Blessed and defended by an angel Num 22:12

The book of numbers has a collection of lots of stories.  One of them is commonly known as Balaam’s Donkey.   In my classroom, I have retold this story many times.  The kids are amazed or laugh at the talking donkey part.   I use a silly voice for the donkey, it is funny.   Kids books are filled with stories of talking animals, so the full impact of a talking donkey might be missed by them.    Really, my starting point is that I have retold this story many times.  To my  surprise, I heard some new from it today.   That is one of things that is some exciting about the Bible.  You can reread it over and over, still find something new that jumps out and pulls at your heart or makes you think.

Today that word that jumped out was “Blessed.”

But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”

Numbers 22:12

Let me paint the full picture for you, God said (simply) “do not put a curse on those people, they are blessed (to me).   Then he sends a angel with a sword to defend what he called his blessed ones.

Jesus called us blessed.

 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed;blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”                                   John 20:29

I like the idea of that he can come to the aid of his blessed ones, even good as far as sending an angel with a sword to protect his blessed ones.   That group of Israelites, was less than the perfect group.  They were humans that made lots of bad choices, just like myself.   We are all prone to make mistakes.  It is nice to know that God still comes to our aid, even when are undeserving of it.   Sometimes even sending an angel with a sword, to stop something that is coming our way.

For the full story read Numbers  chapters 22-24.

Bible references from NIV:

Biblegatway.com . (n.d.). Retrieved April 09, 2018, from http://www.biblegatway.com/