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Revelations 3:19
Be zealous and repent. When Israel sinned in joining itself to Baal Pe’or, a man stood against this iniquity as a court of one. When Pinchas saw one of the princes of Israel bring a Moabite priestess into his tent, without due process of law, he rose as witness, judge and executioner, took a spear in his hand, and pierced both of them through her belly. As a result, the plague on the people of Israel was stopped (Numbers 25:7-8), andHashem blessed Pinchas for his zeal with a ‘covenant of peace’ (Numbers 25:12).This story has serious ramifications as it promotes violent religious fundamentalism, something which our present world is plagued with coming from most major religions. Reading this story could justify the actions of violent terrorist extremists. If we try to justify our actions by saying ‘so-and-so did it in the Bible and God blessed him’, we stand the risk to rationalize many other anti-social behaviors such as murder, incest, and polygamy. This is not the way we are supposed to process the narratives we read in the Sacred Scriptures. In the case of Pinchas, God rewarded him for his zealousness for Him. In Hebrew the word ‘zealous’ is ‘kana’ee’ meaning ‘zealot’ and is a synonym to ‘jealous’; not jealous in the sense of obsessive protection of ownership and rights as the word is used today, but rather jealous as a parent willing to do anything to protect his family. Pinchas was jealous for God and it hurt him greatly to see these people flagrantly defying Moses and God with their vile actions. The worship of Ba’al Peor includes some very shameful practices. There is a right and a wrong type of zealousness. In the case of Paul, we find a mislead type of zeal when he persecutes the believers (Philippians 3:6), a misplaced zeal still found in some ultra Orthodox communities of Israel who still persecutes the Jewish believers in the Jewish Messiah. In the case of Yeshua, ‘zeal’ for God’s House was noted when He cleaned the temple from the mercantilism (John 2:14-17). The apostolic Scriptures also tell us that the early Jerusalem believers had great zeal for the Torah (Acts 21:20). In any case, we must also be careful lest our zeal is misplaced. We should always strive to be zealous for the standards of the kingdom, and this means to ruthlessly root out of our lives those things which could provoke us to sin. We are safer to let God take care of others as vengeance is His (Deuteronomy 32:35), not ours. Paul taught the Galatians congregation that it is good to be zealously affected in a good thing (Galatians 4:18 KJV) and reminded Titus that Messiah gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works (Good works in Hebrew: mitzvoth – obedience to Torah commandments). Peter also reminded us that ‘who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good (1 Peter 3:13)?
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Revelations 2:14
But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. When Balaam was approached by the princes of Moab, he conferred with Adonai as to whether he should go with them or not. At that time his orders were clear to stay put. Upon this refusal, King Balak thought that the business-minded ‘prophet-for-profit’ was bargaining for a better offer, so he sent an even more distinguished embassy to make the same request. Seeing the caravan of pompous dignitaries and blinded by the prospect of lifelong wealth, Balaam returns to the Lord who this time tells him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you" (Numbers 22:4-20). The Sacred Texts continue the story of Balaam telling us that on his way to Balak, the prophet encounters the Angel of the Lord ready to slay him with a sword. Whereas the great Balaam was blind to the heavenly apparition, his donkey could see the danger of his master’s ways (Numbers 22:21-35). Balaam in his desire for gain had only heard one part of Adonai’s command, the one that said, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them”. Sad to say, he ignored the rest of the heavenly message, the part that said, “but only do what I tell you". This is called selective listening, a ‘disease’ common with children (especially teenagers), but also often found in people of faith (sarcasm intended). How many times do we try to support our theological position lining and stringing verses together that agree with us and justify our tendencies, while ignoring (sometimes even on purpose) the segments of Scripture that disagree with us. This is a very dangerous practice. We should read the whole counsel of God, trying to understand what it tells us, not use it to support our own form of belief; read the Word, not read into it! This is not all about Balaam. History teaches us more about his perfidy and hypocrisy. It is an honor to have one’s name written in Scriptures, but in the case of Balaam, his name is written as one who is a dandy-bad example of a man who builds his treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal (Matthew 6:19), even at the cost of putting a stumbling block in front of God’s people (Revelations 2:14). May we read and be warned! 2 Peter 2:15
Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, The story of Balaam in the Book of Numbers leaves many details up to the reader. Aside from the donkey arguing with his master and Balaam seemingly being punished while obeying, we also have to wrestle with this man who, being a non-Israelite well sought after sorcerer, also related to the God of Israel as ‘Adonai my God’ (Numbers 22:18). Who then is Balaam? We have here the perfect example of a polytheist who adheres to a large spectrum of deities. Balaam is probably an expert in the mysticism of the day, keeping tabs on all current religious news and fads, including the fresh stories coming from Egypt of a Jewish Egyptian shepherd who brought an empire to its knees along with its pharaoh and princes. Whatever is not told us in the Hebrew Scriptures about Balaam is indicated by the writers of the apostolic Scriptures, John (Revelations 2:14), Jude (Jude 1:11), and Peter (2 Peter 2:15). These writers all had inside info from other Jewish texts and they all looked at Balaam as a ‘prophet with profit’, the typical picture of the importunate mercantile religious man who transforms religion into a business venture. Sad to say, looking at it in that light, we can see how today from East to West, religion has given way to many ‘Balaams’, who with elitist profit in mind, run their offices in a corporate manner, with the same ethics and understanding of a business. While this is bad enough, there seems to be an even worst factor in this story. Balaam called the Lord ‘Adonai my God’. We therefore here have a man who calls upon the Name of the Adonai, who confesses with his mouth the God Creator of heaven and earth, the God of Israel as his God, but who is also a renown sorcerer on his way to curse Israel, the people of God. Can all who seem to make the beautiful confession be trusted? Obviously not, especially when godly works do not accompany godly confession. Through the last two millennia, Jews who believe in Yeshua have seen many ‘Balaams’ in Christianity. People, including many of those who are called today ‘Church fathers’, who while confessing to believe in Yeshua the King of the Jews, the Messiah sent from He who is the God of Israel, found it their duty to malign and persecute the Jews whom God said He will restore along with their country Israel, when the time of the gentiles (non-Jews) is fulfilled; when Jerusalem is no more trampled by the nations (Luke 21:24), but is again under Jewish authority (1967?). May we learn from the story of Balaam and take upon ourselves the rebukes from John, Jude and Peter, checking our hearts for spiritual inconsistencies. |
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