“This will never work, Daddy!  This will never work!”  That was Chelsea’s response when she discovered that in order to play the piñata game, the participant had to be blindfolded and turned around a few times.  She yanked the blindfold off of her five tyear old face, stomped her foot on the ground, and said, “This will never work, Daddy!  This will never work!” 

I don’t remember piñatas from my childhood.  We played a birthday game known as “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”  The object of the game is to pin a cloth tail to a drawing of a donkey as close to the appropriate place as possible.  Closest to the actual tail wins.  Of course, it all sounds quite simple until you discover that the contestant has to be blindfolded and spun around several times.

I thought of this game as I was reflecting on the Buried Treasure to be discovered in the book of Numbers.  Numbers is only the fourth book of the Bible and yet it is seldom read, and even more seldom are sermons preached from this book that takes place during the wilderness years of the Israelites.  If you’re looking for a happy ending, this is not a great book.  It is filled with complaining, faithlessness, and people wandering around almost aimlessly.  They look like a bunch of children covered with blindfolds who have been spun around a few times. 

Nevertheless, there are some great stories in this book, some life lessons to be found here, some buried treasures.  One of those treasures is found in a character named Balaam.  His is a great story and begins as all great stories do – “Once upon a time…”

Once upon a time there was a man named Balaam, who lived in Pethor, a city along the Euphrates River in ancient Babylonia, modern day Iraq.  Balaam was a professional seer, a fortune teller of sorts, known mostly for his power to curse and bless.  If Balaam put a hex on you, your life was pretty much toast. He was just the guy that King Balak of Moab needed.  Balak was terrified of the approaching Israelites who finally seemed to be going in the right direction.  They had been circumnavigating the Promised Land, starting at the south and moving east toward the eastern boundary and up north.  They were actually scoring a few victories.  They were headed around the stretch of land below the southeastern portion of the Promised Land and had asked for permission to pass through the area to get to their entry point.  Not only were they refused passage, but King Sihon of the Amorites came out to fight the Israelites.  Israel responded and conquered Sihon and soon thereafter, Sihon’s ally King Og of the neighboring territory.  All of this worried King Balak.  His country, Moab, had been conquered by Sihon recently, losing quite a bit of land to the Amorites.  A simple calculation let him know that he had no chance against Israel.  He concluded that Israel would devour them like an ox devours the grass of the field.  Rather than addressing this by seeking a treaty, he resorted to unconventional warfare.  He had heard of the seer in Babylon (about 400 miles away) and sought to secure his services.  Balaam must have had quite a reputation. 

King Balak sent the elders of Moab for him and had given them the fees of divination for Balaam, the necessary words of flattery, “I know that whomever you bless is blessed, and whomever you curse is cursed”, and the terms of the contract, “Come now, curse this people for me”.  The seer of Pethor, seeing their money, was glad to receive them and invited them to spend the night.  He would ask the Lord of Israel if there was a word for him.

There was indeed – “Don’t do it!” More specifically, God said, “You shall not go with them: you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” 

Balaam told the elders that the Lord had refused to let him go with them.  They reported to King Balak simply, “Balaam won’t come.”  This is where we discover the first blindfold in this story that I have called “Pin the Tale on the Donkey”.  It is the blindfold that causes some people to believe that they can buy anything with money and power.  Balak sent more people with more power (princes), and a blank check (name his price).  Balaam realized that God was more powerful than these guys and told them that not even if the king were to give his house filled with silver and gold, could he go against the command of God.  Even so, if they wanted to spend the night, he would talk with God about it.  God saw this as an opportunity to teach the king who was blindfolded by his misperceptions of power and possessions, an important lesson.  He told Balaam to go, but God said, “Do only what I tell you to do.”

Now the tale takes an interesting turn.  Something happened on the way to Moab that really ticked God off.  We are not exactly sure what it was, the scriptures don’t say, but it was something.  It could have been that Balaam started thinking about the blank check and the type of numbers he could put in there. It could be that he was trying to think of way to manipulate this God of the Israelites, who was to Balaam, just another god, though he was confident that even “just another god” was more than a match for him.  It could have been the blindfold of his own reputation and sense of importance.  We are not sure what it was, but it was something.  We find this part of the story in Numbers 22:22-35.  Hear now the Word of the Lord:

²²God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back onto the road. ²⁴Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. ²⁵When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. ²⁶Then the angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. ²⁷When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. ²⁸Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” ²⁹Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!” ³⁰But the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way?” And he said, “No.” ³¹Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face. ³²The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me. ³³The donkey saw me, and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let it live.” ³⁴Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now therefore, if it is displeasing to you, I will return home.” ³⁵The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but speak only what I tell you to speak.” So Balaam went on with the officials of Balak.

This is the word of God for the people of God.  In this passage the author of Numbers reminded his readers to rely on the Lord.  

Now you understand why I thought of the game, “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” and why I changed the spelling of the word, “Tale”.  This is quite a story where the donkey sees more than the seer, and the donkey speaks more eloquently than the man hired to do some powerful speaking.  As I mentioned earlier, no one is quite sure what Balaam did to kindle God’s wrath, but most commentators agree that this episode should have removed any doubt from Balaam’s mind that he had best be faithful in the execution of his office to, as God put it, “Do only what I tell you to do” and “Speak only what I tell you to speak.”

Let me quickly tell you what happened next.  Balak welcomed Balaam, stressing his power as the king to do a lot for Balaam.  Balaam warned him that he did not have the power or freedom to say just anything.  In preparation for the big event Balak made a huge sacrifice of oxen and sheep the night before the first attempt to curse Israel.  Perhaps this was an attempt to buy God even as he had tried to buy a curse from Balaam. 

Balak took Balaam to a mountain overlook named, Bamoth-Baal, where the seer could see some of the Israelites camped near them.  There was another offering and Balaam did receive a word from God.  He told Balak, “How can I curse whom God has not cursed?  This is a great people, chosen by God.  They are going to die the death of the upright in possession of the love and grace of God.  I wish that I was that fortunate!” 

Balak said, “What kind of curse is that?  You just blessed them.  Come over here maybe you can see them better.”  So he took him to Mount Pisgah, a better vantage point, built altars, made sacrifices, and waited for Balaam to curse them.

Balaam came back and said, “I have received a command to bless them, because they are blessed.  The Lord is with them.  They are rising up like a lion!”

Balak was exasperated.  He said, “What are you doing?  If you can’t say anything bad about someone, don’t say anything at all.  If you won’t curse them, at least don’t bless them!”  Then he took him to Mount Peor a little north and a little higher so that Balaam could see the whole valley.  He said, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” This reminds me of my favorite definition of insanity, “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  He went up to an overlook from where they could see the Israelites just like the previous times, built seven altars just like the previous times, offered seven bulls and seven rams just like the previous times, and guess what happened?

Balaam actually was overwhelmed by the Spirit of God and saw Israel through the eyes of God.  He was amazed at how fair they looked to God, how exalted their fledging kingdom appeared to the Almighty.  He exclaimed, “Blessed is everyone who blesses you and cursed is everyone who curses you.”

Balak had heard enough.  He was so mad that he clapped his hands together in a rage, looked at Balaam square in the eye, and said, “You’re fired!  Go home!  No pay for you!” 

This is not a wise thing to do to someone with a reputation for seeing things that others cannot see.  Balaam’s blindfold was completely removed and he could see all the way to Christmas and beyond.  Listen to what he said, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near – a star shall come out of Jacob.”  There from the mountains of Moab he could see all the way to Bethlehem, where wise men, from Balaam’s birthplace would come in search of the King of the Jews, guided by a star.  Beyond that he could see a triumphant people persevering beyond all the kingdoms of the world.

Keil and Delitzsch wrote of these blessings, “The announcement was intended for Israel – a pledge … for all time … to fill them with strength and courage that in all their conflicts with the powers of the world, they should rely upon the Lord their God with the firmest confidence of faith, should strive with unswerving fidelity.”

This chapter ends with Balaam going one way, Balak going another way, and the Israelites looking to the Promised Land.

I wish I could tell you that this is the end of the story for Balaam, but it isn’t.  He wound up affiliating with the allies of the Moabites, the Midianites.  He shared with them that the way to defeat the Israelites was not by calling upon God to curse them, but convincing them to curse God by engaging in idolatry.  He blindfolded the Israelites at the threshold of the Promised Land, spun them around several times, and then watched them stumble into sin.  The Israelites paid dearly for their errors, delaying their entry to the Promised Land and costing many lives.  Balaam ended up being executed for his part in the deception.  One commentator wrote, “He was overcome immediately afterwards by the might of the sin of his unbroken heart.”

If only he could have seen as clearly as his donkey did and maintained that clarity of vision.  The message is clear – “in all conflicts with the powers of the world, rely upon the Lord your God with the firmest confidence of faith, with unswerving fidelity”.  Don’t rely on powers and possessions as King Balak did. Don’t rely upon your reputation as Balaam did.  Don’t even rely on your position as God’s child, thinking that you can do whatever you want and nothing’s going to happen to you, as the ancient Israelites did.  These are all blindfolds that disorient.  Trust me when I tell you that this will never work, church.  This will never work!  Rely on the Lord your God – personally.  Do this and you will have discovered buried treasure in the child’s game of Pin the Tale on the Donkey.  Amen.