Who was Balaam in the Bible?

A Midianite prophet who resided at Pethor, son of Beor or Bosor. He was hired by Balak king of Moab to curse Israel, but God compelled him to bless instead of curse His chosen people. Though he talked piously his heart was evidently set on getting the reward from Balak. Jude 11. The angel of Jehovah withstood him, and he was rebuked by his ass, yet he was allowed to go on his way. Num. 22, 23, 24; Deut. 23:4-5; Joshua 24:9-10. Though compelled by God to bless Israel, he most treacherously counselled Balak to seduce them by means of the Midianitish women, Num. 31:16; 2 Peter 2:15; Rev. 2:14, which led to their gross idolatry. Num. 25:1-2: see BAAL-PEOR. After Israel was punished for their sin, they were avenged on Moab, and among the slain was Balaam. In Joshua 13:22 he is called a soothsayer, and when he was with Balak he sought enchantments. In Num. 23:15 the words 'the LORD' are added by the translators. Num. 24:1 says that he went not then as at other times to meet enchantments. But he was overpowered by God. In the passages in the N.T. he is held up as an example of consummate wickedness and apostasy.

We read about Balaam in Numbers 22-25; 31:16; 2 Peter 2:15 -16 and Jude 11. There we learn that he was a hireling prophet that hired out to Balak, king of the Moabites, to curse the children of Israel because he loved the wages of unrighteousness. Failing in this, he gave counsel to seduce Israel into uniting with the Midianites and the Moabites and brought about the evil of Israel joining themselves unto Baal-peor and the judgment of God thereupon in the plague (Numbers 25; 31:16). He thus sought to break down Israel 's separation from the heathen nations and succeeded in measure in this by teaching Balak to put a stumbling-block before the children of Israel and caused them to eat things sacrificed unto idols and commit fornication.

Balak (waster) saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. He knew that the people had come out of Egypt . He was sore afraid; the fate of the Egyptians and Amorites seemed to foretell his own; his heart, therefore is filled with fear and hatred, and he desired to oppose and curse Israel . He allied himself with the elders of Midian. It is nothing less than the history of anti-Semitism in a nutshell. Gentile nations, Christian in name, still hate and fear the people whom no Pharaoh and no soothsayer could overcome, a people disobedient, judged and suffering, still always conquering. Like Balak, opposing Gentile nations and kingdoms will yet rise in fear and hatred against Israel before Israel 's coming King will sweep them aside, and what Balak heard from the prophet's lips in his day--the complete destruction of the world-powers by the appearing of the glorious king of Jeshurum--will be the fate of these nations. Balak sends for Balaam, a prophet and a soothsayer. Who was Balaam? His name is a terrible one, "the devourer of people"; his father, Beor, "the consumer"; his native place, Pethor, meaning "interpretation." He must have known Jehovah to some extent, for he asked of Him and God answered his request. At the same time he was known for his skill in cursing nations and for his readiness for gold and silver to destroy them by his powerful spells. He may have practiced his soothsaying for many years, becoming rich by it, when, probably, one day he heard of Jehovah, who had done such great things for and among the wandering nation. Most likely for selfish reasons he sought God, like Simon, the sorcerer, who offered the apostles money for the power to heal the sick, thus Balaam may have desired the acquaintance of God, seeking revelations from Him for the sake of gain, and Jehovah revealed Himself to him. It is very significant that Balaam is mentioned in that important prophetic Epistle of Jude, where he stands as a type of the great apostasy at the end of this age. Balak, the representative of the anti-Semitic world-powers, and Balaam, the half hearted prophet, a type of apostate Christendom, forming an alliance against Israel .

Balak, king of the Moabites, it is who, alarmed at the victories of the Israelites, sends for Balaam to curse the people. "Balak" seems to mean "waster," a name in designed contrast, as it would appear, with his genealogy, being but ben-Zippor, "son of a sparrow." What grandiloquent titles do men assume to cover their real insignificance! and how much more do they glory in power for destruction, — in being a Caesar or a Napoleon, — than in the angels' message of peace and good will! Balaam the son of Beor answers to this Balak as in all respects a fit associate. He is a "devourer of the people," son of the "consumer," sought for his skill in cursing, and ready for a bribe to destroy a nation out of hand. No doubt he professes fealty to Jehovah, but without real knowledge of Him, as his acts plainly show. In his efforts to destroy the people of God, it cannot be even pleaded that he hates them: he would only destroy them in cool blood for gain.

Nowhere in the Bible does he get a good name. Balaam is altogether a complex character; very difficult to understand! He seems to have had a knowledge of God however perverted it may have been. Balak's plan was to hire the services of Balaam to put a curse upon the armies of Israel. Balak was in no doubt as to the latter's ability. Just listen to what he says: 'Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed' (Numbers 22:6). We are now able to see what a devilish scheme was being worked out.

As to what he was, the New Testament amply interprets it for us: 1 Peter 2 describes the “false teachers” which were to rise up among Christians by the “false prophets” of the Old Testament; and, as prominent among these “false prophets,” he names Balaam (v.15-16). Again, Jude, in warning Christians about the awful condition of things, and the character of some in Christendom preceding the return of our Lord, mentions Balaam alongside with Cain and Core (v.11). Once more he is mentioned in Rev.2:14.

He saw his only hopeful resource to be in a man who had a reputation of great success in occult practices, Balaam, the son of Beor. Balak sent messengers to Balaam to urge him to come and put a curse upon the people who had come from Egypt, so that Balak might be able to defeat them and drive them out of his land. For he said he understood that both Balaam's blessings and his curses were effective (v.6). Balaam was clearly dependent on satanic power, though he evidently did not realize this himself unless he knew he was guilty of deliberate deception.

Balaam, we know, was a thoroughly wicked man. (See Rev. 2:14; 2 Peter 2:15-16; Jude 11.) Nothing could exceed the wickedness and perverseness of his ways. And yet he is called a prophet; as it is said, "Who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet." We know that he was acquainted with and used enchantments (chap. 24:1); and yet, when he comes to Balak, he says, "Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say anything? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak," chap. 22:38. Balak was looking for the power of evil against the children of Israel, God's people; and yet looking for it from God; chap. 23:27. There was a sort of looking to the power and intervention of God, although God was not known; and thus all was confusion.

The history of Balaam is most solemn. While it serves to bring out the sovereign grace of God, it reveals also the elements of religious corruption which prevail in the last days. Satan, powerless to prevail against the saints of God by open hostility, will corrupt. In Balaam we have the character of that which corrupts. There was a knowledge of God - he had this, he even says "Jehovah my God." (Num. 22:18.) He called Israel's God his God, but his heart was exercised with covetous practices, he "loved the wages of unrighteousness." This is the character also given to Judas by Peter. (Acts 1:18.) Thirty pieces of silver were "the reward of iniquity" given to the man who said to Jesus, "Hail, Master!" Both these men describe a feature of religious apostasy which at last perishes in its own corruption.

Balaam evidently had a great name among men, for Balak had said, "for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed"; but before God he was perverse, self-willed, covetous, and an enemy of His people. There was great religious pretension, the claim to be a servant of the true God, but he was a wicked and foolish man, his foolishness being exposed and rebuked by "the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice". It is not difficult to distinguish the same features in some today who, though appearing great in the eyes of men, are nevertheless perverse, rebellious and foolish.