So now Balak, the king, is upset. “I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!”
What seems obvious to Balak was that it was the wrong place and perspective: “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them at all; curse them for me from there.”
Again with the “from there.”
The new perspective is to see the “outer part of them”.
Balaam’s prophecy begins by reiterating that that God “has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.”
Then Balaam continues: “God has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them.”
In other words, as Balaam is given a surface perspective, he declares that God sees no iniquity in Israel but God Himself is among them as a King.
But wait a minute … doesn’t God continually have to deal with rebellion and sin in the midst of the camp of Israel? Yes, and will again in the very next chapter in Numbers as Israel embraces idolatry.
From an outside perspective, however, to those on the outside, those that would seek to curse His people, the word is different. When God sees His people, and when He testifies of His people to others, He testifies by love and as a good father and husband. He speaks good things over those He has set out to bless, despite their failings.
As a husband and father, I know my wife and children have their issues. And I might even deal with those issues in my personal relationship and responsibilities with them. But when I speak of my family with others, I honor and lift them up. They are the greatest thing in the world to me, the greatest blessing, and something I am abundantly thankful for despite the fact that my wife and I might have had a tense discussion the night before or I might have had to discipline one of my children that morning.
Too often we are concerned with how the world views the Church, with the outside perspective. We need to be concerned with our testimony and integrity, to be sure, but our standard should never be how others react but what God says about us. He is our Husband and Father and wants good things for us, to bless us. So we listen to Him to see what He would have us do or say or change or repent of. Too often we give a worldly culture the right to define what kind of Christians we ought to be. If we follow God as we should, they may hate or love us, but that isn’t the goal. Obedience is.
Be encouraged. God may deal with your frailty and even seem harsh sometimes, but as a Father, He has a different message for your enemies: the world, the flesh, the Devil. “They are pure and good and I am among them.”
There are consequences for messing with God’s people. Balaam’s second oracle ends with, “Look, a people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”
In other words, Balak, you’re poking a sleeping lion. Probably not a good idea.
Third oracle next.
Peace.