Weekly Sidra: Balak
Torah Portion: Bamidbar/ Numbers 22:2-25:9
Haftorah: Micah 5:6-6:8

"My people, Remember what Balak king of Moab Plotted against you, and how Balaam son of Beor Responded to him. [Recall your passage] From Shittim to Gilgal–And you will recognize the gracious acts of Adonai." (Micah 6:5)

This week we recall the story of Balak, he was the King of Moab and he wanted to destroy Israel. He hires Balaam to be his hit man and wants him to place a curse on Israel. “Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor in Pethor, which is by the Euphrates, in the land of his kinsfolk, to invite him, saying, "There is a people that came out of Egypt; it hides the earth from view, and it is settled next to me. 6 Come then, put a curse upon this people for me, since they are too numerous for me; perhaps I can thus defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed indeed, and he whom you curse is cursed." (Bamidbar 22: 4-6)

In the end Balaam could not curse Israel. However, we do see later on that Israel prostitutes themselves with the Moabite women. The key here is a simple one. HaShem will continue to bless Israel as long as they are faithful to Him. Once they sinned the blessing of HaShem was removed. What Balak and Balaam tried to do externally was only accomplished when Israel brought sin into the camp.

This principle brings to mind two key thoughts. First, we have the power to remain blessed of HaShem so long as we abide in Him. If we do sin then we must repent and turn back to the commandments of HaShem in order to avoid the curses of the Torah of HaShem.

Secondly, and what I want to focus on is what I call the Balak principle. Balak knew he could not destroy Israel on his own. However, he could destroy Israel if they fell internally.

We have to realize that as believers in Rabbi Maran Yeshua the world will hate us. “"If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.” (Yochanan 15:8) “And everyone will hate you because you are my followers.” (Luke 21:17)

The point here is simple. We have enough enemies in the world. We do not have to hate each other. As the body of Mashiach I see this all too often. One congregation will not partner with the other even though we have a similar goal. Often it is as a result of very menial points of doctrine. For example, they don’t speak in tongues, they drink alcohol, or they do this or they don’t do that.

I am not saying that we all have to join hands and sing Kumbayah. It is OK that we are separate and it is good that there are differences. What is needed is that we support one another in achieving the same goal. We may not agree with each other, but we should love one another. This means avoiding things like evil speech (Lashon Hara) against different parts of the body.

Think of how much stronger we could be or how many blessings we could see if we could only be focussed on our strengths instead of always pointing out our weaknesses. This is not only true between congregations, but also between believers within a congregation. How many times do we point out another’s flaws while avoiding our own? Also, how many times have we coveted someone else’s position or talents without using what HaShem has given to us?

We must stop beating up each other because there are enough people waiting in line to do that. We must try to love each other with the love of Yeshua and support one another in developing our skills and abilities. If we are able to do this then we will continue to receive HaShem’s blessings. We can then have the ability to face our enemies together.