Entanglement
Micah 6:5 “O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.”
1. Selling Yourself
2. Divination and
Enchantments
3. What Hath God Wrought!
1. Selling Yourself
According to the prophet, we need to remember what Balak “consulted” when he went Balaam.
According to the prophet, we need to remember what Balaam answered Balak.
This message is about entanglements.
Now entanglements are all about destruction, and destruction is caused by a destroyer.
What is an entanglement?
An entanglement is a snare, or a trap, for which purpose is for taking someone’s [precious] life.
Therefore, entanglements are set up … for going for the throat of the victim.
Now, the word “entangle” appears only once in the Bible and this in Matthew twenty-two, verse fifteen: “Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.” [Matthew 22:15]
Here we have evil self-righteous men trying to “entangle” the Son of God in His very words.
To “entangle” someone is not good. It is worse than that!
To “entangle” someone … is totally evil.
More than that, entanglements can be shown to be the devices of the Devil, and the devices of evil men.
We know why the Devil is an entangler, that is obvious, but why do men become the evil entanglers of other men? Here is why.
When a man refuses to go to God … to ask God for the wisdom and for the help that he needs [in God’s way], then this same man will in the end consult with the Devil’s crowd … which includes going to the enchanters and the diviners. [Saul - 1 Samuel 28:7]
Now, when a man hates God, or hates God’s Book, or hates God’s people, then he will sell out to the Devil. He will sell his very soul to the Devil … to do evil … all for a reward . [The reward is for money, or for power or for the praise of men.]
This is the very thing that we see before our eyes concerning Balak in the book of Numbers chapter twenty-two, verse five thru seven:
“He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me: Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.” [Numbers 22:7]
2. Divination and Enchantments
A man that it is willing to sell his soul to do evil [Balak] will send “the rewards of divination” to another man who has already sold his soul to do evil [Balaam].
For every man [like Balak] consulting for services to do evil, there is some other man [like Balaam] who is willing and ready to provide those services to do evil for money, for power and for recognition.
Notice: this is what happened to a whole nation centuries later [to Israel] as recorded in the Second book of Kings, in chapter seventeen, verse seventeen: “And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.” [2 Kings 17:17]
Divination is sorcery and sorcery involves magic. The very first mention in the Bible of “sorcerers” and “magicians” is in the book of Exodus in chapter seven, verse eleven: “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.” [Exodus 7:11] [Egypt is a type of the world.]
Something else, divination, sorcery, magic are all interrelated with “enchantments”, and this thing is strictly prohibited in Israel by God in the Law of God in the book of Levitcus chapter nineteen, verse twenty-six: “Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.” [Leviticus 19:26]
What Balak wanted was for Balaam to curse Israel by enchantment and by divination. See this in Numbers chapter twenty-three: “Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!” [Numbers 23:23]
According to the prophet, we need to remember that Balak “consulted” with Balaam to solicit his services of cursing God’s people.
According to the prophet, we need to remember that Balaam answered Balak by coming to receive “the rewards of divination”. Both men sold their very souls to the Devil.
3. What Hath God Wrought!
Now hear this. When anyone uses “enchantments” or “divination” against what God has nourished or built [what God hath wrought], then that same person, or persons, becomes an offender, which offender places himself, or their selves, in big-time trouble with God, and with the danger of being thrown into Hell’s Fire.
When Balaam finally had figured this thing out, he left off from his usual practices and his trade in the performance of “enchantments”, and “he set his face toward the wilderness.” This is a wise choice on his part!
Look at chapter twenty-four, verse one: “And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.” [Numbers 24:1]
Balaam was so scared to go forward as he planned … to curse Israel. Balaam realized Israel … is what God has wrought!
Setting one’s face “toward the wilderness” is a sure indication that a person has woke up to the reality that he was fighting against what God was doing.
Turn to the book of Acts chapter five, verse thirty-nine: “But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” [Acts 5:39]
Do not fight against God!