Numbers 22 - The Israelites camp on
the plains of Moab, across the Dead Sea from Jericho. Balak, son of Zippor (a name very like Moses’
wife, Zipporah), is the king of Moab. He is afraid of the Israelites and sends
elders from Moab and Midian to Balaam of Pethor on the Euphrates.
Balaam is a pagan
prophet
known for his occult powers. He is
asked by Balak to come and curse the intruders.
Now God Himself comes to Balaam
(at night so perhaps in a dream) and warns him not to interfere with these
people for they are blessed. The next day Balaam tells the messengers from
Balak that he cannot return with them. King
Balak does not give up, however. He
sends more important messengers to offer
a great reward to Balaam if he comes.
This time God tells him he may go but only if he does just as God
directs. In the next paragraph we are
told that God becomes angry with Balaam
but it is not clear why. The traditional interpretation is that Balaam did not follow
the Lord’s direction but succumbed to the temptation
to take the riches in return for his powers. [In the letters of Jude and 2
Pet, this is the reason they give for God’s displeasure at Balaam]
On
the road, Balaam’s ass sees the angel of the Lord with a sword drawn, and
leaves the path--Balaam beats her. This
happens three times each time the path becomes narrower and the movement off
less noticeable. Then the Lord allows the ass to speak to her master
and she asks him why he is beating her. Then his “eyes are opened” and he too
sees the angel in the middle of the road armed with a sword. So he finally gets on course again and
arrives in Moab where Balak is annoyed he took so long. Balaam
tells him he can only say what the Lord puts in his mouth.
This story is interesting for a number of reasons, the main one
being that here again we see example of a non-Jewish
king with a powerful connection to the Lord. He is generally
obedient and responsive to the correction of the Lord when he is tempted by
riches to leave the path. So he
represents the capacity of those who are outside the promise to understand at
least that God favors these gathered people and they should be allowed to
follow the Lord. Presumably for the
entire stretch of history before Christ there were people of all nations who
could in some measure see and respect the presence of God and the working of
God around them even though the work did not directly relate to them. As God
gathered the Jews he is patiently building a redemptive possibility through
historical events that will ultimately be opened to all men.
Origen (185-254 AD)
De Principiis (First
Principles)
Preface
5 – On the soul, the apostolic
teaching is “that the soul, having a substance and life of its own, shall,
after its departure from the world be rewarded according to its deserts being
destined to obtain either an inheritance of eternal life and blessedness if its actions shall have procured this
for it or to be delivered up to eternal fire and punishments if the guilt of its crimes shall have brought
it down to this: and also that there is to be a time of resurrection from the
dead, when this body which now ‘is sown in corruption shall rise in
incorruption,’ . . . “
“This also is clearly defined in the
teaching of the Church, that every rational soul is possessed of free-will and
volition; that it has a struggle to maintain with the devil and his angels
and opposing influences because they strive to burden it with sins; but if we
live rightly and wisely we should endeavor to shake ourselves free of a burden
of that kind.” We do not believe that we are “subject to necessity so as to be
compelled . . . even against our will, to do either good or evil.” There may
indeed be things that “influence” us to do one or the other, but our will is
not bound by those influences.
He
goes on to deny that the “stars” are any “cause of human actions.” And there
are details about the nature of the soul that are NOT subjects, which the
Church claims clarity on.
6 – Regarding the devil and the angels with him, the Church does say
that “these beings exist. . . but what they are, or how they exist, it has not
explained with sufficient clearness.” The opinion most Christians have,
however, is that the devil, having become “apostate” (rebellious), did “induce”
other angels to fall away with him, and these beings are still called angels.
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