Participants: Kelley Mowrer
Series Code: HWAL
Program Code: HWAL000490
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00:16 Hi, I am Kelly Mowrer and thank you for coming apart with
00:20 me to read the word of God together. When we were last 00:23 reading, we were reading in the book of Numbers, of 00:25 the story of Balaam. And Balak had asked Balaam, the Prophet of 00:29 God to come and curse the Israelites, in hopes that 00:32 it would offer some protection to Balak and his people 00:35 because God was granting them great victories. And Balaam, 00:38 learning his lesson about obeying the Lord, finally 00:41 says to Balak, "I will come with you but I will only be able 00:44 to speak the words that the Lord gives me. " 00:46 We are going to pick up the story now, but before we 00:49 do, let's pray together. Dear Jesus, thank you so much 00:51 for the lessons and the love that you have preserved in Your 00:56 word for us all these centuries. Please send the Holy Spirit to 01:00 be with us now as we study. And the words, 01:04 may we not just hear them, but may they go deeply 01:07 into our heart to bear fruit to Your glory. We ask this in 01:10 Your name and we thank You for loving us. We love You so much. 01:13 Amen. We're picking up in Numbers, chapter 23. 01:18 and this is the King James version. 01:20 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, 01:25 and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. 01:28 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam 01:33 offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. And Balaam said unto 01:38 Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: 01:41 per-adventure the Lord will come to meet me: and whatsoever He 01:45 sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. 01:49 And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared 01:53 seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and 01:56 a ram. And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, 02:00 Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 02:04 And he returned unto him and, lo he stood by his burnt sacrifice, 02:08 he, and all the princes of Moab. and he took up his parable, 02:12 and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, 02:16 out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse 02:20 me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse, whom God 02:25 hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not 02:29 defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the 02:34 hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, 02:38 and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count 02:41 the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of 02:44 Israel?. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my 02:48 last end be like his! And Balak said unto Balaam, 02:52 What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse 02:55 mine enemies, and, behold thou hast blessed them altogether. 02:58 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that 03:02 which the Lord has put in my mouth? And Balak said unto him, 03:07 Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou 03:10 mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, 03:12 and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. 03:16 And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of 03:20 Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram 03:23 on every altar. And he said unto Balak, Stand here 03:27 by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder. 03:29 And the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and 03:32 said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. And when he came to 03:38 him behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes 03:41 of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the 03:45 Lord spoken? And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, 03:49 Balak and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: God is not a 03:54 man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should 03:57 repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, 04:03 and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received 04:07 commandment to bless: and he hath blessed: and I cannot 04:11 reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath 04:15 he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, 04:19 and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of 04:24 Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. 04:27 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there 04:32 any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall 04:36 be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 04:40 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up 04:44 himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat 04:48 of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. 04:50 And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, 04:53 nor bless them at all. But Balaam answered and said unto 04:57 Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, 05:02 that I must do? And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, 05:08 I will bring thee unto another place; per-adventure it will 05:11 please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. 05:14 And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh 05:18 toward Jeshimon. And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here 05:22 seven altars, and prepare me seven bullocks and seven rams. 05:25 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock 05:29 and a ram on every altar. We are reading in the book of 05:32 Numbers, chapter 24 and this is the King James Version. 05:36 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless 05:40 Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, 05:44 but he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up 05:48 his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according 05:51 to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him. 05:55 And he took up his parable and said, Balaam the son of Beor 06:00 hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: 06:03 He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the 06:06 vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, 06:08 but having his eyes open: How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob! 06:13 and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread 06:17 forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes 06:22 which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters 06:25 He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall 06:29 be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, 06:33 and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth 06:37 out of Egypt. He hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: 06:41 He shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their 06:44 bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, 06:48 he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him 06:53 up, Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that 06:57 curseth thee. And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, 07:02 and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, 07:07 I called thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, 07:10 thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. 07:14 Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee 07:19 unto great honour; but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee back 07:22 from honor. And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also 07:28 to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, 07:31 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, 07:34 I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, 07:36 to do either good or bad of mine own mind; 07:40 but what the Lord saith, that will I speak? 07:43 And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, 07:46 and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to 07:49 thy people in the latter days. And he took up this parable, and 07:53 said, Balaam, the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose 07:56 eyes are open hath said: He Hath said, which heard 07:59 the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, 08:01 which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, 08:05 but having his eyes open: I shall see him, but not now: 08:10 I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star 08:17 out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, 08:20 and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the 08:24 children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, 08:28 Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel 08:32 shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have 08:37 dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. 08:41 And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said 08:44 Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end 08:47 shall be that he perish forever. And he looked on the Kenites, 08:52 and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwelling 08:55 place and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. Nevertheless 08:59 the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur, shall carry thee 09:03 away captive. And he took up his parable and said, Alas, 09:07 who shall live when God doeth this! And ships shall come 09:11 from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall 09:14 afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever. And Balaam 09:19 rose up and went and returned to his place; and Balak also 09:23 went his way. - Continuing in Numbers, Chapter 25. 09:28 This is the King James Version. 09:29 And Israel abode in Chittim, and the people began to commit 09:34 whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people 09:38 unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, 09:41 and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself 09:45 unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against 09:49 Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of 09:53 the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, 09:57 that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away 10:00 from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, 10:04 Slay ye everyone of his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. 10:07 And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought 10:10 unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, 10:14 and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of 10:16 Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle 10:20 of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, 10:24 the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among 10:27 the congregation, and took a javelin in hi hand; and he went 10:31 after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of 10:34 them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. 10:36 So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 10:40 And those that died in the plague were 24,000. 10:44 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of 10:48 Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath 10:51 away from the children of Israel while he was zealous for my sake 10:54 among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my 10:57 jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold I give unto him my covenant 11:02 of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even 11:07 the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was 11:11 zealous for his God, and made and atonement for the children 11:14 of Israel. Now the name of the Israelite that was slain 11:17 even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, 11:21 the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites 11:26 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain, 11:29 was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, 11:33 and of a chief house in Midian. And the Lord spake unto Moses, 11:37 saying, Vex the Midianites, and smite them: For they vex you 11:41 with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you 11:44 in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi the daughter 11:48 of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain 11:51 in the day of the plague for Peor's sake. 11:54 We're continuing to read in Numbers, chapter 26 11:58 This is the King James Version. 11:59 And it came to pass after the plague, that the Lord spake unto 12:05 Moses and unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, 12:08 Take the sum of all the congregation 12:12 of the children of Israel from twenty years old and upward, 12:15 throughout their father's house, all that are able to go to war 12:19 in Israel. And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them 12:24 in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying 12:28 Take the sum of the people, from 20 years old and upward; 12:32 as the Lord commanded Moses and the children of Israel, 12:34 which went forth out of the land of Egypt. Reuben the eldest 12:38 son of Israel, the children of Reuben; Hanoch, of whom cometh 12:43 the family of the Hanochites: of Pallu, the family of the 12:46 Palluites: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Carmi, 12:51 the family of the Carmites. These are the families of the 12:55 Reubenites: and they that were numbered of them were 43,730. 13:01 And the sons of Pallu; Eliab. And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, 13:06 and Dathan and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abirum, 13:10 which were famous in the congregation, who strove 13:12 against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, 13:16 when they strove against the Lord: And the earth opened 13:19 her mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah 13:22 when that company died, what time the fire devoured 250 men: 13:27 and they became a sign. Notwithstanding, the children 13:32 of Korah died not. 13:34 And then as we continue in Numbers, we see that 13:39 continuing with verse 12 and onward of chapter 26, 13:42 the census continues. They are taking the sum of all the tribes 13:46 of the children of Israel. And so we're going to move over to 13:50 verse 51 of Numbers 26, which concludes the counting of 13:55 the sum. - These were the numbered of the children of 13:59 Israel, six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred 14:03 and thirty. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 14:06 Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance 14:10 according to the number of names. - We're going to stop 14:15 there and just as a closing thought, I wanted to reflect 14:19 back on the prophecy of Balaam, when he spoke of the looking 14:24 ahead to the Messiah. He said, We shall see Him, but not yet. 14:27 For those of us who are looking forward to the day that promise 14:30 is true for us today as well. We will see Him soon. 14:33 Until next time, Goodbye. |
Revised 2014-12-17