3rd.: Psst. Balak, You Can’t Buy God’s Favor
Whomever the prophet Balaam cursed was cursed, and whomever Balaam blessed was blessed.
Balak the leader of the Moabites knew this(Num. 22:6).
King Balak saw Balaam as a kind of sorcerer.
Balak asked Balaam to curse the newly arrived Israelites with the first set of messengers.
But Balaam refused. So Balak
“… sent yet again princes, more, and more honourable than they.” (Num. 22:15).
These emissaries gave Ballaam the following message,
“Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me.
For I will promote thee unto very great honor, and I will do whatsoever thou says unto me.
Come therefore, I pray thee, curse [for] me this people.” (Num. 22:16b-17).
However, Balak did not see that the real power resided with God, not Balaam.
Therefore, Balak did not seek the God in heaven per-se. Rather, he tried to buy Balaam’s curses.
Balaam responded with,
“If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold,
I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.” (Num. 22:18).
Likewise, we must seek the Lord, and his power, and then do what He says.
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. (Ps. 49:6-7)