Seder 119: Numbers 22---Some Clues for Evaluating Balaam

 Balaam, the renowned ancient diviner/sorcerer, is one of the most enigmatic figures in the Bible.  On the one hand, his oracles bless the Israelites and present important prophecies.  On the other hand, he later helped the Midianites to tempt a number of Israelites to commit sexual immorality and idolatry in the infamous incident at Baal Peor (Num 25:1-9; 31:16).

Commentator Michael Morales observes that ancient Jewish and Christian evaluations of Balaam are thoroughly negative, recognizing Balaam as one motivated primarily by greed (2 Pe 2:15-16; Jude 11; Pirke Avot 5:19).  Some more recent interpreters are kinder to Balaam, seeing him as a Gentile follower of the God of Israel who succumbed to temptation and fell away.  

Morales argues that a close reading of the text supports the ancients.  He brings up a number of telling points supporting a negative assessment of Balaam.  

First, consider what the Bible tells us about Balaam's occupation. Joshua describes him as "the one who practiced divination" (Josh 13:22), meaning that interpreted omens in order to predict the future.  This is an activity forbidden by the Torah (Dt 18:9-14), not one in which a true follower of God would engage.

Second, the narrator casts doubt upon the idea that Balaam has a relationship with the God of Israel, despite the fact that Balaam knows the name of the God of Israel (Num 22:8).  In the exchange between God and Balaam in Numbers 22:9-12, the narrator uses Elohim to refer to God, rather than his covenant name.  Verse 9 begins, "And God came to Balaam and said ..."  This is the same language used in Genesis when God comes to pagans at night and warns them not to harm his representatives (Ge 20:3; 31:24)

A third piece of evidence is Balaam's consistent desire to curse Israel.  After God makes his position on this issue unequivocally clear, Balaam fails to communicate this to Balak's envoys (Num 22:13-14).  Would a true follower of the God of Israel want Israel to be cursed?

Balaam makes some statements that sound pious on the surface, especially verse 18:  "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more."  

Here we should realize that disclaimers of this type were probably part of Balaam's usual sales pitch to potential clients.  When a customer came to Balaam asking him to curse nation X, this was really a request that Balaam persuade the god of nation X to curse nation X.  Balaam would probably acknowledge that in order for him to carry out such a request, the god of nation X would have to sign off on it.  Therefore, this wasn't really up to him.  He could only do what the god of nation X allowed, whoever that god was.  Numbers 22:18 does not imply that Balaam was a faithful follower of the God of Israel.  In fact, he hopes that he can persuade God to change his mind, as we see in verse 19 and throughout the rest of the narrative.  Again, this is not something that a follower of God would desire.

Seder 149: Deuteronomy 18---The Prophet(s) Like Moses

 Moses for forty years had been Israel's teacher, bringing revelation from God.  But what would happen after Moses died?  Moses addressed this subject in Deuteronomy 18:9-22.  

First, Moses made clear that Israel was not to follow the practices of the nations around them.  Other nations tried to manipulate deities, supernatural forces, or spirits of the dead to act in their favor.  But Israel was not to engage in any divinatory practices (Dt 18:9-14).  

Israel would have no need of such practices.  God cannot be manipulated, and Israel was to obey him, not try to control him.  Instead, Moses said, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers---it is to him you shall listen' (v. 15).  

Thinking about Moses and his role, being a prophet like Moses should include 

• a mediatorial role;
• access to God's presence;
• communication with God;
• being led by the Holy Spirit.

Moses also addressed the question of how to identify a true prophet of God (vv 20-22).  True prophets 

1. were loyal to God, not necessarily to a human leader (see e.g. 1 Ki 22);
2. gave messages consistent with the Torah;
3. spoke at God's initiative;
4. spoke only in God's name'
5. gave prophecies that were fulfilled;
6. had authenticating signs (see Ex 4:1-9);
7. were obedient to God (see Jer 29:12-13).

On the other hand, false prophets would come under divine judgment (Eze 13; 1 Ki 18; 2 Ki 10).

Israel indeed did go on to have a series of inspired prophets, including the anonymous prophets of Judges 6:7-10; 10:11-14; Samuel; Nathan; Elijah; Elisha; and the authors of the Bible's prophetic books.  

In some sense, though, all of them fell short of Moses, who had an especially close relationship with God (Num 12:6-8).  Deuteronomy 18:15-18 came to be understood as a prediction that the line of prophets described there would culminate in one great prophet, the Messiah.  We see this interpretation in Deuteronomy 34:10-12, which was apparently written some centuries after Moses.  The book of Deuteronomy ends with the assertion that the ultimate "prophet like Moses" had not yet arrived.  

Kevin Chen points out that there are hints in Deut 18:15-18 that this is a messianic prophecy.  One is the statement that God would "raise up" this prophet (vv 15, 18).  The same language is used in other prophecies that are clearly messianic, like 2 Samuel 7:22 and Jeremiah 23:5; 30:9.  This language hints at the idea that this special prophet would be "raised up" from the dead.   

During the Second Temple Period, a tradition arose in some Jewish circles that inspired prophecy had ceased in Israel (1 Macc 4:46; 14:41), and that the next inspired prophet would be the Messiah.  In the New Testament there are references to Deuteronomy 18:15-18 as a messianic prophecy (Jn 6:1-14; Ac 3:11-26).  In the first century people were hoping for the fulfillment of this prophecy, and the first Christians believed that it was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.

Seder 81: Lev 10:1-7---Nadab and Abihu

 Shortly after worship at the tabernacle began (presumably the same day), disaster struck.  Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu "each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them" (Lev 10:1).  Fire from God then quickly killed them (v 2).  

There are different possibilities for what the sin of Nadab and Abihu might have been.  The phrase "which I had not commanded them", the first-person version of the phrase "which he had not commanded them" in verse 1, occurs elsewhere in divine warnings against idolatry (Deut 18:20; Jer 7:31; 19:5), which raises the possibility that the "unauthorized fire" was connected with a pagan worship practice. 

Commentator Richard Hess finds further clues for this possibility in the names of the sons of Aaron.  Abihu means "he is my father," and Aaron was the one responsible for the golden calf (Exod 32:2-5).  Later the idolatrous Jeroboam would name his sons Nadab and Abijah (1 Kings 14).  

Hess also points out some extrabiblical evidence in a thirteenth-century B.C. clay tablet from Emar, an ancient Syrian city.  This tablet, designated number 369, describes a week-long ordination ritual for a priestess of the storm god Addu.  At the end of the week, a procession led the priestess to her new home in the temple of Addu.  Significantly, the procession included a torchbearer bringing fire to the temple.  Perhaps Nadab and Abihu were bringing pagan elements into the Israelite ceremony through their unauthorized fire.  

The Hebrew word for "unauthorized" in Lev 10:1 also appears in Exodus 30:9 in connection with incense offered at the tabernacle.  The same word appears in 2 Kings 19:24 in reference to the "foreign" waters of Egypt.  The incense that Nadab and Abihu offered could have differed from the prescribed type.  

There are two further clues in Leviticus.  In Lev 10:9, God specifies that priests not drink while on duty.  This suggests that Nadab and Abihu may have been operating under impaired judgment caused by the consumption of alcohol.  

Then in Lev 16:1-2, God gives the instruction that priests were not to enter the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle or temple, except for the high priest on the Day of Atonement.  The instruction is connected in the narrative to the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, suggesting that Nadab and Abihu may have entered the Most Holy Place with their censers.

Whatever the precise details of their infraction, their punishment sent the strong message that Israel needed to worship God on his terms.  In the initial stages of some phase of his plan, God may exercise severity to keep his program on track and guide a community in the right direction.  The punishments given to Achan (Joshua 7) and to Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) are further examples of this pattern.

Aaron, of course, would have been shocked by what happened.  Lev 10:3 says that Aaron "held his peace," a response for which he usually is viewed favorably.  Aaron and his remaining sons were forbidden from visibly mourning in this instance.  For a high priest, mourning any death was out of the question (Lev 21:10-12).  An ordinary priest normally could mourn for a close relative (Lev 21:1-3), but that was not allowed in this case.  Commentator Gordon Wenham observes that it would have been  detrimental to the spiritual health of the whole community if the family were to imply in any way that they condoned the sins of Nadab and Abihu or disagreed with God's judgment.

Seder 20 Sermon: Five Questions About Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael

On Aug 1, 2020, Rob Wilson preached a sermon at Church of the Messiah addressing five questions raised by the Genesis account of the life of the patriarch Abraham.  

The first is the question of child sacrifice, which God does not allow (Deut 18:10).  Why, then, did God test Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen 22:2)?  Rob suggested that God wanted to teach something about the ultimate sacrifice that would later be made on the cross.  Also, Abraham had earlier resorted to human schemes to try to help carry out God's promises (Gen 16), but proved in Gen 22 that he had come to trust God enough to give up trying to do God's work for him.  

The second is the myth that hostility between Jews and Arabs goes all the way back to the days of Isaac and Ishmael.  Though there was antagonism between Sarah and Hagar (Gen 16:4-7; 21:9-10), Abraham remained close to Hagar and Ishmael, and we know that Isaac and Ishmael got together after Abraham's death to bury their father (Gen 25:9).  Hostility between Jews and Arabs dates back only to the founding of Islam in the seventh century AD.  

The third is the tendency to equate Arabs and Muslims.  But most Muslims are not Arabs, and some Arabs are not Muslims.  

The fourth is the question of how people hear from God.  Sometimes such communication is direct, other times more indirect---e.g., through human instruments.  In general, we should be slow to judge claims about whether a particular message comes from a divine source.

The fifth is the question of Abraham's striking silence in Gen 22.  The Bible does not tell us about Abraham asking any questions after God directs him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering.  Should Abraham be admired for his willingness to obey or questioned for his apparent lack of interaction with God in this situation?  This is another question that is difficult to answer, and people at Church of the Messiah have been contemplating it since Dr. Richard Middleton lectured on the subject in Dayton two years ago.  

Pentecost 2020 sermon: God Speaks

In his Pentecost sermon on May 30, Rob Wilson explained that just as God spoke to the Israelites at Mt Sinai, and to the world through Jesus, God still speaks to his people today through his Word and his Spirit.

Referring to Deut 4:29, Rob noted that God is not hard to find.  He said that God speaks to us

• when we allow him to speak.
• when we are ready to listen.
• when he wants us to do something.  

Moses, near the end of his life, prophesied the coming of a future Prophet, the Messiah, and instructed readers to be sure to listen to that Prophet (Deut 18:15-19).  That Prophet still speaks to us today.