As the church at Pergamos faced persecution and even death, at the hands of pagan religions, there was an even deadlier enemy within their own precincts: compromisers. The Old Testament prophet Balaam is the biblical prototype of the religious compromiser.
“... thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, …” ∼ Balaam is a singular figure in the Old Testament. He was a foreign seer, summoned by Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel, as that nation passed through his country on their way to Canaan. Balaam’s story may be seen by viewing the following passages: Num 22:5-24:25; 31:8, 16; Deut 23:4-5; Josh 13:22; 24:9-10; Neh 13:2; Mic 6:5; 2 Pet 2:15; Jude v11; and here.
We would be amiss to only mention Balaam’s dark side, for he was indeed a prophet who had a relationship with Yahweh. In Num 24:12-13 we see Balaam saying,
“Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the LORD saith, that will I speak?”
Clearly, it was Yahweh (YHWH) whom Balaam recognized as God. He, like Jethro—the father-in-law of Moses—was a servant of the true God, although outside the liturgy of Israel.
Three times the Moibite king, Balak, positioned Balaam at three different locations, providing three different panoramas of the Israelite camp; and three times Balaam blessed the children of Israel. This faithfulness to the word of the Lord earned him an honorable mention by the prophet Micah,
“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.” (Mic 6:5)
Up to this point, Balaam’s obedience to the word of the Lord is a high point in the legacy of the Old Testament prophet, showing, as it does, the potency of the spoken word, and that the oracle could not go beyond the word of God for bad or good. (See Gen 12:3; 27:33; Ex 21:17; Is 55:11.)
Balaam’s prophetic utterance is accredited with the celebrated messianic passage,
“I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, ... 19 Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, ....” (Num 24:17, 19)
Answering to this “Not now” and “not nigh” are the words of Jesus, 1500 years removed from Balaam’s presage,
“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” (22:16)
There is no denying that Jesus identified Himself, to the seven churches, as the “star” followed by the Magi (magoi). The Magi were from “the east;” most likely Persia. When they discovered the star it was indicative of the land of Jacob. Therefore, “a star out of Jacob.” Is it any wonder those who were wise asked the Usurper King, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” (Matt 2:1-2)
“… who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, …” ～ Having acknowledged God’s anointing upon Balaam, we must now move to the purpose of his mention in the Apocalypse. This is the tragic—rest of the story. There have been far too many anointed men of God who began well, but ended tragically, because of greed and/or pride, which ultimately led to compromise with the enemy: Samson, Saul, Solomon, and Hezekiah, to name but a few. But before them, there was Balaam. The name Balaam in Hebrew means: not (of the) people. His name has been taken to mean: destroyer of the people.
Balak, the king, knowing that a military action against the Hebrews was out of the question because of their numbers, called upon the most renowned gentile seer of the time to curse the Hebrews. Unable to curse Israel, for he would say naught but what God said, Balaam advised Balak how to make Israel curse themselves (Num 31:8, cf. 16). No doubt the reward offered by Balak was more than the prophet could resist. At any rate we are told that his counsel caused Israel to sin by committing fornication, and by eating things offered to idols. The Moabites and the Midianites, who at the time seemed to be one people, were worshippers of Baal (Baal was the chief fertility god of Canaan and would bring the Israelites future grief). Because of Baal’s association with fertility rites, sexual orgiastic activity was common worship procedure. This orgy of fornication was always accompanied with feasting from foods that had been offered to the idols in sacrifice. We are told in Numbers ch 25 of the whoredoms of the sons of Israel with the daughters of Moab. In ch 31 Balaam is found residing with the Midianites which were one with Moab in this “stumblingblock” (literally, a trip-stick) they placed before Israel. Concerning the women of Midia who had participated in idolic orgiastic worship—Moses had them killed. Only the virgins he permitted to live. His reason is stated clearly in v16,
“Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.”
Moses is, here, referencing the event at Shittim recorded in Numbers 25:1-3,
“And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3 And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.”
“… to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” ～ Balaam, through his counsel, caused Israel to sin against God by committing, in the same moment, physical and spiritual fornication. This was the “doctrine of Balaam” spoken of by our Lord, here in the Revelation. Notice, Balaam said, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: (Num 23:21). Balaam’s teaching is simple: God will not curse, but only bless, the holy. Make the people sin by inviting them to participate in worship to Baal—all in the name of hospitality. The rule of the day was compromise. The Moabites/Midianites said; You receive a little from us and our gods, and we will receive a little from Yahweh. Let us be one together.
Therefore, Balaam is a type of corrupt teachers who, for some personal gain, deceive Christianity into fellowshipping with paganism. God is a jealous sovereign/husband (Ex 20:5) who will brook not fornicating on the part of His bride.
The church at Pergamos was permitting teachers in their congregation to lead people into compromise with the world. At Pergamos the world was being married to the Church. Christians were eating things offered unto idols. This may have been going on literally, just as in Balaam’s day. Paul addressed the issue of eating meat offered to idols in his first Corinthian epistle,
“But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.” (1 Cor 10:20-21)
To refrain from eating meat offered to idols placed a burden upon gentile Christians. In the Greco/Roman world of Pergamos, and every other church, most all feasts were religious and involved a sacrifice to the local gods. Only a fraction of the animal was consumed; the rest was given to the priest, and in most cases a portion was retained by the worshipper for their personal feast. When one became a Christian in such a society, it meant a separation from most all social gatherings. The local holidays were provisioned by sacrificed meat. A disciple could hardly participate in an event as common as a non-christian birthday, anniversary, (etc.) dinner, because the food had been offered up to some idol in exchange for a blessing hoped for. But those who taught the doctrine of Balaam encouraged the disciple to compromise such conviction in order to not offend their neighbors. Christians in a Jewish community were instructed to “abstain from meats offered to idols, ... For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day” (Acts 15:29 and 21 respectively). It seems that the abstinence from meats offered to idols was for the benefit of the Jews who would be offended, and not necessarily to keep from offending God (see 1 Cor 10:19, 25-27). However, in a gentile community, and especially a city such as Pergamos—the center of emperor worship—eating food that had been offered to an idol, or even the genius of the emperor, was equivalent to a recantation of one’s Christian faith.
The “fornication” may also have been physical. It is thought by some that Christ is referencing a gnostic group which taught the total separation of the spirit from the flesh; and that the only way to overcome the cravings of the flesh was to experience them to the fullest. Therefore, they taught that the disciples were to give themselves completely over to the sexual lusts, in order to experience, control, and ultimately conquer them. Since they held to the total separation of spirit from the flesh, they taught that nothing the body (flesh) became involved in could in any way contaminate the spirit. Through this teaching, a license for promiscuity was issued.
While the physical aspect of fornication was surely present, we would be greatly mislead if our consideration ended there. For spiritual fornication is most definitely the primary focus of Christ in this letter to Pergamos. In the New Testament, as well as in the Old, the eating of things offered to idols and fornication go hand in glove. One might see the parallel this way: In the Old Testament the people ate the food of the feast which had been offered to the idol, i.e. Baal-peor, and then, with the morsels of meat in their throat and between their teeth, and with the wine of the libation offering wet upon their lips—they turned to embrace one another with sexual sensuality. While in the New Testament, disciples eat things offered to idols by ingesting false doctrine through attending the preaching and teaching of lies—then while the words are still in their ears and flowing through their thought processes, they turn to embrace the fellows of false religion as brothers and sisters. Even worse, they support the false teachers with tithes and offerings—which are holy unto the Lord God. There is no surer way to climb into bed with devils than to support their work (see 1 Tim 4:1; and 2 John vv10-11).
James, the brother of the Lord summed it up for us. We must heed his words if we are to remain pure for Christ the Bridegroom. James wrote,
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
A Christian commits spiritual fornication when fellowshipping with any other god apart from Jesus Christ (Jude v25). Moreover, the Christian eats things offered to idols by incorporating pagan worship practices with biblical worship.
“So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.” ～ The hated Nicolaitans were present in Pergamos as well. Earlier, we visited this group when discussing the church of Ephesus (2:6), which knew of them, but gave then no room. The circumstances are different at Pergamos. They have found a home here. It seems that the Nicolaitans formed an heretical religious philosophy which embraced the doctrine of Balaam as but one of its tenants of belief. So, it can be said that those who hold the doctrine of Balaam are Nicolaitans, but not all Nicolaitans may hold the doctrine of Balaam. However, there is a parallel drawn between Balaam and the Nicolaitans. Just as Balaam taught Balak, king of Moab/Midian to place a stumbling block (trip-stick) before Israel, in which case Israel was taught to fornicate and eat things offered to idols, so, too, were the Nicolaitans teaching the Christians at Pergamos to sin in the same manner. Balaam taught Balak; Nicolaitans taught Christians of Pergamos.
There is a high degree of similarity between the two words, i.e. the name Balaam (Strong’s #H1109; #G903) is a compound Hebrew word (from bal, meaning: not at all; ... neither; no, none, not, nothing; and also from ‘am, meaning: a people (as a congregated unit; specifically, a tribe.) According to Thayer, non-populus; or no-people; or destruction of the people. While Nicolaitan is also a compound Greek word (from niko—to conquer, and laos—people) meaning: to conquer the people. But this similarity between the names does not necessitate that the same group is implied by both names; because v15 of our text states, houtōs echeis kai su kratountas—translation: “so you also have those holding.” The word kai (also) would indicate the Nicolaitans to be a group other than, or perhaps more than, those who hold the doctrine of Balaam. Many see the Nicolaitans (as mentioned here) of Pergamos as a group of heretical Christian clergy who had developed an order by which the laity were “lorded over” (1 Pet 5:3). If this was the case, one may see the Nicolaitans in the modern church in the form which has pontiffs and the Pontifex Maximus; whose robes encompass a multitude of heresies, of which the doctrine of Balaam and the ways of Jezebel (2:20) are but two.
The loathing of God is directed at this system, and it will not escape His wrath that is presaged in this Apocalypse (see ch’s 17 and 18).
Apostolically Speaking
☩ Jerry L Hayes
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