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HALLOWING GOD'S NAME: BALAAM AND
BEYOND |
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by
Doug Ward |
As disciples of Jesus we regularly pray, "Hallowed be
your name" (Matt 6:11; Luke 11:2). These words express a desire for God's uniqueness
and preeminence to be universally recognized and acknowledged.1
The
events of the Exodus caused God's name to be hallowed or sanctified in the eyes
of many. In delivering the Israelites from Egypt God used a series of mighty
wonders, one purpose of which was to demonstrate his greatness and power to
both Israel and Egypt (Exod 7:5; 10:1-2). Pharaoh's
magicians were forced to admit that the Exodus plagues were of divine origin (Exod 8:19). Surrounding nations also took notice, as
evidenced by the reaction of Jethro the Midianite. Jethro declared to his
son-in-law Moses, "Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the
hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the
people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is
greater than all gods ... "(Exod 18:10-11).
The
Exodus was still widely remembered forty years later. God's reputation was
further enhanced when Israel soundly defeated the attacking armies of kings Sihon and Og
(Num 21). Notice the testimony of Rahab of Jericho,
another instance of the hallowing of God's name. Rahab
told two Israelite spies, "For we have heard how the Lord dried up the
water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to
the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to
destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no
spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the
heavens above and on the earth beneath" (Joshua 2:11).
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The
Example of Balaam |
Not everyone chose, like Jethro and Rahab, to acknowledge God's sovereignty. King Balak of Moab hoped to prevail over Israel by enlisting the
aid of the renowned Balaam son of Beor (Num 22:1-6).
Balaam "practiced divination" (Joshua 13:22), which means that he
tried to discern the will of the gods by reading various omens. Balak believed that Balaam might also be able to influence
the will of the gods. His plan was to hire Balaam to curse Israel.
The
extent of Balaam's fame as a diviner is suggested by the fact that he lived in
faraway Mesopotamia (Deut 23:4), a journey of over four hundred miles from
Moab.2 There is also archaeological
evidence of Balaam's status. In March 1967 a Dutch archaeological team at Deir Alla in Jordan found
fragments of an inscription about Balaam that had originally appeared on a
plastered wall. This inscription calls Balaam a "seer of the gods"
and describes a troubling vision that came to Balaam one night. The
inscription, which is written in a northwest Semitic language, is believed to
date from the eighth century B.C., several centuries after the events recorded
in the book of Numbers.3 It seems,
then, that Balaam was still remembered hundreds of years after his death.
Despite
his reputation as an expert on the supernatural, Balaam's powers were severely
limited. God brought this fact home to Balaam during the diviner's journey to
Moab. When a sword-wielding angel blocked his path, Balaam was oblivious to the
presence of the angel. His donkey possessed greater spiritual awareness than he
did (Num 22:22-35).
Balaam
apparently desired to curse Israel, but he was powerless to oppose the will of
God (Deut 23:4-5; Joshua 24:9-10). To the chagrin of King Balak,
Balaam pronounced blessings on the descendants of Jacob. God's name was
hallowed through the words of the ancient world's most famous diviner.
"God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of
man, that he should change his mind," Balaam proclaimed. "Has he
said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill
it?" (Num 23:19)
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Vanquishing
Every Enemy |
The Bible teaches that all those who oppose God ultimately will be
defeated, as were Balak and the Pharaoh of the
Exodus. In Ezekiel's prophecy against Gog and Magog,
nations that represent the enemies of God and his people, God tells Gog,
"With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I
will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him
torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur" (Ezek 38:22). The
imagery in this verse (pestilence, hailstones, fire) calls to mind the mighty
works of the Exodus. As in the Exodus, God's name will continue to be hallowed.
"So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the
eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord"(v. 23).
In
Balaam's fourth and final oracle, he looked into the future: "I see him,
but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a
scepter shall rise out of Israel;... " (Num 24:17). According to both Jewish and Christian
tradition, the star and scepter are names for the Messiah in his kingly role.
Balaam saw this star/scepter exercising universal dominion and conquering all
the enemies of Israel (vv. 17-20).
Recognizing
Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, we believe that Jesus will return to reign
forever and ever, causing God's name to be hallowed once again (Rev 11:15-18; I
Cor 15:24-25). Jesus' future reign constitutes an
important part of the fulfillment of Balaam's oracle. More broadly, Jesus
reigns in his church today (Eph 5:23), and in his resurrection, he has defeated
the final enemy-death (I Cor 15:26). The resurrection
of Jesus hallows God's name by demonstrating the uniqueness of God as giver of
life.
In
summary, our prayer that God's name be hallowed has been, is, and will be
answered by the One who was, is, and is to come. We join the angels in praising
God and the Lamb (Rev 4:11; 5:9-14).
1For more discussion of
the meaning of this prayer, see for example "The Jewish Background of the
Lord's Prayer" by Brad H. Young, Gospel Research Foundation Inc., Tulsa,
1984.
2Commentator R. Dennis Cole estimates that the trip to Pethor in Mesopotamia would have taken 22 to 25 days in
each direction. See Numbers, New American Commentary, Volume 3B, Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, 2000, p. 380.
3See
the article "Fragments from the Book of Balaam Found at Deir Alla" by André Lemaire, Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept/Oct 1985.
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