{"id":5571,"date":"2018-09-08T07:34:18","date_gmt":"2018-09-08T12:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/?page_id=5571"},"modified":"2023-03-11T17:12:45","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T23:12:45","slug":"balaam","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/mystery\/symbols-signs-types-copies-shadows-and-patterns\/people\/religion-is-the-kingdom-of-false-prophets\/balaam","title":{"rendered":"Balaam"},"content":{"rendered":"

A DIFFICULT STORY TO UNDERSTAND<\/strong>
\nThe story of Balaam, Balak and Israel is exceedingly difficult to interpret in a way that its lessons can be applied to our lives. And yet, we have 2 Timothy 3:16-17<\/a> which says that all scripture is useful for training in righteousness. So we must conclude that there are timeless lessons there which will teach us, reprove us, correct us and train us in righteousness.<\/p>\n

In the beginning of the story, we see that Balak fears Israel and wants to curse Israel so that it will not overcome his kingdom.<\/a>\u00a0Balak’s solution to his problem is to hire Balaam<\/a>, a son of Beor<\/a>. With a little research into Balaam, we discover that Beor is a descendant of Esau,<\/a> the son of Isaac, and brother of Jacob. Esau had despised his birthright. <\/a>The birthright was a blessing\u00a0which Jacob received from Isaac through deception. From then on, Jacob and Esau were enemies.<\/a><\/p>\n

This history is relevant because it tells us that there is a history of bad blood between Balaam and Israel. The blessing that Jacob stole from Isaac should have been Esau’s blessing. This is God’s way of saying that there will always be enmity between people who have the blessing (i.e., the ability to hear God’s spoken voice) and those who don’t. Balaam, therefore, is an enemy of Israel, and therefore predisposed to do harm to Israel.<\/p>\n

Balak’s family also has bad history with Israel. Balak was a Moabite. <\/a>Moabites were descendants of Lot<\/a>. Since Lot’s descendants came from an <\/a>incestuous relationship with his daughters<\/a>, and since <\/a>Lot separated himself from Abraham after the incident at Sodom,<\/a>\u00a0his descendants (i.e. the Moabites) were also enemies of Israel. It is not surprising, therefore, that Balak wanted to curse Israel.<\/a><\/p>\n

After some back and forth negotiations, Balaam, enticed by the promise of income,<\/a> agrees to go and help Balak in his mission to curse Israel. So, what we have is two of Israel’s enemies teaming up to curse Israel. This situation symbolically represents religions of all kinds working together to curse God’s people (i.e., New Covenant<\/a> disciples<\/a> who are blessed to be able to hear God’s spoken voice). Or, to put it another way, the people who are cursed (i.e. people who do not have the ability to hear God’s voice) want to put that same curse on people who have the blessing of people who do have the ability to hear God’s voice. This story symbolically represents this conflict which is, and has always been, the reason why religions fight with one another.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0Religion is the Enemy<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Sibling Conflict <\/a>for more about this ongoing, contentious relationship.<\/p>\n

On Balaam’s way to curse Israel, God shows his anger with Balaam by sending messengers (i.e. angel, donkey) to discourage him and keep him from cursing Israel<\/a>. Angels are True Prophets<\/a>, but donkeys are unclean animals<\/a> (i.e., False Prophets<\/a>) which God tells his people to avoid. In this story, however, when the donkey speaks it is functioning as an angel\/true prophet who is warning Balaam not to proceed on his mission to curse Israel.<\/p>\n

The lesson we learn from the donkey speaking to warn Balaam not to do something he intends to do is that God can use unclean people to warn his people to avoid listening to false prophets. This is always the warning that True Prophets have for religious people. Accordingly, it was Jesus’ message to Israel and to us.<\/a><\/p>\n

Eventually, Balaam meets Balak. But his hopes of having Balaam curse Israel with his mouth are dashed because God has told Balaam that he can only say what God has told him to say<\/a>.<\/p>\n

God tells Balaam to bless Israel with the words that God has spoken to Ballam.<\/a> We learn from this that even though Balaam is the enemy, God still speaks to, and through, his enemies. This of course angers Balak who was hoping for a curse — not a blessing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Balaam is in a predicament. He does not want to cross God by speaking other than what God has said he should speak<\/a>, but he is also enticed by the financial rewards promised to him by Balak. <\/a>Plus, there is the historical enmity between Balaam’s people and Israel that motivates him to want to curse Israel.<\/p>\n

Balaam has a deception that he expects will resolve his predicament. Instead of actually speaking a curse against Israel, Balaam teaches Balak how to entice Israel to engage in a fleshly worship<\/a> (i.e., altars<\/a> and sacrifices<\/a>). In his scheming, greedy mind, Balaam did not overtly violate God’s commands about what he can and cannot say. But he still gave Balak what he wanted: a curse. The curse went into effect when Israel yields to the temptation to worship alongside Moab at the altars built at Balaam’s direction.<\/a><\/p>\n

This event had a lasting effect on Israel who several times reverted to the sin (i.e., played the harlot) of worshiping at the Baal of Peor<\/a> (i.e., the physical altars built by Balaam at the place called Peor). As a result, Balak got what he wanted from Balaam: a curse on Israel. The nature of this curse is the tendency to worship at a physical place (e.g. temple, atar, etc).<\/p>\n

Balaam, even though he did not directly speak a curse against Israel, did curse Israel, an act for which Israel later got revenge.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0Tabernacles, Temples, Altars, High Places and Pilgrimages<\/a> for more about physical worship.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

INTERPRETING THE STORY<\/strong>
\nBalaam is a very confusing character. On the one hand it seems that he hears God and tries to be obedient to God’s voice, and on the other hand he works for one of God enemies to curse Israel. So we wonder if he is a good guy or a bad guy? The short answer is that he is a false prophet<\/a>. He is an Edomite, a descendant of Esau, and that makes him and his teachings the\u00a0enemy of God and God’s people.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Balaam’s teachings are essentially to be religious. He taught Israel to go to a certain location and to make physical sacrifices and offerings. He also led Israel astray from God’s command that it should not follow the customs of other religious nations<\/a> (i.e. Moab).<\/p>\n

In terms of Bible symbolism, Balaam is a religious leader. Contrary to what God wants regarding spiritual worship,<\/a> he enables and encourages people to engage in religious activity on high places<\/a>.\u00a0Since that is exactly what religious leaders do, we can say reliably that Balaam is a type of religious leader.<\/p>\n

Religious leaders will be surprised and offended to find themselves equated with the infamous Balaam. The primary argument for equating clergy with Balaam is the fact that he was a professional who did his prophetic work for pay. They are guilty of promoting the way, the error, and\u00a0 the stumbling block of Balaam.<\/a> They perpetuate the curse which is evident in every\u00a0Tabernacle, Temple, Altars, and High Place where religion is practiced.<\/a><\/p>\n

Most clergy will not refer to themselves as prophets because they do not presume to foretell the future. Nevertheless, clergy do clearly\u00a0function in the Biblical office of prophet<\/a> because they presume to be spokespersons for God and use the Bible instruct, comfort and encourage people\u00a0and urge them to seek salvation through religious practices<\/a>. \u00a0It must be said, however, that most people who\u00a0assume the Biblical function of prophet,<\/a> most are actually false prophets <\/a>who, like Balaam, are enticed by material rewards for their work.<\/p>\n

AUTHORS’ NOTE: See False Prophets<\/a>\u00a0for more about this topic.<\/p>\n


\nSUMMARY OF\u00a0THE STORY OF BALAAM, BALAK AND ISRAEL<\/span><\/strong>
\nWhile there are many scriptures in both First Covenant and New Covenant scriptures about mixing money and ministry, the example of Balaam stands out. It is worth it, therefore, to take another look at interpreting the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing we notice in the story is that Balak<\/a> is the one who proposes to hire Balaam<\/a> to curse Israel. The best way to appreciate the story is to understand that Balak symbolically represents satans who want to curse spiritual Israel because it is too strong for them. Religious leaders know that they cannot defeat God’s people outright, so they elect to hire more professional prophets (Balams) to do what they cannot do alone. <\/span><\/p>\n

We should not be deceived into thinking that this only happened one time in history. This is still the plan of all satans<\/a> (i.e. religious leaders) so they too can earn a profit by exploiting their prophetic abilities for personal gain. They are all in cahoots to maintain and advance their religious kingdoms<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because Balaam says he hears from God, and because he does actually speak oracles and blessings inspired by God, there is a tendency to think that he is as believer and follower of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0However, there is little room for dispute about whether Balaam is a true believer or not. Just looking at his name<\/a>\u00a0shows that he is not an Israelite, and we find other clues about which God he worships<\/a> later in the story.\u00a0 And we should not be too impressed\u00a0by Balaam’s ability to speak\u00a0for God. We only need to be reminded that God also spoke through a donkey<\/a>, and that God often creatures not usually associated with God to accomplish his will<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are, however, a few things that\u00a0we do know for sure about Balaam:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

As we review this list of fact about Balaam, we begin to see why it is reasonable to compare clergy with Balaam.<\/p>\n

Another thing we learn early on about Balaam is that he is willing to\u00a0eat food sacrificed to pagan idols.<\/a>\u00a0This may not seem like a big deal, but it is a practice forbidden by God<\/a>. It is a clear indication that he worships demons and not God<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

AUTHORS’ NOTE: See this link for more about Food Sacrificed to Idols<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bulk of the story is about Balaam’s various strategies to earn the rewards (honor and money) that Balak has offered to him without crossing God. Along the way, God checks his efforts, but always leaves room for him to make the right choice\u00a0about proceeding or not. But Balaam, being strongly motivated by the rewards he would acquire, always chooses to keep moving ahead. He clearly recognizes that he is moving in the wrong direction,\u00a0but just as clearly decides to\u00a0try another strategy\u00a0because\u00a0the lure of the rewards outweighs any fear of God he might have.<\/span><\/p>\n

Balaam’s predicament is a good example of what Jesus said about serving two masters<\/a>. For Balaam, the lure of mammon<\/a> is the more powerful influence. It is important to note, however, that\u00a0he is\u00a0careful not to\u00a0say anything that is directly contradictory to what God says. In fact, he is fully obedient to bless Israel as God commands, even though that is not at all what his employer Balak wants. <\/span>What we see in Balaam is a double-minded man<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a schemer who is trying to have it both ways, he\u00a0 appears to be executing a clever,\u00a0long-range plan that will satisfy Balak and earn the rewards he desires while\u00a0avoiding an overt conflict with God. His strategy seems benign at the least, and religious at best.\u00a0 Twice\u00a0he tells Balak to build altars and put sacrifices on them<\/a>. This seems appropriately religious since God has also told Israel to build altars and make sacrifices. And the building of altars seems to be approved by God because immediately following each altar-building event , God puts a blessing for Israel in Balaam’s mouth. This tells us that, while\u00a0Balaam is bent on earning his rewards, God is still\u00a0 in control and\u00a0faithful to bless Israel despite\u00a0Balak’s efforts to get\u00a0Balaam to curse Israel. <\/span><\/p>\n

Included in the narrative are seemingly innocuous notes about what\u00a0 Balak does a<\/span>fter each failed attempt to elicit a curse from Balaam.\u00a0Balak takes him to a high place <\/a>from which Balam can see Israel. We will discuss the symbolism of these events\u00a0later.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Bible, high places are typically associated with places of worship. And in pagan religions, worship is typically executed through blood sacrifices on an altar of fire.\u00a0As a pagan king,\u00a0Balak is very familiar with these practices and builds an altar early in the\u00a0story to invoke good will from his\u00a0god (Ba’al of\u00a0Pe’or)\u00a0so that his efforts to curse Israel will be successful. <\/span><\/p>\n

This practice is reinforced by Balaam who later tells Balak to build altars and make sacrifices. Being a good student, Balak learns from\u00a0Balaam and\u00a0later builds a second\u00a0altar without being told to do so by Balaam<\/a>. Even though this does not produce the\u00a0curse he\u00a0wants, Balak\u00a0\u00a0learns that building altars and offering sacrifices is a strategy that gets some results from God<\/a>. We infer\u00a0also that Balak sees in the building of altars, a deceptive, but effective strategy by which his goal of cursing Israel might be accomplished.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the surface, it may appear that no negative consequences for Israel result from all the altar building events. We only see later in Numbers 25:1-9<\/a> that Balak learned from Balaam that inviting Israel to worship was the means to subduing them. He didn’t get the\u00a0long range curse that would drive Israel away<\/a>, but he did get the short-run satisfaction of enticing Israel to worship\u00a0Ba’al of Pe’or.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The encounter between Balaam and Balak ends with\u00a0the two\u00a0separating after\u00a0Balaam speaks another prophecy about Israel<\/a>. But that is not the end of the story. It continues with\u00a0\u00a0Moab (Balak’s people) inviting Israel to worship (i.e. make sacrifices) to their gods. Israel accepted the\u00a0invitations, thus angering God who brought a plague on Israel.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BALAK KNEW HOW TO ENTICE BALAAM<\/span><\/strong>
\nAlthough Balaam never delivers the\u00a0desired curse, Balak\u00a0never gives up enticing Balaam to curse Israel.\u00a0 Several times Balak promises honor<\/a> and wealth<\/a> to Balaam. Balaam\u00a0says that he is not moved\u00a0by these enticements, but the fact that he\u00a0chose to go\u00a0to Balak and do all that\u00a0he did indicates that\u00a0what he said does not line up with what is in his heart.\u00a0Balaam desires honor and wealth and is willing to scheme his way around God to get it.<\/span><\/p>\n

When\u00a0 the story reports that Balak repeatedly\u00a0took Balaam to high places<\/a>, we see that he was appealing to Balaam’s pride. In Biblical symbolism, high places are often associated with pride or ungodly worship. Thus we see that pride is the ultimate motivator for Balaam. <\/span><\/p>\n

GOD’S COMMENTARY ON BALAAM<\/span><\/strong>
\nA casual reading of the story of Balaam in\u00a0Numbers 22 – 24 <\/a>\u00a0might suggest that it is an incidental event in Israel’s journey to the promised land. But we see the\u00a0full consequences of Balaam’s ministry\u00a0in the next chapter and in several\u00a0scriptures later in the Bible.<\/p>\n

Numbers 25:1-9:<\/a>\u00a01 While Israel dwelt in Shittim the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Ba’al of Pe’or. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel; 4 and the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” 5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Every one of you slay his men who have yoked themselves to Ba’al of Pe’or.” 6 And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Mid’ianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phin’ehas the son of Elea’zar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation, and took a spear in his hand 8 and went after the man of Israel into the inner room, and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through her body. Thus the plague was stayed from the people of Israel. 9 Nevertheless those that died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: Balak had a keen knowledge of how God relates to his people. He knows that when they obey his commandments they will be blessed, and that when they are disobedient they will be cursed.<\/a>\u00a0And he also knows that one aspect of disobedience is worshipping other gods and that God himself would destroy Israel if it worshipped other gods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Armed with this knowledge, Balak enticed Israel to worship Ba’al Pe’or with his people. The story uses the symbolism of sexual promiscuity, eating sacrificed animals and bowing down to idols to represent this worship. These are the same symbols used elsewhere in the Bible to describe how Israel worshipped other gods at various times. And each time, just as in this story, God brought a punishment on the people just as he promised he would in Deuteronomy 28<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The lesson in this story is to be careful about the type of worship you do. It may look good and feel right, but it may not be right. The type of worship the Midianites did at their altars was not dissimilar from the type that God told Israel to do. It included altars, fire, sacrificed animals, food and so on. But just looking the same does not make it the same. For God, the kind of worship he recognizes\u00a0 is internal, in the heart, not external. Consider these scriptures:<\/p>\n

Psalms 51:12-19<\/a>\u00a0 12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. 16 For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased. 17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 19 then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.<\/p>\n

Palms 40:4-10<\/a>\u00a0 4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods! 5 Thou hast multiplied, O LORD my God, thy wondrous deeds and thy thoughts toward us; none can compare with thee! Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be numbered. 6 Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire; but thou hast given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required. 7 Then I said, “Lo, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me; 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.” 9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; lo, I have not restrained my lips, as thou knowest, O LORD. 10 I have not hid thy saving help within my heart, I have spoken of thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness from the great congregation.<\/p>\n

1-Samuel 15:19-23<\/a>\u00a0 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Am’alek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amal’ekites. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.”<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 23:3-5\u00a0<\/a> 3 “No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none belonging to them shall enter the assembly of the LORD for ever; 4 because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Be’or from Pethor of Mesopota’mia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless the LORD your God would not hearken to Balaam; but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY:<\/span><\/p>\n

Joshua 24:5-10<\/a>\u00a0 5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it; and afterwards I brought you out. 6 Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 And when they cried to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did to Egypt; and you lived in the wilderness a long time. 8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel; and he sent and invited Balaam the son of Be’or to curse you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you; so I delivered you out of his hand.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nehemiah 13:1-3<\/a>\u00a0 1 On that day they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God; 2 for they did not meet the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them–yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 When the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:1-8\u00a0\u00a0<\/a> 1 Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Be’or answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.” 6 “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/span><\/p>\n

2 Peter 2<\/a>\u00a0 1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep. 4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomor’rah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked 8 (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and wilful, they are not afraid to revile the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a reviling judgment upon them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed, reviling in matters of which they are ignorant, will be destroyed in the same destruction with them, 13 suffering wrong for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation, carousing with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way they have gone astray; they have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Be’or, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a dumb ass spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. 17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved. 18 For, uttering loud boasts of folly, they entice with licentious passions of the flesh men who have barely escaped from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog turns back to his own vomit, and the sow is washed only to wallow in the mire.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/p>\n

Revelation 2:12-17<\/a>\u00a0 12 “And to the angel of the church in Per’gamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. 13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith even in the days of An’tipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality. 15 So you also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicola’itans. 16 Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.’<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A DIFFICULT STORY TO UNDERSTAND The story of Balaam, Balak and Israel is exceedingly difficult to interpret in a way that its lessons can be applied to our lives. And yet, we have 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which says that all …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":745,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5571","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5571"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11674,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5571\/revisions\/11674"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}