Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man that He should lie or change His mind…”
Numbers 22-23 is the story of Balaam and Balak and their plot to curse Israel. Balaam is known as an evil, money-loving prophet. Balaam was rash in his decisions, he loved money and God actually calls him perverse as he runs toward evil trying to curse Israel despite multiple warnings. In chapter 22 we see Balak, king of the Moabites, hears about Balaam, the “rent-a-prophet” and he hears that he can put blessings and cursings on people and it will come to pass. He wants to put a curse over Israel so that the Moabites can defeat them in battle. In order to get Balaam to prophesy for you, you had to pay a service fee. He reminds me of a creepy TV evangelist. We see that Balaam cares more about money than he does about God’s will. Balaam is approached by Balak’s men and he let’s them stay the night so he can pray about it. Pray about what? He’s praying whether or not it’s ok to curse God’s people! Seriously?! He may have some spiritual gift here but he’s obviously not sincerely seeking God’s will. In vs. 9-12, God warns Balaam to have nothing to do with these men. God tells Balaam “you shall not go with them, you shall not curse the people for they are blessed.” God reminds Balaam that He has blessed them and the covenant cannot be broken. Balaam comes back to the men and tells them “the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you.” It’s like saying “my dad says I can’t go but I want to.” In other words, he can be persuaded, and that’s exactly how the men took his answer because we see that they went back to Balak with the message and he sends wealthier men to persuade him. Balaam entertains their offer a second time after God already told him no. Why is he doing this? This dude is greedy and I can’t even imagine what his prayers are like to God’s ears.
In vs. 20-21 we see God change his way by allowing Balaam to go with the men, but God was angry with him. God had just previously told him to have nothing to do with these men. Is this unfair? No. God already warned Balaam and he consistently rejected God’s answer. He kept pushing for the answer he wanted because of greed. Balaam has free will and he makes his own choices, as we all do, and this ties in with God’s permissible will. God doesn’t want him to have anything to do with these men, but God changes His way as a reaction to Balaam’s poor choices and allows him to go. Does this mean that God is going to break His covenant with Israel and allow this evil prophet to curse the nation? Absolutely not. God never breaks a promise/covenant, He never goes against His word. God’s character does not change, who He is does not change, but He does change His ways or His decisions because it’s a reaction to our free will. When God changes it is always a response/reaction to His people, whether that be His reaction to a prayer, to our repentance, or when He regretted making Saul king over Israel (1 Sam 15:35) because of Saul’s poor choices… it’s always a reaction. It’s not because God is indecisive, but more so because we have free will, we make good choices and bad choices, and He reacts to our decisions, to our changes. Even with our choice to sin and be disobedient, God may be angry with us for sin, but He changes from anger to showing us compassion when we repent…. and that is a change that does not contradict anything in scripture or of His character, but in fact, it only proves Him more true.
In vs. 22-27 we see that an angel of the Lord meets Balaam on the road as he is on his way to meet Balak. The angel has his sword drawn ready to kill him, the donkey freaks out because she sees the angel and Balaam loses his temper and beats her three times. In this conversation, it seems as if the donkey is very wise and that God is using her to speak to Balaam. Unfortunately, Balaam won’t listen. In vs. 31-35 the angel says to Balaam, “turn around and go back now because your way is perverse (running towards evil).” We see that the angel of the Lord has his sword drawn trying to get Balaam to turn around, yet Balaam says “if it displeases You, I will turn back.” IF? He’s questioning? He’s still trying to persuade God to give a different answer. Seriously Balaam? There’s an angel in front of you with a sword drawn ready to kill you and you’re questioning. Really? This dude is stubborn! Again, God allows him to go but it says “God was angry with him.” He’s allowing Balaam to fall to his own sin because he has already rejected God so many times. Most theologians believe this is judgement on Balaam unless he repents. Balaam meets Balak, king of the Moabites, and I’m thinking he was probably really excited to see him because he’s expecting Balaam to put a curse on the people and help him win the battle. Balaam tells him “I will try but this is not in my hands, but in God’s hands” – as if to say ”if I fail, (which I’m thinking I will because God already said no) I blame God.” Balaam does try to curse Israel, as he repeatively goes back and forth trying to get a different answer from God so he can finish the job he’s paid for. He bosses Balak around, he even gets Balak to build altars, at Balak’s expense, not his, although he does take credit for it. Where does he think he has this authority? God never told him to do that!
Most theologians have agreed there is a difference in God’s permissable will and His sovereign/providential will. When talking about God’s sovereign will, it applies to things that happen no matter what, things that we can not change, we don’t have to fast and pray to make it happen, but God will do it regardless. This includes creation, the promise of a Savior - a fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies, God’s covenant with Israel and the promise of our Lord’s return and the new earth. God made a covenant with Israel and Balaam cannot curse Israel because God has not cursed Israel. God can and does use people to fulfill His sovereign will. For example, we see God use Mary to fulfill the promise of a Savior and we see Abraham used to fulfill the promise He made with Israel. God’s permissible will applies to things such as who we choose to marry, our degrees, careers and the schools we attend… or when we choose to take a job helping a king kill off God’s chosen people. These are things we choose, we can seek His wisdom and He will direct us, but ultimately it’s our choices (our free will). We make good choices and bad choices. (more…)
