28. Balaam’s ‘If They Call You’ Dream
The Dream Setting/Backstory
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In his first dream God told Balaam to have nothing to do with Balak’s offer of reward and his intentions to curse Israel. Balaam obeyed God’s instructions. Now Balak ups the ante and appeals to Balaam’s materialistic ego by sending more distinguished officials to restate his generous offer of money.
The Dream Scripture
Numbers 22:15-38 (NKJV)
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Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; for I will certainly honour you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’ ”
Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.”
And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.” So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.
Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. Now the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. Then the Angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again. Then the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.
Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”
So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?”
And he said, “No.”
Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.”
And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.”
Then the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Now when Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, which is on the border at the Arnon, the boundary of the territory. Then Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send to you, calling for you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honour you?”
And Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you! Now, have I any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak.” So Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kirjath Huzoth. Then Balak offered oxen and sheep, and he sent some to Balaam and to the princes who were with him.
The Problem
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King Balak won’t take no for an answer and Balaam still loves money.
The Dreamer’s Metron
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Balaam was a Gentile prophet who heard clearly from God and gave some beautiful prophecies over Israel. Balaam was not a false prophet. He had the gift but not the character. Scripture calls him a wicked prophet because in his heart he served money and as Jesus said,
“No one can serve two masters. Either you
will hate the one and love the other, or
you will be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve both
God and money. [1]
The Message
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God’s plain message was, If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.
God’s Purpose
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God’s purpose was to stop the King of Moab from harming His Covenant People and their seed line. He also tested Balaam’s heart with the stipulation, If the men come to call you.
Satan’s Purpose
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Satan’s purpose was that Balaam should curse Israel and prevent their progress towards the Promised Land.
Dreamer’s Eyes Enlightened
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Balaam knew the exact details what he was allowed to do.
Dreamer’s Response and Application
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Balaam didn’t wait for the men to come to call him. Instead he rose early in the morning, quickly prepared and rushed out to meet Balak’s entourage. Jude said Balaam’s sin was that he ran greedily into an error for reward. [2]
Know God Better
* * *
God, although likely annoyed by Balaam’s childish repeating of the same answered question, was willing to work with him. To this end God applied a stipulation that would test Balaam’s heart.
The Dream Process.
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This is a simple literal dream in which God clearly instructs the dreamer. God said, If the men come to call you, rise and go with them. God also told Balaam to only speak the words God told him to say.
The Usual Suspects
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God spoke to Balaam in the dream. Jesus appeared as the Angel of the Lord and reminded Balaam he was only to speak what God told him to speak concerning the Hebrews. Satan was using the Moabites to tempt Balaam to curse Israel.
Takeaways
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Balaam clearly heard from God. He also understood his metron. He said, How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced? [3]
He also gave seven beautiful prophecies over Israel, one of which foretold the Messiah,
A star will come out of Jacob; a sceptre will
rise out of Israel. He will crush the
foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the
people of Sheth. [4]
Despite all this Balaam loved money rather than God and was more concerned about his own self-centred desires than about God’s plans and purpose.
God wanted His Chosen People protected and although Balaam couldn’t curse Israel directly he came up with a plan of how they could be tempted to bring a curse upon themselves.
He told Balak how to lure them with prostitutes and idolatry. As a result Israel ended up worshiping Baal of Peor and committing fornication with Midianite women. Because of these sins God plagued Israel, and 24,000 of their men died. [5]
Scripture condemns Balaam as a prophet for hire [6] and reports his execution [7] as punishment for his part in the Baal Peor incident [8], where he is blamed for inciting Moabite women to entice Israelite men to sin.
Peter said Balaam loved the wages of wickedness [9] and Jude associates Balaam with the selling of one’s soul for money. [10] Jesus also depicted Balaam as an evil prophet when He warned the church in Pergamum,
There are some among you who hold to the
teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to
entice the Israelites to sin so that they
ate food sacrificed to idols and
committed sexual immorality. [11]
Satan hates God’s people and his strategies are always the same. If he can’t curse them directly he’ll always fall back on his usual temptations of sexual immorality and idolatry, the girls, the guys, the gold and the glory. Same old, same old!
1 Matthew 6:24
2 Jude 1:11
3 Numbers 22:8
4 Numbers 24:17
5 Numbers 25:1–9; Deuteronomy 23:3–6
6 Joshua 13:22, 24:9, and Nehemiah 13:2
7 Numbers 31:8
8 Numbers 25
9 2 Peter 2:15
10 Jude 1:11
11 Revelation 2:14