Small Group Questions:

1. What is the craziest, unexplainable thing you’ve ever heard or seen? (A TALKING DONKEY!)
2. Balaam seemed to have his own agenda, which competed with God’s agenda. Have you ever had a moment like this in your life? What happened?
3. Balaam struggled with self-pride and was humbled by a donkey. Do you have a story of ever being humbled? How did it feel?
4. Balaam was saved by his donkey. Who in your life influences your faith? What voices influence you most?

THE MAIN POINT

Rather than pride, our attitude should be one of humility.
We should not build our own kingdoms, but serve God’s kingdom.

THE BIBLE

Numbers 22: 21-34, 2 Peter 2:15, Proverbs 3:34

THE CONTEXT

During the period of Israelite history when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years before entering the Promised Land, Numbers 21 indicates that the Israelites defeated the Amorites—a nation of people dwelling to the east of the Jordan River. In Numbers 22, we read that Balak, the king of the Moabites had heard of the Israelite invasion, and had become fearful for his nation. His response was to call for the “diviner,” Balaam, to come and curse the Israelites (vs. 5-6). The text says that God spoke to Balaam, telling him neither to go with the messengers from Balak nor to curse the Israelites (vs. 12). Balaam complied, and the messengers returned to Balak with the bad news, but Balak refused to give up.

A larger entourage of noble princes were sent by Balak to Balaam to plead with him to curse the Israelites. In response, Balaam wisely said, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go against the command of the Lord my God to do anything small or great.”

Balaam told the messengers to stay with him that night, while he waited to see if God would give him more information. Sure enough, God spoke to Balaam again. It is argued that in verse 20, God permitted Balaam to go with the men, as long as he only spoke what God told him to speak. The text then says “When he got up in the morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and went with the officials of Moab.” (vs. 21).

The question has been raised, if God gave Balaam permission to go to Balak, why would He then change His mind and become angry with Balaam for going—so much so that He sent His Angel to stand in the way of Balaam? Verse 33 even indicates that the Angel would have killed Balaam had it not been for his donkey, who could see the Angel, though Balaam could not. Is this a legitimate contradiction that has been raised against the Bible or the nature of God? Is God wishy-washy or untrustworthy? How can He be a fair and just God and yet have anger towards Balaam in this instance when he only did what God said he could do?

The key to the answer lies in the two-letter Hebrew word—’im-. In the CSB this word is translated as “since” but it’s more accurately translated as “if”. It is easy to read through God’s statement to Balaam and miss the condition that He placed on permitting Balaam to go: “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them” (verse 20).

Sadly, Balaam ignored God’s condition. His eagerness to gain money, his desire to appease Balak, and perhaps his own interest in cursing the Israelites overpowered him. Instead of waiting for the men to call the next morning, he got up, saddled his donkey, and left with the princes. God did not unjustly threaten Balaam. God’s anger was aimed at Balaam’s presumptuous disregard for His stipulations, and His response was to send His Angel to confront him for his error and warn him of his impending doom. And he is saved by his TALKING DONKEY!

Ironically, if Balaam had bridled his greediness (2 Peter 2:15; Jude 11) and simply listened to God the first time he was asked to curse the Israelites and not gone to Balak (Numbers 22:12), he would have saved himself the trip, embarrassment, and personal danger from the Moabites. Instead, he made himself look like a fool to the king, and simultaneously did the unthinkable: he blessed the Israelites three times at the word of the Lord (Numbers 23:5-24:11). Sadly, Revelation 2:14 records that Balaam found another way to “curse” the Israelites through teaching Balak how to create stumbling blocks for them, but ultimately, it ended badly for Balaam. Numbers 31:8 indicates that Balaam was killed with the sword by the Israelites.

THE CORE

As you prepare the core of the message using personal story and questions keep in mind these points:

• Through his own pride, Balaam tried to manipulate God to build his own kingdom. However God opposes the proud, and for Balaam, he was humbled by a talking donkey.
• We should not build our own kingdoms but serve God’s kingdom. Balaam was given clear instructions by God but chose to slightly alter them to serve himself. How often do we take parts of God’s truth, or parts of following Jesus but ignore others?
• Balaam was so angry that the realization of a talking donkey didn’t seem to faze him. Do we ever get to the point of deep pride, where we miss God at work?
• What does humility look like when God tells us something we don’t want to hear?
• Jesus has introduced a counter-cultural, upside-down kingdom where the last become first and the first become last. How do we live that out?

THE APPLICATION

As you prepare the application, challenge and/or encouragement, keep in mind these points:

• What does building God’s kingdom and not your own look like?
• Why is pride so easy to fall into?
• What does it look like to humble yourself before God and live how he’s called you?