BLESSING AND CURSING

America is in a brand new (and foreboding) place. We're creating an oppositional stance toward Israel.

Israel was born as a nation when I was seven months old.  Since then our two nations have locked arms because we share democratic values and common goals.  And what else?  Historically, Americans have held to a Genesis 12:3 understanding that God blesses those who bless Israel and curses those who curse Israel.

In recent years, our grasp of God's sovereignty toward Israel may be fading as anti-Semitism rises. But God and His promises never change.

This Rembrandt (to the right) gives us a glimpse of Balaam's story from Numbers 22/23 which perfectly illustrates the blessing and cursing of Israel.  Remember Balaam?  He's the man who gets set straight by a talking donkey.

Here are the basics:

1.  WHO was Balaam?
Balaam was a soothsayer from a long line of soothsayers who lived close to the Euphrates River.  His name means "destroyer" and his daddy's name meant "to burn away, consume".  Their specialty was "seeing"; they inspected livers from a religious ritual sacrifice and thereby communicated with the gods for favor or predictions about the future.

According to an archaeological find in modern-day Jordan, Balaam was well known.

2.  WHEN did Balaam live?
This diviner lived in 1451, one thousand four hundred and fifty-one years before Christ.

In this same time period, God had just delivered Israel from Egypt, one of the world's greatest empires at the height of their rule.  Now God is bringing His people to the land He promised.  As they come out of the wilderness, their number has swelled to include over two million Israelites.

First they came to the territory of the Amorites and sent a request of the Amorite king for permission to pass through their land on the public highway.  The Amorite king turns Israel down and then proceeds to attack the flank of Israel's line (killing women, children, the sick and the elderly).  God gave His people a complete victory over the Amorites. Now as the Israelites approach Moab, their king (Balak) saw what Israel had done to the Amorites.  And since his country was once defeated by the Amorites, he feels very threatened.  He acts pre-emptively and hires a curse specialist named Balaam, saying "I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed."  Uh, oh.

3.  WHAT happened?
When Balaam stood on the outcropping and looked down at the Israelites camped below, he opened his mouth to curse them...but the Holy Spirit came over him and his words came out as a blessing.  That must have made the vein stand out on King Balak's neck.

The king had dangled a nice fee and Balaam tried his best to curse Israel.  He tried three times, but it was God in control, not Balaam.

When it was over, Balaam had spoken seven "oracles" (blessings) which restated the Genesis 12 promises God gave Abraham about Israel.  God said He would live among them; in the picture you see the tabernacle smack dab in the middle of their tents.  He said He would make them a great nation; it was that great number that scared King Balak, because as Balaam said "Who can count the dust of Jacob?".  God promised land and here they were on the way to the Promised Land.  When they were slaves in Egypt, that promise must have seemed completely unattainable.  God promised to bless the world through the Jews.  Not only did Jews write the Old Testament for us, they've also offered the world many medical and technological advances LINK.

Of course, Israel's best gift was a descendant (Jesus) who gave the world the provision that was lost in Eden.  Numbers 23 records Balaam's reference to Jesus as "a star out of Jacob and a scepter out of Israel".

4.  HOW do we know Balaam was one of the bad guys?
Balaam was pious, saying "my God" and calling on the name of Yahweh.  But the first hint of the man's true colors is when he's on his way to one of his cursings and the donkey sees the angel blocking the way, but Balaam does not.  Here's a guy who works in the spiritual realm, but doesn't seem to be aware of God's spiritual realm.  My BSF notes on Balaam offered several great contrasts:

   a.  Balaam pushed his donkey onward until God's angel intervened.  Balak pushed Balaam to curse Israel, but God repeatedly stopped him.
   b.  God opened the donkey's mouth to speak truth to Balaam.  God opened the prophet's mouth to speak God's true blessing on Israel.
   c.  The donkey's human speech did not make the donkey truly human.  Balaam's prophetic words did not make him a true prophet.
   d.  The donkey was caught between the angel of God with his drawn sword and Balaam's stick.  Balaam was caught between the unchangeable will of God and Balak's urgings.

The next clues about Balaam's heart comes in Numbers 31 (when his counsel caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord), and in Judges (which speaks of Balaam's greed).

Finally, there is a Revelation passage which urges believers not to fall for false prophets like Balaam. After the LORD repeatedly blocked Balaam from cursing Israel, the false prophet still went on to manipulate behind the scenes.  He explained to King Balak how to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so they would commit sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols.  That would have separated them from the Source of their power.

4.  WHERE did the story end?
The book of Joshua says the sons of Israel killed Balaam, the magician.

5.  WHY was this story included in Scripture?
   a.  We need to remember that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" is truly His.  Pious talk may be just talk.
   b.  Balaam's profession was divination and God forbids that; only He holds the future.  As God told Moses in Deuteronomy: "Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the LORD your God has not given you permission to do such things." Do we listen to predictors of the future? Horoscopes?
   c.  The donkey was beaten when he was protecting Balaam.  Are we stopped by obstacles in our path that are put there for our good?  Do we discount unlikely messengers?
   d.  Balaam tried unsuccessfully to manipulate God and take His place for Balaam's personal advantage.  Do you bargain with God?
   e.  God gave voice to a dumb animal, so we remember He can use anyone or anything.

Balaam heard the voice of Yahweh, yet he did not reverence or fear Him.  Instead, Balaam tried to go around God for personal gain.  He was used to manipulating demons, and now he was up against the One True God.  Balaam's judgment came at the tip of a sword.

The Bible is full of stories with the same thread that runs from before the Garden of Eden to Jesus' return.  It's the story of the LORD loving people to Himself.  God loved Balaam, but Balaam loved himself more.  He did not submit himself to God even though he had a front row seat in God's affairs, even hearing the LORD's voice.

In 1451BC there were power grabbers like Balaam and King Balak who tried to curse God's people.  But God protected Israel, the apple of His eye.  That's not based on whether Israel deserves it, but because the LORD made a promise.

America would do well to believe God's promise that He will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse her.

STRIKE ONE, STRIKE TWO

When was the last time you saw God's power?

When the LORD brought His people out of Egypt, He was teaching them to depend on Him.  The Israelites had watched multiple displays of power in the ten plagues, and then they saw Moses raise the symbol of God's power (his staff) to part the Red Sea.

As He was teaching them, the LORD was also teaching us and giving us a picture book for the ages.  These images declared that Yahweh is the one true God.

EXODUS 17 - STRIKE ONE.
The freed Israelites looked ahead to the desert and knew they were thirsty and hungry.  They began to complain...just like we do when the drive-through line isn't moving fast enough.

As the grumbling intensified, Moses cried out to the LORD "What will I do with this people?  A little more and they will stone me!"  God gives Moses a plan (God always has a plan).  Moses was to take the elders and his staff and go to the rock at Horeb.  Then God said:

"I WILL BE STANDING BEFORE YOU THERE ON THE ROCK IN HOREB, AND YOU WILL STRIKE THE ROCK, AND WATER WILL COME OUT OF IT SO THAT THE PEOPLE MAY DRINK.  AND MOSES DID SO IN PLAIN VIEW OF THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL."  Exodus 17:6 

THOUGHTS ABOUT STRIKE ONE:
   1.  God said "I will"...and it came to pass.  God is able and He keeps His word.  He is worthy of our confidence.
   2.  The water that came from that desert rock served an estimated two million people plus their animals.  Psalm 78:15 says "He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas."
   3.  Jesus is often referred to as "the Rock".  "...and all drank the same spiritual drink.  For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ."  1 Corinthians 10:4   He is the Rock that the builders rejected and the Rock of our salvation.
   4.  Notice God's position.  He says He will be on the rock.  The pillar of cloud is specifically marking the place for Moses to discover God's provision.  "He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions.  He brought you water out of hard rock."  Deuteronomy 8:15
   5.  As Moses struck the rock with his staff, Almighty God is there where the staff strikes.  God is picturing the coming Messiah, who will take the strike for us.

NUMBERS 20 - STRIKE TWO
Fast forward 38 years.  The Israelites have wandered in the wilderness and the LORD has proven faithful to provide water and manna for them.

Now a new generation has come to the southern border of the Promised Land and they camp at Kadesh, where there is no water.  Cue the whining.  

"The people contended with Moses, saying 'If only we had died when our brothers died before the LORD!  Why have you brought up the LORD's community into this wilderness so that we and our cattle should die here?' "  This generational sin is not any prettier than mine.  

Moses and Aaron sensed the gravity of the moment and they threw themselves on their faces at the entrance to the tabernacle to plead for the people.  Then the glory of the LORD appeared to the priests and the LORD told Moses to do two things.  He and Aaron were to assemble the community, and Moses was to speak to the rock before their eyes.

Something must have happened in the white spaces between the instructions and the gathering, because Moses seemed to lose it. He railed angrily against the people "Listen, you rebels, must WE bring water out of this rock for you?" And then he raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff.

THOUGHTS ABOUT STRIKE TWO:
   1.  In spite of Moses and Aaron's disrepect, God generously gave water for the community and their beasts to drink.  "In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them." Nehemiah 9:15
   2   Then God turned to rebuke Moses and Aaron by taking away their privilege to go into the Promised Land.  Did Moses just want to hurt someone (with words) more than he wanted to obey God?  I've been there.  When he and Aaron took credit for the provision, were they just thinking God wouldn't notice?  Did they think God would use the same plan He had used before?  It's no matter.  They had not believed God or trusted Him.  They did not respect the LORD's holiness but were pridefully acting as if THEY were the deliverers.
   3.  Strike one on Horeb's rock had been a picture of the crucifixion of Christ. Now they are to speak to the rock at Kadesh, just as we pray (speak) to our Rock today.  Christ was wounded once for the sin of man; striking the rock twice was as if the first was not sufficient.  That picture was no small thing to get wrong.

These two stories of the wilderness rock are a beautiful picture of Christ in the Old Testament, CONCEALED...while Christ is in the New Testament, REVEALED.

Some think Moses was such a great leader and they wonder at God's harshness to keep him from going into the Promised Land.  Moses WAS a great leader, but he had sin issues just as we have sin issues.  It's not hard for me to relate to his issues with anger and frustration.  But God is in the business of restoration and He will continue to use His servant.  Later, Moses put his feet on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus...and he will return in the Tribulation as one of the two witnesses. Then we will all be in the new Jerusalem.

Moses' story reminds us that our God wants us to follow Him and trust Him and believe Him and obey Him...and He doesn't take sin lightly.

Almighty God wants to be the living water that satisfies our souls.  We take in that water as we read His words.

This grumbler gives thanks for the living water of the Word.

THE IRAN DEAL

"Traitor" is a pretty poisonous word for a decorated war veteran...and forty-seven Senators.

Usually traitors don't graduate magna cum laude from Harvard, then from Harvard Law, volunteer for the Army, and then turn down a JAG position in order to serve as an Army Ranger.

And FORTY-SEVEN Senators?  That's half the Senate.  What was IN that letter they signed?

1.  CONTEXT: IS THE LETTER UNPRECEDENTED?
   a.  Nicaragua.  After the Soviet Union came apart, a 1983 KGB memo surfaced that described a meeting between KGB officials and former Democratic Senator John Tunney.  Senator Ted Kennedy had sent Tunney during the Reagan years to encourage the Russians to support their cause in Nicaragua (at the same time President Reagan was trying to help the freedom-fighters pushing back on the Soviet-backed Sandanistas).

Senators John Kerry and Tom Harkin (both Democrats) even WENT to Nicaragua in support of the Communist Sandanistas.  And in 1984, ten Democratic lawmakers - including the then Majority Leader and House Intelligence Committee Chairman - sent a letter to Nicaraguan Communist leader Daniel Ortega.  The letter was known as the "Dear Commandante" letter and in it they criticized Reagan's policy toward Nicaragua and whitewashed the record of violence by the Sandinista Communists.  Secretary of State Kissinger excoriated John Kerry for sending that letter.

   b.  Syria.  In an attempt to push the Bush administration to open direct dialogue with Syria, Nancy Pelosi (D) went to Syria to meet with Bashar al-Assad (the man who has butchered so many of his people). That trip was IN SPITE of President George Bush asking her not to go.

   c.  Kuwait.  Two months after we invaded Kuwait in November, 1990, Jimmy Carter (D) wrote a letter to the heads of state of the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council urging the countries to drop their support for President' Bush's proposed military solution.

   d.  Vietnam.  Perhaps the best example of undermining (both his fellow soldiers and his country) is John Kerry's 1971 letter to Congress and later testimony that his fellow soldiers had committed war crimes.  Soldiers had withstood torture by the Viet Cong for years in order not to say such a thing.

2.  MUCH ADOO ABOUT NOTHING.
The letter told the mullahs and ayatollahs that they might want to know something about our Constitution - that our Congress had to ratify any agreement they signed with us.  Why did the Senators think the Iranians needed to know that?

The executive branch of our government has repeatedly sailed over the legislative branch as the president's pen and phone have been making un-Constitutional moves, while basically telling Congress to take a hike.  

Ironic then, that John Kerry came back with "Oh no.  We're not negotiating anything binding...it's non-binding."  So you're saying Mr. Secretary, that we're in an agreement the Iranians won't keep, but it's not a problem because we won't be bound, either.  What a nutty world.  

Now we're hearing the president may try to take the agreement over to the U.N. and get a global agreement.  Hope he knows that our law trumps anything the U.N. law might propose.

What is up with an administration full of independent operators? 

3.  HALF THE SENATE.
When half the Senate is against an Iranian deal, it might be helpful to know why.

It's more than just because they have their feelings hurt because they're  being sidestepped.  IT'S A BAD DEAL!  When Netanyahu was here, he made the case that "no deal is better than THAT deal".  Why?  What IS the deal?




     *If Iran signs, they get to keep their nuclear structure (reactors and converters that could be restarted and back to producing in a short time) and they promise to be good and not keep building.  Then after ten years, they can have a bomb.
     *If Iran doesn't sign, they keep working on the bomb.

EITHER WAY, THEY GET THE BOMB.  Of course, the kicker is that the IAEA (the nuclear watchdogs) have already said they can't verify whether Iran is cheating NOW, much less later.  So how would we know?

You may be thinking...then why would our president be willing to see Iran get a bomb?  This has NEVER been American foreign policy.  Does his plan hang on the hope that Iran will change their spots and make nice in the days ahead?

The answer may have something to do with the president's worldview.  He sees a moral equivalency of nations (remember he once famously said "America is exceptional as all nations think they are exceptional").  His worldview reasons "why should others have the bomb and not Iran"?  And "who are we" to say they can't have it?  We're no better than anyone else.

Iran has an unsavory track record of cheating and being aggressive; their rhetoric clearly states a  purpose intent on destroying Israel and the West.  If they want to be treated like a peaceful nation, they should act like one.

Israel takes them at their word...and there was a time when America did, too.  When the president presents the issue, it is in his favorite strawman fashion.  He says it's either give them the bomb and hope they won't use it...or the alternative is war.  Nonsense.  The option is what Bibi said:  SANCTIONS.  They worked before and brought Iran to the table.  Now that the price of gasoline has gone down by half, the sanctions would work even better.

Economic strength is the strength that hurts, and strength is what they understand.

STONES CRY OUT

Have you ever seen a KH1 or KH2?  They are artifacts found in 1979 in burial caves just south of Jerusalem's old city, above the Hinnom Valley.  The amulets were named KH1 and KH2.

Why are they important?  The Dead Sea scrolls were dated about two hundred years before Christ and were the oldest artifacts that give witness to the authenticity of Scripture.

However, KH1/KH2 speak to us from Jeremiah's day (600 BCE).  They are the oldest surviving text from the Hebrew Bible and are 2,600 years old.  That makes them 400 years older than the Dead Sea scrolls.

Verses from Numbers 6 are on both these artifacts.  They include the earliest example of God's name "Yahweh"...and verses familiar to us called the Aaronic priestly blessing.  The scrolls say "Yahweh bless you and keep you.  Yahweh make His face shine upon and be gracious to you.  Yahweh lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace."

 Isn't it amazing to know someone from 600BCE wore the silver scrolls (rolled up and hanging by a chain) around their neck, close to their heart?

This is Dr. Gabriel Barkay, the archaeologist whose excavation recovered the silver scrolls.  He began with a very meager budget and used 12 and 13 year olds from a club nearby to help in the dig.  In fact, a boy named "Nathan" was the one who found the burial chamber.

Once inside that, the Lord allowed a Wheaton grad student named Judith Hadley to find something that looked to her like a cigarette butt.  It was purplish in color and about an inch long.  Judith had found KH1.

It took archaeologists three years to figure out how to unroll the amulet without causing it to disintegrate.  They sent it to the Brits, who sent it to the Germans, who sent it back to Israel.  Everyone refused to work on it because they were afraid they would destroy it.

Finally Israel developed a special process which allowed the unrolling and everyone was astonished to realize that both scrolls contained ancient writings that were verses from the Bible.

The writing was dated by the shape of the characters and the context of the other findings in the burial cave which could be dated back to the seventh century.

Here is how Dr. Barkay described what was in the chamber:  "In one chamber more than a thousand objects werre found.  They included 125 objects of silver, 40 iron arrowheads, gold, ivory, glass, bone and 150 semi-precious stones.  There was 60 cm (2 feet) of accumulation filled with objects and skeletal remains.  There was a lot of dust and a lack of oxygen.  It was very hot and we had to change teams every few hours.  Everyone was sworn to secrecy - they weren't allowed to tell parents, spouses, or friends.  If word got around Jerusalem that there was such a treasure, the California gold rush would be nothing compared to what would happen here."

What does this discovery mean to us?  It means God is true and His word is true.  It means we can trust Him because He can stand up to scrutiny.  It means He reveals these little nuggets from archaeology just because He wants us to know Him.

After all, Jesus said if we (His disciples) keep silent, the rocks will cry out.  They have.  And the LORD turned His face toward us to give us light.

If you'd like to watch a five minute  YouTube about the discovery, click HERE...or for a seven-minute video with a bit of historic context, click HERE.

ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS

Who will America shop for in the 2016 presidential market?  Shall we pick a president with thirty years of baggage?

Maureen Dowd says it well in her PIECE in the New York Times,  "With the Clinton's, Only the Shadow Knows".  She asks "If you're aspiring to the second president in the family, why is it so hard to be straight and direct and stand for something?  Why can't you just be upright and steady and good?"

Right on, Ms. Dowd.  Here are three concerns about Ms. Clinton's governance style.  

PAY TO PLAY
Madame Secretary took millions for her foundation from foreign leaders.  The law prohibited such a conflict of interest, but this trail of being enamored with the almighty dollar is littered with renting out the Lincoln bedroom, accepting donations from a meet-and-greet coffee in the White House, removing antiques and dishes on their White House exit, enumerating underwear (from her Arkansas days) while giving a pittance to charity, and famously stating "we were dead broke" (while having two mansions and since then, having made $100 million).

The Haiti thing (left) is the latest pay-to-play.  What a stroke of luck for Tony Rodham, Hillary's brother.

It used to be that people didn't dare do stuff like that because it gave off a whiff of impropriety.  Stinky stuff  only happened in banana republics.

We don't want a president like that, do we?

PANTS(SUIT) ON FIRE
Hillary has said
...she was named after Sir Edmund Hilary altho he climbed five years after her birth
...Benghazi was about a video
...she was fired on at her Bosnia arrival (didn't you-know-who lose his job over such claims?)
...she stood by her man and what was said in all the folders of women were the fault of the vast right-wing conspiracy to slander them
...she learned how to make a killing in the futures market by reading the Wall Street Journal (although the WSJ didn't cover the markets back then)
...the Rose Law Firm records were lost before they showed up on their own

And on and on.  Don't we want a president whose word is good?

WORKING FOR US
Democratic Congressmen defended Ms. Clintom about the Benghazi emails, saying she HAD turned them all over and Republicans were all on a witchhunt.  Their faces must be beet red now as we find out she didn't turn emails over...because we didn't know to ask for emails on a server at her home.

If you set aside the huge security concerns that hacking might imply...if you set aside the contempt for the law...there's still is more. This is a woman determined to be in control.

But those emails belonged to us.  When she went into her job, she agreed to protect the correspondence; when she left the job she agreed that none would be destroyed.  These promises were broken before they were spoken.  It is a felony for a person to knowingly and willfully destroy or conceal government records.  By creating her own server, it was her intention to live above the law.  On her own server, she can delete whatever she likes.  It's not like being a part of a large server where things can be found.

Do we want a president who has a sense they work FOR us and is submitted to our laws?  Or shall we have someone who exhausts us with imperial dodging and semantics?

In short, don't we want someone who CANNOT BE BOUGHT, TELLS THE TRUTH, and who BEARS INSPECTION?

Surely that's not too much to ask.  Surely there's a better candidate.  Why is it so important that we have a woman if the woman isn't a good choice?  Only the shadow knows.