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“But Balaam responded to Balak’s messengers, ‘Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I would be powerless to do anything against the will of the Lord my God. 19 But stay here one more night, and I will see if the Lord has anything else to say to me.’”

20 That night God came to Balaam and told him, ‘Since these men have come for you, get up and go with them. But do only what I tell you to do.’”

21 So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, 23 Balaam’s donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between two vineyard walls. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So Balaam beat the donkey again. 26 Then the angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place too narrow for the donkey to get by at all. 27 This time when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down under Balaam.”

Numbers 22:18-27

The 4th in my Takeaway Series is about Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet. Balaam’s story illustrates the opportunist’s bug that perhaps only a few of us might be immune to – the merchant’s disposition to seek profit from every situation. Balaam was a highest-bidder-takes-all mercenary. He did not have sides. And that may be okay in a lot of situations. Services can be rendered as long as the customer is ready to pay. That was the situation until verse 19. King Balak was unrelenting in his quest for the mercenary Balaam to curse some people. So far Balaam has been honest in telling Balak that his desire, he, Balaam cannot deliver. As a businessman, his door was always open to hear business proposals and to that extent, we cannot blame Balaam.

However, the first time Balak’s messengers came to Balaam, God had pried. “Who are these men visiting you?” God asked (verse 9). At that encounter God told Balaam not to go with them. The instruction was unambiguous. Balaam understood perfectly what was required of him.

Verse 19 perhaps opens us to the mind and motivations of Balaam. “But stay here one more night, and I will see if the Lord has anything else to say to me,” Balaam said to the second set of delegates from King Balak. Balaam, what “anything else” do you think God will say? A subordinate who understands the boss’s position, but delays or even undermines execution in the hope that the boss will change his or her mind is so disappointing. Besides giving a false sense of hope to the Balaks around us – those forces offering us something so that we can influence outcomes to their favor against our principal’s wishes, – the “anything else” we hope from our principal also betrays our ignorance of our principal’s values. In this case, God’s.

It has been argued that Judas Iscariot was not particularly interested in the pieces of silver he was paid for betraying Jesus. He was aware of what may happen to Jesus at the hands of the Jewish leaders. So, why was he so distraught eventually? Could he have hoped that Jesus, at that moment of judgment and crucifixion, would display His might and show Rome His raw power? Judas the zealot, might have hoped for an “anything else.”

As innocent as it might seem, it is often such set-ups in anticipation of some “anything else” that ferment disasters. One of Jesus’s temptations was for Him to put God on the spot. Do something stupid that will force God to validate you. For Balaam, in an instance, he asked God for permission, or so it seemed, and God said go with them. Then God was angry with him for going with them and called him perverse. It is like God was saying, “Balaam, are you so dumb you cannot read between the lines?” A sarcasm that is not understood is nauseating. “Patrick, this idea should not have crossed your mind. How dare you bring it before me?” God must have asked some of us.

The story of Balaam teaches me that if material gain is my motivation, it will become easy to confuse God’s dismay for permission. If I know something, but because of a perceived personal benefit, ignore what God wants and keep tempting Him to see if He’ll change His mind, He’ll count me as perverse.

Father, may I be prompt to respond according to what I know your heart is after. May I not be tempted to look for ways to find excuses to do what you hate. Help me not to read your Word, looking for verses that serve as loopholes, like Balaam changing spots on the mountains, to permit my heart to even consider what I already know disgusts you. Please, keep me from perversion.