Balaam Son of Beor

2009-04-01

Balaam son of Beor is one of the most peculiar people in the entire Biblical narrative. He is an unpredictable man who seems to have a relationship with the God of the Bible, yet he did many evil things. Consider the evidence in the following study.

Balaam’s Relationship with God

• Balaam called God by his covenantal name, which usually only those in the covenant community did (Numbers 22:8, 18)
• He admitted sin (Numbers 22:34)
• He recognized that he can only speak the words of God, knowing that God cannot be manipulated (Numbers 22:18, 38; 23:8, 12, 26; 24:13; compare this with the prophet Micaiah son of Imlah in 1 Kings 22:14)
• He blessed Israel (Oracles in Numbers 23-24)
• He made a notable prophecy of the Messiah (Numbers 24:17-19)

Balaam’s Rebellion Against God

• Balaam was a diviner, which is an evil practice (Numbers 24:1, cf. Deuteronomy 18:10)
• He made sacrifices in places other than the sanctuary designated by God (Numbers 23:4)
• He kept pursuing God for permission to go to Balak, the Moabite king, despite God telling him no (Numbers 22:18-20)
• Though God blessed Israel, and Balaam blessed them with his words, the diviner sought a way to bring a curse upon them (i.e. getting the pagan women to seduce the Israelite men into sexual wickedness and pagan practice: Numbers 31:16, cf. 25:3)
• We get the sense that money was the motivation for Balaam’s actions (2 Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11)

Conclusions

Many of these things leave us with more questions than answers. How can a man who claims that the LORD Jehovah is his God (Numbers 22:18) practice divination and willingly oppose God’s plan for Israel? Why did God elect to use Balaam as a prophet and not an Israelite?

Here are some conclusions I have made, though they could easily be debated. Firstly, Balaam trusted in the Most High God. Secondly, though God revealed many things to Balaam, he was still from a pagan background and had syncretistic beliefs. These false beliefs led him to do some rebellious things, such as allowing money to dictate his actions and believing that God would overlook sin. His way of life is reminiscent of Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8:9-25; an occult background seizes a person’s thinking, and it will take time for such a one to change his ways. Unfortunately, Balaam died before his ways conformed to the Lord’s ways. He was not in the covenant community, so there was no way for him to have access to the Lord as the Israelites did in that period of time. But if the Lord was really his God, despite his sin, he will be with the rest of us who believe in eternity future.