Then he took up his discourse and said,
"Arise, O Balak, and hear;
Give ear
to me, O son of Zippor! (Nu 23:18)
Balak is told to "arise," or kum. It is similar to alah or olah, which mean to ascend. Kum can also refer to arising from a seat or bed where one sleeps. The dead are sometimes referred to as being "asleep" in Scripture. For the righteous who are sleeping,[1] they await the first resurrection at the Feast of Trumpets.
As a background, Balak (Destroyer) has built a series of seven altars to offer olah (resurrection) offerings so that Balaam will curse Israel. The seven altars are a direct challenge to the seven altars of the Patriarchs in the Land of Israel:
- Abraham built four (Ge 12:7-8; 13:18; 22:9)
- Isaac built one (Ge 26:25)
- Jacob built two (33:20; 35:7)
The key sacrifice of Abraham was the olah sacrifice of Isaac, a type of resurrection in Messiah. Balak, too, stands beside his olah offering on his idolatrous altar. In Abraham's altar was the blessing to the righteous who would be resurrected to the Garden. In Balak's altar was destruction prophesied on the nations (except for those like the Kenites, who "attached" themselves to Israel even in exile). In Abraham's altar is a prophecy of whole life in the first resurrection; in Balak's altar is prophecy of complete resurrection to death, the second resurrection. (Re 20:6)
The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you." Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD. (Ge 13:14-18)
The command to Balak to arise is followed by commands to "Shma" and "Give ear." These are equivalent expressions. The Shma is the Greatest Commandment, and Give ear (Haazinu) is the title of the Torah portion recording the Song of Moses, which is sung in Revelation. Just as the saints continue to Shma and Haazinu the Song of Moses, Balaam commands Balak to hear the commandments and the Song of Moses with identical commands. Balak, however, will not obey, just as many in Revelation will not repent and obey.
Abraham also is told to kum. He is then shown the Land of Israel, a prophecy of restoration to the Lower Garden (Paradise). Abraham is righteous, and the Lower Garden is the inheritance of his descendants forever, whether native-born Israelite, exile, or stranger joined to Israel, such as the Kenites in Balaam's prophecy (Nu 24:21) who have nestled among Israel and taken refuge among its "rocks."
Significantly, at this point Abraham "moved his tent to Hebron." Hebron is understood to be the entrance back to the Lower Garden, the Garden of Eden, Paradise. Adam and Eve were said to be buried there; therefore, Abraham buries Sarah there. Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah are buried there. The idea is that at the first resurrection, their bodies will enter quickly into the supernatural realm of the Lower Garden, what the physical Land of Israel signifies.
Yeshua reminds about this Jewish tradition concerning the resurrection and the patriarchs and matriarchs:
But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'? (Mk 12:26)
The context of Balak may be summed up in Balaam's prophetic utterance: "May my soul (nefesh) die the death of the upright (yesharim), and may my end be like his." (Nu 23:10)
Balaam prophesies that Balak's sacrifices will not effect resurrection to the Land, the Lower Garden. Only the soul that dies the death of obedience and repentance merits crossing into Paradise. What follows in the text is Messianic prophecies of the star that is shot forth from Jacob.
There is an anomaly in Balaam's command to Balak to hear and obey the Song of Moses, the commandments. There is a superfluous letter vav in "son of Zippor." Vav has the value of six, the number of both man and beast created on the Sixth Day. Man was created with an "animal" soul (nefesh) and infused with the Spirit-breath of Elohim. When the man is dominated by his animal soul, he is conformed to the image of the beast, the most cunning beast of the field. When the man is dominated by his spirit, he is conformed to the image of Elohim who made him.
Balak the Destroyer is the "son of Tzippor," a type of anti-Messiah, for the Jewish name for Messiah's palace in the Lower Garden is Kan Tzippor, or "the Bird's Nest." Messiah is the one who will gather his chicks to Jerusalem for protection; Balak gathers his forces to war. Messiah carries his young "straight ones," Yeshurun, on eagles' wings to safety; Balak sacrifices his women to perversion.
There are other places in Scripture where the insertion of an extra vav give context to Balak's identity as "the beast," and anti-messiah:
For every beast of the forest is Mine...(Ps 50:10)
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; (Ge 1:24)
Messiah Yeshua, however, is the Rock of Salvation in the extra vav of Psalm 114:8::
Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of water.
Balaam's prophecy pulls together several themes:
How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob,
Your dwellings, O Israel!
Like valleys that stretch out,
Like gardens beside the river,
Like aloes planted by the LORD,
Like cedars beside the waters.
Water will flow from his buckets,
And his seed will be by many waters,
And his king shall be higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.
God brings him out of Egypt,
He is for him like the horns of the wild ox.
He will devour the nations who are his adversaries,
And will crush their bones in pieces,
And shatter them with his arrows.
He couches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lion, who dares rouse him?
Blessed is everyone who blesses you,
And cursed is everyone who curses you. (Nu 24:5-9)
As Abraham moved his tent to the entrance back to the realm of the Garden, so Israel's tents are called beautiful in their encampments. The Genesis Two description of the "many waters" of the Garden of Eden with its surrounding rivers follows in the prophecy of Israel's encampment. In fact, the "sound of many waters" is an ubiquitous description in Revelation.
In other words, the righteous of Israel will dwell safely inside the Lower Garden while the tribulation breaks out on the nations who are their adversaries. The white horse of Revelation rides out to initiate the judgments of the seals, and his rider is holding a bow and wearing a crown, a symbol of "his king" and "exalted kingdom." The symbol of the lion is seen, just as Yeshua returns for vengeance as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah in Revelation.
Finally, the promise made to Abraham that the nations who bless him will be blessed, and those who curse him will be cursed. Those who present themselves with the faith of Abraham will come from "northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever." This reminds us of the faith of the Roman centurion who asked Yeshua to heal his servant:
Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, 'Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven....' (Mt 8:10-13)
Yeshua opened the faith of Abraham to the nations, and he defined faith as believing in the authority of the "his king," the one who could open the way for Israel and those who bless Israel to cross back into the Garden. They will do so at the first resurrection with Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah. Weeping was for being kept out of the Garden; the banquet is for those who pass the "sword test" of Yeshua's mouth, the commandments of God with the testimony of Yeshua.
[1]
Sleeping does not mean without consciousness; it means that they "know" or experience nothing with the body. To know something (yadah) is to experience it. Both righteous and wicked dead retain a consciousness. The dream state is 1/60 of the experience of being dead. The righteous dead are given a "robe" that suffices until the first resurrection when their transformed body will be reunited with spirit and soul.
PASSOVER IN ISRAEL 2019
