Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. To all my fellow pastors, I've got a question for you. Does your city know that your church exists? Listen, I get it. You're preaching, you're leading, you're discipling, you're doing ministry. We are in the same boat. And let's be honest, social media and marketing, not your strong suit. Not mine either. And that's probably the last thing on your mind. And that's why we chose to partner with Church Candy Marketing for our church Plant the garden. We out here, y'all. They help churches get more actual guests walking through the doors on Sunday without your eye having to stress over ads or algorithms or trying to crack the social media code. Right now, Church Candy is helping nearly 400 churches reach their communities with simple invite ads. And it works. It's super effective. I can tell you from firsthand experience. So if you're tired of being your city's best kept secret, how about you do this? Go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a free consultation book a discovery call. Their team will break it all down and show you how to start seeing new faces at your church this Sunday. I'm in the trenches with you trying to grow the church. And how about we just start a whole campaign? No more empty churches. So let's partner with Church Candy and get our churches full. The glory of Jesus. Let's go. We got an action packed couple of chapters today. We're in numbers. Chapter 22, 23, 24 and 25. Four chapters of the Bible. We got a talking donkey. We got a pagan prophet who is not able to curse the people of Israel. We got a whole bunch of stuff and then we are going to have, we're going to have an uneventful disaster, even though God tried to help the people out. So anyway, we got an action packed journey for these couple of chapters of the Bible. Hey, if you have not done the reading for the day, go ahead, turn this video off, turn the audio off, go do the reading. If you have done the reading, then hopefully this content helps you out in a tremendous way, adds a ton of value to you. Let's dig in. Like always, I'm gonna give you context clues, then we'll move into some nerdy nuggets. I'll give you a timeless truth. All right, context. Okay? The people of Israel have not been awesome, okay? We've had multiple rebellions. We, according to yahweh, have had 10 times where the Israelites have tested God out here in the wilderness. Seven of them coming from the book of Numbers, three of them coming from Exodus. So the people of Israel have not been amazing. And God's judged them, okay? He has sent snakes to judge them, he has sent plagues to judge them. He's opened up the earth to judge them. He has, he, he has disciplined his people out here. They have gotten judgment. Like they have tested God, treated God with contempt and gotten judgment. Now the incident with Balaam is actually going to be an incident where they get a lot of grace. I mean, this is some of the most like grace filled chapters of the Bible because what they deserve are all the curses that Balak is paying Balaam to send on the people. So that's what's happening. Okay? The people of Israel are actually now moving towards the plains of Moab. I know earlier, like a couple days ago I said Padanaram is where the people are going to go, but it's actually the plains of Moab. So the book of Numbers has three movements. They're at Mount Sinai, they're, they're journeying through the wilderness, and then they're on the plains of Moab. And it's the plains of Moab where they are about to cross over the Jordan and go into the land. Okay? When they get to the plains of Moab, Balak, who is a king in the region, is fearful because the Israelites have actually had some successful battle wins, like literally right up until this moment. And so Balak isn't trying to take a chance battling these people in, in hand to hand combat. He does not want no smoke from Yahweh. All right? It's very, very clear that God has favored these people. So Balak employs what's called a Mesopotamian Baru. I'm going to scroll to my notes just to make sure I got like, just that right. Baru. B A R U. Now this would have been like a sorcerer. This would have been someone that was a professional at manipulating and persuading the gods. Okay. This would have been the kind of person who can turn the, the heart of the gods and persuade the gods to make a different kind of decision. Okay? Think oracle. This is pagan, Kate. Balaam is a pagan. Actually, there's extra biblical evidence that Balaam existed. There have Been archeological digs. Where Balaam peor is is just inscribed on a stone somewhere. So Balaam is most likely a. A real character who's a famous oracle, sorcerer, pagan. Balak pays Balaam to come curse God's people. And God appears to Balaam and is like, nope, don't do it. Balaam doesn't listen, goes anyway, and his donkey can see the angel of the Lord. And the donkey is trying to get this man to stop, all right? And he doesn't stop. And two miracles happen here. Numbers chapter 22, verse 31 says, Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell face down. Two miracles actually happened, not one. The first miracle is that God opens up the mouth of a donkey. The second miracle is that he opens up the eyes of Balaam. There's some of us that we're so blind that it's easier for God to make an animal talk than it is to make our eyes see. And so Balaam is finally able to see that the angel of the Lord is opposing him. And Balaam comes to the place of realizing, I'm not about to make this money. Like I thought this was about to be some easy money. I'm not about to make no money today. I'm about to be broke. But he decides to try anyway. Actually, the accounts are pretty fascinating. You can find them in chapter 23. It says at the end of chapter 22. The next morning, Balak took Balaam up to Balmoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israel camp. Balaam said, build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams. So he prepares 14 sacrifices sacrificing this stuff to Baal. Most likely, Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Then Balaam said to Balak, stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me, I'll tell you. Then he went off to a barren height. God met with him. And Balaam said, I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a ram and a bull. The Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth. He said, go back to Balaam and give him this word. And he goes back, okay, to him and found him standing beside his offering with the Moabite officials. Then Balaam spoke his message. And Balaam's message is not a curse. To Israel. Balaam's message is a blessing to Israel. So the first prophecy of Balaam is going to be numbers, chapter 23, verses 7 to 10. You can study Balaam's prophecy on your own. So here's two cool things. Number one, Balaam is up on a high place. Why is he up on a high place? Because in the ancient near east, it was believed that the higher you were in elevation, the closer you were to the gods. He's trying to get into proximity of BAAL so that he can communicate with baal. Now what you're going to see in this scenario is that Balak is going to keep moving Balaam around. And it's because they believe that the gods had regional power. And so, you know, Balaam doesn't have good service up on this mountain over here. And what he's going to learn, what Balak is actually going to learn about Yahweh, is that he's not a regional God. Balaam actually has fine service. The issue is not a cell phone signal. The issue is that God has blessed his people. And whom God has blessed, nobody can curse. So here's the picture, here's the context. While the people of Israel have decided to be a hot, ratchet, disobedient, idolatrous mess, while they are grumbling and complaining and rebelling and infighting, God is fighting for them. God is protecting them. And God is turning curses into blessing. That's grace. There's no better picture of grace than that. They deserve for God to turn his back. They have been nothing but stiff necked and stubborn. And instead of God giving them what they deserve, they don't even know that right above them is a king and a wicked sorcerer trying to curse them. And God is keeping them, as my mother used to say, from danger seen and unseen. God is keeping them from unseen dangers because that's the goodness of God, to protect us even when we don't deserve protecting. So they move to another mountain, they offer more sacrifices, and Balaam is going to give a second prophecy in numbers, chapter 23, 18, 24. Then we're going to do it again. Balaam's they're going to move to another place, more sacrifices. Balaam is going to give another prophecy in Numbers, chapter 24, verses 2 to 9. And here's one of the really, really cool prophecies. Essentially, Balaam is gonna see the Garden of Eden. He's looking down at the people of Israel and he sees the Garden of Eden. He says this in Numbers, chapter 24, verse 5. How beautiful are your tents, Jacob. Your dwelling places, Israel, like valleys spread out like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters. Water will flow from their buckets. They're in the wilderness. Okay, he's saying water will flow from their buckets. Their seed will have abundant water. Their king will be greater than Agag. Their kingdom will be exalted. God brought them out of Egypt. They have the strength of a wild ox. They devour hostile nations and break their bones in pieces with their arrows. They pierce them. So Balaam is up on a high place, and what does he see? He sees a garden. He sees Eden. He sees the tabernacle. And he doesn't just see a tent, but he sees that the tabernacle represents the lost Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve were expelled from God has actually opened up Balaam's eyes to see what the text has actually been trying to show us. That the Tabernacle is this mobile Eden, that the tabernacle is a mobile garden, that as long as they are engaging with the tabernacle, they. It's as if they are entering back into the Garden of Eden. Also, what you kind of need to see is. I know we talked about how the tents were encamped around the tabernacle, but from a high place, what Balaam would have actually seen would have been the symbol of the cross. Okay, remember, there are three tribes on the west, three tribes on the east, three tribes on the north, and three tribes on the south with a tabernacle that's facing the east. And so Balaam would have actually looked down and saw a symbol that represents Jesus. So if we're looking at types and shadows in the Old Testament, you definitely got one right here. That Balaam looks down, he sees Eden. And he also would have looked down and seen the symbol that eventually would signify the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. Okay. Balak is, at this point, like, really ticked off because Balaam has blessed the people three times, and then they. They keep on trying a fourth time. Balaam is going to prophesy again. Is gonna. This is, I'm pretty sure, gonna be a prophecy about Jesus. Yep. It says this, verse 17 of chapter 24, 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. Okay, so a ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city, we get a prophecy, a messianic prophecy, a prophecy about Jesus in Balaam's fourth prophecy. In Balaam's fifth prophecy, he prophesies against the Amalekites. In the sixth prophecy, he prophesies against the Kenites. And then in the final and seventh prophecy, he prophesies against Asher and Eber. And then it says in chapter 24, verse 25, then Balaam got up and returned home and Balak went on his own way. So we got into nerdy nuggets without me even announcing it. I gave context for the grace and the goodness of God and the protection of God, that he would protect his people, even though they don't deserve any kind of protection at all. Us outlining those seven prophecies, that was our nerdy nuggets, okay? And we'll even dive deeper into a nerdy nugget right now, and that is that you don't have to be a Christian for God to talk to you. God doesn't only talk to believers, he doesn't only talk to Christians. And this won't be the only time that God uses a straight up pagan heathen in order to speak for God. Pontius Pilate, who's a heathen, says prophesies about Jesus, okay? Or maybe, maybe it was Caiaphas who prophesies and says, you know, one per. It'd be better for one person to die for the people than for all the people to die. Nebuchadnezzar is someone who's used by God. The wise men, well, probably way more than three of them. But the wise men, they're gonna follow a star and come and give gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus. These are not believers. These aren't God fearers. These are pagans. These are Persian astrologers who are using astrology to find this king named Jesus. Okay? So God's activity in terms of who he is talking to is not relegated to. To just Jews or Christians or believers. God will talk to anybody and he will use anything, including a donkey, in order to keep his purposes on track in the earth. Those seven times that Balaam tries to prophesy and is not able to, that's our nerdy nuggets for today. And we went through all of them. The reference to the garden, that's a nerdy nugget. The ref. The messianic prophecy, that's a nerdy nugget. So let's get into our timeless truth, and I'm really excited about this one. We're Gonna go to Revelation chapter 2, verse 14, and then we're gonna go to Numbers, chapter 31. So here's what now happens, okay? All this prophecy is over by the time we're at the end of chapter 24. But man, these Israelites can't win, okay? So Balaam cannot defeat them by cursing them. So what he does is he tells Balak to send Moabite women into the camp to have sex with them. And because the men have no self control, those women who seduce them are then going to lead them to idol worship, and that's how they're destroyed. They are not destroyed by a spiritual attack or curse. They are destroyed because they have no self control. This is what Revelation chapter 2, verse 14 says about Balaam says this. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. There are some among you who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak, okay? Balak is the king who was supposed to be paying Balaam. And since this whole thing is not successful, Balaam finally teaches Balak a little lesson, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin. So they ate food, sacrificed to idols, and committed sexual immorality. So let's now go to Numbers, chapter 31. Okay? Numbers, chapter 31, verse 16. Moses is going to lead the people into battle against the Moabites. He's going to say this. They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice, okay? Balaam, since he could not curse the people, he gave some really solid advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord's people. So this is just really, really nerdy, okay? This is also where the term zeal for my zeal for your house has consumed me. Okay? So when the Jews talk about being zealous, when the. When there's a group, a set of Israelites called Zealots, it is connected to a man by the name of Phinehas. Okay? So in chapter once, Balaam is unsuccessful in trying to curse Israel. You're going to get to chapter 27. While Israel was staying at Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meat and bowed down before these gods. So they couldn't curse him, but they totally could seduce him. And that is so sad. And this is what it said then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman, right? Before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting, When Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand, and followed the Israelite into the tent. He. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman's stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped. But those who died in the plague numbered 24,000. So Phinehas, and this is what it's going to say. Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron. The priest has turned my anger away from the Israelites since he was zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. So that word zeal is going to get used twice. So Phinehas is going to get painted as his poster child for zeal. Okay? For the rest of the Old Testament and definitely into the New Testament, he and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites. So obviously, the Israelite man and the Moabite woman are having sex. And while they are having sex with each other, Phineas throws a spear through them and kills both of them, belly to belly. And get. They get, Scott. They get. They died. So when Jesus is in the temple and says, zeal from my father's house will consume me, he's driving out the. The people who are selling and buying in the. In the temple. He says, you've turned my father's house into a den of robbers. We are. He's referencing this story in Numbers, chapter 25. Bible nerds. I have an announcement. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos releases May of 2025. In pre. Orders are officially open. When I began to learn Genesis in its proper context, I learned that the creation account is not primarily about God creating something out of nothing, but rather God bringing divine, original order to the chaos of the cosmos. That one nugget was a game changer for me because I've been preaching to all the kids in my youth group that peace was a solution for their anxiety. But really, God's solution to chaos is never peace, but rather order. Peace isn't something that you stumble into. It's something that you intentionally step into and that starts with aligning your life with God's order. I think that this book is a game changer. It's nerdy. It's practical. It provides a very contextual understanding of the book of Genesis. And if you grab a copy, you'll learn why there's a huge dragon on the COVID Head to the link in the show notes to pre order or head to crushingchaos.com to see the really dope trailer that we made for this book. I think it's time for you to crush the chaos in your life. And that starts with grabbing a copy of this book. Now back to the podcast. So what's the timeless truth for the day? The timeless truth is exactly what John says in the book of Revelation says, I have a few things against you. There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin, so they ate food, sacrificed to idols, and committed sexual immorality. It's funny, I grew up in a really, really Pentecostal church. And you know, when you grow up in a Pentecostal church, people can over spiritualize all kinds of things and they think that they have a demon or they think they have a this or that. And it's like the people who are always scared of all this supernatural stuff were also the people who are like, promiscuous and having sex with people and doing something they shouldn't be doing. It's like, you don't have a demon problem. You want to know what you have? You, you have you. Demons are not your problem. Sexual immorality is your problem. And here we have the people of Israel. God is going through all this work to protect them from a sorcerer and a pagan, from pagan witchcraft. And Balaam goes, ah, I wasn't able to curse him, but I know how to get him. He tells Balak, just send women. No need. No need to do all this cursing and sacrifice. Look how many animals we've sacrificed up here. Let's chill, let's stop this. No need to do all this work. Just send women. Women, women, women, women. Anyway, just send women. If you got that reference, that's absolutely hilarious. But I wonder how many times the enemy's tried to attack you and God's blocked it. And then all the enemy does is backdoor you and instead of cursing you, he just tempts you and you sabotage your own self. And that's a timeless truth that while I'm paranoid about the curse or some attack, God's grace goes, nope, actually I'm protecting you even when you don't deserve to be protected. But what I cannot protect you from, I can protect you from Balaam's. Curses. But I cannot protect you from Balaam's advice to send women into the camp to seduce you. I can't protect you from that. Only your self control will be able to protect you from that. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a timeless truth. And that brings us to the end of today's reading. Hey, we covered four chapters of the Bible. We got Pagan Sorcerer, it's prophesied about Jesus and we connected it all to the New Testament. Tomorrow we got a couple more chapters as we make our way through the wilderness. And if you're on a streak, don't break it. If you're not on a streak, let's start one. All you need is two days in order to start a streak. Hey. I'm so proud of you. I love you. I hope today's reading added value to your life and I'll see you right here tomorrow. Love you guys. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.