Balak, king of the Moabites

Num 25:1  And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 

Balak, king of the Moabites, hired Balaam to come into his land and pronounce a curse upon the children of Israel. However, Balaam was unable to curse the one whom God had not cursed (Numbers 23:8). He blessed Israel instead. Balak, angered by the turn of events, sent Balaam out of Moab to his own country (Numbers 24:11).

Though Balaam did not succeed in cursing Israel, but he taught Balak how to cause Israel to sin (Revelations 2:14). It was through the counsel of Balaam that Balak learned the way by which the Israelites might be led into sin and made themselves obnoxious to God. Balaam suggested using the Moabite women as instruments of their seduction (Numbers 31:16). He advised Balak to allow the women of Moab and Midian to camp next to the Israelites and to lure the Hebrew men into fornication and inter-marriages with them. And, one sin led to another. As a result of inter-marrying with the heathen women, the Israelites were led into worshipping their false gods (Numbers 25:2).

Not only was Israel enticed as Balaam suggested they would be, but they willingly gave themselves over to this sin. The record says: “And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor,” (Numbers 25:3a). They were not forced, they willingly joined themselves; they voluntarily went down on their knees and bowed down to Baal as a result of marrying the foreign women.

One of the surest ways to lose one’s faith is to intermarry one who is of different faith. I’m sure they didn’t mean to quit on their faith. But they did! The ESV translates: “So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor.” It was a yoke they put on themselves and suffered the consequence of it. It is for this reason that Paul wrote: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

The passage of 2 Corinthians 6:14 is often applied to a marriage relationship. The closest partnership and relationship one person can have with another is found in marriage. God’s plan of marriage is for a man and a woman to become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). The “one flesh” describes a relationship so intimate that one literally becomes part of the other; two becoming one. Uniting a believer with an unbeliever is essentially uniting opposites, which makes for a very difficult marriage relationship.

When a Christian man decides upon himself to take on an unbelieving woman to be his wife, he is essentially taking a risk. Balaam knew how to turn away a man’s heart from God to Baal. That method is still effective today. I have seen it happen many times to Christians who chose to marry unbelievers. It happened to three members (a brother and two sisters) in my own family. They married one of a different faith and up to today, have not returned to God.

The example of the Israelites when they married unbelievers should awaken us to this undesirable truth: It will wreck your faith. Parents, keep nagging your children when they are in their teens that they must find a Christian spouse. Don’t wait until they are young adults and have found one; it’s too late once they have fallen for each other. Brethren, please find all ways and means to match make your fellow brothers or sisters who are still single.

There is a danger of falling away when a Christian chooses to marry one of different faith. Let us continue to encourage our men and women to marry only a Christian. “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.