Curse your enemies and love your friends
I have been reading the last few days in Numbers 22. Isreal has been moving through the promised land. They are almost upon the Moabites. The Moabites are afraid. They've seen what these Isrealites have done to other nations. So the king of Moab, a guy named Balak contacts a prophet named Balaam and asks him to curse the Isrealites so they (the Isrealites) won't be able to take the land.
This is where we get the famous story of Balaam's ass (donkey) who sees a vision of the Lord in the road and the donkey eventually speaks to his master. Seriously, it's in the Bible!
God, through Balaam, tells Moab not to fight with Isreal. And tells the Moabites that Isreal is a chosen people.
What I find amazing is that Balaam is NOT a prophet of Isreal. Is he Moabite? I don't know. Is he from a surrounding nation? I'm not sure. But he's not Isreali.
And yet when he goes to pray about Balak's request, he does so to the 'Lord'. And the Lord answers him. And he is not surprised. It's like this is the most normal thing in the world for him to be speaking to God and for God to speak back.
But he wasn't an Isreali prophet. He was a pagan, right? Right. So a pagan prophet prays and interacts with the one true God in the same way that you or I might. And God responds and treats him as one of his children BEFORE the prophet converts?
There is some food for thought there don't you think?
This is where we get the famous story of Balaam's ass (donkey) who sees a vision of the Lord in the road and the donkey eventually speaks to his master. Seriously, it's in the Bible!
God, through Balaam, tells Moab not to fight with Isreal. And tells the Moabites that Isreal is a chosen people.
What I find amazing is that Balaam is NOT a prophet of Isreal. Is he Moabite? I don't know. Is he from a surrounding nation? I'm not sure. But he's not Isreali.
And yet when he goes to pray about Balak's request, he does so to the 'Lord'. And the Lord answers him. And he is not surprised. It's like this is the most normal thing in the world for him to be speaking to God and for God to speak back.
But he wasn't an Isreali prophet. He was a pagan, right? Right. So a pagan prophet prays and interacts with the one true God in the same way that you or I might. And God responds and treats him as one of his children BEFORE the prophet converts?
There is some food for thought there don't you think?
