Commentaries:
In examining the records of Cain, Balaam, and Korah, we could name several commonalities, but one in particular stands out. All three of these men were intensely self-willed. They all understood what God wanted from them, yet they consciously chose to follow their own wills instead. Jude's whole epistle shows that all his descriptions of those troubling the church would fit under the banner of "self-will." These men are noted for exercising their will to achieve their own ends without any real concern about God's will.
By way of contrast, consider the outcome if Jesus Christ had used their approach when He came to decision points in His life. Imagine if, when the time came for Him to be the sin offering for all of mankind, He decided that He wanted to fulfill only the grain offering—maybe, like Cain, He just wanted to be devoted to His fellow man instead of making a blood sacrifice. Perhaps He could have healed every person in Jerusalem—or even all Judea—given lasting encouragement, and even bestowed a lot of money on the poor. Those could all be good works, yet that self-willed choice would have been evil in its effects because it would have thwarted the benevolent purpose that God had established at the foundation of the world.
Suppose Christ's head had been turned by Satan's offer of all the kingdoms of the world, which would have included all of the temporal rewards or profits that He could dream of. What if, like Balaam, He had been motivated by immediate gain for Himself rather than the long-term benefit of all mankind? Thankfully, He persevered and rejected the bribe that would have cursed us all forever.
Imagine if, like Korah, Jesus had been more concerned about His position and less about His service. What if He had decided that being equal with God was something "to be grasped at" and that His proper place was at the top instead of taking on the form of a bondservant (Philippians 2:6-7)? We would have no hope!
However, Jesus Christ was not self-willed. At every turn, He submitted to the Father, knowing that circumstances would work out for the best. Our salvation and every uncountable blessing we receive along the way result from His saying to our Father, "Not as I will, but as You will." For us to be sons and daughters of the Most High God as well, we must likewise practice saying to Him, "Not as I will, but as You will."
David C. Grabbe
A Warning from Jude (Part Three)
Jude relates that those he is warning against "have . . . perished in the rebellion of Korah." The crux of Korah's story appears in the opening verses of Numbers 16:
Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" (Numbers 16:1-3)
Korah and his ilk make common cause with their fellowman to achieve their own ends. Theirs was a message of equality and populism, but all they were really concerned about was their own positions.
What they said contained a measure of truth: The whole congregation was technically holy (meaning it had been set apart), and yes, the Lord was among them. However, what these men had overlooked is that God puts people where He wants them. In verses 8-10, Moses points out the honor and privilege God had already given to these men, but this was not enough for them. They wanted to climb further up the ladder. In verses 11 and 30, Moses says that their agitating for change in the God-given order of things was, in reality, an assault against God and a rejection of Him. They did not trust the way that God had ordered His congregation, believing that they could do a better job! In the end, they all died terrifying deaths because of their rebellion against their Sovereign.
Sadly, even after their swift judgment, the seeds of rebellion they had planted continued to grow. The next day, the whole congregation—the one that was "holy" and had "the LORD among them"—complained against Moses and Aaron, accusing them of killing "the people of the LORD." In response, God sent a plague, and when it was all over, an additional 14,700 people had died! Not only that, but a great many more would have died if it had not been for the intercession of Moses and Aaron. Verse 45 suggests that God was ready to consume every single Israelite except for Moses and Aaron.
This example is especially relevant within the church of God today, as we see leaders and would-be leaders jockeying for position and influence. We see titles like "apostle" and "prophet" being taken on, but it is not obvious that God has installed them in those offices. We see men agitating to be out front, not content to serve from behind. The apostle Paul spends a significant amount of space explaining that those in the Body have been placed where God wants them (I Corinthians 12:18), just as God placed Moses, Aaron, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in their respective positions. God considers it rebellion to push against His ordering of things, warning in Proverbs 24:21 not to associate with those trying to bring about such a change. The verb tense in Jude 11 concerning Korah indicates their fate is already sealed: They are doomed to perish.
David C. Grabbe
A Warning from Jude (Part Three)
Jude says the men he warns about "have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit." The Greek word translated as "have run greedily" means "to pour out," with the sense that these people rush uninhibitedly toward the object of their desire. There is no restraint—their self-indulgence is obvious in their actions. A similar description of Balaam is found in II Peter 2:15, where Balaam is also noted for his motivation for material gain: "They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness."
Numbers 22:18-21 exemplifies Balaam's nature:
Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me." And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do." So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.
Here, we see the antagonist happily overlooking God's Word and intent for what suited him better. God says, "If the men come to call you," and Balaam says, "Let's go!" In his sermon "Balaam and the End-Time Church (Part One)," Richard Ritenbaugh notes Balaam's approach to what God says and how it is repeated today:
In our modern way, we have turned it around: "Well, the Bible doesn't say that you can't do this." Others put it as, "There is no 'Thus saith the Lord' about this"—though there may be dozens of verses that say that one should not do it because of this, that, or something else. Or, there may be a whole story about someone who does something, illustrating a principle of a way we should not go. Nevertheless, because Scripture does not specifically say, "You shall not do this," then many people think it is okay to do it.
This is how it was with Balaam: He took God's conditional permission as absolute permission. He was not concerned about what God truly wanted. Blinded by greed, he was willing to use whatever mental gymnastics necessary and take any leeway offered to arrive at his desired answer. He turned the grace of God into a license for evil.
The King James Version uses the phrase "for reward" rather than "for profit" in Jude 11. Silver and gold were the rewards that Balaam was after; he was driven by materialism. But there are other types of rewards as well. In Matthew 6:1-2, Jesus warns about doing charitable deeds to be seen by men, saying that those who do this already have their reward, a positive reputation with other men. A reward can vary from person to person, depending on what one values and is motivated by. While Balaam was motivated by silver and gold, the men Jude warns of may have been motivated by influence or prestige rather than just money. Nevertheless, the transgression is the same: compromising with what God says for personal gain.
In the letter to Pergamos, Christ calls Balaam's error "the doctrine of Balaam": "But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine [or teaching] of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality" (Revelation 2:14).
Jesus links the teaching of Balaam with putting a stumbling block before Israel and encouraging people to become involved with idolatry and sexual immorality. Balaam counseled Balak to encourage the Israelites to turn away from God, even as he was claiming he was devoted to God and that he could only speak what God gave him to say. While he undoubtedly had a certain respect for God—respect for His power—at the core, he was a mercenary, willing to say or do whatever was necessary to get the earthly reward he wanted. He spoke what God gave him to speak but still worked the circumstances so he could also receive Balak's payment.
The "error of Balaam" can be encapsulated as compromising with the Word of God for personal gain, in whatever form that might take.
David C. Grabbe
A Warning from Jude (Part Two)
In these seven verses, Jude expands on his general description of false teachers in verse 4. He compares them in turn to the unbelieving Israelites, to the angels that sinned, and finally to the perverts in Sodom and vicinity. He is giving examples of the three major hallmarks of apostasy:
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Unbelief, the Israelites' major failing.
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Rebellion, which the angels who sinned did.
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Immorality, what occurred in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Unbelief, rebellion, and immorality all result in divine judgment and punishment. The Israelites died in the wilderness, the angels that sinned were placed under restraint, and Sodom and Gomorrah were blasted off the face of the earth. We cannot find better examples of divine judgment and punishment than these.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Jude
The apostle provides the examples of Cain, Balaam, and Korah as illustrative of apostates. All of them were rebellious and anti-God at the core but in different ways.
Cain's sin manifested itself in a sullen, selfish hatred that ended up in murder. Balaam's sin was manifested in the form of covetousness and greed, which he used to induce others to sin. (Recall that Jesus says in Matthew 5:19 that whoever teaches against God's law will be least in the Kingdom. These men may not even be there at all. Balaam certainly taught others to sin.)
Korah's sin manifested itself in speaking against the God-appointed authority and attracting a following to wrest away an office that was not his. He is forever an example of that, reaching above his station, as it were. We do not hear much about rising above one's station in these democratic days, but the church is not a democratic society. The church is God's Family, and He places people in His body as it pleases Him (I Corinthians 12:18). Korah had been placed in Israel in a certain spot, and he tried to go above his station, persuading others to do the same and support him in his coup—and he ended up as a black spot in the wilderness of Sinai along with many of his supporters.
Jude, then, is not only showing sin, but also God's judgment and severe punishments for sin.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Jude
"They have gone in the way of Cain" could be translated as "they have traveled down Cain's path." Cain holds the distinction of being the world's first murderer, but his killing of his brother came quite a long way down the path. To understand "the way of Cain," we have to go back to the head of the trail:
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. (Genesis 4:3-8)
A couple of other scriptures touch on this incident. Hebrews 11:4 teaches us, "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous." In I John 3:12, the aged apostle states that Cain murdered his brother "[b]ecause his works were evil and his brother's righteous." "Evil" may seem like a strong word to describe an offering made to God—his only recorded "work" before the murder—but that is how John classifies it!
Several Greek words can be translated as "evil," but the one John uses focuses on the effect or the influence of an act more than the act itself. In other words, it was good that Cain brought an offering and that he made it "in the process of time" or "at the appointed [or designated] time." Even so, it was evil in its effects because of what was missing.
The fact that Abel made an offering "by faith" means that God had already taught them about sacrifices, and Abel obeyed. As Paul writes in Romans 10:17, "[F]aith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The sacrifices, then, were not something Cain and Abel dreamed up. They were being held to a definite standard, which is why God was pleased with one and not the other. The brothers were not in doubt about what God required of them. On the contrary, one was faithful in his response, and the other believed he could worship God on his own terms.
To understand what happened, we must refer to the instructions for the sacrifices found in Leviticus. In particular, a grain offering could not be offered without a whole burnt offering, and neither could be offered until a sin offering had first been made. God is specific in His instructions because of what the various offerings represent. Notice, though, that Cain's offering was of "the fruit of the ground," which indicates a grain offering without the offerings that were supposed to precede it. Abel, on the other hand, brought an offering from the firstborn of his flock, a description that reveals that Abel's offering was either a whole burnt offering or a sin offering.
Whatever the case, Cain, at the very least, ignored God's instructions regarding an appropriate sacrifice, and thus, his offering did not please God. But when we consider what the various offerings represent, his carelessness becomes quite grievous. In short, the sin offering represents the sinless life of the Savior, given to pay a life-debt so that man might continue living. The whole burnt offering represents a man's wholehearted devotion to God. The grain offering represents a man's devotion to his fellow man.
Putting this together, Cain's offering suggests that he was devoted to his fellow man, but his offering leaves out any thought of devotion to God, let alone atonement and reconciliation with Him. Cain, we might say, was the original humanist—he was focused on the human aspect over the divine, whereas the true path consists of love toward God and fellow man (Matthew 22:37-40). In a twist of terrible irony, when God rejected Cain's offering, he lashed out and killed the fellow man to which he had symbolically claimed devotion! On top of that, he was cursed to become a fugitive and a vagabond, always living apart from his fellow man (Genesis 4:12).
In summary, the "way of Cain" includes religion and worship on one's own terms, with more faith in one's own righteousness than in God's. It also contains a humanistic bent that believes that we can have good relationships with others even without first being reconciled with God and wholly devoted to Him. It can involve works that may appear good on the surface but end up being evil in their effect or influence. The way of Cain is about shortcuts for the sake of expediency rather than submitting to the pattern that God has set forth.
David C. Grabbe
A Warning from Jude (Part One)
In his warning against false Christians, Jude refers to the "way of Cain," and the rest of the epistle details the men he is warning against (Jude 3-4, 8, 10-18). To summarize, the "way of Cain" is religion or worship on one's own terms, even though the person may claim loyalty to God and use the Bible to some degree to back up his practices.
Genesis 3:13-15 could indicate that Eve and Cain thought he was the promised Seed who would crush the head of the serpent. If Cain believed he was a messianic figure, he certainly would have followed a religion on his own terms! As Jude shows, the way of Cain manifests itself in unbelief, rebellion against authority, perversion, ungodliness, turning God's grace into license, and denying the Father and the Son—not denying their existence but denying God's authority and the need for Christ's sacrifice and redemptive work. Jude shows that those linked with the way of Cain are grumblers and complainers, living according to their own desires, using flattery to gain advantage, seeking material wealth, and causing division, yet having a veneer of righteousness and spirituality.
The story of Cain reveals a man who was not nearly interested enough in the whole story, particularly the truth about himself. He made assumptions regarding his standing with God, what God required and desired, God's grace, and how prophecy must be fulfilled. He was not interested in details that would contradict who he was—or who he thought he was.
Sometimes, as in this speculation regarding Cain, we cannot know the whole story. But it is definitely in our best interest to find out the whole story when it comes to where we stand with God and how we should be responding to Him. Cain lost interest in these things because he decided he already knew "the rest of the story." We need not share in Cain's wretched ending if we will make the effort to get all the facts straight and all the details worked out regarding our understanding of God, our standing with Him, and our following His will for our lives.
David C. Grabbe
Cain's Assumption (Part Two)
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Jude 1:11:
2 Kings 4:27-31
Jude 1:11
Jude 1:11
