Enemies

This week's Sabbath reading portion is named after one of the enemies that came against the Israelites as they journeyed through the wilderness after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The title of this reading portion is "Balak". Balak was the king of Moab, a nation that bordered the land that the LORD had promised to give to the Israelites, the covenant descendants (from whom the Messiah would come) of Abraham. Balak's name means "devastator, annihilate, make empty, void". This brings to mind the condition of the earth before God spoke miraculously in Genesis: "The earth was without form and void." (Gen. 1:2). From his name we can see that this enemy, Balak, represented a spiritual enemy as well as a natural enemy. Up to this point in the Book of Numbers, or B'Midbar in Hebrew, we read how God had numbered His people, whom He called "armies" (Num. 1:2-3). The males of the Israelites, except for the Levites, who were of fighting age, "able to go to war", numbered 603,550 (Num. 2:32-33). If we add the Levites, the women and the children, the total number of Israelites in the wilderness was well over one million, and many believe the number could have been over two million. By the time we come to the account of Balak, king of Moab, in chapters 22-24, the Israelites, by the favor and might of the LORD, had already defeated other kings who had attacked them. For this reason, as the Israelites approached the territory of Moab, those people became afraid: "Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread (qus - sickening dread, grieved, abhor, loathing, cut, cut up, cut off) because of the children of Israel. So Moab said to the elders of Midian, 'Now this company will lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field." (Num. 22:2-4). Here's something for the people of God to know about their spiritual enemies: while the Israelites were totally unaware of the ideas of Balak and the Moabites, the Moabites were sick with dread over the Israelites. The enemy's dread was so intense, that it caused them to loathe the people of God, according to the Hebrew meaning. The fear and loathing was so intense that the enemy sought to destroy, or cut off, the people of God in any way possible. Here's something else to know about the spiritual enemy: Balak, this devastator and annihilator, had a father named Zippor. Zippor means "sparrow, small bird, twittering, hopping little bird, skip around in a circle". I'm not saying that this spiritual enemy is not strong enough to "devastate" and "annihilate", but compared to the Father of the people of God, Who carried those millions of Israelites on His great eagles' wings, there's no comparison. We see this description when the LORD told Moses to say to the children of Israel: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega - see Rev. 1:8, 21:6, 22:13) covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (Ex. 19:3-6). In this week's Sabbath reading portion, we will see the awesome and terrifying might of the LORD against the enemies of His people. Can God not save His covenant people from little sparrows, no matter how evil? (see also Isa. 14:12-17). We will also see later what drives God to pour out all of His tremendous power against these enemies. Balak, king of Moab, sent his men to hire a certain sorcerer-soothsayer named Balaam (meaning "not of the people, foreigner"), son of Beor ("burning, stupid, dull-hearted, unreceptive, brutish, feed upon, consume"), from Pethor ("soothsayer"). (Num. 22:5-6). King Balak of Moab wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites, so that Balak might then be able to defeat them. However, God would not allow Balaam to curse whom He had blessed, and Balaam could only speak bountiful blessings over the children of Israel. (Num. 23:8, 11-12). Not only did Balaam bless Israel, but the Word of the LORD which Balaam received, revealed the shout of a King among the Israelites (Num. 23:21, 21, 24:7, 9). He compared the Israelites to a lion, which is the identity of the Messiah: the Lion of the tribe of Judah (see also Gen. 49:8-12). In Balaam's fourth prophecy, as he again blesses the people of God, he also again prophesies the Messiah (Num. 24:17, 19). When Balaam looked upon the Israelites, he prophetically saw the Messiah Who was to be born many centuries later. Balaam was not able to curse Israel, but we see that Israel immediately thereafter begins to "commit harlotry with the women of Moab". The Moabite women invited the people (of Israel) to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to (samad - fasten, bind, join, attach oneself to, combine) Ba'al of Peor, this Moabite god, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel. (Num. 25:1-3). Those who had joined themselves to the false god, Ba'al, were killed. Phinehas stopped this wholesale destruction of the Israelites by killing one man who refused to put aside his idolatrous foreign wife. Twenty-four thousand Israelites died in this plague from the LORD. (v. 7-9). It turned out, that this idolatry of God's people with the gods of the Moabite women resulted from Balaam advising King Balak to use this strategy to lead the Israelites away from God, leaving them vulnerable (see Num. 31:15-16). This is still a strategy used by spirits of darkness against God's people (see. Rev. 2:14). Although the LORD intervened powerfully to prevent the curse that the enemy tried to bring on His people, which was the devastation and annihilation that King Balak desired against the Israelites, the Israelites opened the door, invited it in, and brought a plague of destruction upon themselves. From another "Balak" reading portion of this Sabbath, a generation later, Joshua gathered the Israelites and demanded that they decide and commit to either the God who delivered them out of Egypt, or the false gods of the other nations. He demanded: "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served...Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Josh. 24:14-15). The Israelites agreed, saying, "We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God." (v. 18). As Joshua and the Israelites spoke of "the LORD", it is written in Hebrew as (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Yehova, or LORD. In another reading portion, titled Balak, for this Sabbath, the prophet Micah (meaning "Who is like YHWH Jehovah") brings forth the Word of the LORD concerning His great victory over His enemies. In Micah 5, the prophet brought a beautiful description of the coming of the Messiah-Savior, whose origin is from eternity: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrahthah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Iarael, whose goings forth (mosa'a/mosa/yasa - origin, family descent/rising, place of departure/begotten, break out, germinate, come out of, water flowing and gushing forth from a fountain) are from of old (qedem/qadam - ancient time, eternal, before-time/hasten to meet, receive, anticipate), fromn everlasting (olam/alam - perpetual time, always, continuous existence, eternity, hidden time/hidden, secret thing).' ...He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; and this One shall be peace." (Mic. 5:2-5a). This prophecy is emphatic that the Ruler who was to come had His origins in eternity and was eternity. Jesus (Yeshua- "Salvation of God") was continually existent before the beginning, although His natural birth was to be in Bethlehem. Even many Christians erroneously believe that Jesus' "beginnings" were at His birth in Bethlehem, but this is not correct. He was before time itself. He was, and is, and will be "always". From this amazing revelation in Micah 5, the prophet wrote of the LORD's complete victory over the enemies of His people, concluding: "And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the (aleph-tav) nations (goyim/geva - nations, people, heathen, Gentiles/body) that have not heard (sama - hear, perceive, obedient, discern, give heed, agree, yield to). We may think that this sounds unjust, but when we look at the Hebrew meanings, those who did not "hear" were those who refused to receive and obey what they knew. They knew because they were aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega nations, people, a body, that belonged to the LORD. These people would not be ignorant of the Lord, Jesus Christ. They would know, but refuse to receive and obey the King of Kings. Man is responsible for what God has faithfully and mercifully revealed to them. These aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega nations, divinely destined to belong to Christ, cannot make war against God's people, and then say, "Lord, I didn't know." In another reading portion from this Sabbath, the prophet Habakkuk (meaning "embrace,clasp") also wrote about this: "He (the LORD) stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled (natar - drive asunder, undo, shake (off), unfasten) the nations. And the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting...The sun and moon stood still in their habitation...You marched through the land in indignation; You teampled the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Anointed (masiah - Messiah, anointed [same as "Christ"], anointed prince or priest). You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah...When I heard, my body trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered my bones; and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble..." (Hab. 3:6, 11-13, 16). The prophet was terrified by what he saw and heard in the Spirit, as the LORD went forth for the salvation of His people through His (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Messiah, or Christ in Greek. The LORD shook all of creation, stopping the sun and the moon, on behalf of the salvation He had provided for His people with the Messiah. A Balak-type enemy, the son of a "tweet-tweet, hop-hop" sparrow, cannot compare with our God marching forth on behalf of the salvation of His people. As for me and my house, we will fear and serve the LORD of awesome power and might. If you would like to know more about the LORD who shakes the heavens and the earth, and all of the nations on behalf of the salvation of His people by His Messiah, Jesus, you can pray with me: "LORD God, You are mighty and great on behalf of my salvation. You shake all of creation in order to bring me to, and keep me in, Your salvation, Jesus. You sent Your Son to die, to descend into Hell, and to be raised from the dead, to defeat all of the enemies of darkness that, like Balak, would try to destroy me, and all of Your people. Keep me from evil by Your Word, and by Your Holy Spirit, so that I remain steadfast in You, Aleph-Tav/Alpha and Omega Yehova, where my salvation dwells. I ask, as always, in the name of Your Son, Jesus, who saved me. AMEN."