No, Balaam gets what he wants in the end.
In Numbers 25 we see that some of the men of Israel took Moabite wives—yes, the same Moab of whom Balak is king and who wanted to curse Israel—and began mingling the worship of Ba’al with the worship of God.
This angered God and he sent a plague that killed 24,000 people.
But when we turn over a few pages to Numbers 31, we see something very interesting.
Israel goes to war against Midian, with whom King Balak has an alliance, and conquers Midian, but they do not destroy all the women. The army comes back to camp and instead of cheering their victory, Moses demands, “Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.”
In the end, Balaam got his money.
How?
He convinced the women of Moab to infiltrate the camp and do to Israel what he himself couldn’t do.
His manipulation got him what he wanted.
But the wages of his sin was death: “They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.“
“Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” May our hearts delight in Him, and in nothing else: not money, not new cars, not new furniture, not a nice job, a nice house, a nice vacation … not in anything other than Him.
Because what we delight in becomes our god.
And when our hearts area consumed with another god, when our passion for those things that God has not destined for us moves us to push God’s hand and manipulate Him until He gives us what we want, the end is always destruction!
Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call where she shares her passion for local and global missions. She can also be found at on a regular basis. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google +.
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