Dream Shadow

Chapter 1

"Come on! You stupid animal. You have become lazy these last few months. Get up! It is time to leave Mesopotamia. We have been summoned by Balak, the Moabite king. Time to earn some money, let our dreams make us rich. Stand still you long-eared, brainless beast, let me finish loading the supplies."
Balaam said all these things while loading his donkey. All the time wondering what the Moabite king required his services for?

Balak stood on the top of the hill looking down the valley below.  "The reports say true, these wanderers cover the earth like locusts.  Their tents are seen for as far as the eye can see.  Like locusts they consume everything before them.  They must be stopped.  We must destroy them before they reach the gates of Moab."
Balak was assembled with his lords and leaders to discuss the Israelite problem.  The leader of the army spoke up.  "Let us not tary, I will give the command, the men will prepare for war.  We will go down and do battle with them."

"And you will lose." The king replied.  "They outnumber us and their God is with them."
One of the older statesmen came forward with his opinion, "Perhaps we should meet them with food and water. Surely it will be beneficial if we make an ally of such a strong nation?"

Balak's reply clearly indicated he did not favour  this idea.  "They will eat all our food, then they will take our daughters for wives, they will sit in our courts and then what.....sit on our throne?  No! We must overcome them.  I have a plan.  I have summoned Balaam, son of Beor.  He is a prophet who hears the words of the Israelite God in his dreams."
"Will he not side with these locusts?" One of the king's advisors asked.  King Balak answered.  "He is not a Jewish prophet and from what he has told me in his reply is that the Israelite God is not always pleased with his people.  He has even cursed them on occasion.  If Balaam can listen and hear when they displease their God again, then we will attack, for then we will be assured of victory.  We will become the rod of His punishment.  They will die of shame, when their enemy is used by their own God against them."
"You are truly wise, O king" The men surrounding Balak chorused together. "Let us hope Balaam the seer lives up to his reputation?"
The king answered.  "Balaam has one weakness which we will use to our advantage.  He has a love for money.  The promise of riches will sway his greedy heart."

The elders of Moab came to Balaam repeating what the king had said.  They wanted him to curse the Jewish people so that they would have an advantage if they waged war against them.  They also brought the required fee, normally paid to soothsayers, with them.

Balaam realised he didn't have the power to curse the Israelites, or bless them for that matter.  His gift was merely relaying what the Lord said or showed him in his dreams.  So when the elders made their request he persuaded them to stay the night, hoping to hear from the Lord while he slept.

Balaam slept fitfully. He had found it difficult to fall asleep, his mind anxious, not knowing what or even if, the Lord would speak to him.
As his mind drifted into deeper sleep, the head of his donkey appeared. The donkey spoke. "Who are these men that lodge beneath your roof and what do they want?"
Subconsciously, Balaam knew it was the Lord speaking, so in his dream he answered. "They are the representatives from Balak, king of Moab. They want me to curse the people who have come out of Egypt. They are many and he doesn't want them near him, he is afraid of them." The Lord answered, "You will not be able to curse them for I have blessed them. Tell the men from Moab to go home. Do not go with them."
The next morning Balaam told Balak's messengers to back to the king and tell him that he couldn't oblige the king's wishes as he couldn't go against his God's instructions.

Balak, when he heard Balaam's answer interpreted the seer's reluctance as an act of playing hard to get. He summoned men who held even more important positions in his court. Balak said to them, "This Balaam whom I have summoned, is greedier and even more shrewd than I thought. Go now yourselves and take promises of great rewards to Balaam. Do not return without him?"
The princes arrived where the seer was staying and repeated everything the king had said. They pleaded with Balaam. "Please come with us, for we fear for our very lives if we come back without you."
Balaam answered as before. "I cannot go with you, even if you offered me all the gold and silver in the palace! But stay the night. Let me hear if the Lord has changed His mind."

That night the donkey appeared again, opened his mouth and spoke the words of the Lord. "I should punish you this instant for even thinking that I would change my mind. Do not go with them."
Balaam pleaded in return. "Let me at least go with them and when I speak, for the king and all his officials to hear, will they then not believe that it is Your words which I speak, and not my own." The Lord answered, "If you go, be it on your head. There will be consequences."

The next morning Balaam sent the king's officials on their way with assurances that he would follow.  They should not wait for him.  They were travelling on horseback, he would come as fast as his donkey would allow.  He instructed his manservant to bring his son and follow him on their donkeys as well.  In the back of his mind, Balaam was still optimistic that his God would change His mind about cursing the wanderers in the desert and he would have to have help bringing back the huge reward he would claim.