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Come and study the Holy Scriptures with us as Fr. Stephen DeYoung teaches verse-by-verse on the podcast The Whole Counsel of God. Fr. Stephen holds a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies and is an Orthodox priest serving at Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Chapter 23, verse 1. Now Balaam said to Balak, build seven altars for me here and prepare for me here seven young bulls and seven rams. So Balaam has a process, right? And this is not, this is not uncommon, right? So we think about priests and other religious functionaries now based on Christianity. And so we think about it in a very communal sense, right, where a priest is someone who, like, lives with the community and shares their life and weddings and funerals and births and, right, and all these sort of things. That's not how priests worked. Pagan priests worked in the ancient world at all. the primary job of pagan priests in the ancient world was they were sort of spiritual technologists in the sense that they knew how to do certain things to produce certain results and this there's a variety of things within that right and different priests of different gods in different cultures would have sort of different specializations right so for example there are a lot of different forms of divination in the ancient world which are basically ways to predict the future and so some of those were augurs who would read signs right oh we saw this bird flying in that direction that means xyz there were a lot of haruspices haruspex that's our new word for the it um that's the latin word that was a priest who would read the entrails of an animal that was being sacrificed so when they go to cut up the animal to separate separate the parts they'd look at the entrails and from different signs they'd see in the entrails like if you were offering it before battle you're like oh we're going to do well oh something's wrong we need to you know we're going to fail unless we do xyz and then part of their job was knowing what the xyz was or they would be with Haruspices for example we have because they made them out of fired clay so they survived for thousands of years we actually have models of like livers and kidneys like sheep livers and kidneys made of clay that have inscriptions on them that say like oh if there's a spot here it means this and they were like the training things for new ones they had to like learn and memorize this right yeah they were they weren't doing this for like you know it wasn't like people picking up the newspaper and reading their horoscope for tomorrow right like the common people were not doing this a lot this was like kings before they went into battle and generals before they went into battle would have one come out yeah this is this is expensive stuff most of the divination

that would happen with the common people who are all farming right at this point would be things like people who did water divining telling them where to dig a well right there were sort of and those wouldn't be the kind of formal priesthood kind of people we're talking about those would be somebody who's a seer or something who lives in the village who does that might be an old man or an old woman that's sort of their thing that's more like a modern equivalent to that would be you know somebody who reads tea leaves or coffee you know an older person who does that kind of thing right so there was that kind of thing that the more common folk were engaged in but the kind of formal priesthood stuff this was like the kings the highly placed people like you could just go hire people didn't have the money to go hire balaam right and if they did they definitely didn't have the money for like to build seven altars and bring up seven bowls etc right like that's beyond normal folk But so they'd also know, for example, we talked about the lector priests in Egypt. Their job was the preservation of being able to read the ancient texts. There were similar priesthoods. Right. So he's sort of renowned. That's part of why he's identified as a prophet and a seer rather than as a priest. So he's a little more freelance. But he's renowned, meaning we have these inscriptions about him, meaning he had some degree of practical success in the past, right? And the biblical text presents him as...

actually consorting with spirits not necessarily good ones but right but spirits that there was something legit he's not like a phony per se but yeah he's more for hire freelance kind of thing so but basically all of those examples are different ways it's about them possessing certain knowledge and certain techniques to get that engage with the spiritual realm and get people some result that they want by virtue of that and so this would be expected it's not that he's like a wizard who has magic powers that he can just come up and be like i curse you israel right like the idea is there are these spiritual powers out there he knows how to interface with them right and get them to do what he wants but that's a negotiation and a bargain and he's offering them things and asking them for things in return right that's part of the whole idea in the ancient world and that's part of how they explained that it it never worked 100 for anybody right because there's this other entity involved that can make decisions right so they could say oh it didn't work why didn't it work well the god in question rejected your sacrifices well why did he reject the sacrifices oh because of xyz right so fix xyz and we'll try again right oh now it didn't work because you know bob didn't show up to the feast right you have to be all united so you know thanks bob right um yeah yeah or they could just be outmaneuvered right Because the other side could be sacrificing to the same gods. And the God just decided he liked them better. Which I always wonder if that's how people view God who, like, pray before sports games. And pray for their team to win. Like, I wonder if afterwards, if the other team wins, they just decide, like, I guess God likes the other team better. It's a very weird pagan view of how God works. But, yeah. Also, Kansas City Chiefs. And don't start with your Taylor Swift stuff here. Nobody wants to hear about that. Yeah, and so this is part of the process here. And this is, like we mentioned, what he's asking for is very expensive. Right? This is not cheap. Right? So this is like, you know, somebody's, some super rich guy is sick. You're a doctor. he offers you all this money to come work on you walk in the room and you ask for like a hundred thousand dollars in medical equipment like right off the bat like right off the jump and then I'll get started that's sort of what what Balaam's doing here but Balak would have expected this

right because again Balaam's reputation he doesn't work cheap he's gonna get this done and offering these sacrifices that are very expensive this is sort of right charm offensive on the gods in question, remember, because we've got to convince them to side with us and not the other guy. So, hey, we're just going to, you know, you make your first offer huge, right, and undeniable. That all makes sense in a certain way, if you understand the spiritual world to work in a certain way, which the pagan world did. So Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and he offered a young bull and a ram on each altar. Then Balaam said to Balak, stand alongside your sacrifice and i will go perhaps god will reveal himself to me in a meeting and i will tell you whatever word he shows me okay so again remember we've got these pretty consistent translations where they're translating this as capital g god and there's no reason whatsoever to believe that's who balaam is talking about right so a better translation would be perhaps a God or a spirit, right? Will reveal himself to me and I'll tell you whatever he says, right? So the idea is the sacrifices are going up. Balak, you go stand over there, right? By the smoking altars, right? So they'll know it's you who's offering them, right? Because these pagan gods are far from omniscient, right? They'll know it's you. I'll go off by myself. I will enter the spirit world. we're not sure how exactly Balaam did that most likely it involved what we would call psychedelic drugs but in some form hallucinogens but he would enter the spirit world and I'll come back and tell you what they say about you and your your cause So Balak stood alongside his sacrifice, and Balaam went on a direct road to inquire of God. Thus God revealed himself to Balaam, and Balaam said to him, I prepared seven altars and offered on each altar a young bull and a ram. Then God put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak. So he returned to him, and there he was, standing alongside his burnt offerings, he and all the rulers of Moab with him. then the spirit of god came upon him and he took up this parable and said okay this is again as we've been seeing this translation assuming it's god doesn't work right because if that's god capital g god who put a word in his mouth then why does the holy spirit come upon him now and speak yeah right so the idea is he went and did what he normally does

had something he was planning on coming back and saying but then the spirit of god the holy spirit comes upon balaam and now he's going to say what we're about to read instead right instead balak the king of moab summoned me from mesopotamia from the mountains of the east saying, Come curse Jacob for me, and come call down a curse upon Israel. So far, so good, right? How shall I curse whom the Lord did not curse? Or how shall I call down a curse upon whom God did not curse? For from the top of the mountains I see him, and from the hills I envision him. Behold, the people shall dwell alone, and they shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can examine accurately the seed of Jacob and number the tribes of Israel? may my soul die with the souls of the righteous and may my seed be as their seed well that's not what he was supposed to say right so this is not what you would call a curse this is what you would call a blessing because he's saying that whole is the people will dwell alone the idea here is that israel is unique right it's not just one of the other nations it's unique and basically the idea of you you're not gonna be able to count how many there are in their seed meaning they're gonna be fruitful and multiply right which is one of the the big blessings that you're looking for right like if you're trying to get blessings if you're trying to get the positive whammy right from your local prophet slash priest slash seer it would be about primarily about fertility for your crops and for your spouse assuming you're a man who's making this inquiry that that's what you want you want lots of kids and you want good good harvests right that's and he just put the lots of kids blessing on Israel. Sort of the exact opposite of what he was hired to do, right? But as it's presented here, he didn't do it by choice, right? He did his process. He had one thing he was going to say, but then the Holy Spirit came and spoke through him and said a different thing. There's not a contest. There's not a fight. There's not a battle. There's not a just override. yeah but Balak said to Balaam what have you done to me I summoned you to curse my enemies and look you have blessed them bountifully and Balaam said to Balak should I not be careful to speak whatever God may put into my mouth so Balaam's like hey man you know don't shoot the messenger I told you I was going to go you know is what the spirit is saying Balaam is not deterred he's a professional he was hired to do a job

so Balak said to him come with me to another place from which vantage points you may not see him you shall see only a part but not all of him then curse him for me from there he's like okay maybe we got too close maybe we got it a little too close right like the the the right like maybe their god we got too close their god you know got a hold of you uh so we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna reorient we're gonna go to another pagan shrine right where you'll still be able to see them right but we'll we'll pull back a little bit and and see how that goes right because and again this is how they think of these gods and spirits that they're very localized right so the god of this people would be like around their camp so yeah if you get too close to the camp he's going to start influencing you but if we you know go back here we go to another pagan shrine where some other god has influence, right, then, you know, we'll get this done. Then he took him along to a lookout point over the land upon the summit of a hewn rock and built seven altars there, and he offered a young bull and a ram on each altar. So we do this again, seven more. Balaam then said to Balak, stand alongside your sacrifice while I go and inquire of God. And God met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak. So he returned to him, and there he was, standing alongside his Holborn offering. And all the rulers of Moab were with him. Balak then said to him, What did the Lord say? Then he took up his parable and said, So we have the same thing happen again, essentially. What's he going to say this time? Rise up, Balak, and hear. Give ear as a witness, son of Zippor. God is not like a man to be deceived nor like a son of man to be threatened would he having spoken not act or shall he speak and not stand by it so we'll pause there a second right so he's trying to correct he's like look man you're not getting this right the God of Israel the God of Israel is not like these other gods you're used to dealing with right you're not going to trick him You're not going to bribe him with sacrifice, right? You're not going to get him to do what you want. That's not how this works, right? That's not how this works with him, right? And if he decides to do something, you're not going to stop him. Verse 20, Behold, I received to bless, and I shall bless and not reverse it. There shall be no trouble in Jacob, nor shall distress be seen in Israel. for the Lord is God is with him and the glorious acts of rulers are in him

God brings them out of Egypt like the glory of the unicorn for him for there is no portent in Jacob nor any divination in Israel in due time it will be told to Jacob in Israel what God will accomplish so it's God who did this who created them who brought them here you're not going to stand in the way of that man meaning you need to get out of the way right malak you're done there's not going to be problems for them there's not going to be distress right and guess what they don't need someone like balaam that's what he's saying there with there's no divination there's no they don't need to hire guys like balaam to tell them what's going to happen right because god says god's going to reveal to them what's going to happen in due time right and they don't don't need to hire people to give blessings and curses because god is blessing them so god here so far this whole chunk we just read is trying to reorient like balak you don't understand anything you need to change your whole understanding of how all this works verse 24 so Now, in verse 24, he's going to start talking about what is going to happen with Israel in the future, right? Contra what Balak wants to have happen, which would be bad things, right? This is what's going to happen. Behold, a people like a lion's cub will rise up and will exult like a lion. It shall not lie down until it eats the prey and drinks the blood of the slain. so not only are you not going to be able to march in there and defeat them with your moabite army balak but they're about to pounce on some folks on the other side of the river and be victorious over them now the other piece that gets brought in here and it's it's subtle from our modern perspective is this lion analogy that it's a lion in particular so remember it's been a while i think since we reiterated this but genesis the book of genesis is the prologue to the rest of the torah right it's the lead in it sets these things up and at the end of the book of genesis we read uh the testament of jacob so jacob the person israel is dying and in chapters 48 and 49 he talks to his sons he gives his parting words to his sons and that includes these sort of prophetic things about the future of the tribes that are named after them and uh if you set the wayback machine to i don't know more than a year ago now

i think uh that's when we were when we talked about that passage uh we talked about how there was a bunch of animal imagery in a bunch of those prophecies to the tribes, different animals. And we talked about how those animals were associated with the 12 tribes and were also associated with constellations, right? So it is a rough equivalent of what we would call the zodiac even though they're different constellations their constellations are mapped differently but it's the rough equivalent of that but from a hebrew perspective and connected to the 12 tribes and we talked about when we're talking about the high priest vestments how the stones representing the tribes probably had the constellations on them right as part of the and the lion was particularly associated with the tribe of judah And Judah, in the future, we know, we're going to see some more, but we're going to develop this more. I'm talking about this now because we've got some more Balaam oracles to go. This is going to come up again, right? A lot of the prophecies, or a lot of the prophecies, it's a fairly short section, but the prophecy that Jacob gave in Genesis 49 about Judah talks about the fact that a king is going to come. out of the tribe of Judah. And, of course, we know from the rest of the Hebrew Bible, the rest of the Old Testament, that's connected to David. That's ultimately connected to the Messiah, right? Because David sort of serves as a sign. We talked about signs and then fulfillment, right? David is sort of a sign of the fulfillment of the Messiah, of Christ, later. But that it's connected to that. And so this reference to the line is two. but we also have to keep in mind that one of the leaders since God here is talking about the conquest of Canaan, one of the leaders of the conquest, Joshua is a Levite but Caleb, the other spy the other one who's going to become a leader is part of the tribe of Judah he wasn't born into it, he was assimilated into it but he's part of the tribe of Judah so Judah already has this role in the conquest of Canaan this is going to get drawn out a little more as we go on so we'll go ahead and frame that here so this lion coming up is supposed to bring Judah to our mind wouldn't necessarily have meant that to Balak but in terms of it being written here in the Torah where the Israelites are reading it they would make that connection so he finishes this prophecy then Balak said to Balaam

neither curse him with curses for me nor actually bless him so Balaam answered and said to Balak did I not tell you saying the word of God may speak that that I shall do right so he's like don't shoot the messenger right and basically what I know that's a weird phrasing but basically Balak was basically saying was okay look man And if you're not going to curse him, at least don't bless him. Right? Like, I get it. You know, I hired you to curse him. But if you can't do that, at least don't, you know, do the opposite of what I'm paying you to do. Right? But Balaam is a professional. And has a job to do. And Balak does not give up easily. Then Balak said to Balaam, come, I will take you along to another place. If it will please God to curse him for me from there. Okay, now obviously he's not talking about capital G, God. right? Like he thinks that if he just keeps moving around, the same God will change his mind. No, he's going to a different place associated with a different God. Right. And if we're trying to say maybe the God there will put the way, he still doesn't understand that this isn't Baal or Chemosh or who's, who's prophesying, right? He's not getting, even though God tried to reframe there, he's not getting it he just says this god has more territory yes he's apparently got a wider longer range you notice there's nothing in here about being able to see Israel let's just back off even more we'll go ask this god maybe they're we're too close they're getting worried looking at the Israelites over there so Balak took Balaam along to the top of Peor which extends into the desert and Balaam said to Balak build seven altars for me here and prepare for me here seven young bulls and seven rams so balak did his bail and told him he offered a bull and a ram on each altar now these these young bulls are especially expensive right because you don't have a lot when you're hurting you don't have a ton of bulls right you don't have like a 50 50 split of male and female cattle right you have one bull and then a lot of cows and the bull impregnates a lot of cows they give birth to a lot more cows you keep one of the bull right so a young bull who hasn't reached maturity yet this is like the pinnacle value of livestock right this is like the most expensive animal you can have. We've now gone through 21 of these at this point. Plus the rams, yes.

Listen next time as Father Stephen DeYoung continues his study of the scriptures on the whole counsel of God. Father Stephen's email address is wholecouncil at ancientfaith.com That's wholecouncil at ancientfaith.com

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