Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. 2 Peter 2:15

When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for a sort of new age guru whose name was Balaam to put a curse on God’s people. The king knew that others who had gone out to battle with these nomadic wanderers had come back badly defeated. Believing that Balaam had spiritual powers—a kind of black magic–he finally struck a deal with him. Promising him wealth and power, he hired Balaam to curse Israel.

It didn’t work. Instead of cursing Israel, Balaam blessed them. Not once or twice but repeatedly. Through the prophecies of Balaam, God revealed some great spiritual truths. For example, these words: “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19). Those words are absolutely accurate. Balaam prophesied that the nations of the world would bow down before Israel, something pretty grim to the worried king who had hired Balaam to curse them. He foresaw a star rising out of Jacob who would eventually be the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He predicted that “a ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of Seir.”

And how did Balak respond to this? Moses wrote, “Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, ‘I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. Now leave at once and go home!’” (Numbers 24:10). Balak also reneged on his promise of reward. He told him that he didn’t deserve it, but Balaam did something as he was leaving, something which eventually cost him his life.

He told Balak how to defeat Israel: Bring in women who would entice the men sexually, thus bring down the wrath of God on them.   Did it work? Numbers 25:1 says, “While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods…. And the LORD’S anger burned against them.”

Three times in the New Testament Balaam is mentioned—by Peter, by Jude (the half brother of Jesus) and by John in the book of Revelation. Peter speaks of false teachers who “have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness” (2 Peter 2:15). Jude also talks of false teachers, saying, “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error” (Jude 11). Then writing to the church at Pergamos, John reproved people who (and these are his words) “hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality” (Revelation 2:14).

Question: Is the error of Balaam as the Bible calls it still with us today? Of that, you can be sure. What was Balaam’s problem? First—he was a prophet for hire. Money was important. His dilemma was that he had a knowledge of right and wrong, and whenever he debated the issue, he came down on the side of convenience and financial gain. “What’s your motive?” is a question which needs to be answered anytime you have a tough choice to make.

Balaam mixed truth with falsehood and came out with a gospel that was no gospel at all. The very sad reality is, today, many people listen to a message which is tainted with Balaam’s philosophy, and they lack the discernment to know when someone departs from the truth and has corrupted the Word.

“But there is so much good in what he or she says!” God never is impressed with how much truth is contained in falsehood, nor should we be today.

Resource reading: Numbers 23 24.