Our Stark Warning Couched in the tiny book of Y’hudah (Jude), we hear the Torah’s final warning against men like Bil’am: “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. “Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. “In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them. “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” (Y’hudah 3-13, NIV) Bil’am provides for us an example of godless men who seek their own personal gain. The book of Revelation puts the cap on Bil’am in 2:14, and even tells us the incident with the women at Ba’al-P’or also involved idolatrous acts of eating meats offered to idols! How did the people fall? I have seen this lesson played out in my own life all too well. I brace myself for the attack from the Adversary (or my own flesh), and just when I think I am successful, I get hit from the “blind side”! Isra'el fell prey to their lustful passions, which was their blind side. The blessing of the LORD was their strong side, and Blessed be the Holy One for that! But it just goes to show that we all have weakness in areas that we least suspect at times, and that we are all in need of the supernatural protection of Almighty HaShem! May we learn and understand from this valuable Torah lesson that is laid out so clearly for us in the ever-practical pages of God’s gracious Word!