Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap.

Yesterday, Baylam and his donkey arrived on their journey to meet with Balak, King of Moab.

It was an ancient belief in the Canaanite culture that you could speak things into existence.

So Balak hired Baylam to curse the Israelites because he was afraid they would defeat him

and take the land of Moab. But at their first stop, God gives Baylam a word to speak about Israel

and much to Balak's dismay, it's a blessing. In 239, Baylam references Israel set a

partners, calling them a people dwelling alone and not counting itself among the nations.

Balak doesn't like the sound of this, so he says, let's take a look at them from a different angle.

Maybe you'll see something worth cursing then. But the same thing happens,

Baylam can only pronounce blessing. In 2320, he says his words don't have power to undo what God

has done. Our words may have an impact, but they can't overrule the plan of God. Nothing is

way bigger than his will. And not only does Baylam know that now, but in 241, we also see that

through this experience, he abandons the sorcery he has relied on and learns to seek God's face instead.

But it's only temporary. But for now, the spirit of God was empowering his words, not evil spirits.

But Balak is still not satisfied, of course, and he's like, third time's a charm? Let's go to

this again, but how about this time you don't say anything good or bad? He's really grasping

its draws here. But again, Baylam has nothing but good words, and in fact, words that are terrifying

to Balak, because they go against everything he was hoping to hear. He says, he shall eat up the

nations, his adversaries, and break their bones in pieces. Yikes. But Baylam reminds him that he can

only say what God tells him to say. And in fact, his third blessing closes with the words spoken

to Abraham by God roughly 700 years earlier. Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those

who curse you, which ultimately means God is pronouncing a curse on Balak himself as well.

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