The Bright Star of Bethlehem
Lanse Evangelical Free Church
December 15, 2024 :: Numbers 24:17
If I were tell you that, today, we’re going to read a story in the Bible about a star, a donkey, a pagan magi-ician from the East, the Angel of the Lord appearing, a king in Israel, and the pronouncement of an ancient prophecy, where in the Bible would you expect us to be?
One of the Gospels, right?
If you were taking John’s class on “Where Are You in the Bible,” you might expect to be in the Gospel of Luke chapter two or the Gospel of Matthew chapter 2.
And we’ll get there. Lord-willing, next week. But today, we’re going to go way back in our Bibles to the Book of Numbers chapter 24.
This story takes place nearly 1,500 years before the story we read last week in the Gospel of John! This story takes place almost 3,500 years ago!!
Historically, this time of year for the last decade or so, we like to dig back into our Old Testament and see how it anticipated the coming of the Messiah. Last year, we were in Deuteronomy, for example. But this week, we’re going even further back to Numbers. I’ve been threatening to preach this particular passage for many years, and it seemed like this was finally the year. Our Prayer Meeting group is studying the Book of Numbers right now. We’ve made it up to chapter 7, and you’re welcome to join us for chapter 8 this coming Wednesday. We’d love to have you.
This passage in Numbers has the first reference in the whole Bible to a single star. The stars have been mentioned already, all of them. They were created and Abraham was told that he’s going to have as many offspring as the stars, but this is the first time that one single star is singled out.
It’s in the fourth oracle of the pagan prophet Balaam. Let me just read one verse to you, and then we’ll try to understand who and where it comes from and what it means. It’s chapter 24, verse 17.
Balaam says, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth.”
Okay. Exciting and mysterious, right?
The first thing we need to understand is who is the “I” in verse 17. Who is this guy named “Balaam?” And how does he come to be talking about this star?
Well, it’s long and crazy story. If you want to get the whole thing, you’ll have to come and join us for prayer meeting or read it all on your own, maybe this afternoon before caroling, under a blanket while you watch the snow fall outside your window. [I taught through it previously in 2007: "Balaam and the Blessing of Israel" Part One and Part Two.]
The story starts with a king named Balak. Balak is the king of Moab, and he hates and is terrified of the nation of Israel. Israel has been rescued from Egypt by the LORD (that’s the previous book of Exodus) and has been mustered to march into the Promised Land. And they have marched through the desert and, on the way, have defeated Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan. And Balak is worried that he and Moab are next on Israel’s conquer list.
Israel is camped across the Jordan from Jericho in the Promised Land on “the plains of Moab,” and Balak of king of Moab is shaking in his boots. So, Balak decides to hire a pagan prophet from Mesopotamia to put a curse on Israel.
I know that’s weird. We don’t tend to do that sort of thing today (though we’re all looking for “an edge,”) but they did. Balak was worried that his army couldn’t defeat Israel on it’s own, so he needed a secret weapon. He need magic. He needed power. And this guy named “Balaam” was famous for being powerful. Balaam appears in historical texts outside of the Bible, as well. He was a famous diviner. And he lived 400 miles away in the East. So Balak sends guys with money to go hire this guy to curse Israel.
How do you think that’s going to go?
Well, it’s a crazy story! In fact, it’s very funny. It’s totally a comedy. These two guys, Balak and Balaam, are ridiculous. They are trying so hard to curse Israel, and they are just thwarted at every turn. It’s like the bumbling criminals trying to break into the house in “Home Alone.”
Balak hates Israel, and Balaam loves money. So Balak tries to hire Balaam, and Balaam wants to earn the money. But he knows something about the LORD, Yahweh, the God of Israel. He knows that he can’t curse Israel without the LORD’s authorization. And the LORD says to Balaam, “No. You can’t curse Israel. I have blessed them (read Genesis 12, buddy!).”
So, the first time, he sends Balak’s guys back to him. The answer is “no can do.”
But Balak thinks it’s just a negotiating tactic, and Balaam just wants more money. So he sends them back with more money. And Balaam does want the more money, so he tells them that he is going to come. And the LORD does tell him that he can go, but also that he can only say what the LORD tells him to say. All this is in chapter 22 if you want to study it.
Balaam gets on his donkey and rides towards Israel with, apparently now, the intent to curse them. And the LORD sends His angel to stand in the way.
I wonder if it’s the same angel that says to the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:10-11).
I don’t know. And Balaam doesn’t know either. He can’t even see the angel! Only his donkey can! Do you know this story?
Donkeys are not known for being really smart, right? Well, Balaam is dumber than his donkey. The donkey stops because he can see the angel of the LORD. He’s blocking the way! And Balaam starts beating his poor donkey, trying to get him to keep going.
And, here’s a miracle, the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she speaks to Balaam! She says, “What have I done to deserve this?”
And Balaam doesn’t blink. He just talks back to the donkey! Like they always have these conversations. “You’ve made a fool of me [Donkey!]. If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you” (23:29).
And then the LORD opened this pagan prophet’s eyes, to see that there was a sword there, it was in the angel’s hand. The donkey had saved Balaam life! And Balaam is humbled. He offers to go back, but the LORD says, “Go ahead. But you can only say what I tell you to.”
Crazy story, isn’t it?
Well, in chapter 23, Balak and Balaam do all of these sacrifices to get things ready for Balaam to curse Israel. Like three times in three different locations. Different vantage points to try to get the magical upper hand over Israel. And all the time, Balaam can only say what the LORD puts in his mouth. Which is blessing. Balak is paying for cursing. But Balaam can only do blessing.
It’s so funny! The LORD’s having fun with these guys!
One time, Balaam starts to speak, and he says, “How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced? From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end by like theirs!” (23:8-10).
Isn’t that beautiful?! He learned that from a donkey!
And it sure drove Balak mad! Balak drags him to all of these different places to curse Israel, and everything that comes out of Balaam’s mouth is blessing. One last time, Balak takes Balaam up to a place called “Peor” which apparently you can see over this vast wasteland and probably a major portion of the people of Israel camped on the plains of Moab.
Balak just doesn’t know when to stop! But Balaam does. Look at the beginning of chapter 24, because this is the context of his prophecy of the star. Verse 1.
“Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as at other times, but turned his face toward the desert. When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him and he uttered his oracle: "The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly, the oracle of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
‘How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel! ‘Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the LORD, like cedars beside the waters. Water will flow from their buckets; their seed will have abundant water. ‘Their king will be greater than Agag; their kingdom will be exalted.
‘God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. They devour hostile nations and break their bones in pieces; with their arrows they pierce them. Like a lion they crouch and lie down, like a lioness–who dares to rouse them?
‘May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed!’
Then Balak's anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, ‘I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the LORD has kept you from being rewarded.’
Balaam answered Balak, ‘Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, 'Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD–and I must say only what the LORD says'? Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.’
Then he uttered his oracle [the key one for our purposes today]: ‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly, the oracle of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
‘I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth. Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.’” (Numbers 24:1-19).
So, that’s who Balaam is.
What or Who is this star?
Is it a star like up in the heavens or is it a person, a man? I think maybe the answer to that is, “Yes.”
It’s clearly a person. Verse 17 says, “He,” and verse 19 says, “A ruler.”
A “star” in the Ancient Near East could be a way of talking about a king, especially one who is seen to be special in some way, divine, a gift from the gods or a god himself. He is a “star.”
We use that word for special people, too, don’t we? Celebrities. The top people in any society are “the stars.” We have “Dancing with the Stars!”
In the parallelism of verse 17, He is not just a “star;” he is “a scepter.” “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” Same person. Star and ruler.
And Balaam could see him! The Spirit of God had come upon this pagan prophet and given him insight into the future (24:2). And in the future, according to Balaam, was a Star.
I’ve got four points this morning about verse 17, and they are all very simple and very important for our lives today. Here’s number one.
#1. THE STAR WILL COME.
Balaam can see it.
It’s very hazy to him. In my mind, he’s kind of like squinting. Looking down the corridors of time. “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.”
“He’s not here yet. We’re not even close. But he’s coming. This star, this scepter is going to come out of Jacob. He’s going to be a king from and over Israel. I can see him. I can’t quite make out his face or tell you his name, but he is special.”
Who do you think he is?
I think his name is...David. I think Balaam was looking about three or four hundred years down the timeline and predicting the coming of King David. You see what he says about him in verses 17, 18, and 19?
“He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth. Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Check out 2 Samuel 8 and 1 Kings 11 and 1 Chronicles 18 to read how David defeated Moab and Edom and Seir.
Balaam could see King David conquering. The star will come.
But most of you didn’t say, “David” when I asked. Because you think of someone else when you read verse 17, don’t you? You think about the Messiah. You think about the Christ. And while David was A messiah (an anointed one), he wasn’t THE Messiah, was he? No, he was not.
And, interestingly, many of the Jews didn’t think David was the fullest fulfilment of verse 17, either. They could see how he started filling up this verse, but they expected someone more as well. The Dead Sea Scrolls indicate that many of the Jews in the Old Testament period interpreted verse 17 as a prophecy of the Messiah. “Around 100 B.C., the Hasmonean king Alexander Janneus had the star imprinted upon some of the royal coins, thereby implicating him as the conquering star of Numbers 24:17” (R. Dennis Cole, NAC Commentary in Numbers, pg. 426).
Even some Jews long after Jesus (133 AD) called one of their leaders Simon Bar Kokhba “Son of the Star” thinking that he was their messiah!
Balaam may have seen much further down the time line. “I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near.” Maybe 1,500 years?
Maybe Balaam was seeing Jesus? [See this helpful summary of Christian perspectives on this.] When he was saying, “out of Jacob” and “out of Israel,” maybe Balaam was sensing the genealogies of Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3?
Balaam might have actually been seeing the first Christmas. I wouldn’t put it past God to do something like that.
Old Testament prophecy is a funny thing, isn’t it?
Remember what Peter said about it in his first letter? He wrote, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things” (1 Pet. 1:10-12).
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob...”
What difference does that make for us today? Well, for one thing, it reminds us to be patient. God has promised a lot of things, but He didn’t promise that they would all come quickly.
Which promises of God are you waiting on these days? They will come true! God always keeps His promises. You can see that here. Even his promises that come through a pagan magician who did not even belong to the LORD! How much more will God keep His precious promises to His people? But not necessarily right away. Not on our time table. The theology of Advent tells us to wait and wait patiently.
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.” We have to wait. But we’re waiting for Him to win.
#2. THE STAR WILL WIN.
When this Star comes, He’s going to start beating heads in. Look again at verse 17.
“A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth.”
He is not a loser. He is a winner. And He defeats all of the enemies around Him.
This is not glorying in the violence; it’s glorying in the victory.
For David, that meant beating the Philistines and all of the surrounding nations so that there was, for a time, peace in his kingdom. But, of course, those enemies aren’t the worst enemies that God’s people will face, and I think that verse 17 hints, at least, that this Star will defeat ALL of God’s enemies once and for all.
“The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head” (Psalm 110:1-7).
And what a day that will be?! Every one of His enemies will be crushed?! Every one of His people’s enemies will be defeated forever.
Do you have enemies? You sure do. The world, the flesh, and the devil. The external, the internal, and the infernal enemies.
Let me tell you something, one day the Star will defeat all of those enemies forever and ever.
He started it at the Cross. Right? He defeated His enemies there in a way that we would never have imagined. He defeated them by dying. Not just by His strength but by His weakness. And in rising again, He overcame the world. And that gives us hope, and that gives us peace.
Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (Jn. 16:33).
The Star has won! And the Star will win. Good news! I’ve read the end of this book, and Jesus wins!
Don’t be scared. Don’t live in fear. What are you facing right now? Is it scary? I believe it is. But Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus has won, is winning, and will win forever. And if we are His people, we are winning forever, too.
That’s the whole point of this whole section of the book of Numbers. God’s people cannot ultimately lose. They cannot ultimately be cursed. They can only be blessed in the long run. No matter what powerful weapons our enemies throw at us. Even death.
The question is not if the Star will win for God’s people, but are you and I part of God’s people?
Balaam was not. At one point, he actually wished he was. But he loved money too much. When you read about Balaam in the rest of the Bible, it’s not what an amazing prophet he was, but how the love of money was his downfall and how he led others into sin.
Balaam was blessed to see the Star, but he never put his faith and trust in the Star. He never repented and came to be one of the people of the Star.
Don’t be like Balaam! Repent and believe in Jesus. Come into His kingdom and be One of His citizens. Jesus died and rose again so that we could stop being His enemies and become His friends, even become His very people. The Star will win, and all of His people will enjoy His light forever.
But if you and I are not His people, ours will be among the skulls that are crushed.
As I was writing this message, my head and heart kept filling up with the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah.
“Hallelujah! The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever! Hallelujah!”
#3. THE STAR WILL REIGN.
He’s not just going to win. He’s going to reign. Look at again at what verse 17 says: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”
He’s not just star; He’s a scepter. He’s a ruler. He is royal! He’s a king, with a kingdom. And it’s the kingdom that Balaam hasn’t been able to stop predicting for three whole chapters! That beautiful picture of Israel safe, and happy, and blessed.
Like verse 5. “How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel! Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the LORD, like cedars beside the waters. Water will flow from their buckets; their seed will have abundant water. Their king will be greater than Agag; their kingdom will be exalted” (vv.5-7).
And that’s just for starters. Think about all of what Jesus has promised that His kingdom will be like! The blessing of David’s kingdom was just foretaste. In the Kingdom of the Star and Scepter, there will be no evil.
There will be no darkness.
There will be only light!
Everything will be set right again.
Everything will be the way it should be. Should have been.
Everything broken will be fixed.
The curse will be reversed.
“No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found!” (“Joy to the World” by Isaac Watts)
It is possible that Balaam was actually seeing 3,500 years down the timeline or even further? When the kingdom comes?! And that gives us all of the hope in the world, and all of the joy.
#4. THE STAR WILL SHINE.
Jesus came and said that He is “The Light of the World.” We memorized that this year in John 8:12, and it’s our theme for Advent, too. And it’s true! He shines in all of His bright glory and He deserves all of our praise.
Yes, I think this Star is a Person.
But might it be a star-star, as well?
Maybe so. There is evidence that the Magi, those mysterious people, like Balaam, from the East, read Numbers 24:17 when they saw that other mysterious star appear in the heavens.
It makes sense that if Jesus is a Star that a star might mark His arrival. So, next week, we’ll think some more about that in Matthew chapter 2 with the Bright Star of Bethlehem.
But right now, we must sing because this truth is too good to just nod our heads and silently agree. We must lift up our voices to sing with patient hope, and abiding peace, and unending joy that the Star has come, has won, will reign and shine forever!
***
Previous “Messianic Messages” in this series:
2016 “A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse” - Isaiah 11:1-16 [Plus see the follow-up on "The Root of Jesse!"]
