Will He Not Make It Good?

Part 1- Studying the Bible in Context

Numbers 23:19

God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Hello Sisters and Friends!! When I first noticed Numbers 23:19, I thought……now that is a verse that makes me want to write!! It tells me so much about God in just a few words. But then I asked myself, “who said this?” and after reading just a little, I realized that Balaam said this. Of course, the first thing that popped into my head was…..THE TALKING DONKEY!! I hadn’t really thought about that story in years. Then I asked myself a few questions to get my brain thinking. “Who was Balaam? Why did Balaam say this? Who was he talking to?” Now I have heard the talking donkey story since my childhood, but have I really studied it? No I haven’t. I didn’t even know that Balaam said it until I began to read and study the context of the verse. Since I started writing for this blog, that is how it has worked for me most of the time. I start with a verse. But then….. I realize that in order to explain the verse, I have to put the verse in context with who said or wrote it and why it was said or written. You see, if I don’t put the verse in context, I could completely misunderstand the verse’s true meaning. Plus, I don’t go as deep as I could go in its meaning and I miss valuable connections that the verse makes with other verses and characters in the Bible. Maybe that is why my posts are long. I like to dig deep. Think about it. Would you ever open a novel in the middle and read one sentence or one paragraph or one page or even one chapter and be able to understand the entire book? Of course not. Then, why do so many people think that it’s ok to do this with the Bible? With that being said, context is everything. On the surface, by reading this verse only, you may think that whoever said it, is a devout follower of God. However, we find out as we dig deeper that he is really not devout at all. He is evil and is against God and His people. I believe this verse is probably being said in a spiteful and disrespectful way towards God. I thought the verse was a tribute to God when I first read it. Then I began to dig deeper. I found out that even though the verse all by itself contains wonderful truths about God, the context around the verse makes me see it in a whole new light. Now that I know the context, I can just hear the contempt for God in Balaam’s voice. Let’s go back to Numbers 21 to see what events lead up to our key verse and let’s take a look at the verse in context.

At the end of Numbers 21, we see God’s people defeating the Amorites in a big way. God is giving His people the victory as long as they are trusting in Him. Then in Numbers 22, we meet Balak the son of Zippor, the king of the Moabites. Balak had observed all that Israel had done to the Amorites to defeat them and now the entire nation of Moab was afraid. This fear leads to the introduction of the person who spoke the words of our key verse in Numbers 23:19, Balaam the son of Beor, a non-Israelite prophet. Balak wants Balaam to come to Moab and curse Israel. Here is the message that Balak sent to Balaam. “Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me! Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” (Numbers 22:5-6) I wanted to quote what Balak said verbatim, because it shows that Balaam has a reputation for doing this. He has supposedly “blessed” people and “cursed” people enough in the past to gain this reputation. Balaam is an evil prophet and is called a “diviner” in Numbers 22:7. (NKJV) The elders of Moab and Midian were prepared to pay Balaam a fee to curse Israel. The princes of Moab were sent to get Balaam and bring him to Balak. Balaam, of course, was a greedy person who was willing to do it, however, he would not agree to it without first seeing if he would get a word from God on the matter. This shows that he knows who God is and knows about His power. This is where the story can be a little confusing because in Numbers 22:8, Balaam says, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me.” Obviously, Balaam recognizes God’s power. Why would he think God would allow him to curse His people? In Numbers 22:12, God tells him not to curse the people for they are blessed, so Balaam did not go with the princes of Moab. But Balak was not giving up. He sent more important princes than before to Balaam, and offered him even more honor and riches to come to Moab and curse Israel. Balaam keeps saying that God will not allow him to curse them. He literally says that he cannot say anything except what God tells him to say. Now keep in mind that Balaam really wants to curse Israel and become rich, but God is using His power to keep Balaam at bay and protect his people. When Balaam comes to God the last time and asks if he can go with Balak’s men to curse Israel, God finally says for him to just go, but also warns Balaam that he will not allow him to say anything that He has not told him to say. God is angry with Balaam because he went, even though He told Him to go. This could be confusing but if you think about it, it is really not. Think about it this way. Have you ever gotten so aggravated with someone who keeps asking you if he/she could do something over and over? You have said “no” over and over and this person knows how you feel about it, but they don’t really care how you feel. They just want their way. You get so tired of it that you finally say, “just go ahead and do it then!” That is not really permission is it? You were not happy about it, but you were just “over” being asked about it! That is what was going on between Balaam and God. Of course, Balaam chooses to go with the princes of Moab and this journey is what brought about the story of the talking donkey. As the donkey was traveling, he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the path holding a sword and came to an immediate stop. Only the donkey could see the angel. Balaam began to beat the donkey and then God allowed the donkey to speak to him. The funny thing to me about this story is that Balaam didn’t even act surprised that his donkey was talking to him!! He literally answered the donkey when he asked Balaam why he was beating him!! So all this led to Balaam eventually getting to Moab and trying in every way possible to still be able to curse God’s people, but God would not allow it. More than once he had Balak build altars and offer sacrifices in an attempt to curse them, but instead he ended up blessing God’s people three times instead of cursing them. Balak is very angry. All these events finally lead us to our key verse, Numbers 23:19 where Balaam responds to Balak’s anger, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” It is as if Balaam is saying, “come on Balak, what did you expect? I tried to tell you! God is not cooperating!”  So, how does the context affect how you see this verse after studying the people and events that surround it? Do you feel differently about it?

For me, I still love the verse itself, and I am eventually going to write an article breaking down the actual verse more in depth. That was my intention to begin with. The meaning of the verse is awesome. However, it bothers me that I almost overlooked the context of this verse. I almost missed out on studying this amazing story of God’s faithfulness to His people. Our God is so great. And as long as Israel was faithful to God, He took care of them and they prospered. Let’s think about our lives and compare for a moment. If we remain faithful Christians until death, then God will be faithful to us and give us that crown of life. (Revelation 2:10) God knew every single one of us even then, when He was dealing with the Israelites, Balak, and Balaam. All that God did for Israel then, was also for us today so that Jesus could come and be our Savior. All of it led up to Jesus and it was all for us……every single one of us who are willing to follow His plan to be saved and be added to His church. The experience that I have had with studying this verse makes me realize how much I have missed out on by not having good Bible study habits in the past. And I still fall short some days. Sometimes I let life get in the way. We all do. I’m so thankful for the forgiveness that I have in Christ. 

So how does this verse make me feel? Well…..it makes me feel grateful that I have a heavenly Father that, as the key verse says, cannot lie. Hebrews 6:18 says it is impossible for God to lie. This tells me that I can count on God to never let me down. However…..it also makes me sad because the person saying these words of truth to describe God was not saying them to honor God. He meant them in a disrespectful way. It makes me think of all the people in our world today who know that God is in control but they choose to follow the world. They have no respect for God. There are others who say they love God, but they don’t obey His word. How can that be? Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Some say that they believe in God, but they don’t believe His word is inspired. They say it is an outdated book written by men. But the Bible is the only way that we even know that God exists, so how can we separate God and His word? If we didn’t have God’s written word, we would just be here on earth wondering how we got here. We would have no true purpose. If I don’t believe His word to be the truth, then I don’t truly believe in God Himself. And how can I believe in Jesus, my Savior, if I don’t believe that the book in which I have learned about Him is the inspired word of God. It does not make sense. There are so many who don’t believe in God at all. They claim to believe in a “higher power”, but they won’t call it God. Balaam knew who God was and saw His power, and still chose to go against God. How sad! You would think that Balaam would have turned to God after all that happened in this story, but that is not the case. We find out in Numbers 25:1-3 that the children of Israel went against God and committed harlotry with the women of Moab and the people bowed down to their gods. Israel was joined to Baal of Peor and God was angry with them for this. Would you like to know who counseled King Balak to teach the women of Moab to seduce the men of Israel which then led them to worship Baal? Let’s go to Numbers 31:16 and you will see. It reads, “Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.” So Balaam found a backdoor way to “curse” Israel with his evil counsel and I’m not surprised. Balaam had no respect for God and he was angry, because God wouldn’t allow him to line his pockets with riches at the expense of His people. This incident even carries over into the NewTestament where Jesus is speaking to the church at Pergamos. Listen to our Savior’s words in Revelation 2:14, “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.” So now do you see why our key verse takes on a deeper meaning when we know the context around it? Do you see why the entire Bible has to be read in this way? 

Over the next few weeks I will be looking at some verses that are taken out of context by not only the world,  but by the religious world as well. The practice of taking Bible verses out of context is very dangerous and can cost us our souls. I leave you with two passages that are crucial to our understanding of the Bible. I believe the first one is the hub of the entire Bible because of one three-letter word….”all”. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man (woman) of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We have to believe that “all” scripture is inspired by God or we will take scriptures out of context and make them mean what we want to mean, and we will ignore scriptures that we simply don’t want to follow. The second one tells us what we have to do if we want to learn how to put verses in context, how to be saved and how to live a faithful Christian life in one word……”study”. 2 Timothy 2:15 says for us to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” If we want to put verses in the right context and help others get to heaven, then we have to study or we will misunderstand and misuse God’s word and that would be a tragedy.

The next post will be on Matthew 7:1. I will look at how it is taken out of context and misused in our world today. Thank you for reading!! Have a wonderful Lord’s Day and week ahead!! 

God’s Plan of Salvation

If anyone ever needs help in learning the truth of the gospel, please reach out and I can help you or put you in contact with someone who can. Below is the plan that God has set forth in His word, for mankind to receive His grace that leads to salvation and an eternity with God in heaven. 

We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 

Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 

Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 

Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 

Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)

Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)