A Hidden Surprise Revealed by Balaam

 

 There is one more thing that I want to write about which is brought to mind in the story of Balaam. This is based on what I heard from a pastor a number of years ago. I cannot prove that this is true, but this is, at the very least, an interesting theory and it does seem to align with Scripture. And if it is true, it also aligns with the ways that God likes to operate.

Let's take a look at the lengths that Balak took to try to convince Balaam to curse Israel against God's instructions to Balaam. In Numbers 22, we read about Balaam meeting Balak at the border of Moab. Balak was eager to have Balaam come, and after having received Balaam, the two men travelled with their entourage to a town where Balak set up what I would refer to as a feast, presumably in honour of Balaam. They then retire for the night.

In the morning, Balak brings Balaam up on a mountain in order to show Balaam what he is dealing with. We read this in Numbers 22:41, "The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp." So they are standing on high ground looking down at a portion of the camp of Israel, seeing just the outskirts of the camp. Then, after sacrificing animals at Balaam's request, and Balaam stepping aside to seek God, Balaam blesses Israel, or rather, he extols them to Balak, first stating that he cannot curse those whom God has blessed, mentioning how they are living separate from the other nations, and speaking of their numbers, finally stating that they are righteous in that one would wish to die "the death of the righteous", that one's "final end be like theirs".

Of course, Balak is upset at this. This prophet whom Balak has brought to curse his enemies has instead extolled their virtues and claimed that he cannot curse them against God's instructions. But Balak is not easily diverted from his goals. So Balak seeks to change Balaam's mind by bringing him elsewhere in order to gain a better perspective of the nation of Israel. Balak says in Numbers 23:13, "“Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.” And in verse 14 we read, ^"So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar." 

They are now on another mountain, again looking down on the nation of Israel, though again they see only part of the camp. One can imagine that the purpose of the new vantage point is to be able to see more of the camp, but they can still only see the outskirts again.  There is no mention here that Balaam requests another sacrifice, but the Scripture seems to tell us that Balak initiated the building of the altars and the sacrifice of the animals, likely thinking that it is an omen to appeal to the God that Balaam serves; the same thing that the Moabites would do for the pagan gods that they worshipped.

Again we see Balaam step aside to see what God would have him say or do. When he returns, he again does not curse the Israelites as Balak desires. This time, Balaam's words include a direct message to Balak. He is warned through Balaam to listen to God and again told that God has blessed Israel and that Balaam cannot change that. Balak is told that there is nothing that is going against Israel and that their God is with them, and is even in their midst. Their strength is extolled and even Balak's current actions are warned against in the words, ^"There is no divination against Jacob, no evil omens against Israel" (v.23); this is speaking directly against the sacrifices that Balak had just undertaken as well as his actions taken by bringing Balaam here! Furthermore, it is said that what Israel accomplishes is done by the hand of their God, and that Israel will rise like a lion and will not rest until it devours its prey. "Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!” Verse 25 shows us Balak's exasperated reply to the blessing that Balaam delivers, which is more powerful than the first message.

But Balak is still not going to give up. This is a man that is acting out of desperation. Even after Balaam has blessed Israel twice and has thrice stated that he cannot speak contrary to what God instructs him to speak (22:38; 23:12; 23:26), Balak takes Balaam to yet another location; to the top of Mount Peor, "overlooking the wasteland" (v.28). Here we see that Balaam does, in fact, instruct that the altars and sacrifices take place again, so it is possible that he had instructed it at the second location as well.

Here is where I think it starts to get interesting. First, we see in Numbers 24:1 that, "Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not resort to divination as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness." We are warned several times throughout the Scriptures that divination is a sin that we are not to partake in, yet here is a "man of God" who has apparently practised divination in at least the previous two attempts to curse Israel. I only refer to him as a "man of God" because he does seek and hear from God on numerous occasions. Just how much Balaam had practised divination over the years we are not privy to, but it seems that he is well versed and comfortable with it. But let's keep going.

In Numbers 24:2 we read that "When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him ³ and he spoke his message: The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly, ⁴ the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:" It seems that Balaam can now, finally see what God wants him to see, his eyes are opened and he sees before him "a vision from the Almighty".

 The blessing that Balaam gives from God praises the nation of Israel, pouring out praises on the people and their coming king. This could be a reference to King David, or a reference to their real coming King, Jesus Christ. Their strength is praised even more than it was previously, and the danger that they represent to their enemies is spoken of; "Like a lion they crouch and lie down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse them?" (v.9) And he finishes with a proclamation against Balak himself, "May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed!” Balaam was called upon to curse the nation of Israel for Balak, but instead has blessed Israel and curse Balak.

I have to now take the time to delve into what Balaam was probably looking at; this is what the pastor was getting at years ago and is the real purpose for this article. Again, I want to emphasize that this cannot be proven, but it does paint an interesting picture of what could have been, and given Balaam's final message, I believe that this is exactly what he was seeing. So what is it that Balaam is seeing? We get a clue in verse 5; “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel!" If we want to understand this better, we need to look at Numbers 1 and 2.

In Numbers 1, God instructed Moses to take a census of the tribes of Israel. The tribes had different numbers of people, as would be expected, and the tribes were instructed to encamp around the Tabernacle in a specific pattern. The Tabernacle was to be the centre of the camp with all of the tribes encamped around it, with the Levites camping all around the Tabernacle as a barrier between the other tribes and the Tabernacle, then with the rest of the tribes camping in specific directions in relation to the Tabernacle. I am going to kind of blast through the details of this, but you can check my work by examining Numbers 1 and 2.

There were 4 heads of the tribes of Israel with the other tribes disbursed among these heads, dividing the people into four divisions of three tribes each. The tribe of Judah was the head of themselves, Issachar and Zebulun. The tribe of Reuben was the head of themselves, Simeon and Gad. The tribe of Ephraim was the head of themselves, Manasseh and Benjamin. The tribe of Dan was the head of themselves, Asher and Naphtali. The tribes were encamped in these groupings towards the four points of the compass with Judah to the east, Reuben to the south, Ephraim to the west and Dan to the north.

The numbers of the men of Israel, not including their wives and children, according to these tribes was Judah - 186,400; Reuben - 151,450; Ephraim - 108,100; Dan - 157,600. So keeping the Tabernacle and the Levites in the centre, and orienting the tribes according to their divisions and numbers to the four points of the compass, it is entirely possible that what Balaam was looking down on from the final position, when he had a view of the entire wasteland and the whole camp of Israel, was the cross of Christ!!

  What adds weight to this conclusion are the words that Balaam speaks as his fourth message, which we read in Numbers 24:15-19. I think the words here are too important to not post the message in its entirety. We read; "The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
¹⁶ the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:

¹⁷ “I see him, but not now;
    I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
    a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
    the skulls of all the people of Sheth.
¹⁸ Edom will be conquered;
    Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
    but Israel will grow strong.
¹⁹ A ruler will come out of Jacob
    and destroy the survivors of the city.”

I believe that this is a prophecy with a dual fulfillment. The first fulfillment would be King David, but the second fulfillment would be the one for whom the orientation of the tents of Israel would forever be a symbol; Jesus the Christ! Balaam says his eyes are now opened, now he sees a vision from the Almighty. I believe that Balaam saw Jesus in a vision, he possibly even foresaw Jesus hanging on the cross.

This is a 'hidden' prophecy of the coming Messiah and the purpose for His coming, seen by a diviner who was acting for his own advancement and who would later sell out the people of Israel, proclaimed to a pagan king and recorded in the books of the Torah for all the Jews to see and to miss. This is God laying out His plan in plain sight for us to find when we read His Word carefully, but it is so easily missed when we just read the words and skim over what we are being told. This is also a lesson on how important it is to read all of God's Word, because without the context that we receive from Numbers 1 and 2, Numbers 24 does not carry the weight it deserves. And to the same end, without the prophecy of Balaam in Numbers 24, we could not determine the importance of the orientation of the tribes of Israel. In fact, there are many who believe that the tribes camped in a square shape around the Tabernacle, which we see now is likely not really the case and completely obfuscates the purpose that God had for having the tribes camp in that orientation. Our God is so good, revealing His love to us in ways that have yet to discover!

So I want to encourage you again to carefully read your Bible. If there is something that you don't understand the purpose of it's being in the Bible, maybe there is a hidden purpose. The Bible is more than a story book; it is God's Word to us, and His Word will not return to Him without having accomplished what He wills it to.

I hope that this article got you as excited as I got while writing it. Please let me know what you think in the comments section below.