Joshua and Judges: Push to the Promised Land: All nations will fall but Israel. Num 24:10 - 19.

[

Title: Joshua and Judges: Push to the Promised Land: All nations will fall but Israel. Num 24:10 - 19.  

 

Announcements/opening prayer:

 

 

Num 24:10 Then Balak's anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together [violent rage]; and Balak said to Balaam, "I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times!

 

Num 24:11 "Therefore, flee to your place now. I said I would honor you greatly, but behold, the Lord has held you back from honor."

 

Num 24:14 "And now behold, I am going to my people; come, and I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the days to come."

 

Before he leaves he has some parting words for Balak concerning what Israel would do to the Moabites in the future and what attitude he should assume towards Israel, if this people was to bring a blessing upon his own people and not a curse.

 

Still under the influence of the Holy Spirit….

 

Num 24:15 And he took up his discourse and said,

"The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,

And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,

 

Num 24:16 The oracle of him who hears the words of God,

And knows the knowledge of the Most High,

Who sees the vision of the Almighty,

Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered.

 

Balaam's last prophecy is broken up into four parts. It is unique to the last three as it is only concerned with the future in the supremacy of Israel over all her foes and the destruction of all the powers of the world. 

 

Num 24:17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near;

A star shall come forth from Jacob,

And a scepter shall rise from Israel,

And shall crush through the forehead of Moab,

And tear down all the sons of Sheth [an unknown group].

 

Balaam sees the star who will come forth from Jacob in the distant future.

 

And now to Moab's southern neighbor, the descendents of Esau, Edom.

 

Num 24:18 "And Edom shall be a possession,

Seir [mountain region in Edom], its enemies, also shall be a possession,

While Israel performs valiantly.

 

Edom refers to the people and Seir to the country they inhabited.

 

Israel was told not to fight with them even though Edom refused to let them pass through their country, but the Ruler of Israel would possess them and destroy them.

 

David began this work about 400 years later, but he did not defeat them fully. The Lord will finally do so when all His enemies are made a footstool for His feet.

 

Num 24:19 "One from Jacob shall have dominion [over Edom],

And shall destroy the remnant from the city."

 

The last sentence means that every city, in which there is a remnant of Edom, will be destroyed. Fighting God and fighting His people eventually comes under vengeance and judgment by the Lord.

 

The same is true of the next people mentioned who were the first to attack Israel in her first year of traveling in the wilderness of Sinai. Balaam sees these people in vision as he did the Star of Israel.

 

Num 24:20 And he looked at Amalek and took up his discourse and said, "Amalek was the first of the nations,

But his end shall be destruction."

 

Amalek attacked Israel just after the first time that God brought water from a rock. They represent opposition to God's kingdom.

 

Exo 17:8 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim.

 

Exo 17:9 So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us, and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

 

Exo 17:10 And Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

 

Exo 17:11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.

 

Exo 17:12 But Moses' hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.

 

Exo 17:13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

 

Exo 17:14 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this in a book as a memorial, and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."

 

Exo 17:15 And Moses built an altar, and named it The Lord is My Banner;

 

Exo 17:16 and he said, "The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation."

 

The arms of Moses represented the power of God that flowed through him. Israel wouldn't win without God nor without the humility, faith, and leadership of Moses.

 

Next come the Kenites, of whom very little is known.

 

The Kenites were friendly to the Israelites who lived as nomads in the south of the Sinai peninsula, in the area of Mt. Sinai. They went up with Israel to the land of Judah and lived along side them.

 

Num 24:21 And he looked at the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said, "Your dwelling place is enduring,

And your nest is set in the cliff.

 

Num 24:22 "Nevertheless Kain shall be consumed;

How long shall Asshur keep you captive?"

 

Kain is their city in which they lived in the land of Judah. It could be that they traveled with the exodus, being friendly to them, and then settled in the lands of what would become Judah, while Israel was forced to turn south and wander in the wilderness for another 49 years. Being much smaller in number than Israel they could have done this without being bothered. 

 

Their city was nested in a cliff and so was protected as a natural fortress. It could be that they lived in what would later become Masada, a future Jewish stronghold.

 

Asshur is another name for Assyria, who would take Israel captive in 721 BC and so it seems here that Kain will be taken at the same time.

 

Num 24:23 And he took up his discourse and said,

"Alas, who can live except God has ordained it?

 

Who of the heathen will live through the coming disaster? Balaam likely understands that his own people would be a part of the destruction, and if he did, he was right.

 

map

 

Num 24:24 "But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim [Cyprus],

And they shall afflict Asshur [Assyria] and shall afflict Eber [descendents of Shem, excluding Israel];

So they also shall come to destruction."

 

Balaam's eye is not clear enough to see just who it is who is coming from the west, the island of Cyprus between Greece and Palestine in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, but that whoever it is they will destroy all the peoples of Asia going as far east as Assyria. One would immediately think of the Greeks, who under Alexander the Great, did just that, including the conquering of Egypt. Yet the Greeks were not lasting, and neither were the Romans who overtook them.

 

What Balaam sees here in his last prophecy is that all the great and powerful kingdoms of the world are destined to perish.

 

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

 

1Co 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming,

 

1Co 15:24 then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

 

1Co 15:25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

 

1Co 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

 

Death is last because all that are in the kingdom have eternal life and so with the end of human history and the last person is judged then death will never be seen again.

 

Whatever powers might rise up in the world of peoples, the heathen prophet of Jehovah sees them all fall, one through another, and one after another.

 

The last one to raise up, the universal kingdom of the antichrist, will like all others see its own destruction at the hand of the Ancient of Days.

 

What Balaam sees dimly, Daniel sees in much more detail.

 

The four beasts represent four kingdoms: Babylon, the Medo-Persian Empire, Greece, and the Roman Empire [revived at the end of times] respectively.

 

Dan 7:9 "I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow, And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames,Its wheels were a burning fire.

 

Dan 7:10 "A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened.

 

Dan 7:11 "Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.

 

Dan 7:11: The last of the four beasts, or the antichrist.

 

Dan 7:12 "As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.

 

Dan 7:13 "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.

 

The Son of Man coming is the second coming of Christ.

 

Dan 7:14 "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

 

Dan 7:15 "As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.

 

Dan 7:16 "I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:

 

Dan 7:17 'These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.

 

Dan 7:18 'But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.'

 

Dan 7:19 "Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet,

 

Dan 7:20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts, and which was larger in appearance than its associates.

 

Dan 7:21 "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them

 

Dan 7:22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

 

Num 24:25 Then Balaam arose and departed and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way.

 

At the last curtain of this act, if you will, we have two men departing in frustration, Balak without his curse, and Balaam without his money, and still in the plains of Moab, enjoying the cool spring waters and abundant land sits God's people, fully prosperous and completely at peace because they belong to Him.

 

In this four part prophecy by Balaam we have one of the most wonderful of the scripture.

 

Balaam's last, four part prophecy commences with the appearance of the Messiah and closes with the destruction of the antichrist.

 

It would seem that Balaam went away angry at Israel and Jehovah for being so used as an unwilling servant. As he returns home to the tents of Midian, he hashes a plot to destroy Israel from within by sending heathen harlots and their worship of Baal and Chemosh. Some in Israel succumb to the temptation from the harlots, but the men of Israel, who are strong spiritually, put a stop to it and God brings a plague upon the transgressors which kills 24,000 before it's over.

 

The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manassah request to take possession of the land just conquered east of the Jordan.

 

Moses grants their request with the stipulation that they fight with all the rest in taking the land west of the Jordan, to which they agree, and do.

 

map

 

Then it is time for Moses to die.

 

Taken to the top of Mt. Nebo, from which place Balaam blessed Israel, God showed Moses all of the land and he died and God buried him in an undisclosed location.

 

Though he was naturally disappointed to not go in to the land, he shows himself to be the great man of God that he is, by making his last request.

 

Num 27:12 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go up to this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel.

 

Num 27:13 And when you have seen it, you too shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was;

 

Num 27:14 for in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water. "(These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

 

Num 27:15 Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying,

 

Num 27:16 "May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation,

 

Num 27:17 who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd."

 

To his last breath Moses shows his tremendous humility. Though not being allowed to go in, while the others, far more stubborn and unbelieving, are allowed, he is more concerned for them.

 

Num 27:18 So the Lord said to Moses, "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit [preposition can be translated "on"], and lay your hand on him;

 

God put His Spirit upon Joshua for the task of leadership. He does not have the capability alone. He must depend upon the Spirit to lead him, direct him, and empower him for the work.

 

What a blessing in the CA to have the Holy Spirit within us, all of us, whether leaders or not, being always at the ready and available to fill our souls so as to teach, lead, and empower us for the plan of God.

 

Num 27:19 and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation; and commission him in their sight.

 

And now calmly, as a father setting his house in order, did Moses prepare for his departure. During all his life his thoughts had been for Israel; and he was faithful even unto death.

 

]