https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/StoryOfBalaam.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Numbers 22:22-35 <\/p>\n
I. Background<\/p>\n A. As the children of Israel left their wanderings in the wilderness and move towards\nthe promised land, they had to cross through the territories of a few countries.\n 1. The leaders of these countries were nervous to have such a large mass of\npeople (a few million) move through their land.\n 2. The Amorites not only refused passage, they sent their warriors after the\npeople.\n a. They were soundly defeated by the Israelites and the Israelites took\nover their land.\n
3. The king of Bashan also tried to stop the Israelites and was defeated<\/p>\n
B. The Israelites were now on the borders of Moab.<\/p>\n 1. The king of Moab was terrified. They knew what happened to the other\ncountries. They feared that they were next.\n
II. The king, whose name was Balak, remembered there was a prophet in his land<\/p>\n
A. Read Numbers 22:5-6<\/p>\n 1. Balaam had a good reputation. Those he cursed failed. Those he praised\nprospered.\n 2. King Balak wanted a curse put on the people of Israel. He sent the\nstandard fee for a diviner.\n 3. God appeared to Balaam that night and told him that he was not to go with\nthe men, nor could he curse the Israelites.\n B. Balak sent princes of the country to plead that Balaam come. He also offered hints\nof rich reward.\n 1. Balaam stated well that even for all of Balak’s wealth, he could only do as\nthe Lord commands.\n
2. However, he asks the men to say the night while he talked to God again.<\/p>\n
3. This time, God said he may go, but he must follow God’s instructions.<\/p>\n
III. However, Balaam was in mortal danger – Numbers 22:22-35<\/p>\n
A. God was furious with Balaam for going.<\/p>\n B. The incident with the angel and the donkey reinforce God’s command to follow\nonly His directions.\n
C. Eventually, Balaam tries four times to stand up and curse the Israelites.<\/p>\n
1. Each time, instead of a curse, God puts a blessing in Balaam’s mouth.<\/p>\n
2. He could not override God.<\/p>\n
D. However, Balaam does give Balak a suggestion that turns God against Israel.<\/p>\n
1. Numbers 31:16 – Balaam told Moabites “if you can’t beat them join them.”<\/p>\n
2. They offered the Israelites sex, wine, and entertainment – Numbers 25:1-3<\/p>\n
3. For this Balaam eventually lost his life – Numbers 31:8<\/p>\n
IV. Why did God turn against Balaam?<\/p>\n
A. First off, Balaam did not listen to God<\/p>\n 1. After God clearly stated he may not curse the Israelites, he went back\nanyway to ask again.\n 2. God let him go, not because He changed his mind, but to prove His\nsovereignty.\n B. Despite the direct command and the incident with the angel, Balaam could not take\na hint – Deuteronomy 23:5\n
1. Balaam tried four times to curse Israel and failed.<\/p>\n
2. God changed his attempts to blessings.<\/p>\n
C. Balaam’s weakness was money – II Peter 2:15<\/p>\n
1. The reason Balaam kept trying was the money<\/p>\n 2. For money, Balaam was willing to oppose the God of heaven, who gave\nhim his job in the first place!\n
V. Application<\/p>\n A. Balaam’s story is interesting, but not as interesting as it would be if it means\nsomething to you personally.\n
B. Many of us believe in the providence of God<\/p>\n
1. God will make things work for those who love him<\/p>\n 2. We ask God for something and when it appears, we assume God answered\nour prayers.\n
C. God answered Balaam’s prayer, just as Balaam hoped during that second visit.<\/p>\n
1. But Balaam was sinning!<\/p>\n 2. Why, because Balaam didn’t ask according to God’s will. Balaam had\nchosen money over God. He was just looking for God to back him up.\n
3. Balaam turned his back on God, so God gave him what he was looking for.<\/p>\n
D. We can do the same thing!<\/p>\n 1. If we ask God for something that we know is wrong, God many just grant\nthat prayer. Why? Because we have already chosen against God.\n
2. II Thessalonians 2:9-12<\/p>\n
a. Why is God deluding these people?<\/p>\n
b. Because they did not believe the truth<\/p>\n
c. Because they enjoyed doing what was wrong<\/p>\n
3. God’s providence only applies to those who seek to do God’s will<\/p>\n
E. Ultimately, we could become like the Gentile society in Romans 1:24,26,28<\/p>\n
1. God gave the people over to the unclean acts that they were seeking after.<\/p>\n 2. He gave the people the things they desired, even though it was against His\nwill.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Numbers 22:22-35 I. Background A. As the children of Israel left their wanderings in the wilderness and move towards the promised land, they had to cross through the territories of a few countries. 1. The leaders of these countries were nervous to have such a large mass of people (a few million) move…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[700,548,549,1510],"class_list":["post-11644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-balaam","tag-coveting","tag-greed","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":85465,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/balaams-talking-donkey\/","url_meta":{"origin":11644,"position":0},"title":"Balaam\u2019s Talking Donkey","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Michael Ray Baggett Have you ever watched the movie Francis the Talking Mule? Have you ever watched the old TV classic Mr. Ed about a talking horse? These were entertaining shows, even though they were unrealistic. But hold on! The Bible tells us about a prophet whose donkey really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0025-6-300x228.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":93879,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-way-of-balaam\/","url_meta":{"origin":11644,"position":1},"title":"The Way of Balaam","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier via Read the Bible, Make Disciples Peter's descriptions of the false teachers in II Peter 2 are as creative as they are intense. We could spend pages and pages walking through each description. However, I want to home in on one allusion. This reference highlights the slippery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89428,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lessons-we-need-from-balaam-and-his-donkey\/","url_meta":{"origin":11644,"position":2},"title":"Lessons We Need from Balaam and His Donkey","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Richard Blackford It begins with Balak, the Moabite king, who was fearful of the Israelites moving through his territory on their way to the Promised Land. He sent for Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet and diviner, to bribe him to pronounce a curse on the Israelites. Concerning the donkey, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/jackass-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29598,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-god-speaking-through-balaams-donkeys-mouth\/","url_meta":{"origin":11644,"position":3},"title":"Was God speaking through Balaam’s donkey’s mouth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Numbers 22-24 (I think) the one guy's donkey starts talking because God opened the donkey's mouth, but does that mean that God is talking through the donkey, or did God just show the donkey how to talk? Answer: \"Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4071,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-gave-what-of-balaam-the-ability-to-speak\/","url_meta":{"origin":11644,"position":4},"title":"God gave what of Balaam the ability to speak?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God gave the _____ of Balaam the ability to speak. Answer: \"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 abused\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28753,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-inspiration-change-a-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":11644,"position":5},"title":"Does Inspiration Change a Man?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Samuel 6:1-12 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A common teaching among the denominations is that a person cannot come to know God unless the Spirit of God enters in to change his outlook. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It comes from a basic belief that man is born corrupt from the sin of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}