Balaam showed No Free Will

[AustinC]

Reading through the book of Numbers we come across the story of Balaam, who was paid to go place a curse on Israel. Yet, everytime he tried, God stopped him and would not let him curse Israel.

While humans do have the capacity to make choices, their will is never capable of freely defeating God's ordained will. Humans are not free. They are slaves to sin or slaves to Christ.

Numbers 24:12-13
And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’?

 

[Yeshua1]

Reading through the book of Numbers we come across the story of Balaam, who was paid to go place a curse on Israel. Yet, everytime he tried, God stopped him and would not let him curse Israel.

While humans do have the capacity to make choices, their will is never capable of freely defeating God's ordained will. Humans are not free. They are slaves to sin or slaves to Christ.

Numbers 24:12-13
And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’?

He was free to speak, but God made sure only prophecieD what He wanted!

 

[just-want-peace]

Some people define "free will" as being able to do "what ever, how ever, when ever, where ever" they feel like it. Common sense rejects that premise, as I am proof of that. If I had that kind of free will, I would not be on this board right now, but soaring like an eagle way up yonder.
Man does have free will WITHIN the parameters set by our Creator, and sometimes He modifies those parameters as in the case of the OP. Other times He just lets an idiot be an idiot with whatever consequences may occur. (Paul spoke to this very pointedly in Romans.)

 

[Barry Johnson]

Reading through the book of Numbers we come across the story of Balaam, who was paid to go place a curse on Israel. Yet, everytime he tried, God stopped him and would not let him curse Israel.

While humans do have the capacity to make choices, their will is never capable of freely defeating God's ordained will. Humans are not free. They are slaves to sin or slaves to Christ.

Numbers 24:12-13
And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’?

Inductive reasoning . This happened to Balaam. Let's stop where the bible stops .Let's not make doctrines out of what happened to a person .

 

[AustinC]

Some people define "free will" as being able to do "what ever, how ever, when ever, where ever" they feel like it. Common sense rejects that premise, as I am proof of that. If I had that kind of free will, I would not be on this board right now, but soaring like an eagle way up yonder.
Man does have free will WITHIN the parameters set by our Creator, and sometimes He modifies those parameters as in the case of the OP. Other times He just lets an idiot be an idiot with whatever consequences may occur. (Paul spoke to this very pointedly in Romans.)

Ordained idiocy...[emoji16]

 

[Dave G]

Inductive reasoning . This happened to Balaam.

I'm not sure why you see it that way, Barry,
but to me it's clearly deductive reasoning based on the truths of other Scriptures.

As an example:
Did you see what was highlighted in Austin's quote?
Yet another Scriptural example of Daniel 4:35 at play...

God does as He wishes in the armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the Earth.
None can stay His hand or say, "what are you doing?".

He can and does put it within a person's heart to do His will ( see Genesis 20:6, Philippians 2:13, Revelation 17:17 and many others ).
Even Baalam somehow knew this.

 

[Dave G]

Let's stop where the bible stops .Let's not make doctrines out of what happened to a person .

I agree, Barry.

Let's stop where the Bible stops.
But let's go on where the Bible goes on, fully confident that whatever it says about God's power and will, in addition to where our will stops, is the truth.

Let's make doctrines out of what is outright declared in His word...
as well as recognizing the examples of those declarations being carried out within the rest of Scripture.
I'll call this one the doctrine of "The Immutable Will of God", and the story of Balaam is a good example of God's will being carried out over and above man's will.

I think a few more examples of this would be these:

Isaiah 64:8.
Jeremiah 18:6.
Romans 9:21-24.

or perhaps these:

Psalms 65:4. <----- God chooses a person and causes them to approach Him. Our choice to approach Him is therefore dependent upon His choice to cause us. It's really that simple
Romans 8:33. <--- God justifies, not us. Our faith doesn't determine His actions, His actions determine who is saved. There are many more passages that we could go over that clrearly show God acting first, and men then reacting to His gracious work in the hearts and minds of sinners.
Ephesians 1:4-6. <---- God chooses to place a person in the body of believers, and this decision was made before any of us were ever born. We were made accepted in the beloved...we didn't make ourselves accepted by an act.
2 Thessalonians 2:13. <--- Self-explanatory.
1 Peter 1:2. <--- Chosen according to His foreknowledge, which is defined by Jeremiah 1:5.
Titus 3:5-7. <--- Not by works of righteousness, but according to His mercy...and that alone.

In other words, believe what's written, and understand that what is written as pertains to people ( saved or lost ) and prophesied events, the Lord will indeed carry out to their ends;
Regardless of whether or not it "violates" our will as men.

With regard to His purposes and plans,
Our will as His creations isn't even a consideration unless He decides to honor our requests....
and that's only if we already have His favor.

See Romans 9:14-18.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

Reading through the book of Numbers we come across the story of Balaam, who was paid to go place a curse on Israel. Yet, everytime he tried, God stopped him and would not let him curse Israel.

While humans do have the capacity to make choices, their will is never capable of freely defeating God's ordained will. Humans are not free. They are slaves to sin or slaves to Christ.

Numbers 24:12-13
And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’?

Balaam is an intriguing case study. However, the slavery dichotomy you describe does not seem to fit the biblical narrative. How does Balaam's blessing Israel fit into his being strictly a slave to sin? Or are you arguing that Balaam was strictly a slave to Christ?

 

[Quantrill]

Balaam is an intriguing case study. However, the slavery dichotomy you describe does not seem to fit the biblical narrative. How does Balaam's blessing Israel fit into his being strictly a slave to sin? Or are you arguing that Balaam was strictly a slave to Christ?

He is an interesting figure. Scripture says he was a prophet. And God certainly spoke to him and through him. But later his way became perverse. (Num. 22:32) (Rev. 2:14)

I think at best he was a hireling prophet. His eyes become focused on the things of the world instead of God. And thus he abused his office.

Quantrill

 

[AustinC]

Balaam is an intriguing case study. However, the slavery dichotomy you describe does not seem to fit the biblical narrative. How does Balaam's blessing Israel fit into his being strictly a slave to sin? Or are you arguing that Balaam was strictly a slave to Christ?

I saying that Balaam was not free to exert his will over God's will. Balaam's desire to make money by cursing Israel was over ridden by God's direct will that such a thing not be done and that Balaam would, instead, bless Israel.
Balaam has no power to defeat the will of God upon his life. Therefore, Balaam's will is not free.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

Some people define "free will" as being able to do "what ever, how ever, when ever, where ever" they feel like it. Common sense rejects that premise, as I am proof of that. If I had that kind of free will, I would not be on this board right now, but soaring like an eagle way up yonder.
Man does have free will WITHIN the parameters set by our Creator, and sometimes He modifies those parameters as in the case of the OP. Other times He just lets an idiot be an idiot with whatever consequences may occur. (Paul spoke to this very pointedly in Romans.)

Yes, it looks like people speaking two different languages, including lumping will with action. After seeing some of the discussion on this matter, "free will" seems a useless phrase for argumentation.

Unlimited will vs. limited will vs. no will would seem better phrasing for debate. But is there anyone who believes man has unlimited will? Is there anyone who believes man has no will?

 

[Tsalagi]

I saying that Balaam was not free to exert his will over God's will. ...
Balaam has no power to defeat the will of God upon his life. Therefore, Balaam's will is not free.

This notion essentially makes every human sin God's will.

 

[AustinC]

This notion essentially makes every human sin God's will.

Not even close.
Balaam was forbidden by God from cursing Israel. No matter how much he tried, he had no capacity to thwart God.

God has ordained that men are under the curse of sin. Adam broke covenant with God and all his offspring are born under that curse. Humans have no capacity to break that curse. Only God can break that curse and choose to reconcile man to Himself.

 

[Quantrill]

I don't think 'will' is the main issue with the record concerning Balaam. Balaam always said he can only speak what the Lord gives him. (Num. 23:12) (23:26) (24:13) I think his being a real prophet of God but then going down a perverted path of using his gift for gain is the real issue.

In other words the discussion surrounding Balaam is usually whether or not he was a true prophet of God.

I believe he was a true prophet and it is because of that that, that God would not allow, not Balaam's will but Balak's will, in cursing Israel.

Quantrill

 

[Dave G]

This notion essentially makes every human sin God's will.

In a sense, I agree with you.

I see the Scriptures teaching that God does not tempt men to sin ( James 1:12-15 ), so I don't see anywhere in His word that He actively sponsors it.
But I also see that God allows men to sin for the purposes of judging us for them.


God is completely sovereign over the affairs of men ( Daniel 4:35 and others ), and chooses to either allow sin, or suppress it ( Genesis 20:6 and others ) as He sees fit.
In other words, He has the power to stop it, but doesn't.
We as sinful men are fully responsible for our sins ( Romans 1:18-32, Romans 2:1-16 ),
as we not only know the truth, but actively suppress it in our hearts and minds.

According to His word,
we as a race not only know Him, we refuse to acknowledge Him as rightful King and Lord, love our sins and refuse to repent of them ( see above references in Romans 1 and Romans 2, as well as Romans 3:10-18, the Psalms, the Proverbs and John 3:19-20 as examples ).

 

[kyredneck]

I don't think 'will' is the main issue with the record concerning Balaam. Balaam always said he can only speak what the Lord gives him. (Num. 23:12) (23:26) (24:13)

Agree.

I think his being a real prophet of God but then going down a perverted path of using his gift for gain is the real issue.

Disagree. I can find no where Balaam is referred to as a prophet of God, he is called a soothsayer:

22 Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among the rest of their slain. Josh 13

Not only was he not a prophet of God, he was not a child of God:

15 forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing;
16 but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man`s voice and stayed the madness of the prophet.
17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved. 2 Pet 2

 

[kyredneck]

I don't think 'will' is the main issue with the record concerning Balaam.

I think the 'P' (preservation) in TULIP is exemplified here:

13 if we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself. 2 Tim 2

Even after all the wickedness Israel had done in the wilderness after leaving Egypt (unbelief, disobedience, murmuring, idolatry, fornication, rebellion, etc.), and even with Balaam wanting so badly to curse Israel, God made Balaam to declare:

He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob; Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: Jehovah his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them. Nu 23:21
(Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. Ro 4:8)

AND, throughout all their wandering/chastening in the Wilderness He still yet gave them shade by day and light by night, He fed them manna, gave them water, their clothes never wore out, their feet didn't blister, etc., He was with them always even though He granted them no repentance to enter into His Rest. They wandered in the Wilderness for the rest of their lives when they could have spent it in the Land of Milk & Honey had they only believed God, that it was theirs's for the taking.

 

[Yeshua1]

Reading through the book of Numbers we come across the story of Balaam, who was paid to go place a curse on Israel. Yet, everytime he tried, God stopped him and would not let him curse Israel.

While humans do have the capacity to make choices, their will is never capable of freely defeating God's ordained will. Humans are not free. They are slaves to sin or slaves to Christ.

Numbers 24:12-13
And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’?

Well, God still moves the hearts of Kings and leaders as he deems, correct?

 

[Tsalagi]

Not even close.
Balaam was forbidden by God from cursing Israel. No matter how much he tried, he had no capacity to thwart God.

God has ordained that men are under the curse of sin. Adam broke covenant with God and all his offspring are born under that curse. Humans have no capacity to break that curse. Only God can break that curse and choose to reconcile man to Himself.

According to your view man cannot thwart or defeat God's will. If Adam broke covenant with God and that breach was not God's will, then your claim is disproved. If Adam's choice was God's will, then his and every other human sin is God's will.

 

[Yeshua1]

According to your view man cannot thwart or defeat God's will. If Adam broke covenant with God and that breach was not God's will, then your claim is disproved. If it was God's will, then his and every other human sin is God's will.

Th will of Man cannot derail the will and plan of God!