Diviner | Wayfarer

“From the rocky peaks I see them,
    from the heights I view them.
I see a people who live apart
    and do not consider themselves one of the nations.
Who can count the dust of Jacob
    or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
    and may my final end be like theirs!”
Numbers 23:9-10 (NIV)

The other day I was flipping through the channels and happened up on some kind of dating game in which the young men and women who were “in play” where identified on their name tags by their astrological signs. It took me all of a few seconds to realize that astrology played a role in determining the outcome of which young people would end up as couples. So funny to think how ancient belief systems still resonate in our modern world.

In ancient Mesopotamia, where our chapter-a-day trek finds the ancient Hebrews on the road through the wilderness, “seers” or “diviners” like Balaam were common. Every king had seers at his side to speak for the gods in “oracles.” It was believed that a seer could spiritually influence the gods and therefore the earthly outcome of battles and circumstances. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Balaam was a popular seer for hire, and he’s been hired at great cost to curse the Hebrews for Balak, the king of Moab.

Instead of cursing the Hebrews, God demands that Balaam offer a blessing, which Balaam subsequently does. Balak demands a prophetic mulligan, dropping his religious ball in a different location hoping for a better outcome. Again, Balaam offers a blessing rather than a curse.

A couple of thoughts on Balaam’s first two “oracles” or messages in today’s chapter:

First, “I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations” speaks back to what God has been telling the people through Moses from the very beginning. They are going to be different. They are game changers. The priestly guidebook of Leviticus spoke of being a people unlike any other people, showing the world who God is and how God and His people operate differently.

Next, Balaam says, “Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel?” As Balak and Balaam view the Hebrew camp, it is so vast they can’t see it all. This echoes God’s promise to the childless Abraham and Sarah:

“I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

These wandering tribes are the literal fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.

Moving on, Balaam finishes his first oracle by saying something curious: “Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my final end be like theirs!” The wealthy and famous guru for hire wants the eternal blessing God has graciously bestowed on the Hebrew people, but he doesn’t want to live the life of daily obedience and fidelity God has required of His people in Leviticus. It reminds me of many people I observe today who want little or nothing to do with living for God but they certainly want to go to heaven when they die.

Finally, in Balaam’s second oracle, he states “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.” God is in the midst of fulfilling His promise to Abraham. He’s authoring a Great Story and He isn’t changing His mind. Even a non-Jewish Gentile seer is left completely impotent in his own divination. He’s been hired to curse, but instead he is forced to bless.

In the quiet this morning, my heart and mind flits back to the astrological dating game and the reality that the ancient is very much present in our every day world. Thousands of years later, the Hebrew people and the nation of Israel find themselves in the same land, surrounded on all sides by enemies perpetually cursing them and hell bent on their annihilation. Over the past two years, the rise of global antisemitism has modern day seers spewing oracles and curses against the descendants of the very same people in the very same land. God continues to author the same Great Story. I just happen to be in a very different chapter.

I want to be a part of God’s irrevocable blessing and promise that even Balaam acknowledged in his oracle “cannot be changed.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?”
Ezekiel 13:12 (NIV)

The Iowa town where Wendy and I live is a unique place. Pella was founded by a Dutch pastor and his flock back in 1847. They were fleeing religious persecution back in Netherlands and were intent on creating “a city of refuge” on the Iowa prairie. Visitors from the Netherlands today will often say that Pella is more Dutch than the Netherlands itself. Dutch heritage is so woven into the town that any commercial businesses must include classic Dutch architectural design flourishes on their buildings. Even Walmart and McDonalds comply (see the featured photo on today’s post).

Of course, the architectural flourishes are just that. Behind the doors of that cute looking shop on the square, it’s just a building like any other building. In some cases, that building is 170 years old and in critically major disrepair. This has led to locals using the metaphor of a “Dutch Front.” The front of the building looks cute, quaint, and Dutch, but on the inside it’s a hell-hole. The metaphor is often (and aptly) used to describe people who keep up self-righteous, religious appearances for public consumption, but whose actual lives are filled with greed, anger, slander, hypocrisy, and critical spirits.

In today’s chapter, God has Ezekiel prophesy against false prophets and professional diviners and spiritualists who practiced black magic. I was fascinated that God’s metaphor for false prophets was basically the same metaphor as our Dutch Front. In Zeke’s day, a strong wall around the city protected it from an enemy attack. God tells Zeke that the false prophets of his day were like a “flimsy wall” that had been whitewashed to look good. These prophets would tell people what they wanted to hear, that everything was going to be okay and that they would live in peace, while God was trying to warn them of the impending doom and destruction.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself meditating on this metaphor. Even Jesus used a form of it with the hypocritical religious Pharisees of His day:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”

There are two truths that I have observed along my life journey that come to mind as I reflect on Jesus’ words.

First, there is no one perfect and even the most sincerely devout individual has blind spots and imperfections. We are all works in progress. I have known critics and non-believers who are quick to paint any and all self-proclaimed believers with the same coat of whitewash in an effort to justify their unbelief and poor life choices. It is a very human thing to generalize an entire subset of humanity as “those people.” It makes easier for us to dismiss them instead of understanding them.

Second, Jesus was most critical of self-righteous, fundamentalist religious-types. Much like the false prophets, they played the religious game, they even thought they were being devoutly sincere, but they were blind to the spiritual reality. Their hearts weren’t seeking after the heart of God, but rather were seeking public approval ratings that made them feel good while ignoring the heart changes inside that desperately needed to be made.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself standing in the tension. Look hard enough and you will find my flaws. My wife, my children, and my inner circle of friends know them very well. As a disciple of Jesus, my first priority is not to seek and point out the flaws and hypocrisies of others. My priority is to be God’s perpetual and faithful cardiac patient. My heart has to perpetually change if I am going to be the disciple God calls me to be: My life, words, and actions increasingly blossoming with the Fruit of the Spirit. There is a time and place for calling out sin and hypocrisy just like Zeke in his day, and Jesus in His. Yet, I’m reminded that His criticism of the religious leaders was a very small part of His story, which was primarily about His healing and restorative sacrificial love for others. May my life increasingly reflect His.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.