Balaamism – how to straddle the fence

Balaam was a prophet of God who had one foot in each camp (the ways of Baal and God) much like people today have one foot in the ‘world’ and one foot in the church. We can learn much from a look at Balaam. It is interesting to note that even though we have one short story about him, we have many strong teachings in the bible warning us not to be like him.

First, who was Balaam? He was a well-known diviner and mercenary prophet. He was self-willed and double-minded, eloquent in prophecy but presumptuous in seeking to alter God’s plan. (Num 23:24) Ultimately he was sent home, his mission a failure. (Num 24:10) He was an evil counselor (Num 31:16) who had sin and greed ever-present in him. (2 Pet 2:15) Eventually, he was killed by the sons of Israel as they conquered the land of Canaan. (Josh 13:22)

What did he do?

Balaam’s story is recorded in Nu 22–24. His story takes place in 1408 B.C. when Israel was on the way to the promised land and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan river opposite Jericho. (please read these 3 chapters)

In short, the king of Moab wanted Balaam to curse Israel for a fee. The king called him out of the land of Pethor which was near the Euphrates in the land of Aram. (This would be somewhere in the vicinity of modern day Iraq. Moab is generally between Iraq and Egypt where the Israelites were coming from.) Balaam was willing to, but had to talk to God first. God instructed Balaam to bless Israel and this drove the king Balak crazy. God has a plan for the nation of Israel and Balaam was working against it. Balaam participated in Balak’s sacrifices on false altars.

Balaam was working in both camps, Baal and the Lord’s. God providently and sovereignly speaks through Balaam’s oracles even prophesying the Christ who was to come. As Balaam set out to meet with the king of Moab we see how God sent an angel to stop Balaam and after being chastened by a donkey, lets him proceed on his mission. For his part, Balaam would not respond to God’s first roadblock and turn around. We are like this. Even though God puts a block in our intended plans we continue to try to press on. Even though we know some of our lifestyle decisions are contrary to God, we continue to press on.

God’s plan for the Israelites would not be short-circuited. God would demonstrate His power to the king of Moab through his deceitful attempt at defeating the Israelites.

Balaam was willing to curse the Israelites and was interested in earning the money promised him for doing so. Yet, at the same time he said he could only say what the Lord told him to say. We see a man going between two camps. We see him willingly being engaged by enemies of God and yet seeking God’s face. We see a prophet who is tolerant of the false sacrifices to their gods which is spiritual adultery in our Lord’s eyes and yet he knows who the real God is.

Oh, brethren, aren’t many of us like this? We know the Lord is One and yet we tolerate and even participate in the false practices of Satan. The practices of worship to the false god Baal had a form of godliness but were lacking in the real power of the One True and Living God. Yes, sadly, we see much of this today. People rushing to and participating in the weak practices of other religions thinking that there are many paths to heaven. We see people respecting other religions in the name of peace when they are actually evil practices of the Devil that lead to sure death and eternal torture. They are far from tolerant and peaceful ways. They are but a deceitful path right into the fiery lake.

In fact this is what happened to the Israelites. Right after God uses Balaam and Balak to bless Israel, they began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. They sacrificed to their gods and ate the sacrifices and bowed down to these false gods. The bible says Israel joined themselves to Ball of Peor and the Lord was angry. The Lord had Moses execute everyone who had joined themselves to this false religion. That day 24,000 people died. We must take God seriously about not participating in false doctrine.

False prophets will rise among us

The Apostle Peter warns us that false prophets will rise among us. Balaam is the foundational example of these false prophets with doctrine that leads astray. 2 Peter 2 (read the chapter please) informs us of how they will arise and what they will teach as well as the fate of those who follow them.

Christ condemned Balaamism

We even see that the glorified Christ condemned the church of Pergamum because of following the teaching of Balaam! Re 2:14 Balaamism was a false teaching and even though it isn’t called that today, we see the same teachings in our society.

Yet today we see false doctrine being taught that puts a stumbling block before God’s children and teaching them to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. What is this ‘stumbling block’? How do we eat things sacrificed to idols? Exactly what acts of immorality are being taught?