2018 When Good Intentions Aren't Enough

Raised to Walk Podcast

Jan 25 2018 • 12 mins

At the beginning of each New Year, most of us start with new resolution and good intentions.    It is a time for fresh starts and new beginnings. We resolve to read more, to eat right, and to follow through on that exercise program.  But according to research, only 8 percent[1] of us follow through on those New Year’s goals and 80 percent of resolutions are given up by February. Such good intentions but life gets in the way. There is a difference between an intention and a resolution. The Bible is full of people who began with good intentions, such as the man of God who heard God’s voice, but thought he was done when he wasn’t, or Solomon who had high ideals when he succeeded his father, but then got caught up in his own press. They had that in common with two other people in the Bible that we typically view as villains, Balaam and Herod the tetrarch. Balaam, who was paid to curse Israel, in the end gave one of the most well known prophecies regarding the birth of the Messiah, one that features prominently around the Christmas season. “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” (Numbers 24:17)   That is the part we focus upon, but you have to read the whole verse to get a sense of the scope of what was going on: "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.” Sounds a little extreme doesn’t it? But there is even more drama. On Balak and Balaam The story begins in the book of Numbers, Israel had been wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years because they had refused to enter the land of Canaan and lost the opportunity for the blessing. Aaron and Moses also missed the promised land because they did not follow God’s instructions precisely. ( Numbers 20:2-12) They were wandering through the desert, moving from place to place, with the Promised Land always in sight. When moving to a new location, Moses asked permission of the ruling power of the land to pass through, promising not to disturb anything. In a continuing pattern, the ruler refused to allow passage through their land (Numbers 20:14-21 interaction with Edom). This antipathy escalated with the king of Arad attacking and capturing a group of the Israelites. This led to a war between Arad and Israel where Israel utterly conquered. (Numbers 21:1-3). After more drama with complaints, snakes, and more opposition to Israel’s passage where Israel won a battle over the strongest warrior in the land (Numbers 21:33-35), Balak, the ruler of nearby Moab, got nervous. (Numbers 22:1-3) Balak was worried because he saw the victories of the Israelites, victories over people that had pushed Moab out of their previously inhabited land. The root of the Israelites campaign to conquer the promised land goes back further than God’s promise to the Israelites at Sinai (Exodus 33:1), It goes back further than God’s directive to Moses, and it even goes back before the promise of God to Jacob at Bethel or Abraham (Genesis 17:8). It begins in Genesis 9:20-27 when Noah curses Ham’s son Canaan. The directive was to conquer the land of the Canaanites, not the surrounding lands. Why the Canaanites were singled out is a topic for another day, but the point is Balak didn’t have anything to worry about. The Moabites descended from Lot (Genesis 19:37), and God told Moses not to bother them because they were in the land He had given them (Deuteronomy 2:9). Balak knew about God, but he didn’t know God. He let fear overtake him without knowing the circumstances and he sought out Balaam, someone he knew was a prophet of God. Balak knew that if he could get Balaam to speak against Israel, that it would be so. Balak sent ambassadors to Balaam and said: “And now come, curse for me this people, since it is stronger than we are, if we may be able to strike some of them,