“Balaam – The Praying Mantis” (Part #-2) Num. 22:8-9

“And God’s anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary (satan – #7854, accuser, opponent) against him. Now he was riding upon his donkey and his two servants were with him.” Num. 22:22

Now the angel (mal-ak, #4397 – messenger, angel or supernatural representative of God) of the LORD goes before Balaam with his sword drawn to hinder his way, He is ready to kill Balaam. Can Satan do this, if in fact this is Satan? Talk to Job when you see him! He does this three times and Balaam smites his donkey with his staff three times. Then the LORD open’s the donkey’s mouth so he can talk. Other than the serpent in the ‘Garden of Eden’ this is the only other time in the Bible where an animal speaks to a man. Although animals pray to God, praise God, fast, cry, sing, can be demon possessed, and even have souls (nephesh) Gen. 1:24, a God consciousness, not eternal life or a sin nature. They only speak twice, here and in the “Gan/Garden of Eden/Paradise” a walled garden with a gate. I have a section in the back of my Bible called, ‘Animology’ with over 20 references to animals, so far. Then again in Num. 22:34-35, the angel, messenger of the LORD reminds Balaam to speak only the words God gives him. I can’t help but wonder all the way back there in Num. 22:20, was that Hebrew word ‘Elohim’ for God with a big ‘G’ or a little ‘g’ in the original manuscript? If it was a little ‘g’ then it would make more sense, if it was Satan or one of his demons that came to Balaam at night and told him to go with Balak’s men, after all he may be in v.22, because he usually moves around in the dark. Like indwelling Judas Iscariot in John 13:27-30, “It was night (nux);” (nux) is the Greek word for night, darkness, time of death, time for moral stupidity and darkness, or the time for deeds of sin and shame. But let’s leave it with a big ‘G’ for now and deal with God’s permissive will, because I can tell I’m making some of you nervous.

The angel of the LORD stood in the way of Balaam and his two servants, with His sword drawn three times, once by the field, v.23; once by the vineyard wall, v.24; and once in a narrow place, v.26, where Balaam fell down and the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth and opened Balaam’s eyes as well! So, Balaam falls down flat on his face, v. 31 and bows his head, to an angel? No, to ‘YeHoVaH!’ This (mal-ak) this messenger of God, tells Balaam in vv. 32-33 that his way is perverse (yarat #3399 – reckless, figuratively – of going down a steep ravine, to a bottomless pit), contrary to God and if it wasn’t for the donkey, He would have slain him and saved the donkey alive. So, who was the God or god in v.20 who told Balaam to go if YeHoVaH says his way is perverse and reckless? (Go ahead I’ll wait, read v.20 again!) So, Balaam tells the angel of YeHoVaH in v.34, “I have sinned, for I knew not that Thou stood in the way against me, now therefore, if it displease thee, I will return again.” So, back to my question, who is the ‘god’ in Num. 22:20? I’m still a little confused, God’s not confused, Roger is! Then the angel of YeHoVaH says to Balaam, in v.35, “Go with the men, but only the word that I (GOD, YHVH) shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak!” If God said that in v.20, why is He repeating it again? God never gives a command and contradicts it! Then in v.38 when he finally meets Balak he says, “The word that GOD, (YeHoVaH) puts in my mouth, that I shall speak.” He got the message, you can’t curse what God has blessed, “B.D.S.” or no “B.D.S.” (Boycott, Divestment & Sanction). Look it up on the Internet, you will be glad you did.

Balaam proclaims at least three or four major prophecies and blessings on Israel for God instead of curses for Balak; Num. 23:7-10, “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and number the fourth part of Jacob?” So, Balak takes Balaam where he can only see; “The uttermost part of the people,” Num. 23:13, which refers to the end of the encampment or the fourth part of Israel, the hinder most part. His thought being so Balaam can’t see the sea of the Israelites and be overwhelmed, but it doesn’t work. Balaam’s second blessing is in Num. 23:18-24, WOW! What a blessing, what a prophecy read all of it; “God is not a man that He should lie, neither the Son of man that He should repent. Has He said and shall He not do it, or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?” When God makes a promise, He can never go back on His word, NEVER! The third time Balaam prophecies he does not seek enchantments, he just sets his face towards the wilderness, towards Israel’s encampments and the “Spirit of God” comes upon him, Num. 24:2-9, “He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like a great lion, who shall stir him up? Blessed is he who blesseth thee, and cursed is he who curseth thee.” (speaking of Israel) What is real interesting in this prophecy by Balaam is the name ‘Agag’ in v.7; Ezekiel 38:16-17 mentions ‘Gog,’ “spoken of in old time by My servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days, many years that I would bring thee (Gog) against them (Israel)?” You can’t find ‘Gog’ anywhere in the O.T. prophets, so was Ezekiel mistaken, dreaming or did somebody add some vowel points to the Hebrew leters, “Gimel, Gimel” in Num. 24:7? In the Hebrew manuscripts there are no vowel points, Hebrew is a consonantal language, we add them for pronunciation so we can make it ‘Agag or Gog’ however you want the story to flow. I have a scholarly paper written by a doctoral candidate at ‘Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’ on this subject claiming the Masoretes blundered on this one making it ‘Agag’ because of the reference to Amalek in Num. 24:20 and I would have to agree. Balaam’s prophecies are much more prophetic than it first appears, he is truly a ‘Praying Mantis.’ This is the only place in all the prophets that could possibly fulfill Ezek. 38:16-17 other than I Sam. 15. So there is more to this ‘Praying Mantis’ than we give credit many times.

Then Balak freaks out, smites his hands together, and tells Balaam to return home empty handed. So, Balaam said, “Let me show you what Israel will do to you and to your people in the later days, and he goes on in chapter 24 with four more prophecies followed by his evil doctrine in chapter 25, that cost the lives of 24,000 Israelites. The word parable (masal #4912) is found seven times in Numbers 23 & 24, it means, a proverb, a short pithy saying, an oracle, a brief story with a symbolic meaning, or a discourse type of prophecy. You will find it in Num. 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15, 20, 21, 23. There were seven parables and four major prophecies, the first was in Num. 24:15-19, “A Star shall come out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel.” The second is in v.20, “Amalek was first among the nations, (The first to attack Israel that is, Ex. 17:8) but his later end shall be that he perish forever.” The third is in vv. 21-22, “The Kenites who dwell in the rocks, shall be wasted when Asshur carries them away.” The fourth is in vv. 23-24, “And ships shall come from Kittim/Cyprus and afflict Asshur and Eber and he shall perish forever. And Balaam rose up and went and returned to his place and Balak also went his way.” Balaam was also the soothsayer who made the prophecy which the ‘Wise men’ followed in Matt. 2:2, to find Jesus in Bethlehem. Num. 24:17, “I shall see Him but not now, I shall behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and smite the corners of Seth (appointed).” Gen. 4:25.

I don’t know if I ever realized it was Balaam who made all these wonderful prophecies before he was executed, Num. 31:8, concerning the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Was he a believer in JeHoVaH? Maybe not in a way that he trusted in Him for his salvation but he must have believed that He was the GOD of gods! You can’t have that many encounters with ‘YeHoVaH Elohim’ and ‘The angel of YeHoVaH’ and the ‘Spirit of God’ the ‘Ruach ha Kodesh’ and not become a believer in some way. The advice he gave Balak which caused Israel to falter with the Moabite women was wrong and comes out in Num. 31:16; Jam. 4:4; and Rev. 2:14. He was still a sinner like you and me and needed to be saved. Did he ever turn to God for salvation? I guess we won’t know for sure until we get to glory, but I kind of doubt it. But there is a ‘Principle For Prayer’ we can learn from this “Praying Mantis” – Don’t follow every man’s advice who claims to be a prophet of God, he may turn out to be a ‘Preying Mantis.’ Follow God’s word and listen to His voice alone, John 10:27; I Kings 19:12-13; And remember, not every prophet is profitable! Till next time, I’ll see you, “…Between The Lines…” And remember to read between the lines, not just the lines, Jesus said every jot and tittle is important, so pay attention to the dots and dashes, you’ll be glad you did.

“Balaam – The Praying Mantis” (Part # 2) Num. 22:8-9 – 10/5/16