Answers Bible Curriculum 2nd Edition Unit 7 Lesson 63
This week in Sunday school, we start to see circumstances turn around for Israel as God prepares the way for the second generation to inherit the promised land. God causes Israel to vanquish two entire kingdoms on the eastern side of the Jordan River and then protects Israel from an attempted curse by turning that curse into a blessing. Why should Israel’s military victories have bolstered the people’s faith in God? What did the pronounced blessing reveal regarding a coming exalted king in Israel? And how should we be encouraged in seeing what God was doing for his people in those days? We consider these questions and more.
Our main text for this lesson is Numbers 21:21-24:25.
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welcome to Sunday school we are continuing to look at God’s great purposes as they unfold through the history of the world as recorded in the Bible we’ve been moving through the Book of Numbers and by this point you might be despairing of Israel ever inheriting the Promised Land this is understandable I mean consider what we’ve seen lately the first generation of Israel rebelled against God refused to go into the land and all of them weren’t laid low in the wilderness they died and then we saw last time the second generation of Israel they also complained against God like the first generation when they didn’t find any water and at Meribah they even provoked Moses into momentary prideful exultation and rebellion against Yahweh so will such a stubborn people ever actually receive the promised land that God that God promised to Abraham into Abraham’s seed well it will turn out that the second generation is not as unbelieving as the first this second generation group it will stumble – and it will suffer God’s severe chastening but these Israelites will indeed inherit the land in fact we’re going to see today God prepare the way for their inheritance in a powerful fashion actually reading and preparing the teaching for this accounts of Scripture that one word just kept coming back to my mind and that word is unstoppable like a great machine that just blasts through every obstacle in front of it or some mighty warrior that cuts through every opponent Israel is about to proceed forward irresistible into and through the land of Canaan but this invincibility it will not be due to Israel’s power or craftiness or greatness it will be due to the power and greatness of their God Yahweh he promised to fight for them he said he would grant them victory in a sense he makes Israel unstoppable Israel is unstoppable because Israel’s God is unstoppable now for us today we do not face physical battles on the Lord’s behalf or at the Lord’s command but I trust it as we look at this account we will find encouragement for ourselves we do have spiritual battles and spiritual labors set before us by the Lord and we can become intimidated or afraid over those things but as we consider the power and faithfulness of God to Israel to bring the pathway you promised at them we shouldn’t find encouragement that God will also bring to pass what he’s promised to us now how did God prepare the way for Israel we’ll find out in just a moment first let’s pray our great God you are the unstoppable God no plan of yours no determination of yours can be thwarted we are so thrilled Lord that you are our God all your ways are good and you’ve you’ve chosen to show special mercy to us and Lord as we see your mercy on display to Israel I pray that the hearts of the people would indeed be encouraged and embolden to courageous obedience of you I pray that you’d help me to speak explain this well now in Jesus name Amen please take your Bibles and open to the Book of Numbers chapter 21 and verse 21 numbers 21 21 let me give you some context before we get to our main passage we’re left off in the Book of Numbers with Israel contending against God at Meribah in the wilderness south of Canaan so I’m get my little pointer out here so Israel has been around here for some time this is where they this is where we saw them the last chapter kind of this area now God is now going to bring the people into the land of Canaan but not in the most logical direction at least we would think of as the most logical direction God is not going to bring Israel straight up north indicated this is actually how they would have tried to entertain in the first time not gonna do that he’s gonna take them around the east side of Canaan on the other side of the Jordan and that’s going to be how the enter came now before they can go to the east and enter from that direction is Joel encounters some trouble along the way at the end of numbers 20 Israel sends messengers to eat him so Eden’s down over here kingdom southeast of Canaan they send messengers to eat him asking if they can pass through and memory eat him that’s another name for the descendants of Esau and God had actually divinely apportioned the land that Edom lives in to eat him it was it was there it was their gift Israel was forbidden from dispossessing Edom from that land so they say all right Edom we don’t want to fight you we just want to pass through we won’t use the king’s highway and what eating’s reply to this request big fat no they say there’s no way you’re coming in through here if you try we’re gonna fight you and this is a setback for Israel because not traveling through the land of Edom directly they would have just come right through here just a nice little pass right here it means that they were gonna have to take the long way they already have to turn south and go all all the way around to the mountain rage that defines Eden’s territory it was gonna be a lengthy detour to make matters worse at the beginning of numbers 21 we hear that some inhabitants in the south southern part of Canaan in the Negev they decide to attack Israel they raid Israel and they take some of the Israelites captive Israel sought vengeance against these people and rescue of the captives they vowed Yahweh that if he allowed them to destroy the Raiders or to overcome the Raiders they would destroy them all and destroy all their cities they say God if you’ll grant us victory we will do that God did grant them the victory and Israel did as they vowed they destroyed the Canaanite Raiders and destroyed their cities and despite this encouraging victory yes you’ll still had to take the long detour around the territory of Edom and it became an opportunity for complaint it complained again this time they complained against Moses specifically and all their hardships about all their hardships they were experiencing and as God’s keeping covenant with the people but even to judge and chasing them he sends fiery serpents among them the term fiery probably means venomous kind of feels like fire what it does to your body he sends venomous serpents among the people to bite them and people were dying seeing God’s chasing people repented they are they repented before God and before Moses and God commanded Moses to create a bronze serpent what’s up a bronze Serpent and he instructed the people God instructed people through Moses have the people really look to this bronze serpent and when they do if they’ve been bitten they will live of course Jesus is gonna make analogy with that in the New Testament about its own being lifted up on the cross but anyways there’s definitely been some trouble on the way on the way to Canaan not the best start for the second generation in terms of faith and believing in Yahweh but there are some signs of spiritual life by the time we reach numbers 21 21 Israel under Moses they’re still under Moses at this time Aaron has died on Mount hor Israel under Moses I successfully gone around Edom and also the territory of Moab and Ammon Ammon would be right over here mow up right here and there right on the border of the Arnon River and the territory of the Emirates now just quick reminder and moe-moe apt Ammon those were descendants of a lot their territories were also finally guaranteed by God God says I’m he’s the distance a lot is about to take them but the amorite s– God had not given that that same kind of promise Erik territory was not guaranteed so Israel is not yet next to Canaan getting close on the territory em rights let’s see what happens look at numbers 21 21 well we’re gonna read down to verse 32 it turned out my laser pointer okay there we go follow along with me as i read it says then is you’ll sent messengers to sigh huh king of the amorite saying let me pass through your land it will not turn off and if vineyard would not drink water from wells well go by the king’s highway until we pass through your book litter the scion would not permit as you’ll pass through his border so scion gathered all his people and went out against israel in the wilderness and came to J has fought against his initial struck him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon the Javik as far as the sun famine with a border the sons of a demon was chaser israel took all these cities and Israel lived in all the cities of the Emirates in heshbon and in all her villages her heshbon was the city of Sidon King at the impacts which fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his and as far as the Arnon therefore those who use proverbs say come to hedge fund let it be built so let the city of Sidon be established for fire went forth from heshbon a flame from the town of Saipan it devoured our of OS the dominant heights of the Art Walk to you oh man you are ruined o people of Qi mosh he has given his sons as fugitives and his daughters into captivity to amirite King Simon but we have cast them down heshbon is ruined as far as deepen then we have laid waste even to nofa which pitches to Madiba this issue lives in the land of the M writes Moses sent a spy up Jade sir and caps its villages and dispossessed the amp rights there all right we’re gonna stop here and let’s make observations we notice she was not looking to pick a fight with the MRIs verse 22 simply Israel simply asked to pass through the land safely on the Kings Highway after all their promised land was in Canaan on the other side of the Jordan not on the eastern side and the territory the em rights notice how Sion responds in verse 23 he refuses passage and he musters his army the Israelites the two sides do fight and what is the result according to verse 24 Israel prevails actually an I like the amorite and takes possession of their territory and this territory would have included you can see it on the map there on the left side of the screen everything between the Arnon Javik rivers on the eastern side of the Jordan on the eastern side of the Jordan of the name of that is Transjordan so they take all the territory they also took Zions capital city hash on along with another a number of other cities and villages these cities they didn’t burn they just took a notice the poetry in verses 27 to 30 also called proverb with this Israel note about scions previous relationship with Ammon and Moab / Cylons preach relationship these two neighboring kings alright well notice okay they were notice back in verse 29 he says he has given his sons as fugitives to an MRI king or his son says huges and his daughters in captivity to an ammonite Emmerich’s icon talking about moab you said you were giving fugitives you had to give over hostages and prisoners you were being subdued by Saha but what’s the contrast in verse 30 but we cast him down these neighboring kingdoms were under the domination of sion additional says we conquered silent we laid him to waste but it’s not just the memorise of sion that israel defeats let’s read on in verses 33 and 35 look over at those verses it says then they turned by the way of Bashan and AAG king of Bashan went out with all his people for a battle at edje but yahweh and it’s the Lord Yahweh said to Moses not fear him I’ve given him into your hand and all his people and his land and you shall do to him as you did to sigh how I’m king of the MRI to live at heshbon so she killed him ant son and all his people until there was no remnant left him they possessed his land okay Wow let’s make some more observations there’s 2 verse 33 Israel heads north toward Bashan that’s kind of purple area on the map on the screen this is the region of Transjordan on the east side of the Sea of Galilee this area was under control of another am i right King King ah he gathers his men to do battle with Israel at edrei notice though before the battle even begins telephone system Burke’s 34 that God was going to give the Israelites victory Oh POG and give them his lands got further commanded the people though to do tog and his people as had been done to Sion his people what was the result of the battle exactly as God and beside it was total victory for Israel according to verse 35 Israel obeyed God’s man droid AAG all his soldiers and all of his people they took possession of the land now we get a little bit more information about what happens with AAG and actually the book of Deuteronomy so take your Bibles and turn over there June around chapter 3 Deuteronomy is essentially a long exposition of the law the previous books and got it commanded for is built as the people about that the promised land and so Moses in Deuteronomy he recounts some of the history that they’ve already experienced and in Chapter three he’s counting these battles with sy ha and AAG notice in verses 4 to 11 though gets the more interesting information that we don’t hear in our passage and number 21 okay verse 4 mo who sets the people speaking of aughh we captured all his cities at that time there’s not a city that which city which we did not take from them 60 City all the region of our gob the kingdom of OGG and all these were cities fortified with high walls gates and bards besides the great many unknowns we utterly destroyed them as we did the psychic king of Heshbon utterly destroying the men were men and children of every city but all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty as we took the land at that time from the end of the two kings of the amorite s– who were beyond the Jordan from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon Sidonians call hermit Syrian and the Emirates call it San Diego all the cities of the plateau no Gilead Alba Shawn as far as the remnant of their effort as far as Selita and edy frame cities of the kingdom of Augie Michelin for only aughh king of Bashan was left of the remnant other SAE behold his bedstead was an iron bedstead it isn’t raba of the sons of animun it’s length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubed now this is interesting these other details here in verse four here in Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 3 it says the people took possession of six cities from off and notice how these cities are described it’s not just any old cities they’re strongly fortified high walls strong gates bars here in verse 6 or explicitly that all the people and men women and children under OGG were killed all their livestock and treasures were taken by Israel and then notice what we learn about OGG himself in verse 11 so C was the last of the wrath a he appears to be a line of giants large people mentioned in Genesis 14 and other describe other for the inhabitants of Canaan and the surrounding regions and certainly augggh fits that description because he has an iron bed that was not in cubits long my cubit is generally about 18 inches just take 9 divided by 1/2 and then add to 9 9 plus 4 point 5 this is a bed about thirteen point five feet he was about 18 inches so this bed would be a 13 point 5 long and why would a guy who meets that’s a large bed because he was a big guy how tall was ah if you’re back in those days and you’re trying to fight against uh how you even gonna get close to him his arms and his weapons are gonna strike you away before you can strike him yet here in Deuteronomy and in numbers it shall not only kill dog the giant but all of his soldiers and people just as God commanded with these basic observations let’s now ask some questions their interpretation why did Sion and our tack Israel but he did yes right perhaps perhaps fear they they would have heard of the successes Israel having you know their God having led them out of their land of Egypt and coming up in the successes that they had coming up through there and God having loved them and just being fearful that were they God behind them you know who knows what they could have done to them so perhaps there you know they decided strike first yeah that’s a good answer Roy likely there’s some fear involved they’ve heard perhaps stories of what God has done for Israel and bringing them out of Egypt and providing for them seho oh man we got it we gotta pose these people and remember Israel is not like some small band of travelers this is a horde of people that’s about to travel through amirite land and it would make sense for a king to say I don’t trust them I don’t trust this horde to go through my territory I mean that’s essentially what Edom said the amorite said I’m not gonna let them eros I Han said and hog essentially said now there may have been some over estimation of their own ability Sion appeared to be a great king he has subdued Moab and Ammon though he said take down these upstart Israelites maybe I can enslave some of them maybe an overinflated view of his own power but ultimately whatever reason Sion had to refuse passage we know ultimately this was the sovereign hand of God he had Cylons heart in his hand he said you’re going out to battle against Israel because I’m gonna cast you down what is the significance of Israel completely defeating Sion as I said Simon was a great king he had subdued his neighbors it was exalted to a certain extent the digital says look we took him down we were able to overcome him and we can ask a similar question when it comes to aughh what’s so significant about defeating aughh and taking the territory of OGG yes deep and I think I remember like throughout the songs you hear about that defeating Sion and and it’s just it’s just such a significant time in in Israel that they defeated these great things and gods and had worked for Israel and it’s like I said it’s a really significant memorial at this time yeah you’re right Steve to mention that later on there’s gonna be references throughout the Old Testament to these victories against I Han and odds Sion was a great king aughh go ahead I see Roya your hand is up again the first thing in the Bible has a sense of pride I guess the sin that is foremost in our hearts that we disobey God because of pride in our own way but going back to the idea of that is that though these Kings would perhaps think to themselves in addition to things fearful that you know these these Israelites are being led by their God if we can defeat them I mean we will you know will reign supreme over all and will be seen higher you know above we can put ourselves above all of the other peoples around us so let’s take the opportunity to go ahead and do that yeah he’s looking to exalt themselves I think that’s consistent with that Dwayne I see your hand I think they were about to come into the land oh really trust God they can go in and and take any kind of city or any yeah I think you’re exactly right Dwayne it’s not insignificant that they take down these great Kings Kings who mind you fit some of the fearful descriptions that their spies had originally brought back about the inhabitants of Canaan itself remember they said the people there are giants their cities are well fortified and strong with all these high walls and gates and bars but look what Israel just did they took down some people who were great kings some of them even Giants and they took all their fortified cities and so it’s exactly as Wayne was saying this should have been a encouragement to Israel that they can trust their God God will indeed give them the land of Canaan he will bring them victory even over the giants and even over the fortified cities of Canaan because look he’s already doing it on the eastern side of the Jordan yeah they were subdued by these people those people out that were oppressing but yeah Israel is in a sense freeing moab and ammon from the oppression of the Amer Heights we’re gonna see in the next chapter that Moab is not exactly grateful they’re actually really scared but that does make me think and in a certainly distant way but an all encompassing way what is the promise given to Abraham and you all the families of the earth will be blessed so when God does great things for Israel when the other nations get on board with it they be blessed too and really there is a form of blessing even coming to Moab and Ammon years so I was interesting observation let me ask another question oh I see that I had my water a little bit different but why was this your so successful in these battles it should be obvious by now right it wasn’t due to Israel’s cunning martial skill expert strategy it’s because of their God God is the one who said I’m giving you Oggy into your hand it was God who was fighting for them in giving them the victory maybe one other question we wonder about why did God command I elation of all the amorite s– in men women and children isn’t that genocide why did God command this God did not want their pagan influence later on but the Israelites to get caught up in that we’re going to see that they did exactly that okay so part of the answer is practical and God we even say this explicitly in another section of the Torah he says you must destroy the people of the land or else they will drag you away they will entice you to go after their gods they will corrupt you but that’s not the only reason more fundamentally this is an act of judgment from God remember even going back to Abraham when he has that covenant ratification ceremony in Genesis 15 God tells Abraham what’s going to happen in the future he says your people going to be in bondage for a long time I’ll bring them out with great possessions but this isn’t going to happen yet because the iniquity of the amorite is not yet complete and the amorite of the peoples in specific reference here but M writes is just another is one of the terms for the Canaanite people of the land these were a wicked evil and utterly corrupt people living in the land and God says I’m giving them time judgment is being laid up against them and when you come you will be my agents of judgment so remember Israel is not some sort of special people that can commit genocide just because they want to know they’re just following God’s command here as special agents of judgment we don’t look at what Israel did and try and mimic that today this was a special case and we’ll talk more about this later on when we talked about the actual conquest of Canaan but we we see some of the evil practices of the people to land actually in the Torah because a lot of times God says don’t do this don’t do that don’t sacrifice your children to Molech why because this is what the people the land do and I’m judging them and I don’t want to judge you too so this is an act of judgment though it is also an act of mercy on behalf of God to Israel these two purposes are being fulfilled at the same time God is bringing judgment on the on a wicked people and he’s bringing blessing to his holy people I see some hands I do need to move because I want to make sure we can get through all the different things you have today but hang on to your questions maybe we can come back to them at the end now as I said if you’re a neighboring kingdom like Moab or Ammon and you’re seeing these things happen to the amorite who were kind of the big dogs on the block big kids on the block of the the big dogs what’s your reaction to all this you’re probably pretty scared this is what we see exactly in numbers 22 you can head back to the book of numbers numbers 22 just glance at the beginning of that chapter we see the king of Moab Balak Balak gets together with his leaders and the leaders of a neighboring nation Midian the Midianites were descendants of Abraham via his second wife cateura this is a first after Sarah had died leaders of Moab and the leaders of the Midianites along with Bale at king of Moab they get together take some counsel how are we gonna stop the Israelites they’re too strong for us what they decide is alright let’s get some profit let’s get some powerful soothsayer to curse them so it might be able to withstand them can’t handle them militarily right now but maybe if we curse them then we can take them down and their top choice for a person candidate is Balaam balaam the son of a who seemed to be a great prophet and seemed to have some relationship with Yahweh himself God of Israel so King Balak sends the designation delegation to Balaam to come and curse Israel but after this delegation of wives Balaam consults with Yahweh God tells him not to go so Balaam refused it fail X invitation King Balak is not ready to give up he sends a more prestigious group of men to Balaam and he promises an even greater reward to Balaam treasure money etc if Balaam comes and gives the curse Balaam besides he’s gonna ask God again whether Balaam can go God says alright you can go but you’re only to say what I command you will know AB be successful in trying to curse Israel let’s read what happens with Balaam in verses 22 to 31 and numbers 22 now some of this story maybe Larry with Mary was somewhat famous but pay close attention to verse 22 it says but God was angry because he Balaam was going in the angel of Yahweh took his stand in the way as adversary against now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him and the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way his drawn sword in his hand the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field Balaam struck the donkey turned her back into the way and the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path of the vineyards a wall on this side and a wall on that side and the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam stood against the wall though he struck her again angel of Yahweh went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn in to the right or the left when the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh she lay down under Balaam so Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick and Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to Balaam what have I done to you that you struck me these three times then Balaam said to the donkey because you have made up mockery of me if there had been a sword in my hand I would have killed you by now but donkey said to Balaam am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day have I ever been accustomed to do so to you and he said no then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel always standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand and he bowed all the way to the ground the angel yahweh said to him why have you struck your dog to you these three times behold I have come out as an adversary because your way was contrary to me but the donkey saw me it turned aside from me these three times if she had not turned aside for me I would surely have killed you just and let her live Balaam says the angel of Yahweh I have sinned I did not know that you were standing in the way against me now then if it is just pleasing to you I will turn back but the angel be always said to Balaam go with the men but you shall speak only the word which I tell you so Balaam went along with the leaders of a lakh just such an interesting interesting account interesting occurrence here makes motivation there’s in verse 22 we’re told that God was angry that Balaam went to meet with bailout might be saying yourself wait a second didn’t God just tell him to do this he just looked back to you verses he says just that so why is God angry hmm it must be some reason for this apparent discrepancy notice how Balaam’s donkey behaves on on the way on the journey three times she stops or changes her path we’re told why because the donkey sees the angel of Yahweh holding a sword in the way how does Balaam respond to his donkeys inexplicable behavior heaps in frustration and he doesn’t see the angel nor does he know why his donkeys turning aside notice in verse 28 the donkey actually speaks to Balaam and notice how verse 28 says that God specifically opened the donkey’s mouth gave the ability for the donkey to speak now if your pet suddenly started talking to you how would you react maybe some wonder some fear some excitement Balaam doesn’t seem fazed it’s just interesting notice what the donkey says it doesn’t say exactly what you’d expect docu doesn’t say stop hitting me there’s an angel in the way don’t you know doc doesn’t say that instead she says what have I done to make strike me and then have I ever acted in a strange or rebellious way like this before I’ve been your donkey for a long time is this normal for me notice Palin’s response to his donkey he says the reason I’m striking you is because you’re making me look foolish memory he’s travelling with great dignitaries of bail act himself and then he also says that he’s so angry with his donkey that he would have killed her if he had a sword but he also admits you’ve never acted like this before then I always open the eyes to bei limit notice how he reacts to seeing the angel of Yahweh Balaam vows falls on his face and eventually he confesses his sin offers to turn back it was in verse 32 angel of Yahweh in explaining what people is doing he says he came out against Balaam because your way was contrary to me verse 35 whoever angel says to Balaam continued you shall speak only the which I tell you you I’m still telling you go with Balaam but say only the word that I tell you now interesting angel says say the word that I tell you but in verse 20 who said the same thing God did let’s ask a few more questions in return petition now who is the angel of Yahweh as we already see in the passage angel is saying the same thing doing the things that are God’s prerogative likely this is the son of God before his incarnation but the angel of Yahweh is Yahweh here’s a question what’s being emphasized here about Balaam he’s this great prophet even a prophet of public but he’s not able to see the angel of Yahweh at first though his donkey can nor is he able to discern the significance of a sudden change of behavior in his donkey what is this emphasizing to us about Balaam seems to be lacking something what does Balaam lacking again yeah he’s very spiritually aware I mean you’re a prophet of Yahweh and you can’t even see his angel you’re some great spiritual man and you can’t recognize when your donkey is acting in some way that indicates something spiritually significant is happening Balaam is shown to be someone who lacks spiritual insight and he’s supposed to be this great prophet this goes along with our second or the next question why was God angry enough to kill Balaam so certainly there’s something off in Balaam and in Balaam’s heart and we get a little hint of it from the context in the previous in the previous section there is the mentioning of grapes to Balaam if you will come to Balak and successfully cursed Israel so when God says your way is not right this could be pointing to a greedy motive in Balaam that would be that Balaam is hoping for a material reward he really does want to curse Israel he’s not super interested in doing God’s will and he’ll not do God’s will pick up this this interpretation would fit well what we see about Balaam later on because after Balaam leaves the narrative in numbers 24 he leaves bay lacks presence he goes home right after that the bull bytes in the Midianites we’ve just been conspiring against Asheville they ensnare is your via idolatrous revelry and immorality this is numbers 25 now their God is angry with Israel he severely Chasen’s Israel for their covenant Treasury but in numbers 31 we hear about how God brought vengeance against the people of Midian and part of the report in numbers 31 verse 8 is this they killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain IV and recommends or and and Reba the five kings of Midian they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword well it’ll kill Balaam is probably even a prophet of Yahweh as part of divinely ordained vengeance and then the number is 31 16 just a little bit further Moses rebukes the people for sparing the women of Midian by saying numbers 31 16 behold these caused the sons of Israel through the counsel of Balaam the trespass against God way in a matter of peor so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh now that’s an interesting statement Moses says or rather God says Moses reports that Balaam was the one who gave counsel the Midianites shouldn’t sneer Yisrael via idolatrous morality so we can see Balaam certainly a prophet of his way it’s not right in fact as we go through the rest the Old Testament and especially the New Testament Balaam is the poster child of the corrupt mayn’t God the corrupt false teacher a false prophet in fact just to give you a reference Peter in the book of 2nd Peter he compares the false teachers of his time to Balaam by saying 2nd Peter to 15 of 16 forsaking the right way they have gone astray having followed the way Balaam the son of Beor who loved the wages of unrighteousness but he received a rebuke for his up transgression for you donkey speaking with a voice of a man restrained the madness of the Prophet jude 1:11 revelation 2:14 speaks similarly of Balaam and false teachers New Testament times so certainly the rest of Scripture is gonna make clear that Balaam is he’s a man who is corrupt but we’re already seeing hints of that numbers 22 the pastors we just read he was a man who was ultimately greedy not above giving counsel about indulging in idolatry morality that makes us maybe ask this question there’s God sparing a baylin’s life show us about God is a man is really struct out God doesn’t do it shows us that God is merciful God’s give an opportunity even for Balaam to repent also shows us God is in control Balaam I could have taken you out I didn’t but I wouldn’t let you know I had the power and I the willingness to do so despite all this God still chooses to speak through this problem says I want to go with these men speak only what I tell you why and what will Balaam declare on behalf of pot let’s look a little further look at numbers 22 verse 36 and we’ll read to chapter 23 verse 12 number 22 verse 36 they like heard that Balaam was coming he went out to meet him at the city of Moab which is on the our nut border at extreme end of the border and Balak said to Balaam and not urgently send to you to call you why did you not come to me I really unable to honor you so Balaam said to Balak behold I’ve come now to you am I able to speak anything at all where’d that God puts in my mouth that I shall speak and Balaam went with Balak and it came too curious closed-off balak sacrificed oxen and sheep and sent some to Balaam and the leaders were with him and it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of bail and from there a portion of the people named Balaam said lack build seven altars from here and prepare seven bowls and seven Rams from here Balak did just as Balaam had spoken and Balak and Balaam offered a bowl and upon each altar that Balaam said to Balak stand beside your burnt offering and I will go perhaps Yahweh will come to eat me whatever he shows me I will tell you so he went to a bare Hill now God met Bailey and he said to him I’ve set up the seven altars now I’ve offered to the bowl and a ram on each altar and Yahweh put a word in Bale in his mouth and said returned a lakh and shall speak thus so he returned to him behold he was standing beside his burnt offering in all the leaders in BO AB took up his discourse instead from arum Balak has brought me Oh ABS King from the mountains at the east come curse Jacob for me I’m denounced Israel how shall I cursed whom God has not cursed and how can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced as I see him from the top of the rocks and I look at him from the hills behold a people who dwells apart and will not be reckoned among the nations who can count dust of Jacob a number the fourth part of Israel let me die the death the upright let my end be like his then Balak said to Balaam what have you done to me I took you to curse my enemies but behold you have actually blessed them replied must I not be careful to speak what da Wei puts it in my mouth this is pretty amazing let’s make some observations just on this Balak once Balaam to curse Israel but notice baihe Balaam says multiple times I can only speak with God health fetus and verse 5 of chapter 23 God gives the exact word for Balaam to speak and we hear it in verses 7 to 10 Balaam proclaims essentially it is impossible to curse it feel and he pronounces a blessing on Israel instead and this by the way this issue of blessing and curse does it remind you of anything that we’ve seen before certain promise maybe blessing God says who curse you I will curse and those who bless you I will bless and fear not to just speak to Abraham but even to Abraham’s seed we’ll see actually we won’t see won’t read it together but then Balaam later Oracle’s he actually says the same words about Israel those who curse you will be cursed and there was who bless you will be blessed so I can’t curse these people they’ve been blessed by God verse 11 Balak is not a happy camper at this blessing instead of cursing now we don’t have time to read the set the account them alone but just a surprise a little bit of what we see at numbers 23 and 24 Balak tries to get them to Kirks israel again he figures all right maybe this location didn’t work out for you and y’all way let me try and bring you to another one maybe Yahweh would be pleased to curse these people from over there that’s kind of a funny bit of logic but that’s what be a prize each time though they go to a new location they offer all the animals Balaam Balaam it’s a blessing instead of a curse being instructed by the word of Yahweh and even being filled with the spirit of Yahweh he blesses the people he does not curse them and he even gives prophetic Oracle’s from Yahweh he proclaims that the fairy power of God supports Israel Balaam also says God will establish jaws chief among the nations even a mighty and exalted King company come forth from Israel and subdue Israel’s neighbors and on that subject I do want you to look at a few of the verses together with me look at number 24 verse 24 verse 7 one of this seven speaking a video water will flow from his buckets and his seed will be by many waters and his King shall be higher than a gag and his kingdom shall be exalted I found it numbers 24:17 just went for 1719 more about this game you know it says I see him now I hold him but not near a star shall come forth from Jacob a scepter shall rise from Israel and shall crush through the forehead of Moab and tear down all the sons of Chef Edom shall be a possession zaire its enemies also will be a possession while Israel performs diet li1 from Jacob shall have dominion and will destroy the remnant from the city these prophesies about a king do remind you of any other prophecy as we’ve seen recently his son the seed of Judah and he said there will rise a king from Judah and he will have the Dominion of the peoples a scepter shall rocked in Judah seeing a very similar statement being made here horse does Israel have a king at this time it doesn’t Moses but he’s not a king Yahweh is their king but they don’t have a human King it’s only around 1406 when Balaam utters this pops 14:06 BC Israel would not have his first king for almost another 400 years yet these prophecies are being made and then these words about a king we see that here in numbers Yahweh is not only preparing the people to inherit the land but he’s preparing something much greater he’s preparing for the coming of insulted and mighty king in the end at the end of numbers 24 Balak gives up in frustration the people of God cannot be cursed a blessing of God on Abraham and his chosen descendants will not be contradict so with this let’s ask a few more questions from interpretation why does God choose to speak blessings even prophesy to the mouth of a corrupt though he does do this God does choose to speak divine through through unholy vessels at times here’s example King saw when he’s sinfully pursuing david many times he’s shooting david saul is made to prophesy against Saul’s with oh my god it’s like he loses control and he just has to prophesy Saul wasn’t a righteous King yeah that happened to Saul where there was a man of God and Jeroboam the first time this is in the divided Kingdom period he confronts Jeroboam here approves Jeroboam he gives a prophecy but then there was this other prophet a lying prophet who said something false to this first prophet made that man of God violate God’s command and then God spoke that lying prophet to say hey man of God you transgressed God’s command and now God is going to put you to death so God spoke even to a lying prophet and then of course more famously in the New Testament is chief priest he declares a New Testament says not on his own initiative it is better for a man to die for the whole nation of Herod you didn’t realize he was actually speaking full truth from hot and we can maybe even add that said the demons testify throughout the New Testament they say he’s the Christ this man this apostle he’s from the Son of God represents God certainly God is able throughout the scripture to cause even unfaithful prophets enemies of God to clear what is true so what does that show us about cotton if God can make even his enemies declare the truth what’s that show us about God he’s totally in control if he wanted to at any time he could make even the greatest rebels against God declare what is true they may have been other soothsayers in ancient times or who prophesy is false against Israel but here God wants to make a point with Balaam according to his own wisdom and according to his own reasons he’s decides to highlight this one particularly prominent prophet in Moses day and show that look I am totally in control of what he says he can’t curse unless I let him and he will bless because I’ve determined that he do so and if God can stuck stops one and this great prophets even attempting to curse Israel and force a blessing instead surely God is in control surely God’s power cannot be overcome and that means visual heads indicate God will bring his prophecies to pass God fight his people you protect his people and he will bless his people according to what he has proposed God makes this point finally clear and by used Balaam but who is the promised king of offices without reference to a gag some may suggest that Balaam speak from Saul David because we do read about in a gag in 1st Samuel 15 Saul actually defeats the captors king of the Amalekites apparently was a great king in Saul’s day also David and Solomon they did subdue Moab and Edom for a time during the reigns that corresponds with the other prophecy given by Balaam but the domination of Saul David and Solomon were pretty temporary they were indeed mighty king but there might quickly fell away Edith rebelled against Solomon during Solomon’s kingship so are these words really about those first few Kings Israel I’m more inclined to believe that the true fulfillment of prophecy is of a different a greater stronger more exalting Messiah who will who came but who will come again and establish his exalted kingship will reign in Israel and he will possess the nation’s but in a special way not merely as subdued rebels but as Amos 9 says as the people called by God’s than Berrien Edom even and the other traditional enemies visual they will one day be called by God’s name when Messiah establishes his kingdom but you can see here it numbers 22 and 24 God is certainly pairing the way not just in short term but in the long term God’s plants they’ve been established before the foundation of the earth they will come to pass because Yahweh is the sovereign to use the unstoppable God so how should that affect us how should we be change transformed affected by The Trews we read today let me suggest a few avenues of application and I think you can see these really all relate to each other reading this passage in these things Valhalla caused us to believe the promises of God Romans 8 says that God is for us who can be against us is God not for us God’s purposes for Israel could not be stopped God is purposes for us too for those of us who were in Jesus Christ God’s purposes for us will not be thwarted his promises will come to pass he will provide for our needs in the right way in the right time it will help us to endure hardship and temptation when we call upon him he will use us to make disciples and to build up his disciples when we speak of the Lord he will ultimately bring us safely into his heavenly kingdom to be with him and to experience his reward these things will come to pass so let’s believe them let’s have faith in our God along with that that means you should rest in this poverty you don’t have to see how something will work out to know that it will because Yahweh’s unstoppable God’s promises cannot be contradicted but let us stop being anxious we’re demanding in our hearts that we need to see how God will provide before we will trust him we can rest in our own stop a bullet but not just rest should act boldly in obedience because of our God seeing their God is unstoppable in his purposes and in his promises it surely urged Israel that they would be unstoppable in conquering the land as they were obedient to the Lord I’m gonna see that come pass one of the excitation is that God and you people of Israel will make to their leader to Joshua is be strong and courageous why be strong and courageous it’s Yahweh’s with you and y’all way fights for you we too should be strong and courageous in the Lord we should boldly minister the gospel for his sake expectant that God’s good purposes will come to pass through us I just not embrace that possibility so God could never amuse me I’m so weak I could never do anything you are weak but your God is strong and he’s made certain promises that will come to pass even through you as the great missionary to India William Carey said and I’ve shared this before it’s a good word William Carey said expect great things of God attempt great things for God you never know what Yahweh might accomplish through your own simple faith obedience is promised you this let us be strong and courageous for the Lord stick and let the Lord do what seems best in questions or comments from what you’ve heard today yes really God and the we were talking about God allowing the destruction of certain people’s and why he did that and so forth and one of the things that occurred to me I was reminded a statement later on that Rahab made when when the spies visited Jericho but I was thinking that God chose in allowing certain people’s to be destroyed he also allowed other people to be showed that he was a God of judgment as you said he showed that he was a to some others he showed he was a God of mercy and through others he showed that he was he was sovereign may have made enough a really amazing statement I thought it was very pretty too because she pointed out the kings that we actually discussed in our study today but when when she spoke with the spies she made an amazing statement that gave an insight into what was going on in the minds of those people at that time we don’t often get a picture of what she said was this to the spies she said I know that the Lord has given you the land that the terror of you has fallen on us and that all of the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you where we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came up out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the amorite SAR beyond the Jordan see mommy and do paw and you early destroyed when we heard of it our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because it for the Lord your God He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath that is an amazing statement because it gives the even the pagan people’s an opportunity to see the sovereignty of God and allows them the opportunity to actually repent counting more Israel and seek to get to know who their God is and it shows God’s mercy in doing something like that and yet most of them rejected that’s really useful Thank You Roy mentioning the words of Rahab later on testifying that the people they knew about Yahweh and what you always had done for Israel not only in Egypt but also in giving him victory Israel victory over Sihon and OGG and that’s a good point too that it’s not as if none of the people of the land had an opportunity to repent because we see that Yahweh will spare Rahab and her family because they helped Israel they didn’t continue along with the people of the land and most the people and were not willing to change sides like that and of course we’ll see as we talked about even next week Rahab will be in the line of Messiah so even even as God brings terrible judgment just judgment on the wicked people of the land he was as you were saying Roy testifying about himself to the people to land even so that they would repent that’s good if you have other questions or ideas that came to your mind based on today’s lesson please feel free to email me share this with me I enjoy those and I’ll try and answer your questions as best I can but that’s it for today next week we see the change in leadership in Israel Moses his time is finished and a new leader will take them into the land Joshua before they do that you’re gonna spy out that first obstacle that first great obstacle to obtaining the land of Canaan the city of Jericho I’ll talk about that next time it’s closing prayer Heavenly Father we see what your word declares and that is you are the strong powerful unstoppable God your purposes cannot be contradicted you will bless your people you will bring your promises to pass for them and God we are your people and you have made promises to us precious magnificent promises God yes is talked about in second Peter chapter one and it is by them God that we have everything that we need for life and godliness so God help us to be strong and courageous it’s a fight against sin to proclaim your liberating gospel to warn those who continue to rebel against you lord help us to be strong and courageous not because we are strong but because you were strong and you have promised you a purpose Lord that you would use us so use us indeed use us to build up your church use us to bring more sheep into your fold in Jesus name Amen thank you all jörgen soon