As the LORD through the
prophet Micah continued to give the nation of Israel examples of
times when He protected and provided for them, He listed their
deliverance from being servants in Egypt. He sent them Moses, Aaron
and Miriam who aided in the Exodus from that oppressive land, and in
chapter six and verse five of his prophesy, the LORD presents through
Micah another time when He came to their rescue as He tells them to
“remember” “Balak” and “Balaam” where we
read:
O my people, remember
now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of
Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that you may know the
righteousness of the LORD.
The
verse begins, “O my people, remember now what Balak king
of Moab consulted,” Micah
recorded, “O my people”
as the LORD for the second time in this chapter claimed and showed
possession of the “nation of Israel” and called them to
“remember” or
“recall or call to mind” “what Balak” whose
name means “devastator” and was the “king of Moab”
“consulted” which means
“advised, counseled, devised and planned”. This interesting story
of Balak is recorded for us in the Bible in a book called “Numbers”
in chapters twenty-two through twenty-four, and for a reference to
what the LORD is saying to His people, it is well worth our time to
review it. The LORD desired for the nation of Israel to recall to
their minds His provision for them as they faced the threat of the
Moabites.
The
verse goes on to say, “and what Balaam the son of Beor
answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal;”
The LORD continued through Micah, “and what Balaam”
whose name means “not of the people” “the son of
Beor” whose name means
“burning” “answered”
or “responded, testified, spoke or shouted” “him from
Shittim” which means “acacias”
which were “large trees having bark covered with thorns that has
blackish pods with hard wood that resembles ebony when it grows old”.
“Shittim” was the
location where Israel began to forsake the LORD by committing
“whoredom” or
intermarrying with the pagan daughters of Moab. The LORD showed how
widespread this forsaking was when He referred “unto
Gilgal” which means “a wheel
or rolling” which was a city located northeast of the Dead Sea.
Finally
the verse says, “that you may know the righteousness of
the LORD.” The LORD gave the
reason the people should “remember” “Balak” and
Balaam”, “that you
may know” or “perceive,
learn, recognize and be acquainted with” “the
righteousness” which means
“justice, truthfulness, prosperity and righteous acts” “of
the LORD” which refers to
“Yehovah or Jehovah”. The LORD was faithful to not allow Balaam
to curse Israel though Balak the king of Moab hired him to do so, and
even though Israel committed “whoredom” with
Moab afterwards, the LORD still delivered them out of their hands.
While
we think upon these words from the LORD through Micah the prophet,
we should see the long-suffering patience of our God. Though the
people of Israel were not cursed by Balaam, they still fell away from
the LORD by disobeying His command to not intermarry with people of
pagan countries. However, even though they went against Him, the LORD
still delivered them from the hand of the Moabites. Once again the
LORD demonstrated His love, protection, commitment and sacrifice for
His people, and when we take the time to “remember”
the ways He has provided for and protected us, we also should “know
the righteousness of the LORD”.
May today be a day of remembering what the LORD has done for us
especially when we recall what Jesus did as He died and rose again
that we might be saved.
Next
time the people respond to the LORD as though they do not understand,
so read ahead, and
we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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