What Balaam Saw

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When writing yesterday's blog concerning the star prophecy, I was reminded of something else that is totally cool! The prophecy is found in Numbers 24 and Balaam is the mouthpiece God used to deliver that prophecy. Of course, today's topic will be about Balaam...





Most of us know the story of Balaam--especially the part concerning the talking donkey. This is a Bible Study, though, so let's go back and read the story. I've found that we can read a story 100 times and on the 101st time, the Holy Spirit can still reveal hidden treasures. Don't you just Love that about our God?

Okay, let's read Numbers Chapters 22 - 24 It begins by telling us that Balak (the son of the King of the Moabites) was scared of the Israelites because they won the battle against the Amorites. Then it tells us about Balak's plan to have Israel cursed...go ahead and read, I'll wait...

I just Love this story! Scaredy-cat Balak is just determined to have Israel cursed, but God just won't allow it. That, in and of itself, can be so uplifting to us, can't it? "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)

Let's go back to Chapter 22 and reflect on what's happened. Balaam started out doing really good. He received the request to curse Israel and he asked God about it first. When God said not to curse them, Balaam said No to the request. Yea Balaam--Obeying God! But then what happened?

Balak's people came back to Balaam:
Num 22:16-17 And they came to Balaam and said to him, So says Balak the son of Zippor, Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me. For I will raise you up to very great honor, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then and curse this people for me.
When asking God again about it, God told Balaam that if the men called on him again, he could go with them (but still couldn't curse Israel). But Balaam didn't wait for the men to call on him again, did he? Nope, he got up the next morning and saddled his donkey and headed out...why? What was his focus on this second time around? Was he focused on what God wanted him to do? Nope, Balaam had his eye on the prize--the "very great honor" that Balak promised him.

Now, we'll look at the talking donkey. Why didn't Balaam see the angel, but the donkey did? Well, common sense (spiritually speaking) tells us that if we aren't focused on God, we won't see Him moving in our lives. Spiritual blindness is a direct consequence of not listening to and obeying God. Have you ever been in a position where God had to get a "donkey" to speak to you so you could see the error of your ways?

--We could take this study in SO many different ways at this point, but we'll continue on to the thing that I really want to share with you today (I'm sure the Holy Spirit has revealed some cool things to you through the study of this passage, already).

Let's move on to the end of the passage, in Chapter 24. By this time, Balak has set up Balaam in different positions and tried to get him to curse Israel, but God just won't allow it. I also believe that finally, Balaam has his sights back where they belong--on God and His will. Let's find out what Balaam sees when he has his spiritual blinders removed...

This last attempt puts Balaam high up above the camp of the Israelites--sort of like a bird's eye view. Numbers 24:2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel pitched, according to their tribes. And the Spirit of God came upon him.
Tents pitched according to their tribes?? Now that sounds like an odd thing for God to "fit in" to that particular passage, right? Well, I've come to realize that God never puts anything in His Word for No reason. There's always a reason for Every single word written in the Bible.
Apparently, for us to fully understand what Balaam saw, we need to understand how the Israelites set up camp. Numbers 2 tells us exactly how the different tribes pitched their tents in relation to the Tabernacle:

To the North: Dan, Asher, Naphtali (Totaling 157,600 people)
To the South: Reuben, Simeon, Gad (Totaling 151, 450 people)
To the East: Judah, Issachar, Zebulun (Totaling 186,400 people)
To the West: Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin (Totaling 108,100 people)



If we draw the Tabernacle with relative scale of the number of tents of the tribes on their respected sides of the Tabernacle, you can see exactly what Balaam saw (i like to imagine this going on during the evening with campfires going:
Scroll down to see what Balaam saw...
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Need a minute to take that in? How AWESOME is Our God?
Now, Go back and read what Balaam spoke over Israel and think of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...Read: Num 24:2-9 & 14-19
Is it any wonder that what Balaam saw caused the Spirit of God to come upon him? And is it any wonder that the Spirit of the Lord would speak those specific words through Balaam's mouth while Balaam looked on THAT sight? Oh, I would have Loved to see what Balaam saw. The angel would be cool to see, but Oh to see the tents pitched according to their tribes!
How Awesome is our God?!?
I can't help but Give Him Praise!