A Journey through the Bible with Tiglath

26. Numbers Chapter 20 verse 14 to Chapter 24 verse 25.

The Israelites are now wishing to move on from Kadesh where they received

the water from the rock, and where Miriam died and was buried, At this point

Moses wished to lead the Israelites through the land of the Edomites - this

gave a direct approach to the Promised Land. Verses 14 to 21 tell what

happened when the Edomites refused to allow the Israelites into their country,

although they promised to pass through in peace. Near the frontier of Edom

was Mount Hor. Moses was instructed by God to take Aaron and Aaron's son

Eleazar to the top of the mountain. There Moses divested Aaron of his priestly

robes and invested his son with them. Aaron died on the top of Mount Hor. He

was not allowed to reach the Holy Land because he and Moses had rebelled

against God over the waters of Meribah.

Chapter 21 begins with the destruction of the Canaanites when they attacked

the Israelites (verses 1-3). At this point the people began to complain of the

conditions in the desert and asked why they had be brought out of Egypt. The

Lord sent a plague of poisonous snakes among the people so that many them

died (verse 6). The people pleaded with Moses to ask God to get rid of the

snakes. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent as a standard. Anyone bitten

by a snake had only to look at it and they would recover (verses 8 and 9). The

remainder of Chapter describes how the Israelites fought various tribes on the

way to the Promised Land.

Chapter 22 finds the Israelites encamped on the lowlands of Moab. They were

a large body of people and terrified the Moabites. Balak. the king of Moab,

sent for Balaam, a kind of mercenary prophet who lived by the Euphrates and

asked him to denounce the Israelites, Balaam consulted God and was told to

do no such thing but go back to his own country.

Again Balak sent for Balaam and

again Balaam consulted God who

told him to go with the Moabite

chiefs but only to do what God tells

him to do. Here the story becomes

confusing because verse 22 tells us

that God was angry because

Balaam went with the Moabites.

Verses 23 to 35 tell the wonderful

story of Balaam's ass. She saw

what Balaam could not see — an

angel with a flaming sword

blocking his way. Three times she

turned off the track. The first time

she did this Balaam beat her. The

second time she turned and crushed

Balaam's foot against a wall. Again

he beat her. The third time the ass

lay down and Balaam again gave

her a good hiding. At this point the

ass spoke and asked Balsam what

on earth he was doing. Balaam told

the ass that if he had been carrying

a sword he would have killed her.

At this point Balaam's eyes were

opened and he saw the angel. He at

once prostrated himself on the ground and said how sorry he was. He was told, in no

uncertain terms, that if he hadn't stopped he would have been killed and the ass

spared (verses 23 - 34). Balaam was then instructed to go on with the Moabites.

When Balak heard that Balaam was coming he went to meet him. Again Balaam

tells Balak that he can only obey the words of God. Balak and Balaam go to a high

place where they can see the Israelites. Balaam instructs Balak to build seven altars

and offer a bull and a ram on each. Balak is then instructed to stand by the altars

while he, Balaam walks away, on his own, in case the Lord speaks to him. In verses

7 to 10 we discover what God instructs Balaam to say to Balak. In this oracle, far

from denouncing the Israelites, he praises them. When Balak remonstrates with

him Balaam again says that he must say the words that God tells him. In verses 13

to 30 Balak again attempts to get Balaam to denounce the Israelites. Again, Balaam

consults God, and in verses 14 — 24 he utters another oracle in favour of the

Israelites. In Chapter 24 there are two more oracles from Balsam, under God's

guidance, in favour of the Israelites. By verse 25 both Balaam and Balak must have

been fed up with each other and they parted. As I wrote earlier, it is interesting to

discover that Balsam was a mercenary soothsayer who was paid for the oracles he uttered.

Next month we describe some very strange behaviour of the Israelite women!

The Prophet Balaam and the Ass,

by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1626

Balaam and the angel, Gustav Jaeger