'And Balaam lifted up his
eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes;
and the spirit of God came upon him. - Numbers 24 vs 2
Greetings to you dearly beloved of God in Christ Jesus. I trust God that this piece of revelation is gonna be refreshing to your spirit and educating to the eyes of your understanding in Christ Jesus. Amen. Read attentively. Be lifted!
Now, before we examine our opening Bible passage, it's important that we recall that the deeds and operations of the Old Testament were a reflection / shadow of the grace of God which was to come (The New Testament), which has now come. Glory to God.
{Hebrews 10 vs 1}. Having settled that, don't you think that the Tent of Israel in the wilderness was a reflection / shadow of something? - Selah. Okay, let's now examine our opening scripture:
'And Balaam lifted up his
eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes;
and the spirit of God came upon him.' - Numbers 24 vs 2 {KJV}
Now, I'd like you to know that the word 'tents' as used there in the plural tense is not so rendered in the original Hebrew translation of that verse. In the Hebrew rendering, it is rendered as a singular tense, it is the word O'-hel, and O'hel is a singular tense in the Hebrew language which means 'Tabernacle, a dwelling place'. But in the KJV rendition, it is rendered as a plural tense so that the sentence construction would look sensible and English Language accurate, as Israel speaks of a people (plural). Hence, the 'tent' that follows had to be presented as plural so that the English language construction of that statement would tally. But you see, to get the actual meanings of many Bible portions, you have need to refer to the original languages (Hebrew and Greek). Okay. Let's move.
So by reconstructing that scripture in accordance to the Hebrew rendering, we get:
'and he saw Israel abiding in his tent...'
You see that? It is "his tent" (as of singular) not "his tents" (as of plural). It should be clear now, right? Yea. Okay. Now, as a good Bible student, do well to get back and research these things that I have said if it is so; that way, knowledge drives into you more deeply. - Selah
Okay. What a Prophetic statement! Now, if you're conversant with the story of the event that transpired in that chapter and the previous chapter (the verse 23), you'd know that a certain king called Balak hired Balaam who was a prophet, to curse the people of God (Israel). Now our opening scripture was when Balaam the prophet lifted up his eyes towards Israel to curse them, and lo, the first thing he beheld was the Tent. - Selah. Uhmmm! What could this mean? We'll see it. Now, when he saw the Tent, the Bible records that the Spirit of God came upon him, and he began to prophesy concerning Israel. See one remarkable word of his prophecies concerning Israel:
'How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!' - Numbers 24 vs 5 {KJV}
Waow!!! The prophet not only beheld the Tent that was in their midst, he also went ahead to praise the Tent. He testified to the goodness and graciousness of the Tent. This tells to us that the Tent symbolized the goodness of God, the grace of God which should come upon the people of God, in that they will enjoy Divine security and refuge, not because of their own righteousness, but because of His righteousness; because of His goodness; because of His graciousness. Remember, Israel were in disobedience at this time. - Selah
Now, that Tent speaks of Jesus. Remember, the prophet began to prophesy concerning the Tent immediately he beheld the Tent. This is in concord with the word of the Angel to John the Apostle in the book of Revelation 19 vs 10:
'And I fell at his feet to
worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy
fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus:
worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.' - {KJV}
You see, this reveals to us that every time prophecy came forth in the Old Testament, it came to reveal Jesus the Christ. In other words, the reason for prophecy is for to make known the Testimony of Jesus. Okay. So having this in mind, we can agree that the prophecy of this prophet Balaam was obviously a revelation of Christ. That means, we will not take literally his emphasis on the Tent, but rather we will look into it to see what he actually talked about. - Selah
The revelation of the Tent is JESUS. The Tent which he saw in Israel's camp was a reflection of "Christ our righteousness". Though Israel were in sin and disobedience, for which reason the king Balak thought they would be cursed indeed, yet could the prophet not curse them because of the Tent. The Tent which is a reflection of Christ, speaks of the Blessing of God, it speaks of the Righteousness of God.
'And Balak's anger was
kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said
unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast
altogether blessed them these three times.' - Numbers 24 vs 10 {KJV}
You see, Balaam could not curse Israel. Rather, he blessed them - and now Balaam is prophesying of Israel's defense. What's the reason why they couldn't be cursed? He says, The Tent. Waow!!! So the Tent was their refuge; not the physical tents which they had, but the spiritual, Christ. - Selah
Now, why did Balaam bless Israel? Let's see Ephesians 1 vs 3:
'Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ...' - {KJV}
You see, in Christ Jesus (The Tent) we obtained a blessing (all blessings). So Balaam's deed of blessing Israel was in conformity to the Spirit of Grace; he blessed Israel having beheld the Tent, prophesying ahead of time that all those who will be in the Tent (Christ) will receive a Blessing, and that's what Ephesians 1 vs 3 which we've just read speaks of. - Selah
So you see, every thing that Balaam did in that place was prophetic and were no mere ordinary happenings at all.
Waow!!! Christ is that Tent. Hallelujah! The Tent speaks of a dwelling place. Remember 2 Corinthians 5 vs 17, "...if any man be in Christ..."! Christ being our Righteousness, our Sanctification, our Redemption, makes it impossible for the Believer to be accused of sin. Hence, he does not come up for judgment, condemnation, neither curses, nor disaster. - Selah. This Grace was what that Tent in Israel's camp was reflecting, this was what that Tent in the camp symbolized, and this also was what the prophet Balaam spoke of. - Think about it
'And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.' - Luke 24 vs 27 {KJV}
- He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself
Meaning, in the scriptures (Genesis to Malachi) we will find activities that points to the Christ, activities that reveals the Christ. And we have seen how that the tent in Israel's camp was a revelation of the Christ, Jesus the Son of God. Hallelujah! Glory to God forevermore. Amen.
God has blessed you.
- Jenning U. Angel
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