But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. Revelation 2:14 NET [Emphasis added.]
This reference to the teaching of Balaam in Jesus’ message to his church in Pergamum is difficult to extrapolate from the lengthy and colorful drama involving Balaam and his talking donkey in Numbers 22-25. However, that text reveals Balaam as a pagan diviner who was paid handsomely for his considerable spiritual talents — including putting spiritual curses on enemies.
This Old Testament story unfolds when Moses and the Israelite remnant (about 3 million people) departed the wilderness after 40 years to conquer the land promised to Abraham. As they traveled through several other nations now identified as Transjordan, the nation of Moab reacted to the oncoming Israelite incursion:
…the Moabites were greatly afraid of the people, because they were so numerous. The Moabites were sick with fear because of the Israelites.
Numbers 22:3 NET
So Balak, King of the Moabites, hired Balaam to curse the Israelites. But God intervened and not only prevented Balaam from carrying out Balak’s wishes, but instructed and inspired Balaam to bless the Israelites several times.
In Numbers 24 Balaam disappears from the narrative. Chapter 25 goes on to record this:
When Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab. These women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods; then the people ate and bowed down to their gods. When Israel joined themselves to Baal Peor, the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel. Numbers 25:1-3 NET
As the story concludes in Chapter 25, the details of the teaching of Balaam remain a mystery. Later, Numbers 31:16 mentions Balaam’s teaching but, again, doesn’t provide details. However, because the text in Numbers 22-24 elaborates on Balaam’s original assignment, it stands to reason that, to circumvent his failure to place a direct curse on Israel, he finally earned his lavish fee by coaching Balak how to corrupt the current generation of Israel in the same way the earlier generation of Israelites were corrupted when they worshiped the golden calf at Sinai.
However, we finally find the description of Balaam’s teaching that matches Jesus’ words to Pergamum in the Book of Jude (Jude was a half brother of Jesus). Jude doesn’t mince words around his mention of Balaam. He links him with just about every noxious spiritual influencer/infiltrator of God’s people depicted in the Old Testament. Here’s part of Jude’s scorching evaluation:
For certain men have secretly slipped in among you—men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe—ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 4 NET
…Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish [as] in Korah’s rebellion. These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit—twice dead, uprooted; wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved. Jude 10-13 NET [Emphasis added.]
In summary, practitioners of the teaching of Balaam are those who profit from devising ways to guide God’s people into minimizing two major errors that often work in tandem: recognition and respect for other gods enmeshed with sexual immorality. There has never been an age when this combination hasn’t proven utterly corrupting and devastating to God’s people and his reputation.
Have you rationalized the personal advantages of utilizing seemingly fresh religious practices before investigating their roots? Have you been tantalized by accomplished teachers/speakers as they explain away classic, immoral behaviors to make them seem reasonable or even beneficial? Don’t be bamboozled. Heed Jesus’ warning to Pergamum against deceitful teachings in the tradition of Balaam.
by Kathleen Petersen
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