The Error of Balaam

The Error of Balaam

Numbers 22-24: While the Numbers text itself is inconclusive, both rabbinic legend and the Apostolic Scriptures clearly paint Balaam as wicked through and through. Though he may seem to be godly and well-meaning--only speaking what the LORD puts into his mouth--let us not allow his fake piety to deceive us. When he set out, he had every intention of cursing Israel, and he did his best to do so. The blessings he spoke over Israel were inadvertent. The LORD placed them in his mouth against his will.

In the days of the Apostles, Shimon Peter compared Balaam to those who "loved the wages of unrighteousness." (2 Peter 2:15) To the Apostolic community, Balaam is the example of a man who misuses religious authority for his own profit. Regarding such a person, Jude (the brother of the Master) says, "for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam." (Jude 11) The error of Balaam was that he obeyed his greed rather than the LORD. The Master railed against those who used the sacred for dishonest gain: We remember well His anger toward the money-changers in the Temple. He overturned their tables and drove them out of the courtyard. Interestingly, the Midrash Rabbah refers to Balaam as a 'money-changer.'

Some say Balaam of Pethor was called a money-changer (petor)  because the kings of the nations rushed to him for counsel in the same way that people rush to a money-changer to change their currency. (Numbers Rabbah 20:7)

Shimon Peter tells us, "[Balaam] received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet." (2 Peter 2:16) The Angel of LORD blocks Balaam's donkey three times, corresponding to Balaam's three attempts to curse Israel. Each time he tried, the LORD stood in his way, so to speak, and changed his curse into a blessing.

Still, Balaam refers to himself as "the man whose eye is opened" (24:4) and as the man "who knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty....having his eyes uncovered." (24:15-16) He is full of himself. He is the model of spiritual pride. He sees himself as righteous, but his donkey disagrees with his self-assessment.

Balaam, the man who "sees clearly the vision of the Almighty with eyes open," does not see as clearly as his donkey. May the LORD open our eyes, and may we avoid the error of Balaam--greed and spiritual pride.