In my personal Bible reading, I have been making my way through the book of Numbers. I know, some of you may not spend a lot of time in the book of Numbers because it is, well... full of numbers and lists of data that, at times, can be difficult to figure out how to apply them to every day life. I am here to tell you, please don't neglect this book. If you do, you will miss out on one of the more interesting stories in the first five Old Testament Books. As I initially read the story of Balaam the false prophet, I had planned on continuing on with my reading in the following chapter the next day, but I could not get the story out of my head. Consequently, I went searching on the internet for a Bible study on this particular story. Here is an excellent study from Bible.org that really goes into some depth on the story. Some may be familiar with the story about how the false prophet, Balaam, was hired by King Balak of Moab to put a curse on the Israelites. Some interesting events occur, including a warning from a talking donkey, and culminating with Balaam's blessing of Israel much to the dismay of the King of Moab. By the way, the Moabites were distant relatives to the Israelites and were Lot's relatives. (Genesis 19:30-38)
1. This story demonstrates for us the importance of being forthright with God. God sees and knows all things and attempting to hide one's motives from Him for personal gain is futile.
2. We can see that Balaam was not a true prophet of God because he apparently did not fear God enough to obey His command to not go with King Balak's men in order to curse Israel.
3. God's permissive will is demonstrated in the story when He allows Balaam to sin by following Balak's men back to Moab in order to curse Israel in disobedience to His first command. God will be glorified regardless of whether people obey Him or not. In this story, Balaam's sinful disobedience of God's first command to him ended up blessing the Israelites, thus God was glorified despite Balaam's sinfulness.
So, go and grab your Bible. Check out this story and the study from Bible.org
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