Who Was Balaam? A Prophet or Soothsayer
By Abraham Israel
When we see the past history of Balaam, though he seems to have known the Lord, when we see his activies he was actually working against the Lord.
First time in the Bible we hear of Balaam was when the Israelites camped in the wilderness after they have been delivered by God from the slavery of Egypt in which they have been enslaved for more than four hundred years. When the Israelites started to defeat and destroy all their enemies in the land of Canaanites and then moved on and camped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan across from Jericho, the king Balak who was the king of Moabites at that time [who were actually described as the descendants of Lot's first son Moab (Gen 19:37)], he saw what the Israelites had done to the Amorites who were the other major descendants of Job's younger son Ammon, and was exceedingly afraid and sick with dread seeing the children of Israel who were many (Num 22:1-3).
Then the king consulted with his elders and sent messengers immediately to this man named Balaam. The name 'ba'-lam bil`am,' in Hebrew means "devourer," “destroyer,” or “glutton,” and is in part identical with “Bela, son of Beor,” the first king of Edom Gen 36:32. The name “Beor” (“to burn up”) is that of the father, or possibly ancestor, of the Balaam. This shows that Balaam was a type of Satan who was described by Jesus as the one who comes not except to "steal, and to kill, and to destroy." (John 10:10). Satan was a good, perfect, anointed angel and a leading worshipper for whom God prepared fantastic musical instruments to play and be a leader of it when he was created in the beginning (Ezek 28:13-14). He was called as a "shining one, son of the dawn" (Isa 14:12). The word 'Helel' in Hebrew means 'Shining one' refers to the Day Star or Morning Star (the Latin term for which is 'lucifer' which King James Version uses). It means God created Satan to shine forth his light of heavenly glory, but on the passage of time he became the figurative meaning of what God created him to be. The firgurative meaning of this means 'to boast or be boastful'. Apostle Paul reveals about Satan saying, "And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14). In the verses above this verse Apostle Paul compares the workers who expect money to do the work of God and then boast about what God has done through them because of God's calling over their lives (Rom 12:29), as those who are "false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ." (2 Cor 11:8-13). In the light of these truth which the Scripture speaks about, we will see the life of Balaam further.
Balaam was a prophet of God by calling. What does it mean? It means even though he was a pagan or a non Jew by birth in the Old Testament times, God had called him before he was born to be a prophet for Him. This is the reason Apostle Peter calls Balaam as "the prophet" in his writings (2 Peter 2:16). All those who are called by God will be gifted with his gifts which he has prepared for them even before the foundations of the world (Eph 1:4-6).
Apostle Paul revealed about this in his writings saying, "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." (Rom 12:29). In other words, when God calls a person and gifts him with spiritual gifts, God never regrets about his sovereign choice later when they do not act in accordance with his purpose and design for them. This is why, God is the greatest gentle man in the whole of universe who respects the will of men and women more than anything he could do or not do through them. God didn't want to make robotic humans who will obey all He says like a machine. Instead, he wanted men to understand his character of goodness and then voluntarily by their own choice follow Him.
As much Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet before he was born, in the same way without any difference God also had a divine call for Balaam who was a pagan (Jer 1:4-5). In the same way as He wanted Jeremiah to go where He sends and speak whatever He commanded him to speak and guranteed to deliver him when ever people arose against him, God did the same to Balaam (Jer 1:7-8). Then God put His very own words in the mouth of Balaam as like in Jeremiah's mouth and set him over the surrounding people and nations to root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build and to plant the purpose of God in that part of the world (Jer 1:9-10). Here the similarity ends because after this, a prophet who obeys God out of love seeing the goodness of God becomes a true prophet and the one who know sees the goodness of God and then tries to use it for his own selfish end become a false one.
All the people in the world are in one way called by God. But those who choose God by believing the gospel are chosen by Him (Matt 20:16). All those who are called by God doesn't become saved, but those who are chosen by Him does. Praise God that God chose us when we received the gospel of His salvation and got saved, what if God did not sent us the gospel through his messengers or other means, we would have never got saved (Rom 10:14). This is the reason Jesus said to his disciples, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." (John 15:16). If Jesus had not chosen to come to this world voluntarily from heaven to fulfill God's law and therefore out of its fulfillment through his death send the gospel to the world, we would have all gone surely to hell without it (John 8:23-24; 10:17-18; 3:16).
In this way God wanted Balaam to be a prophet and be a light bearer in the pagan world of darkness around him. He wanted to save Balaam and those people who lived around him through his message about the real and only God the Creator who saves all seeking people from sin (1 Tim 4:16). What happened then? God chose Balaam, but Balaam did not choose the right way of God and therefore he was not chosen. He wasn't really saved.
In other words, the way we respond to God's call by sacrificing our own will to serve His purpose makes us get saved from sin. Father God revealed through Jesus that the primary purpose and will of Him is for all people to get saved from sin through believing in the revelation of God's character of goodness (John 6:39-40). Jesus clearly without mincing words thundered, " 23 ... to ...all [his disciples], “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:23-26). If a person does not want to lose his own will to fulfill the will of God in his life, he will not be able to receive Jesus as His Lord and Savior of his life. In order to receive Jesus as our Savior, we must come to see ourselves as a sinner (Gal 2:17). To call Jesus as Lord, we must lose our will and become his servant in our heart attitude. When we were saved, God saw our heartfelt desire for Him and saved us based on our faith and not by our works (Eph 2:8-9). Then after we are saved, we are saved to serve God eternally and not just go to heaven when we die. This is the reason God has prepared certain works custom designed for us to do after we are saved (Eph 2:10). But our works after we are saved becomes a "work of faith" (1 Thess 1:3). In other words, once a person is saved truly, the faith within him starts to work out in his action to control his character to be a God-like one.
Let us see what Balaam did in his life when God approached him with his call to be a prophet? When Peter writes about the depravity of False Teachers, he includes Balaam in it saying, "10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." (2 Peter 2:10-17).
We can learn a lot about Balaam from the above passage. First he was a false prophet who walked according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despised the true authority of God in his heart, but he had knowledge about Him in his head. There are a lot of people who know the whole Bible inside out in their head but do not know even a iota about God in their heart. Just knowing about God by searching through the Scriptures doesn't save us, but knowing God Himself in our heart personally saves us (John 5:39; 17:3; Rom 10:9-10). There are preachers and teachers of the word in the Churches, Bible colleges and other place of religious institutions who have a great knowledge about God, but do not know Him personally and therefore are not saved from sin. They are not necessarily bad people but are good people. Jesus did not come to make good people get better, but he came to save and transform evil people to become God's people. Good people cannot live for eternity with God, but only those who realize that they are desperate sinners in need of the Savior can only get saved from sin and hell fire. Balaam was not saved and was walking in pleasing himself, though he knew about the true God because God revealed Himself mercifully and graciously to him. The bold words of Isaiah agree here when he prophesied, "The LORD says, "I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am!' to a nation that did not call on my name."" (Isa 65:1, NLT). God wanted to reveal Himself to Balaam personally and save him from sin, but even though God said, 'Here I am, Here I am,' he was not ready to accept his own sinful inadequencies to receive his salvation for himself. Instead like Satan, he saw that he was gifted with prophecy and began to use it to bring profit to himself.
It is a warning to all modern day Churches which always goes after the gifts of God neglecting the character of God within, which is only able to save us from sin (2 Peter 1:2-4; 1 John 3:9-10; 5:4). A person can enter heaven without any gifts displayed through his life, but without the character of God within through being born again as God's child (John 1:12-13), no one will be able to enter heaven (John 3:3, 5-8). In these end times, we ought to look for God's character as the only piece of evidence that we are in the will of God and also for validating that a person is a real messenger of God and not a false teacher or apostle (Rev 2:2; 6; 2:14-15).
It is possible to prophecy accurately by the call of God over a person's life as like Balaam, yet without being saved from sin. Balaam did this greatly and accurately that his reputation was so big that Balak the king said to Balaam through his messengers, "... I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." (Num 22:6). Can you believe it? This is the reason we see Jesus saying that in the future White Throne Judgment many false prophets and teachers will say to Him, "... ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’" (Matt 7:22). But then Jesus does not deny that they have done these work in His name, instead he replies that He never knew them at all because they did not do the will of the Father which is to believe in His name and be saved from sin (Matt 7:21; John 6:39-40). These people worked for themselves, using the anointing of God in the name of Jesus, because they were called by God which they never chose for themselves. The anointing of God was a real and a true one, so they were able to prophecy, cast out devils and do many wonders in the name of Jesus, yet they did not do for the glory of God but for a profit, and also never bothered to get saved themselves because of unwillingness to humble themselves as sinners. WAKE UP CHURCH!!! Can you see the danger we are in these end times who just see the gifting of people and not the character of them? If we weigh all the ministries that are happening around the world, based on God's weigh scale how could we find that a ministry is genuine or it is a false one. Surely not based on the prophecy, casting of demons or even whether signs and wonders takes place in the ministry or not. But according to Jesus, see the fruit of the ministry and the life of the minister whether he and his ministry team displays the fruit fo the Holy Spirit (Matt 7:15-20). We the saints need to grow in discernment to find all the Balaamic spirit that are at loose in Christendom to deceive people in these end times (Heb 5:12-14).
Can a minister called by God, do all great things in Jesus name, without himself being saved first? Yes, Bible answers without doubt. For example, the anointing to minister is like a police suit that a person wears. Just because a police wears his suit dosn't mean that he cannot rob people which many do in many parts of the world, just because a police wears the highest honor for his experience in his profession doesn't mean that he will not receive bribe for himself if he chooses to covet and is not honest, which many do dishonestly in many parts of the world. The problem is not with the police uniform which is perfect and carries authority to help people, but the problem is in the evil heart of all humans that is easily inclined to sin. In the same way a minister needs to be saved first, before he can truly minister the gospel to others. Or else the minister of God will soon begin to do the ministry of God for a profit like Balaam, who wore the anointing suit of his calling and exercised God's authority but forgot to ask God to clothe him with the garments of salvation without which he ended up in hell fire finally (Isa 61:10; 2 Peter 2:17). Each believer or minister of God who is called, need to choose by faith the gospel of salvation to become chosen by being saved and should be faithful to be rewarded (Rev 17:14). To get a reward from God for eternity ahead, one needs to run the race of our spiritual life with much discipline of overcoming our sinful nature, right motives and sacrifices for God in His service which can happen only through much suffering (1 Cor 9:24-27; Php 3:8, 10; 2 Tim 2:12).
Jesus said, "I am the way"(John 14:6) which means that a person to reach God must walk in personal relationship with Jesus, so that now in his spirit-man he will be able to reach God the Father and at the end of his life He will be able to reach God the Father who is in heaven physically (Matt 6:9).
We learn a lot just in the succeeding Scripture to that of which was spoken about Balaam's reputation and fame about his prophetic gift, it says, "So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviner’s fee in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak." (Num 22:7). We see in this verse that Balak the king not only knew about his reptutation to prophecy, he was also knew that Balaam was doing blessing and cursing for money. Thus Balaam was not a true prophet, but a false one who was told that he had already the reputation for selling his prophetic gifting for money.
This is why when Apostle Peter describes him, he says, "14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." (2 Peter 2:14-17). The right way of salvation has been forsaken by Balaam and he has already trained his heart in coveteous practice. So when he was trying to say that only what God speaks though me I will speak in many places, it shows that he cannot make God do what he wanted Him to do (Num 22:38). Through Balaam's very own mouth, he prophesied that he was not a righteous man but a wicked person who is seeking to die like the righteous nation of Israel who will go on to heaven to be with their God at their end (Num 23:10). Balaam was a accursed child who never came to love the Father God who is in heaven, but loved the world with all his heart (1 John 2:15-17). When Apostle Peter speaks about wells without water, he was speaking about the salvation status of people like Balaam who were never saved at all. When Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, he promised a fountain of living water that will never go dry in the innermost being of all those who believe in him (John 4:10, 12-14). This means that the well within a saved person definitely has a fountain of living water of the Holy Spirit that will never go dry. The clouds carried by tempest never actually gives rain, but just causes some light drizzle which is no good to any person who expects God's rain to come and fill the land of their lives. The false minister will carry a true anointing but it will be used for themselves and for their own profit, and therefore cannot make a lasting eternal difference in the lives of people who come under their ministry. No fruit of the Holy Spirit can come out of such deceptive ministries and they cannot bear good fruit because they are not really connected to Jesus without which they can do nothing real (Matt 7:18-20; John 15:5).
One should know that the end of such deceptive and covetous practice of a called person who lives for himself is "reserved the blackness of darkness forever." This is the dead end where they will end their lives for eternity. In a place without God and without hope of deliverance but only torment (Matt 25:41, 46; Mark 9:43-44).
May God help everyone of the called ones not to ever go in that way of Balaam. But may all those who are called become chosen by God through believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. May all the saved chosen saints of God reach out for the eternal reward that God gives for all those who strive for it by faith to become inheritors of God's eternal inheritance which He has already stored it in heaven for each one of them. It is up to each saint of God to walk faithful to the call of God and inherit the eternal reward that Jesus is waiting eagerly to give to us which we will not miss if we are faithful in His service (Rev 3:11).
The son of Beor, from a city in Mesopotamia called Pethor, a man possessing the gift of prophecy, whose remarkable history may be found in Nu 22:2 through 24:25; compare Num 31:8,16; Dt 23:4; Josh 13:22; 24:9; Neh 13:2; Mic 6:5; 2 Pet 2:15; Jude 1:11; Rev 2:14. The word Mesopotamia means "The land between the rivers." The two rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that flow into the Persian Gulf. In today's world, Modern Iraq covers what was called Mesopotamia (the fertile crescent) in the past. In today's modern Iraq, Balaam lived once upon a time.
When Balaam instead of knowing his sinful condition and repent for it towards God, began to proudly walk in selling his true prophetic gift, God allowed him to be ruled by a wrong spirit of evil that he became a soothsayer. This was confirmed by the word of God that says, "Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer." (Jos 13:22). This shows that even though Balaam had the knowledge of God, he was never saved to be a true Prophet.
God commanded the Israelites not to allow soothsayer to ever continue in the land which he is giving to them, but clearly instructed them to kill them. Here is what God has said regarding all such demonic workings and workers, " 9 “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you." (Deut 18:9-14).
According to the instruction of God, Moses instructed the Israelites that all Ammonite or Moabite should be defeated and destroyed before them for all their unfriendly and destructive attitude they showed towards them in the desert, and have told never to seek for their prosperity (Deut 23:3-6). Especially Moses wanted Balaam the soothsayer to be killed, who by his deceitful way performed all the prophecies over the Hebrews, but each time, they resulted in the form of a blessing, frustrating Balak all the more (Num 23:11-12, 25-26, 10-14, 25). Though at this point it seems that Balaam has gone away, yet through the other Scriptures we see that after Balaam had departed, thereafter he again approached Balak and informed him that if the he wished to overcome the Hebrews for a short interval, all he had to do was to seduce them to engage in idolatry (Num 31:15-16). Finally Moses sent the Lord's army and fulfilled the very instruction of the Lord given through him and thus they killed Balaam along with the five kings of Midian and did it victoriously (Num 31:1-7, 8, 9-11).
Balaam's was proved to be a enemy of God by willing to teach the enemy how that God would bring judgment for unrighteousness on those whom had the blessing and promises. He enabled the destruction of 24,000 of God’s people (Num 25:1-18). Thus Balaam was a hireling as Jesus called it and was not a true prophet but only was called to be one (Deut 23:4-5; John 10:12-13). He had no concern for the people of God even after he clearly came to know that they were the most blessed people of God.
What Can We Learn From This :
1) Learn to see people not by their gift but by their character (Matt 7:15-20).
2) If a person displays miraculous power of God and yet at the end if he turns the message in to licentiousness to sin and then says to go after the false god's of the world or money, know that the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you will only follow him or will go after these false prophets to satisfy your fleshly appetite of curiosity (Deut 13:1-5). Once you find that someone is false, shun their ways completely and repent towards the Lord and ask Him to guide you n the right way. He has promised you to guide you personally with His very own eyes (Psa 32:8).
3) Beware of the wrong devilish Balaamic attitude to expect money inorder to serve the people of God. When you find that you have a wrong attitude in you, repent to the Lord before you ever start using your miraculous gifting that God has given you to serve the people of God freely (Matt 10:8; 1 Cor 12:7). Do not ever love the wages of unrighteousness that comes out of such Balaamic evil attitude, which wants to make monetary gain using God's supernatural gifts (2 Peter 2:15). Embrace the right way of the Lord before the way of Balaam ends in death.
4) Be saved before you start to serve the people of God. Just because you are called by God in to ministry doesn't necessarily mean that you will automatically get saved in the process of serving God (Matt 7:21-23). We are saved to serve and cannot get saved by serving God (Eph 2:8-10). To be saved, you must go to Jesus as a sinner in need of His saving grace and then accept Him as your personal Lord and Saviour (Luke 18:13-14; Rom 10:9-10, 13). Be saved and serve Jesus for eterntiy ahead in Joy and peace (Rom 5:1-5).
5) Always know that it is the responsibility of all believers to test and find those who say that they are teacher of the word, prophets and apostles, and know for sure that these who say are real or not. The Lord always appreciates those who sincerely do not accept any teaching without testing it with the written word of God (Acts 17:10-12). Balaamic doctrine of licentiousness to sin and other offshoots such as the doctrine that says that grace helps us to cover more sin and do more sin equally, are the deception of the evil one that all believers must me very careful about. We see that Jesus himself speaking directly through Apostle John appreciates the Church of Ephesus that that they have tested those who say that they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars (Rev 2:2). Then Jesus said that by finding the false apostles, they the believers of Ephesus Church have come to hate the false doctrine of the Nicolatians, which is a Balaamic one that makes the people of God commit sexual immorality and make them eat things sacrificed to idols freely, thus putting a stumbling block for all believers to be physically destroyed by the Lord's anger (Rev 2:6, 14-15; 1 Cor 11:27-32).
6) Be careful with the kind of frienship that you establish in your life. Cause it can either make your spiritual life to increase or can break your spiritual life to cease. Apostle Paul says, "33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” 34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame." (1 Cor 15:33-34). We should be careful to have any intimate relationship with the people of the world and their way of thinking to please them instead of pleasing the Lord. This can become a stumbling block to the growth of your spiritual life like it happened in the lives of Israelites through Balaam. Friendship with the world is an enimity with God and is a spiritual adultery (Jam 4:3-6). Therefore submit your ways to God, resist the devil who is trying to influence your mind with the wordly sinful ways of compromise and he will flee away (James 4:7). If you have been knowingly working in the ways of the world, stop and mourn to the Lord, thus humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up soon in ways you could not have imagined with your finite mind (James 4:8-10).
7) Be careful of what goes inside you. The Bible says that we must guard our heart with all attentive care of wisdom because out of it flows all solutions to our day to day problems that trouble us (Prov 4:23). If God's word is stored inside our heart, blessing of heaven will flow out of our life, but if demonic lust, unforgiveness, coveteousness, anger, etc...are stored, only curseful bondages of hellish devils will be experienced as time goes by (Prov 4:20-22). Ask the Lord to protect you from lusting after any women or peeping secretly in to the pronographic pictures on the net or else where, which is spiritual adultery (Prov 6:25; 5:18-21; Matt 5:27-30). When lust knocks at the door of your imagination or wants your eyes to be controlled by it, don't ever dare to think that you can overcome it by yourself, but ask Jesus to open the door for you and answer those devils (Rom 13:14; 2 Cor 10:4-6), sure enough before you can realize, the grace of God will drive those devils away which you could not do with your own strength (James 4:7-10). If you have been stubborn with unforgiveness against your brethren or any one who has done something wrong, just let it go and make yourself free from the spiritual murder that is trying to bring you under the foothold of devil's power with in you (Matt 5:21-26; Eph 4:26-27). Do not covet for anything, which is actually spiritual idolatry (Col 3:5), but learn to live with godliness and contentment which is great gain for now and for eternity (1 Tim 6:6). Only those things we have collected in heaven can be ever taken to be with us for eternity ahead, so do your best to live for God wholeheartedly and collect your treasures in heaven and not on earth (1 Tim 6:7-8; Matt 6:19-21; 19:21). Set your eyes on heavenly things where Christ is and not on perishable earthly things (Col 3:1-2). May God help you all to avoid deception and grow spiritually to be a blessing to many. BE BLESSED AND BE A BLESSING!
First time in the Bible we hear of Balaam was when the Israelites camped in the wilderness after they have been delivered by God from the slavery of Egypt in which they have been enslaved for more than four hundred years. When the Israelites started to defeat and destroy all their enemies in the land of Canaanites and then moved on and camped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan across from Jericho, the king Balak who was the king of Moabites at that time [who were actually described as the descendants of Lot's first son Moab (Gen 19:37)], he saw what the Israelites had done to the Amorites who were the other major descendants of Job's younger son Ammon, and was exceedingly afraid and sick with dread seeing the children of Israel who were many (Num 22:1-3).
Then the king consulted with his elders and sent messengers immediately to this man named Balaam. The name 'ba'-lam bil`am,' in Hebrew means "devourer," “destroyer,” or “glutton,” and is in part identical with “Bela, son of Beor,” the first king of Edom Gen 36:32. The name “Beor” (“to burn up”) is that of the father, or possibly ancestor, of the Balaam. This shows that Balaam was a type of Satan who was described by Jesus as the one who comes not except to "steal, and to kill, and to destroy." (John 10:10). Satan was a good, perfect, anointed angel and a leading worshipper for whom God prepared fantastic musical instruments to play and be a leader of it when he was created in the beginning (Ezek 28:13-14). He was called as a "shining one, son of the dawn" (Isa 14:12). The word 'Helel' in Hebrew means 'Shining one' refers to the Day Star or Morning Star (the Latin term for which is 'lucifer' which King James Version uses). It means God created Satan to shine forth his light of heavenly glory, but on the passage of time he became the figurative meaning of what God created him to be. The firgurative meaning of this means 'to boast or be boastful'. Apostle Paul reveals about Satan saying, "And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14). In the verses above this verse Apostle Paul compares the workers who expect money to do the work of God and then boast about what God has done through them because of God's calling over their lives (Rom 12:29), as those who are "false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ." (2 Cor 11:8-13). In the light of these truth which the Scripture speaks about, we will see the life of Balaam further.
Balaam The Prophet By God's Calling
Balaam was a prophet of God by calling. What does it mean? It means even though he was a pagan or a non Jew by birth in the Old Testament times, God had called him before he was born to be a prophet for Him. This is the reason Apostle Peter calls Balaam as "the prophet" in his writings (2 Peter 2:16). All those who are called by God will be gifted with his gifts which he has prepared for them even before the foundations of the world (Eph 1:4-6).
Apostle Paul revealed about this in his writings saying, "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." (Rom 12:29). In other words, when God calls a person and gifts him with spiritual gifts, God never regrets about his sovereign choice later when they do not act in accordance with his purpose and design for them. This is why, God is the greatest gentle man in the whole of universe who respects the will of men and women more than anything he could do or not do through them. God didn't want to make robotic humans who will obey all He says like a machine. Instead, he wanted men to understand his character of goodness and then voluntarily by their own choice follow Him.
As much Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet before he was born, in the same way without any difference God also had a divine call for Balaam who was a pagan (Jer 1:4-5). In the same way as He wanted Jeremiah to go where He sends and speak whatever He commanded him to speak and guranteed to deliver him when ever people arose against him, God did the same to Balaam (Jer 1:7-8). Then God put His very own words in the mouth of Balaam as like in Jeremiah's mouth and set him over the surrounding people and nations to root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build and to plant the purpose of God in that part of the world (Jer 1:9-10). Here the similarity ends because after this, a prophet who obeys God out of love seeing the goodness of God becomes a true prophet and the one who know sees the goodness of God and then tries to use it for his own selfish end become a false one.
Choosing God To Become Chosen
All the people in the world are in one way called by God. But those who choose God by believing the gospel are chosen by Him (Matt 20:16). All those who are called by God doesn't become saved, but those who are chosen by Him does. Praise God that God chose us when we received the gospel of His salvation and got saved, what if God did not sent us the gospel through his messengers or other means, we would have never got saved (Rom 10:14). This is the reason Jesus said to his disciples, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." (John 15:16). If Jesus had not chosen to come to this world voluntarily from heaven to fulfill God's law and therefore out of its fulfillment through his death send the gospel to the world, we would have all gone surely to hell without it (John 8:23-24; 10:17-18; 3:16).
In this way God wanted Balaam to be a prophet and be a light bearer in the pagan world of darkness around him. He wanted to save Balaam and those people who lived around him through his message about the real and only God the Creator who saves all seeking people from sin (1 Tim 4:16). What happened then? God chose Balaam, but Balaam did not choose the right way of God and therefore he was not chosen. He wasn't really saved.
In other words, the way we respond to God's call by sacrificing our own will to serve His purpose makes us get saved from sin. Father God revealed through Jesus that the primary purpose and will of Him is for all people to get saved from sin through believing in the revelation of God's character of goodness (John 6:39-40). Jesus clearly without mincing words thundered, " 23 ... to ...all [his disciples], “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:23-26). If a person does not want to lose his own will to fulfill the will of God in his life, he will not be able to receive Jesus as His Lord and Savior of his life. In order to receive Jesus as our Savior, we must come to see ourselves as a sinner (Gal 2:17). To call Jesus as Lord, we must lose our will and become his servant in our heart attitude. When we were saved, God saw our heartfelt desire for Him and saved us based on our faith and not by our works (Eph 2:8-9). Then after we are saved, we are saved to serve God eternally and not just go to heaven when we die. This is the reason God has prepared certain works custom designed for us to do after we are saved (Eph 2:10). But our works after we are saved becomes a "work of faith" (1 Thess 1:3). In other words, once a person is saved truly, the faith within him starts to work out in his action to control his character to be a God-like one.
Let us see what Balaam did in his life when God approached him with his call to be a prophet? When Peter writes about the depravity of False Teachers, he includes Balaam in it saying, "10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." (2 Peter 2:10-17).
We can learn a lot about Balaam from the above passage. First he was a false prophet who walked according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despised the true authority of God in his heart, but he had knowledge about Him in his head. There are a lot of people who know the whole Bible inside out in their head but do not know even a iota about God in their heart. Just knowing about God by searching through the Scriptures doesn't save us, but knowing God Himself in our heart personally saves us (John 5:39; 17:3; Rom 10:9-10). There are preachers and teachers of the word in the Churches, Bible colleges and other place of religious institutions who have a great knowledge about God, but do not know Him personally and therefore are not saved from sin. They are not necessarily bad people but are good people. Jesus did not come to make good people get better, but he came to save and transform evil people to become God's people. Good people cannot live for eternity with God, but only those who realize that they are desperate sinners in need of the Savior can only get saved from sin and hell fire. Balaam was not saved and was walking in pleasing himself, though he knew about the true God because God revealed Himself mercifully and graciously to him. The bold words of Isaiah agree here when he prophesied, "The LORD says, "I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am!' to a nation that did not call on my name."" (Isa 65:1, NLT). God wanted to reveal Himself to Balaam personally and save him from sin, but even though God said, 'Here I am, Here I am,' he was not ready to accept his own sinful inadequencies to receive his salvation for himself. Instead like Satan, he saw that he was gifted with prophecy and began to use it to bring profit to himself.
It is a warning to all modern day Churches which always goes after the gifts of God neglecting the character of God within, which is only able to save us from sin (2 Peter 1:2-4; 1 John 3:9-10; 5:4). A person can enter heaven without any gifts displayed through his life, but without the character of God within through being born again as God's child (John 1:12-13), no one will be able to enter heaven (John 3:3, 5-8). In these end times, we ought to look for God's character as the only piece of evidence that we are in the will of God and also for validating that a person is a real messenger of God and not a false teacher or apostle (Rev 2:2; 6; 2:14-15).
It is possible to prophecy accurately by the call of God over a person's life as like Balaam, yet without being saved from sin. Balaam did this greatly and accurately that his reputation was so big that Balak the king said to Balaam through his messengers, "... I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." (Num 22:6). Can you believe it? This is the reason we see Jesus saying that in the future White Throne Judgment many false prophets and teachers will say to Him, "... ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’" (Matt 7:22). But then Jesus does not deny that they have done these work in His name, instead he replies that He never knew them at all because they did not do the will of the Father which is to believe in His name and be saved from sin (Matt 7:21; John 6:39-40). These people worked for themselves, using the anointing of God in the name of Jesus, because they were called by God which they never chose for themselves. The anointing of God was a real and a true one, so they were able to prophecy, cast out devils and do many wonders in the name of Jesus, yet they did not do for the glory of God but for a profit, and also never bothered to get saved themselves because of unwillingness to humble themselves as sinners. WAKE UP CHURCH!!! Can you see the danger we are in these end times who just see the gifting of people and not the character of them? If we weigh all the ministries that are happening around the world, based on God's weigh scale how could we find that a ministry is genuine or it is a false one. Surely not based on the prophecy, casting of demons or even whether signs and wonders takes place in the ministry or not. But according to Jesus, see the fruit of the ministry and the life of the minister whether he and his ministry team displays the fruit fo the Holy Spirit (Matt 7:15-20). We the saints need to grow in discernment to find all the Balaamic spirit that are at loose in Christendom to deceive people in these end times (Heb 5:12-14).
Can a minister called by God, do all great things in Jesus name, without himself being saved first? Yes, Bible answers without doubt. For example, the anointing to minister is like a police suit that a person wears. Just because a police wears his suit dosn't mean that he cannot rob people which many do in many parts of the world, just because a police wears the highest honor for his experience in his profession doesn't mean that he will not receive bribe for himself if he chooses to covet and is not honest, which many do dishonestly in many parts of the world. The problem is not with the police uniform which is perfect and carries authority to help people, but the problem is in the evil heart of all humans that is easily inclined to sin. In the same way a minister needs to be saved first, before he can truly minister the gospel to others. Or else the minister of God will soon begin to do the ministry of God for a profit like Balaam, who wore the anointing suit of his calling and exercised God's authority but forgot to ask God to clothe him with the garments of salvation without which he ended up in hell fire finally (Isa 61:10; 2 Peter 2:17). Each believer or minister of God who is called, need to choose by faith the gospel of salvation to become chosen by being saved and should be faithful to be rewarded (Rev 17:14). To get a reward from God for eternity ahead, one needs to run the race of our spiritual life with much discipline of overcoming our sinful nature, right motives and sacrifices for God in His service which can happen only through much suffering (1 Cor 9:24-27; Php 3:8, 10; 2 Tim 2:12).
Right Man Gone The Wrong Way
Jesus said, "I am the way"(John 14:6) which means that a person to reach God must walk in personal relationship with Jesus, so that now in his spirit-man he will be able to reach God the Father and at the end of his life He will be able to reach God the Father who is in heaven physically (Matt 6:9).
We learn a lot just in the succeeding Scripture to that of which was spoken about Balaam's reputation and fame about his prophetic gift, it says, "So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviner’s fee in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak." (Num 22:7). We see in this verse that Balak the king not only knew about his reptutation to prophecy, he was also knew that Balaam was doing blessing and cursing for money. Thus Balaam was not a true prophet, but a false one who was told that he had already the reputation for selling his prophetic gifting for money.
This is why when Apostle Peter describes him, he says, "14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." (2 Peter 2:14-17). The right way of salvation has been forsaken by Balaam and he has already trained his heart in coveteous practice. So when he was trying to say that only what God speaks though me I will speak in many places, it shows that he cannot make God do what he wanted Him to do (Num 22:38). Through Balaam's very own mouth, he prophesied that he was not a righteous man but a wicked person who is seeking to die like the righteous nation of Israel who will go on to heaven to be with their God at their end (Num 23:10). Balaam was a accursed child who never came to love the Father God who is in heaven, but loved the world with all his heart (1 John 2:15-17). When Apostle Peter speaks about wells without water, he was speaking about the salvation status of people like Balaam who were never saved at all. When Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, he promised a fountain of living water that will never go dry in the innermost being of all those who believe in him (John 4:10, 12-14). This means that the well within a saved person definitely has a fountain of living water of the Holy Spirit that will never go dry. The clouds carried by tempest never actually gives rain, but just causes some light drizzle which is no good to any person who expects God's rain to come and fill the land of their lives. The false minister will carry a true anointing but it will be used for themselves and for their own profit, and therefore cannot make a lasting eternal difference in the lives of people who come under their ministry. No fruit of the Holy Spirit can come out of such deceptive ministries and they cannot bear good fruit because they are not really connected to Jesus without which they can do nothing real (Matt 7:18-20; John 15:5).
One should know that the end of such deceptive and covetous practice of a called person who lives for himself is "reserved the blackness of darkness forever." This is the dead end where they will end their lives for eternity. In a place without God and without hope of deliverance but only torment (Matt 25:41, 46; Mark 9:43-44).
May God help everyone of the called ones not to ever go in that way of Balaam. But may all those who are called become chosen by God through believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. May all the saved chosen saints of God reach out for the eternal reward that God gives for all those who strive for it by faith to become inheritors of God's eternal inheritance which He has already stored it in heaven for each one of them. It is up to each saint of God to walk faithful to the call of God and inherit the eternal reward that Jesus is waiting eagerly to give to us which we will not miss if we are faithful in His service (Rev 3:11).
The False Prophet Who Finally Became A Soothsayer
The son of Beor, from a city in Mesopotamia called Pethor, a man possessing the gift of prophecy, whose remarkable history may be found in Nu 22:2 through 24:25; compare Num 31:8,16; Dt 23:4; Josh 13:22; 24:9; Neh 13:2; Mic 6:5; 2 Pet 2:15; Jude 1:11; Rev 2:14. The word Mesopotamia means "The land between the rivers." The two rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that flow into the Persian Gulf. In today's world, Modern Iraq covers what was called Mesopotamia (the fertile crescent) in the past. In today's modern Iraq, Balaam lived once upon a time.
When Balaam instead of knowing his sinful condition and repent for it towards God, began to proudly walk in selling his true prophetic gift, God allowed him to be ruled by a wrong spirit of evil that he became a soothsayer. This was confirmed by the word of God that says, "Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer." (Jos 13:22). This shows that even though Balaam had the knowledge of God, he was never saved to be a true Prophet.
God commanded the Israelites not to allow soothsayer to ever continue in the land which he is giving to them, but clearly instructed them to kill them. Here is what God has said regarding all such demonic workings and workers, " 9 “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you." (Deut 18:9-14).
According to the instruction of God, Moses instructed the Israelites that all Ammonite or Moabite should be defeated and destroyed before them for all their unfriendly and destructive attitude they showed towards them in the desert, and have told never to seek for their prosperity (Deut 23:3-6). Especially Moses wanted Balaam the soothsayer to be killed, who by his deceitful way performed all the prophecies over the Hebrews, but each time, they resulted in the form of a blessing, frustrating Balak all the more (Num 23:11-12, 25-26, 10-14, 25). Though at this point it seems that Balaam has gone away, yet through the other Scriptures we see that after Balaam had departed, thereafter he again approached Balak and informed him that if the he wished to overcome the Hebrews for a short interval, all he had to do was to seduce them to engage in idolatry (Num 31:15-16). Finally Moses sent the Lord's army and fulfilled the very instruction of the Lord given through him and thus they killed Balaam along with the five kings of Midian and did it victoriously (Num 31:1-7, 8, 9-11).
Balaam's was proved to be a enemy of God by willing to teach the enemy how that God would bring judgment for unrighteousness on those whom had the blessing and promises. He enabled the destruction of 24,000 of God’s people (Num 25:1-18). Thus Balaam was a hireling as Jesus called it and was not a true prophet but only was called to be one (Deut 23:4-5; John 10:12-13). He had no concern for the people of God even after he clearly came to know that they were the most blessed people of God.
What Can We Learn From This :
1) Learn to see people not by their gift but by their character (Matt 7:15-20).
2) If a person displays miraculous power of God and yet at the end if he turns the message in to licentiousness to sin and then says to go after the false god's of the world or money, know that the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you will only follow him or will go after these false prophets to satisfy your fleshly appetite of curiosity (Deut 13:1-5). Once you find that someone is false, shun their ways completely and repent towards the Lord and ask Him to guide you n the right way. He has promised you to guide you personally with His very own eyes (Psa 32:8).
3) Beware of the wrong devilish Balaamic attitude to expect money inorder to serve the people of God. When you find that you have a wrong attitude in you, repent to the Lord before you ever start using your miraculous gifting that God has given you to serve the people of God freely (Matt 10:8; 1 Cor 12:7). Do not ever love the wages of unrighteousness that comes out of such Balaamic evil attitude, which wants to make monetary gain using God's supernatural gifts (2 Peter 2:15). Embrace the right way of the Lord before the way of Balaam ends in death.
4) Be saved before you start to serve the people of God. Just because you are called by God in to ministry doesn't necessarily mean that you will automatically get saved in the process of serving God (Matt 7:21-23). We are saved to serve and cannot get saved by serving God (Eph 2:8-10). To be saved, you must go to Jesus as a sinner in need of His saving grace and then accept Him as your personal Lord and Saviour (Luke 18:13-14; Rom 10:9-10, 13). Be saved and serve Jesus for eterntiy ahead in Joy and peace (Rom 5:1-5).
5) Always know that it is the responsibility of all believers to test and find those who say that they are teacher of the word, prophets and apostles, and know for sure that these who say are real or not. The Lord always appreciates those who sincerely do not accept any teaching without testing it with the written word of God (Acts 17:10-12). Balaamic doctrine of licentiousness to sin and other offshoots such as the doctrine that says that grace helps us to cover more sin and do more sin equally, are the deception of the evil one that all believers must me very careful about. We see that Jesus himself speaking directly through Apostle John appreciates the Church of Ephesus that that they have tested those who say that they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars (Rev 2:2). Then Jesus said that by finding the false apostles, they the believers of Ephesus Church have come to hate the false doctrine of the Nicolatians, which is a Balaamic one that makes the people of God commit sexual immorality and make them eat things sacrificed to idols freely, thus putting a stumbling block for all believers to be physically destroyed by the Lord's anger (Rev 2:6, 14-15; 1 Cor 11:27-32).
6) Be careful with the kind of frienship that you establish in your life. Cause it can either make your spiritual life to increase or can break your spiritual life to cease. Apostle Paul says, "33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” 34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame." (1 Cor 15:33-34). We should be careful to have any intimate relationship with the people of the world and their way of thinking to please them instead of pleasing the Lord. This can become a stumbling block to the growth of your spiritual life like it happened in the lives of Israelites through Balaam. Friendship with the world is an enimity with God and is a spiritual adultery (Jam 4:3-6). Therefore submit your ways to God, resist the devil who is trying to influence your mind with the wordly sinful ways of compromise and he will flee away (James 4:7). If you have been knowingly working in the ways of the world, stop and mourn to the Lord, thus humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up soon in ways you could not have imagined with your finite mind (James 4:8-10).
7) Be careful of what goes inside you. The Bible says that we must guard our heart with all attentive care of wisdom because out of it flows all solutions to our day to day problems that trouble us (Prov 4:23). If God's word is stored inside our heart, blessing of heaven will flow out of our life, but if demonic lust, unforgiveness, coveteousness, anger, etc...are stored, only curseful bondages of hellish devils will be experienced as time goes by (Prov 4:20-22). Ask the Lord to protect you from lusting after any women or peeping secretly in to the pronographic pictures on the net or else where, which is spiritual adultery (Prov 6:25; 5:18-21; Matt 5:27-30). When lust knocks at the door of your imagination or wants your eyes to be controlled by it, don't ever dare to think that you can overcome it by yourself, but ask Jesus to open the door for you and answer those devils (Rom 13:14; 2 Cor 10:4-6), sure enough before you can realize, the grace of God will drive those devils away which you could not do with your own strength (James 4:7-10). If you have been stubborn with unforgiveness against your brethren or any one who has done something wrong, just let it go and make yourself free from the spiritual murder that is trying to bring you under the foothold of devil's power with in you (Matt 5:21-26; Eph 4:26-27). Do not covet for anything, which is actually spiritual idolatry (Col 3:5), but learn to live with godliness and contentment which is great gain for now and for eternity (1 Tim 6:6). Only those things we have collected in heaven can be ever taken to be with us for eternity ahead, so do your best to live for God wholeheartedly and collect your treasures in heaven and not on earth (1 Tim 6:7-8; Matt 6:19-21; 19:21). Set your eyes on heavenly things where Christ is and not on perishable earthly things (Col 3:1-2). May God help you all to avoid deception and grow spiritually to be a blessing to many. BE BLESSED AND BE A BLESSING!
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