A Lack of Due Diligence
Two teenage girls had become enemies. No matter how hard they tried to end their animosity it continued to grow. At one point they gave up trying to find peace. One of them, Theresa, decided to stay away and avoid any kind of contact. Linda, the other girl, did not react well to Theresa's avoidance. Linda said she now felt disrespected. Linda thought that she had to do something to show Theresa not to mess with her.
Linda talked to Tommy, an aggressive young man. She offered to pay him a few dollars to beat Theresa up. Tommy accepted. So Tommy showed up at Theresa and Linda's school. He asked for Theresa, someone pointed him to her. Tommy was puzzled. The young lady they pointed to him was his cousin, whom he knew as Tia. Linda did not know the young man she hired was Theresa's cousin. And Tommy was not about to beat up his cousin. Now he wanted to beat Linda up. Theresa was surprised to see him and walked up to him excitedly. "Hey, Cuz, what are you doing here?" "Not for anything good, but my plans changed. Cuz, we're family and I didn't know your first name," Tommy replied. Theresa said, "What's wrong Tommy?" "Where is Linda", Tommy asked. Tommy looked angry. Theresa again asked him, "Tommy, how do you know? Why are you here, what's wrong." Tommy told Theresa the story, and added, "But I am gonna beat her up, instead." Theresa then grabbed Tommy's arm, and begged him, "Tommy, No! Let's go talk to the head mistress. Tommy reluctantly obliged Theresa. The head mistress convinced Tommy to let her and Linda's parents take care of Linda, in exchange of her not calling the police on him. Tommy agreed and left the school.
What saved Theresa? Linda did not know that Tommy was Theresa's cousin. Linda acted on incomplete information. What saved Israel from Balak's intention of using Balaam to curse Israel? He did not know that the God behind Balaam's power to bless or curse was the same God blessing Israel.
Balak was an idolatrous king. Like most idolatrous king's he thought that the god's were behind the fates of war. Instead of arguing like boys do today, "my dad can beat your dad", they argued my god can beat your god. In their mind, whoever won the war had the stronger god. In Numbers 21:25 - 26 we read,
Num21:25 And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof.
Num21:26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.
Although Israel was at the very borders of Moab, Israel had not bothered Moab. It is not clear whether it was God's intention for them to do so. We could assume it was not. Balak reasoned that if the God of the Israelites was stronger than the god of the Amorites, then most definitely the God of the Israelites was stronger than his god. He feared the Israelites would attack his kingdom so he thought he should act before others did. Balak's assessment of God was partially correct, making him completely wrong. He thought that maybe there was someone with more power than the Israelite's God. So, Balak had called Balaam, a man known for influencing the outcomes of wars. As Balak said of Balaam, "… he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed" (Numbers 22:6).
Balak thought that Balaam was a sorcerer, which would explain the diviner's fee (Numbers 22:7). He was unaware that Balaam's power came from God. Therefore, Balak was unaware that he sought to secure a blessing from the very God of the people he sought to destroy. In conclusion, Balak was unaware that he thought he could buy God's favor. (Of course, it did not help that Balaam was inconsistent in his relationship with God. How different would the story have been, had Balaam been faithful to God? I can only speculate, but had Balaam been faithful, the Gospel could have been preached to the Moabites and many including Balak could have been converted.)
Balak let fear cloud his judgment. Any reasonable person would have at least suspected that Balaam's power came from the God of the Israelite's. Let's look at it logically: you have a man that vetoes the decrees of the gods and a people whose God delivers all other kingdoms to them. Could it be the same power source? Balak failed to do his "due diligence". Due diligence is research or analysis that is done to acquire accurate and complete information, especially before entering into an agreement or a transaction with another party. If Balak would have done due diligence then he would have found out if Israel was planning to attack. Also, he should have asked questions about the Israelite's God. I am pretty sure Moses and Eleazar would have been more than willing to share with him. If he still wanted to inquire from Balaam, he should have asked where his power came from. And since, Balaam was a "diviner" in Balak's eyes, he should have asked him about the Israelites and their God. In fact, had Balak started by asking the probably prevented a lot of what happened next.
Are we like Balak: jumping to conclusions with out doing due diligence? Do we judge a situation before finding out whether what we think is true or not? Could we be fighting against the God we profess to worship because we are fighting against those whom He called to service? Are we letting fear, or any other emotion, control our thoughts and actions? I pray that we learn from Balak's example. Let the Indwelling Spirit of God give you victory where Balak failed.
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Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com
