We Have Found the Messiah!

...in Numbers 24:17

I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.

The context of this great messianic promise is in the attempt by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse Israel through the divination of Balaam. Israel was now in the fortieth year of wandering in the wilderness, and would soon approach the borders of the promised land. Yet the problems never abated, and right to the end of the journey we find that the enemies of the people of God are attacking, threatening and pursuing. There is no let-up, no relief. Satan is not going to let us go just because we have been a long time following Christ!

The Moabites are anxious that the Israelites will dominate them. They need some method for restricting their numerical growth, strength and power. So Balak sends for Balaam, the seer. His reputation preceded him; he had access to the supernatural, the ear of the gods. Balak knows that there is more power in Balaam's divination than in his own armaments. A curse from Balaam is of far greater consequence than a military strike.

And money is no object. Balak uses his resources to entice Balaam to come and to curse Israel. He is determined to defy God at any cost. He will pay generously for this to happen.

When the invitation first comes to Balaam, he is aware of God's voice speaking to him. God says, "Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed" (Num 22:12). But when he reports this to Balak's messengers he simply says "the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you". From the beginning, Balaam is being economical with the truth. He is on the path of compromise from the start. As Henry Law puts it, "Alas for those who halt and linger on the borders of untruth!" (Christ is All: The Gospel of the Pentateuch -- Numbers, Deuteronomy, 1868, p82).

And the more Balaam compromises, the more God removes the restraints, giving him opportunity to go and to speak. The supernatural appearance of the angel gives him cause for reflection (Num. 22: 21ff), yet he is driven by an impulse to please Balak and to speak against Israel.

In the event, all that he is able to do is to pronounce blessing. Three times he speaks and instead of cursing Israel, he gives them God's benediction. Balak is angered, but the scenario unfolds with a complete reversal of Balak's intentions. That reversal reaches its culmination in the words of our passage, one of the most amazing messianic prophecies of the Pentateuch.

What Shall We Make of Balaam?

Before looking at it, however, it is worth reflecting on Balaam himself. Is he a saint or a sinner? A believer or a charlatan? In some ways Numbers 22-24 do not help us in answering that question. All we see is that Balak's plans are thwarted, and Balaam can only bless the people of God. But we cannot ignore the rest of the Scriptures, and their judgement on Balaam. Consider, for example, the following Scriptures:

Numbers 31:16, where Moses blames Balaam for inciting Israel to worship Baal-peor. This occurred after Balaam's meeting with Balak. The Bible says that "Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor" (Num. 25:3), resulting in a plague that killed 24,000 of them. Only the action of Phinehas, the son of Aaron, halted the spread of the plague. As a result of this, God covenant that the priesthood in Israel, God's method of dealing with sin, would belong to the line of Aaron's sons. It would be "the covenant of an everlasting priesthood" (25:13). But the sin on this particular occasion, which required such unique provision to be made, was the result of Balaam's activity.

Deuteronomy 23:3-5, where Israel is called to separation from the Moabites and Ammonites in the light of the encounter with Balak in the wilderness. The passage highlights the unique and wonderful love of God for Israel; in spite of all that Balaam tried to do, God "would not hearken unto Balaam" (23:5), but turned the curse into a blessing. The purpose of Balaam and Balak are contrasted with the purpose of God for the good of Israel.

Joshua 24:9, which again recounts God's refusal to listen to Balaam. This is Joshua's final charge to Israel, to live a life devoted to God and his ways. The example of Balaam is highlighted to remind Israel of their obligations to the God of the covenant.

Micah 6:5, is in the context of God pleading with his people to listen to him. Has he done anything wrong, so that they should not serve him? Quite the contrary, says the prophet -- remember Balaam "that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord". The events which unfolded in the story of Balaam served to highlight the Lord's unfailing covenant love to his people.

2 Peter 2:15 and Jude 11, both of which refer to false teachers within the New Testament church. This, the apostles argue, is no new phenomenon -- there have always been false prophets, such as Balaam, who was driven by a desire for wealth, for "the wages of unrighteousness". The church is to be on her guard constantly against false teachers who are motivated by such base desires.

Revelation 2:14, where Christ accuses the Christian community of Pergamos of tolerating those who "hold the doctrine of Balaam". The context seems to imply that teachers within the church were encouraging unChristian and immoral behaviour, and were justifying it with biblical, prophetic speech.

These passages are a solemn indictment against Balaam. They leave us no room for imagining that he was a faithful servant of Jehovah. On the contrary, they remind us in no uncertain terms that it is possible to preach the truth and yet to be a stranger to the Lord. Henry Law drives that home in his commentary, as he reflects on Balaam's messianic prophecy:

"Thus is the Gospel preached by a dead soul. Let preachers search their inmost hearts. Christ only in the mind, the lips, the pulpit, will not save. Many, many show, who never shall behold him. They raise the cross, and turn away. They praise the blood, and never wash. They tell of wounds, which they touch not. They open out redemption's scheme, but never clasp redemption's Lord. They teach the truth, and live a lie. They point out the source of life and pass it by to death. The apostle Judas from the side of Jesus went to his own place. The prophet Balaam thus preached, and yet he died the vilest of the vile" (p82).

What is the Content of Balaam'S Prophecy?

Balaam, far from diminishing Israel through his words, speaks of one who will come from within Israel, and who will rise to conquer the nations (including Moab!). If Balak wanted to hear something to encourage him to believe that one day Israel would be removed as a source of power and influence, he gets something quite different -- the promise of Israel's greatest son, who would exercise universal Lordship. Out of the darkness of the wilderness comes this great messianic prediction. What does Balaam tell us about the Messiah?

1. The Messiah Will Be a Male Jew.

Sometimes we can miss the obvious in reading biblical texts. Balaam says "I shall see him ... out of Jacob ... out of Israel". The prophecy concerns a male descendant of Jacob, in whom the purposes of God will focus, and upon whom the redemptive design of God will centre. The Mediator between God and men will be the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

2. The Messiah Would Come In a Distant Future

Balaam sees the messianic figure in prophetic vision, but he acknowledges that his appearance was not for the present moment. It was definitively "not now". This is prophecy addressing the future -- although it is true that prophecy is more than prediction, there is nonetheless a clear predictive element to the prophetic word. The future is not unknown to God, as some contemporary strains of evangelicalism suggest. The one by whom salvation would come has been set apart from all eternity, and the hour of his appearing was also ordained by God.

Jesus himself was conscious of the fact that he was working to God's timescale -- that there was an hour appointed to him. Part of the temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8-10) involved the temptation to take premature action, to foreshorten God's time and to have immediate sovereignty. But he resists, preferring to await the moment when Balaam's "not now" becomes God's "now".

3. The Messiah Would Be a Star.

This symbolism of a Star appearing out of Jacob, perhaps suggests two things. It is a powerful symbol, first, of light and brightness in a dark sky. This is certainly the nuance of the phrase in Revelation 22:16, where Jesus is described as the bright and morning star. He is the light of the world, ushering in a day of salvation.

But it may also be a symbol of ascendancy, and of universal sovereignty. The star appears in the sky, overlooking the earth. The image is one of rising up and appearing in a position of prominence and of eminence.

Some commentators link this prophecy with the star which the Magi from the East saw in the time of Jesus's birth (Matthew 2:2). It is doubtful whether there is a connection between these passages; where Matthew alludes to the Old Testament he usual quotes the passage to which he is referring. In Balaam's prophecy, Messiah IS the Star -- he is not simply heralded by one. And it is that star which according to Peter arises in the hearts of his children (2 Peter 1:19). His appearing in our hearts heralds a day of grace and of new life.

4. The Messiah Would Have a Sceptre

The trappings of kingship belong to God's anointed. He will rule. Balaam is given royal patronage, but the King of Moab is silenced before the announcement that a greater king than any king of the earth will appear out of the nation and tribes of Israel. Balaam's prophecy links the notion of Messiahship to the concept of sovereignty. While the nations rage in their defiance of God, God's anointed will govern as ruler of God's people (Psalm 2:6).

5. The Messiah Will Subdue All of God's Enemies

Moab and the children of Sheth (does this mean all mankind, that is, all of Adam's descendants?), Edom and Seir -- all the nations which stood in opposition to God, shall fall before the sovereign dominion of the Messiah. Who shall stand when God does this (Num. 25:23)?

This messianic prophecy is a remarkable prediction of God's remarkable plan of salvation, focussing on the person of Jesus Christ. May we heed the lesson both of Balaam and his message, and ensure that we are walking in the way of God and his righteousness!