Numbers 22:1-13; Spiritual Warfare and Divine Blessing ~ 20260614 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

2026.06.14 Numbers 22:1-13; Spiritual Warfare and Divine Blessing Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20260614_numbers-22_1-13.mp3

God has brought his people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, to Mount Sinai, where he entered into a covenant relationship with them, extended forgiveness to them even when they broke his covenant, led them through the wilderness to his promised land. They rebelled and preferred the familiarity of slavery to the adventures of obedience, and God granted their request; that generation would die in the wilderness, but their children would enter in. Miriam died. Aaron died. Moses would die. Brother Edom (Esau) refused them passage so they took the long detour by way of the Red Sea around Edom. They kept east of Moab, crossed the Arnon into Amorite territory, a people who had taken the land from Moab. Israel defeated Sihon, king of the Amorites and possessed his land to the border of Ammon. Israel defeated Og, the giant-king of Bashan, and possessed all the land from the border of Moab to Mount Hermon in the North.

An Unknown Threat; Balak King of Moab

Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to them, another story was unfolding with Balak king of Moab and the elders of Midian as recorded in Numbers 22-24. An alliance is formed to undermine the strength of Israel and render them vulnerable to attack. A different kind of enemy, a hidden enemy conspires to destroy God’s people.

Anxious for Nothing

Numbers 22:1 Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. 2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. 4 And Moab said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” ...

We were told in Numbers 21:26 that “Sihon the king of the Amorites, ...had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.” Now Israel has defeated the one who previously defeated Moab, and Moab is afraid.

These verses describe Moab as ‘in great dread of the people, overcome with fear of the people’. YHWH’s words about Israel’s defeat of Sihon are coming true:

Deuteronomy 2:25 This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

When the bully that beat you up gets beat up, you could draw one of two conclusions; you have a rescuer, or you have a bigger bully to be afraid of. Moab chose the latter. On one level, their fears were accurate and well founded; Israel’s God was fighting for them, and no one can stand against YHWH. But on another level they hand nothing at all to fear. YHWH had said to Moses:

Deuteronomy 2:9 And the LORD said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession.’

The Moabites were motivated by fear; but their anxiety was entirely unfounded; YHWH had been forbidden Israel to attack Moab. Here’s the thing; it is unlikely that Moab would have know of this word of the Lord to Moses. They simply looked at the recent events and the current circumstances, and drew assumptions. They were anxious for nothing, because they didn’t know God’s word. This is what a lack of the word of God results in. What you don’t know can hurt you!

Now I’m sure none of you have ever looked at recent events and circumstances through the lens of your own fears and made assumptions, even made plans and acted accordingly. Balak looked at Israel camped adjacent to them and what Israel had done to the Amorites, and wrongly assumed Israel’s intentions toward them. I’m sure you’ve never assumed the intentions of another person? You know what you get when you assume? We’ll see more of that next week, as we get farther into this story. Fear is the opposite of faith.

Jesus told his followers in Matthew 6:

Matthew 6:25 ​“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 ​Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 ​“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Seek God, seek his righteousness, seek his kingdom, O you of little faith! Get to know him through his word. Know his word.

Philippians 4:6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Waging Spiritual Warfare

The king of Moab assumed Israel’s intentions, responded out of anxiety and fear, and an ignorance of God’s word. And his response betrayed a greater ignorance of God’s word.

Numbers 22:4 ...So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. 6 Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

Balak knows he is no match for Israel; they have defeated the kings who previously defeated Moab. It seems he is aware that there was a supernatural aspect to those victories. The God of Israel was fighting for them. So he engages in a different kind of attack; he endeavors to wage spiritual warfare against Israel. He seeks to hire a man with a powerful spiritual reputation from Mesopotamia near the Euphrates river. Balaam’s name was found on inscriptions discovered in a multi-chamber structure in Deir Alla, Jordan, possibly a temple of some sort. Part of the inscription reads ‘the book of [Ba]laam, [son of Beo]r, a seer of the gods. To him came the gods at night. [And they spoke to] him…’

Balaam has a reputation for blessing and cursing. The king of Moab said ‘I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.’ Now that phrase should get your attention if you know your Bible. In Genesis 12,

Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God is the source of all true blessing. This was God’s promise to Abram, before he left Haran, likely the same area Balaam was from. Lot, father of the Ammonites and Moabites, left Haran with Abram in response to this word from the Lord. This word should have been passed down and known to the Ammonites and Moabites. But the king of Moab is apparently unfamiliar with this, and he attributes the power of blessing and cursing to a pagan diviner.

Joshua 13 describes Balaam as ‘the one who practiced divination’. Deuteronomy 18 warns:

Deuteronomy 18:9 “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. 15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

This kind of spiritual warfare is real, but it is forbidden to God’s people. It is an abomination to him, because he has given us something so much better. He has given us his own infallible word. God spoke through Moses, and Moses points to someone greater, to a prophet like me, a prophet who does not hear in dreams and visions, but knows the Lord, speaks to him face to face. Moses commands us to listen to the coming prophet, the better Mediator, the only begotten Son of God, to Jesus. If we have God’s incarnate Word, access to the throne of grace through the blood of Jesus, his own Holy Spirit living in us, why would we seek any other word?

Who is Your Lord?

Numbers 22:7 So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message. 8 And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. 9 And God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?”

This is interesting. Balaam uses YHWH, the covenant name of God. Does this mean that Balaam is a believer in the true God, or just that someone in his line of work has to know all the names of all the different deities?

God speaks to Balaam. “Who are these men with you?” Why does the omniscient God asks questions? Not because he lacks information. He asks questions to make us think, to teach us, to cause us to search our own hearts. When God shows up in the garden after Adam rebelled, and asks ‘where are you?’ (Gen.3:9). He’s not asking about a location on a map; he’s asking about the condition of his heart. He’s giving him an opportunity to confess, to come clean. It’s not that God doesn’t know who these men are or where they came from or why they are there. He’s pursuing this pagan diviner. Balaam knows something of YHWH, he knows his name, but if he knows anything about this God, he knows he is using methods and taking direction from men that are opposed to God and his people. Will Balaam do things his own way, will he hire himself out for riches to do a job he knows is directly opposed to YHWH God of Israel? Who will he obey? To whom will he bow the knee? Who is your Lord? Will you serve YHWH, or an earthly king, or yourself and your own desires? God is speaking to Balaam, revealing himself to Balaam, inviting him to examine his heart, his motives, his allegiances, who he’s listening to, what he’s doing, where he’s going, and why.

Balaam’s answer is more in the line of giving God a summary of the information, as if he didn’t know already.

Numbers 22:10 And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, 11 ‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” 12 God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” 13 So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”

God’s command is clear. ‘You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people’ and he gives the reason ‘for they are blessed’.

Balaam appears to follow God’s command. ‘Go, for YHWH has refused to let me go with you.’ But what Balaam leaves out is more telling than what he says. He lays the blame on YHWH for forbidding him to go. It is not reluctance on the part of Balaam; he is willing. And he leaves out God’s second command ‘you shall not curse the people’. And he leaves out this foundational truth ‘because they are blessed’.

It would be good if the story ended here (and we’re going to leave off here for this week), but I want us to think about what God says.

God’s Purpose to Bless

You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed. Deuteronomy 7 says:

Deuteronomy 7:6 “...The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

God chose to set his love on them; God is determined to bless them. We’ve been walking with this grumbling and complaining people through the wilderness, as they have rejected God and experienced his discipline. This disobedient people, a whole generation of whom have died in the wilderness, are blessed? ‘The Lord disciplines the one he loves’ (Heb.12:6).

The Israelites have no idea what is happening behind the scenes; they are completely oblivious to the spiritual warfare that is being waged against them. But God sees, God knows, God is standing in their defense. God is not discussing with Balaam their faults, failures and flaws; he simply says ‘they are blessed.’ Why? Because God chose to bless them. And the one God blesses is blessed.

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2026.06.14 Sermon Notes

Numbers 22:1-13 Spiritual Warfare and Divine Blessing

Anxious for nothing; do you view circumstances through your fear or through faith?

Numbers 22:1-4; Deuteronomy 2:9, 25; Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6-7

Waging Spiritual Warfare;

-it is God who bestows true blessing

Numbers 22:4-6; Genesis 12:1-3; 27:29;

-divination is an abomination to YHWH

Deuteronomy 18:9-14

-Jesus is the prophetic Word we must listen to

Deuteronomy 18:15-19

Who is your Lord?

Numbers 22:7-9; Genesis 3:9;

God is determined to bless his people

Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Hebrews 12:6

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org