Two weeks ago, I promised that we would
look at the third and main character in our story; Balaam. This is necessary as
he is not one of the popular Bible characters and most of his life is hidden in
the least read books of the Old Testament.
We are first introduced to him in the
Old Testament (Numbers 22:5) and typical of Biblical accounts, he is identified
with his ancestry and his location. Balaam, an Edomite was the son of Beor. He
lived in Pethor (Deuteronomy 23:4) in Mesopotamia (Numbers 23:7) which was
about 400 miles from Moab. As an Edomite, he was a descendant of Esau(Genesis
36:1) who was the twin brother of Jacob(Genesis 25:23-26).Jacob is also known
as Israel and is the father of the Israelites(Genesis 49:2), thus
making Balaam a relative of the Israelites. He is also mentioned in the
books of Deuteronomy( Deutronomy 23:4-5) , Nehemiah(Nehemiah 13:2)
and Micah (Micah 6:5).
Balaam is mentioned thrice in the New
Testament and on all occasions, negatively. The first is seen in 2 Peter
2:15 where Apostle Peter admonishes that
we do not follow the “way of Balaam” .The second mention is found in the book
of Jude who while warning about the apostates, describes them with
three Old Testament characters, one of which is Balaam. These apostates were
said to have run greedily after the “error of Balaam” while the last
mention of him is by the Lord in his message to the Church in Pergamos in Revelation 2:12-16 where after commending the Church, urged them to repent as they had amongst them
some people who held unto the “doctrine of Balaam”. This same doctrine is
what is referred to as the “counsel of Balaam”(Numbers 31:16).
The Greek form of the name Balaam means
“devourer of the people” or simply “devourer “ while the Hebrew form of his
name which is Bilam means “one not of the people ,devourer or foreigner”. Beor on the other hand means “burning”.It is
noticeable that the meaning of his name as well as that of his father is negative.
In the Bible, names were not given
lightly and neither should we give names or change names without revelation, conviction, prayerful consideration
and counsel.(Genesis 32:28, Luke 1:13, John 1:42) Balaam eventually
lived up to his name (Numbers 25:1-9) by making errors along the way which we
would start to consider in the next post.Watch this space.
Yours in Service,
Grace Tom-Lawyer
