NUMBERS 22
The reports of Israel’s victories brought fear to Balak. He knew that the army of Israel could never be defeated by human means because the Jews were God’s people and the battle was a spiritual one. That is why he asked Balaam to curse the nation. Our battle today is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness, and we will win the victory only if we use spiritual weapons (Eph. 6:10–18;
Balaam was a hireling prophet who finally succumbed to the pressure of greater honor and more money. He was willing to look at things “from another viewpoint” in hopes he could find a loophole in the revealed will of God. It is a dangerous thing to bargain over the will of God. Using one’s gifts to make money is “the way of Balaam” (2 Pet. 2:15–16), a sin that God condemns.
Thomas Merton has said that “the greatest evil is found where the greatest good has been corrupted.” And Paul warned, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). Balaam and Judas Iscariot know how true this is!