22 February 2011

Poor Balaam, poor donkey!

I was overcome with so much confusion and general befuddlement while I was reading the Bible the other night. The source of this deep perplexity are these lines from the book of Numbers -

And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. 21 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. 22 And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him.

Numbers 22:20 - 22

In verse 20, it clearly says that God told Balaam to "go with them." But then when he went with the men, God's "anger was kindled because he went."

And if you read the entire chapter, you'll see that poor Balaam was actually really careful about whether or not he should go with the men, repeatedly telling king Balak despite his offers of great honor et al "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."

Why was God angry with Balaam??? Does anyone understand?

How little of the Bible I understand! How little of my life I understand! How little of everything I understand...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hotunu va rawn chhopchhuak tha ve. "IF the men come to call thee.." An rawn koh hmaa akal vang em niang aw!

Aduhi Chawngthu said...

For a long time I was confused as to who was Balaam and who was Balak (as in who was the prophet and who was the king, and the donkey made things even more confusing).

I think the reason God was angry with Balaam was because he went with the men before getting the green signal from God.

the piper said...

Im not very familiar with the Bible, I know a few of the stories?? parables?? verses?? I do recall readin a few weird stories tho...the ones dat aint mentioned in the church....uhh..the kingdom of Sodom ....I remember that one....and a whole lotta incest in the old testament.Guess people were pretty kinky back then.Yea...but this passage u've mentioned...is very confusin...guess it made an ASS of the donkey !!!

Jerusha said...

Seki and Aduhi - hei hi a pum in ka rawn dah lo a, hemi Pathian in a hrilh hian an rawn ko tawh a, a rawn kotute hi a bulah an awm dim diam tawh zawk alawm. A tlem chauh ka rawn dah vang hian a confusing deuh ani, a vai khan chhiar ila a chiang.

Piper - The Old Testament is just beyond understanding. And the kind of things those people get up to - even way more beyong understanding.

Deepa said...

HI there!

Read vs 35- The Lord wanted Balaam to go with the men, but speak only what God told him to. I guess God saw what was in his heart. HE's capable of that right?

Unknown said...

Jeru!
Horoscopes circle. Every sign is an "age" (approx 2150 yrs).
Dont forget that the bible is a collection of a lot of "ages"..
If you look back at Moses in the desert, the people created an ox to worship.. Moses was the prophet (teacher) of that age, so he got angry the people turned to the age before him (theres lots of references to ram horns in age of moses).
Next age was "Jesus", lots of references to fish, fishermen etc.
Then jesus speaks of the age of the water bearer (aquarius)..

All ages has its own "difficulties" i.e its hard to relate to ages that far back with a full understanding with so much lost in translations and change in history.

Unknown said...

And also don't forget. God dwells in you, as you. :)

Jerusha said...

Mats - never saw the horoscope reference. That's interesting. I don't understand the God that dwells in me..sometimes. Most of the time in fact.

Unknown said...

Well, the horoscope signs are more involved than most of us realize. Can't tell you much more than each is referred to as an age, though.
Jesus said "I will be with you until end of" -Time (is one translation). -Age (is another translation). The original word is "Aeon", thats being translated..

So again, what i know, the bible refers to the "ox" (taurus), Aries (ram horns etc), Fish, fishermen (pisces) many Christians uses the fish symbol etc, Then the last reference is when jesus talks about "the water bearer" Luke 22:10 (Aquarius).

Did you know that Orions belt is called "the three kings" and when Sirius aligns on Dec 25 it shows where the "sun" (son) rises?
Did you know that the virgin mary (Virgo) is associated with wheat??
The opposite sign form Pisces is Virgo, the virgin—pure, precise, nurturing, chaste. She is associated with wheat. Mary is often depicted with sheaves of wheat. And, in the Biblical story of the loaves and fishes, Virgo is representative of loaves (wheat) and fish is representative of the sign Pisces (symbolized by two fish). Did you know that "Betlehem" translates into "the house of bread".. it goes on and on..

There's a lot of astrology in the bible :)

And btw, what makes you think you would, could or even should understand the god that dwells in you? Why not just surrender to it instead, experience it and enjoy :P

A bit weird since im not a christian, but a nice quote is when
Jesus says in Matthew 6:34 "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof."