Did Balaam Prophesy Israel's Victory? (Numb. 24)

This morning I was doing my morning devotion and my “read through the Bible in a year,” and I was in 1 Sam. 15.  But a commentary on one of the verses referenced a prophecy that Balaam had made about Israel’s king being greater than Agag, the Amalekite king.  My first read through Numbers this year, I didn’t make such a note, of this prophecy, I was so enthralled with how YHWH was taking this pagan diviner, and using him to bless Israel, much to the chagrin of king Balak.

⁵ How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!  ⁶ "Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens beside the river, Like aloes planted by the LORD, Like cedars beside the waters.  ⁷ "Water will flow from his buckets, And his seed will be by many waters, And his king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted.  Numbers 24:5-7   

And then we have a reiteration of the promise that YHWH made to Abraham, to curse those who curse Israel, and bless those who bless Israel, showing that Balaam was really speaking through the mouth of YHWH: Numbers 24:9  ⁹ "He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, And cursed is everyone who curses you."

I know this is a side tangent, but it seems as if the nations of the world, under the leadership of the U.N., are standing against and opposed to the King of All.  They are taking their stands and stance against Israel, the Covenant People of Elohim YHWH. 

Psalm 87:2-3  ² The LORD loves the gates of Zion More than all the other dwelling places of Jacob.  Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah.

The nations of this world, led by the occultism of Helena Blavatsky in The Secret Doctrine, are falling in line with the ruler of this world (1 John 5:19), to bring about his one-world empire (Dan. 7:19), and it is quickly falling into place.

But what about Balaam’s prophecy.  It seems to have foreseen King Saul’s defeat of Agag and the Amalekites in that region, but did his prophecy indeed go beyond to the last days?  Before his departure, Balaam tells king Balak:

Numbers 24:14, 17-19   I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the days to come."… ¹⁷ "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.  ¹⁸ "Edom shall be a possession, Seir, its enemies, also will be a possession, while Israel performs valiantly.  ¹⁹ "One from Jacob shall have dominion, And will destroy the remnant from the city."

Num. 24:19 is one messianic prophecy that could be used in disproving Islam, for the Muslims say Muhammed is the final prophet of God.  But clearly here, a pagan diviner predicted that one descended from Jacob, that is, Israel himself, would be the ruler, and would have dominion.

Back to the prophecy, we see hear ancient foes of Israel mentioned, many of whom are closely related to Israel.  And many of these nations mentioned, Moab, the sons of Sheth, Edom and Seir ( a mountain range in the territory of Edom) are also mentioned in Psalm 83, described what most theologians today believe is a final battle to initiate the ultimate signing of the peace treaty prophesied in Daniel 9:27, by this one who confirms the covenant, but in the middle of the seven years, takes his seat in the Temple of God, calling himself God, and requiring all peoples to take the mark of his name and worship him!

The list in Psalm 83 is more expansive, including all of the enemies living around Israel currently in the Middle East:

Psalm 83:4-8  ⁴ They have said, "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more."  ⁵ For they have conspired together with one mind; Against You they make a covenant:  ⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites;  ⁷ Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;  ⁸ Assyria also has joined with them; They have become a help to the children of Lot. Selah.

As always, we look with confindence to Almighty God’s Word, because in it He has declared the end from the beginning, and He has revealed to us about Himself, His redemptive purposes and ways.  Let us fear God, for His destruction is coming quickly upon the earth.  Turn from your sinful way of life, and read God’s word, and obey it.  Maranatha!

Response to teaching that Israel is made up of Edomites:

I’ve done some researching on what you’ve said about all the people inhabiting Israel being Edomites. As I researched it, I came to four important conclusions that I believe hurt the Church, rather than aid her in her mission. As followers of the one who said, “I am the truth” (Jn 14:6), we should be taken up with possessing and guarding the truth in all things. And as our salvation is a relationship with the Truth (Jn 17:3), all the more.


It does appear that the nation (ethnic group) of Edom (or Esau) has been absorbed into the Jewish race. But this is not a biblical conclusion, nor does it nullify the race of Jews. The fact that the Edomites were absorbed into Israel is a fact of historical, extra-biblical knowledge. And that this fact were true, it does not require that today’s Jews are no longer Jews but Edomites. Throughout OT biblical history, Gentiles were “grafted in” to the Jewish race and religion. We have the story of Ruth, who willingly joined herself to the people of Israel, and in fact is included in the Jewish Messiah’s genealogy.

We have the famous verse that is so often taken out of context and put on wedding cakes:

Ruth 1:16 16 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

So the Edomites, being conquered by Israel, in no way dilutes the gospel promises to the Jewish nation. In fact, within the Torah, Yahweh gave pronouncements for what to do if such wanted to be included among the Jews.


Secondly, the Jews, or Israelites (descended from Jacob) were not God’s chosen people primarily because of their ethnic descent and purity. Amos 9:7 7 "Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?" declares the LORD. "Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?

The Jewish people are God’s chosen because of Yahweh’s free elective grace. The people born into Israel chose no more to do so than the people of Edom. And the Lord chose the place and the times where all men would live (Acts 17:26). So the qualities of being a Jew have to do primarily with the keeping of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 15:18, 17:2-9), and secondarily with the ethnic purity. Now a case could be made that the Jews were prohibited from taking a wife from among the Gentiles, in order to keep the Jewish tribes pure. True. But this was precisely the case because the Jews were the only nation on earth that had Yahweh’s truth in revelation. So in order to protect this truth, and the line through which Yahweh would bring the Messiah into the world, He made this prohibition to keep doctrines of false gods and demons out of Israel.


Thirdly, believers who view the people within Israel are missing what God is accomplishing in the world. He has prophesied that after a time of exile for their sins, God wold indeed bring Israel back into the land He had given them. And God made the land desolate for hundreds of years, until the turn of the twentieth century, when the Jews first began to return, the rains also began to return.

Leviticus 26:32-34 32 'I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. 33 'You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. 34 'Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths

Leviticus 26:44-45 44 'Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. 45 'But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.'".


The land was made desolate, by the Lord, so that people could not inhabit the holy land until the return of God’s chosen, the Jews (Isaiah 35:7; 32:15).

Recently, when speaking at Auschwitz, Poland, to mark the anniversary of the end of the concentration camps, Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed to all the world that the prophecies of Ezekiel 37 had been fulfilled. Messianic Jews in America took note. Jan Markell recently made mention of this event, and also stated that the wars of Ezekiel 38 and 39 are expected soon to follow. But I thought this statement was key: "There is a degree of spirituality in Israel, recently with this Benjamin Netanyahu saying that Ezekiel 37 is now fulfilled," she notes. "So I'm encouraged when the top leader in the nation of Israel comes out and stands up for the Bible. This is absolutely tremendously good news." http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=898508


And lastly, I think by the teaching of this erroneous view, it will turn the attention or energies of well-intentioned evangelical believers away from, or maybe even against the current inhabitants of Israel. Having been there and traveled throughout the country, I met and interacted with many of the Jewish people there, and found that indeed, many of them were there now because of making ‘aliyah’ or there migration from the countries to which they’d been exiled. I encountered Russian Jews, which Russia had a large Jewish population. I spoke with some young Jewish men who had flown in for the summer from Germany. I lived in the Slovak Republic from two years, during which time I made several trips to Prague, where they have a walled-in, historic Jewish town, where the Jews were imprisoned under Communist control.

During this time, when according to prophecies, we are living in the last days, the nations of the world are turning against Israel (according to their ruler/god- 1 Jn 5:19), the evangelical Christians are the last true friend and ally who will stand up for the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, through which righteousness and peace will be brought to the earth.


Of recent years, there have been more Jews recognizing Yeshua as their Messiah, than any other time in history. Yet they will not recognize him as a nation, until Yahaweh returns (Zech 12:10), at the battle of Armageddon, and they will look upon Him whom they pierced. And so shall all Israel be saved. This is when the truth of the teaching of Salvation by Grace will be seen in its fullness:

25 So that you will not be conceited, brothers, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery: a partial hardening has come to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Liberator will come from Zion; He will turn away godlessness from Jacob. 27 And this will be My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.

Romans 11:25-27 (HCSB)