1-of-7\/<\/p>\n

\u25aa\ufe0eThe Preacher can be reached at +2348035115164; +2348035115025; info@thepreacher.info; <\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/thepreacherdiary.com\/; <\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/facebook.com\/www.thepreacher.info\/ <\/strong>
\nwww.thepreacher.info;<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From: The Preacher 4.\u00a0\u00a0 The Persistent Snare Balaam was renowned for his power to pronounce blessings and curses.\u00a0 His words were so potent that kings considered them more powerful than all their armies, so they would usually put their trained soldiers in second place to the pronouncements of that great prophet.\u00a0 That was his CV, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":60631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772],"tags":[5551,5552,5553],"class_list":["post-62341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith","tag-anointing","tag-greed","tag-kings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}