4 years ago
Chp. 22 verses 2 - 5: Introduction, Balak, the king of Moav, sees what the Israelites have done to the Amorites. The people are afraid of the Jewish Nation. Balak realizes that their victories are miraculous, and so he hopes to counteract their Divine assistance with Bilaam who was known as a scorer who had a connection with the God of the Jews.
4 years ago
Chp, 22 verses 6 - 19: Balak sends messengers to Bilaam to come and curse the Jewish nation for him. Bilaam is told by God not to go with them. Bilaam makes it seem that the reason why God will not let him go is because the messengers were not prestigious enough to show Bilaam proper honor. He tells the second group of messengers that even if Balak gave him a house full of silver and gold he could not go against what the word of God.
4 years ago
Chp. 22 verses 19 - 28: Bilaam is told by God that he should not go with the elders of Moav. He asks again and God agrees with him going but not with the intent of cursing the Jewish Nation. Bilaam has his own ideas. In his haste he saddles his own donkey. On the road the donkey sees an angel of God three times with a drawn sword. The first time the donkey goes out to the field, and Bilaam beats the donkey, The second time the donkey crushes his leg into a stone wall and he beats the donkey again. The tihird time the donkey just lays down in the road and he beats it a third time.God opens the mouth of the donkey and it says to Bilaam " why have you hit me these three times? ''
4 years ago
Chp. 22 verses 29 - 41, Chp 23 1 - 5: Bilaam talks to his donkey like it's a regular occurrence. The angel kills the donkey and tells Bilaam that it was he who should have died. Bilaam says, I HAVE SINNED. He offers to go home but is told to continue but to only say what God wants him to say. Balak takes Bilaam Bamoth Baal in the hope that he would be able to curse the Jews from there. Chp, 23, Bilaam has Balak build 7 alters he brings up an ox and a ram on each of the alters. Bilaam goes to speak with God and is instructed to say only that which God tells him.
4 years ago
Chp. 23 verses 6 - 13: Bilaam returns to Balak he says that he cannot curse that which God has blessed. He then asked that his end should be like theirs. Balak complains that he had brought him to curse the Jews and instead he was blessing them. Balak then takes Bilaam to another location in the hope that he will be more successful.
4 years ago
Chp. 23 verses 14 - 26: Though God commands Bilaam to bless the Jewish nation he still tries to find some way to curse them. Balak is very upset with him. Not only doesn't Billaam curse them, he blesses them. Bilaam tries to tell Balak that if he listens closely he will understand that his words are curses disguised as blessings.
4 years ago
chp. 24 verses 1 - 11: Balak takes Bilaam to another location, and turns toward the desert in the hope that he can evoke God's anger by gazing at the site of the sin of the Golden Calf. However, in the end God inspires him to bless the Jews with the Famous MA TOVU, how good are! Though he says words of blessing in his heart he means to curse the Jewish nation. Balak is angry at him, since he blesses them instead of cursing them.
4 years ago
Chp. 24 verses 12 - 25 & Chp. 25 verses1 - 9: Bilaam finishes speaking the words that God has placed in his mouth. Neither man is happy with the results, and they both go their own way. However, before Bilaam leaves his gives Balak the idea to seduce the Jewish men into harlotry and idol worship. Chp. 25, the Jewish men are seduced by the Moabite and Midianite women. Some 200,000 men die in this incident. Pinchas sees God's anger and he takes his spear and kills Zimri and Cosbi and the plague in the camp stops.