Not Just the Son of My Father

Reading:   Numbers 24:1-9

Balaam, having seen a vision and interacted with an angel of God, turned away from the enchantments he once practiced.  He knew of God's esteem for the Israelites and refused to curse them.  Balaam preached instead of their greatness, much to the chagrin of those wishing the Israelites destroyed, and, because of his defiance of man, received additional visions...

NUMBERS 24:2-5

2 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. 

3 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: 

4 He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: 

5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! 

The most interesting part of these verses is the fact that Balaam does not simply refer to himself as "Balaam the son of Boer" but that he also acknowledges that he is "...the man whose eyes are open."  He refers to himself in this manner several additional times and does so in an effort to glorify not himself but the God who blessed him, opened up his eyes, and allowed him to live and become a voice unto Him.

~Kipling

Mythical Creature Exposed

Reading:   Numbers 23:14-30

You never know what you are going to get when reading my blog...it all depends on what piques my interest, fuels my mind, and makes me yearn to discover and share.  Well, today, despite the splendid council of Balaam to Balak, I was sidetracked be the reference to a "unicorn."

NUMBERS 23:22

22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. 

The footnote for the word states that the creature is a wild ox, not a single horned horse, so I did some further investigation and, true enough, discovered that "unicorn" does indeed refer to a wild ox - sorry all you Charlie fans.  Anyway, I'll let the scholars explain it.  Here is some excerpts from an article, Unicorns, Satyrs, and the Bible, written by Bert Thompson, Ph.D.

On occasion, Bible writers used phrases, terms, and references that were in common use at the time they penned the books of the Bible. For example, both the writer of Job (9:9; 38:31) and the prophet Amos (5:8) referred to heavenly constellations such as Orion and the Pleiades. And, in order to make an important point to the people to whom he was speaking on one occasion, the apostle Paul even quoted from their own poets (Acts 17:28).

However, the Bible never “panders to pagan mythology” by incorrectly referring to non-existent, mythological animals as if they were real, living creatures. It is true that the word “unicorn” appears in the King James Version (nine times: Numbers 23:22; 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9,10; Psalms 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; and Isaiah 34:7). What, exactly, was this unicorn? And why is it found in certain versions of the Bible? The editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica answered the...question when they wrote that the unicorn was...

...a mythological animal resembling a horse or a kid with a single horn on its forehead. The unicorn appeared in early Mesopotamian artworks, and it also was referred to in the ancient myths of India and China. The earliest description in Greek literature of a single-horned (Greek: monokeros; Latin: unicornis) animal was by the historian Ctesias (400 B.C.), who related that the Indian wild ass was the size of a horse, with a white body, purple head, and blue eyes; on its forehead was a cubit-long horn coloured red at the pointed tip, black in the middle, and white at the base. Those who drank from its horn were thought to be protected from stomach trouble, epilepsy, and poison. It was very fleet of foot and difficult to capture. The actual animal behind Ctesias’ description was probably the Indian rhinoceros.

Certain poetical passages of the biblical Old Testament refer to a strong and splendid horned animal called re’em. This word was translated “unicorn” or “rhinoceros” in many versions of the Bible, but many modern translations prefer “wild ox” (aurochs), which is the correct meaning of the Hebrew re’em (Encyclopaedia Britannica (1997), s.v. “Unicorn," 12:129).

The word re’em does refer to the wild ox, and is translated as such in almost all later versions of the Bible. The translators of the Septuagint rendered re’em by the Greek monokeros (one horn) on the basis of the relief representations of the “wild ox” in strict profile that they found in Babylonian and Egyptian art (cf. Pfeiffer, et al., 1975, p. 83). The charge that the Bible “panders to pagan mythology” cannot be sustained, once all the relevant facts are known. 

Did we solve that riddle?  I think so.  Now to the question of "fiery flying serpents," no, we shall save dragons for another day but I warn you, Mr. Bert Thompson, Ph.D., you better prepare yourself for an argument because Mr. Tolkien and myself are coming at you - guns blazin!

~Kipling

Curses Batman!

Reading:   Numbers 23:1-13

Sorry, no Batman stories here - I just liked the relative closeness of the names Batman and Balaam.   Not to mention the references to curses in the noted verses and how well it fits the famous Robin exclamation; I ask you, would you have read this blog had it been titled, Curses Balaam? I think not, I, think not...

So then, Balaam (hopefully you read yesterday's blog so you know of whom I refer) was told by an angel to continue on with his appointment to curse the Israelites but not to follow through with the curse as he had communicated with God and knew that the Israelites were a blessed people.  Balaam agreed and when it came time to curse the Israelites, he did not.  This act baffled those that were promising riches and honor if he were to do so.  Here is his awesome response...

NUMBERS 23:8

8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied? 

Pretty sweet, huh?  The main progenitor of the bribe, Balak, was obviously displeased and wondered why Balaam had blessed those he was hired to curse.  Balaam responded with another classic quote...

NUMBERS 23:12

12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? 

Tell it like it is, Balaam!  What else needs to be said, right?

~Kipling

To Be Wiser than an Ass

Reading:   Numbers 22

I am going to put the story of Balaam and the ass into a modern retelling to better emphasize the uniqueness of the event...

There once was an impartial newspaper man, we shall call him Phillip, who lived in a growing frontier town and was very wise and respected by all.  He was well known for his articles and editorial commentary and seemed capable of swaying the must stubborn of men to his point of view. One day he was approached by members of the town council and they impressed upon him the great service he would be providing the community if he were to become mayor.  Phillip was intrigued by the offer as he had often thought of running for office but never had the means to do so.  Hesitantly he asked how he could obtain such an honor.  The men explained that the esteemed office could easily be his, they could garauntee it, but he would have to grant them one small favor.  Phillip asked what the favor was and the councilmen explained that the mayorship would be his if he were to simply defame a little known religious sect that was moving into the region.  Phillip knew nothing of the sect and agreed to sleep on the request and answer the men in the morning..

That night, Phillip had a wondrous vision that showed him the many good works, past, present and future, of the new religious sect and how magnificent his city would become with these good people as part of it.  He was also, in no uncertain terms, advised that he should not write a negative review of these people but embrace them and buoy them up as they were blessed.  When the council-members returned on the following day, Phillip refused there offer - unable to go against that which he had seen.  

The councilmen, having been sent by the Governor, returned and delivered the bad news.  The Governor was not deterred and sent his most decorated Generals to bargain with Phillip again.  Phillip met the Generals, discovered their plea and explained that he could not go against his own visions unless the mayoral seat and a lifetime of wealth were both agreed to by the Governor.  This was a most outrageous request but the Generals did not balk and Phillip was racked with his decision.  He asked them to wait a day so that he might ponder and the Generals agreed.   

Again, Phillip had a vision, just like the first and was charged not to defame the people but bless them; however, he was only to do so if the men returned a third time.  The following day, Phillip rose early, and without hesitation, prepped his horse and proceeded on to visit the Governor.

Along the way, Phillip's horse abruptly stopped and turned toward a different route.  He briskly smacked the horse and forced it back to the road.  Once on the correct path, the horse again turned away, and did so with such a quick movement that Phillip fell and bruised his leg.  He remounted the horse and roughly hit the animal again.  With stern determination, Phillip forced the animal back to the path a third time; but as the horse came to the crossroads it simply stopped in its tracks and layed down.  Phillip was furious and smacked the horse a third time.

Frustrated, the horse reared back its head and exclaimed, "Master, why do you keep hitting me!"

Phillip, not a bit surprised by the intelligent utterance of the horse, matter-of-factly, responded, "You are embarrassing me!  I have an appointment to keep and you have willfully hindered my progression.  Now, arise and get onward!"

The horse retorted, still speaking plainly and without any awe from Phillip, "I have been your loyal steed for all these years and have never done anything to hurt you or give you cause to berate me and yet today I am beaten thrice - do you not see that I am protecting you?"

Phillip was exceedingly confused, looked up, and was granted the gift of sight that his horse had been blessed with.  Before him, standing directly in the path where the horse had turned twice and now lay prostrate in the dirt, was an angel of God.  The angel held a menacing expression on his face and an equally menacing sword in his hand.  Phillip suddenly realized that the angel was prepared to kill him and that the horse had indeed protected him, three times.  In great humility, Phillip bowed before the angel, and prostrated himself in the dirt beside the horse.

That is essentially the story of Balaam and the ass.  Not perfectly parallel but sufficiently close to make comparison.  Balaam was a prophet of sorts, skilled in curses and was hired to curse the approaching Israelites.  He refused originally because of communication with God that highlighted the Israelites and crowned them as a blessed people; however, his nonchalant request for vast riches was not outrightly refused and it tantalized Balaam enough that, despite another vision from God, he decided to proceed forth and meet with Balak, the money man behind the offer. Balaam traveled on his donkey to address Balak and beat the animal three times as it turned from the path.  The donkey plainly spoke but Balaam, blinded by his lust for riches, ignored the miracle and urged the donkey to press forward.  Finally, Balaam's eyes were opened and he saw the angel before him...

NUMBERS 22:32-33

32    And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me: 

33    And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive. 

I think the key point here is that the ass had seen the angel before Balaam and that the ass would have been preserved whereas Balaam would have surely been killed.  Balaam had a vision of immense importance and had twice communicated with God but, clouded by his lust for riches and the honor of men, he could not see the angel.  The lesson being; whatever gifts, talents, and abilities we may possess, they do us no good if we are blinded by the many wiles of pride.

You are no wiser than an ass when pride consumes you!

~Kipling

Open Your Eyes

Reading:   Numbers 21

I'm trying not to get hung up on the obvious biblical stories so that I can shine the light on new lessons to be learned; but this one is a classic and I simply can't ignore it.  The Israelites began to murmur about their hardships again (lack of food and water etc.) and spoke lowly of God and Moses.  This time, however, there was no conversation between God and Moses where Moses tried to dissuade God from harsh retribution - God simply acted by sending forth poisonous snakes to plague the people with deathly bites.  Some of the folks understood what they had brought upon themselves and asked Moses for forgiveness and help.  The meek and humble Moses approached God...

NUMBERS 21:8-9

8    And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 

9    And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

Make a snake and put it on a staff, hold it up where all can see, and those that look will be healed.  Easy enough, right, guess not...some, ignorantly, still refused to look.  So stubborn and caught up in their own selfishness and anger that the simplest of tasks - opening your eyes and looking - was ignored and death followed.

Carl B. Cook, of the Seventy, said this (2011 October General Conference, Saturday afternoon
session):

Why is it a challenge to consistently look up in our lives? Perhaps we lack the faith that such a simple act can solve our problems. For example, when the children of Israel were bitten by poisonous serpents, Moses was commanded to raise up a brass serpent on a pole. The brass serpent represented Christ. Those who looked up at the serpent, as admonished by the prophet, were healed. (See Numbers 21:8-9.) But many others failed to look up, and they perished. (See 1 Nephi 17:41.) 

The prophet Alma (74 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ) prophesied of the coming Savior and reflected on the lesson of Moses and the fiery serpents (Alma 33:21-22)...

21    O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?  

22    If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.  

Don't be slothful!  For the Israelites, it was a simple act of looking up at the standard and they would be healed.  For us, it's as simple as looking toward our standard, Jesus, and we too can find healing, forgiveness, even assistance for whatever our needs might be.

It's ridiculous to think that a dying person would refuse to look at a standard, if there was even the slightest possibility of staying death, and yet, they did?  It truly is unfathomable!  Even the most skeptic of persons today would agree that such a refusal to look would have been utterly asinine; still, we are in the same predicament today with the same asinine, unfathomable, and ridiculous refusals to look.  Our Savior offers healing, forgiveness, and all that we need if we but look to him.  Why then are there so many around us suffering in sin and darkness with the Savior right there in front of them.  They refuse to believe, refuse to look, refuse to exercise the smallest degree of faith, refuse to allow  the possibility that this might all be true, it is sad - they, we, suffer without relief because of our stubbornness.

Wake up people!  Don't be slothful!  Open your eyes and see!

Here are the lyrics to a favorite song of mine called Opened.  The song was written by Tom Shear and is performed by his group Assemblage 23.   Lyrical meaning is obviously subjective; however, for the purposes of this blog, the lyrics are a perfect example of someone opening their eyes and seeing, really seeing, the redeeming value of our Savior and finally, the lies and whispers of Satan that had him held captive...

This day has altered my perception

I'll never see things quite the same

All that I knew was misconception

But all of that's about to change

I opened my eyes today

The world looked so bright and strange

Now I see with clarity

I won't be your casualty

If trust is merely for convenience

Does it mean anything at all?

Your change of character makes no sense

Your bitter actions make you small

I opened my eyes today

The world looked so bright and strange

Now I see with clarity

I won't be your casualty

Greed is the hunger deep inside you

You're burning bridges left and right

I won't allow you to treat upon me

I won't go down without a fight

I opened my eyes today

The world looked so bright and strange

Now I see with clarity

I won't be your casualty

"All that I knew was misconception," I love that line and it is so true. So often we are truly deceived and forget the faith and testimony that has become part of us. It's important to constantly remind ourselves, keep our eyes open, and as always, refrain from being slothful!

~Kipling

Water from Stone

Reading:   Numbers 20

Thirst plagued the Israelites and they began to murmur (surprise surprise) So The Lord advised Moses to go forth and illicit water from a stone.  Moses, a little upset at the childish behavior of the people, stood before the rock and, with a little attitude (remember that Moses is Mr. Meekness so this is quite a significant act coming from him)...

Numbers 20:10-12

10    And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 

 11    And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

12    And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. 

In his moment of outrageous outburst (barely a peep), Moses accepted a portion of God's power by claiming, "...must we," as if the miracles wrought by God were also, to a degree, his doing.  This was not appropriate and I believe Moses immediately understood his error.  When it came time to perform the miracle, Moses tapped the stone twice with the rod before the water rushed forth (verse 11). Why did he tap it twice instead of once?  He had a doubt.  Because he misspoke, Moses hesitated on the miracle and a conscientious concern crept in.  The water still flowed forth but God had to make it clear that not only had Moses forgotten him but that he showed irreverent doubt as well (verse 12).

There is an important lesson to be understood here, we are the conduit, the power is God's.  Miracles are wrought through the power of God and we merely facilitate the miracle through our faith and willingness to act in God's name.

 ~Kipling

Be Not an Open Vessel

Reading:   Numbers 19

What does it mean to be an open vessel within proximity of death and possible disease?  Now, for certain, this scriptural lesson was meant in the literal sense, a warning for the combat of plague and infectious disease, but I can't help but allow my imagination to grip and squeeze theses verses...

NUMBERS 19:14-15

14    This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. 

15    And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean. 

Why is this? Airborne pathogens, that is why, the floating unseen demons that ride the waves of ambiance to touch every corner and contaminate every surface - abounding in liquids.  If you had a drink with no cover in the presence of death, the drink would then carry the very DNA of death.  A covered drink, however, would not be subject to the same contaminants and would remain pure and consumable.

Turning that same lesson to humanity makes for a fun analogy - so, having been a bouncer for several years, I can easily attest to the seedy, unwholesome, sex crazed atmosphere of bars/clubs/ concerts and the like; however, it was my job and was the means by which I provided for my young family.  Here is the perfect example for my analogy...I had no choice, I could not quit the job and yet it was, on many occasions, a place I should not have been.  How did I, as a living vessel, avoid the wiles of my surroundings.  It's all about the lid people!  My lid was my wife, my children, the family I had created, my testimony of God, my faith, the wisdom I had gained from life experience, and above all, my own determination to be different - stronger than my surroundings!

Now, my lid wasn't always screwed on as tight as it should've been and there were days that I had to fight off the infection of my surroundings more strenuously than others but, for the most part, I kept my lid on tight and those experiences have made me who I am today.

The difference lies wholly in choice.  I did not attend these places for the same reasons as the patrons; it was my profession.  The environment, from a toxic perspective, was made by the hundreds of souls there for the enticements of alcohol, drugs, sex, pride, and money - each with its own levels of infection, whoredom, and enslavement.  Yet, if I unscrewed my lid just a little, believing I was strong enough to withstand, the infection would seep in and eventually burn me out.

I see it much like the doctor who puts on a mask and walks into surgery determined to rid some poor soul of infection by placing himself in the line of fire, or a fireman putting on his mask and walking into a building that everyone else is fleeing.  I could go on but essentially if these professionals opened their masks just a bit, unscrewed their lids, the killing disease and suffocating smoke would seep in and plant their seeds of destruction!

This is a great topic!  I feel like I have just scratched the surface and want to continue on but sadly must end.  I'm going to add this to my growing list of eventual books though because there has got to be some incredible stories of people rising above their surroundings because of the lids which kept their vessels clean...look for it!

~Kipling