THROUGH THE BIBLE - Numbers..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan and Jericho. And Balak the son of Zephor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian, The horde will now lick up all that is around us as the ox licks up the grass of the field." So Balad, the son of Zippor, who was the king of Moab at the time, sent messengers to Balon, the son of Beor, at Pithor, which is near the river in the land of the people of Amal, to call him, saying, behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite Me.

Come now, curse these people for Me, since they are too mighty for Me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand and they came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message. And he said to them, lodge here tonight and I will bring back word to you as the Lord speaks to me.

So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam and God came to Balaam and said, who are these men with you? Balaam said to God, Balak, the son of Isippor, king of Moab, has sent them to me, saying, Behold, a people has come up from Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out. God said to Balaam, You shall not go with them.

You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed. So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you. So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, Balaam, refuse, refuse to come with us. Once again, Balak said, princes, more in number and more honorable than these. And they came to Balaam and said to him, thus says Balak, the son of Zippor, let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor.

And whatever you say to me, I will do. Come, curse this people for me." But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. So you too, please stay here tonight that I may know what more the Lord will say to me. And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, If these men have come to you, to call you, rise, go with them, but only do what I tell you.

So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princess of Moab." Verse 22. The God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his hand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand.

And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey to turn her into the road. For the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyard and the wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, he pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again.

Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? Balaam said to the donkey, Because you have made a fool of me, I wish I had a sword in my hand, then I would have killed you, or would kill you. And the donkey said to Balaam, Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life long to this day?

Is it my habit to treat you this way? And he said, no. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand and he bowed down and fell on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him, why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before me.

The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live. Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, If it is evil in your sight, I will turn back. And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.

So Balaam went on with the princess of Balak. And when Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab on the border formed by the Arnon at the extremity of the border. And Balak said to Balaam, did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?

And Balaam said to Balak, behold, I have come to you. Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak. And then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-uzoth. And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him.

And in the morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-bal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Well, brothers and sisters, we come to a time now in numbers Chapter 22, which I would think is very familiar to all of us. If we grew up in Christian circles, this is probably a story we would remember.

Young kids, you would probably remember the story. You would know it as the story of Balaam's talking donkey. The talking donkey. That's how we remember it. Now, why do we remember it?

Why does it fascinate us? A donkey talks. That's incredible. How often do you hear a talking animal? And believe me, this was just as fascinating to the original readers and probably to the Balaam as well in the original context.

Because this is not normal. This is absolutely not normal. Donkeys do not talk. And so it's fascinating to them as it is fascinating to us, especially that a donkey is considered as a dumb animal compared to his peers. And for an animal that is considered dumb, like a donkey, to talk is incredible.

But beloved, this story is not in here to give us the wow factor that a donkey actually spoke. It is interesting and it is incredible, but this story is in here. It's far more. It's preaching something far more profound and significant that you and I should take note of. And that is, beloved, I believe in the few verses that we have before us.

And actually, throughout the narrative that spans from chapter 22 through 24, three chapters in total, we see here a demonstration who God is. We see a demonstration before us who the God of Abraham, who the God of Isaac, and who the God of Jacob actually is. And He's demonstrated for us as the Sovereign of the whole universe. He's Sovereign over everything, over all His creation. He's Sovereign over all animals, and He's Sovereign even over the wicked men's heart.

He is sovereign over everything. Beloved, as we work our way through over the next few weeks, the narrative that we have before us, I hope we come to recognize that this sovereign God can be trusted. He can be trusted. When He utters words, when He makes a promise, this God will always, always keep His promise, because there's nothing that can thwart His will. There's nothing that can stake his hand.

He is sovereign over everything. Now I know Balaam's character is a bit of a mystery to many of us. As I said earlier, the narrative spans from chapter 22 through 24, and over the centuries, this narrative has confused many Christians. They've asked the question, because a conflict has arisen in their mind, and they're asking the question, is Balaam actually a good guy, or is he a bad guy? Does he actually obey God, or does he disobey God?

Which one is it? And some people are reading the narrative and they end up scratching their heads because they don't have clarity, they don't have answers to those questions. Now I'm going to be upfront with you, the few moments that we have together, I'm not going to be able to answer any or many of those questions in any depth. In fact, we're not going to have the time to look at this chapter in any great deal of depth with the only 20 or 30 minutes that I have. But, I will give you this much.

Balaam, this character before us, he's not a good guy. Let's get that cleared from the very beginning. This guy is a false prophet. He's one of the bad guys. But at the same time, we see that his evil heart is constrained in the hands of a very good God.

That's what we have before us. So make no mistake, Balak is a wicked man. He's a pagan prophet. And the New Testament makes that crystal clear, just in case we're a little foggy on that. He's an example not to be followed.

In Jude and in 2 Peter 2, a text that our brother Nelson has been expositing for us. Actually, he exposited that text for us only last month. There we see that Balaam is an example not to be followed. His heart is wicked. It's covetous.

His heart is set upon the material things of this world, and that's what drives him. Financial and earthly gain is what drives this man. It may not be as so apparent in the text, but that's what we have before us. And the text in 2 Peter is very much a text that speaks of false teachers that are found in the New Testament church, and that is what is rooted in their heart as well. It's always, what can I have?

What are the pleasures of the flesh that I can satisfy no concern or little concern for the things of God? But the text before us also confirms the veracity of that truth that Balaam is a wicked man. We don't need to go to the New Testament to see that. We actually can see it in the text before us. And we will see over the next few weeks that the culmination of the manifestation of his wicked heart is seen in chapter 25 when we see him being the mastermind behind the plan that causes so many of the Israelites to engage in horrendous acts of idolatry and adultery.

We'll get to that soon. Balaam is a bad character, just remember that. Have that in the back of your mind. He's a bad, bad character. So what do we have before us in chapter 22?

Well, as I said last week, the events of chapter 21 are what trigger what we see before us here in chapter 22. Now, you may remember, there are three major battles in chapter 21. The first was against the king of Arad, the Canaanite, and the Israelites defeated that king. And then we have that narrative, and that's the narrative that the people of Israel began to grumble and complain against God and against Moses, looking upon the provision of God with the manner in the wilderness as loathsome. They detested the very gift of God to them.

You remember that. We spent most of our time in that little text, because that text speaks and points to Jesus Christ. That bronze serpent that was erected on the pole in the wilderness is very much a type of Jesus, and we won't go over that for the sake of time. But then after that text, towards the back end of chapter 21, we have two engagements. two battles with the people of Israel against others in the nearby regions.

The first is against Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and the second is with Gog, the king of the Bashanites. And if you remember, both battles ended in glorious victory for the people of Israel. They destroyed everything. They dedicated everything to destruction, and they devoted everything to destruction, I should say. And the Lord gave them the land.

That land became their possession. A bit of a taste of what is yet to come in the conquest that will be led by Joshua. And so what we have before us is we have the king. They are now settling a little bit north of Moab. And you have the king of Moab, Balak, who has been apprised of this information.

The word has come to him and he is in dread. Not only the king, but also the people. is that the people of Moab were terrified. Absolutely terrified. They'd heard the news.

Who is this Israel? Look at their number. They're huge in volume. But very in particular, they're saying that these people destroyed the Amorites, the formidable forces of the Amorites, and they took them over. Who is this people that are steamrolling everyone in their path?

And so they have this fear in their hearts because they're thinking, We're next. We're next. That's what they're thinking. And we have no chance against this formidable force that is Israel. And so Balak, the king of Moab, in concert with the Midian elders, they get together and they hatch a plan.

Extreme times call for extreme measures. Now, they don't come together and organise a delegation to go to the people of Israel and have a discussion to see if they can organise peace. No, that's not what they do. Instead, they enlist, or they try to enlist the services of Balaam, that character that's now introduced in Numbers 22. Balaam, the son of Beor, we're told.

This guy was a pagan prophet for hire. If you've got enough money, you can hire this guy. And he was known worldwide to be a person who's able to impose curses on some. And so these are desperate times for the king of Moab, and he's going to the big guns. This is his last chance.

They're in fear of their life. They're in fear of their future. They're in fear of their land being taken away. So he goes and he says, let's get that guy Balaam. He can help us out.

Balaam and the people of Moab were in absolute dread at this point in time. But you know what? Their dread was actually unfounded. It was actually baseless. And it's not baseless because the people of Israel were not a formidable enemy.

They were. Because if God is for them, if God is with them, then no one can stand against the Lord. That is a fact. But that wasn't the point. See, Israel would have been forbidden to attack Moab.

That wasn't on their list, it wasn't on their agenda, because the same God who said to Israel, I will give you the land flowing with milk and honey, and He will, and we know He does. He also said that the land of Moab you are not to contend with, because that land I've given to the descendants of Lot. A point that's very clear in Deuteronomy chapter 2. You see, Moab was in no danger at this point of Israel coming and attacking them and taking their land. They had no interest in that.

But they lived in terror nonetheless because of lack of knowledge. And so they resort to unrighteous means to enlist the help of someone to curse their powerful enemies. So they call for Balaam. Now, Balaam was a man who lived in a place called Pithor, and Pithor was a region in the northwestern side of Mesopotamia. It was a few miles south of a place called Carchemish.

It was on the Euphrates River. We know the Euphrates River. And, beloved, let's get this into perspective. He wasn't exactly around the corner. See, from Moab to Pithor, we have a good six to seven hundred kilometres.

And in these days, someone or a delegate of men, elders, can probably do 30 to 40 k's a day of travel, do the sums. There's at least 15 k's of travel to get there, another 15 to come back, and they did two trips. These people in Moab were living in fear for a while. But at the same time, we can say that the king found it most beneficial during this time of risk to appeal to Balaam because Balaam was his last hope. His hope was in Balaam.

If anyone can save us, it is Balaam. He'll be the one who imposes a curse upon the people of Israel. And this is a full-scale assault, beloved, of the kingdom of darkness against the God of Israel. And I want you to feel that. Because here, you have Israel.

A people who've been blessed by God. A people who have received promises to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Promises that God will never break. Promises that He will fulfill. On the one hand, you have Israel.

A people blessed by God. And on the other side, you have an enemy who tries to enlist another enemy to come and curse the same people. How's that going to work out? Listen to what Balak tells his messengers. They're the elders to tell Balaam when they arrive there at Pithor.

He says in verse 5b, Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. Come now, curse these people for me, since they are mighty or too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land." Hear this.

This is what I want you to take note of. And then he goes on to say these words, "'For I know that he whom you bless,' speaking to Balaam, he's blessed. and he who you curse is cursed." Did you hear that? Balak is saying to Balaam, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed and he whom you curse is cursed.

Sounds to me like Balak needs a very important lesson to be learned on his behalf about who actually is in trouble. Because, essentially, what he's saying is this. He's saying, Balaam, I know that you always get your way. I know, Balaam, that if you pronounce a curse, the people have no chance. They're cursed.

And, Balaam, if you pronounce a blessing, the people have no chance. No one can stand in your way. They will be blessed. No one can thwart your will. No one can stand in your way, Balaam, and this is why we're prepared to pay you.

Large sums of money, treasures, honor, you name it, we will give it to you. Just come, come and free us, come and save us. Balaam, you're our savior, is what he's saying. No one can stand in your way, Balaam. Beloved.

Bailiff will soon learn about who is actually in control. Because there is one who can stand in Balaam's way, and there is one who does stand in Balaam's way before the end of this chapter. And by the end of this narrative, both Balaam and Balak will recognize that it is the God of Israel alone who is sovereign, it is the God of Israel alone who can bless, and it is the God of Israel alone who can curse, and no one can stand in his way. It's not Balaam. It's Yahweh.

The lesson they need to learn. But I want us to think about another angle of this as well. Beloved, as this planning has gone on between Balak and Balaam and the Midian elders and all this is happening, how much of this does Israel know? Actually, it's all going on behind their back. An evil plot to destroy them is all going on behind their back and they are aware of none of it.

They're oblivious to the facts. They need to be warned, right? Someone needs to go and warn Israel and tell them, hey, be careful. This is all taking place. Take heed, be prepared, right?

Someone needs to go and warn Israel. No. No, there's no need for that. You see, it didn't matter what was happening behind their backs. It doesn't matter what happens behind our backs.

Beloved, right now, you and I have no idea of the evil that the enemy is trying to plan against you and I and even against our church. He's always working. He's always plotting. He's always strategizing. That's always going on.

The reason why it doesn't matter that we know the extent of the details about what is going on is because God knows. And God is the one who has our back. God is the one who has their back. He always at work. He never rests.

You see, the way we prepare ourselves is the same way that the Israelites ought to prepare themselves for the strategical plan of the enemies, the plotting and the sinister plotting and plans that the enemies will throw at them. It's the same way. And it's not to pray, Lord, show me the future. Lord, show me the plans of my enemies so I know how to protect myself against them. Beloved, if we ask those sort of prayers, what we're doing is no different to the people who go to tarot card readers and say, show me the future.

No, we live by faith and not by sight. Beloved, we prepare for the sinister attacks and the plots and the strategy of the enemy. We prepare by fixing our eyes upon the Triune God. We prepare by holding on to His Word that He's given us, by embracing the promise that He's given us, and knowing that He's a God who always keeps His promises. We can trust Him.

And so we walk. Allow us, our Lord, to walk in obedience to Your Word, because we know that if you have spoken, it will come to pass. The people of Israel did not need to know about those plans, because that can hold to the promises of God, who says, if I am with you, and I'll never leave you. I am your God and you shall be my people. Your enemies are my people, are my enemies.

And he said that I will give you the land's wine with milk and honey. It doesn't matter who stands before you. I am God and no one can thwart my will. He has their backs. Beloved, they are in the dark, but he's not in the dark.

We may be in the dark to what could be going on behind our backs, but he is not in the dark. We have a God who sees, we have a God who hears, we have a God who knows. And although Balaam wants nothing more than to receive the riches that are on offer, he wants his hot little hands to take those riches. He's a lover of the worldly treasure, remember, he cannot but, because he cannot thwart the will of God and he comes to realize that. In fact, what we have before us in these verses is so incredible, because principles here can be sometimes difficult for us to actually accept, but we ought, because it is God's Word, because what we have before us is an unrighteous man who is constrained and restrained from manifesting the evil of his own heart, and then we have the only God of the universe who uses him to actually speak truth.

An evil prophet. A wicked instrument to prophesy in the hands of God. A wicked instrument to prophesy pure, unadulterated, and undefiled truths of God. That's a tough concept for some people to accept. And He doesn't do it once.

He does it multiple times, we'll see, in the next three chapters. Even foretelling of the coming Messiah in chapter 24, verse 17, if you have a chance to read it later. Is there anything, is there anything impossible for our God? He knows it's a hard pill to swallow to think about an unrighteous man speaking prophecies from the word of God, a pagan evil prophet speaking the very words of God. God knows it's a hard pill to swallow and that's why he adds a donkey to the equation.

If you can't accept that, I'll speak to a donkey. What's God saying? He is in control over the whole universe and everything in that universe, beloved. And we ought to draw strength in that. We ought to rest in that.

Because that's the truth. He does whatever He wants, when He wants, and what He does is always good. Always good. Always good. And he accomplishes his righteous plan, even through Balaam, even through the donkey.

So Balaam says to these people who come and speak to him, I need to consult with the Lord first. And then he comes back. Because God says something to Balaam. You shall not go with them, says the Lord. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.

Now, don't think for a moment that Balaam had the power to curse his people on their own, on his own. It's not as though God is saying, if you curse them, then I will have to hold back your curse with my blessing, as though there's a big fight against good and evil, and God's sort of holding back the evil in that way. That's not what he's saying. See, God's not saying, I need to counter your curse with a blessing, but rather God is saying, don't oppose me, Balaam. Don't go there, you will not win.

It won't work. In fact, Joshua 24 verse 9 tells us that God speaking through Joshua, it says, Balak sent and invited Balaam to the son of Beor to curse you, speaking to the people of Israel. These are the words of God. But then he goes on to say, but I will not listen to Balaam. That's interesting, right?

So in other words, if a curse was to be manifested, if Balaam opens his mouth and wants to curse the people of Israel, if God doesn't approve, it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. And God doesn't approve. So Balaam sends back the first messengers. And then another set come, that long journey, but this other set is of a greater influence.

And we're told even more possessions, more riches are on offer for Balaam, because Balaam's heart is drawn by these things. Balaam should have rejected them immediately. There's nothing that's changed. God said, no, you can't curse these people. These people are mine.

They are of less people. He knows that's the case, that God's blessing these people and nothing can thwart his will, nothing can stand in his way. But I believe that Balaam's heart is set on the reward and so he actually goes back and appeals to God for more word. But it's interesting what he says to the second group. He says, though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or to do more.

I find that so interesting. Here you have this pagan prophet that now is beginning to understand that everything he does is under the sovereignty of God. He is not able to do one iota apart from God. That means that there is not even a single molecule in the universe that is a rogue molecule, that is not a rogue person in the whole universe, that is not under the decree of God. In other words, what he's saying is this, no one can oppose this God.

You go and tell Balak, I don't have the final say. God does. Because Balak said, everyone you curse will be cursed. Everyone you bless will be blessed. He's saying, actually, no, that's not the case.

There is one who has the final say, and that's Yahweh, the God of his people, the Israelites. God's opening his eyes to see some of this. It's beautiful. I wish we had more time to look into that, but I'm gonna speed up, because I know I'm going over time quite a bit. Sorry for that.

But this all really does remind me of Satan. It reminds me of Satan in Job. You remember when Satan had a desire to take Job? You remember? This is actually fascinating.

Scripture, right? Like Satan, he comes before the Lord. Satan acknowledges that God has a hedge around Job. He acknowledges that he can only go as far as God allows him to go. In other words, he's on a leash.

And that leash is only as long as God gives him. God is ultimately sovereign. So Satan and his minions, including Balaam, are not free agents. They are under the dominion of God, under the sovereignty of God. And that's why our Lord's promises are true.

That's why we can trust Him. That's why we can depend on Him. That's why there's no power in the universe. There's no person in the universe. There's no one that can go against our God, because He is the one who's all-powerful and sovereign.

Although God initially forbids Balaam to go to Balaam, I'm going to try to speed this up. Eventually, He allows him to go. But Balaam's heart is still evil. He's still set on the material wealth and the reward, and I'm sure he's thinking, how can I get my hands on that? And God knows that his ways are unrighteous.

So Balaam saddles his donkey and he sets on his way, and this is the part of the story we all know, we love. Because before long, the angel of the Lord, we know that he's a Christophany, that's Christ appearing. He stands before him on the road, and how does he stand? He hasn't got his hands crossed, does he? He has a sword in his hand.

What's a sword used for? Judgment. The donkey goes off the path the first time, goes into the field. Donkey sees the angel of the Lord with the sword. Balaam doesn't.

What does Balaam do? Smacks the donkey. And then it happens again, and this time it's the donkey, he finds himself on a narrow path, sees the angel of the Lord, he's got a sword in his hand, and he presses against the wall over here, and he crushes the leg of Balaam, and Balaam gets pretty upset once again, and what does he do? He smacks the donkey. And then finally, in the third time, the donkey simply, after seeing before him the angel of the Lord, he just goes, you know, I'm going no further.

I'm just going to open my arms and my legs and just flop on my belly. And that's what he does. And Balaam is furious. So he smacks him again. And then the donkey speaks.

What a surprise. A surprise for us. I'm sure it's a surprise to Balaam, although it doesn't seem that way in the narrative. I'm sure he would have gone, I've never heard you speak before. And when he does speak, he says to his master, have I treated you this way before?

And then Bailyn's response is, no. We don't hear any more of it. But because Balaam knew that his donkey was a faithful donkey, had him for his whole life, and he's never treated him this way before, shouldn't he have known an uncharacteristic action, behavior of his donkey? Shouldn't that be questioned? But he doesn't.

So what we see here is we see the blindness of this false prophet. His heart is blinded. Possibly because of the greed that he has in it, but he's seen to be a fool and the donkey that he's riding seems to have more wisdom than him. Now the Lord opens Balaam's eyes to show him what is before him and what a sight. He sees that there is the angel of the Lord with a sword in his hand.

What a rebuke for this Balaam, a donkey, an animal considered unintelligent compared to his peers is now showing, as I said, more spiritual insight than the supposed wise man Balaam himself. And I have to ask the question, we should be all asking the question, why? How? How does the donkey see the angel of the Lord? Do all donkeys see the spiritual things?

The answer is a definitive no. The only reason the donkey was able to see the Lord, the angel of the Lord with that sword in his hand, is because God gave him eyes to see it. Beloved, if God doesn't give sight, One remains in darkness. If the light of God, we know it as the light of Christ, he said, I am the light of the world. Only a few weeks ago we spoke about that.

If he doesn't reveal his light to the heart, then mankind will only come towards closer and closer and closer to judgment. One day that judgment will come upon all humanity. All humanity. Those who are in Christ, those who have received the forgiveness by grace through faith in Jesus Christ have had their eyes opened and He's the one who diverts our path and brings us onto the righteous path according to the Word of God. But those who have not had eyes to see, they are walking straight to judgment.

But in this case, what's happening is the Lord is saying to Balaam, hey, you are, your ways are perverse. Verse 32, that's the word. I wanted to explain that because it's only mentioned one other time in Job, but we haven't got time to go there this evening because I've gone way over. But he's perverse. He says, your ways are perverse.

Your ways are perverse. You're not walking in righteousness. Your heart is corrupt. I've given you eyes to see. And if you kept going, I was going to kill you.

The angel of the Lord says, I would have spared the donkey. The donkey is more righteous than you. But you, Phelan, you are going to die. Apart from God revealing his light, opening and giving him spiritual insight, he was walking straight into his death. At the end of the Lord says, I'm going to give you a chance, however, go.

He says, Adam says, look, I've done evil in your eyes, I'll turn back. The guy says, no, go, continue. However, however, do not speak a single word apart from what I give you. This is really important because as we go through narrative, we see over and over again, Moses is saying that Balaam spoke only from the Lord. Balaam only spoke from what God warned him.

Only speak his word. You know why? Because the prophecies become the word of God spoken through an evil prophet. Amazing. Amazing.

But all in all, the God of the universe who promised Israel blessing will give them the blessing. He promised them the land, He'll give them the land. He promised them protection, He'll give them protection. And we've been able to see a little bit of an insight and by God's grace, as we continue through the next two or three weeks, we will see a little bit more. Let's leave it at that.

Let's come to our Lord in prayer.