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Numbers 22-24: Balaam and His Donkey

About This Episode

What is the story of Balaam's donkey really about? God's plan has always been to bless his people, and he does that here through a pagan sorcerer. How does this point us to Jesus? Seth and David talk about how this is one of their favorite parts of the Torah and how it is all about Jesus in this special (live from Kansas City) episode of the podcast.

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Balaam, His Donkey, and the Star Rising Out of Israel: Numbers 22–24

Show Notes

David Bowden and Seth Stewart open this episode of the Spoken Gospel podcast recording late at night from Seth's basement in Kansas City, catching up after Seth's recent move. They dive into one of the most extraordinary and overlooked stories in the Bible—the story of Balaam, his talking donkey, and the prophetic blessings that point far beyond the wilderness to the coming of Jesus.

The Weight of Numbers and God's Unshakeable Intention to Bless

The book of Numbers has been heavy. Beginning at Sinai, an entire generation of Israelites set out toward the promised land only to immediately disobey. From the mixed multitude to the people of Israel themselves, from the priesthood all the way to Moses, every layer of the community has fallen into a cycle of disobedience, judgment, and intercession. Thousands upon thousands have died in the wilderness, and the heaviness of God's judgment can make a reader feel like that is the whole story.

But it is not. God's intention from the Garden has always been to bless his people. He blessed Adam and Eve with the command to be fruitful and multiply. He promised Abraham that those who bless his descendants would be blessed and those who curse them would be cursed (Genesis 12). He blessed Jacob. He distinguished between the older and younger generations of Israel so that his blessing could continue through the younger—echoing the pattern throughout Genesis where the younger son, not the older, receives the promise. So when Balaam appears at the very end of the wilderness wanderings, his oracles act like a hinge that swings the narrative from judgment back to God's original purpose: blessing for a new generation entering a new land.

Balaam the Mercenary Prophet and the God Who Cannot Be Bartered With

As Israel approaches the promised land, they have already defeated two powerful surrounding nations. Balak, king of Moab, is terrified. He hires the most famous prophet in the ancient Near East—Balaam, son of Beor, a figure so well known that inscriptions bearing his name have been found in Jordan. Balaam is a mercenary sorcerer, a man who communes with spiritual beings for a living, cuts open animals for omens, and reads the spiritual tea leaves. He is a pagan through and through, and Balak wants him to weaponize his gift by cursing Israel.

What makes this story so striking is that Balaam presumes he can approach Yahweh the way he approaches every other deity—through bargaining, through divination, through transaction. He even uses God's personal, covenant name (Yahweh) when he tells Balak's envoys to wait overnight while he consults "the Lord." But when Yahweh actually speaks to him, the experience is categorically different from anything Balaam has encountered before. God does not negotiate. He simply commands: "Do not go with them." And Balaam, for the first time in what we can imagine is a long career of spiritual deal-making, obeys without argument. When Balak sends a more impressive delegation with more money, Balaam insists he would not go even if Balak filled an entire house with silver. Yet God then tells Balaam he may go—but only to speak what God commands. Balaam sets out, and immediately God's anger burns against him, not because he went, but because of what was happening inside his heart. Later in Scripture—in Numbers 31, in the New Testament, and in the book of Revelation—Balaam is revealed as the one who leads Israel into idol worship. His allegiance was never truly to Yahweh; it was to profit. God saw through the external obedience and responded accordingly.

The Talking Donkey: A Biblical Comedy That Foreshadows Everything

The famous story of Balaam's talking donkey is meant to be read as comedy—ironic, subversive, and deeply purposeful. As Balaam rides toward Moab, an angel of Yahweh stands in the road with a drawn sword. The donkey sees the angel and veers off the path. Balaam, the renowned seer, sees nothing. Three times the donkey tries to save Balaam's life, and three times Balaam beats the animal in frustration. Then the donkey opens its mouth and speaks, and the most absurd detail of all is that Balaam does not even flinch at a talking animal. He just argues with it as if this were completely ordinary.

The humor here is intentional and layered. The chief sorcerer of the ancient world, the man whose entire reputation rests on his ability to see the spiritual realm, is spiritually blinder than a donkey. This is what Paul would later describe as God using the foolish things of the world to shame the proud (1 Corinthians 1:27). But the comedy also serves as literary foreshadowing. Just as the donkey refused to curse-ward three times despite Balaam's beating, Balaam himself will refuse to curse Israel three times despite Balak's escalating pressure. Balak becomes the new Balaam—frantically trying to force a different outcome from someone who simply cannot give it. And just as the donkey finally speaks unbidden in a miraculous way, Balaam's fourth oracle comes unbidden, unprompted by Balak, when the Holy Spirit fills him and he prophesies about a future king.

The donkey story also mirrors Israel's own relationship with God. God has been carrying his people like a beast of burden through the wilderness, guiding them toward blessing, and they have been beating him the whole way—complaining, rebelling, demanding to go back to Egypt. The donkey's plea to Balaam echoes through the whole biblical narrative: "What have I done to deserve this? Have I not carried you faithfully all these years?" It is a question that will find its ultimate expression when Jesus stands before his accusers and asks them to point out his fault.

Balak as a New Pharaoh: Three Curses Turned to Blessing

The parallels between Balak and Pharaoh are striking and intentional. Both are powerful kings. Both are terrified by Israel's numbers. Both try three times to counteract God's blessing, and both fail. Pharaoh first imposed slave masters to crush Israel's growth. Then he commanded the midwives to kill the male babies. Then he ordered all the babies thrown into the Nile. Each attempt backfired: the people multiplied under oppression, the midwives defied the order because the women were "too vigorous," and the very waters meant for death produced Moses—whose name means "drawn out of the water."

Balaam's three oracles correspond to these three failures in remarkable detail. His first blessing addresses Israel's numbers—the very thing Balak feared—declaring that no one can count the dust of Jacob. His second blessing addresses Israel's strength and vigor, comparing them to a lion and a wild ox, the very image Balak himself had used to describe his dread. His third blessing, now spoken under the power of the Holy Spirit rather than through pagan omens, declares that Israel's seed shall rise from many waters—the same waters of Death that were meant to destroy them.

This literary architecture frames the entire wilderness period as a bookend. At the beginning, a great king tried to undo God's blessing and failed, and out of that failure Moses arose. At the end, another great king tries to undo God's blessing and fails, and out of that failure a figure even greater than Moses is prophesied. The theological point is staggering in its consistency: what humanity intends for evil, God intends for good (Genesis 50:20). From Pharaoh's genocide to Balak's hired curse to the crowd chanting "Crucify him," the pattern holds. Every attempt to curse God's people becomes the very mechanism through which God delivers his deepest blessing.

The Star of Judah: A Prophecy That Can Only Be About Jesus

Balaam's fourth oracle is the crown jewel of the entire passage and one of the most extraordinary prophecies in all of Scripture. Unasked by Balak, filled with the Holy Spirit, Balaam declares, "I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. It shall crush the forehead of Moab" (Numbers 24:17). In this single oracle, Balaam draws together the threads of the entire Torah. He echoes Genesis 3:15—the promised seed who will crush the head of the serpent. He echoes the blessings of Genesis 49, where Judah is described as a lion. He echoes Genesis 27 and 12, where blessing and cursing are tied to God's covenant people.

The image of a "star" rising out of Jacob is itself loaded with meaning. In the ancient Near East, stars were understood as divine, heavenly beings. For a star to rise out of a human nation is to describe a figure who is both divine and human—a god-man, a heavenly being emerging from the line of Israel. He carries a scepter, the symbol of kingship, and he will rule not just over Moab but over nations that do not yet exist. Balaam references Kittim, Asher, and Eber—names that most scholars associate with Rome and Babylon, empires that would not appear in biblical literature again until Daniel and Ezekiel, hundreds of years later. The convergence is remarkable: Daniel's prophecy of successive kingdoms ending in a divided empire from which an everlasting king arises matches Balaam's vision of a star rising from Israel to crush the nations. Both prophecies terminate in the same place—in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, born under Roman rule, from the tribe of Judah, the seed who rose from the waters of Death to crush the serpent's head and reign forever.

Blessing Out of Curse: The Gospel in Numbers 22–24

The story of Balaam is ultimately a story about the relentless, unstoppable grace of God. While Israel sat in the valley grumbling and disobeying, having no idea what was happening on the mountaintop above them, God was pronouncing extravagant blessings over them through the mouth of a pagan sorcerer. They deserved a curse. They got a blessing. This is the Gospel pattern that runs from Genesis to Revelation.

God uses the most unexpected, shameful, and foolish instruments to accomplish his purposes. He speaks through a donkey. He prophesies through a condemned pagan. He saves the world through a crucified man. The cross itself—an instrument of curse, of shame, of Death—becomes the place where the star of Judah rises, where the seed emerges from the waters, where the serpent's head is crushed. For anyone who feels trapped in a situation that seems beyond redemption, whether by their own decisions or someone else's, the message of Numbers 22–24 is that God's intention since the Garden has been to bring blessing out of curse. He did it for Israel in the wilderness. He did it through Moses drawn out of the water. And he did it finally and fully in Jesus, who descended into the curse of Death and rose as the star that will never set, carrying a scepter over a Kingdom that will never end.

Transcript

Intro: [gentle music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. This is our attempt to speak the gospel out of every corner of scripture. We believe every part of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is about Jesus, and this podcast is our experiment to publicly test that belief. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]

David: All right, everyone, welcome to a very special episode of the Spoken Gospel podcast.

Seth: Live-

David: Because-

Seth: ... from my basement

David: ... [laughs] we are in Seth Stewart's new Kansas City residence-

Seth: That's right

David: ... in his basement.

Seth: That's right.

David: And, uh, me and my wife Megan just drove up here four and a half hours to come welcome you to your new home.

Seth: I know, and it, you did a great job.

David: Aw, well, thank you.

Seth: You did a great job.

David: And, uh, we've already had some fun catching up, and now it's, it's what? It's 9:00.

Seth: This is the latest night-

David: I've-

Seth: ... I've ever had podcasting.

David: This is the latest podcast for the S- for Spoken Gospel. The, the, your three kids are in bed.

Seth: They are.

David: I don't think two of them are asleep yet, but they're in bed.

Seth: No, no, they're, they're not.

David: [laughs]

Seth: But they recognize the importance of talking about Balaam.

David: [laughs] They definitely do.

Seth: So, so they're just gonna be quiet for-

David: That is very true

Seth: ... an hour.

David: If there's one thing they respect, it is-

Seth: Balaam

David: ... the Messianic points made by Balaam.

Seth: That's exactly right.

David: [laughs] So, um, let's see here. It's been a while since we've chatted, um, because of your move.

Seth: Yeah, it has been.

David: And so we, we kinda recorded a bunch before your move.

Seth: Hopefully you won't notice as a listener.

David: Yes.

Seth: Dear listener.

David: But, but then, so it's been a while for us. So let's kinda catch even ourselves back up and our-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... listeners to, like, what's going on in Numbers and where we're at now.

Seth: Yeah, so let's just rewind all the way back to Numbers 1-

David: Yep

Seth: ... where essentially you have a whole generation of people who are obeying the commands of Leviticus, who have entered into God's temple-

David: Right

Seth: ... interfacing with God face-to-face, and they're about to take the land for the first time.

David: Right. Yep, they leave Sinai. They go to, to the border of Canaan really quickly.

Seth: Really quickly.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: They get there, and they immediately disobey.

David: Yeah.

Seth: They're consigned to 40 years in the wilderness.

David: Right.

Seth: And one by one, each major group of people within Israel, first the rabble, the, uh, the-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... mixed multitude

David: ... the mixed multitude.

Seth: The, the foreigners among Israel rebel-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and cause judgment to break out. Moses intercedes for them. Then the people of Israel rebel.

David: Refusing to enter into the Promised Land-

Seth: Yes

David: ... and then trying to take it over in their own strength.

Seth: Right. Huge-

David: Right, so we're-

Seth: ... problem

David: ... we're getting, we're going further and further into the concentric circles-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... toward the tabernacle.

Seth: Moses intercedes for them.

David: Yep.

Seth: Punishment is pardoned, but then Moses and Aaron fell-

David: Right

Seth: ... fall, and, uh, we, that's it. That's where we are.

David: Yeah, and then Moses-

Seth: And then the priest, the priest fall

David: ... the priest fall.

Seth: And then Moses falls.

David: And then Moses himself has a, at the waters of Meribah-

Seth: Right

David: ... has a moment of disobedience. And so what we're doing is we're seeing this cycle take us, um, from the outskirts of the camp all the way into the center of the camp, where the Holy of Holies lies, and w- what takes us into the center is this same cycle all throughout Numbers, which is commands, punishment, disobedience, and intercession.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But now in the story that we're at, uh, the cycle's gonna be broken for a very particular reason.

Seth: Yes.

David: And it is to lift our heads [laughs] out of the mucky muck and, like, put, put us, put, give us a vision of something future-

Seth: Right

David: ... and better, and, and it's gonna be done through a very strange-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... method. [laughs]

Seth: I think one of the things that when, when I was reading through Numbers-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and even now when I read through Numbers, it's really easy to get lost in the disobedience. Everybody's disobeying-

David: Sure, yeah

Seth: ... all the time.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Everyone's dying in the wilderness. God said the older generation was gonna pass away, and they are.

David: And they are.

Seth: Thousands-

David: Yep

Seth: ... by thousands by thousands are all falling away. So it's really e- easy to get lost in God's judgment.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But God's intention from the garden has been to bless his people.

David: Right.

Seth: That's always been God's intention, to bless his people. He blessed Adam and Eve by blessing them to go forth and multiply. In the garden, he blessed Abraham. He said, "All those who bless you will be blessed, and all those who curse you will be cursed."

David: Right.

Seth: He has blessed Jacob. He's, hi- God's intention is to bless humanity.

David: Right. And to be fair, like, and to, like, or not to be fair, but I guess to continue that-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... um, God made a distinction between Israel, between the older and younger generation, so he could bless the younger and punish the older, which is a theme that was-

Seth: Right

David: ... all throughout Genesis as well, right?

Seth: Yes, that's right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: That's right.

David: Which was like Esau the older was not accepted, but, uh, Jacob, the younger, was.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So that's again happening here. God's blessing is continuing but through the younger generation.

Seth: Right. So if you feel the heaviness of the book of Numbers-

David: Right

Seth: ... and you're like, "Why is God so heavy-handed on the judgment?" You're really kind of almost missing, not missing the point. God's judgment is real against the older generation for their disobedience.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But God's intention since Genesis has been to bless them, bless the people by giving them a land.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And they're about to enter into that l- time of blessing in a new land with this new generation.

David: Right.

Seth: So Balaam, at the very end of their wilderness wanderings, almost acts like this new blessing-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... for the new land.

David: Right.

Seth: So that's what we're seeing. We're seeing, like, f- a swing from judgment to blessing-

David: Yes

Seth: ... back to God's original intentions.

David: Absolutely right. And, and you, you hit on something extremely important for this text, and it was back in Abraham, right? Genesis 12, God made a promise to Abraham, and he said, "Whoever," uh, is it, is, is it, "Whoever you bless will be blessed," or is it, "Whoever blesses you will be blessed"? I think it was, "Whoever blesses you will be blessed." I-

Seth: I think so.

David: Yeah, "Whoever blesses you will be blessed, but whoever curses you will be cursed." And so there's this relationship that if anybody comes to the people of Israel, right, Abraham's descendants, and say, "I bless you," God is going to bless them.

Seth: Yep.

David: But if they come to the people of Israel and say, "I curse you," God is going to curse them.

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay. And so we meet in, in Numbers 22, we meet this king-

Seth: Named-

David: ... of the Moabites named-

Seth: Balak

David: And he comes to, he comes to this, uh-

Seth: So at this point-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... Israel's just taken out two surrounding militaries.

David: Oh, right. So he's getting nervous.

Seth: So this, the- he's a powerful king.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But Israel is incr- coming closer and closer to the promised land.

David: To his territory.

Seth: To his territory.

David: Right.

Seth: And he, Israel has succeeded-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... in two major military campaigns.

David: Right.

Seth: So he's-

David: Of countries, like, bigger than his, right?

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So he's justifiably nervous.

David: Definitely.

Seth: And so he hires a sorcerer-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... a prophet.

David: Yeah, like a mercenary prophet-

Seth: Who-

David: ... who, like, apparently you could come to and, like, give money.

Seth: And Balaam is famous throughout the ancient world.

David: Oh, right. Yes.

Seth: In Jordan, there's this huge wall that has inscriptions about, uh, about Balaam, the son of Beor.

David: Crazy.

Seth: So he's this real well-known prophet of the day. So Balak says, "Let's hire the most accomplished prophet of our time-

David: Uh-huh. Right

Seth: ... to curse Israel for us." [laughs]

David: Which if you have your ear to the ground of Genesis-

Seth: You're like, "This is-

David: ... you're like, "This is not gonna work out for Balak." [laughs]

Seth: But if you've been looking at the Book of Numbers, you'd be thinking, "Well-

David: They deserve a curse

Seth: ... they deserve a curse." [laughs]

David: They've got it coming. [laughs]

Seth: So Balak hires Balaam.

David: Right.

Seth: Balaam is a weird character.

David: He, he- yeah, he's really weird.

Seth: But es- the s- the short version of the story is that he says that, "I will only say what the God, what God tells me." And three different times, instead of cursing Israel, he blesses Israel.

David: Right.

Seth: And then a fourth time, he blesses Israel again as Balak walks away.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And Balak is frustrated-

David: Very frustrated. [laughs]

Seth: ... because obviously he, he's now-

David: He spent all this money to get a curse. [laughs]

Seth: He spent, and then he, all he got was blessings on his enemy nation.

David: Right.

Seth: And-

David: Which, if that's from a big, mighty prophet, he's like, "Well, now everything's horrible."

Seth: But the picture we get is that even that while Israel is grumbling in the camp-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... even right after the, the, the inner circle has fallen-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the people have fallen, everyone's disobeyed, God is still blessing them.

David: It's a huge, huge picture of God's grace.

Seth: Huge picture of God's grace.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So that's the, that's the, the big story, what we're talking about.

David: Right.

Seth: So let's just circle back and say, like, who is Balaam? And then let's talk about, uh, the, each of his prophecies in turn. [gentle music]

David: Okay, so let's kind of walk through the story, uh, in a little more granular pace, since that's what we're gonna be taking this whole episode to talk about. So, um, some liaisons from Balak's court come to Balaam with, um, an offer, and they're like, "Hey, we will pay you and, and make you rich and give you whatever you want from the king, uh, if you-

Seth: If you just curse

David: ... come and curse the Israelites."

Seth: And Balaam being, I guess, wanting to hedge his bets or wanting to sleep on it, just says, "Okay, give me the night to sleep on it."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: "And then I will make my decision in the morning."

David: Right. And so the Lord comes to him, right?

Seth: He does. [laughs]

David: Yeah.

Seth: God actually-

David: Which is, which is great. Actually-

Seth: God actually comes to him

David: ... this blows my mind. This whole concept of, uh, this is a pagan prophet. He's not part of Israel. He knows, I don't know how m- how he would know of the covenant God of Israel, Yahweh. He's got his own gods. He has his own, like, uh, omens and paganistic, demonistic-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... practices.

Seth: Apparently, like, the third, the third blessing, it says he-

David: He did not use his omens

Seth: ... did not use his omens. So apparently he's, like, cutting open animals-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... looking at their intestines-

David: He's doing, like-

Seth: ... reading the tea leaves

David: ... he's, he's doing things that Leviticus s- and Deuteronomy will say not to do when it comes to sorcery.

Seth: Yeah.

David: He's doing those things, and yet God is using this guy-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... as a vessel for his blessing, which is like crazy.

Seth: And what's even crazier is he even, like, assumes he has the right to speak to him.

David: The access.

Seth: So in verse 8-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in verse 8, he says, "And he said to them, 'Spend the night here, and I will bring back word to you as the Lord Yahweh speaks to me.'"

David: Is that all, is that capital L?

Seth: It's all capital L.

David: Oh, capital L-O-R-D.

Seth: Capital L.

David: Yeah, so it's like-

Seth: So it's like he's using God's divine name, assuming that God will respond to him through his divining.

David: 'Cause I guess they would, they would know who the God of Israel was.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah. And so-

Seth: 'Cause everyone had their own gods.

David: Right.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So I'm gonna go and talk to the, the God of this people who are coming up to do battle with you and see what the deal is.

Seth: Right.

David: Right? I talk to spiritual beings all the time.

Seth: Right. I'm a-

David: I'm a sorcerer. That's my job.

Seth: Right.

David: I talk to demons. I talk to spiritual beings. That's what I do. Let me go talk to their god, and I'll see what the deal is. And I'm used to bartering with them. I, you know, I go and do deals.

Seth: So, yeah.

David: I'm like, "Hey, we'll give you this if you will curse. We'll give you this if you'll bless. Let me go talk to Yahweh." He talks to Yahweh, and Yahweh is categorically different.

Seth: Yes. [laughs]

David: Right? Yahweh just, like, throws down the truth, and he's like, "Don't go with them." [laughs]

Seth: Right.

David: And apparently he just obeys.

Seth: Yeah, there's no conversation.

David: Which I feel like a mercenary prophet for hire, this is, this is, like, the first time that-

Seth: Right

David: ... there's been a price that he would not accept.

Seth: Right. And I was wondering, in this whole scenario, like, if he is this mercenary prophet-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... how often are the other gods speaking to him as directly-

David: I know

Seth: ... as Yahweh?

David: I was, this was blowing my mind, c- to think about, like, the, uh, 'cause, you know, um, Charles Taylor, in a secular age.

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: It's this long book.

Seth: He's, David is pointing to a book on your bookshelf. [laughs]

David: I'm pointing at a book on your bookshelf. He, uh, and this is a really long book that you probably shouldn't take the time to read. [laughs]

Seth: It's 40 hours. It's awful.

David: It's, it's very long, and I have not, neither of us have made it through the whole thing.

Seth: I've started reading it, and I'm about 150 pages in.

David: Yeah. Anyway, he talks about the porousness of-

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah

David: ... the ancient world, right? That it was-

Seth: Yeah, well, this idea that the, the, the spiritual realm-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and the physical realm are always, like, interfacing-

David: Oh, so cool

Seth: ... with each other.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, or like your pores. Yeah.

David: And so as, as, um, as we've become more modern, we've closed, we've clogged up those holes-

Seth: Right

David: ... basically. And, and no longer is the universe permeable-... uh, to the supernatural. We've-

Seth: Right

David: ... we've explained everything.

Seth: Yeah.

David: We know that a god doesn't make the sun rise. It just happens because of-

Seth: Right

David: ... the-

Seth: Orbits, gravity

David: ... orbits and everything.

Seth: We have names for those things.

David: Right. And so, uh, and so it's, we've, we've tr- I don't remember what he calls the converse of the bu-

Seth: The buffered self

David: ... the buffered self.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yes, the buffered self. We've created a buffer between us and the spiritual world. But when I was, I, I thought the same thing when I was reading Numbers 22 and 24.

Seth: So my-

David: I was like, "Does he just have bump-ins with spiritual beings and stuff all the time?"

Seth: Well, my o- my other guess was that whenever he does, like, intuit what the other gods are saying, it's not of the same quality or kind as when the Yahweh speaks.

David: Interesting. So-

Seth: So when Yahweh speaks-

David: Do you think he's a liar? Like he's lying to them?

Seth: No, I mean, I think, but I mean, you-

David: I mean, I wouldn't put it past him, but

Seth: ... you can look at animistic practices all over the world.

David: Definitely.

Seth: And people are always, like, communing with the divine-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... coming under trances.

David: Yep.

Seth: And, like, those are legitimate spiritual e- experiences. People are being possessed-

David: Right

Seth: ... like, are being possessed.

David: Yes.

Seth: I think he's used to one type or kind of s-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... of communication with the divine, and when the Lord comes, he speaks to him in these declarative statements.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And then he says, "Okay, I can't go with you."

David: Right.

Seth: "I have the most clear word that I've ever heard from a divine being-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and it says, 'Don't go with you.' You can give me all the gold."

David: Yeah, he said, "You could, you could give me a giant house and fill it with silver, and I still wouldn't come."

Seth: Right. I mean, that's the second time he says that.

David: Oh, okay, okay, okay.

Seth: Is that, is that, is that the second time?

David: I don't remember, but still.

Seth: Anyway, so what happens, the king, the king's men go back, says-

David: Yep

Seth: ... "He's not gonna come."

David: And they say-

Seth: Balak sends more men

David: ... "Go. Do it again, and try harder."

Seth: "Do it again. Try harder." More f- more impressive men, more money.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And Balak says the same thing.

David: Right.

Seth: "I will not, I will not, no matter how much money you give me."

David: Right, but before they leave, Yahweh comes to him and says, "Go with them."

Seth: Go with them.

David: Okay? Because God has a plan here.

Seth: Yes.

David: And so-

Seth: To bless Israel

David: ... to bless Israel. And so Balaam sets out to go with them, and it's here that we run into what is probably the, the one thing you think about if you are familiar with Balaam at all, and it's Balaam and the story of his donkey. You know, the talking donkey, Balaam's talking donkey.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: It's like the only thing I, I ever learned about Balaam.

Seth: Yes.

David: You know, 'cause no one wanted to teach me poetic prophecies-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... from Numbers 23 when I was in fourth grade. [laughs]

Seth: Whenever your Bible teacher is like, wants to get serious about-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the Bible, he doesn't turn to the, the [laughs] prophecy-

David: [laughs] Right

Seth: ... about Balaam's donkey-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and he talking and all that kind of stuff.

David: Yeah. And so Balaam sets out, uh, because God told him to. Um, but immediately, uh, after this, it says that God's anger was kindled against him.

Seth: But God's anger was kindled against him because, verse 22, he went.

David: Right.

Seth: So God tells him to go-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... and then he goes, and then God's angry because he goes. [laughs]

David: Right.

Seth: And so it, I mean, there's one verse separating God's command to go. Balaam goes in the next verse, and then God's angry in the next.

David: Yep.

Seth: So I read that. I was, uh, I was like, "Wait." Um, it literally in my Bible it says, "Wait. Why?"

David: [laughs]

Seth: "Dot, dot, dot. Why?" You said you had a satisfactory answer to this.

David: Yeah, a- and it didn't come right away, but as I, as I became convinced that this whole story, right, is meant to be read, um, as a literary unit-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and we're gonna see some more reasons why, that, that everything that happens with, um, Balak's men and Balaam, Balaam and his donkey, and then Balaam blessing Egypt, or Israel, all corresponds and hangs together, and it's all, like, this foreshadowing fulfillment kind of thing.

Seth: Okay.

David: And so if you read it as a whole unit, you see later that Balaam h- apparently is blind to something, and his, even his donkey sees something he can't.

Seth: Right.

David: And, um, and God, after the whole donkey incident that we're about to talk about-

Seth: Right

David: ... uh, God says, He reiterates his, [laughs] his command to Balaam that he can go, but to only say-

Seth: Hmm

David: ... what He commands him to say. So why would God double down on this promise, or this, th- this command-

Seth: Right, right

David: ... I should say, unless when Balaam left, he must-

Seth: He had the intention-

David: Exactly

Seth: ... of set- of, like, just doing his divine arts.

David: Yep. He ha- he... And, and when he gets there, what does he do? The first two times we're told that he uses his omens and his old practices.

Seth: Right.

David: It's not until the third and fourth time that he's actually filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks.

Seth: Interesting.

David: And so even there, he kind of proves that he had some ulterior motives and some other devices he was gonna use, and God is like, "I'm dealing with a rogue prophet here [laughs]-

Seth: Right

David: ... who does not, is not used to doing things my way." And so he says, "Go," but God sees the desires of his heart, and so he does this whole fiasco with Balaam, with B- with his donkey. Which why would this whole thing with his donkey happen if it wasn't to change his heart, Balaam's heart?

Seth: Right. Right.

David: And so I think there was something going on internally inside of Balaam that we're meant to see in his-

Seth: Interesting

David: ... spiritual blindness to this angel in the road that we're about to meet in the Balaam, Balaam's donkey story-

Seth: Right

David: ... that God then corrects.

Seth: Which makes sense-

David: Right

Seth: ... because so if we're, if we say, like, this, this is not an overt sin. It's not, he's not disobeying because he decided to go, and then God's angry because he went. 'Cause he's obeying-

David: Right

Seth: ... out- externally what God said.

David: Externally, right.

Seth: If it's something inwardly, that makes sense because Balaam actually shows up throughout the rest of the Bible. He shows up in Numbers 31.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: He shows up in the New Testament. He shows up in 1 Corinthians and the Book of Revelation, I'm pretty sure. And what ends up happening in the Book of Numbers, Balaam is the one that incites Israel to, um, worship other god-

David: Right

Seth: ... or the gods of Baal.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So he ends up not being a redemptive-

David: A good guy

Seth: ... a good guy.

David: Yeah.

Seth: He ends up leading Israel away from the, worshiping the true God to other gods.

David: Yes.

Seth: So h- his allegiance has always, has never been to Yahweh except as a way to make money.

David: Right.

Seth: So the, it makes sense that God would be angry with him-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... in this moment because-

David: Yeah, and he's doubling down on-

Seth: It's like, "Only speak my words"

David: ... his warnings. Uh-huh.

Seth: "Only speak my words."

David: Right. So I think that's what's happening here-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... is all. Okay. So they set out, and, um, Balaam's donkey starts acting weird, right?

Seth: Yep, yep, yep. So he's riding on his donkey, and his two servants are standing there with him, apparently the witnesses to this whole event. [laughs]

David: Yeah. Which were also apparently more blind than even Balaam was.

Seth: 'Cause he didn't, they didn't see anything. But the ang- but the donkey, um, refuses to go forward-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... instead goes into the path because there's an angel of the Lord standing with a sword-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and the donkey being

David: ... intelligent, [laughs] just decides not to go that way. And stubbornly, no matter how much Balaam hits him, refuses to go back on the path.

Seth: Yes.

David: Eventually, after some amount of beating, he ends up back on the path. The angel appears again ba- and he rams Balaam into the wall that's next to the path. Balaam starts beating the donkey again, refusing to move, and then Bala- the donkey speaks up and says, "Why are you beating me?"

Seth: [laughs]

David: [laughs] And I think laughing is the appropriate response here.

Seth: It is. It's a joke.

David: This whole-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... this whole thing is supposed to be read as comedy.

Seth: Yes.

David: Like, this is not, like, [laughs] this is not supposed to be... I mean, I'm, it is, it's literature-

Seth: Right

David: ... but it's not like, it's not serious.

Seth: Right.

David: It's a joke.

Seth: Yes, this is a jo- and it, and it's, it's like, it's like irony.

David: Yes.

Seth: Yeah. It's- it's, that's that kind of comedy.

David: Yeah.

Seth: You know, like irony is not ha ha funny-

David: Right

Seth: ... but it's funny.

David: So why would this be ironic?

Seth: Right.

David: And so like, so, so anyway, Balaam beats him again.

Seth: Yep.

David: The donkey sp- has this prolonged conversation. The funniest part of this is Balaam-

Seth: Balaam never, [laughs] doesn't acknowledge that the donkey's talking.

David: Right.

Seth: But just goes on continuing like this is a normal part of his life. [laughs]

David: I, I always picture this like, uh, in, in Toy Story 1, when s- when the toys fi- like turn around-

Seth: And like-

David: ... and, and talk to Sid.

Seth: R- r- right.

David: And he's like, "So play nice."

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: Sid would just be like, "Oh, well, why are you, why are you-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... why are you running away? I'm just trying to blow you up." You know? [laughs]

Seth: Right.

David: Like he has a civil conversation with the toys.

Seth: Right.

David: Like that's kinda what's happening here. Um, but what's happening here, like, is really important to, to kind of frame out. So we're told that Balaam refused to heed the warnings of the donkey three times.

Seth: Right.

David: Right? Three times the donkey said, "Don't do this," right? And then he, he was like, "No, you will obey me."

Seth: Yes.

David: "You will go the wrong way." Uh, until, um, in, in kind of this extra, um, revelatory, miraculous kind of way, a donkey talks.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right? And this is gonna foreshadow the fact that Balaam is gonna have three moments wh- where he is told to curse the people of Israel.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And now Balak-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the king, is the donkey, or is, is Balaam in this situation, and [laughs] Balaam is the donkey.

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: And so Balaam is like, "I can only bless. There's this big-

Seth: Right, right, right

David: ... spiritual barrier in the way." And Balak's like, "No. Er."

Seth: Yes.

David: Like, "Why won't you do what I tell you to do?"

Seth: Funny, yeah.

David: And then Balaam's like, "I can only do, like, what the L- there's a big, scary angel in the way. I can't do it."

Seth: I can't. I can't do it.

David: So there's this, like, parallelism, so it's, it's-

Seth: So in this-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... so what you're saying is the fact that Balaam beats his donkey three times-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and he starts talking, and it's funny-

David: Right

Seth: ... is supposed to point you to the irony in a moment where Balak-

David: Is r-

Seth: ... is riding Balaam's prophecy like his donkey.

David: Right. Yes.

Seth: And he's, like, so angry that he's like-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... he's, he, uh, that he's beating, trying to beat a curse out of Balaam.

David: Yes.

Seth: But he can't get it.

David: Right. And then the fourth time, mimicking the donkey, right? The donkey just opens his mouth and speaks in a extraterrestrial kind of way.

Seth: Right.

David: And in the same way the fourth prophecy of Balaam is unspurred on by a prophecy, or, or-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... by, like, a sacrifice, unspurred on by-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... Balak's demands. He just is filled with the Holy Spirit and starts prophesying in a unique way. And we'll get there.

Seth: About the star of Judah that's to come.

David: Yes, which, which is the capstone of all of Numbers, and we'll get there. But, like, we're supposed to be setting up categories to get ready for the fact that-

Seth: Okay

David: ... these three denials are gonna happen, and he can only be constrained to do what they're, like, what's spiritually going on here.

Seth: Fascinating.

David: Yeah, it's crazy.

Seth: So it's foreshadowing.

David: Right.

Seth: I also think it's, um, what's the opposite of foreshadowing?

David: I have no idea.

Seth: Pointing us back. Uh, it's like, [laughs] it's, it's like it's reminding us of the story of Pharaoh.

David: Mm.

Seth: So Balak-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... is being pictured, I think, as a type of Pharaoh in general.

David: He is scared of the Israelites, right?

Seth: He's scared of the Israelites.

David: Yep. He's a, part of a kingdom.

Seth: Both Pharaoh and Balak are, like, the kings of these huge nations.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Both are trying to prevent Israel from entering in the promised land, which is what we're told in Exodus 1:10.

David: Right. Yep.

Seth: And we're told again here in, uh, 22 verse 6.

David: Okay.

Seth: Both are intimidated by the size and the number-

David: Right

Seth: ... of the people of Israel. Both, in both cases, it's the number of the people-

David: Mm

Seth: ... that are, like, um, uh, uh, mentioned. And both try three different times to, um, counteract God's blessing. So we had the slave masters put over Israel-

David: Oh, yep

Seth: ... to increase their workload.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: We had the midwives, who were supposed to kill the males-

David: Oh, yeah

Seth: ... and the, all the people, who were supposed to throw the babies-

David: Right

Seth: ... into the Nile River.

David: Interesting.

Seth: So Pharo- Pharaoh three different times tries to throw-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... to try to counteract God's blessings. Balak three times tries to counteract God's blessings. And both times, the plans that they have for cursing Israel ends up being their blessing.

David: A blessing. Ah.

Seth: And, and in the same way that the star of David is, the star of Judah is the capstone, the fourth prophecy, after the three times, Moses is announced as the one coming out of the water.

David: Right.

Seth: So the final curse is that they would be thrown in the water.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: But it's actually the p- the way that the star of Judah rises.

David: Oh, right.

Seth: It's the way that Moses rises out of the water.

David: Out of the place that they was trying to get him-

Seth: Right

David: ... to be cursed.

Seth: Right.

David: Interesting. So why this connection to Pharaoh then? Like why is that important for us?

Seth: Because it's the bookend of the wilderness wanderings. At the beginning before-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... Israel goes on this whole journey-

David: Yep

Seth: ... you have a strong king trying to counteract God's blessings, and a new leader is prophesied, and Moses is risen up in Pharaoh's courts.

David: Mm.

Seth: And at the very end of the wilderness wander- wanderings, you have another big king who three times tried to counteract God's blessings, and another king is prophesied. But this time, this one is prophesied to be greater than even Moses. This one is a new Moses-

David: Mm

Seth: ... at the end of the wilderness wanderings, because Moses has proven himself to be an inadequate leader-

David: Right

Seth: ... by the past few chapters.

David: And so wou- would it, wou- then if I could extrapolate, like, a theological-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... significance out of this literary significance-

Seth: Yes

David: ... right, would it be that God always brings a blessing that he intends, no matter how much of a curse we deserve? Like, because if you-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... you get to the end of Genesis, and s-

Seth: What's so-

David: ... so much has happened

Seth: ... what man intended for evil, God intends for good.

David: God intends for good. Right.

Seth: Yes.

David: And so it's like from the beginning of your story to the end of it, I'm going to be faithful even when you're not. Right.

Seth: That's exactly right

David: Which is what Jesus does when he [laughs] comes, right?

Seth: Yeah. Yeah.

David: He is the, he's the consummate, uh, he's the consummate, uh, Moses who comes-

Seth: Right

David: ... and, like-

Seth: I mean, you could-

David: ... topples kingdoms and-

Seth: We're g- we're gonna s- if we can make that point in the text-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... because Balaam starts talking about these nations-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... um, that aren't around yet. So in, uh, chapter 24, verse 24, "Ship shall come from Kittim and shall afflict Asher and Eber." S- a lot of schol- there's like not a ton of consensus about what those are, but the most likely places-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... are to talk about Rome and Babylon.

David: Mm.

Seth: Because it- nowhere else in the Bible, not, well, not in the Bible, but in Joshua, like, the, the early conquest narratives-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... they're never mentioned until Daniel-

David: They're not going to these places yet

Seth: ... until Daniel and Ezekiel-

David: Mm

Seth: ... which is hundreds and hundreds of years later, right up on the edge of the Roman Empire.

David: Wow.

Seth: So Balaam is prophesying about kingdoms that are only mentioned in Daniel and Ezekiel right before Rome comes and conquers Babylon.

David: Dang.

Seth: And so he's saying the star of Judah will rise then.

David: Mm.

Seth: So he is prophesying hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years in the future, I think, historically, about Jesus.

David: Right.

Seth: He is the new and better Moses who will come after the nations of the world try to undo God's blessing-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and Jesus will come to pronounce from their curses the final rising from the waters of curs- the curse, the fri- from the curses-

David: Mm

Seth: ... blessing.

David: Yeah, it's such good news because, like, I remember, like, if, if you guys have seen the Numbers video we did introducing the Book of Numbers with this cycle of sin-

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah

David: ... and it always leads to death, and there's nothing we can do to escape it because of our hard hearts, and then Jesus comes and breaks that cycle of sin. I'm just like i- it's such a beautiful picture to go from, um, these, these literary bookends from one to the other where you have, um, God coming in and saying, "I'm going to bring a blessing out of the most cursed situation," genocide-

Seth: Yes

David: ... oppression, slavery. And now, uh, you kinda have the same thing. A whole, uh, entire generation has died. Um, they're about to, like, they, they've been i- like, enslaved in the wilderness in a sense-

Seth: Yes

David: ... and, and he's saying-

Seth: You have a king hiring the most accomplished prophet in the land-

David: Right

Seth: ... to come and curse these people.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And from his intentions to curse, God-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... brings blessing to the whole nation.

David: It's, it's just, like, a beautiful picture of, [laughs] of, like-

Seth: It's the same-

David: Any situation we can get in, I'm just trying to, like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... apply this to my own self here, where it's, like, 40 years in the wilderness, you know-

Seth: You're almost there

David: ... enslaved.

Seth: You're 30.

David: Yeah, I'm, I'm 31.

Seth: [laughs]

David: You know, but, like, enslaved to all, any number of, of sins and idols that I've had in my own life, and, um, uh, uh, I just often feel like I deserve a curse. Like, I know what I deserve.

Seth: Right. Right, right, right.

David: And it is definitely not a blessing.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And yet, like, God has promised in these most extravagant historical ways that he-

Seth: And he's done it-

David: ... will do crazy things to bring blessing

Seth: ... while he's complaining about not getting more blessings.

David: Right. He's sitting, like, Israel-

Seth: As I'm complaining about the fact that my kids-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... aren't going to bed on time-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... and that I'm not making enough money and that I'm-

David: Right

Seth: ... doing a podcast in a basement.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Like, the Lord is sitting in Heaven sh- taking my curses-

David: Right

Seth: ... and turning them into blessings.

David: Right.

Seth: He's taking the curses of the crowd sh- cr- chanting, "Crucify him"-

David: "Crucify him."

Seth: He's taking the, the cowardice of Pontius Pilate and his, and his-

David: Mm

Seth: ... decisions. He's taking all those things, and he's turning them into blessings for me.

David: Right.

Seth: You are my son.

David: Yeah.

Seth: I- [laughs]

David: 'Cause Israel was sitting there in the valley.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Balaam's, like, looking down on them and [laughs] and they have no idea that they're being blessed from above when all they deserve is a curse.

Seth: Which I think should make you think back to the story of Balaam riding on the donkey. So Balak is not just foreshadowed as the donkey.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Israel is like Balaam-

David: Or wait, or Balak is foreshadowed as the-

Seth: Uh-

David: As Balaam

Seth: ... as Balaam

David: And Balaam becomes the donkey.

Seth: And Balaam becomes-

David: It's a little confusing

Seth: ... but Israel-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... is also like-

David: Balaam

Seth: ... Balaam.

David: On the donkey.

Seth: On the donkey. God is trying to lead them on the right path away from God's judgment.

David: Right.

Seth: But they constantly slam... Balaam is hitting the-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... donkey as hard as it can to try to go back towards the thing that will kill them. [laughs]

David: Right. It's like, yeah, it's like Israel in the wilderness, like, uh, God is basically like the donkey, like the beast of burden carrying them where they're supposed to go, and they're beating the donkey going, "We wanna go back to Egypt. We want this kind of food. We..." You know?

Seth: Right, right, right, right.

David: Like, and they're just complaining constantly, and God is like, "I'm trying to take you where you're supposed to go," and they're just complaining the whole time.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah. It is interesting.

Seth: What have I done to deserve this?

David: Yeah.

Seth: Have I not treated you-

David: Right

Seth: ... well all my years?

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, this is the-

David: Right

Seth: ... conversation Balaam has with the donkey.

David: And, like, I don't wanna jump there too early, but isn't that one of the reasons Jesus brings up in his trial for being unjustly condemned? He's like, you know, "Point out my fault." Does, does he say that?

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Like, where, where it's, he's like, "If I've-

Seth: If I've done wrong

David: ... if I've done wrong-

Seth: Right

David: ... point it out."

Seth: Right.

David: Like, what have I done to deserve this? And Jesus is now Balaam's donkey [laughs] where, uh, they're, they're like, "Nope, that's not the way of the Lord. That's not what the kingdom looks like. That's not what, um, God coming to Earth is supposed to be." And, and Jesus ends up, instead of slamming him s- like, slamming them against the wall, he walks into the judgment.

Seth: He walks into the angel-

David: Into the angel of the Lord with the sword

Seth: ... with the sword.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And it's just interesting. Anyway.

Seth: It's super fascinating.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So the donkey and Balaam are basically everybody in the Biblical story. [laughs]

David: Yes, absolutely right. A- at some point, we all need to, like, take a look at ourselves and, and wonder when we've been Balaam on the donkey.

Seth: Right.

David: Because the point that I, I think that we haven't said yet that's being made here by this fanciful, comedic story-

Seth: I've heard somebody call it a, a Biblical burlesque.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Like, it's like-

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah

Seth: ... it's like this ridiculous story.

David: Show. Yeah.

Seth: Because the point is sometimes you are dumber than a donkey.

David: Right. Yeah, that's what I, that's the point I was trying to get to.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Yeah. It's like the thing we haven't said yet is this great, wise, all-seeing Balaam doesn't know and can't see the spiritual world as well as a dumb donkey.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, that's the point that's being made.

Seth: The chief- ... sorcerer. The s- chief seer of the land

David: Is blind

Seth: Is blind compared to a donkey

David: Right. And so, like, that's just what, like, the... And like that, that should remind us of what, like Paul said, that, that God used the foolish things of this world to shame the proud. Like, God uses m- mild, meek, meager things to do beautiful, huge, grandiose things

Seth: He uses curses to bring about blessing. He uses the cross, which is folly-

David: Which is folly, and a curse itself

Seth: ... and a curse itself to bring about resurrection life.

David: Right.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah.

Seth: We are dumber than a donkey-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... because we don't s- we think we're Balaam, seeing perfectly the spiritual world out there, but really-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... we're dumber.

David: Yeah.

Seth: If we claim to see-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... we're actually blind, which is what you just said.

David: Oh, right, which is what you said the Pharisees.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: Yeah, uh, absolutely. So it's like I think this, this, this whole story should get us to question our own presuppositions, our own intelligence, our own biases, and just to-

Seth: It should make you laugh at the things that you think you know.

David: Yeah, exactly.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: Yeah. It should humble us all and be like we're all on a donk- we're all riding a donkey that's smarter than us, uh, at s- in some point.

Seth: Right.

David: Which is just interesting. Okay.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Well, let's, let's, let's, let's-

Seth: Eventually our donkey's gonna talk back to us. [laughs]

David: Eventually the donkey talks back, and that's when you finally learn something.

Seth: Which is, like, the storyline of, like, any good, like, sitcom. It's like the thing that we take for granted-

David: Yeah, is the thing that comes back and chastises us

Seth: ... right. That's exactly right. Or the w- or the girl that we never thought was beautiful turns-

David: She takes off her glasses

Seth: ... right.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: It's like there's always this theme that the thing that we take for granted, the thing that we push aside that we think-

David: Right

Seth: ... is foolishness actually is the thing that comes to correct us-

David: Right

Seth: ... and correct our assumptions.

David: Yeah, which is what they did to Jesus. He came and his, he came to his own, his own did not receive him. They rejected him. They pushed him away, and then it was him who they, the, the, the stone the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So, okay, let's leave Balaam and his donkey behind, and let's go to the story of Balak, um, trying to demand a curse out of Balaam. [gentle music] Okay, so Balak takes Balaam to this overlook, this, this place up on the mountains where they could look down on the camp of Israel and see part of them. I mean, they're spread out all over the place, so they can't even-

Seth: Right. There's-

David: ... see the whole group at once

Seth: ... potentially close to two million people.

David: Right.

Seth: Right.

David: And so they're looking down on the people of Israel, and Balak says, "Okay, here they are. Curse them." [laughs] That's the deal, and Balaam's like, "Well, I've told you before, I can only ever, I can, I can only say what Yahweh says I can say, but we'll see what happens."

Seth: Yeah.

David: "So set up seven altars for me and give me seven bulls and seven rams and-

Seth: That reminds me of Leviticus.

David: It should remind you of Leviticus. Yeah, absolutely.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Um, but-

Seth: Do you think God told him, "These are the sacrifices I want you to make"?

David: I actually don't think so.

Seth: Or do you think he's just studious and he knows that Yahweh-

David: Mm

Seth: ... accepts these kind of sacrifices? Because in-

David: Maybe

Seth: ... in the blessings that he's about to give, he quotes the Old Testament throughout them.

David: Oh.

Seth: So my assumption has been that he was familiar with the religious, the, the sacred writings of the, or s- the practices-

David: The practices

Seth: ... of the deities.

David: Maybe then.

Seth: And so he just knew that these are the common practices, the common promises of each of the major religions in this time, and so he's using them-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... to, like-

David: It's also, like, sacrifice wasn't unknown to that-

Seth: That's right

David: ... to other cultures. It was what, it was what they meant, not what they were, that made Israel's sacrifices unique. And so I, I don't really have-

Seth: I don't know

David: ... a problem with him just being unaware and just making his normal sacrifices.

Seth: But seven rams. But sevens are-

David: Seven is an important number.

Seth: And then seven rams-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and seven... It's just, that, that, that-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that, those categories-

David: Right

Seth: ... those, those animals and that-

David: Exist

Seth: ... in, in those numbers have existed in Leviticus.

David: Yes. [laughs]

Seth: So anyway.

David: Right.

Seth: Either way.

David: Uh, and so he goes and sets them up, and Yahweh comes to him, which, again, blew me away the first time I read this-

Seth: It did

David: ... like, with new eyes. I was like, "Man, I thought God only showed up like this to Moses." [laughs]

Seth: Right.

David: And, like, here he is talking to some pagan and, uh, and do you have it open? What, like, what-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... what kind of, what's the gist of what Yahweh comes to him and says?

Seth: Um, [clears throat] "And God met Balaam, um, and Balaam communicated to God, 'I got you your...' "

David: "Here's your stuff."

Seth: [laughs] "Here's your stuff."

David: [laughs]

Seth: And, uh, the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and says, "Speak this." And then it's actually eight verses.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And essentially he says, um-

David: Really quick, though.

Seth: Yeah.

David: That's just such a cool little word picture-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... of, like, God put a word in Balaam's mouth.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: Which is a very Old Testament prophetic way of talking about the prophets of the Lord. Like, uh, like this is-

Seth: Right

David: ... the word of the Lord.

Seth: This is the word of the Lord.

David: Yeah.

Seth: God puts it in his mouth.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: He can speak nothing else because that's all-

David: That's all that's there. [laughs]

Seth: It's like, yeah, you can only spit out marbles when marbles are-

David: Right

Seth: ... if your mouth's full of marbles-

David: Marbles

Seth: ... all you can spit out is marbles. [laughs]

David: [laughs] I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so, so, so Balaam then goes back to Balak and says-

Seth: And says-

David: He goes-

Seth: ... "Hey, I told you, I can't curse anybody-

David: Right

Seth: ... that God is not cursing."

David: So here's the marbles he spits out.

Seth: And so he, and he says, like, "You're afraid of his numbers?"

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: "Who can count the dust of Jacob-

David: Right

Seth: ... or number the fourth part of Israel?" He's like, "They will be mul- they will be this large forever."

David: Yeah.

Seth: That's the first blessing. The second blessing that... So, so he's like, "What are you doing?"

David: Yeah.

Seth: "Let's go to a different part."

David: Let's go to a different... If you, if you, if you saw a smaller section of them or maybe from a different vantage point-

Seth: Right

David: ... or if I give you more sacrifices or if I'm just overly insistent, if I slam your leg, you know, if I slam you against the wall, maybe... Or, you know-

Seth: Right. So-

David: If you slam me against the wall. [laughs] I don't know how it works.

Seth: Right. And so, so remember Balak is worried about the size-

David: Yep

Seth: ... and, like, the fighting strength, and so the first one addressed the size. The next one addressed, like, the strength of the Israelites.

David: Mm. Okay.

Seth: And so he says, "God, God is not a man. He's not gonna change his mind-

David: [laughs] Right

Seth: ... about the fact that he is only gonna bless Israel, and so you should..." And so he says that, uh, Israel is like a lion-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and a wild ox.

David: Mm.

Seth: And a wild ox is just what Balak described Israel as earlier on in the narrative. It's like, "Israel is like a wild ox. It's taking over everything. I'm not gonna be able to-

David: Oh, so, so he's saying-

Seth: ... survive it"

David: ... "Your worst dreams are coming true."

Seth: Your worst dreams are coming true.

David: [laughs]

Seth: They're just as vigorous as you thought they were. They, they are a blessing.

David: [laughs] That's awesome.

Seth: And Balak, frustrated again-

David: Getting more frustrated, just as Balaam was frustrated earlier with the donkey.

Seth: Yes.

David: Right?

Seth: Um- ... wants another oracle.

David: Right.

Seth: And so this time, Balak- uh, Balaam doesn't even attempt-

David: They go to a different place

Seth: ... they go to a different place, but this time Balaam doesn't do the things, the omens, searching into the tea leaves that he does before.

David: No, something absolutely unprecedented happens next.

Seth: Yes.

David: The Holy Spirit comes to him.

Seth: Yes.

David: Like, what? Now, uh, now we've talked about the Holy Spirit in the Numbers series already, right? And like what it me- Like, remember Moses, like, "I wish everybody was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied."

Seth: Yeah.

David: You know, and like we, we talked about how Joshua had a similar spirit as Moses.

Seth: Right.

David: And so now it's like this spirit that was uniquely in Moses, uniquely in Joshua-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and then has been in a few of the elders is now, in a very interesting way, in this-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... pagan.

Seth: Yes.

David: And he speaks the word of the Lord by the Spirit of the Lord.

Seth: Yes.

David: And what's this, what's the content of the third blessing?

Seth: Uh, well, actually, I realize I misspoke in the last one.

David: Oh, okay.

Seth: In the last one, his, the, the vigorousness of-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... of Israel is described as a lion. It's in this one they're-

David: Oh, this is the ox

Seth: ... described as an ox.

David: Okay.

Seth: And so it's like your worst dreams are coming true. Uh, but this is a super interesting-

David: Mm

Seth: ... uh, water shall flow from his buckets and his seed-

David: Mm

Seth: ... Israel's seed-

David: Right

Seth: ... shall be in many waters. So the way that I've said this, I've, I've been trying to bring us back to the point I made earlier where I said these, that Balak-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... is a type of Pharaoh-

David: Oh, right. Yep

Seth: ... who, uh, both of them were afraid of Israel's numbers.

David: Yep.

Seth: Both of them tried to stop them three times. Both of them did all these things.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Pharaoh was concerned about Israel's number.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And they, he was worried that Israel's numbers would cause them to overtake them. So was Balak. And so what was the first prophecy all about? The first blessing that-

David: Oh, their numbers

Seth: ... that Balaam gives, it's all about their numbers.

David: Right.

Seth: Um, the second prophecy that Balaam gives is about how strong and vigorous the people are.

David: Oh, [laughs] right.

Seth: And the second thing that Pharaoh tries to do is give the midwives to kill the babies, but what do the midwives say?

David: They're vigorous and childbirth.

Seth: They're too vigorous. They just keep-

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: ... popping out babies everywhere.

David: [laughs]

Seth: And so the-

David: So they're too numerous, too vigorous

Seth: ... and the third thing that Pharaoh does is he throws all the babies into the river.

David: Right.

Seth: And then, um, Balaam's prophecy is that their seed shall arise from many waters.

David: Mm.

Seth: And what's Moses's name? [laughs]

David: Oh, out of the water?

Seth: He, he comes out of the water.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: So he's like, "This is God's... You can't."

David: Oh my gosh.

Seth: They got, they... Somebody else before you tried to throw them into the river, and out of the river came this nation.

David: So-

Seth: You cannot. They are like wild ox.

David: Oh my goodness.

Seth: You will not defeat them.

David: Okay. So you tried-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... to take them down into the water in order to create death.

Seth: Yes.

David: But what came out of it was more life than could ever be expected.

Seth: Yes.

David: That doesn't sound like anything familiar at all.

Seth: He, in this last prophecy-

David: Baptism. Okay, sorry. [laughs]

Seth: He also quotes Genesis 49-

David: Oh

Seth: ... about being like a lion. He also quotes Genesis 27 about blessing those who bless you and cursing those who curse you.

David: Oh, right.

Seth: Like, he, like Balaam is borrowing all this language.

David: He's bringing the Torah together.

Seth: He's bringing the whole Torah together, repeating all the promises God has made to Israel to Balak and saying-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... "You have no hope."

David: Which is, which is such an interesting thing. Like, there's so much, there's so many threads I wanna pull here.

Seth: [laughs]

David: So many. Uh, one that immediately popped to my mind is, um, Israel as a, like a blessing to the nations. They're supposed to be this blessing to the nations, and he comes and proclaims the good news of God's relationship with Israel, and it's bad news for Balak.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right?

Seth: Right.

David: But that's because God, God's presence over the face of the earth is a blessing to all nations, all the earth, and so it's bad news for those who oppose him. The, you know, if you curse me, you'll be cursed, right?

Seth: Right.

David: But it's good news for those who bless him.

Seth: Yeah.

David: If you bless me, you'll be blessed. And so Balak is, um, another Pharaoh-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that God will get victory over in order to show that he is more glorious, which is-

Seth: Yes

David: ... the reason he gave back in Exodus for why he-

Seth: And no matter how much-

David: ... flaunted Pharaoh

Seth: ... cursing-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... how mu- how much the powers of the world try to counteract-

David: Mm

Seth: ... God's purpose is to bless. The Lord will always win. The force of the world roam, the religious elite-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... try to crucify Jesus.

David: Right

Seth: They try to bury him in the ground.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And he just rises from the dead.

David: Well, and, and not only the physical powers of the world, but the spiritual powers. This is a necromancer sorcerer dude-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... we're talking about here, who's running into spiritual beings all the time.

Seth: Yes.

David: And, and the spiritual beings, Satan and his legions, tried to snuff out the light of the Son of God, and he put them to open shame in his resurrection.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Anywa- It's just amazing. And then it is crazy, the whole many seeds will come out of the water thing.

Seth: [laughs]

David: How is that not... Can't you just see people popping out of the waters of a baptistry?

Seth: Oh.

David: Like, it's just like into the water, there's death, and it's buried there. That's what Pharaoh wanted, but that's not the end of the story.

Seth: Right.

David: There's life that comes out of it, many seeds that come out of it.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And it's almost like also, like this one seed that we heard prophesied about in Genesis 3:15 a long time ago.

Seth: Oh, don't you know that Balaam quotes that one too?

David: Come on. [laughs]

Seth: It's in the-

David: Balaam, get out of here

Seth: ... it's in the, it's in the next oracle-

David: Oh my gosh

Seth: ... when he starts prophesying about the, the Star of Judah.

David: Yeah. We'll bring it in real quick, and then we'll talk about the fourth one.

Seth: He says essentially, uh, "And a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and it shall crush the forehead of Moab."

David: No.

Seth: So, like [laughs] Balaam is quoting Genesis 3-

David: Oh my gosh

Seth: ... that there will be a ruler who comes out of the waters, and Jesus' death is described, like [laughs] as, like, the waters of death. Like-

David: Yes

Seth: ... who comes out of the waters, who will crush the head-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... of the serpent Moab-

David: But then-

Seth: ... and rise like a star. [laughs]

David: And then there will be many seeds that come out of the water after him-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... which are us, who have believed in him because of his victory. That's amazing. Okay. So Balaam is, or Balak is mad, very mad, and Balaam is like, "Well, I'm just, you know- I'm gonna, I'm gonna strike while the iron's hot, and he just keeps going with a fourth oracle that was not commanded by Balak. He just leans in and starts prophesying-

Seth: He says, "And now, behold, I'm going to my people."

David: Yeah.

Seth: So apparently he-

David: He's converted.

Seth: Right. [laughs]

David: Right? Yeah, he's like, "Well, if that's where all the blessing is, I'm gonna be there." Right? Which is how he ends up in the next chapter among the people.

Seth: Right.

David: And-

Seth: "Come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days."

David: Yeah.

Seth: And he's like, "Let me just tell you what's coming."

David: Right. And, and there's some amazing, like amazing stuff here. Uh, one of my favorite things, uh, in his final oracle is what he says about, um, this star that we keep referencing.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: And, and it starts off and he says, "I see him now." Right? Uh-

Seth: "I see him, but not now."

David: I see, I see him. Yeah. "I s- I see him but not now."

Seth: Verse 17.

David: Yeah. "I behold him but not near." Yeah, this is, uh, Numbers 24:17.

Seth: So he's saying like, "I see this new figure."

David: Yep, it's true. It's there.

Seth: This seed-

David: It's gonna happen

Seth: ... rising out of the water like Moses.

David: Right.

Seth: I see this new figure rising-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... but it's far away, and I don't quite know what he looks like-

David: Right

Seth: ... or when he's coming.

David: It's not right now. It's, it's-

Seth: But I just see that it's going to happen.

David: Yep. It's, it's not near. And so he's like, "This is something in the future that's gonna happen." And s- yeah. And-

Seth: And his scepter will rise-

David: Yeah. So he says-

Seth: ... and he'll crush the head of the serpent. [laughs]

David: It's amazing. So it's a star that will come out of Jacob. Now, we've talked about this before. Dude, we've talked about this before in Numbers, uh, with the census. Remember this?

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: When we talked about how it's possible that the stars in the sky-

Seth: Right

David: ... you know, we talked about how-

Seth: Right, right, right

David: ... like those were celestial beings kind of in the-

Seth: Right, right, right

David: ... the creative imagination of people in the ancient Near East. And so, y- you know, whenever he talks about a star rising out of Jacob, he's talking about I see a spiritual being-

Seth: A spiritual being

David: ... rising out of Jacob. Wait, how can-

Seth: So he-

David: Hold on

Seth: ... he's a god-

David: Yes

Seth: ... rising out-

David: Yes

Seth: ... of Jacob.

David: How can a, but how can a god come from man?

Seth: Oh.

David: Only if he's both. [laughs]

Seth: Oh.

David: Only if he's a god man.

Seth: This just seems like a little bit of incarnation. [laughs]

David: Incarnation going on here.

Seth: That's, oh, that's fascinating.

David: It's amazing. Yeah.

Seth: Yeah. And you-

David: Yeah. Go ahead

Seth: ... I don't remember when we talked about that, about how the stars-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... were considered divine beings.

David: It was with the, it was with the census.

Seth: Genesis?

David: No, it was with this... It was in Numbers with the census.

Seth: Was it Numbers?

David: Yeah, when we talked about-

Seth: Okay, that's right. That's right. That's right

David: ... we were trying to figure out, remember there was like this astronomical counting method?

Seth: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

David: And we were trying to figure out why- what all the numbers meant.

Seth: Yeah. So, like, and so if the stars are considered these divine beings-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... gods among the universe-

David: Right

Seth: ... he's saying, "From the nation of Israel, I see somebody coming out of the water like Moses. I see somebody crushing the head of the serpent."

David: Like the promised seed.

Seth: Like, like, I see s- I see all these things, and he's also coming up and he's a god.

David: Yeah.

Seth: He's a star in the sky.

David: Right.

Seth: Ooh.

David: And, and then what does he do when he rises? He has a scepter, which is a sign of rulership.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And so Moab is this... Uh, or sorry, uh, Balak of Moab is this scared king, and he should be scared because there is this consummate god-man king wielding a scepter, and he will bring his kingdom. He will rule and reign, uh, through and out of his people, Israel, but he'll rule the whole world. Even nations that don't even exist yet-

Seth: Yes

David: ... he's gonna start ruling. Uh, I mean, this is the Kingdom of God promised-

Seth: Right

David: ... in the fourth book of the Bible, brought through Jesus Christ.

Seth: Yeah.

David: That's what we have here. It's amazing. This is, this is one of the most crazy prophecies in the whole Bible.

Seth: So crazy. I wish I could go back and say more, like re-record this whole podcast-

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: ... and say all this again, but better-

David: I know

Seth: ... and do it for another 20 minutes. [laughs]

David: I know.

Seth: With all the extra time we saved.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's amazing.

David: It's crazy. So it, it's just so beautiful, all the stuff that happens. Um, I mean, as we kinda come to the end of, of Balaam's time here in this, [laughs] in this passage-

Seth: Right

David: ... what other observations do you wanna kinda throw on?

Seth: I mean, just, I mean, I, I, we've said it already, the last thing that he says, "And who shall live when God does this?" Like, when will all this happen? Who shall be alive on the earth when God does all this?

David: Oh, sure.

Seth: Ship- when ships come from Kittim-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and it afflict Asher and Eber, so when Rome overtakes Babylon.

David: Mm.

Seth: Um-

David: Oh, dang.

Seth: Right. But that's-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... that's not until Daniel and Ezekiel. Nobody else mentions these nations, Kittim-

David: Right

Seth: ... or, or, um-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... what? I keep forgetting. Asher and Eber-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... until Daniel and Ezekiel. So he's just, it's, it's another way for us to see that Balaam is categorically talking about Jesus-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... not just in shadows and types and by quoting the Old Testament as if that was not enough.

David: But historically, geo-

Seth: But historically [laughs]

David: ... geographically, politically-

Seth: He's like naming-

David: ... inescapably talking about Jesus. [laughs]

Seth: He's naming the nations-

David: Right

Seth: ... that other, other Biblical authors will talk about-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... written hundreds of years later.

David: Because Daniel, like help us out here.

Seth: Right.

David: You've studied Daniel pretty recently.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So Daniel talks about these different kingdoms.

Seth: Right.

David: It was Babylon, and then you had like the Medes and the Persians and the Greeks.

Seth: Right. The Greeks, and then the-

David: And then Rome-

Seth: And then Rome

David: ... which is unnamed in, in-

Seth: It is

David: ... Daniel itself, but it was a kingdom. He said, "Then one will come, and it will conquer all of them, a kingdom like never before."

Seth: Right.

David: But then one will come-

Seth: But then it, but all, it'll be divided just like it was.

David: It'll be di- divided-

Seth: It's like-

David: ... just like it was in Ro- It's very spot on.

Seth: It's very spot on.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Even if that's not the main point of Daniel-

David: Right

Seth: ... it's definitely very spot on.

David: It's very, uh-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... miraculous.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so, and out of that divided kingdom comes this-

Seth: Jesus

David: ... Jesus, this Lord forever, this everlasting Son of Man-

Seth: Right

David: ... that Daniel prophesies.

Seth: What's funny-

David: And so, and so what you're say-

Seth: And-

David: I just wanna-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... close this loop.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So like what you're saying is that this, this prophecy in Daniel that is inescapably linked to Rome is the only other time we have these nations m- mentioned-

Seth: Right

David: ... and they match up with Balaam's prophecy, and both of them terminate in the, the only possible solution being Jesus of Nazareth.

Seth: That's right.

David: Nazareth.

Seth: That's right.

David: That's, I mean, that's just-

Seth: It's fa- That's amazing

David: ... that's in- that's insane.

Seth: And then like a, I don't know if this is intentional-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... but like Balaam describes him as a star rising up out of-

David: Mm

Seth: ... Israel, and then Daniel describes this kingdom that's coming-

David: Mm

Seth: ... this king that's coming as a meteor coming out of the sky.

David: Right.

Seth: [laughs] Like-

David: The star go, the star is up-

Seth: The s- [laughs]

David: ... and it comes right back down

Seth: ... and it comes back down.

David: Talk about incarnation.

Seth: [laughs]

David: That's amazing.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah. Oh, okay. Uh, I think, I mean, we've said, we've said this also, but it, I think it does bear repeating that whether it is out of the mouth of a donkey- Or out of an unexpected pagan prophet who is later condemned in the Biblical narrative.

Seth: Right.

David: Um, God uses unexpected, shameful sometimes, difficult to understand, uh, uh, like places and people and situations to bring about, um, his ultimate blessing, this Jesus, you know-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that would come out of this kingdom. And I, it just makes me think about, like, one, it makes me think about the shamefulness of the cross.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: It makes me, it also makes me think about anybody who's listening and their life situation, um, where it's like, "There's no way God's at work-

Seth: Right

David: ... in this crummy situation."

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right?

Seth: I'm here because of my own decisions.

David: Yeah.

Seth: I'm a child because my parents made poor decisions.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And who will rescue me from this?

David: Right.

Seth: And the Lord says, "I will bring blessing out of curse."

David: Mm.

Seth: My intention since the Garden has to be b- bring bless- blessing out of curses.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And you can see that most clearly in Jesus-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... who was killed on a curse.

David: Right.

Seth: Killed by a curse on the tree, and yet he was resurrected from it.

David: Right. To bring you a blessing.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It's so good. And so what we'll see then as we turn the tide here and move into Numbers 25 and 26 is a new regimen, right? The, the younger generation takes over from the older generation.

Seth: The blessings are pronounced-

David: The blessings are pronounced

Seth: ... and the new generation is-

David: Picks them up-

Seth: Yep

David: ... and takes them and starts to succeed with them, uh, from Numbers through Deuteronomy into Joshua before it all starts to crumble again. [laughs] And so that's what we'll pick up next week. Um, we'll pick up Numbers, uh, 25 and onward. So thank you guys for listening so much. It's been fun for a late-night podcast here-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in a basement in Kansas City. Uh, and, uh, we hope it's been helpful.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It- it's been a crazy story.

Seth: It's a l- I love, this is one, increasingly one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

David: Definitely.

Seth: And I wanna keep, I wanna keep studying it-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... 'cause it feels important.

David: It, it's one of those stories that it feels like the more you keep reading it, the more it's gonna give you, [laughs] you know?

Seth: Yeah. That's-

David: Which is-

Seth: I just finished writing all the devotionals-

David: ... Hebrew narratives

Seth: ... for John, and I feel like I just need to restart because I learned so much through that process-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... that I just like-

David: Yep

Seth: ... they'd be better if I just wrote them all again.

David: Which, like, that might be a, a fun way to end this, this podcast is just by saying this, is that this podcast is hopefully a starting point for your interaction with scripture-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... not the terminal point, that we hope that this helps you run back to scripture and read it with open eyes.

Seth: You're hearing, we read one or two commentaries-

David: Yep

Seth: ... and then we talk about it.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, this, we're not experts.

David: Nope.

Seth: We don't-

David: We don't have a script in front of us. [laughs]

Seth: We, like, we, like, we're taking seminary classes-

David: Right

Seth: ... but, like, a lot of times they're not helping us-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... do this podcast.

David: Do this pod- yeah. [laughs] And so we just hope this makes you run back to your Bible like it makes us after we, you know, turn off the, the microphones. Uh, we-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... we, we find ourselves wanting to go back to the same stories we've just talked about because they yield even more fruit-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... upon, uh, visitation after visitation. So anyway-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... this is not meant to be the final point of your Bible study, but its beginning. So, uh, run back to your Bibles.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Read the story. Read the blessings of Balaam and, like, stand in awe how they're fulfilled-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in Jesus. Uh, and if you come up with some more ways, if you see Jesus in his glory in different ways in these prophecies, uh, drop us a line at [email protected].

Seth: Yeah.

David: We'd love to hear from you.

Seth: And if you wanna be a blessing to us-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... rate us five stars-

David: On iTunes

Seth: ... on iTunes Podcasts.

David: Yeah. Oh, my goodness. All right. Well, thank you guys for listening, and we'll see you next week. [upbeat music]

Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit dedicated to creating free gospel-centered media that speaks the gospel out of every corner of scripture. So to join us in our mission and view our resources, we invite you to visit spokengospel.com. [upbeat music]

Related Resources

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Balaam, His Donkey, and the Star Rising Out of Israel: Numbers 22–24

Show Notes

The Weight of Numbers and God's Unshakeable Intention to Bless

Balaam the Mercenary Prophet and the God Who Cannot Be Bartered With

The Talking Donkey: A Biblical Comedy That Foreshadows Everything

Balak as a New Pharaoh: Three Curses Turned to Blessing

The Star of Judah: A Prophecy That Can Only Be About Jesus

Blessing Out of Curse: The Gospel in Numbers 22–24

Related Resources

Introduction to Numbers

View our devotional on Numbers: 1:1-1:46

Ready to study a different book?

Listen to the Numbers Introduction podcast

Listen to the Numbers 1-3: The Census podcast

Listen to the Numbers 4-6: God's Moving Company podcast

Listen to the Numbers 7-9: Flashback to Exodus podcast

Listen to the Numbers 10-12: Power Struggle podcast

Listen to the Numbers 13-15: The Spy's Disbelief podcast

Listen to the Numbers 16-19: The Priest's Disbelief podcast

Listen to the Numbers 20-21: Moses' Disbelief podcast

Listen to the Numbers 22-24: Balaam and His Donkey podcast

Listen to the Numbers 25-27: The New Generation podcast

Listen to the Numbers 28-30: Holy Time and Rash Vows podcast

Listen to the Numbers 31: Holy War podcast

Listen to the Numbers 32-36: Before The Promised Land podcast