Skip to main content

16. Prophecy From An Enemy


Numbers 24:5-7
Key Verse: "Their King will be greater than Agag; their kingdom will be exalted."
Numbers 24:7B

This is an amazing prophesy.  It seems to come out of the blue.  It was given by a man, Balaam, hired to curse the people of Israel.  Instead, he tells of Israel's great future, including its greatest king. 

Why in the world am I taking the time to highlight this event and this prophesy?  Why am I spending so much time on seemingly irrelevant stuff when I am supposed to be talking about the life of Jesus?  All I can do is ask you to please bear with me.  There will only be a few more days and Messiah will be here, I promise!  This event will be revealed in Jesus' life soon.  I wanted to point it out now so that when this prophesy is fulfilled, you will hopefully see other pieces of the puzzle fall into place as well. 

In this passage, we need to realize that the people of Israel have been wandering around in the desert for years.  They have broken free from slavery in Egypt and God is taking the time that He needs to work in them, a movement that He had begun with Abram.  He was creating a people for Himself.  He was taking the time needed to establish their identity as His.  They were to be unique.  Their worship would be different.  Their habits and lifestyles would be different from Egypt and all other surrounding, pagan cultures who do not know Him.  They practiced man made religion.  Israel would do things God's way. 

Now, Balak, a Moabite, an enemy of Israel wishes to attack them, because it appears that the people of Israel are about to take over his land, but he wishes for super natural help, thus he has hired Balaam, who is evidently a bit of a scoundrel himself, we might say witch doctor, to make Balak's job easier by putting a hex, or curse on Israel. 

Balaam, wants to comply because Balak is offering him a good sum of money.  However, he ends up doing the opposite because of an encounter he and his donkey have with God along the way.  (Numbers 22:1-35).  Balaam ends up declaring three times that Israel is blessed.  He declares that Israel will succeed and have a kingdom of its own someday.  Their wandering will cease and they will become great and powerful, much to the frustration of Balak who had hired him and hoped to send the people of Israel away in defeat. 

Finally, through the Spirit of the Lord, Balaam declares that the people of Israel will have a great king and through that king, Israel will be exalted.  Even Israel's enemies prophesy of Israel's Messiah, for Messiah is for more than Israel!  Messiah is for all who will believe!  When an enemy says that the king will be great, He will be great indeed!  Israel made this prophesy part of their own history.  It became another sign post to let them know that Messiah is coming.  God has not forgotten them.  Even after going to Egypt and wandering in the desert, God is still with them.  His promise is still intact.  Their deliverer was not Moses, as they may have suspected, but someone yet to come who will save all people. 

Prayer: There you go again God, you are the only God, and everything that you decree should happen will happen. Even when an enemy wants to defy you and destroy your people, when a false prophet wants to shout curses over Israel, you can compel him to proclaim the truth! We learn lessons on the importance of obedience, and the joy of being aligned with your will, the safest place on earth. Thank you, Jesus, amen.

Song: "God and God Alone" 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 27 Save the Glaze for the Bunny

Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips of an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips. But in his heart, he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. ~Proverbs 26:23-28 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. T...
Post a Comment
Read more

July 16 Thick Skinned Love

Whoever covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. ~Proverbs 17:9 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ~Matthew 18:15  The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ~1 Peter 4:7-8  Being offended seems to be the battle cry of the day. Instead of freedom of speech, everyone has the right not to be offended. If one is offended, then one has the right to exact vengeance on the offender because, of course, the offender KNEW that he or she was being offensive and just didn’t care. Is that how you see much of society behaving today?  There seems to be all of this offending and finger pointing that just keeps growing and growing. Nothing is being resolved, just more blame that grows louder a...
Post a Comment
Read more

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more