The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 70: The Offense of Balaam (2022)

Episode Date: March 11, 2022

Fr. Mike dives into the character of Balaam, and why his offense was so treacherous towards his relationship with God. Today's readings are Numbers 22, Deuteronomy 23, and Psalm 105. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 70, and so we are reading today from Numbers chapter 22 and Deuteronomy chapter 23. We'll also be praying through Psalm 105.

As always, I am using the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year, and you you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And you can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. As I said, it is day 70 and we are reading from Numbers 22, Deuteronomy 23, and we're praying Psalm 105.

The book of Numbers chapter 22, Balak Summons Balaam Then the sons of Israel set out, and encamped in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan, at Jericho. And Balak, the son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the sons of Israel, and Moab said to the elders of Midian, This horde will now lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licks up grass in the field. So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at the time, sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor of Pithor, which is near the river, in the land of Emma, to call him, saying, Behold, a people

has come out of Egypt. they cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed. So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and they gave him Balak's message. And he said to them, lodge here this night and I will bring back word to you as the Lord speaks to me. So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. And God came to Balaam and said, who are these men

with you? And Balaam said to God, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out. God said to Balaam, You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed. So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you. So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, Balaam refuses to come with us. Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam

and said to him, Thus says Balak, the son of Zippor, Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me. But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, 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. Please now, tarry here this night also, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me. And God came to Balaam at night and said, If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them, but only what I bid you, that shall you do. Balaam, his donkey, and the angel. So Balaam rose in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey to turn her into the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood

in a narrow path between the vineyards with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall, so he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? And Balaam said to the donkey, Because you have made sport of me, I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you. And the donkey said to Balaam, Am I not your donkey, upon which you have ridden all your

life long to this day? Was I ever accustomed to do so to you? And he said, No. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed his head and fell on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why have you struck your donkey these three times?

Behold, I have come forth to withstand you, because your way is perverse before me. And the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have slain you and let her live. Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will go back again. And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam,

go with the men, but only the word which I bid you, that shall you speak. So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak. When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab on the boundary formed by the Arnon at the extremity of the boundary. And Balak said to Balaam, Did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you? Balaam said to Balak, Behold,

I have come to you. Have I now any power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak. Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath Hussath. And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam and to the princes who were with him. The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 23. Exclusion from the Assembly. He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. No bastard shall enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord. No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

Even to the tenth generation, none belonging to them shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Baor from Pithor of Mesopotamia to curse you. Nevertheless, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you. You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever. Sanitary, ritual, and humanitarian precepts. When you go forth against your enemies and are in camp, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. If there is among you any man who is not clean by reason of

a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come within the camp, but when evening comes on, he shall bathe himself in water, and when the sun is down, he may come within the camp. You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it, and you shall have a stick with your weapons. When you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it, and turn back and cover up your excrement. Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to save you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. You shall not give up to his master, a slave, who has escaped from his master to you.

He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place which he shall choose within one of your towns, where it pleases him best, you shall not oppress him. There shall be no cult prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a cult prostitute of the sons of Israel. You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God. You shall not lend upon interest to your brother, interest on money, interest on victuals, interest on anything that is lent for interest. To a foreigner you may lend upon interest, but to your brother you shall not lend upon interest,

that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not be slack to pay it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin in you. But if you refrain from vowing, it shall be no sin in you. You shall be careful to perform what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth. When you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your vessel. When you go into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain.

Psalm 105, God's Faithfulness to Israel Seek the Lord, rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his presence continually. Remember the wonderful works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered. O offspring of Abraham his servant, sons of Jacob his chosen ones, he is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. He is mindful of his covenant forever,

of the word that he has commanded for a thousand generations. The covenant which he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance. When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it, wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, he allowed no one to oppress them. He rebuked kings on their account, saying, Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm. When he summoned a famine on the land, and broke every staff of bread, he had sent a man ahead of

them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. His feet were hurt with shackles. His neck was put in a collar of iron. Until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. The king sent and released him. The ruler of the peoples set him free. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions, to instruct his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom. Then Israel came to Egypt. Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham, and the Lord made his people very fruitful. He made them stronger than their foes. He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants. He sent Moses his servant and Aaron whom he had chosen. They wrought his signs among them

and miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made the land dark. They rebelled against his words. He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke and there came swarms of flies and gnats throughout their country. He gave them hail for rain and lightning that flashed through the land. He struck their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country. He spoke, and the locusts came, and young locusts without number which devoured all the vegetation in their land and ate up the fruit of their ground. He struck all the firstborn in their land, ate up the fruit of their ground. He struck all the firstborn in their land, the first issue of all their strength. Then he led forth Israel with silver

and gold, and there was none among his tribes who stumbled. Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it. He spread a cloud for covering and fire to give light by night. They asked, and he brought quails and gave them bread from heaven in abundance. He opened the rock and water gushed forth. It flowed through the desert like a river, for he remembered his holy promise and Abraham, his servant. So he led forth his people with joy, his chosen ones with singing, and he gave them the lands of the nations. And they took possession of the fruit of other people's toil to the end that they should

keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the Lord. Father in heaven, we give you praise and we do praise you, Lord God in heaven, because you are good and you are true and you are just. You are just and right in all your ways. And we continually affirm that truth. Even Lord, when we are unfaithful, you are faithful. This is a common refrain. So we give you praise because you are truth itself. You are justice itself and you are mercy. You are love. Let us be loved. Let us live in your justice. Let us walk in your truth and dwell in your peace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. So we have the story. This is so incredible. I love how all of these readings kind of coincide right now, right? Even Psalm 105 that we just got done praying is a recap of what the Lord had done with Abraham Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and through Moses and leading the people through the wilderness and feeding them with quail and feeding them with manna. It's this great recap, as well as the fact that in Deuteronomy chapter 23, we got to hear about Balaam, the son of Beor from Pithor, Mesopotamia, and how God would not listen to Balaam. We're going to get that in the next couple chapters because Balaam is going to open his mouth because he's been hired to curse the people of Israel, but instead he will speak blessings upon the people of Israel, which is a remarkable thing

for so many reasons that are going to be unfolded for us in the days to come. But one of the things that I really want to emphasize right now is this, that this mysterious character, he's not very mysterious. There's some mysterious characters in the Bible, but Balaam, Balaam is this soothsayer essentially. You know, he sees someone that is recognized by the people in that area as being someone who has some kind of spiritual connection. And clearly scripture keeps saying that God is talking to Balaam.

But Balaam, since the Lord said, no, do not curse these people. They are my people. He says, no, originally. But then what happens? The king of Moab, he amps up Balak. He amps up the whole price. He says, I'll offer you more money and even more honorable people will come to you. Like impressive people will come to invite you to do this thing. And so that's when Balaam seems to have God's permission. Like, yeah, if it seems well with you, go ahead to do this thing. And so that's when Balaam seems to have God's permission. Like, yeah, if it seems well with you, go ahead and do this. But God has already let him know. God has already told him, no, don't do that. You'll only say what I want to say. And I'm not going to curse

my own people. But this is such an interesting thing because as this story unfolds in the next couple of days, Balaam is going to, as I said, he's going to speak blessings. But what we see is we see this story of Balaam who is impressed by the powerful, he's impressed by the impressive people sent by Balak. And then they spoken to by his donkey. It's his donkey that saves his life, which is so strange for us because we're following this story in numbers and all of a sudden we have a talking donkey and it can stop us and we think like, wait, is this Shrek? What is happening right now? But what's happening truly is a miracle. And we have no idea how this worked. Was his mouth moving? Was it just a voice coming from inside this donkey? However this happened.

And it even seems like Balaam is not even impressed, overly impressed initially when the talk, he talks to him because he's so mad that he says, I'm going to kill you. And yet this miracle that happens, that gets spoken about by the early church fathers is so interesting that even like St. Ambrose is an example. St. Ambrose says that the angel is revealed, but not to Balaam. He says, what offense does Balaam commit except that he said one thing and plotted another? That's the thing, is that Balaam was going to take money. He was impressed by impressive people, and he said one thing and plotted another.

It goes on. Ambrose says, this is in the fourth century, for God seeks out the pure vessel, one not corrupted by impurity and squalor. Balaam was tested, therefore, but he was found, not found acceptable before he was full of lies and guile. You know, this is actually something that happens later on in the New Testament. In 2 Peter chapter 2, Peter writes, and he says about some people, he says, they have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam, son of Baor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But he was rebuked for his iniquity. A dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the And it's just what a gift.

In fact, even in the letter of Jude, it calls the error of Balaam is for profit. And so one of the things that we realize is what's going on underneath all of this is Balaam is willing to sell himself and sell his soul, essentially, for money, for influence, for fame, for power. And that can be our temptation as well. And so today, as we kind of journey with the people of Israel, it's so good because, man, as Balaam is going to be blessing the people of Israel, we're going to find out something that is so incredible about the very people that he's blessing in that moment that, man,

it's going to blow your socks off. It's going to be pretty incredible. But that's for days to come. Keep praying for each other. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow and continue this journey with you. God bless.