By Robert Olsen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
GOD’S PLANS
Numbers 22:22–35
Obstacles Met (22–27)
As the Israelites continued to move toward the promised land, they encountered resistance from the countries through which they traveled. The Israelites offered to travel through safely, but since the nations did not trust them, they attacked them.
However, because these groups attacked God’s chosen people, the Israelites were able to defeat them. This caused fear in the other nations and led some of them to try to stop the Israelites.
Balak, king of Moab, tried to hire Balaam, a diviner from near the Euphrates River, to come and put a curse on the Israelites. God told Balaam to go.
As Balaam traveled to Moab on a donkey, he was confronted by an angel of the Lord who stood in his path three times with a drawn sword. Balaam could not see the angel but the donkey could.
The donkey avoided the angel by first going off into a field, next by pushing up against a wall and lastly by just crouching down. Each time, Balaam beat the donkey.
This is an interesting passage because God Himself gave Balaam directions to go to Balak, but here He sends an angel to stand in Balaam’s path. This shows that just because God calls us to do something doesn’t mean that we will not encounter hardship.
The history of missions, for example, is filled with believers who went off to foreign lands to tell others the gospel, and they often encountered much resistance — even death.
It is not for the Christian to determine the outcome of what God calls us to do. All we can do is be obedient. We do not know how God will use our lives.
God used the death of the famous missionary Jim Elliot to increase interest in worldwide missions and to eventually lead to the salvation of most of the people in the tribe that killed him!
Attention Gained (28–31)
God opened the mouth of Balaam’s donkey to speak to him and ask him why he was beating her. God revealed the angel standing in front of Balaam, causing him to bow down in reverence. God used the seemingly slow-witted and stubborn animal to save its rider.
This shows us that God can use unusual means to get His point across. We should not think so much of ourselves that we are not open to hearing God’s truths in strange places or through strange means.
God’s Plan (32–35)
The angel of the Lord told Balaam to continue on his way but to only say what God would tell him to say. When Balaam got to Balak, Balak wanted him to curse the Israelites.
Each time Balaam was going to curse the Israelites, all he could do was bless them and announce what blessings God would bestow upon the Israelites because he did exactly what God told him to do. Balaam’s obedience to God meant that he did not receive his payment because he did not curse them as he was paid to do.
We know from the New Testament (2 Pet. 2:15 and Jude 11) that Balaam did not have pure motives but was greedy and led the Israelites to sin (Rev. 2:14). Yet obedience to God cost Balaam dearly. It cost him time and money. If a wicked man obeyed God in this passage in Numbers, shouldn’t it encourage us all the more to be obedient to God?
Share with others: