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The False Messiah, False Moses, and False Abraham
Balak "Destroyer"
Numbers 22:2-25:9
Micah 5:6-6:8
Psalm 79
2 Peter 1:19-2:-22
Photo by  Vashishtha Jogi  on  Unsplash

This week's portion focuses on the actions of the prophet Bilaam (Balaam) and the Moabite king Balak, whose name means "Destroyer."  With a name so obvious, we know that we'll be reading about the work of a false messiah and a false prophet.  In this case, however, both Balak and Bilaam had gifts and choices along the way...they just kept making the wrong ones.  Righteousness was possible in Moab.  Look at Ruth.  Nevertheless, Balak chose wickedness.

The danger of prophecy is its misuse because it is indirect, not like Moses or  Yeshua .   It is possible to have a spiritual gift like Bilaam's, yet be seduced into using it to increase one's position over another at the expense of the other.   Human beings have an inherent spirituality.  It is part of being human.  Undisciplined to hear the Holy Spirit, humans will lean toward charms, superstitions, and hearing messages that appeal to their sensuality or intellectual leanings.  

There are spiritual traffickers out there who capitalize on it (pun intended) and use a human's spiritual need to please and revere Adonai in order to twist it with a well-placed "Thus saith the Lord" or twisting Godly reverence into superstition.  Yes, words are powerful, but Bilaam proved that it's impossible to curse what is blessed.  In that case, the word is powerLESS.

We hear what we want to hear, and we feel what we want to feel .   The danger of this is that there are always masquerading prophets who understand that human tendency.   The scary thing is that when we persist in playing the feeling game, Elohim lets us. He plays along.  He lets us go far enough to seal our fate.   In the Garden He asks:  "Where are you?"

He knew where Adam and Eve were.  In this portion, Bilaam received a clear message.  His mission would be impossible if he went.  He could not curse what Adonai had blessed.  Nevertheless, Bilaam's greed motivates him to have the messengers spend the night just in case God changed His mind.

As if.  

As if Elohim didn't already know where Adam and Eve were and that they were naked.  It's really scary when He plays along with us.  Okay, Bilaam, go with the messengers to Balak.  Let's see what happens.

The root of Balak's fear was:

So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of  Beor , at  Pethor , which is near the  River , in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, 'Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they  cover (kasah-clothe)  the surface of the land, and they are living  opposite (against)  me .' (Nu 22:5)

Israel was re-introducing clothes of obedience and righteousness in their salvation.  The Torah is a light, and the commandment is a lamp.  Their light of obedience to the Word stood against the darkness of the peoples in and surrounding the Land.  Israel was about to put clothes back on the Land, prophesying to the nations that it IS possible to be saved, resurrected, and live in obedience in the Garden.  

Now  Balak's  concern about Israel "covering the whole eye of the Land" makes sense.  Israel was introducing an obedience to the Divine Utterances, humble servants like their leader Moses and ancestor Abraham, rather than accepting the false prophecies and illusions of "owning" the Land of the Garden.  Peter writes about this lamp of prophecy that terrifies those who are squatting in and around the Land:

So we have  the  prophetic word  made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to  a lamp shining in a dark place ,  until the day dawns  and the morning star arises in your hearts.  But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God . (2  Pe  1:19-21)

Prophecy works (Nu 12:6-8):
  • Through Moses and Yeshua (directly) 
  • Everyone else (dreams and visions)
How the prophetic word works:
  • Arises from the Word (Moses)
  • Is not self-induced and must be subjected to oversight
Moab approaches Midian, their arch-enemies, to ally with them against Israel.  Midian introduces spiritual warfare, seeing military power fail. Midian was one of the sons of Keturah who was sent "east" with "gifts."  We can see that not all the gifts were used wisely, and Midian came to be associated with charms, divination, and sorcery.  While Yitro (Jethro) was a "priest" of Midian, he used his spiritual power and experience to align with YHVH's plan. Good choice.  Much better than Bilaam's.  It is easy for spiritual gifts to go wrong when self-will and sensuality attach themselves and  masquerade  as prophecy.

A confederation of extended Abrahamic families (Midian, Moab, and the Amorite) is formed to combat Israel. Abraham was a man both skilled in war and in spiritual power and prophecy.  He passed this down to his offspring. 
The confederation relies on masquerades, like the serpent before them, testing the Divine Utterances of Elohim so that they may persist in their sensual, commercial squatting on Land designated to produce fruits of obedience.  Now warring Moabites and the "spiritual" Midianites take charms and visit Bilaam to hire him into their plot.

There are false kings, a false Abraham, a false Moses, and a false Messiah, "thieves" of the true prophecies:

"And  Balak (the destroyer)  the  son of  Zippor  was  king  of Moab  at that time ." (Nu 22:4)

Balak was a false messiah.   Yeshua, the prophet "like unto Moses" was humble; he  refused to accept a crown before he humbled himself and served cranky, rebellious people to give life.  Balak was king at that time, but he will not be king in the time to come.  The false messiah-king says this:

Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this  horde  will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field."  (Nu 22:4)

The destroyer accuses Israel of destroying!  Yeshua said:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy ; I came that they may have  life , and  have  it abundantly .  ( Jn  10:10)

Yeshua  is restoring the Garden of Life through obedience to the Father's utterances, moving over the Creation with the Holy Spirit, clothing human beings in obedience and its fruits.  The imposter and thief fears losing his dark territory, his "grass" that will be burned judgment .  

Yeshua came to let his words fall on "thirsty" green grass, the kind of grass prophesied in the Song of Moses :

And  He  commanded  them all to  sit  down by groups on  the green grass . (Mk 6:39) 

The Destroyer's false grass, however, will be burned with fire, for it did not receive the true Messiah's Word that could have clothed the earthly flesh in righteousness:

The  first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and  all the green grass was burned up .
(Re 8:7) 

Yeshua's  humble immersion before his cousin John was validated by "This is my beloved Son, listen to him."  The Holy Spirit  like a dove  accompanied this message.   Moav (Moab)  was "from the father," an incestuously conceived human son.   Yeshua  was from the Father, a beloved Son well-pleasing to the Father.   In Jewish tradition, the palace of Messiah is  Kan Tzippor , "The Bird's Nest" in the Lower Garden. O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how many times he would have gathered us as a hen gathers her chicks, but who sees a humble servant when she's looking for a king?  This has made so many susceptible to false messiahs.

There was more than a false messiah-king at work.  There was the false Abraham.  The true prophecy of Abraham is this, a blessing of life.  Curses are incurred only through the wicked behavior of the curser: 

And I will make you a great  nation, and  I will bless  you, and  make your name  great; and  so  you  shall be a blessing ; and  I will bless those who bless  you, and  the one who  curses  you I will  curse , and  in you all the families of the earth will be blessed ." (Ge 12:2-3)

The false Abraham is summoned by the false messiah-king like this, who requests cursing, not life:

Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too  mighty  for me; perhaps I may be able to  defeat  them and drive them out of the land.  For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed ." (Nu 22:6)

Bilaam  was from  Petor , the Land between the Tigris and Euphrates, like Abraham.  He was no Abraham though.  Regardless, he mimics Abraham's prophetic journey of resurrection-life:

So  Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told  him." (Ge 22:3)

Bilaam's journey of prophetic commercial destruction:  

So  Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab . (Nu 22:21)

Abraham goes with two young servants, humble youths.  He split the wood himself.  Bilaam arises in the morning, but not early.  He only travels with important men.  He tells others to split the wood, slaughter the animals, and build the altars.  Abraham goes to the place he is TOLD to go.  Bilaam goes to the place he's told NOT to go.

On  the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance . 

Abraham raised his eyes for prophecy... Bilaam  had to have his eyes "uncovered," or  galah :

Then the LORD  opened ( galah )  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  all  the way to the ground . (Nu 22:31)

The darkness of  Bilaam's  eyes had to be uncovered, or redeemed, in order for him to see something similar to an angelic being guarding the Garden with a sword.  

The  oracle of him who hears the  words  of  God, who  sees the vision of  the Almighty, falling  down, yet having his eyes uncovered  ( galah ). (Nu 24:4)

The nakedness of  Bilaam's  motivation was made naked, or  galah , and he has "fallen," a description of the serpent who had to fall down and go on his belly, limiting his vision, yet  Bilaam  is given the higher vision of prophecy and blessing Israel for a limited time only.  When his commercial plan is thwarted, Bilaam will teach Moab and Midian a different way of harming Israel, which is to lure them into cursing themselves.  Bilaam is a prophecy trafficker, one who understands human nature and uses it to his advantage, like the serpent:

The  LORD God said to the serpent , " Because you have done  this, cursed  are you more than all  cattle, and  more than every  beast of the  field ; on  your belly you will  go, and  dust you will  eat all  the days of your life ; (Ge 3:14)

Bilaam's vision is as low as a snake's eyes until they are uncovered to see Israel's ultimate fulfillment of the Father's purpose.  Ultimately, he is more cursed than the curse he wanted to impart.  This is the destiny of spiritual traffickers.

Bilaam's ass  tries to escape into the field to show  Bilaam  his crafty motivation.  He is behaving like the most cunning beast of the field, the serpent.  Bilaam doesn't get it.

She moves off the "way," telling  Bilaam  that he'd already moved off the "way" ( derek ) of obedience to Elohim.  Low-rider Bilaam doesn't get it.

The donkey veers into the vineyard, reminding  Bilaam  that  Noach  planted a vineyard and became drunk, which led to the Canaan's (ancestor of Canaan & Amorite ) "father sin," incurring a curse of commercial trafficking of the soul. The text is not clear whether it was Ham or Canaan who uncovered Noach's nakedness, and a case may be made that it was Noach's wife, who was Noach's "nakedness" who was uncovered.  Viewing or having incestuous relations is an uncovering of the father's nakedness.  The descendants of Canaan became servants of servants for his encroaching upon his father's "territory."  Bilaam doesn't get it.

Balak  is requesting that  Bilaam  look upon Israel's nakedness to find some defect in their Husband.  The vineyard escape does not penetrate Bilaam's commercial, self-glorifying mind.  He is unable to see YHVH's nakedness in His wife and children Israel:

He has not observed  misfortune ( even -wickedness; iniquity)  in  Jacob; nor  has He seen trouble in  Israel; the  LORD his God is with  him, and  the shout of a king is among them . (Nu 23:21)

The true king's shout is among them, the shout of the LORD himself as he descends in the cloud to gather His people to the resurrection and the Garden. He has removed their iniquity, the true prophecy that  Bilaam  must now prophesy.

There are also signs of a False Moses in the portion.   Balak  is the son of  Tzippor , and he aligns himself with the Midianites who carry charms; whereas Moses' wife is  Tzipporah .  She is the Midianite the wife of the circumcision.   Tzipporah, like many of the other matriarchs,  is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, circumcising the sons of Moses, especially  Gershon  (stranger, exile) without a man's hand.   Circumcision is sensitivity and commitment to the Word of Elohim.

Bilaam  was a name-dropper.   He did not have the same relationship to YHVH as Moses, but even when he was spoken to by Elohim or El, he says that YHVH spoke to him.   He used only a "fringe" relationship, "Elohim," to pose as having a relationship the more personal YHVH like Moses.

Elohim "said" to  Bilaam  in Numbers  22:9:  "Then  God (Elohim) came to Balaam and said, "Who are these men with you ?"

   וַיָּבֹא  אֱלֹהִים  אֶל־בִּלְעָם  וַיֹּאמֶר מִי הָאֲנָשִׁים הָאֵלֶּה עִמָּֽךְ ׃

And

God ( Elohim )  came to Balaam at night and said to  him. (Nu 22:20)

But Bilaam drops the Name YHVH, not Elohim, to make himself appear on more of a personal level with YHVH:

So Balaam arose in the morning and said to  Balak's  leaders, "Go back to your land, for the  LORD  (YHVH) has  refused to let me go with you ." (Nu 22:13)

Bilaam has only FALSE humility.  Moses was the real deal, telling Korach and the rebels that he has not even taken a donkey for his service:

Now  the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth . (Nu 12:3)

Bilaam protests that he cannot take Balak's silver and gold, but that is exactly what he WOULD take if he were allowed to curse Israel:

'...for  I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.'"  Balaam  replied to the servants of  Balak ,  "'Though  Balak  were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the  command  of the LORD my God . ' (Nu 22:17-18)

The "LORD my God"?  Bilaam wants the silver and gold, or he would have sent the first messengers away with the first and final answer.  He was unable to curse what Elohim blessed.  That's what we do when we already know the answer.  We just keep waiting for another "word."  The danger is that word might permit you to ride your ass and your spiritual gift right into your own destruction.  

Bilaam was no prophet like Moses:

Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew  face to face , (Dt 34:10)

"Hear now My words : If  there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream . Not  so, with My servant  Moses, he  is faithful in all My household ; with  him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the LORD ." (Nu 12:6-8)

It is dangerous to Name-drop when it is actually the desires of one's own soul driving the "prophecy" or "word" or "feeling."   Bilaam did not know YHVH mouth to mouth like Moses, and this is why he kept telling the messengers to "stay the night." :   

" God  came to Balaam at night and said to him,  'If  the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do .'" (Nu 22:20)

Elohim has only visited Bilaam in the night, for he is not a prophet like Moshe. He is guilty of Jude's accusation of spiritual traffickers:

Yet in the same way these men,  also  by dreaming , defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile  angelic  majesties.  But  Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"  But  these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which  they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are  destroyed .  Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and  for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam , and perished in the rebellion of  Korah ...(Jude 1:8-13)

Only in his dreams could Bilaam curse Israel, for he rejected the authority of the plain Word of Torah.  Israel is blessed.  He reviled an angelic majesty without even knowing it; even an animal didn't dare pass the angel's drawn sword.  

Be careful with prophecy.  Be careful of motivation.  Be careful of the words. Make sure the spiritual gift has not been abused and twisted by the appetite of the soul for honor, money, territory, position, knowledge, or ease.  Make sure those who validate your "word" are not those who have yoked you to their own rebellious agenda.

Yeshua was a true and faithful servant.  Behold the King.

Moses was a true and faithful servant.  Behold the Torah and Prophecy.

Be a true and faithful servant.  Behold Israel's lovely tents.
 

Spotlight on Sukkot in Israel 2019
October 10-22, 2019
Celestine King

With each trip or tour to Israel, we meet amazing people and build lifetime friendships.  We'd like to highlight some of those people that have been such a blessing to the tours and The Creation Gospel ministry.  One of those steadfast, amazing people is Celestine King from Great Britain.  This photo was taken of her on "Prayer Mountain" in the Aravah, which is quite appropriate.  She is a prayer warrior of the highest rank! 

Celestine's journey began on 2nd June 2007 at her son's best friend's Bar Mitzvah in  an orthodox synagogue in Great Britain.  In  October 2008, she visited Israel during Sukkot and had the privilege to march through the streets of Jerusalem with the nations.  Her main reason for visiting the Land during the joy of Sukkot was to be immersed in the river Jordan.  She writes:  

"My life was never the same.   During the journey I vowed to only return to the land with a good, sound Bible teacher, so in 2017 along comes Dr. Hollisa Alewine. I enjoyed the teaching at Jericho by Dr. Hollisa.  Very humbling.
I returned to the land 2018 for Pesach/Passover at Tamar. I had such joy volunteering with two beautiful ladies, Dawn Townsend and Angela at Tamar, prior to the tour arriving.  It was so nice meeting beautiful people. The highlight of my 2018 visit was planting trees at Tamar and volunteering.  Our tour guide Eitan Levy taught us and led us to unusual locations. My favourite place is Shiloh and Tamar so far."

Celestine joined a few others in 2019 for Pesach at Tamar, a real blessing with beautiful people.  She says, "Teresa Casalino, you can be my coach driver in Israel any time!"  She  visited Israel on her own and met with two wonderful ladies from Hong Kong/Korea in Jerusalem for a week for Shavuot, and it was a real blessing and the visit was miracles after miracles.  

Celestine urges: " Register and join Dr Hollisa Alewine and Kisha Gallagher and experience Sukkot of glory in the land of your fathers and reclaim your portion and your assignment.  Your life will never be the same!"

Celestine is an example of the what Israel can do for us as believers and what we can do for Israel.  We can be obedient to the Torah in ways impossible outside the Land.  We can volunteer.  We can study the Word.  We can form friendships with Israelis and believers from all over the world.  We can become confident enough to go to Israel and explore on our own or with friends!

Dust off your passport and click on  SUKKOT IN ISRAEL  to read the itinerary.   Although every Israel tour requires a lot of walking, this one will be easier on the feet because of the open windows of leisure time built in it to honor the sabbaths of Sukkot.  Many thanks to Kisha Gallagher for her hard work on the itinerary to bring together a tour that respects Adonai's holy days.  



LaMalah Children's Centre

If you would like to donate to the Children's Centre or other Torah-based orphanages through The Creation Gospel, click on the link below.  The story of LaMalah may be found at  www.thecreationgospel.com.   Thanks to all our donors for your help to make their Passover happen.