Posted on 05/13/2010 10:14:39 AM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Balaam On Being Paid to Curse Israel
Part 1
By: Pastor Bill Randles
I will bless those that bless you and curse those who curse you and in you all the families of the world will be blessed. Genesis 12:3
Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me, peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou (Balaam) bless is blest and he whom you curse is cursed. Numbers 22:6
Perhaps the most misunderstood story in the Bible is that of Balaam, the pagan prophet. When it is told, it is usually related as a morality story, merely a caution against greed in ministry. The love of money indeed is part of the story - as well as the danger of false prophets and corrupt ministers. But lately I have come to realize that there is an eschatological dimension to this story that too often is unappreciated. It is amazing how current and relevant the story of Balaam really is to today’s geo-political situation.
The story takes place at the end of the Exodus; at the time the children of Israel were preparing to possess the land God had given them. Once again the immediate neighbors of Israel take exception to their rights to the land. The ancestors of the modern Arabs, Jordanians and ‘Palestinians’ feared the Israeli occupation of the land, having full knowledge of what God had done to Egypt and through them to Og, one of their chief Kings.
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. Numbers 22:2-3
Balak, the king of the Moabites, as it turned out, had nothing to fear from the Israelites, not knowing that God had commanded them not to dispossess the Moabites.
And the LORD said to me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give you of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession. Deuteronomy 2:9
This scenario is a current event, for there is nothing the modern state of Israel would welcome more than to live in peace with her hostile neighbors.
Balak, fearing Israel, and knowing he couldn’t prevail militarily with them, set out to hire someone who could “curse” Israel. The word “curse” in this sense is a Hebrew word which means to “hollow” them out, to “drain” them of their confidence.
Is this not the modern situation also? Arab neighbors of Israel, frustrated by their inability to dispossess Israel out of the land, have been using their newly gained petro-wealth, and the power that goes with it, to literally hire people to curse Israel! They have been able to successfully deny the very legitimacy of Israel in the minds of many. Oil money has successfully lobbied political leaders, educators, the media and a good many of those who are in position to shape the ideas and perspectives of the rest of us, to take a belligerent stance against Israel.
Billions of petro dollars have poured into the coffers of institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Georgetown University, and Fox News, as well as into the campaign chests of numerous western politicians, all in the interest of selling us the story line which delegitimizes Israel, and romanticizes Islam’s version of history. There are many Balaam’s!
Perhaps the last straw is the seduction of leaders of the confessing Christian church into “cursing Israel”. No less than the Pope himself leads the charge in delegitimizing Israel’s claims to the Holy Land, as here recounted in a Jerusalem Newswire story dated May 17, 2009 entitled,
“Pope to ‘Palestinians’, Israel is Your Forefather’s Land”
“The Biblical land of Israel is actually the "land of YOUR forefathers" Pope Benedict told the Palestinian Arabs in Bethlehem last week. With this statement the pontiff, who has now departed Israel after five days of meddling in the country's affairs on a "pilgrimage" he called "a mission of peace," authenticity on the massive deception that is "Palestinian nationhood”.
At the start, in the middle, and at the end of his visit - which was hosted by the State of Israel at no small expense to the taxpayers and mass disruption of Jerusalemites' lives - the head of the Roman Catholic Church voiced his strong support for the creation of a Palestinian state on Jewish lands.
His first and last statements to this effect were made unabashedly in front of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - who has been trying to sidestep international demands that he surrender Israel's biblical heartland to the Arabs.
Speaking at PLO Chief and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' palace in Bethlehem, where he went to conduct a large mass, the pontiff spelled it out:
"The Holy See supports the right of your people to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbors, within internationally recognized borders,"
The World Council of Churches, the United States Presbyterian Church, and a host of other church groups too numerous to mention have condemned Israel, divested themselves from Israel, in short have “cursed” Israel, in the sense of hollowing out their confidence, sense of legitimacy and validity as a nation. Balaam lives!
The reward has not always been money, however, as was the case with Balaam. These church groups siding with terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, against the only legitimate democracy in the Middle East, imagine that they are “speaking truth to power”, as they “curse Israel”. The image of themselves as guardians of the human rights of the Palestinians is reward enough for these false Christian groups.
Perhaps the most tragic of all is the erosion of the rock solid support which evangelicals have had for Israel. In the American Thinker article “Splitting the Evangelicals from Israel”, Ed Lasky cites Replacement Theology, the testimony of certain Palestinian Christian leaders, and former US President Jimmy Carter as part of the influence turning many once pro-Israel Christians against Israel. This is a portent that doesn’t bode well, even as the story of Balaam doesn’t end well for anybody but God’s chosen people. Stay tuned for part 2.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/01/splitting_the_evangelicals_fro
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Your argument that God can't change his mind or elaborate on something doesn't make sense to me. If he created the New Testament and Christianity then that's his prerogative. He's all-powerful, after all.
What Christians acknowledge that Jesus doesn't meet the requirements for the Messiah?
What? Romans at the time saw the ethnically Jewish Christians as simply another sect of Judaism. Some of the Jews that Paul went to did convert to the new Christianity. Historical fact. Weren’t all of the disciples of Jesus ethnically Jewish? Wasn’t Paul Jewish? Weren’t the writers of the New Testament mostly Jewish?
Having met one of them, and having had good coversation, and recieving the newsletter, I don’t see that at all. Trust me, I don’t want anything bad to enter my home. I also look with a jaundiced eye at your quote, considering who it comes from. They have competing goals, you may say.
No he wasnt. 1) He did not have a human father and Tribal affiliation is always through the father. You can not adopt into a Tribe. 2) Matthew has Jesus decended through a cursed King of Jeconiah. No son of Jeconiah could sit on the throne of David. 3) Luke has him decended through Nathan. The Messiah has to come by David, through his kingly son Solomon. Both NT geneaologies are fatally flawed.
Riding a donkey is not an exclusive event. Anyone can fullfill that one. He needs to:1) Build the final 3rd temple, 2) Bring universal peace, 3) Fill the world with the knowlege of G-d 4) Restore sacrfices,5) Final ingathering of the exiles etc....the are exclusive events that ONLY The Messiah can do. And when they are done.....we will know he is The Messiah and it will take NO faith because we will see it happen. See Ezekiel 43, 44 etc.
"Your argument that God can't change his mind
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Deut29: 29The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Deut4: 2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Psalm111: 6He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen. 7The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. 8They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. 9He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.
So, G-d says he doesnt change He doesnt change his mind, His law and covenant is forever. And sacrifices are returning:
Jer 31: 15In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. 16In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. 17For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; 18Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
Zech 14: 21Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts. And you can see here the Law is still in effect since you have to be physically circumcised to enter the Temple.
Eze 44: 9Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
And finally, in the end of days, it is ALWAYS the gentiles coming to the Jews. Never the other way around. Zech 8: 23Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
19O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. 20Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? 21Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.
His name is HaShem. Not Jesus.
Sorry forgot that one. If you are talking about Psalm 22 Dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet.
It doesnt say pierced in the Hebrew. King David is talking, in context, about his enemies. Surrounding him and he feels forsaken by G-d. The word rendered pierced is Kaari. In the Hebrew, it means "like a lion".
Hebrew JPS bible: For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil-doers have inclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.
Furthermore, when you look at verse 13: They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. It puts the Hebrew, in verse 16 in perfect context.
Numbers 27:8: "Say to the Israelites, 'If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter."
Numbers 36:6-7: "This is what the LORD commands for Zelophehad's daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within the tribal clan of their father. No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefathers."
So as long as Mary had no brothers and she married within her own tribe, she could pass her heritage onto Jesus. The Bible makes no mention of Mary's father having any brothers. Therefore, Mary could pass on the Judah bloodline to Jesus, as one of her father's daughters. Matthew states that Joseph's bloodline does trace back to the tribe of Judah, through David. If Jesus is a son of David then his mother, Mary, must also be of the tribe of Judah.
The books repeatedly say that Jesus descended from the house of David. Mary must be of the tribe of Judah as well for this to be possible. It is IMPLIED that she married within her tribe, and she married Joseph.
Riding a donkey is not an exclusive event. Anyone can fullfill that one. He needs to:1) Build the final 3rd temple, 2) Bring universal peace, 3) Fill the world with the knowlege of G-d 4) Restore sacrfices,5) Final ingathering of the exiles etc....
These alone don't disprove that Jesus was the Messiah. He could do all of these things when he comes back.
Regarding all the Biblical quotes about God not lying and not changing his mind, he does and has. The Bible is full of examples of God sparing people that repented. Creating the New Testament doesn't make God a liar. In that respect, Christianity is simply the more advanced version of Judaism.
That is for personal property or land only....it doesnt say anything aout tribal lineage. And again, even if that was true, Mary is still disqualified because Luke says it is through Nathan instead of Solomon.
Matthew states that Joseph's bloodline does trace back to the tribe of Judah, through David
Matthew blows it by listing the cursed King Jeconiah. No son of Jeconiah can or did sit on the throne of David.
Both the genealogies are flawed.
The Bible is full of examples of God sparing people that repented.
Well sure, G-d doesnt want anyone to perish. Interesting to note that G-d spares the people of Nineveh (Jonah 3) by prayer and repentance. No blood sacrifice. And G-d did change His mind about killing them.
"By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
But this is not the same as changing the Salvation plan. G-d says over and over again, that the commandments are: 1) Doable, attainable,Deut 30 2) Forever Psalms 111. Sacrificial system is returning Ezekiel 43 and following.
What you are essentially asking me to believe is that G-d gives us the Law at Mt Sinai....tells us we can do it (Deut 30) and then 1500 years later says...Sorry! You really cant do it! That was just to show you you need the god-man Jesus! Who is 100% god and 100% man! And who by the way is me! Even though I told you dozens of times I am alone, no other savior, no other name, I am really three-in-one! What kind of treacherous god is that! Gives you the law....tells you to keep it...tells you it is possible to keep it....and then says...nope sorry you cant do it!
This is not the G-d of Abraham, Issac, Jacob.
” Kiss the Son,lest he be angry with you and You perish in the way” Psalm 2
Thy throne O God is forever and ever, and a sceptre of Righteousness is the sceptre of thy Kingdom, thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity, therefore God, even thy God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness-ps45
Pr 30:4 Who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?
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The salvation plan from the begining has always involved substitutionary atonement, blood sacrafice, and every offering made in the Holy Temple, pointed to the only one who would come to fulfill these types. Cain’s bloodless sacrafice was rejected whereas Avel’s bloody sacrafice was accepted,
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ (Leviticus 17:11)
You are right, but I would add that true Christians are concerned that Jews (and non-Jews for that matter) are lost without Christ and without Him will be sentenced in Hell. I’m not sure what’s anti-Semitic (I know you’re not making that point) about praying someone is not sentenced to hell for eternity and will repent of their sins and put their trust in Christ.
True Christians especially love the Jews and Israel. It’s this love for them that there’s concern for their eternity. But it can’t be forced upon them or anyone for that matter.
Even Jesus in John 4:22 acknowledged that “...for salvation is of the Jews.”
Just for the record, my ancestors were Jewish.
what about Deuteronomy 32?
20 "I will hide my face from them," he said, "and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful.
21 They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.
Jesus is his Greek name....His name is Yeshua Ha Maisaich
Christ means the Annointed One.....
Omein! Omein!...Chag Shavuot, HaShem echad ushemo echad!
Just curious..You said: G-d can not introduce a new salvation program without making himself out to be a liar and a deciever. If G-d Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Alpha and the Omega, a G-d without end, cannot change his mind..Then he is a *Limited* G-d...Which would mean a more Powerful G-d could be out there.
You have made G-d into what you a mere human being should be...
If G-d changed the plans today for all Salvation he can..WHY because of who he is G-d who knows far more than you and me..
The Third temple will be built and either 2 things will happen..The Antichrist will fool many and declare himself to be G-d.
However Yeshua will come and all will understand, even the ones that put *limits* on G-d’s Power....
That is correct but in context it says dont eat the blood, it has no other use. It doesnt say that the blood is the "only" means of atonement.
10 " 'Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood—I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. 11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. 12 Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood."
G-d gives several non-blood means of atonement. For the poor a grain offering is sufficient, Lev 5:11
11 " 'If, however, he cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, he is to bring as an offering for his sin a tenth of an ephah [a] of fine flour for a sin offering. He must not put oil or incense on it, because it is a sin offering. 12 He is to bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful of it as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar on top of the offerings made to the LORD by fire. It is a sin offering. 13 In this way the priest will make atonement for him for any of these sins he has committed, and he will be forgiven. The rest of the offering will belong to the priest, as in the case of the grain offering.' "
Furthermore, Hashem knew that the Jewish people would be exiled without access to a temple sacrifice. Were these people to perish with no sacrifice? No.
Hosea 3 4For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
And Deut 28Deuteronomy 28:64 And the Lord shall scatter you among all people, from one end of the earth to the other;...
So what are the means of non-blood atonement then? Prayer, Repentance, Charity
1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams.
Prayer: Hosea 14:1 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. [2] Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive [us] graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
Repentance: Psalms 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give [it]: thou delightest not in burnt offering. [17] The sacrifices of G-d [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O G-d, thou wilt not despise.
Charity: Exodus 30:16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
Prayer and Fasting: Jonah 3:5 Jonah 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed G-d, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them....But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto G-d: ....And G-d saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and G-d repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Prayer and Repentance: 2 Chronicles 6:24 And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house; [25] Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers. [26] When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them; [27] Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel,....
2 Chronicles 6:36 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near; [37] Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly; [38] If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name: [39] Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee. [40] Now, my G-d, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
2 Chronicles 7:13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; [14] If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Prayer and Repentance: Jonah 3 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 9Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? 10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Over and over atonement, forgiveness, no blood sacrifice.
As more and more believers in Messiah Yeshua come to recognize that there is only one family of G-d and one Law for both Jew and Gentile, questions arise about how to walk out G-d’s Torah. First, let us state that we at Psalm119:18.org do not have all the answers.
Be cautious of anyone who claims that they do.
http://www.psalm11918.org/articles/54-getting-started-in-torah.html
And also the Eternal One of Israel will not lie nor change His mind; for he is not a man, that He should change His mind. (I Samuel 15:29)
And G-d many times tells us his Law and Covenant are forever. And as you can see, He doesnt lie or change His mind. It would be immoral for G-d to break his own law and go back on His word.
Josh Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.
Furthermore, sacrifices are returning. Ezekiel 44. And sacrifces will be made coninually. Jer 33 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
If jesus were the final sacrifice, why are sacrifices returning?
Jeremiah 31
31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to [d] them, [e] “
declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
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