Sermon Summary
Pastor Jason discusses the story of Balaam from Numbers 22-24, highlighting Balaam's role as a seer hired by King Balak of Moab to curse Israel. Despite God's instructions to Balaam not to curse Israel, Balaam is tempted by Balak's offer of great honor. Balaam's donkey sees an angel blocking their path, leading to a humorous interaction. Balaam eventually blesses Israel, prophesying their future greatness and a king greater than King Agag. Pastor Jason emphasizes Balaam's greed and false prophecy, contrasting him with the true prophecies of Jesus' lineage and future kingdom. The sermon concludes with a call to repentance and faith in Jesus.

Sermon Transcript
Once again, a very good morning to all of you, and blessed Chinese New Year in advance to all our Chinese brethren gathered here today. We are looking at the Book of Numbers, and today we are going to cover three chapters. Next week, just one chapter.

Balaam’s Role and Background
But these three chapters are about a very interesting, if I may say, engaging story about Balaam and his donkey and the subsequent things that would happen. Balaam is a very interesting character. He is mysterious, he is enigmatic, and we often wonder if he is a good guy or a bad guy. Is he a hero or a villain? And then we also will read about this curious and almost humorous encounter between Balaam and his donkey. It's somewhat comedic, as we would soon see. But this is not just a light hearted Sunday school story, because there are deep, profound, rich lessons that we are going to learn in the blessings that Balaam ultimately will say or proclaim. So without much ado, three chapters, I go right into the title itself, which provides for you the headings of how we are going to proceed this morning: Balaam, his beast––that is the donkey––and the blessings that he will pronounce.

Balak’s Plan and Balaam’s Initial Refusal
Let's start with Balaam. Now, who is this? Balaam. He's a seer. He's a soothsayer. He's a prophet, someone who works in divination. Now he is now being hired by the king of Moab, Balak. Now, Balak is a bit nervous, to say the least, because he hears and he knows that the nation of Israel is marching towards his territory. And he has also heard of how this nation of Israel has defeated great kings––King Sihon and King Og. In particular, King Sihon previously defeated the Moabites. So the king of Moab naturally will be nervous. He understands that if they were to go into a head to head confrontation militarily, he will lose. So he hatches a ploy to get, to curse the people of Israel. He believes in these cursings and blessings.

So we are told that Balak sent elders to Balaam, the soothsayer, saying, “Come now, curse these people for me, since they are too mighty for me, I have heard how they have defeated the king of Sihon. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” In Chinese, we say that this person very ling2 (Chinese word for “effective”). Whoever he blesses will be blessed, whoever he curses will be cursed. So Balaam, apparently, has had a good track record. Whoever he wants to bless, he succeeds. And whoever he wants to curse, he also succeeds.

“So Balaam, come work for me, curse the people of Israel.” So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. So they are ready to give him a sum of money to pay for his services. Now they spoke to Balaam, and Balaam waited upon the Lord, and God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” So Balaam received very clear instructions from God: “You shall not go and you shall not curse them.” So Balaam told the elders, who then brought the message back to Balak, the king of Moab. But the king of Moab will not give up. He knew that this was his probable only chance to defeat Israel. So Balak said, “Let me send more princes, more in numbers, and more honourable than these, and go and tell Balaam, ‘I will surely do you great honour. And whatever you say to me, I will do. Come, curse these people for me.’” In essence, Balak is giving Balaam a blank cheque––name your price, whatever you want, I will give; just come and curse these people. Now, Balaam heard this blank cheque––“whatever I want, I name the price? All right, let me check with God. Maybe He will allow me.”

“So please stay here tonight,” he said to the elders or to the princes, “That I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” Actually, the Lord was very clear: do not go, do not curse. But never mind. I see blank cheque; I say, “Let me see whether I can arrive at a compromise with my God.” His heart was already set on going. So the Lord came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them, but only do what I tell you.”

So this is an account of this mysterious, enigmatic seer and soothsayer who deals with divination and the dark arts. Question is: Balaam, is he a good guy or a bad guy? Is he a true prophet? Because it seems like he waits on God and hears from God. He seems like a good guy because he received word from the Lord. He has the power to bless and to curse, as seen in the track record Balak recognised. He waited on the Lord, and later on he did say, “I have sinned” in verse 34. He seemed oh-so-good. But there are some problems with Balaam. He was someone who is motivated by greed. And I think this is not just something we get a hint of in this story, but the New Testament authors looking at Balaam’s story would conclude that Balaam was someone who loved gain from wrongdoing. And he became the prototype; he became the archetype of false teachers. 2 Peter was talking about false teachers: “They (that is, the false teachers) have followed the way of Balaam.” What do you mean “followed the way of Balaam”? They are people who love gain from wrongdoing. These are what false teachers are.

Balaam is also said to be a prototype of false teachers. In Jude, “Woe to them, these false teachers, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error.” False teachers are out because of greed and their lusts. So Balaam is someone motivated by greed. Balaam is also someone who resorts to omens, isn't it? Because later on, we will read in Numbers 24, he would be someone who looked for omens, the dark arts, which is something explicitly forbidden by God. For example, in Deuteronomy 18:10: “There shall not be found among you anyone who practises divination or who tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer.” So he's someone who resorts to omens, and he is ultimately someone who caused Israel to sin.

Now, not here in Numbers 22 to 24, but later on in (chapter) 25 which we are going to look at next week, we read of how in Numbers 31, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously in the sin of idolatry and sexual immorality. The Book of Revelation would also repeat the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel. So all that added up, I think we can surmise to say Balaam was an enemy who looks good––he looked like the real deal, a true prophet, but really he's a wicked man who loves gain and would stop at nothing, including seducing Israel into sin.

So I think the best description of Balaam is not someone who serves God, but someone who pretends to serve God, and who may one day say to the Lord Jesus, “Lord, Lord, did I not prophesy in Your name? Did I not cast out demons in Your name? Do I not do many mighty works in Your name? Don't I do spectacular, impressive things? Lord, I did it all in Your name, in Your name, in Your name, in Your name!” And Jesus said, “I never knew you because you are just a worker of lawlessness. You never did the will of My Father.” By the way, throughout the Bible there are people who can do supernatural things, miraculous things, but they may not be all of God. So I think Balaam stands as an example of someone who looks good but, in reality, is a false prophet. He does not serve God. He's an enemy of Israel and of God.

Balaam’s Journey and the Talking Donkey
Well, Balaam is now allowed to go because his heart was set on it, and God will allow him to go. And so he saddled his donkey, rode on it. And now comes this curious, humorous story. Comedic almost. Because as he went, the anger of the Lord was kindled. God was not happy with him, of course, because he still insisted on going, in a sense. And what happened was that the angel of the Lord, with the sword drawn in his hand, now stood in the way as Balaam was heading towards Balak.

This is not seen or not visible to Balaam, but his donkey saw it. The angel of the Lord took his stand in a way as his adversary, and the donkey saw this angel. But Balaam can't. And so the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. The donkey quite smart! See that someone with a sword means “I'm in trouble”. So she goes aside, but Balaam, not knowing what's happening, then struck the donkey to turn her into the road to get her back on track. And this happened three times. I'm not going to read all the verses, because three chapters, but this happened a good three times, until the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey. So this is a talking donkey. There are only two animals that spoke in the Bible. One is Satan, the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The second here. So the donkey opened the mouth and said, “What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? Li zou si mi? (Hokkien for “what are you doing?”) Why you keep hitting me? I mean, don't you know? Don't you see? Can't you understand?” Well, the donkey didn't know that Balaam didn't know. And now the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel with the sword drawn in his hand. And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Behold, I've come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me.”

So this is a rather comedic story, right? I mean, can you just imagine this donkey just turning away, and Balaam angry, strikes her, brings her back, turns away again, strikes her, brings her back, turns away again, strikes her, brings her back, until he finally realised that he is the blind one. He's supposed to be a seer. He's supposed to be a person who is involved in the divination arts, but he can't see. He doesn't know what's happening, but the dumb donkey could see. So there's a sense of irony, sarcasm, in this story just to show how foolish this prophet is. And maybe this story serves not only to provide that sense of irony, but also a prophecy in that just as the donkey was trapped between Balaam’s stick and the sword of the angel, Balaam himself, later on, would be trapped between Balak’s urging and God's prohibition from cursing.

Balak’s Attempts to Curse Israel
So it sets us up right now for the third scene. So we're moving quite fast. Balaam, the Beast and the Blessings. So he arrives where Balak was, and Balak took Balaam to a high place so that Balaam could now look at Israel and do his work––pronounce his curse upon these people. But before I go further, I learnt something from my two sons. They taught me this concept of plot armour. Heard of it before? I think only young people… you know what's plot armour? Don't know? Oh… well, plot armour is the reason why Batman never dies, it is the reason why Spider Man never dies. Why? Plot armour––if I may read for you––character shields or plot armour are plot devices in films and television shows that prevent important characters from dying or being seriously injured. I mean, if I am Warner Brothers or Disney or Marvel, would I want my show to be ended because Spider Man dies? No, so by hook or by crook, I'll make sure Spider Man survives. And those devices, those stories, that make him survive are what we call plot armour. So plot armour is that armour of invincibility. So when I read the story of… okay, that's why Batman never dies, that's why Spider Man never dies, because plot armour. You don't want these people to die. They are important to your franchise.

That's what happens here. Israel is to be cursed by Balaam, but there is plot armour. God, who is in charge of the story of Israel, will not allow Israel to be cursed. Why? Because very early on, God has already determined. God has set his love on Israel and said, “I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonours you, I will curse.” God is speaking to Abraham, and God is pronouncing His blessing upon His people, and they will not be cursed. God has said so. And later on in Deuteronomy, we read: “But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead, the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you.”

So we're going to see three attempts by Balak, but all will be foiled, because God will not listen to Balaam to curse His people. So let's look at what happened. In the morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, which is an elevation point in those regions. And from there, he saw a fraction of the people. And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars. Prepare here seven bulls, seven rams.” And both of them will offer on each altar a bull and a ram. And Balaam then said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Maybe Yahweh, the Lord, God himself, will come to meet me. And whatever He shows me, I will tell you. So I'm going to receive some word from God.” And the Lord did put a mouth in Balaam’s mouth, put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” And so here we have a few oracles, a series of oracles we are going to read: “From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains: ‘Come, curse Jacob for me and come denounce Israel.’ How can I curse when God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?”

And so this must bring us to the remembrance of how God earlier had said to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you”, and how God likewise said to Isaac, “Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you.” So how can I curse when God had already said, “They are My blessed people”? Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Now, again, if you have been reading your Bible, and please do understand that these books from Genesis to Deuteronomy are written by one author, Moses. So when we read “Who can count the dust of Jacob?”––I think we must be reminded of the language that was used earlier in Genesis 13, when God was speaking to Abraham, “I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth.” So hundreds of years ago, God said that to Abraham. And now, hundreds of years later, through the mouth of this false prophet, Balaam, God is going to repeat the same thing: “I'm going to bless My people, Israel. They are going to be so numerous. Who can count the dust of them?”

So this is the first oracle that Balaam delivered. And if you were Balak, how would you feel? He's not very happy, isn't he? Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you. I hired you to curse my enemies and look, you have done nothing but bless them.” So this was a very unhappy incident. The customer was not very satisfied, but he gives Balaam a second chance. He brings him now up to Pisgah, where he sees the people of Israel once again. And there they did the same thing; sought some divination. And God again gave word to Balaam, and Balaam now says, “Rise, Balak, and hear, give ear to me, O son of Zippor: God is not man that He should lie, or a son of man that He should change His mind. Has He said and will He not do it? Or has He spoken and will he not fulfill it? Behold, I have received a command to bless: He has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.”

So these first few words are confirming again that, regardless of how much Balak would urge Balaam, God will not curse, or God will not respond to the curse that Balak wanted to invoke: “He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has He seen trouble in Israel, for they are a blessed people. The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them.” Now this is something interesting: “The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them.” Now, the shout of a king probably refers to the trumpeting, the blowing of the sound of a trumpet when a king is amongst his people in wartime and in religious festivals. But at this point of time, you must understand, there is no king in Israel. There are 12 tribes––Moses and Aaron are their leaders, but there are no kings. God, in a sense, is their King. But there is this mention of a king figure, not yet in Israel at that point of time, but maybe we will read of in the future, but we see a hint of that about a king among the people of Israel.

“God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox”––they are absolutely victorious––“for there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel: now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!’ Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up, and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain.” So again, a picture of total victory. But there's an interesting reference here about a lioness and a lion. Now, again, most of us, we read our Bible very fast, and we don't seem to remember the details, but for those who have read your Book of Genesis in detail, you might recall a phrase about a lion and a lioness. Where do you read it? South Africa? No, you read it in Genesis 49 with regard to Judah: “Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness.” So there is some reference to Israel in connection with this lion figure, who is said to be from Judah. You also have a hint of a king in this second oracle.

So this is what happened at Mount Pisgah. And again, our customer, Balak, is not very happy. So he said, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” You keep quiet, lah! If you cannot curse them, don't bless them, lah! But I suppose after a while, he still beh gum wan (Singlish for “not satisfied”). He's still not satisfied. He said, “I have no choice. I can't fight the Israelites. I really need Balaam to curse Israel. So never mind. Balaam, I give you one last chance. You follow me to Mount Peor.” And so he brought him to another high point, and there, Balaam, this time, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him––it is explicitly said there––and he took up his discourse and said, “The oracle of Balaam, the son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, the oracle of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down with his eyes uncovered: how lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel? Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside the river, like arrows that the Lord has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters.”

So Balaam sees a vision of Israel in a land of abundance. You can describe it as a garden, as a beautiful place. Now, when we read about the garden in the Bible, what do you think about? Marina Gardens by the Bay? Well, we might think of it that way but if you are an Israelite, if you are a Jew, if you read your Bible from Genesis all the way, when you read about the garden, you should think about the first garden––the Garden of Eden. And so in a sense, there is this prophecy, this predictive saying that Israel will dwell in a garden––a beautiful place––and they will be abundantly provided. Water shall flow from his buckets. Again, these are wilderness journeying people. Water is very precious, so God is using that language that connects with them. There will be a place where you don't have to worry about water. There will be abundance for you, and you will be fruitful. Your seed shall be in many waters.

His King––now this king figure is brought back again in the third discourse. His King, Israel's King, shall be higher than Agag. You say what is Agag? Well, later on in 1 Samuel 15, we're going to read about David defeating Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Now I don't think this Agag here is necessarily that king during David's time, but it's probably referring to the title of the king of the Amalekites, probably a powerful king in those days. And so God is saying, via this prophecy, this king of Israel is going to be so great. He's greater than king Agag. Maybe a bit like saying––I hope I'm not being political here or anything––but saying Singapore's king is going to be greater than the king of America. Wow, you say, “Can, meh?” Well, that's the idea. There's this king Agag who is powerful, and Israel's king will be greater; his king will be higher, and his kingdom shall be exalted.

“God brings him out of Egypt”––now, this is not referring to Israel. This is referring to the king. So this king of Israel will have his own exodus. “Out of Egypt I have called my son”––I wonder if you recall this statement in Matthew 2, referring to Jesus. But here, centuries ago, God has already said about this king of Israel who will be called out of Egypt. So God brings this king out of Egypt, and is for him (that is Israel) like the horns of the wild ox; he shall eat up the nations, his adversaries, and he shall break their bones in pieces and pierce them through with his arrows. Now, if this is referring to Jesus, this then is referring to how he's going to come one day and defeat all kingdoms and enemies that are opposed to him. Sometimes we think of Jesus as a very weak and harmless person. Oh, but here in the prophecy, he's going to come as an all-conquering figure who will crush his enemies. He crouched, he lay down like a lion and like a lioness; who will rouse him up? So this king is the Lion of Judah, who will defeat his enemies, who will lead his people into Eden 2.0, in the garden. And we're seeing a lot of things converging on the person of Jesus Christ. So blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you. You are a blessed people because of your king. So these are profound things that Balaam is speaking. Probably Balak totally liak bo kiu (Hokkien for “did not understand”). Balak wouldn't know every single detail. They’re like… I think a lot of us probably won't, on a superficial read.

But I think the message is clear still to Balak. And so he said to Balaam, or rather, we read this: “Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together and said to Balaam, ‘I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee to your own place.’” Li ki, li ki, li zao, li zao, lei zao la (various dialects to mean “leave” or “go away”). I don't want you anymore. I was certain. I said, I will certainly honour you, but the Lord has held you back from honour. I was going to pay you, but you didn't do your job. So go. Maybe something like what church members will say to their pastors, but that's what he said to Balaam.

Balaam’s Final Blessings and Balak’s Reaction
And now Balaam is not done. He's going to speak his fourth discourse. But this fourth discourse can also be said to be number four to number seven, because it is repeated several times. He took up his discourse and said just like the first two or three. Nevertheless, this is the final one. We all collapse it together, where he said, “The oracle of Balaam, the son of Beor”––pretty much similar opening as the third one––“I see him.” Who is this “him”? This star, this scepter.

“I see him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near.” So Balaam is saying, God is revealing to me a figure who is far away, not yet now, not yet near. But this figure is a star out of Jacob and a scepter out of Israel. Scepters are staffs that kings hold in their hands. And again, we can't help but be reminded of the scepter reference in Genesis 49: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah.” This king shall not depart from Judah. And then we're going to read about the star. And fast forward to the very end of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Himself would say, “I, Jesus, am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

So it's a fascinating, fascinating series of prophecies given to a false prophet, Balaam, and God really turns the whole thing around, right? From cursing Israel to blessing Israel with the promises that God originally gave to Abraham and Isaac: “I will bless you. I will make of you a great nation.” And God is revealing, “I am going to do this via a King, a King out of Israel, a King who is the bright and morning star, a King who is the Lion of Judah, a King who will lead you into Eden 2.0.”

“And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the cities of the survivors”––so this will be an all-conquering king, and so those are the blessings that Balaam paradoxically prophesied. So today we simply look at Balaam, beast and blessings. I have just five minutes left, but that's good enough. I just want to say we have gone through a long three chapters, a very interesting story, to say the least, but I hope you do not leave this place thinking, “Oh, I learnt about Balaam and his donkey, or Balaam and Balak.” But really, this whole account is about God, about God's faithful love to Israel. Israel was an undeserving people. They rebelled against God over and over and over again. But you know something? God remains unflinching in His commitment to bless them, to love them. God did not love Israel because they were a great nation. They were small people. They were slaves in Egypt, but because God just set His love on them, they are a blessed people.

You see, this is communicating to us the way God loves. God does not love us because we are worthy. God does not love us because we are great and mighty. God loves us because He is love. And when He sets His love on His people, He does not let it go. And this is the message that we must get because later on, we read in Joshua: “Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and invited Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand.”

You know, I think about Israel during that time when Balak and Balaam were offering sacrifices up there, I don't think Israel knew a single bit about what's happening. They were probably oblivious. And in those days, if there was livestream, maybe they would know. But no YouTube, no Facebook, no livestream, how to know? It's only after things have passed on that Moses wrote about this. But I think God wrote this down and communicated via Moses so that Israel may know God's love for them. And that's why Moses also repeated in Deuteronomy: “But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead, the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you.” I think in this story, we read about our God, a great God, a great God who created the heavens and the earth. He’s smart, He’s wise, He’s powerful, He’s all energy, all power. But this same God is a God of amazing love. This God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ. Paul would say God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

I want to tell you today about God's love, not only in providing rain and sunshine, but this same God who gave His Son to die for you, and maybe today, God, through the preaching of His word, is calling you to respond to His love. He's calling you to come home to Him, to turn from your sin and to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. Because He loves you. And maybe deep in your heart, as we go through the series of Numbers, you recognise your own sin, and I hope today is the day you come to this faithful God. Numbers is about a faithless people who are blessed by a faithful God. I am a faithless man. I am a sinful man. I did not obey God. I did not trust God. I did not want to worship Him, but thanks be to God, He never gave up on this man. I hope you today will respond to His call, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. The heart of God, our Father, is saying to you today, “My son, come home.” And I urge you today to think about this great love of God. This is unlike any other religious teaching you see, because every other God is saying, “Be good, show yourself worthy, and maybe your deity would bestow some kindness.” The Bible, however, shows us that this is not a God who wants you to prove your worth, but this is a God who sees you in the worst state that you are in today, and yet still loves you. How amazing is that, that while we were yet enemies, sinners, filthy rebels, He would love us and give His Son to die and to pay for your sins?

“So sinner”, He says, “come home, for My Son has given His life to wash your sins away.” This King, Jesus, will come and rule one day. He will destroy His enemies. He will quell all rebellion, and He will judge all sinners. I hope today you will not be in that judgment. We sing a song, “Joy to the World”, and we will sing it later. You may say, “Christmas is past. Why sing this song?” But I say to you, it's because it's a reminder Jesus, our King, is coming back. The Lion of Judah is coming back. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry––Psalm 2 would say. I pray you will make the wise choice. Humble yourself at the foot of the cross and come to Jesus. And for all my brothers and sisters in Christ, may we today ask God to warm our hearts again with an appreciation of His love, that as we know how much He loves us more and more, we will love Him and serve Him more. So Father, thank You again for this story, not really about Balaam or his beast, but about the Blessor and the blessings that You the Blessor would bestow upon those who believe in Your Son. May You call your children home today? May You grant sight, may You grant conviction of sin, may You grant the work of the Holy Spirit that they might come home. Bless each one. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.