The Error of Balaam 4b-Feasting at the Table edition

AMP Numbers 22:15

Then Balak again sent leaders, more numerous and [men who were] more distinguished than the first ones. Numbers 22:15 AMP Amplified Version  

CJB Numbers 22:15

Balak again sent princes, more of them and of higher status than the first group.

CEV Numbers 22:15

Then Balak sent a larger group of officials, who were even more important than the first ones.

ESV  Numbers 22:15

Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these.

VOICE  Numbers 22:15

But Balak wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. He sent another, bigger contingent of even more highly esteemed men to solicit Balaam’s help.

We still continue to reiterate the fact that Balaam was being tempted and did not handle it very well.The  more numerous and more prestigious men  that were sent the second time  posed a greater temptation to Balaam. It is important to realize that these men came back and it was not just coming back the next day. Considering where they were coming from, it must have taken a minimum of another 30 days before they went back to Balaam if we take into cognizance  the  journey  from  Pethor and  a return  to Moab before Balak sent another contingent. Maybe this next contingent left almost immediately but  it definitely would have taken some time for them to have prepared and set out on another journey, armed greatly. This is actually the way and manner that temptations  come to us .There is never a time we are left alone for a long while without being tempted.

And we may not really know  what happened in Balaam’s mind when these men initially left the first time.Did he have further financial pressures when they left ? Was it possible that his children’s school fees were waiting to be paid , that his wife quarrelled with him for not making use of the opportunity that came along the way and perhaps while he was regretting his decision, behold these men come again and Balaam is not about to miss his chance.

TLB

They came to Balaam with this message: “King Balak pleads with you to come. He promises you great honors plus any payment you ask. Name your own figure! Only come and curse these people for us.”
MSG
Balak sent another group of nobles, higher ranking and more distinguished. They came to Balaam and said, “Balak son of Zippor says, ‘Please, don’t refuse to come to me. I will honor and reward you lavishly—anything you tell me to do, I’ll do; I’ll pay anything—only come and curse this people.’”

¹⁸ And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

¹⁹ Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more.

The very thing Balak is asking for is the very thing God has asked Balaam not to do and we will see who he really calls God because the person who he eventually obeys is the one that is really his god. Obeying another voice is to put it before it before  God which in itself is idolatry.

Balak raises the stakes higher and gives Balaam a blank cheque this time. In essence, he tells Balaam to name his price and that temptation is too much for Balaam   and so he decides to renegotiate with God. Rather than asking the men to go back or using this opportunity to correct the wrong he previously did by not declaring the whole truth, he takes another detour and ask the men to spend yet another night so he can enquire further .

This in itself is another error. Although clearly stated and informed by God what to do , Balaam is still asking again and we all do this , I call it the error of checking again. The word of God is extremely clear on some matters but rather, we love to apply it to ourselves with a reason or several reasons for it not to apply or be applicable in our lives. We try to justify why we shouldn’t obey something to the latter, giving reasons why it is possibly best for us not to heed strictly or perhaps feel that certain aspects of the scriptures are not for us.

We need to be wary of hearing the Word of God and using it as a camera which just takes us as we are, with no view to a change .Rather we should use the Word as a mirror ,to correct our defects so we can reflect more of the glory of God.

In His Service,

Grace Tom-Lawyer

“The Error of Balaam” is being run now as the current Bible Study series on “Feasting at the Table” on Peace &Joy Radio @11am every Saturday with a Rebroadcast on Tuesday@7pm.

The Error of Balaam 4a - Feasting at the Table edition

"Then Balak sent a larger group of officials, who were even more important than the first ones"- Numbers 22:16 . CEV

"Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these."- Numbers 22:16 ESV

"But Balak wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. He sent another, bigger contingent of even more highly esteemed men to solicit Balaam’s help. "-Numbers 22:16 VOICE

Last week we looked at the two other errors of Balaam  where we saw Balaam answering why instead of who and the fact that we all sometimes do this in one way or the other  and the second error we found was the fact that Balaam did not deliver the whole counsel of God. We see Balaam refusing to tell Balak’s emissaries what God had said to him, hiding  the fact that the mission was impossible and that the Israelites cannot be cursed. He refused to tell the whole truth and simply told them that the Lord refused him to go with them .

Just in the same way that Balaam did not give all of the message, the messengers  who returned to Balak  also gave  an incomplete message.This boomeranged and Balak somehow got the message that Balaam could be bought and that somehow there was a need to change the price. It was perhaps just a case of raising the stakes higher and seeing that there could be a compromise.

We look at the life of Balaam and wonder, what was the price ?.This was a man who had already been told by God “not to go”. Balak decided to do what the enemy usually does.-he raised the stakes higher and it worked.

Let us remember that it was the previous error of Balaam when he  didn’t deliver the whole counsel of God that made the next error possible. T was easy for the enemy to come knocking again.

Recently I was reading a survey that was done in America some years ago when people were  asked how much they would be paid before they could sleep with a total stranger and the response varied for men and women with the men saying it could only take as low as $10 to sleep with a total stranger woman and for the women, it was about a $100,000 as the highest amount to sleep with a total stranger. There was another survey I saw in the internet where they featured the 10 most expensive virginities hat were sold. Ladies gave up their virginities to total strangers for different causes  .Some of course had reasons why they did it, they were trying to pull through their education, raise funds for medical bills and so many causes but that does not rebut the reason that what they did was Balaam as we see from this story starts to consider again what he shouldn’t do when there was a greater price attached to it . He definitely had a problem with money as we shall see in this series wrong.

So let us consider, as is it very  possible for us to compromise when  the stakes are raised higher, the things that we would not normally do, maybe circumstances present and cause our minds to sway .

If there is a change in price and that poses a greater threat,then  it is a  temptation. Temptation actually occurs because somehow it is something we desire. So before we even blame the devil, James tells us that we are tempted when we are drawn away with our own lusts  and what is temptation to  Mr A  may not be temptation to Mr B . It is important for us to know the things that are a temptation to us so that we don’t put ourselves in a position of vulnerability. Someone said to me recently that she heard her Pastor say to know your strength is a strength in itself.

In His Service,

Grace Tom-Lawyer

“The Error of Balaam” is being run now as the current Bible Study series on “Feasting at the Table” on Peace &Joy Radio @11am every Saturday with a Rebroadcast on Tuesday@7pm.