Numbers 24:8-9
God brings him out of Egypt;
He has strength like a wild ox;
He shall consume the nations, his enemies;
He shall break their bones
And pierce them with his arrows.
‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’ (NKJV)
Today’s Reading: Numbers 24:1-9 and Matthew 2:13-15
Balaam was a prophet or maybe it’s better to say he was a false prophet. The King of Moab called upon him to curse the Israelites. And Balaam was happy to oblige the king for a price. Balaam was Jewish but was willing to trade Israel for money.
God warned Balaam not to curse the Israelites. One of the best Old Testament stories occurs in Numbers 22 when Balaam’s donkey speaks to Balaam with a very logical train of thought. I find it quite comical that the donkey asks Balaam a rhetorical question and Balaam actually answers it.
So Balaam is trying to curse the Israelites but ends up blessing them multiple times. It seems that God is outwitting him. In our Scripture today, Balaam is blessing Israel because the Holy Spirit had come upon him. At the end of his blessing, Balaam gives a prophecy about Jesus. He says:
“God brings him out of Egypt;
He has strength like a wild ox;
He shall consume the nations, his enemies;
He shall break their bones
And pierce them with his arrows.
‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’” (NKJV)
This seems to be a mixed prophecy about Jesus’ first and second comings. Matthew tells us the story of Jesus fleeing to Egypt and then returning to Nazareth after Herod dies. Matthew says that the words of the prophet are “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matt 2:15) This is another prophecy found in Hosea but it is the same prophecy we read here in Numbers.
We also know this is Jesus because Balaam describes this person as a lion. We read about Jesus as the Lion of Judah in Revelation, “Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals’” (Rev 5:5).
Also in Revelation is a similar scene as Balaam’s prophecy, “Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter’” (Rev 19:15).
So even though Balaam was summoned to curse Israel, he gives us a vision of Jesus coming out of Egypt to claim his throne and also his second coming to consume the nations and his enemies. There are two takeaways for me. One is that Jesus will return regardless of our plans so we need to be ready. The second is that if your donkey talks to you then you better pay attention!
Christ in the Old Testament 
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