Balaam's Donkey

As I have been reading through my Bible after plowing through Leviticus I am now in Numbers. What's so exciting about Numbers? In Numbers is one of my favorite Bible tales: Balaam's donkey.

You all know how the story goes.
Introduction: Balak has sent for Balaam, a man of God, to curse the children of Israel. The first time Balaam is asked he refuses because God told him not to go. The second time, when the princes sent as messengers offer Balaam all sorts of "honor" (money and prestige) Balaam asks God "are you sure?" and God says "all right, all right. You can go, but you won't be able to curse them unless I say so". (paraphrased)

Numbers 22:21 So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. 

Numbers 22:22 ¶ Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 

Numbers 22:23 Now the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. 

Numbers 22:24 Then the Angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. 

Numbers 22:25 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again. 

Numbers 22:26 Then the Angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 

Numbers 22:27 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 

Numbers 22:28 ¶ Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 

Numbers 22:29 ¶ And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!” 

Numbers 22:30 ¶ So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?” ¶ And he said, “No.” 

Numbers 22:31 ¶ Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. 

Numbers 22:32 And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. 

Numbers 22:33 The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.” 

Numbers 22:34 ¶ And Balaam said to the Angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.” 

Numbers 22:35 ¶ Then the Angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. 

 After Balaam had tried to curse the children of Israel for Balak three times and had only succeeded in blessing them, they (the king and Balaam) finally gave up. We can infer from later passages in Scripture that next Balaam recommended to Balak that if he wanted them to be cursed he would have to tempt them to sin against God. Unfortunately, this plan worked:
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.
What many people don't know is the interesting conclusion to this narrative:
Numbers 31:8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.
 One question in particular has occurred to me while reading the account of Balaam and his donkey: How did Moses hear this story?
Did God tell him?
Balaam? 
Or maybe the donkey?

Romans 1 (I may or may not come up with a creative title for some of these Roman posts.)

Well, I’m a bit late for this post, because our family was on vacation last week, but here we are at last. 

Romans chapter one is divided (in my head, at least) into three sections. First there is the introduction, then the purpose for writing and finally what I like to call the beginning of the argument. Most of Paul’s letter have fairly similar introductions (greetings etc.), so I’m focusing on the other two sections.

The purpose for writing is very clearly stated in verses 16 and 17. Paraphrased, these verses read: “The gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes; in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” (I took out some phrases to emphasize why Paul is writing.) In these verses, we see several characteristics of the gospel.

- It is the power of God

- It is for everyone who believes

- It reveals the righteousness of God

- It requires faith

There are more things that can be learned about the gospel from these two verses--especially if they are taken in their entirety--but this is enough to see how the whole argument of Romans is based on Paul’s desire to explain the gospel. (I’m not attempting an exhaustive exegesis, so I warn you now that I may leave things out of my lists, and I’ve no intention of apologizing for it every time. Now you know.)

Now that the preliminaries are taken care of, Paul really begins his argument in verse 18. If I had to come up with a title for verses 18-32 I would call it “The Depravity of Man”. Many arguments for Christianity start by presenting this fundamental belief, and it is an especially natural starting place for Paul with his extensive background in Judaism and the law (which we’ll get into more [maybe] in chapter 2). Paul loves to overwhelm the reader as he does here with crushing lists of the attributes of sinners, but a few salient points stand out in this section:

• God is angry with the unrighteous (v. 18)
• They should know better (19-20)
• God gave them up to their sinfulness (24-32)

This sets the stage for further developments in chapter two, but we’ll get to that in a couple weeks. 

Rom. 16:27: To God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. 

Preface to 2 Timothy

No, I am not starting a series like Sarah. This is just some context that many people don't know before reading 2 Timothy, so they treat it like the rest of the Pauline epistles. When you are done reading this, I expect you to read 2 Timothy for yourself.

In c. 67 AD Paul was in a dark, damp, smelly hole in Rome, by the name of the Mamertine Prison, awaiting his execution. Some of his friends were showing their devotion and love now more than ever. Onesiphorus was one: he came to Rome and sought Paul out zealously (which was potentially very dangerous to himself) just to serve him. Luke was with him, and there were many that Paul himself had sent away to strengthen various churches. There were others, however, who had caused Paul much grief: either by becoming false teachers, like Hymenaeus and Philetus, or by simply deserting like Phygellus, Hermogenes and even Demas who he had discipled himself. The worst part was that it wasn’t only Paul they deserted. They were also deserting the faith and Christ Himself. Another thing that weighed heavily on Paul’s mind was his fear that Timothy, his son in the Lord, would be intimidated by the persecutions and false teachers and might compromise. Paul wanted Timothy to lead the church after his death and to stand firm on God’s word.  He wanted to see Timothy before the end and implores him to come to Rome, but the journey will take time and Paul doesn’t know how much time he has. So, just in case Timothy doesn’t make it in time, Paul writes him a letter with some last minute, God-inspired instructions: The second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy.

Now go read it!