Beware The Influence of Balaam

Balaam is an interesting character in the Bible. The biblical narrative about him is mostly confined to 3 chapters – Numbers 22-24 – but his story clearly resonates with numerous authors of the bible. He is referred to in Deuteronomy, Joshua, Nehemiah, Micah, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. I will summarize the story of Balaam, but I mostly want to focus on the New Testament references to Balaam which highlight the importance of Balaam’s story to us today. The New Testament warnings regarding Balaam focus on two things:
1) he loved the wages of unrighteousness,
2) he tempted Israel to commit idolatry and sexual immorality

It is the warning regarding sexual immorality that I want to focus this article. God promises to Abraham in the book of Genesis that He will give Abraham’s future descendants the land of Canaan “for an everlasting possession.” From Exodus through the end of Deuteronomy, Scripture describes Israel’s journey from Egypt to the plains east of the Jordan River, where in the book of Joshua the Israelites will launch their attack and eventually conquer the Promised Land. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the new generation of Israelites were finally on the cusp of entering the Promised Land.

In Numbers 22, Balak, the king of Moab, gets nervous that the nation of Israel is making their camp in his land. He becomes fearful of Israel’s military might and hires a famous diviner from Mesopotamia named Balaam. Balak’s goal is that Balaam would curse Israel, which would then allow the Moabites to destroy them.

If all we knew about Balaam was what we read in Numbers 22-24, we might be inclined to think that he was a righteous man. But the rest of Scripture makes it clear that he did not know God, and in the New Testament Balaam is an archetype of sinful, rebellious man.

So what is it that Balaam does that makes him the subject of grave warnings from several New Testament writers? In order to answer this question we have to connect some dots in the rest of Numbers. Despite the fact that Balaam never does curse Israel, and despite the fact that Balak king of Moab fails to defeat Israel and drive them out of the land, nevertheless we do see great damage inflicted on Israel in Numbers 25. In this chapter we see the Israelites falling into sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab. They sacrifice and bow down to Moab’s gods. The Israelites sin to such an extent that one of their leaders brings a Midianite woman into his tent, in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel, and commits adultery with her.

In Numbers 31:15-16 we learn of the role that Balaam plays in Israel’s sin described in Numbers 25. Balaam counseled the Moabite women to seduce the Israelites to sexual immorality and idolatry. We also learn from Revelation 2:14:

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.

God was not going to let Balaam destroy His chosen nation Israel, but nevertheless countless individual Israelites perished as a result of Balaam’s temptation. The story of Balaam is not just a story of Old Testament Israel and their inclination to sin. The New Testament references to Balaam (2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11, and Revelation 2:14) are warnings for you and me.

Our culture has a lot to say about sexuality. Every day we are inundated with messages from the world around us about what our standards for sexuality should be. God’s Word also has a lot to say about sexuality. It is no secret that God’s norms for our sexual behavior, as outlined in the Bible, are held in deep contempt by our society.

Question: To what degree is your perspective on sexuality formed from a careful study of Scripture vs. what you have learned from your culture?

Every man reading this article is at risk of falling into the temptation of Balaam. I challenge you to:

1, Search the Scriptures carefully in order to develop convictions regarding what God’s standards are for your sexuality.

2. Take great care with your thought life. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10).

3. Consider the example of Job, who made a covenant with his eyes, so that he would not “gaze at a virgin” (Job 31:1).

As a result of Israel’s immorality via Balaam’s temptation in Numbers 25, God became angry and sent a plague that killed 24,000 people. James tell us that “when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” Greater men than you and me have fallen victim to the temptation of Balaam.

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