Balaam Got His!

Numbers 31:7–8 (HCSB)

“They waged war against Midian, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and killed every male. Along with the others slain by them, they killed the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.”

Numbers 31:14–16 (HCSB)

“But Moses became furious with the officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the military campaign. ‘Have you let every female live?’ he asked them. ‘Yet they are the ones who, at Balaam’s advice, incited the Israelites to unfaithfulness against the LORD in the Peor incident, so that the plague came against the LORD’s community.’”

The best commentary on Scripture is the Scripture itself. Yesterday we talked about Balaam. God told Balaam to go and meet with Balak, king of Median. But then God was angry with him because he went! On the surface it appears that God was being inconsistent. But you have to look at the whole story. Balaam may have appeared outwardly to obey God, but inwardly his heart was not right.

Balak offered to pay Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam answered that it was not possible to curse them because God had blessed them. But it was possible to get them to bring a curse on themselves. Balak conceived a plan to get Israel to sin. His scheme worked. I imagine that the prophet was rewarded handsomely for his service, but God would not allow him to enjoy his bonus.

We need to be very careful when we instigate plans against any of God’s people. I have known jealous or spiteful (or whatever) Christians to use slander or gossip or manipulation (or whatever) as a means to discredit another Christian or church. Ultimately, none of these plans can succeed—and I would not want to be in the shoes of those who instigate such plans!

Balaam had it coming to him. Eventually he got his. We must guard our hearts and our ways so that we never have it coming to us.