Year 1, Day 139: Numbers 24

A Look at the Prophet

I’m going to diverge here from my normal pattern of looking at the text and applying it to life.  This chapter presents a wonderful case scenario for examining the proper perspective of prophetic utterances.  As I am fond of saying – and in today’s culture it cannot be said often enough – a prophet is not someone who sees the future.  Rather, a prophet is someone who speaks a message of God to the contemporaries around them.  The fact that utterances of a prophet have multiple interpretations into the future is not a credit given to the prophet but rather a credit given to the Holy Spirit for being able to interpret and reinterpret Holy Scripture as often as necessary.

For example, here we see Balaam giving an oracle about the Hebrew people to Balak and the various princes of the land.  Balaam is not speaking these words with a clear vision of exactly how this oracle is going to come true.  He doesn’t necessarily see the exact face of the “star” and “scepter” who conquers these people.  Rather, he is telling these princes to watch out, because nothing will get in the way of these people accomplishing God’s will.  The prophetic message from God is a message to the contemporaries that they better get used to these Hebrew people because they are going to rule over them.  That message is what makes Balaam a prophet, not his ability to – or inability to – see the future.

Now, does that mean that his words don’t come true in the future?  Of course not!  Just because we understand a correct Biblical designation of what it means to be a prophet doesn’t mean that the utterances can’t come true in the near or distant future!  What I am saying is that the fact that Balaam’s utterances come true in the distant future – not once but twice! – is a credit belonging to the Holy Spirit, not Balaam.

Truth in the Utterances

Balaam’s utterances do come true in his day, of course.  The Hebrew people do take over Canaan and push all the natives to the side.  Joshua is the first “star” and “scepter” who will lead the people through Canaan and dominate over them.

But these utterances also come true in the time of King David who does suppress the people to whom Balaam speaks in this passage.  King David is the first “future” truth of Balaam’s statement.  King David is the next “star” and “scepter” who will rule over the natives of Canaan.

Balaam’s utterances also come true in Christ.  Certainly Christ can be called a star coming out of Jacob.  In fact, some people think that this verse is the verse that the Magi keyed into when Christ was born in Bethlehem.  Certainly Jesus can be seen as the scepter rising out of Israel.  So Balaam’s oracles can be said to have come true in his current reality as well as twice in his distant future.

In any case, we should not get hung up on the necessity of Balaam to have “seen a clear image of David” – or of Christ, for that matter.  Balaam’s words were true in the day he spoke them for the Moabites and the Amalekites and all the other princes who were seated there.  That is what makes him a prophet.  The fact that they also came true in David as well as came true in Jesus Christ is something to which we should give the credit to the Holy Spirit.

Balaam’s Reward

Okay, that little lesson on understanding prophecy behind us, do notice that in the end Balaam doesn’t get rewarded.  He gets what he deserves, mind you, but he does not get compensated for his effort.  Balak promised to pay him well if he would come out to him and observe the Hebrew people.  Balaam warned Balak that if he did come out, then he would only be able to speak the words of the Lord.  Balak wanted him anyway.  So Balak got what was promised.  And although Balaam delivered on the promise, he got no payment for his trouble.

On the other hand, God told Balaam to not go.  God told Balaam that he did not want Balaam to have anything to do with the worldly trappings of life.  But remember how Balaam slipped from the absolute will of God into the permissive will of God?  So when Balaam doesn’t get paid here even after living up to his word, he deserves no sympathy.  He’s lucky to have escaped with his life – especially since he did it without God’s absolute approval!

So it is also with us.  Most of the time when we don’t get what we think we deserve, it is because we are living in God’s permissive will and should really just should count ourselves lucky to be alive.  When we live in God’s directive will, then God will provide for us.  So yes, Balaam goes away empty-handed for his trouble.  But if he’d have just listened to God in the first place and not been lured by the trinkets of Balak, he could have stayed home and saved himself the hassle anyway.

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