2 Peter 2: The Way of Balaam

Today’s reading is 2 Peter 2.

Peter’s descriptions of the false teachers in 2 Peter 2 are as creative as they are intense. We could spend pages and pages walking through each description. However, I want to home in on one allusion. This reference highlights the slippery slope even we in Christ can be on if we let our motivation shift from glorifying God to promoting our own gain.

In 2 Peter 2:15-16, Peter says the false teachers had forsaken and gone astray from the right way and instead “followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing” (ESV). Peter calls to mind events recorded in Numbers 22-25.

Though not part of Israel, Balaam was a prophet God had used. Apparently, God had used him in mighty ways which had been evident to Balak. “For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed,” Balak says to Balaam in Numbers 22:6. Of course, Balak didn’t realize the promise God had given Abraham to bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. If Balaam cursed Israel, Balaam and the one hiring him would be cursed.

God tells Balaam not to go with Balak’s servants. However, Balak sent more envoys. Balaam demonstrated he really wanted to go. He wanted the money. God permitted Balaam to go. However, the story reveals God saw beneath the external behaviors and recognized Balaam’s motivation wasn’t true obedience. God had already told Balaam not to go with Balak’s envoys. He shouldn’t have even sought permission the second time. God demonstrated he didn’t see this as true obedience by sending an angel to stand in Balaam’s way. Balaam was saved by his donkey. Certainly, a quick read through of Numbers 22:34-35 seems like Balaam desires to submit to God. But consider again what is happening there. Why would Balaam even need to say, “If it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” The evil of it had already been demonstrated. He should have simply turned back. He didn’t need to announce his willingness if God really wanted it. It was as if Balaam was giving God another chance to change His mind.

While the story is odd, God was allowing events to transpire in such a way that He could demonstrate Balaam’s desire to get paid and reluctant obedience while at the same time accomplishing the great blessing on Israel He wanted Balaam to give. That is exactly what happened. Despite Balak’s pleas for Balaam to curse Israel and despite Balaam’s repeated attempts to get God to curse Israel, God had Balaam bless Israel. And Balaam did follow the letter of that blessing law. He knew the rules. He couldn’t say anything but what God told him to say. He toed that one line, but love for gain was going to overcome his seeming technical obedience.

Numbers 31:16 provides some insight into the Israelite idolatry of Numbers 25:1-9. Balaam had refused to curse Israel. He had kept the letter of God’s “say only what I tell you” law. However, he had advised the Moabites and Midianites to lure Israel into immorality with their daughters, prompting them to follow them into idolatry. He wouldn’t directly curse Israel, but he advised Balak what to do so Israel would experience cursing. But, it didn’t last long. Israel still conquered the Midianites in Numbers 31 and Balaam was killed at the same time.

Peter’s allusion to Balaam highlights a real danger for us. We like to play mind games. We are good at thinking we can find loopholes. Balaam thought he could have his cake and eat it too. He thought he could somehow obey God while still getting paid by Balak. He tried to keep one foot in both camps, if you will. If we are not careful, we can get caught up in the same kind of games with God.

Balaam knew the rules. In hopes to get God’s reward, he would try to walk a fine line of rule following. But he really wanted the world’s goods. He really wanted what Balak had to offer. Peter, of course, is saying the false teachers are like Balaam. However, we should recognize the false teachers like Balaam have the most success influencing Christians who are like Balaam. These Christians have the same approach to spirituality. More concerned with avoiding hell and gaining heaven than with truly being devoted to God, they try to delineate the rules they believe have to be followed. They even do their best to keep those rules. But they really want what the world offers. They really want to please their fleshly passions. They really want to get away with as much sensuality as they think God might just allow but still let them into heaven.

Remember what Jesus said. We can’t serve two masters (see Matthew 6:24). One will win out. When Balaam advised Balak to tempt Israel to immorality and idolatry, his fleshly desires, waging war within him, won out. Of course, the Israelites succumbed to the temptation because they struggled with the same weakness Balaam did. They wanted the Promised Land, but they also wanted to fulfill their fleshly passions. The same thing can happen to us. If we do little more than pursue external shifts in behavior, trying to measure up to a set of rules we think will give us entrance to the eternal kingdom, we will not succeed. The changes which need to take place in our lives go far beyond external behaviors. We are to change at the very core of our being. Our attitudes, outlooks, priorities, perspectives, and values must change.

When we realize this, we come face to face with why we need the power and promise of God to grow us to partake in His divine nature. If all I had to do was change a few external behaviors, I might be able to pull that off. But change at a core level? I’ll never make that happen. I need God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to make that happen. This is why we spend time in the Word, in prayer, in worship, and with the saints. We don’t do these things because they are rules to follow to get into heaven. We do these things because through them we connect to the God who has given us all we need. Through them we respond to God’s offered grace. Through them we access the strength God is promising.

Don’t take the way of Balaam. Take the way of Christ. One master. One Lord. Yes, we’ll stumble, fumble, falter, and fall at times. But like Peter did when he sank in the sea of Galilee, we can cry out to Jesus and He will deliver us. After all, as we’ve learned repeatedly this week, He knows how.

Tomorrow’s reading is 2 Peter 2.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does 2 Peter 2 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Psalm 109: Blessing and Cursing

Today’s reading is Psalm 109.

Oh No! Another IMprecatory Psalm!

Here we are again face to face with one of those disturbing psalms often called imprecatory. That is, a psalm which calls down the cursing of God on others. When Jesus, on the cross, prayed, “Father, forgive them,” we can hardly understand how in another place we see a psalm that begs, “Father, punish them.” And this one begs for that in the most shocking and, to modern sensitivities, horrifying ways.

However, right out of the gate, let’s recognize calling the psalm an imprecation is slightly misleading. The psalmist doesn’t actually curse anyone. The psalmist actually prays to God. To be sure, the psalmist asks God to bring curses on to the enemy (see Psalm 109:17). This, however, is precisely the point. The psalmist himself does not take vengeful action. The psalmist does not even speak curses to the ones falsely accusing him. Rather, the psalmist speaks to God and leaves vengeance up to Him.

In fact, the psalmist says he gives himself to prayer (Psalm 109:4). Even should that notion of prayer include the prayer like the one we are reading in Psalm 109, the point is the psalmist talks to God about the situation. He does not take up arms against his enemies and false accusers. He determines God knows the right thing to do and leaves it up to Him.

A Covenant Promise

We have noticed before, though it has obviously been some time ago, all imprecations in the psalms should be read through the lens of the very first one. In Psalm 7:12, David prayed, “If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword…” (ESV). God Himself explains in Ezekiel 18:23, He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He wants even the wicked to repent and live. God does not want to bring curses on the wicked. He wants them to repent and find blessing (cf. Psalm 32:1-2). We are like God when we want that same thing. Those who refuse to repent, however, wrongly presume on the kindnesses of God and instead need to recognize God’s judgment will come upon them. With this in mind, all of the biblical imprecations, including this week’s, are prayed against those seen as actively impenitent, stubborn, and rebellious.

Let us take this a step farther. Because we tend to summarize God’s promises to Abraham in three easy to remember promises: 1) Land, 2) Nation, and 3) Seed, we forget some important aspects of the covenant. In Genesis 12:3, God explicitly says as part of His covenant with Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (ESV). When Isaac reiterated the blessing and passed it on to his son Jacob, he said, “Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (Genesis 27:29, ESV). When Balak tried to get Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam instead said of Israel, “Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you” (Numbers 24:9, ESV).

The psalmist is simply asking the Lord to fulfill His covenant promise. His enemy “loved to curse” (vs. 17). He “clothed himself with cursing” (vs. 18). The question then becomes, do we take God’s promises to Abraham seriously? If we want the land, nation, and seed promises to be true, we need to recognize the truth of this promise as well.

Those who curse the Lord’s anointed people will not escape. If they curse and refuse to repent, they will be cursed. When the Lord’s people suffer under the hands of those who curse, we can take comfort knowing God will keep His promises. It is right for the Lord to bring cursing on those who refuse to repent from their own cursing. Further, we pray this because we trust God is the only one who knows rightly when cursing is the right response. Thus, by praying a prayer like Psalm 109, trust God to do the right thing. And, yes, we can then pray these prayers in Jesus Christ that God will keep His promise to curse those who curse us in Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord!

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 109 prompt or improve your praise of God?