Balaq – Balak: devastator, annihilator
B’midbar (Numbers) 22:2 – 25:9
Mikhah (Micah) 5:6 – 6:8
Romans 11:25-32; I Corinthians 1:20-31
There are so many varieties of people in the world! Cultures, dress, foods, festivals, tribal characteristics, and national practices are amazingly diverse, even among the people of God in His Kingdom. But human beings easily judge others by what they see on the outside and what they hear with their ears. For those who aren’t like us in a lot of ways, we feel estranged and disconnected, if we are not connected by the Spirit of YHWH, our Creator. So how should we see our brothers and sisters from other tribes through Abba’s eyes?
The Gospel of the Graft
One thing that every human being shares in common when entering into this world is that although we are born alive in the flesh, the spirit within is not alive until born again.
Life from death is pictured by a dead branch grafted into an olive tree. The olive tree is the only species that can revive a branch that had been cut off and lying dead for up to three years! Three is the number of death and resurrection through faith in Adonai Yeshua. Paul taught us not to be ignorant of the mystery of how native and wild branches alike can be grafted into the olive tree of Israel (Romans 11). The mysteries of Yah are designed to compel us to seek discovery.
Before any of us received Yeshua in our hearts, we were all dead branches. It was in that state from which we came alive in Him. Paul put it this way:
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. Colossians 2:13
The spirit of a man is dead when the heart is connected and controlled by the old Adam, the sin nature of his flesh, and by its dead works. But when a soul hears and believes the Gospel and receives Yeshua in his heart, the Messiah resurrects and makes alive the spirit of a new man by His Holy Spirit. In this way, He grafts Himself into the spirit of man.
For those of us not of the House of Judah, but of the house of Israel scattered throughout the world, wild branches are grafted into the olive tree of Israel (Rom 11:25). Through the Gospel, we’ve come alive and become fruitful as one new man in Messiah (Eph 2:15)!
YHWH by His Ruach Ha’Qodesh (the Holy Spirit) wants us to closely identify ourselves as His grafted-in people. We have a powerful identity as overcomers in Him. It’s in our surname ‘Yisra’el’, which means: he will rule as El, God (Strongs), or God prevails (BDB). Our identity is in our God – El, which means ‘the Mighty Authority, the Strong Controller’.
Our God is the greatest power on earth Who knows no defeat! In Him, we have victory! In Him, we can overcome the enemy who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Out of his own mouth, a prophet named ‘Balaam’ from a different nation spoke that blessing over Israel.
The Identity Crisis of Balak and the Moabites
‘To destroy’ is in the name of our Torah portion’s arch enemy – Balak – which means ‘devastator, annihilator.’ Balak tried to employ the powerful words of a prophet to overcome and destroy the people of Israel. He knew the power of an anointed tongue.
Balak suffered from an inherent identity crisis. He was the king of Moab. The name ‘Mo’av’ means ‘from her father,’ or it could be translated as a rhetorical question with an interrogative pronoun to be ‘what father?’ In other words, Lot’s oldest daughter may have cynically given her son a derogatory name as in “What father? I don’t know what you’re talking about!” The Moabites were suffering from a generational curse of hiding incest.
However, the good news is that YHWH would eventually redeem the descendants of Moab from their shameful, incestuous origin. Our Father in Heaven grafted them back into the lineage of the Messiah by joining a Moabitess named Ruth with a redeemer kinsman – a Jew named ‘Boaz’. Ruth then became the great-grandmother of King David.
Praise Yah! The shame of any unrighteous origin and the identity crisis of any people is redeemed when grafted into the Messiah. In Him, we have a guilt-free, powerful identity!
The Identity Crisis of Balaam
The prophet Balaam also had an identity crisis. Whereas ‘Yisra’el, Israel’ is the name we identify with as the people of God, the name of the notorious character ‘Balaam’ means ‘not or nothing of a people,’ or ‘without a people.’ Although he claimed YHWH as his Elohim and said he could only speak His words, Balaam did not identify with the people of Yisra’el. That’s nothing new to our world today. We still have prophets of God who do not identify with Israel. If they were honest, they’d admit they suffer from an identity crisis.
Balaam pictures us of a wild branch that would be completely cut off from the olive tree. He was never grafted into the commonwealth of Israel; he never joined himself with Yah’s people. Eventually, he perished by the sword at the end of his life (Joshua 13:22).
Because he had no loyalty or connection with Yisra’el as his people, Balaam was employed by Balak to curse and rage at them. In paleo-Hebrew, the word for ‘rage’ is ‘zahm,’ which means in paleo-Hebrew – ‘to cut off the well-spring of reproductive waters’ (Num 23:7-8). Now here’s where the Hebrew shows us something awesome about how our Elohim reverses the curse, and instead, bestows a beautiful blessing upon His beloved people. Look at how Balaam replies to Balak’s charge to curse them:
How shall I curse him whom Elohim has not cursed? And how shall I rage (zahm– cut off the well-spring of reproductive waters) at him at whom YHWH has not raged? Numbers 23:8
The blessing of Ma Tovu is what the Holy Spirit brought forth to flow out of the mouth of Balaam in a total reversal of zahm (to cut off the well-spring of reproductive waters). The saying ‘Ma Tovu’ is one of the most deeply profound and one of the most commonly proclaimed blessings throughout history among Jewish and some Messianic people …
Ma Tovu (How lovely) are your tents, O Ya’aqov (Jacob), your dwellings, O Yisra’el (Israel)! They are spread out like valleys, like gardens by a river; and YHWH has planted aloes, as cedars beside the water. He makes water flow from His buckets, and His seed shall be in many waters. Numbers 24:5-7a
This beautiful blessing releases the exact opposite of the defiant curse attempted by the enemy! Our adversary wants to cut off and destroy the Living Waters that produce fruitfulness in the people of Yisra’el. But YHWH made living waters flow from His buckets!
Our Father in Heaven reproduces His Life through His Son – from the Headwaters. Yeshua is the Head of Living Waters. He is the One Who reproduces the Life of the Spirit of God through His people. May the river of Life flow freely to every tribe of Israel!
The Curse Reversed!
Is anyone out there defiantly cursing the people of Israel these days? Like me, you’ve been hearing many voices in the world raging at us lately. The voices are really amping up!
Is anyone trying to cut us off from our Elohim and other believers by calling us a cult? How about in your personal life – anyone cursing you, trying to destroy or tear you down? Do you find yourself cursing or belittling yourself and others with your own words?
That’s something I’ve struggled with in my life – muttering word curses upon myself that cut off the flow of Living Waters from the Messiah. Convicted, I turn to the Headwaters, the Messiah through Whom all blessings flow! Like Living Waters, His Spirit washes away polluting thoughts and feelings about myself or others that the devastator would try to hit me with. In Yeshua, curses are reversed and blessings flow from the Headwaters!
Instead of expecting to be cursed, expect the curse to be reversed and the blessing of an abundant life like a well-watered garden to arise among His people! YHWH is awesome!
He turns around even what’s meant for evil to the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28).
Isn’t He good? He intentionally purposes to bless us, even when we deserve curses for our sins. What grace He lavishes upon His beautiful people!
How does the Messiah reproduce His Life and His very essence through every tribe?
We can see marvelous illustrations of our Messiah growing up and emanating in and through His people, Israel, in the two trees of Ma Tovu – How Lovely/Goodly! Those two trees I find fascinating are the aloe (agarwood) and the cedar.
The First Tree – Agarwood Planted by YHWH
“Like valleys that stretch out, like gardens beside the river, like aloes (ahaliym) planted by YHWH.” Numbers 24:6a
The tree ‘ahaliym’ is known to be the lign aloe. The aloe in this prophetic verse is a fascinating tree commonly known today as agarwood, reputed to be the most expensive wood in the word. Agarwood has been used to make high-quality incense for centuries. The Chinese describe its smell as a sweet, deep but balanced fragrance and use it in religious and festive celebrations, as do Arabian, Indian, and Japanese people. Agarwood is part of many traditional pharmacopeias; Chinese doctors still prescribe it for colds and digestion. The oil extracted from agarwood is used in Arabian countries as a perfume. It is also broadly put into use as incense ingredients for cultural offerings or spiritual prayers.
What makes the wood so valuable is when the tree infuses resin into a cut or a wound to heal itself. It then forms dark portions in a light-colored wood (see the photo on the left). The healed portions are what produce the aromatic incense wood, which is highly prized and is known as the most valuable wood in the east (photo on the right).
How is it that all the tribes of Yah – Israel – are like a lign aloe, an agarwood tree?
When the Body of Messiah, His people are cut, bruised, wounded, and persecuted, His anointing infuses the infected area with a healing balm. From His suffering flows the sweet aroma of the Anointed One that emanates through His suffering people.
Aloes are like a rose that releases its peak fragrance when picked fresh and immediately crushed. That’s how the love of our Messiah flowed from His heart when He was broken and bruised for our healing, for the salvation of Israel, when He suffered and died for us upon the cross in the prime of His life. Like a crushed rose, the essential oil of the sweet Spirit of Elohim oozed out of Him. His wonderful, agape love emanated from His heart.
Cedars Beside the Water
Like valleys that stretch out, like gardens beside the river, like aloes planted by YHWH, as cedars beside the water. Numbers 24:6a
Cedar is the second tree in the prophetic blessing of Ma Tovu. During my career with the US Forest Service, I grew to like this tree.
From experience, forest managers prize cedar trees growing by a river above all other trees due to their health benefits to aquatic habitats. I’ve planted thousands of them myself in my career. Cedar trees grow tall, strong, and very old and upright, providing shade and shelter for all life beneath and inside their hollow, towering trunks.
Cedar wood is the most resistant to wind throw and to decay of all forest trees; they stand upright and tall longer than all others. When a big cedar tree does end up falling into a river, the logs provide the most desirable wood structure for long-term, productive fish habitat. It was my favorite to build fish habitat structures within forest streams and rivers.
When planting cedar seedlings, we often placed nylon mesh tubing over the little trees, because elk and deer will eat the new growth of young cedars. It’s like candy to them!
If you don’t have toothpaste on hand, pluck a frond of cedar and chew on it for a while. I like it. It’s nature’s tooth and gum cleaner. The fragrant, antiseptic sap in its fronds can fight tooth decay; its fragrance is a breath freshener.
How is Israel like the cedar by the waters? We are called ‘Benai Yeshurun’ (Deut 32:15; 33:5,26), meaning ‘children of the upright One’, the Messiah. The Anointed One was resistant to decay and rose from the grave. The spirits of all who are grafted into Him will not see decay but will rise up in the resurrection when the Messiah returns again.
The aroma of Messiah repels demons by His Spirit like the pleasant fragrance of cedarwood repels devouring insects in the forest and moths in a cedar chest.
Like cedars beside the river, Israel provides shelter and habitat for others to enjoy an abundant life, drinking in the mayim chayim, the living waters of the Ruach HaQodesh. As Benai Yeshurun, we have the uprightness and the longevity of eternal Life in Him.
Our Strong Defense
We have only one Defender from the curse and one source of blessing, Adonai Yeshua. For those grafted into His olive tree, blessings flow, in some ways in cycles or seasons.
Foresters know that a tree exposed to stormy weather just makes it more wind firm and stronger by growing its grain in a tight spiral, wrapping around the core of the trunk.
As long as we wrap every fiber of our being around the Messiah Who lives within us, our roots clinging around the Rock of our Salvation, and our roots extending to the living waters of His Ruach flowing within, we will never cease to bear the fruit of the Spirit. We will be productive even when the heat of tribulation comes. Here’s a commandment in the Torah I just love:
You shall walk after YHWH your God, fear Him, keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him, and cling to Him. Deuteronomy 13:4
Pray hard, hang tight, wrap your soul around Him, and cling to Yeshua the Messiah! May the fruit of the Spirit grow and the river flow! May abundant blessings flow in your life like water pouring out of buckets from the Headwaters, as our Messiah reverses the curse for you and your tribe!
Viewing a Good and Blessed People
Do we see people in the kingdom different than us as blessed? Our tribal characteristics are as different as the tree species the Creator planted in the field. It’s hard to relate with tribes different than ours. But how should we recognize each other in His Kingdom?
And He died for all so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised. So from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Messiah according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know Him this way. Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all these things are from God, Who reconciled us to Himself through Messiah and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:15-18
The two houses of Yisra’el are as different as lign aloes are from cedars. Yet both have roles and functions in Yah’s Spiritual ecosystem that are Ma Tovu – how goodly, how lovely! Do those who associate themselves with Ephraim see Judah and his associates as good and attractive? Do those who associate themselves with Judah see Ephraim as good and desirable for reconciling with and to be grafted together as one in His olive tree?
As Joshua Aaron sings in his hit song ‘Every Tribe:’ ‘better get ready, the King is coming.’ Better to see every tribe as Yah sees His people – good and blessed! Better to be reconciled before the King returns! Better to get ready as one bride, one in Messiah.
BaShem Yeshua HaMelek Yisra’el – in the Name of Yeshua, the King of Israel,
David Klug