Star & Scepter Pt. 2 – Jesus in Numbers 24

As miraculous as it is for a donkey to speak, what a mystery that God uses unclean vessels like Balaam through which the Spirit of grace pronounced blessing for His people:

I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the forehead of Moab
and break down all the sons of Sheth.

Numbers 24:17 (ESV)

Balaam understood that the prophecy was not for his own times.  “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.”  That future Star has come out of Jacob.  It’s Jesus.  “I am,” said He, “the bright and morning star.”  The Scepter, an emblem of royal authority, has risen out of Israel.  “All authority,” Jesus decreed, “has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”  As the crushing of the forehead of Moab finds its fulfillment in Christ (see “Star and Scepter Part 1”), so too this cryptic line of prophecy: “and break down all the sons of Sheth.”

“Sheth” in Hebrew means “replacement” or “substitute.”  “Seth,” though, is how it’s almost always rendered, Eve’s famous son so named as a replacement for Abel, whom Cain murdered.  In light of Balaam’s pronouncement against Moab, one might expect the sons of Sheth to be found among Moab’s offspring.  Despite the Bible’s prolific genealogies, they’re not.  This creates a quandary for Bible translators.  Since all the peoples of the world have their origin from Seth (from whom Noah descended), interpreting this as all the sons of Seth would include all peoples.  This seems confusing since Moab’s ruin, not worldwide judgment, seems to be the gist of Balaam’s prophesy.  Furthermore, all peoples being cursed would also include Israel who is being blessed in this same utterance.  So to get around this conundrum, most English translations say “Sheth” (i.e., some anonymous person, presumably a Moabite)  or “tumult,” a totally different word imported from Jeremiah 48:45 having similar phrasing as Numbers 24:17.

We in the 21st century have a decisive advantage in understanding this prophecy than Balaam did.  The Holy Spirit, as the capital “A” Author of Balaam’s prophecy, has been given to us to unveil Jesus’ glory in Scripture to transform us into the same image from glory to glory (2Co 3:18).  By the Spirit we view the Old Testament with Christ goggles on.  Jesus spoke plainly, “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44 CSB).  We know that Jesus has fulfilled the Star out of Jacob and Scepter out of Israel.  It is this same Star and Scepter who is said to break down all the sons of Sheth. 

By comparing Scripture with Scripture, interpreting the “sons of Sheth” is limited to what is written of Adam’s son Seth.  “Adam was 130 years old when he fathered a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth” (Gen 5:3 CSB, emphasis added).  From Adam and Eve’s perspective, Seth was a substitute for Abel.  From God’s perspective, Seth substituted His image with Adam’s defective one, distorted and defaced by sin.  All mankind, as sons of Seth, has inherited this sinful replacement image. 

In Old Testament times the Lord could discipline wayward Israel using foreign armies, but could never remedy the true problem: that ruined heart molded into Adam’s likeness and image.  Out of this substitute image came Israel’s unbelief, idolatry and waywardness that necessitated the Lord’s external discipline—Egyptian armies and Moabite armies and Babylonian armies and Roman armies.  By the time Jesus came as their Messiah, many Jews missed Him because they expected a King David-like conqueror who dealt merely with externals—defeating Roman oppressors just like the Philistines of old.  Jesus, however, came to deal with the earthquake of sin in all the sons of Seth at its epicenter, not superficially at its outwardly destructive behaviors.  God’s Messiah came to save His people from their sins.  So He had to defeat sin where it all begins: in the heart.  To save His people He had to break down the ruined image passed from Adam to Seth and restore God’s image originally in Adam.

Our Lord Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil that infected the image of God in mankind.  At the cross He defeated sin and all its virulent manifestations once and for all.  Having made purification for sins, Christ sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, where He wields His scepter most effectively to destroy the sons of Seth—in our hearts.  As the Spirit unveils Christ as Morning Star (2Pe 1:19-21) day after day, Christ exercises His scepter, His Spirit, in you and me.  Jesus Christ our Savior richly pours out the Holy Spirit on us to renew us, Titus 3:5-6 says.  The Spirit of Christ progressively breaks down that substituted fallen image of Adam and renews us in the image of the new Adam, Jesus!

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Col 3:10 (ESV)

“Being renewed” means to change from a corrupt state into a new kind of life.  This change consists of breaking down the corrupted image of Adam and renovating it after the image of our Creator—Jesus, as Colossians 1 trumpets.  Experientially this happens little by little, day by day.  Neither Rome nor my new self are built in a day.  Perhaps you’ve seen TV shows about radical renovations of old homes.  Extreme home makeovers is the Spirit’s ministry in us today.  He breaks down the dilapidated image of Seth in me and renovates it to a beautiful paradise where the Lord feels at home.  Wow!  How awesome is that!