Balaam, Phinehas, and the Faithfulness of God
Numbers 22:1-6,
Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. 2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. 4 And Moab said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. 6 Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
Well, in Numbers chapter 22, we read that the Israelites have made it to the plains of Moab. Which was near the Jordan River. Near the city of Jericho. Near the long-anticipated promised land of Canaan.
What this signals for us then, is the beginning of a transition, a passing over of the baton, from the first generation of Israelites who failed to trust God in the wilderness, to the second generation of whom God said, “They shall inherit the land.”
And it’s no coincidence that as bookends to this section of Scripture (Numbers 22-25), we find two contrasting men on either side.
One, who like the first generation, seems to know a thing or two about God, seems to claim a sort of allegiance to him, yet proves, in time, to be far from him. His name is Balaam, and his story will run through chapters 22, 23, and 24.
In chapter 25, we’ll see the second man, Phinehas. A man who not only knows about Yahweh and has given his allegiance to Him, but demonstrates that allegiance through action.
So the aim for this morning is to analyze these two men, asking, on one side, What are the marks of worldliness? (And we’ll spend the majority of our time there,) and what are the marks of godliness? We’ll then end with a look at a third question: what are the promises given to the godly?
What are the marks of worldliness?
What are the marks of godliness?
What are the promises given to the godly?
1. Worldliness (Balaam)
So, first question: what are the marks of worldliness?
We’re asking because, as Christians, we believe that examples of worldliness like these are in Scripture for our benefit… That we might inspect them, and so learn from them of how not to be.
Just as Paul says, regarding these Old Testament examples of worldliness, 1 Corinthians 10:6,
…these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
And in his very next sentence, he references this very narrative here involving Balaam, saying:
We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did [that is, the people we’ll meet this morning in Numbers 25] and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.”
Application, 1 Cor. 10:12, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”
The marks of worldliness are here to serve as lenses into our own hearts. Lenses through which to look and ask: Where do I see remnants of this yet dwelling in me?
With that, let’s take a look at Numbers 22. So, as Peter just read, Israel is in Moab, and they’re not alone. The people of Moab and Midian are there as well, and they’re in “great dread” and “overcome with fear” on account of mighty Israel’s arrival. Balak, King of Moab, fears war with the Israelites. He knows he cannot defeat them by force. But, he thinks, “perhaps I can through sorcery.” Enter Balaam — the Gentile prophet for hire.
In verse 6, King Balak sends his messengers to Balaam, saying, “Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me.” And whether its a show of flattery, or something he actually believes it, Balak says of Balaam what should never be said of anyone other than God. “For I know [Balaam] that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
What follows can be a bit of a confusing story. Confusing because it can leave us a bit unsure of what to do with Balaam. What should we make of him? Is he godly? Is he worldly? At first glance, it can seem tough to tell. After all: Balaam is going to refer to God by his covenantal name, Yahweh. God himself is going to speak to Balaam and through Balaam for the good of his people. In challenging moments, Balaam is going to claim that he’s under obligation to speak only what God tells him.
Those sound like marks of godliness, right? Well, they’re not. And that’s going to become increasingly apparent throughout these chapters. In fact, we can begin to see that as early on as verse 8.
After all, just put yourselves in Balaam’s shoes for a moment, and ask yourself: How might I respond, were these messengers to show up at my door, and say, “Our Master Balak wants to hire you to curse Israel, for he knows that he whom you curse is cursed and he whom you bless is blessed,”?
How might you, given all you know of what God has said and done concerning this people Israel, beginning in Genesis, and stretching all the way through Exodus, Leviticus, and this point in Numbers. What might you say to these men?
“Get lost,” right?
Israel is the apple of God’s eye (Zech. 2:8). Israel is God’s treasured possession (Ps. 135:4). The people with whom God has made a covenant. The people of whom God said, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse” (Gen. 12:3). You don’t love God and curse his people, do you?
That is not Balaam’s response. But, rather, verse 8, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me.”
First Mark of Worldliness
We’re looking for marks of worldliness. Well, here’s the first: Worldliness considers sin, ponders it, weighs it in a balance. It says, “Wait here a moment, while I calculate whether this is worth my disobedience to God.”
It does not slam the door upon sin, as it ought. It does not resist sin at first sight, as it ought. Instead it demonstrates a deadly patience toward sin, allowing it to linger, and make its case, and then mull over its prospect.
Where is this kind of mulling over the prospect most likely to happen in our lives today? I’d venture to say that’s its most likely to happen with a screen open before you, and the thought beginning to work its way into your mind: Perhaps this click is worth my disobedience to God.
Worldliness considers sin. Balaam should’ve slammed the door in the face of those men. Instead, he welcomed them in.
Let’s pick up the speed a bit.
Second Mark of Worldliness
Balaam’s going to inquire of God — “Should I curse this people?” God’s going to give his response. And it’s not complicated. Verse 12: “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” End of story, right? Not exactly.
Balaam will turn away this first group of messengers, but King Balak will simply send back more, and with an even sweeter offer, in verse 16:
“Let nothing hinder you from coming to me [Balaam], for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.”
But Balaam’s already got his answer, right? God has told him clearly not to go. So why does Balaam say this, in verses 18-19?
“Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more. So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.”
What more? God has given you his answer Balaam — What more need he say?
Do you see what’s going on here? Balaam is feigning ignorance. Pretending he actually does not know what God wants of him… Sure, God said not to go the first time, but what about now? Perhaps there’s a chance he’s changed his mind. Perhaps there’s more nuance to his answer. Perhaps there’s more that needs to be considered before I completely shut the door here.
Here’s a second mark of worldliness. Worldliness pleads ignorance. It claims: I just don’t know what God thinks about this thing. I just don’t know what God thinks about me sleeping with my boyfriend. I just don’t know what God thinks about me going to this party. I just don’t know what God thinks about me cheating on this test.
The fact is, most of us know all too well what God thinks about these things, and many others — we just doesn’t like it. Least not by nature. And so, we play pretend. We shut our eyes and stop our ears, and say, “Well, since I really can’t know for sure…” Second mark of worldliness. Worldliness pleads ignorance.
And like the kid who just keeps shaking up the eight-ball till he finally gets the answer he wants, Balaam is just going to keep “inquiring of God,” as if he didn’t know any better, till God finally lets him go.
And God will. God will give him over to what he truly wants. “Balaam, you want to go, you can go,” but, verse 20, “You can only do what I tell you.”
Third Mark of Worldliness
Now, just a show of hands quick: You ever experience a bit of car trouble while out on the road? Flat-tire, over-heated engine, the kind of thing that forces you to pull over on the side of the road? It’s amazing, even in our “post-Christian” age, people still tend to attribute that kind of thing to an act of God. “An act of God prevented me from making it to my intended destination.”
Well, at this point of the story, Balaam is going to experience not a bit of car trouble, but a bit of donkey trouble. Three-times over, his donkey is going to prevent him from making progress toward the plains of Moab. And amazingly, Balaam is never once going to consider that it may actually be God whose preventing his progress. His donkey will. In fact, unlike Balaam, the donkey is going to see the angel of the LORD standing in his way with sword drawn, and that’s the reason he’s going to stop these three times.
During stop number 3, God’s going to do something remarkable. In verse 28, he’s going to open the mouth of Balaam’s donkey to speak to him. God can use Balaam, a prophet-for-hire as his mouthpiece, and he can even use a donkey to do the same.
God then opens Balaam’s eyes to finally see what’s in front of him. Verse 31,
“Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand.”
Jump down to the middle of verse 32:
“Behold [says the angel], I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.”
And now, just consider all that Balaam has experienced of God up to this point: God has spoken to him, twice. God has opened the mouth of his donkey. God has revealed an angel to him. In just a short while, God himself is going to speak through him. And God’s even going to use him to bless his people.
But you know what’s really alarming? None of these experiences will ultimately change Balaam’s heart.
Sure, Balaam’s going to be humbled in verse 31 — Frightened by this angel, he’ll not dare go beyond what God says to him, for fear of his life.
Balaam’s going to be grieved in verse 34 — confessing his sin of ignorance (I didn’t know the angel was there) but not his rebellion (I shouldn’t have even been there in the first place).
Balaam’s even going to show some interest in God’s people — 23:10, “Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his [meaning Israel’s]”
None of it will fundamentally change Balaam. Like the parable of the soil and the weeds, Balaam’s apparent interest in God will be choked out by the cares of this world.
Balaam’s End
And that’s not conjecture. Scripture tells us that Balaam’s last act, following these events, did not involve a dedication of his life to God. But a back-door method for getting paid. The advising King Balak and the women of Moab — “Look, you can’t curse Israel, but you can seduce them.” As Numbers 31:16 reads, “…on Balaam’s advice, the women of Midian 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.” As 2 Peter 2:15 reads, Balaam did this because he loved gain from wrongdoing.
Third, and most alarming mark of worldliness: Worldliness can experience God and go on unmoved. Brothers and sisters, beware of heart-absent Christian activity. In your Bible reading, prayer, church life — beg God to awaken you to his glory. Plead with God to change you from one degree of glory to the next. Ask God, “Father, show me your glory through this act of worship before you.”
What are the marks of worldliness?
Worldliness considers sin, feigns ignorance, and can even go on unmoved by the experience of God.
So, that’s Balaam. Our portrait of worldliness. Far more briefly now, we’ll look at Phinehas, and he as a portrait of godliness.
2. Godliness (Phinehas)
Turn with me over to chapter 25, and see that it opens with the Balaam-incited episode between the sons of Israel and the daughters of Moab and Midian. Verse 1,
“While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor.”
They were seduced into idolatry.
God’s response to this peoples’ sin, just as in other times, was righteous wrath. Plague breaks out. Verse 9 tells us that 24,000 Israelites died in this incident — likely finishing off the remainder of that first generation of Israelites of whom God said would not enter the land but die in the wilderness.
Now, 24,000 is a large number. But it would’ve been even larger had it not been for Phinehas. Again, we’re looking for marks of godliness, and what we’ll see in Phinehas is essentially the opposite of what we saw in Balaam.
It begins with the disturbing scene of verse 6:
“And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting.”
Israelites are literally dropping left and right because of the plague. Mourners have gathered near the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. And in the sight of everyone, this man Zimri takes a Midianite woman in his hand and leads her to his chamber, nonchalantly walking past the Holy Tabernacle of God as they do so.
Worldliness considers sin, yes? Godliness does not — but strikes it down from the start. So, verse 7:
“When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand.”
He does not consider following suit and he too grabbing the hand of a Midianite woman. He grabs his spear instead. First Mark of Godliness: Godliness opposes sin from the start.
And why does he? What’s so wrong about taking this Midianite woman? Maybe Zimri really likes her. Maybe she likes him. Maybe it’s really no big deal. Worldliness feigns ignorance, yes? Godliness doesn’t.
God has said, Ex. 20:2-3, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.” Yet this man is bowing down to these Midianite gods.
God has said, Numbers 15:30, “But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people.” Yet this man is carrying out his sin in the sight of the whole camp, and without a care.
God has said to Moses and Aaron, Num. 3:38, “guard the sanctuary…protect the people of Israel. And any outsider who [comes] near [they are] to be put to death.” Yet this man is bringing a Midianite woman right past the Holy sanctuary, threatening to defile it as they pursue their end.
Worldliness feigns ignorance, yes? Godliness responds to God’s word. Phinehas knows what God had to say about these things. So, again, he takes his spear.
Lastly, Worldliness experiences God and goes on unmoved, yes? Phinehas, as Aaron’s grandson, member of this second generation of Israelites, had seen all that God had done, heard all that God had said, throughout the years of the wilderness wanderings. And he did not go unmoved by them. He became captivated by the glory of God through them, and jealous for the spread of his glory in the world. As we read in 25:11, Phinehas did what he did out of jealousy for God’s name. His heart won over to God’s.
What are the marks of godliness?
Godliness opposes sin from the start.
Godliness responds to God’s word.
Godliness is jealous for God.
3. Promises
So, we’ve got Balaam and worldliness on one side. Phinehas and godliness on the other. In between, promises given to the godly. Briefly, one of the most encouraging things to note regarding these God-given oracles of Balaam in chapters 23-24 is that for the most part, they’re simply reaffirming the promises God has already made to this people before.
For example: To Abraham he said, Gen. 22:17,
“I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.”
Numbers 23:10,
“Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel.”
Ex. 29:45,
“I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God.”
Numbers 23:21 reads,
“The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them.”
Gen. 22:17,
“…Your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies”
Num. 24:8,
“God brings him out of Egypt…he shall eat up the nations, his adversaries,”
The fact that God is reiterating his promise here should greatly encourage us. For though this first generation has proven faithless, God remains faithful. His promises still stand though the first generation failed to receive them. For, as 23:19 states,
“God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
God never fails to keep his promises. Which means that, as his new covenant people, when Jesus says things to us, like John 10:27-30:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand..”
And we think, “well, yeah, but what about my inadequacy? My failings? My sin? Won’t my shortcomings erode God’s promise to me? In the midst of such worry and anxiety, we remember:
“God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
A Coming King
Now, I had said that most of these promises simply reaffirm the promises God has already made to this people. But what brings us to the table this morning is the introduction of a new promise here in Numbers. The promise of a coming king.
In 24:17, we read:
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be dispossessed; Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly. And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of cities!”
This coming king will rise up out of Jacob. This coming king will crush the enemies of God’s people. And indeed, he already has. And in this season of Advent, we’re waiting for him once more. What brings us to the table this morning is the reality that King Jesus has come and disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame. He has crushed our greatest enemy, death itself, through his own death and resurrection, in which robbed the grave and stole Hell’s keys, and now bids us all, “Come to me, and I will give you eternal life.”
This meal which represents Jesus’ broken body and shed blood is a meal for those who love this King Jesus. So if you’re here today and you’ve trusted in Jesus, then we invite you to take and eat. If you’ve not put your trust in Jesus, we ask that you’d let the elements pass for now, but encourage you in this moment, turn to Jesus and receive this King and his promises offered to you.
