In this week’s study from Parashat Balak (Bamidbar / Numbers 22:2-38) Balak king of Moab saw what the children of Yisrael had done to the Amorites and both he and the people of Moab were afraid being very anxious about Yisrael’s presence. As a result, Balak asks for help from a man called Bilam. Now Bilam was well known according to Balak saying: כִּי יָדַעְתִּי אֵת אֲשֶׁר-תְּבָרֵךְ מְבֹרָךְ וַאֲשֶׁר תָּאֹר יוּאָר meaning ‘For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.’ (22:6). It is interesting that Bilam was in contact with (hearing from) the Lord as we see in the repeated references that God said not to go with the men of Balak. Eventually, at the persistence of Balak, Bilam goes with the men and God’s anger burned against Bilam. Then Angel of the Lord stood in the way of Bilam’s donkey to slay him. Bilam is very persistent; three times Bilam turns to continue on his way being unaware that his life is in eminent danger. How often do you think we walk in eminent danger if we are not walking and living in God’s Word? Think about this for a moment. Last week, Moshe and Aharon failed to remain in God’s Word and they failed to sanctify the Name of God (Bamidbar / Numbers 20). In this week’s study, Bilam failed to remain in God’s Word and if it wasn’t for the mercy of God, Bilam would have died. Today, do we take our walk, our faith, and our relationship with God seriously enough? What about prayer; do we understand prayer according to the Bible or do we understand prayer like Bilam understood prayer? Parashat Balak _2010-2011_
