BALAK KING of Moab sent to Balaam saying: “Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt:.. they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me. Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land.”
Balaam was a wicked man, a false prophet who was willing to sell his services for reward. Apparently he had a reputation as a prophet for Balak also said to him, “I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.” But he was not a prophet of the Lord; rather he was a sorcerer using divination. Nevertheless the Lord did use him and made him say the very opposite to what either he or Balak wanted to say.
So the honorable elders of Moab and Midian came to Balaam with “the rewards of divination in their hands,” and they delivered the message from Balak. Balaam received them courteously, but crafty man that he was he made it appear that it was not an easy thing to secure his services. He told them to lodge with him that night, perhaps with the thought the delay might bring him more money. He made a pretense of seeking spiritual guidance, even using the name of Jehovah, for he said, “I will bring you word again, as the LORD [Jehovah] shall speak unto me.”
Jehovah was the name by which God made Himself known to Israel, but though both Balaam and Balak used His name neither of them knew Him. Balaam talked of consulting with Jehovah but in this he played the hypocrite, for he was no different than many today who flippantly talk about God and “the good Lord” yet have nothing to do with Him. Balaam was accustomed to meeting with an evil or familiar spirit. And this is a solemn thing for in these days when the light of Christianity is fading and darkness is spreading over these so-called Christian lands, more and more are turning to belief in the occult and practice of the magic arts, and in dealing with the powers of darkness. They think to contact relatives and friends who have passed into the unseen world but they are not aware that they are really in contact with demons. Dons can impersonate whoever they please and often assume to be men, angels, or even God. The trend in these things is alarming and is but an indication of the coming awful power of Satan which will fill the earth in the last days.
“And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee?” How wonderful that God Himself should enter the scene on behalf of His people. But Balaam didn’t know it was God. He knew not but that it was the same familiar spirit he had been always used to dealing with.
God told him that night that he was not to go with the elders of Moab, nor was he to curse Israel for they were blessed. In the morning Balaam reluctantly declined the offered reward and told the men from Moab to return home, “for,” said he, “the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you.” He wanted the money bad enough, and would curse the people of God to get it, but he was powerless. The princes of Moab could see that he was willing, but they had to return and tell Balak, “Balaam refuseth to come with us.”
Satan can never frustrate the purposes of God to bless us, nor can he keep us out of heaven, but he can spoil our joy and ruin our testimony if we take our eyes off the Lord. May the sense of His love and goodness, and the glories that await us, so capture our hearts that the world and Satan’s allurements will have no appeal to us, and that Christ might be all in all to us while we wait for His coming.
ML-04/07/1974