Week 8 Numbers 22-24
Balaam is the enigmatic shaman who ghosts into the book of Numbers and then ghosts back out again. Mystery Man or not I’m glad to find his little gem-of-a-story here in the middle of censuses & regulations & travelogues.
On the surface it looks like Balaam was the Lord’s Man of the Hour. The Lord communicated directly with him and then Balaam relayed four specific messages from the Lord to king Balak. He looks quite a bit like an real OT prophet. He comes. He speaks the Lord’s message. He leaves. Seven chapters later I find out about the real Balaam.
Israel had a battle with the five kings of Midian. They killed all five and in the process: they also killed Balaam son of Beor. It turns out that this wasn’t a case of poor-Balaam – a good guy caught in the crossfire. Balaam was executed because the Midianites had followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor.
Reading this is a bit of a shock. Balaam seemed like an okay-guy. But it turns out that he conspired with Balak – gave him advice on how to poison Israel.
I’ve had to read 210 verses before I find this sequel. The main story seemed to end with Balaam going home in the last verse of Numbers 24. But that wasn’t the end and I’d been left with a completely wrong impression.
Note: quotes from Numbers 31:8 16 (NLT)