Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.

I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.

At this point in the narrative, Balak and Balaam are together, with Balak still needing that cursing. He really, really needs that cursing, and yet Balaam is constant in his claim that what the Lord speaks, he will speak.

Balaam gives a number of oracles, or prophecies in chapters 23 & 24 that are worthy of review, and the result is that Balak comes away from this time with Balaam, being cursed himself!

It looks like Balaam, on the surface survived the testing and moved on. Yes, he certainly said the right things!

Except, it appears that Moses brings up a time where Balaam provide some counsel to Balak. He rightly did not and could not curse the people of God as a prophet, but as a counsellor to Balak, Balaam was able to provide Balak’s needs.

Numbers 31:16 Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the LORD.

After all of Balaam’s “faithfulness” in speaking, in the manner of a prophet, it seems Balaam takes the king aside, and counsels him with some “free” advise.

I can hear ol’ Balaam even now.

“You know king Balak, if you draw the Israelites away from worshipping God with some wild Moabite women, God may not take too kindly to that. Just saying…”

Effective advice, for after the proclamation of Balaam’s oracles, that speak of the Lord Jesus as the Messiah in chapters 23 & 24, immediately we see the Israelites whoring with the daughters of Moab, worshipping Baal at Peor. The result? The anger of the Lord lashes out, killing many of the Israelites!

Balaam’s third temptation may not have been a specific temptation, at least that I can find, but simply a response to the original thought of “a house full of gold and silver”. Balak’s blank check just couldn’t be resisted.

So Balaam provided some counsel!

Numbers 25:3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.
Numbers 25:4 And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.”
Numbers 25:9 Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

Balak, for all his efforts, and through all the frustrations he had with Balaam, was able to find success in weakening those people he feared. Twenty four thousand dead, and Balak didn’t have to raise a spear!

Balaam is such a mixed bag. He spoke right, seemed to have the ear of God, and yet caused such devastation to the people of God.

Balaam decided to worship things. He found ways to avoid the conditions God set down for him, and when all was said and done, when all the prophecies were spoken, and when Balak was fully frustrated with Balaam, only then would Balaam let the cat out of the bag, and provide Balak counsel. The prophecies certainly were not satisfying Balak, and when any hope of funds transferring hands seemed to be slipping away, Balaam stepped up for Balak. So disappointing!

For the Lord’s last temptation, He was offered all the glory of the kingdoms of the world. The “house full of gold” that Jesus was tempted with far outshone that which Balaam could have imagined.

But the end result was so different. For the Lord, He sought no “out”, no looking for loopholes in the will of God, no adjustments in who (or what) to worship, no distraction from who He would serve. He resisted to the end! He was not simply avoiding sin, He was seeking God with everything He had.

---

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

Come join us at Considering the Bible