Adrian
Old-Sunday Worship January 11th, 2026
  • The Solid Rock
  • How Great Thou Art

      • Acts 10:34–43ESV

      • Acts 10:34–43ESV

  • How Deep The Father's Love For Us
  • Doxology

      • Numbers 22:1–23:1ESV

  • “Why Have You Beaten Your Donkey”

    K. Adrian Scott
    January 11, 2026
    Numbers 22.
    “Why Have You Beaten Your Donkey?”
    K. Adrian Scott
    January 11, 2026
    Introduction.
    We’re looking at the fourth book of Moses in both the Jewish and Christian sacred scriptures. This historical book covers a time in between Israel’s deliverance and exodus from Egypt and Israel’s entrance into the promised land of Canaan. The book of Numbers also covers thirty-nine of the forty years Israel wandered in the wilderness.
    This book is called “Numbers” in Englis because of the census that Moses took of the tribes of Israel on a few occasions, including one census taken of the tribes as ordered by God (1. 1-2). Moses took the census on these occasions to take inventory of his resources of people first, then animals and other natural resources. We can see from the numerous censusestaken that it would become easy for Moses to put his trust in Israel’s ability to provide for themselves rather than to trust in the God who provided. Maybe this is a part of the Christian’s problem; we focus too much on what we have or do not have, rather than what God our Father has!
    The geographical context of our scripture today is a point of interest also. The Israelites were not in Egypt any longer, of course. They were no longer held in bondage by the Egyptians, but neither were they yet in the promised land. In fact, they were somewhere between bondage and the promise! That is where we as Christians are living, between our deliverance from sin’s bondage and our promised land, the new heavens and the new earth!
    There is something very practical about this text, whereas the book of Numbers depicts the everyday life of God’s people living in route to a specific destination.
    The Hebrew title of the book (‘bemidbar’) is shorthand for the phrase, “in the wilderness of Sinai’ (Numbers 1.1) which describes the main action in the book; Israel’s journey through the wilderness’ (Theology of Work Commentary).
    Context.
    There are three main characters in our text, Balak, the king of Moab, Balaam, the prophet/seer from Beor, a nondescript place where little is known about and most importantly, God/Yahweh.
    “We do believe Balaam lived across the Arabian desert according to Henry M. Whitney, Bible.org., near the Euphrates River and a long distance from the plains of Moab where the Israelites were temporarily residing.”
    The Moabites were desperate to find someone who could stop this great company of blessed people, Israel. Apparently, King Balak of Moab did not care how far they had to travel to find someone capable and willing to help the Moabites with their ‘Israel’ problem.
    The people of Moab were unlike Israel, as they were pagan idol worshippers and believed in the power of the occult, whereas the people of Israel believed in one true God, Yahweh. Balak had taken note of the tremendous growth and expansion of the people of Israel who were now his neighbors, and how the Israelites had dealt the Amorites a devastating blowwhen Israel was at war with them. Without considering rather or not the nation of Israel was a friendly nation or not, Balak determined that his people must go to war with them in hopes of stopping any possible plans of expansion further into Moabite territory by God’s people. Israel had no plans of staying in Moab, they were on their way to a far better place than Moab, the land of Canaan, which flowed with milk and honey - “and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites” (Exodus 3.8).
    Here is a lesson for all the nations currently on the earth - ‘Why must war be the only answer when there are matters of concern?’ Why can’t these nations peacefully co-exist? Rather than a confrontation with the Israelites, why didn’t the Moabites determine to join them and become an even stronger force? We could ask the same question of the Philistines and the Amorites, both nations which hated Israel because they did not believe in and worship Israel’s God!
    In the case of the Moabites, under King Balak in our text, they had forsaken the God of Lot, “just Lot” (2 Peter 2.7) as he is called in the Holy Scriptures, who is the nephew of Israel’s patriarch Abraham, the father of the nation of Moab through his daughters with whom Lot had an incestuous relationship, according to Genesis 19.33-38. Consequently, the nation fathered by Lot through his oldest daughter, was named Moab, after their son. The Moabites, although a neighboring country, turned to worship idols, even practicing child sacrifice, and they hated the people who worshipped the God of their father, Lot.
    The Text, Telling the Story.
    v. 1; “The Israelites traveled on and camped in the rift valley plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan River across from Jericho.”
    “The Israelites moved” or “traveled on” which says at this point their purpose was in line with the will of Adonai, who is the Lord. God is all about progress and not passivity and not about going backwards. Note that the Israelites were camping in the backyard of one of their perpetual enemies, the Moabites. When we are living in the will of God, we can even find rest in the presence of your enemies. And that is exactly what God did for the Israelites. God, the Lord and Good Shepherd caused the nation, His people, to lie down beside still waters.
    Vv.2-4; “Balak son of Zippor saw all that the Israelites had done to the Amorites. And Moab was in great dread of the people, because there were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian, this horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field. So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time,”
    The grounds for the deep fear the Moabites had of Israel is because of what they learned Israel did to the Amorites and believe their fate could be as the fate of the Amorites. The conflict between Israel and the Amorites is recorded in Joshua, chapter 10 when Israel defeated no less than five Amorites kings! The fight wasn’t even a fair fight as the Amorites were decimated by the people of Israel - “And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us. 7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you” (Joshua 10. 6-8).
    v. 5-6; “sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, 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. 6 Come now, curse this 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.”
    Preaching Point.
    The fear King Balak has for Israel drives him to desperation, so he sends for a man named Balaam to help him. Balaam is known to be a prophet, but not a prophet of Yahweh, and Balak knows his reputation and wants his help. This makes sense in a way; Balak asks a man who is not a man of God to do the work of a people who are not God’s people, and Balakhopes for success.
    Let’s take a lesson from a man who is not a righteous man at all, but we can learn what not to do from he did. The lesson is this – our circumstances, particularly our desperate circumstances can cause us to be tempted to use people who do not have the same moral and spiritual convictions we do, and in so doing, we displease God.
    Balak was desperate, at least in his own mind, so he reaches out to a man with little moral restraint and even less spiritual convictions.
    v.6; 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.”
    Preaching Point.
    Balak’s strategy is simple; he will seek to hire the non-Israelite prophet Balaam and ask Balaam to place a curse upon the nation of Israel so the army of Moab will defeat the Israelites in war. I am quoting Bryant G. Wood when he says, “In an unprecedented discovery, an ancient text found at Deir Alla, Jordan in 1967 tells us about the activities of a prophet named Balaam. This text that was found seems to make it clear because three times in the first four lines of the text it refers to a man as ‘Balaam son of Beor’ which is exactly as it says in the Scriptures. And this finding in Jordan, if it is accurate, represents the first Old Testament artifact of a prophet to be found in the earth of the Bible lands.
    Like King Balak, some people do not care how they accomplish what they set their mind to do, as long as it gets the job done. And we have evidence that King Balak knew about the work of the Prophet Balaam because he says, “I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed” (v.6). This is the reason the king sent his representatives so far to summon Balaam and solicit his services for the king. A closer look at the spiritual character of Balaam tells us something important; Balaam was a lot like King Balak in that he is willing to do whatever needs to be done if the price is right. He is no ‘man of God’ but in truth, Balaam is a Prophet for hire! They make a good match for evil, but will this arrangement work?
    The Proposition.
    But here is what I want you to take home with you today – Can the devil through his network of wicked people, no matter how well-connected they are, no matter what resources they have, and no matter how disconnected from power brokers you might be, can they curse what God has blessed? Emphatically NO!
    Note: To say that a Christian can be cursed is to say Satan is more powerful than Christ or God!
    “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, …” (Proverbs 26.27);
    “...for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4.4);
    “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5.4).
    “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6.16).
    “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8.36).
    “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? ” (Psalm 27.1-2).
    “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3.3).
    “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand” (John 10.28).
    Balak was confusing Balaam the Prophet with God, because only God can curse and no one can reverse it, and only God can bless a person, and no one can take their blessing away! When God’s hand is upon your life, no one has the power to erase what God has done.
    The Close.
    Israel had confidence in our God to protect them from all evil, and so should we. If we are ‘in Christ’ then someone would have to be greater and stronger than Christ to take us ‘out of Christ.’
    Balaam is a Prophet, but a wicked or false prophet, however. In 2 Peter 2.15 and Jude 1.11 we are given warnings about false teachers in general, especially referencing the way they live and their message. In Revelation 2.14 the church in Pergamum is chided for permitting the “teaching (or doctrine) of Balaam.” So now we have evidence that the Prophet Balaam was a wicked prophet.

      • Numbers 22ESV

      • Numbers 1:1ESV

      • Exodus 3:8ESV

      • Numbers 22:1ESV

      • Numbers 22:2–4ESV

      • Joshua 10:6–8ESV

      • Numbers 22:5–6ESV

      • Proverbs 26:27ESV

      • 1 John 4:4ESV

      • 1 John 5:4ESV

      • Ephesians 6:16ESV

      • John 8:36ESV

      • Psalm 27:1–2ESV

      • Colossians 3:3ESV

      • John 10:28ESV

      • Numbers 22ESV

      • Hebrews 4:6ESV

      • Psalm 103:12ESV

  • In Christ Alone

      • Numbers 6:24–26ESV

Adrian
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