Having seen what happened to other nations who came against
Israel, Balak the king of Moab wants to make certain the same fate doesn't
befall him. The Moabites, remember, are,
like the Edomites, related to the Israelites.
They are the product of one of Lot's daughters who got her father drunk
and had relations with him. The king calls for his prophet Balaam because he
believes something about this particular prophet, "I know that he whom you
bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” Have you heard those words before? They sound much like what God said to Abram,
Lot's uncle, "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you
I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” It is a bad idea to curse the descendants of
Abram. Balaam has an encounter with the
Lord but does the prophet know who this God is?
He first refuses to go as he is told not to curse this people but then
the Lord tells him to go with them but be careful to only do as instructed, so
he goes with the men when they return.
God sometimes uses the unwitting and unwilling to accomplish His
purposes.
Jesus actions in these passages, the cleansing of the temple
and the cursing of the fig tree were perfectly in keeping with the prophets of
old. God did send prophets to speak
against His people when they were wayward.
Jesus' cleansing of the temple fits with a long-established prophetic
pattern of the Lord criticizing the religious practices of the nation as
displeasing to Him when they are nothing more than bribes to access His good
side and receive favors from Him. His
desire was to be known and to be made known.
They have turned the festival into a profiteering venture in taking
advantage of the pilgrims by driving up currency exchange rates and the selling
of pre-approved sacrificial animals at exorbitant rates. In so doing they have also taken over the
area of the temple courts where Gentiles could come and hear what was being
taught and pray. The temple was to be a
place where Jews worshipped and Gentiles could learn of Yahweh. Jesus' cursing of the fig tree was a
prophetic action whereby the fig tree represented Israel, particularly at the
festival. It looked good and ready to
produce fruit but wasn't doing so.
Paul, in Romans, is writing to a mixed audience of Jews and
Gentiles. They do have one thing in
common, sin. Whether they had the law or
didn't have the law makes no difference because all have sinned. Now, however, they have something else in
common, grace. All are saved in the same
way, whether they had the law or not, we are saved by grace, by the love of God
in Jesus' death on the cross as the atonement for sin. We come to that cross as sinners, all
alike. What is our response to the grace
received and on offer to be? Paul says
that sin is like slavery and that before grace all were enslaved to sin but now
that grace has come that yoke of slavery is broken and you can choose now to be
slaves either of sin or righteousness.
If you continue in the old ways, you have chosen to reject or denigrate
grace. Balaam at least made a good start
when the Lord spoke to him, he listened to the right voice. Today, choose which voice you will obey. Choose life.
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