And Three More Examples from History (Jude 11)

Jude’s briefness hides the depth of the material he references. He likes to simply mention facts and stories that his readers would have been familiar with, that today might require a bit more fleshing out. Such is the case of his next historic triad of stories: Cain, Balaam, and Korah. Although they are all Biblical stories that we have still today, there is a lot of Jewish tradition surrounding the accounts that Jude likely had in mind.

Cain was the first son of Adam and Eve mentioned in the Bible. Famous as the first murderer, that is not the extent of his sin, and likely not what Jude is wanting to highlight here. We are told that both Cain and his brother Abel practiced the first form of religion after the fall of mankind. Who told them that they needed to relate to God through sacrifices? We don’t know. Whatever form of religion they developed—whether their own invention or inspired—does not matter. What matters is that Abel saw some form of benefit from his sacrifice, while Cain did not. And Cain was jealous of the blessing that he saw in Abel’s life. That is what led to the first murder. God warned Cain that his jealousy was endangering him, as, “sin is crouching at the door.” Sin was ready to pounce and consume Cain.

Jude says that the false teachers are like Cain, in that they desire more than what God is offering and will attack other people in an effort to grasp at blessings they want but do not have. Selfish, loveless, desire for blessing and gain is a hallmark of false doctrine.

Balaam is known today more for his talking donkey than for his sin. Indeed, the sin is not clearly spelled out in the Bible. In Numbers 22-24, we read that the Moabite king summoned Balaam to magically curse Israel. But Balaam was not allowed by God to curse His people. Instead, he had to bless them. However, here in Jude as well as in other parts of the Bible (Numbers 31:16, 2 Peter 2:15, and Revelation 2:14) we see hints at what history tells us about Balaam. After he could not curse Israel and force God to take His blessing off the people, he helped the king turn Israel away from God. Apparently it was his strategic plan to get Israel to be tempted by Moabite women to commit apostasy.

Balaam’s sin is even more clearly a use of false teaching for personal gain. In his case it was financial gain. However, anyone who teaches licentious, sensually pleasing doctrine for any sort of gain is following the example of Balaam.
Korah is not as well known today as Cain, or even Balaam. His story is found in Numbers as well (chapter 16). Korah and his followers were not content with their role in the ceremonial service God established. They did not want Moses and the priests to lead, but instead wanted to have more power for themselves. God did not take their rebellion lightly. Jewish traditional history expands Korah’s sin to adding new forms of worship and sacrifice, not just grasping at authority.

We often see examples of false teaching that are an attempt to gain a following. It is a sobering message we see here in Jude, not to use leadership and doctrine to empower ourselves through a following or fandom. Stick to the tried and true (and dare I say, boring old established) Biblical doctrine. Coming up with “new teaching” or “new discoveries” in the Bible is a sure-fire way to make a name for yourself. But it is the wrong way!