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Numbers 24 β€” Commentary 4
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Matthew Henry
24:1-9 Now Balaam spake not his own sense, but the language of the Spirit that came upon him. Many have their eyes open who have not their hearts open; are enlightened, but not sanctified. That knowledge which puffs men up with pride, will but serve to light them to hell, whither many go with their eyes open. The blessing is nearly the same as those given before. He admires in Israel, their beauty. The righteous, doubtless, is more excellent than his neighbour. Their fruitfulness and increase. Their honour and advancement. Their power and victory. He looks back upon what had been done for them. Their power and victory. He looks back upon what had been done for them. Their courage and security. The righteous are bold as a lion, not when assaulting others, but when at rest, because God maketh them to dwell in safety. Their influence upon their neighbours. God takes what is done to them, whether good or evil, as done to himself. 24:10-14 This vain attempt to curse Israel is ended. Balak broke out into a rage against Balaam, and expressed great vexation. Balaam has a very full excuse; God restrained him from saying what he would have said, and constrained him to say what he would not have uttered. 24:15-25 Under the powerful influence of the Spirit of prophecy, Balaam foretold the future prosperity and extensive dominion of Israel. Balaam boasts that his eyes are open. The prophets were in old times called seers. He had heard the words of God, which many do who neither heed them, nor hear God in them. He knew the knowledge of the Most High. A man may be full of the knowledge of God, yet utterly destitute of the grace of God. He calls God the Most High and the Almighty. No man could seem to express a greater respect to God; yet he had no true fear of him, love to him, nor faith in him; so far a man may go toward heaven, and yet come short of it at last. Here is Balaam's prophecy concerning Him who should be the crown and glory of his people Israel; who is David in the type; but our Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah, is chiefly pointed at, and of him it is an illustrious prophecy. Balaam, a wicked man, shall see Christ, but shall not see him nigh; not see him as Job, who saw him as his Redeemer, and saw him for himself. When he comes in the clouds, every eye shall see him; but many will see him, as the rich man in hell saw Abraham, afar off. He shall come out of Jacob, and Israel, as a Star and a Sceptre; the former denoting his glory and lustre; the latter his power and authority. Christ shall be King, not only of Jacob and Israel, but of all the world; so that all shall be either governed by his golden sceptre, or dashed in pieces by his iron rod. Balaam prophesied concerning the Amalekites and Kenites, part of whose country he had now in view. Even a nest in a rock will not be a lasting security. Here is a prophecy that looks as far forward as to the Greeks and Romans. He acknowledges all the revolutions of states and kingdoms to be the Lord's doing. These events will make such desolations, that scarcely any will escape. They that live then, will be as brands plucked out of the fire. May God fit us for the worst of times! Thus Balaam, instead of cursing the church, curses Amalek the first, and Rome the last enemy of the church. Not Rome pagan only, but Rome papal also; antichrist and all the antichristian powers. Let us ask ourselves, Do we in knowledge, experience, or profession, excel Balaam? No readiness of speech, even in preaching or prayer, no gifts of knowledge or prophecy, are in themselves different from, or superior to the boasted gifts of him who loved the wages of unrighteousness, and died the enemy of God. Simple dependence on the Redeemer's atoning blood and sanctifying grace, cheerful submission to the Divine will, constant endeavours to glorify God and benefit his people, these are less splendid, but far more excellent gifts, and always accompany salvation. No boasting hypocrite ever possessed these; yet the feeblest believer has something of them, and is daily praying for more of them.
Illustrator
He set his face toward the wilderness. Numbers 24:1-9 The face set toward the wilderness Dean Vaughan. Evidently there is a change at this point in Balaam's method. Hitherto he has played the soothsayer. At last he confesses himself vanquished, and instead of renewing the practices of his magic science, awaits, with eye fixed upon the waste distant desert, a revelation different in kind from any that have gone before it. It was a turning-point in his strange history. Not the first, nor the greatest, yet real, and, would he have had it so, saving. He has learned the helplessness of man striving with his Maker. He has learned the futility of approaching the God of truth with a lie in the right hand. He has learned that to "set the face toward the wilderness" is the one hope and wisdom of inquiring man; to look away from enchantments; to look away from courts and crowds, from pleasures and businesses; to look away from types and forms, and to fix the earnest gaze upon that solitude of earth and heaven which is the presence of the soul in the presence of God. The crisis was lost, we know, upon Balaam. The dreams of avarice and of worldliness prevailed in him, even over the open vision. We cannot alter his destiny; let us learn something from this incident. 1. There is in all of us a strange reluctance to the thing here described β€” this setting of the face toward the wilderness where God is alone. I might say many things to you of the ministerial man β€” the man, I mean, whose office it is to communicate with God for the edification of His people. How often, when this ministry, the Church's prophesying, is to be, exercised, does the indolent, the half-hearted, the perfunctory minister run to his "enchantments"; to his books and to his manuscripts, to his commentaries; to the old "bakemeats," his own or another's, which have done duty before, and can be made "coldly to furnish forth" another "table"! How often β€” to change the illustration β€” does the abler, the more ingenious, the more eloquent minister betake himself to his task of preparation for preaching by a mustering of his own gifts of argument, of rhetoric, of pathos and persuasiveness, as the enchantments by which he is to bring God into these hearts I How often does a man β€” to use the prophet's strange but expressive metaphor β€” "sacrifice to his net, and burn incense to his drag"; pay the homage of a gratified vanity to his own performance, count instead of weighing his hearers, and set down all to his own credit in prophesying, of which he should rather say to himself in deepest self-humiliation, "What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" 2. Yet think not that the Balaams of this age are all prophets, or that the warning is only for the professional teacher. I seem to see a place for it in these lives which minister and people live in common. How often, in the anxious questionings which life brings to all of us β€” at those dubious turnings which compel decision, and cannot be decided upon twice over β€” is the temptation powerfully present to seek for some "enchantment" of discrimination between the wrong for us and the right! Who has not made advice such an "enchantment"? "In the multitude of counsellors there is safety"; but then the counsellors must be well chosen, must be honestly sought, must be diligently informed, must be faithfully followed. 3. I would add a word upon the application of the text not to the life, but to the soul. Side by side with a bold scepticism which simply passes by the gospel on the other side there is also an anxiety, a curiosity, to hear, which secures an audience wheresoever there is a preacher, which stimulates all manner of agencies for bringing home the gospel. In the same degree the warning is more urgent, that we confound not, in these highest matters, the "enchantments" and the "wilderness." Who feels not in himself the easiness of listening and the difficulty of praying? Who is not conscious of the temptation to compound for inward torpor by outward bustle, and to make a multiplication of services and communions an apology for neglect and shameful sloth in the nearer and more intimate converse between the soul and its God? ( Dean Vaughan. ) Balaam... the man whose eyes are open. β€” Balaam -- the open eye J. B. Brown, B. A. An open eye is a rare thing even in the matters of common experience. They are the few who can see clearly the things which God has set round them in their daily paths. Men of science tell us that it is difficult to meet with a competent observer of even the simplest and most familiar phenomena. Lawyers complain that a good witness, who can tell what he knows, and only what he knows, is as rare. It is supposed by experienced persons that a fact is just the most difficult thing in the world to get at, so few walk with their eyes open and care to make themselves simply conductors of truth. We see things through mists which take the colours of prejudice or passion, and it is but a vague outline of them which meets our sight. "Lord, that our eyes may be opened," is a prayer full of meaning for all of us as we move amidst the realities of our daily lives. In the higher sphere of the being the open eye is rarer still. The realities in that region are solemn things to look upon. There is something awful in their grandeur, and even in their beauty. A man needs courage and faith to face them as they are. I. Balaam was A MAN WHOSE EYE WAS OPEN IN HIS DAY. He was a man of splendid natural genius. We puzzle over the definition of genius; but perhaps it is only the open eye, the power to see things simply as they are. In every sphere of man's intellectual activity the man of genius is the seer. II. Balaam's is at the same time A CHARACTER OF SINGULAR PERPLEXITY. He had both the open eye and the itching palm. And this condition is far from rare. Splendid endowments are often mated with moral narrowness or feebleness. With many of these men of insight, men with the seer's power, there is a flaw in the thoroughness somewhere. But then these men, when their genius possesses them, rise above the sphere of their humiliation; the temptations which ensnare them snap like the withes of Samson; they see clearly, and declare with the freedom and the force of prophets the things which have been shown to them by the Lord. Lord Bacon may have been capable of very poor ambitions, very grovelling thoughts and actions; but when his genius possessed him, when he loosed his splendid faculty in the quest of truth, the simplest fact became sacred to him; he would not have dared to misrepresent or to tamper with what he saw for worlds. It was thus with Balaam. On the lower level of his life he was grovelling; but when God took possession of his genius he yielded it readily, and then he was true as steel to the vision. III. THE MAN WHOSE EYES WERE OPEN SAW SOME THINGS WITH STARTLING CLEARNESS. Some words of his ring out like trumpet notes through the field of life's battle; they are conceived with a vividness and expressed with a force which makes them prophetic for all ages; we hear from his lips the words of God. 1. The only word which a man can say with power is truth. The word that God also saith, that shall stand ( Numbers 22:38 ). The counsellor who knows the Divine plan is the man who has power. The position of the Jews among the nations, and the influence which they wielded, which is popularly much under-estimated, rested wholly on the fact that they knew as no other nation knew the Divine counsels, they held the key to the mystery of all these worlds. Balaam saw that the trickster and liar is impotent. Laocoon, locked in the serpent wreaths, wrestling madly, but with the death agony in his face, is not more powerless than the monger of falsehood to escape his doom. The gain is there, it is always there; you can have it if you like by cheating and lying. Balaam saw it, and there was that within him which longed for it. But his eye was open; he dared not touch it. He saw the pure folly as well as the shame of dreaming of it, of thinking that anything but truth, right, and the blessing of God can stand a man in any stead in life, in death, and in the great court of Heaven. 2. He saw with that open eye that the man who stands with God stands absolutely beyond the reach of harm ( Numbers 23:23 ). 3. There was a third thing that Balaam saw. The man whom God blesses is blessed; the man whom God curses is cursed, absolutely and for ever. ( J. B. Brown, B. A. ) How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob. The prosperity of the Church Bp. Babington. With great admiration he beginneth to declare the future prosperity of that people, and doth it by six similitudes. 1. As the valleys are they stretched forth, or as the rivers say some, which coming from one head spread themselves into great broad waters, so this people having sprung from Jacob, one patriarch, hath spread into this multitude, and yet further shall spread into many more. 2. "As gardens by the river's side." Such gardens are watered so by the rivers as if the heat be never so great, yet they are not burned up. So shall this people in all adversities and dangers be preserved by the power and blessing of God till the coming of the Messiah, and overcome by no assaults of Satan and his instruments. 3. "As the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted." 4. "As the cedar trees beside the waters," which, growing to a great height, notably show how this people with their offspring should wonderfully grow with their virtue and famous acts, getting a great name in the world. 5. "The water droppeth out of his bucket"; that is, as such water floweth abroad, so shall this people abound with the water of heavenly doctrine and wisdom, and from them be spread to other nations plentifully, according to that "Out of Sion shall a law go, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." 6. "His seed shall be in many waters." As seed that is cast into a field well watered soon springeth and beareth fruit, so this people. These are the prophetical resemblances of this people Israel, which do still declare unto us the flourishing and happy state of God's Church, whatsoever worldly men conceive and think. The Church is the tabernacle of God, wherein He dwelleth, and familiarly with His chosen as with His domestics and household servants converseth, providing things necessary both for this life and that to come. The Church is that little river which spreadeth itself far and wide throughout the world. The Church is that well-watered garden, set with sweet trees casting forth the fragrant smell of life, of the knowledge of God and of virtue, whereof Solomon in his Canticles: "My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, as a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed up." The Church is that shadow that yieldeth comfortable cooling, in the sense and feeling of God's wrath to sin. It is that cedar planted by the water-side, and growing so high, whereof the prophet in the Psalm: "The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Such as be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in their age; they shall be fat and flourishing," &c. The Church is that bucket, containing doctrine of life, and dropping it out to the comfort of souls. Finally, that seed shall live again in the life to come, and for ever spring and flourish. ( Bp. Babington. ) Balaam's third parable: the glory of the people of God W. Jones. I. THE PREPARATION OF THE PROPHET TO DECLARE THE DIVINE WILL. 1. Balaam renounces the search for auguries. 2. He beholds the encampment of Israel. 3. He is inspired by the Holy Spirit. 4. He hears Divine words and sees Divine visions. II. THE DECLARATION BY THE PROPHET OF ISRAEL'S GLORY. 1. Their beautiful appearance. (1) Beauty β€” (a) Of order. (b) Of culture and fertility. (2) Fragrance. (3) Majesty. 2. Their prosperous condition. 3. Their exalted position. 4. Their conquering power. (1) Great strength. (2) Great conquests. (3) Great security. (4) Great influence. ( W. Jones. ) Balaam's third parable F. Whitfield, M. A. Seen from the top of the rocks, everything about Israel is perfection. Had we been down in the valley, and looked into them from an earthly standpoint, we should have seen deformity enough. But from God's presence everything is changed. But mark the figures under which this beauty is described. "As valleys are they spread forth." These are the valleys watered by the river; these are the people of God, made beautiful by the refreshing streams of living water which flow down from the throne of God. Not yet are they as watered "valleys," but as "gardens by the river's side." This is a richer description still. They are the garden of the Lord. They are the plants planted by the Father. They have been taken out of the world β€” transplanted β€” and are now to "bring forth much fruit." The streams from "the river of God" find their way to the roots of their spiritual life; and thus they become fruitful. Jesus is the source of their life and their fruitfulness. And in all this we see growth β€” "as the valleys are they spread forth; as gardens by the river's side." The entire figure implies sanctification β€” growth in grace. There will always be three kinds of growth where the soul is really abiding in Jesus. There will be the outward growth as the "lily" β€” the life before men; the hidden growth as the "roots" of Lebanon β€” the life before God; and the relation toward men as the "branches spreading," the influence which they cast around. But the figure grows in richness: "as trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted." The aloe tree was highly valued on account of its fragrance, and it was the tree from which the incense was prepared. Thus the believer abiding in Jesus is a " sweet savour" of Christ. The fragrance of that blessed One is diffused far and wide through him. He is beautiful with the beauty which the Lord puts upon him. His "scent is as the wine of Lebanon." And to what cause is all this fragrance due? To the "Lord's planting." There is one more step in advance in the spiritual life in this verse: "as cedar trees beside the waters." As the "lily" and "trees of Lebanon" in the passage, in Hosea, so here. The growth of the believer is brought before us under the loftiness of the cedar tree, its luxuriance, and the durability of its wood. Now, having noticed what the people of God are as seen in Jesus, let us mark their testimony. "He shall pour the water out of his buckets." The people of God are personified, as a man carrying two pails overflowing with water. A bucket or vessel is empty. It can give nothing. It can only receive. The "buckets" are the "empty vessels" to be filled with "living water" by the Holy Ghost. Like the two pails on a man's shoulder which are filled to the brim, he cannot move a step without the water overflowing. So with the believer abiding in Jesus. He is the empty vessel filled by the Holy Ghost. He cannot move a step without making that influence felt. There will be a trail of living water in his path β€” a track of light in every step of the way. And oh, what empty places there are within us and around us! Within us β€” desires, affections, longings, hopes, aims, plans; without us β€” home, duties, efforts, a weeping Church, and a dying world. Oh, that these "buckets" were filled with the "living water"! Then would gladness be written as with a sunbeam on every brow, and sunshine light up every heart. "His seed shall be in many waters." This is the effect of the outpoured water from the buckets of the believer's soul. He is made a blessing on every side. "His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted." Christ the King of the Jews is to be "higher" than all the kings of this world; and Christ's kingdom "exalted" above all other kingdoms. All this glory is then traced to the first great act of redemption "God brought him forth out of Egypt." Thus deliverance from Egypt and future glory are linked together. "He hath as it were the strength of the buffalo." Here is the power of God abiding with, and resting upon, those whom He has redeemed. Then follows, in connection with their redemption from Egypt, that final triumph and glory. "He shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows." This is the foretold destruction mentioned in the New Testament, which awaits all the enemies of the Lord at His coming. But in the meantime the attitude of the Church of Christ is one of expectation. Her attitude is not one of judgment yet, but one of grace. This is strikingly brought before us in the next clause; "he couched, he lay down as a lion." The "couching" of the lion is always the attitude of expectation β€” looking forward to the moment when he shall spring upon his prey. "Lying down" indicates rest. The believer now rests in Jesus, and awaits His return. In the meantime blessing is his portion β€” "blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee." And we notice how the blessing culminates here. The first was, "How shall I curse, or how shall I defy?" After it was, "He hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it." Lastly, it is "Blessed is he that blesseth thee." This last form in which Balaam expresses himself shows us God's estimate of His people Israel. "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye." ( F. Whitfield, M. A. ) Sermon at reopening of a church J. Clayton, M. A. I. LET US ATTEMPT TO JUSTIFY AND ELUCIDATE THIS SACRED EXCLAMATION. The language is proper. 1. On account of the author of their construction. 2. The beneficial effect of their institution. 3. The pleasantness of their unity. 4. The joys of their fellowships. 5. Their perpetuity, and the certainty of their increase. II. WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE EFFECTS PRODUCED UPON US BY SUCH A SURVEY OF THE ASSEMBLIES OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. We should β€” 1. Cherish a spirit of gratitude for the establishment and increase of these tents of God. 2. Shun all that would impair, and diligently maintain all that would secure the blessing.(1) Guard against lukewarmness, as that which would deface the beauty of ordinances, and rob us of the advantages we might receive from their celebration.(2) Take care of holding the truth in unrighteousness.(3) Be cautious not to violate the true spirit of love.(4) Preserve the vigour of wholesome, salutary discipline; so that the testimony may be borne you from on high, "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience," &c.(5) Follow up all with importunate prayer. "Peace be within thy walls, &c. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," &c. 3. Endeavour to increase the number of those who frequent the tabernacles, and dwell in the tents of Jacob. Imitate the tribes when ambulating in the wilderness. Remember that you are surrounded by those who have no hope. Tell them plainly that you are pilgrims and strangers. Inform them of the privileges you enjoy by the way; of the manna which drops by your door; of the streams which flow from the rock Christ; of the light which guides your feet; of the cloud which screens you from temptation; of the victories you obtain over your foes; of the prospect you have of passing through Jordan safely; and of the rich land of promise which you are shortly about to enter. Press on them not to linger. 4. Anticipate the time when your tents will be struck, and all the ransomed tribes assemble in the tabernacle above. These tents of the Israelites were valuable as they traversed the sands of Arabia; but they left them when they entered on the rest which their prophets had predicted, and their poets sung. And what are our temples? They are only preparatory for the enjoyments of the Canaan above. May it be your privilege to join the tribes of the redeemed as they go up to Zion with everlasting joy upon their heads! ( J. Clayton, M. A. ) Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee. Numbers 24:9 God will be merciful to such as be merciful to the Church W. Attersoll. God will bless those that do good to His people, they shall not lose their labour that favour the Church, but such as are enemies unto them shall find God an enemy unto them. We see how God blessed the house of Laban for Jacob's sake ( Genesis 30:27 ); and the house of Potiphar for Joseph's sake ( Genesis 39:3 ). Rahab, the harlot, receiving the spies and preferring their life before her own life, was herself saved from the common destruction. The widow of Sarepta giving hospitality to Elijah, and offering him part of that poor pittance which was left her and her son in those days of drought, was with all her family miraculously sustained in the famine, continuing three years and six months ( 1 Kings 17:10 ). The Shunamite receiving the prophet Elisha, making him a chamber, providing all necessaries for him. She showed some mercy, but received more mercy; she ministered comfort to the prophet, but herself received more comfort. 1. First, God will honour all those that honour Him, He will despise all those that despise Him. This is the gracious promise that is gone out of His own mouth, which He cannot but verify, for He is not as man that He should lie; He is not as the son of man that He should deceive. This is it which the Lord spake by the mouth and ministry of Samuel concerning Eli and his house ( 1 Samuel 2:30 ). And, therefore, they shall prosper that love the Church ( Psalm 122 ). 2. Secondly, God hath appointed it to be the end of our obedience; our mercy to others shall procure mercy upon ourselves. This the apostle setteth down ( Romans 2:10 ). 3. Thirdly, mercy, a notable fruit of love received, kindleth the hearts, and inflameth the affections of God's people, both to praise God for them, and to pray unto God for them that have been helpful and serviceable to the Church.The uses follow β€” 1. First, from hence we have the confirmation of another holy truth in our Christian religion, that merciful, liberal, and kind men, shall be surely blessed. 2. Secondly, it is our duty to love God's people, seeing such as favour them do fare the better for them. 3. Thirdly, hereby we are warned to exhort one another to this duty, and by all means to provoke one another to mercy, in regard of the great recompense of reward that is laid up for merciful men. 4. Lastly, this doctrine is both a great encouragement unto us in well doing and a great comfort in all adversities. ( W. Attersoll. ) Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam. Numbers 24:10-19 Balaam and Balak D. C. Hughes, M. A. I. THE CAUSE OF BALAK'S ANGER. That Balaam had not fulfilled the terms of his contract (vers. 10, 11). 1. Consider the reason and nature of the contract. Urgency of case. Great reputation of Balaam. 2. Consider the position and reputation of Balaam. (1) He is called a prophet ( 2 Peter 2:16 ). (2) God held communication with him ( Numbers 22:9, 12, 20, 31 ; Numbers 23:4, 5 ). (3) He was also a warrior-chief ( Numbers 31:8 ). (4) He was a man of high gifts of intellect and genius, besides having a knowledge of the true God. 3. Consider how Balaam had failed in his contract ( Numbers 23 ; Numbers 24:1-9 ). II. BALAAM'S SELF-JUSTIFYING ANSWER (vers. 12, 13). 1. Was it true? Yes ( Numbers 22:13-18 ). 2. If true, why did he leave home? He loved money ( 2 Peter 2:15 ). 3. If God Commanded him to go ( Numbers 22:20 ), why was he blamed for going ( Numbers 22:22 )?(1) God's permission was based upon Barnum's strong desire to go. God gave him up to his own lust.(2) God's displeasure arose from the fact that Balaam was so determined to go and do that which he was told he must not do. Sinners must not think that their sin is any the less odious because God permits it. III. BALAAM'S PARABLE (vers. 14-19). 1. The situation.(1) Behind him lay the vast expanse of desert extending to his native Assyria.(2) On his left the red mountains of Edom and Seir.(3) Immediately below him lay the vast encampment of Israel.(4) Beyond them, on the west of Jordan, rose the hills of Palestine β€” the promised land. 2. The parable.(1) The condition of the prophet when he had the vision (ver. 16).(2) The leading subject of the parable β€” the mighty and glorious King of Israel. (a) The prophet sees Him in person. (b) He is able to distinguish His nationality. (c) He sees Him as a mighty conqueror.(3) That this refers to Christ is clear to any one who accepts the testimony of God's Word.Lessons: 1. God intrusts superior talents to men who may abuse them. 2. One besetting sin may be enough to dim the most splendid abilities and destroy the most brilliant reputation. 3. Balaam's failure to curse Israel is a significant type of the fact that he whom God hath blessed can no man curse. ( D. C. Hughes, M. A. ) Spake I not also to thy messengers. Worldly profit should not withdraw us from Christian duties W. Attersoll. Matters of profit must not carry us beyond our calling, we must not pursue them when we have no warrant to desire them. A notable example hereof we have in Gideon, he had a kingdom offered unto him; for the men of Israel said unto him, "Reign thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son's son." He saw no calling from God and therefore refused it, and betook himself to a private life, saying ( Judges 8:22, 23 ). The like we see in our Saviour Christ, He refused to be made a temporal king ( John 6:15 ). We see the disciples of Christ left all, and neglected the service of themselves, and the seeking of their own benefit for the service of God ( Matthew 19:27 ). Whereby we see that albeit profits be in time and place to be looked after, yet we must all look to have our warrant in seeking for them. The reasons remain to be considered, to enforce this truth, and to gain our affections to the embracing of it. 1. For, first, by too much following the profits of this life, we may lose a greater profit. If we should win the world, and lose our souls; if we should catch the riches of this life, and crack ,the peace of a good conscience, it would prove in the end a small gain unto us. 2. Secondly, the things of this life serve only for a season. The hope that we have is this β€” we look for a kingdom. We cannot have a heaven in this life, and another in the life to come.The uses come now to be stood upon. 1. First, we see it is a dangerous bait to be in love with the world. 2. Secondly, we see that our own private respects are not the chief things that we must respect, but seek a sanctified use of the blessings of this life, and a warrant to our consciences for the right using of them. These blessings of God become curses unto us unless we use them lawfully. 3. Lastly, this doctrine serveth to reprove those that esteem earthly things above heavenly, and mind their profits more than their salvation. These invert the course of nature and turn all things upside down, they set the earth above the heavens, and thrust down the heavens beneath the earth. This is like that confusion and disorder which the wise man speaketh of ( Ecclesiastes 10:6, 7 ). ( W. Attersoll. ) I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh. Numbers 24:17-19 Balaam's vision H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A. As I read these words I seem to look on the scene described. What do I see? I see the top of a wild mountain range, and I see altars smoking with sacrifices. Hard by stands Balak, with many slaves bearing costly gifts, gold, and precious stones, and spices, and garments. A little apart is Balaam, that "strange mixture of a man." And now, as he gazes from the high places of Baal, and the altars of idolatry, he sees far below Israel abiding in their tents. There are the banners of the different tribes waving in the wind; the eyes of Balaam are opened, and he recalls the past of Israel's history, and he foresees the future. And now, as we turn aside from this unwilling prophet who utters a blessing, in every word of which there was breathed a curse, what lessons are there for us of to-day. 1. First, we learn the awful danger of trifling with conscience, the whisper of the Holy Spirit within us. Balaam knew what was right, yet desired to do wrong. 2. We learn, too, the sin of trying to make a bargain, or compromise, with God. Hundreds of people are trying to do this, endeavouring to serve God a little, and the world a good deal. They profess to obey God, but only in the matters which they choose. 3. We learn, also, from the story of Balaam's sin, never to neglect a plain duty for the sake of earthly gain. ( H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A. ) Two ways of seeing Christ G. Wagner. Commentators have differed as to the way of explaining the pronoun "him," some referring it to Israel. We need scarcely say that we agree with those who refer to Him who is Jacob's star and sceptre. False as his heart was, the seer saw Him in the spirit of prophecy, and felt that a time would come when he would actually see Him. But the time when Jacob's Star would arise was not come, it was distant, and so he adds, "but not now; I shall behold Him, but not nigh." This seems to be the obvious meaning of the words. But if you look at them in connection with Balaam's state of mind, do they not contain a deeper and more awful meaning? Are they not prophetic of himself, as well as of Christ? β€” of his own awful end, as well as of Israel's great destiny? "I shall see Him!" Yes, when He comes again; but does he express hope that he will share in the Redeemer's glory and Israel's blessedness? No, there is no word of hope, no expression of desire, as in the words of Job, "For I know that my Redeemer liveth," &c. "My Redeemer!" says the afflicted saint, with an appropriating faith; "whom I shall see for myself," he adds, in hallowed longing; but all that the "unrighteous" prophet could say was, "I shall behold Him, but not nigh." In what spirit do we think of that day of which these men speak? All of us, without any exception, will see Christ. "Every eye shall see Him." But how shall we see Him β€” nigh, or afar off? Like Job, or like Balaam? Has it been given us to say with the first, " My Redeemer β€” mine , for He died for me"? Or do we feel β€” must we feel, that we have no. part in His salvation; and that when we see Him, it may be "afar off." ( G. Wagner. ) A Balaam's prophecy of Christ as Star and Sceptre G. Wagner. Balaam, moved by the Spirit, sets forth Jesus in this prophecy in a twofold character β€” as the Giver of light, and as exercising kingly power. I. First, AS THE GIVER OF LIGHT: "There shall come a Star out of Jacob." We all know that the Redeemer is more than once compared in Scripture to the sun ( Malachi 4:2 ; Luke 1:78 ). It is not, perhaps, quite so easy to see why Christ is compared to a "star"; for as the stars shine with a borrowed light, they seem more suited to be illustrations of the followers of Jesus than of the Saviour Himself. And so they are used in Revelation 1:20 of ministers: "The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches"; and by St. Paul of all Christians ( Philippians 2:14 ). Applied to Christ, it may be to teach us how Jesus shines through all the long night of the Church's sorrows. The sun dissipates darkness; where it shines, darkness ceases. It is so with the rule of sin. Into whatever heart Christ shines, there the power of sin is broken. The star gives light without dissipating darkness. It guides the wanderer's feet. So Jesus gives light in the night of affliction. He does not altogether remove it, nor exempt His people from suffering. But they are not left in utter darkness. There is a star in the heavens above, so bright that it can penetrate the darkest cloud, and gladden with its light the loneliness of sorrow. But St. John teaches us something more about this star when he records the words of the glorified Redeemer, "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star" ( Revelation 22:16 ). And why the morning star? The morning star is the last to disappear. It still continues to shine when the rays of the sun have overwhelmed every other light; and thus it is a beautiful emblem of Christ. Is Christ Jesus your Star, your morning Star? Is it to His light that you look? And if any earthborn cloud interrupts His light from your soul, do you look through the cloud, and wait, not impatiently, but earnestly, for its removal? Those false lights with which we encompass ourselves, the sparks of our own kindling, will certainly all go out, and great will be the consternation of those who will then be left in darkness. But if you are looking to Jesus, guided by His light, then your path will get brighter and brighter, until it ends in the perfect light of His presence, a height to which no cloud can rise. Bu
Benson
Benson Commentary Numbers 24:1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. Numbers 24:1 . He went not as at other times β€” At former times; to seek for enchantments β€” The word ???? , from which ?????? , necashim, here rendered enchantments, is derived, signifies to augur, conjecture, search, make trial, find out: 1 Kings 20:33 , it is translated, to observe diligently; Genesis 30:27 , to learn by experience, and, in the margin of Genesis 44:5 , to make trial, although in the text there it is rendered to divine. It certainly is not necessary to understand the word of enchantments. Nor is there any proof that Balaam had had recourse to any on either of the two former occasions. On the contrary, the sacred historian informs us, that he retired both times, not to meet evil spirits, and receive communications from them, but to meet JEHOVAH, and receive intimations of his will, saying to Balak on the first occasion, Whatsoever he showeth me I will tell thee. And both times we read that Jehovah put a word in Balaam’s mouth. All, therefore, that we can reasonably conclude from the passage before us is, that Balaam omitted to do now what he had done before. He went not β€” Retired not, as he had done the former times, for the meeting, or obtaining of divinations, that is, for the purpose of obtaining information from the Lord concerning future things, or to make inquiries about them. M. Saurin seems to be clearly of this opinion, and to consider the expression as signifying no more here than β€œthe revelations which Balsam desired of God concerning the destiny of the Israelites.” Houbigant is of the same mind, observing that the word ?????? nechashim, auguries, is here to be understood in a good sense, because Balaam interpreted the will of the true God, and not the will of the god of Moab, from these auguries. Thus also Le Clerc, paraphrasing the passage, says, β€œHe judged it superfluous to inquire further into the mind of God, as God had sufficiently declared his purpose to bless Israel.” Indeed, as Christ is known to have no communion with Belial, it seems strange that any Christian should ever have imagined that God would thus have made known his will, and thus lay open the secrets of futurity, to a man that had or attempted to have intercourse with evil spirits. See Isaiah 8:19 ; and Isaiah 44:25 ; and Isaiah 47:12 . He set his face toward the wilderness β€” Where Israel lay encamped, expecting what God, of his own accord, would suggest to him concerning this matter. Numbers 24:2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him. Numbers 24:2-3 . The Spirit of God came upon him β€” And is it likely that the Spirit of God would have come upon a sorcerer or enchanter? A prophetic influence from God came upon him, whereby he was enabled to foresee future events, and inspired to utter the following words: The man whose eyes are open β€” Some, confounding ???? shetum, with ??? , or ???? setum, would translate the words, Whose eyes are or were shut, for which there does not seem to be sufficient authority. The Seventy render them, ? ???????? ???? , seeing truly. His eyes indeed had been shut, and he had been blind and stupid, having eyes but not seeing, nor understanding; but God had opened them in a peculiar and prophetical manner. Hence the prophets were called seers, from God’s having opened their eyes. Numbers 24:3 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: Numbers 24:4 He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance , but having his eyes open: Numbers 24:4 . The vision of the Almighty β€” So called properly, because he was awake when the following things were revealed to him. Falling into a trance β€” In the Hebrew it is only falling, namely, fainting and falling to the ground, as the prophets sometimes used to do. Our translators supply the words, into a trance, supposing him to have been in an ecstasy or rapture when he had the vision, as it is probable he was; because it follows, having his eyes open β€” Which implies, that when all his outward senses were locked up, his mind had a clear apprehension of the things which God revealed to him. Numbers 24:5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! Numbers 24:5-6 . How goodly are thy tents, &c. β€” Having seen them pitched in the plains of Moab, ( Numbers 24:2 ,) he thus breaks forth into admiration of their beautiful order, as they lay ranged under their several standards. As the valleys β€” Which often from a small beginning are spread forth far and wide. As gardens β€” Pleasant and fruitful, and secured by a fence. As lign- aloes β€” An Arabian and Indian tree of a sweet smell, yielding shade and shelter both to man and beast; such is Israel, not only safe themselves, but yielding shelter to all that join themselves to them. Which the Lord hath planted β€” Nature, not art. Numbers 24:6 As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. Numbers 24:7 He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. Numbers 24:7 . He shall pour the water β€” That is, God will abundantly water the valleys, gardens, and tress, which represent the Israelites; he will wonderfully bless his people, not only with outward blessings, of which a chief one in those parts was plenty of water, but also with higher gifts and graces, with his word and Spirit, which are often signified by water, and at last with eternal life, the contemplation whereof made Balaam desire to die the death of the righteous. His seed shall be in β€” Rather, by; many waters β€” This may mean, His seed shall be sown in a ground well watered, and consequently shall bring forth a plentiful crop. Or, as many waters are frequently put figuratively for many people, (see Jeremiah 47:2 ; Revelation 17:15 ; Isaiah 32:20 ,) and the flowing out of waters signifies an increase of posterity, the words may here be intended to express, by a metaphor, the great increase of Israel. His king shall be higher than Agag β€” It has been supposed, with great probability, by most commentators, that Agag was the common name of the kings of Amalek, as Pharaoh was of the Egyptian kings, and Abimelech of those of the Philistines. β€œAmalek was a neighbouring country, and therefore is fitly introduced upon the present occasion, and it was likewise at that time a great and flourishing kingdom, being styled ( Numbers 24:20 ) the first of the nations; and therefore for the king of Israel to be exalted above the king of Amalek was really a wonderful exaltation. But, wonderful as it was, it was accomplished by Saul, who smote the Amalekites from Havilah, &c., and took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword, 1 Samuel 15:7-8 . The first king of Israel subdued Agag, the king of the Amalekites. So that it might truly and properly be said, His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted, as it was afterward greatly by David and Solomon.” β€” Newton. Numbers 24:8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. Numbers 24:8-9 . He shall eat up the nations, &c. β€” The expressions in these verses are intended to signify the victories which the Israelites should gain over their enemies, and particularly the Canaanites, and the secure and quiet possession they should have of the land afterward, all which was fulfilled especially in the days of David and Solomon. He couched, he lay down as a lion β€” It is remarkable that God here put into the mouth of Balaam nearly the same expressions which Jacob had used concerning Judah, ( Genesis 49:9 ,) and Isaac concerning Jacob, Genesis 27:29 . And what wonder, considering that all these prophecies proceeded from one and the same spirit? Numbers 24:9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee. Numbers 24:10 And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. Numbers 24:11 Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the LORD hath kept thee back from honour. Numbers 24:12 And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, Numbers 24:13 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? Numbers 24:14 And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. Numbers 24:15 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: Numbers 24:15 . He took up his parable β€” A weighty and solemn speech, delivered in figurative and majestic language, is often termed a parable in Scripture. Such are these prophecies of Balaam; we cannot peruse them without being struck, not only with their beauty, but with their uncommon force and energy. Numbers 24:16 He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance , but having his eyes open: Numbers 24:17 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, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. Numbers 24:17 . I shall see him, &c. β€” β€œRather,” says Bishop Newton, from whose exposition of the prophecies of Balaam many of the following explanatory observations are extracted, β€œI see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh; the future tense in Hebrew being often used for the present. He saw with the eyes of prophecy, and prophets are emphatically styled seers. There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel β€” The star and the sceptre are probably metaphors borrowed from the ancient hieroglyphics, which much influenced the language of the East; and they evidently denote some eminent and illustrious king or ruler, whom he particularizes in the following words: And shall smite the corners of Moab β€” Or the princes of Moab, according to other versions. This was executed by David; for he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive; that is, he destroyed two- thirds, and saved one-third alive. And the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts.” See 2 Samuel 8:2 . And destroy all the children of Sheth β€” β€œIf by Sheth was meant the son of Adam, then all the children of Sheth are all mankind; the posterity of Cain and Adam’s other sons having all perished in the deluge. But it is very harsh to say that any king of Israel would destroy all mankind; and therefore the Syriac and Chaldee soften it, that he shall subdue all the sons of Sheth, and rule over all the sons of men. But the Jerusalem Targum translates it, the sons of the east, namely, the Moabites, lying east of Judea. Rabbi Nathan says that Sheth is the name of a city in the border of Moab. Grotius imagines Sheth to be the name of some famous king among the Moabites. Our Poole says, Sheth seems to be the name of some then eminent, though now unknown, place or prince in Moab, there being innumerable instances of such places or persons, some time famous, but now utterly lost, as to all monuments and remembrances of them.” Numbers 24:18 And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Numbers 24:18 . Edom shall be a possession β€” β€œThis was also fulfilled by David; for throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David’s servants, 2 Samuel 8:14 . David himself, in two of his Psalms, ( Psalm 60:8 ; and Psalm 108:9 ;) hath mentioned together his conquest of Moab and Edom, as they are also joined together in this prophecy.” Seir is the name of the mountains of Edom, which were also possessed by David. Israel shall do valiantly β€” As they did, particularly under the command of David. Numbers 24:19 Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. Numbers 24:19 . Out of Jacob β€” Out of his loins. He that shall have dominion β€” David, and especially Christ. Shall destroy him that remaineth of the city β€” Not only defeat them in the field, but destroy them even in their strongest cities. β€œWe see,” Bishop Newton further observes, β€œhow exactly this prophecy hath been fulfilled in the person and actions of David; but most Jewish as well as Christian writers apply it, primarily, perhaps, to David, but ultimately to the Messiah, as the person chiefly intended, in whom it was to receive its full and entire completion. Onkelos interprets it of the Messiah. Maimonides understands it partly of David, and partly of the Messiah, and with him agree other rabbis. It appears to have been generally understood by the Jews as a prophecy of the Messiah, because the false Christ, who appeared in the reign of the Roman emperor Adrian, assumed the title of Barchochebas, or Song of Solomon of the Star, in allusion to this prophecy, and in order to have it believed that he was the star that Balaam had seen afar off. The Christian fathers, I think, are unanimous in applying this prophecy to our Saviour, and to the star which appeared at his nativity. Origen, in particular, produces it as one of the plainest and clearest prophecies of the Messiah; and both he and Eusebius affirm, that it was in consequence of Balaam’s prophecies, which were known and believed in the East, that the magi, upon the appearance of a new star, came to Jerusalem to worship him who was born king of the Jews. The stream of modern divines and commentators apply the prophecy principally to our Saviour; and by Moab and Edom they understand the enemies and persecutors of the church.” Numbers 24:20 And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever. Numbers 24:20 . He looked upon Amalek β€” From the top of Pisgah, which was exceeding high, and gave him the prospect of part of all these kingdoms, he turned his eyes from the Moabites more to the south and west, and looked on their neighbours the Amalekites. Amalek was the first of the nations β€” Hebrew, the beginning, or first-fruits, so called, either because they were the first of all the neighbouring nations which were imbodied together in one government, or because they were the first who fought against Israel and were vanquished by them. That victory was an earnest and first-fruit of the large harvest of victories which the Israelites should, in due time, get over all their enemies. β€œThe Amalekites appear to have been a very ancient nation. They are mentioned as early as the wars of Chedorlaomer, ( Genesis 14:7 ,) and therefore must have been a nation before the times of Abraham and Lot, and consequently much older than the Moabites or Edomites, or any of the nations descended from those patriarchs. But though they were the most ancient and powerful of the neighbouring nations, yet, says Balaam, their latter end shall be that they perish for ever β€” Here he confirms what God had before denounced by Moses: see Exodus 17:14 . Balaam had before declared that the king of Israel should prevail over the king of Amalek; but here the menace is carried further, and Amalek is consigned to utter destruction. And this sentence was in a great measure executed by Saul, 1 Samuel 15:7 ; afterward more fully by David, 1 Samuel 27:8-9 ; and 1 Samuel 30:1 . And at last, in the days of Hezekiah, the sons of Simeon smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt in their habitations, 1 Chronicles 4:41-43 . And where is the name or nation of Amalek subsisting at this day? What history, what tradition of them is remaining anywhere? They are but just enough known and remembered to show that what God hath threatened he hath punctually fulfilled.” How incontrovertible is the argument arising from hence in favour not only of the truth of Balaam’s prophecy, but of the assurance which Moses had of its truth, and of the certainty of its accomplishment, inasmuch as he recorded it while Amalek was yet a very powerful nation, and thereby risked on its truth and fulfilment all his credit as an historian and his authority as a lawgiver and messenger of God! Numbers 24:21 And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. Numbers 24:21-22 . He looked on the Kenites β€” Commentators are much at a loss to say, with any certainty, who these Kenites were. The most probable account of them, Bishop Newton thinks, is as follows: β€œJethro, the father- in-law of Moses, is called the priest of Midian, Exodus 3:1 ; and Jdg 1:16 , the Kenite. We may infer, therefore, that the Midianites and Kenites were the same, or at least that the Kenites were some of the tribes of Midian. Now of the Kenites, part followed Israel, Jdg 1:6 ; but the greater part, we may presume, remained among the Midianites and Amalekites, 1 Samuel 15:6 . Their situation is said to be strong and secure among the mountains: Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock β€” Wherein is an allusion to the name, the same word in the Hebrew signifying a nest and a Kenite. Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive β€” The Amalekites were to be utterly destroyed, but the Kenites were to be carried captive. Accordingly, when Saul was sent by divine commission to destroy the Amalekites, he ordered the Kenites to depart from among them; for the kindness which some of them showed to Israel, their posterity was saved, 1 Samuel 15:6 . This passage shows that they were wasted, and reduced to a low and weak condition; and as the kings of Assyria carried captive not only the Jews, but also the Syrians and several other nations, ( 2 Kings 16:9 ; 2 Kings 19:12-13 ,) it is most highly probable that the Kenites shared the same fate with their neighbours, and were carried away by the same torrent; and especially as we find some Kenites mentioned among the Jews after their return from captivity,” 1 Chronicles 2:55 . Numbers 24:22 Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. Numbers 24:23 And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this! Numbers 24:23 . Alas, who shall live β€” How calamitous and miserable will the state of the world be, when the Assyrian, and after him the Chaldean, shall overrun and overturn all these parts of the world! Who will be able to keep his heart from fainting under such grievous pressures? Nay, how few will escape the destroying sword! Numbers 24:24 And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever. Numbers 24:24 . From the coast of Chittim β€” A place or people, so called from Chittim, the son of Javan, ( Genesis 10:4 ,) whose posterity were very numerous, and were first seated in the lesser Asia, and from thence sent forth colonies into the islands of the Γ†gean sea, and into Cyprus; afterward into Macedonia and other parts of Greece, and then into Italy. Whence it comes to pass that by this name is understood sometimes Macedonia, as 1Ma 1:1 , and 1Ma 8:5 ; sometimes Italy, as Daniel 11:29-30 ; and sometimes both, as in this place: for he speaks here of the scourge that God had appointed for the Assyrian after he had done God’s work in punishing of his people and the bordering nations. Shall afflict Asshur β€” β€œAsshur signifies the descendants of Asshur, the Assyrians; but their name was of as large extent as their empire, and the Syrians and Assyrians are often confounded together, and mentioned as one people.” Now although the Assyrian and Chaldean empire was subdued by the Medes and Persians, yet the chief afflictions of that people came from two hands, both beyond the sea, and brought to them by ships; first from the Greeks, and then from the Romans. β€œIt is so well known as to require no particular proof that the Grecians, under Alexander, subdued all these countries. The Romans afterward” (who subdued the whole Grecian empire) β€œextended their conquests into the same regions; and, as Dion informs us, Assyria, properly so called, was conquered by Trajan.” And shall afflict Eber β€” That is, the posterity of Eber, the Hebrews, who were the flower and chief of Eber’s children. β€œThe Hebrews were afflicted, though not much, by Alexander himself, yet by his successors the SeleucidΓ¦, and particularly by Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 Maccabees 1. They were worse afflicted by the Romans, who not only subdued and oppressed them, but at last took away their place and nation, and sold and dispersed them over the face of the earth.” So that, although Balaam was commissioned chiefly to bless and prophesy good concerning Israel, yet he here at last foretels that they should be scourged for their sins. He also shall perish for ever β€” Not the Hebrews; they shall have a better end: all Israel shall be saved; but the afflicter or scourge of Asshur and Eber; namely, the Grecian and Roman empire. Thus Balaam, instead of cursing the church, curses Amalek, the first, and Rome, the last enemy of it. β€œIt appears, then,” adds the bishop, β€œthat Balaam was a prophet divinely inspired, or he could never have foretold so many distant events, some of which are fulfilling in the world at this time. And what a singular honour was it to the people of Israel, that a prophet, called from another country, and at the same time a wicked man, should bear testimony to their righteousness and holiness! The commendations of an enemy, among enemies, are commendations indeed. And Moses did justice to himself as well as to his nation in recording these transactions. They are not only a material part of his history, but likewise a strong confirmation of the truth of his religion. Balaam’s bearing witness to Moses, is somewhat like Judas’s attesting the innocence of Christ.” See Dissert. on Prophecies, vol.1. p. 130, and seq. Numbers 24:25 And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his way. Numbers 24:25 . Balaam went to his place β€” To Mesopotamia; though afterward he returned to the Midianites, and gave them that wicked counsel which was put in practice, chap. 25. And it appears, from Numbers 31:8 , that he was slain among the Midianites. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.
Expositors
Expositor's Bible Commentary Numbers 24:1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. 41 BALAAM’S PARABLES Numbers 22:39-41 , Numbers 24:1-9 THE scene is now on some mountain of Moab from which the encampment of the Hebrew tribes in the plain of the Jordan is fully visible. At Kiriath-huzoth, possibly the modern Shihan, about ten miles east of the Dead Sea, and to the south of the Amon valley, preparation for the attempt against Israel’s destiny has been made by a great sacrifice of oxen and sheep intended to secure the good-will of Chemosh, the Baal or Lord of Moab. On the range overhanging the Dead Sea, somewhat to the north of the Amon, perhaps, are the Bamoth-Baal, or high places of Baal, and the "bare height" where Balaam is to seek his auguries and will be met by God. The evening of Balaam’s arrival has been spent in the sacrificial festival, and in the morning Balak and his princes escort the diviner to the Bamoth-Baal that he may begin his experiment. After his usual manner, Balaam pompously requires that great arrangements be made for the trial of auguries by means of which his oracle is to be found. Balak has offered sacrifices to Chemosh; now Jehovah must be propitiated, and seven altars have to be built, and on each of them a bullock and a ram offered by fire. The altars erected, the carcases of the animals prepared, Balaam does not remain beside them to take actual part in the sacrifice. It is, in fact, to be Balak’s, not his; and if the God of Israel should refuse His sanction to the curse, that will be because the offering of the king of Moab has not secured His favour. Accordingly, while the seven wreaths of smoke ascend from the altars, and the invocations of the Divine power which usually accompany sacrifice are chanted by the king and his princes, the soothsayer withdraws to a peak at some distance that he may read the omens. "Peradventure," he says, "Jehovah will come to meet me." It was now a critical hour for the ambitious prophet. He had indeed already found distinction, for who in Moab or Midian could have commanded with so royal an air and received attention so obsequious? But the reward remained to be won. Yet may we not assume that when Balaam reached Moab and saw the pitiable state of what had been once a strong kingdom, the cities half ruined, filled with poor and dejected inhabitants, he conceived a kind of contempt for Balak and perceived that his offers must be set aside as worthless? God met Balaam, we are told. And this may have been the sense in which God met him and put a word into his mouth. What was Moab compared with Israel? A glance at Kiriath-huzoth, a little experience of Balak’s empty boastfulness and the entreaties and anxiety which betrayed his weakness, would show Balaam the vanity of proposing to reinvigorate Moab at the expense of Israel. His way led clearly enough where the finger of the God of Israel pointed, and his mind almost anticipated what the Voice he heard as Jehovah’s declared. He saw the smoke streaming south-eastward, and casting a black shadow between him and Moab; but the sun shone on the tents of Israel, right away to the utmost part of the camp. {Num 22:41} The mind of Balaam was made up. It would be better for him in a worldly sense to win some credit with Israel than to have the greatest honour Moab could offer. Chemosh was in decline, Jehovah in the ascendant. Perhaps the Hebrews might need a diviner when their great Moses was dead, and he, Balaam, might succeed to that exalted office. We never can tell what dreams will enter the mind of the ambitious man, or rather, we do not know on what slender foundations he builds the most extravagant hopes. There was nothing more unlikely, the thing indeed was absolutely impossible, yet Balaam may have imagined that his oracle would come to the ears of the Israelites, and that they would send for him to give favourable auguries before they crossed the Jordan. Rapidly the diviner had to form his decision. That done, the words of the oracle could be trusted to the inspiration of the moment, inspiration from Jehovah, whose superiority to all the gods of Syria Balaam now heartily acknowledged. He accordingly left his place of vision and returned to the Bamoth where the altars still smoked. Then he took up his parable and spoke. "From Aram Balak brought me, Moab’s king from the mountains of the east; "Come, curse for me Jacob, And come, menace Israel." "How can I curse whom God hath not cursed? And how can I menace whom God hath not menaced? For from the head of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I behold him. Lo, a people apart he dwells, And among the nations he is not counted." "Who can reckon the dust of Jacob, And in number the fourth of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous; And be my last end like his!" In this parable, or mashal , along with some elements of egotism and self-defence, there are others that have the ring of inspiration. The opening is a vaunt, and the expression, "How can I curse whom God hath not cursed?" is a form of self-vindication which savours of vanity. We see more of the cowed and half-resentful man than of the prophet. Yet the vision of a people dwelling apart, not to be reckoned among the others, is a real revelation, boldly flung out. Something of the difference already established between Israel and the goim, or peoples of the Syrian district, had been caught by the seer in his survey of past events, and now came to clear expression. For a moment, at least, his soul rose almost into spiritual desire in the cry that his last end should be of the kind an Israelite might have; one who with calm confidence laid himself down in the arms of the great God, the Lord of providence, of death as well as life. A man has learned one lesson of great value for the conduct of life when he sees that he cannot curse whom God has not cursed, that he would be foolish to menace whom God has not menaced. Reaching this point of sight, Balaam stands superior for the time to the vulgar ideas of men like the king of Moab, who have no conception of a strong and dominant will to which human desires are all subjected. However reluctantly this confession is made, it prevents many futile endeavours and much empty vapouring. There are some indeed whose belief that fate must be on their side is simply immovable. Those whom they choose to reckon enemies are established in the protection of heaven; but they think it possible to wrest their revenge even from the Divine hand. Not till the blow they strike recoils with crushing force on themselves do they know the fatuity of their hope. In his "Instans Tyrannus" Mr. Browning pictures one whose persecution of an obscure foe ends in defeat. I soberly laid my last plan To extinguish the man. Round his creep-hole, with never a break, Ran my fires for his sake; Overhead, did my thunder combine With my underground mine: Till I looked from my labour, content To enjoy the event. When sudden how think ye, the end? Did I say, β€˜Without friend’? Say rather from marge to blue marge The whole sky grew his targe, With the sun’s self for visible boss, While an Arm ran across, Which the earth heaved beneath, like a breast Where the wretch was safe prest! "Do you see? Just my vengeance complete, The man sprang to his feet, Stood erect, caught at God’s skirts and prayed! - So, I was afraid!" In smaller matters, the attempts at impudent detraction which are common, when the base, girding at the good, think it possible to bring them to contempt, or at least stir them to unseemly anger, or prick them to humiliating self-defence, the law is often well enough understood, yet neither the assailants nor those attacked may be wise enough to recognise it. A man who stands upon his faithfulness to God does not need to be vexed by the menaces of the base; he should despise them. Yet he often allows himself to be harassed, and so yields all the victory hoped for by his detractor. Calm indifference, if one has a right to use it, is the true shield against the arrows of envy and malice. Balaam’s vision of Israel as a separated people, a people dwelling alone, had singular penetration. The others he knew-Amorites, Moabites, Ammonites, Midianites, Hittites, Aramaeans-went together, scarcely distinguishable in many respects, with their national Baals all of the same kind. Was Ammon or Chemosh, Melcarth or Sutekh, the name of the Baal? The rites might differ somewhat, there might be more or less ferocity ascribed to the deities; but on the whole their likeness was too close for any real distinction. And the peoples, differing in race, in culture, in habit, no doubt, were yet alike in this, that their morality and their mental outlook passed no boundary, were for the most part of the beaten, crooked road. Strifes and petty ambitions here and there, temporary combinations for ignoble ends, the rise of one above another for a time under some chief who held his ground by force of arms, then fell and disappeared-such were the common events of their histories. But Israel came into Balaam’s sight as a people of an entirely different kind, generically distinct. Their God was no Baal ferocious by report, really impotent, a mere reflection of human passion and lust. Jehovah’s law was a creation, like nothing in human history ascribed to a God. His worship meant solemn obligation, imposed, acknowledged, not simply to honour Him, but to be pure and true and honest in honouring Him. Israel had no part in the orgies that were held in professed worship of the Baals, really to the disgrace of their devotees. The lines of the national development had been laid down, and Balaam saw to some extent how widely they diverged from those along which other peoples sought power and glory. Amorites and Hittites and Canaanites might keep their place, but Israel had the secret of a progress of which they never dreamed. Wherever the tribes settled, when they advanced to fulfil their destiny, they would prove a new force in the world. For the time Israel might be called the one spiritual people. It was this Balaam partly saw, and made the basis of his striking predictions. The modern nations are not to be distinguished by the same testing idea. The thoughts and hopes of Christianity have entered more or less into all that are civilised, and have touched others that can scarcely be called so. Yet if there is any oracle for the peoples of our century it is one that turns on the very point which Balaam seems to have had in view. But it is, that not one of them. as a nation, is distinctly moved and separated from others by spirituality of aim. Of not one can it be said that it is confessedly, eagerly, on the way to a Canaan where the Living and True God shall be worshipped, that its popular movements, its legislation, its main endeavours look to such a heavenly result. If we saw a people dwelling apart, with a high spiritual aim, resolutely excluding those ideas of materialism which dominate the rest, of them it would not be presumptuous to prophesy in the high terms to which the oracles of Balaam gradually rose. Regarding the wish with which the diviner closed his first mashal, hard things have been said, as for example, that "even in his sublimest visions his egotism breaks out; in the sight of God’s Israel he cries, β€˜Let me die the death of the righteous."’ Here, however, there may be personal sorrow and regret, a pathetic confession of human fear by one who has been brought to serious thought, rather than any mere egoistic craving. Why should he speak of death? That is not the theme of the egotist. We hear a sudden ejaculation that seems to open a glimpse of his heart. For this man, like every son of Adam, has his burden, his secret trouble, from which all the hopes and plans of his ambition cannot relieve his mind. Now for the first time he speaks in a genuinely religious strain. "There are the righteous whom the Great Jehovah regards with favour, and gathers to Himself. When their end comes they rest. Alas! I, Balaam, am not one of them; and the shadows of my end are not far away! Would that by some mighty effort I could throw aside my life as it has been and is, revoke my destiny, and enter the ranks of Jehovah’s people-were it only to die among them." Wistfully, men whose life has been on the low ground of mere earthly toil and pleasure may, in like manner, when the end draws near, envy the confidence and hope of the good. For the old age of the sensualist, and even of the successful man of the world, is under a dull wintry sky, with no prospect of another morning, or even of a quiet night of dreamless sleep. "The weariest and most loathed worldly life, That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment Can lay on nature, is a paradise To what we fear of death." Courage and peace at the last belong to those alone who have kept in the way of righteousness. To them and no others light shall arise in the darkness. The faithfulness of God is their refuge even when the last shadows fall. He whom they trust goes before them in the pillar of fire when night is on the world, as well as in the pillar of cloud by day. To the man of this earth even the falling asleep of the good is enviable, though they may not anticipate a blessed immortality. Their very grave is a bed of peaceful rest, for living or dying they belong to the great God. It was with growing dissatisfaction, rising to anxiety, Balak heard the first oracle that fell from the diviner’s lips. Despite the warning he had received that only the words which Jehovah gave should be spoken, he hoped for some kind of a curse. His altars had been built, his oxen and rams sacrificed, and surely, he thought, all would not be in vain! Balaam had not travelled from Pethor to mock him. But the prophecy carried not a single word of heartening to the enemies of Israel. The camp lay in the full sunshine of fortune, unobscured by the least cloud. It was the first blow to Balak’s malignant jealousy, and might well have put him to confusion. But men of his sort are rich in conjectures and expedients. He had set his mind on this as the means of finding advantage in a struggle that was sure to come; and he clung to his hope. Although the curse would not light on the whole camp of Israel, yet it might fall on a part, the remote outlying portion of the tribes. In superstition men are for ever catching at straws. If the anger of some heavenly power, what power mattered little to Balak, could be once enlisted against the tribes, even partially, the influence of it might spread. And it would at least be something if pestilence or lightning smote the utmost part of that threatening encampment. One must be sorry for men whose impotent anger has to fall on expedients so miserably inadequate. Moab defeated by the Amorites sees them in turn vanquished and scattered by this host which has suddenly appeared, and to all ordinary reckoning has no place nor right in the region. Sad as was the defeat which deprived Balak of half his land and left his people in poverty, this incursion and its success foreboded greater trouble. The king was bound to do something, and, feeling himself unable to fight, this was his scheme. The utter uselessness of it from every point of view gives the story a singular pathos. But the world under Divine providence cannot be left in a region where superstition reigns and progress is impossible-simply that a people like the Moabites may settle again on their lees, and that others may continue to enjoy what seem to them to be their rights. There must be a stirring of human existence, a new force and new ideas introduced among the peoples, even at the expense of war and bloodshed. And our sympathy with Balak fails when we recollect that Israel had refrained from attacking Moab in its day of weakness, had even refrained from asking leave to pass through its impoverished territory. The feelings of the vanquished had been respected. Perhaps Balak, with the perversity of a weak man and an incompetent prince, resented this as much as anything. Balaam was now brought into the field of Zophim, or the Watchers, to the "top of Pisgah," whence he could see only a part of the camp of Israel. The Hebrew here as well as in Numbers 22:41 is ambiguous. It has even been interpreted as meaning that on the first occasion part of the encampment only was in view, and on the second occasion the whole of it (so Keil in loco ). But the tenor of the narrative corresponds better with the translation given in the English Version. The precise spot here called the top of Pisgah has not been identified. In the opinion of some the name Pisgah survives in the modern Siag-hah; but even if it does we are not helped in the least. Others take Pisgah as meaning simply "hill," and read "the field of Zophim on the top of the hill." The latter translation would obviate the difficulty that in Deuteronomy 34:1 it is said that Moses, when the time of his death approached, "went up from the plains of Moab unto Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah that is over against Jericho." Pisgah may have been the name of the range; yet again in Numbers 27:12 , and Deuteronomy 32:49 , Abarim is given as the name of the range of which Nebo is a peak. We are led to the conclusion that Pisgah was the name in general use for a hill-top of some peculiar form. The root meaning of the word is difficult to make out. It may at all events be taken as certain that this top of Pisgah is not the same as that to which Moses ascended to die. Batak and his princes had not as yet ventured so far beyond the Amon. At Balaam’s request the same arrangements were made as at Bamoth-Baal. Seven altars were built, and seven bullocks and seven rams were offered; and again the diviner withdrew to some distance to seek omens. This time his meeting with Jehovah gave him a more emphatic message. It would seem that with the passing of the day’s incidents the vatic fire in his mind burned more brightly. Instead of endeavouring to conciliate Balak he appears to take delight in the oracle that dashes the hopes of Moab to the ground. He has looked from the new point of vision and seen the great future that awaits Israel. It is vain to expect that the decree of the Almighty One can be revoked. Balak must hear all that the spirit of Elohim has given to the seer. Up, Balak, and hear; Hearken to me, son of Zippor: No man is God, that He should lie; And no son of man, that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not do it? And spoken, and shall He not make good? Behold to bless I have received; And He hath blessed and I cannot undo. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, Nor seen perverseness in Israel. Jehovah his God is with him; And the shout of a King is with him. God brings them forth from Egypt: Like the horns of the wild ox are his. Surely no snake-craft is in Jacob, And no enchantment with Israel. "At the time it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, What hath God wrought? Behold the people as a lioness arises, And as a lion lifts himself up; He shall not lie down till he eat the prey, And drink the blood of the slain." The confirmation of the first oracle by what Balaam has realised on his second approach to Jehovah compels the question which rebukes the king’s vain desire. "Hath He said, and shall He not do it?" Balak did not know Jehovah as Balaam knew Him. This God never went back from His decision, nor recalled His promises. And He is able to do whatever He wills. Not only does He refuse to curse Israel, but He has given a blessing which Balaam even, powerful as he is, cannot possibly hinder. It has become manifest that the judgment of God on His people’s conduct is in no respect adverse. Reviewing their past, the diviner may have found such failure from the covenant as would give cause for a decision against them, partial at least, if not general. But there is no excuse for supposing that Jehovah has turned against the tribes. Their recent successes and present position are proofs of His favour unrevoked, and, it would seem, irrevocable. There is a King with this people, and when they advance it is with a shout in His honour. The King is Jehovah their God; mightier far than Balak or any ruler of the nations. When the loud Hallelujah rose from the multitude at some sacred feast, it was indeed the shout of a monarch. Singular is it to find a diviner like Balaam noting as one of the great distinctions of Israel that the nation used neither augury nor divination. The hollowness of his own arts in presence of the God of Israel who could not be moved by them, who gave His people hope without them, would seem to have impressed Balaam profoundly. He speaks almost as if in contempt of the devices he himself employs. Indeed, he sees that his art is not art at all, as regards Israel. The Hebrews trust no omens; and either for or against them omens give no sign. It was another mark of the separateness of Israel. Jehovah had fenced His people from the spells of the magician. True to Him, they could defy all the sorcery of the East. And when the time for further endeavour came, the nations around should have to hear of the God who had brought the Hebrew tribes out of Egypt. With a lion-like vigour they would rise from their lair by the Jordan. The Canaanites and Amorites beyond should be their prey. Already perhaps tidings had come of the defeat of Bashan: the cities on the other side of Jordan should fall in their turn. As yet there is nothing in the predictions of Balaam that can be said to point distinctly to any future event in Israel’s history. The oracles are of that general kind which might be expected from a man of the world who has given attention to the signs of the times and perceived the value to a people of strong and original faith. But taking them in this sense they may well rebuke that modern disbelief which denies the inspiring power of religion and the striking facts which come to light not only in the history of nations like Israel but in the lives of men whose vigour springs from religious zeal. Balaam saw what any whose eyes are open will also see, that when the shout of the Heavenly King is among a people, when they serve a Divine Master, holy, just, and true, they have a standing ground and an outlook not otherwise to be reached. The critics of religion who take it to be a mere heat of the blood, a transient emotion, forget that the grasp of great and generous principles, and the thought of an Eternal Will to be served, give a sense of right and freedom which expediency and self-pleasing cannot supply. However man comes to be what he is, this is certain, that for him strength depends not so much on bodily physique as on the soul, and for the soul on religious inspiration. The enthusiasm of pleasure-seeking has never yet made a band of men indomitable, nor need it be expected to give greatness; we cannot persuade ourselves that apart from God our blessedness is a matter of surpassing importance. We are a multitude whose individual lives are very small, very short, very insignificant, unless they are known to serve some Divine end. It has been seen by one philosopher that if the religious sanction be taken away from morality some other must be provided to fill up the vacuum. Further, it may be said that if the religious support and stimulus of human energy be withdrawn there will be a greater vacuum more difficult to fill. The would-be benefactors of our race, who think that the superstition of a personal God is effete and should be swept away as soon as possible, so that man may return to nature, might do well to return to Balaam. He had a penetration which they do not possess. And singularly, the very apostle of that impersonal "stream of tendency making for righteousness," which was once to be put in the place of God, did on one occasion unwittingly remind us of this prophet. Mr. Matthew Arnold had a difficult thing to do when he tried to encourage a toiling population to go on toiling without hope, to plod on in the underground while a select few above enjoyed the sunlight. The part was that of a diviner finding auguries for the inevitable. But he spoke as one who had to pity a poor blind Israel, no longer inspired by the shout of a king or the hope of a promised land, an Israel that had lost its faith and its way and seemed about to perish in the desert. Well did he know how difficult it is for men under this dread to endure patiently when those above have abolished God and the future life; men, who are disposed to say, yet must be told that they say vainly, "If there is nothing but this life, we must have it. Let us help ourselves, whenever we can, to all we desire." Was that Israel to be blessed or cursed? There was no oracle. Yet the cultured Balak, hoping for a spell at least against the revolutionaries, had a rebuke. The prophet did not curse; he had no power to bless. But Moab was shown to be in peril, was warned to be generous. Balaams enough there are, after a sort, with more or less penetration and sincerity. But what the peoples need is a Moses to revive their faith. The hollow maledictions and blessings that are now launched incessantly from valley to hill, from hill to valley, would be silenced if we found the leader who can re-awaken faith. It would be superfluous, then, for the race in its fresh hope to bless itself, and vain for the pessimists to curse it. With the ensign of Divine love leading the way, and the new heavens and earth in view, all men would be assured and hopeful, patient in suffering, fearless in death. The second oracle produced in the mind of Balak an effect of bewilderment, not of complete discomfiture. He appears to be caught so far in the afflatus that he must hear all the prophet has to tell. He desires Balaam neither to curse nor bless; neutrality would be something. Yet, with all he has already heard giving clear indication what more is to be expected, he proposes another place, another trial of the auguries. This time the whole of Israel shall again be seen. The top of Peor that looketh down upon Jeshimon, or the desert, is chosen. On this occasion when the altars and sacrifices are prepared the order is not the same as before. The diviner does not retire to a distance to seek for omens. He makes no profession of mystery now. The temperature of thought and feeling is high, for the spot on which the company gathers is almost within range of the sentinels of Israel. The adventure is surely one of the strangest which the East ever witnessed. In the dramatic unfolding of it the actors and spectators are alike absorbed. The third prophetic chant repeats several of the expressions contained in the second, and adds little; but it is more poetical in form. The prophet standing on the height saw "immediately below him the vast encampment of Israel amongst the acacia groves of Abel Shittim-like the watercourses of the mountains, like the hanging gardens beside his own river Euphrates, with their aromatic shrubs and their wide-spreading cedars. Beyond them on the western side of Jordan rose the hills of Palestine, with glimpses through their valleys of ancient cities towering on their crested heights. And beyond all, though he could not see it with his bodily vision, he knew well that there rolled the deep waters of the great sea, with the Isles of Greece, the Isle of Chittim-a world of which the first beginnings of life were just stirring, of which the very name here first breaks upon our ears." From the deep meditation which passed into a trance the diviner awoke to gaze for a little upon that scene, to look fixedly once more on the camp of the Hebrew tribes, and then he began: "Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith: He saith who heareth the words of El, Who seeth the vision of Shaddai, Falling down and having his eyes opened." Thus in the consciousness of an exalted state of mind which has come with unusual symptoms, the ecstasy that overpowers and brings visions before the inward eye, he vaunts his inspiration. There is no small resemblance to the manner in which the afflatus came to seers of Israel in after-times; yet the description points more distinctly to the rapture of one like King Saul, who has been swept by some temporary enthusiasm into a strain of thought, an emotional atmosphere, beyond ordinary experience. The far-reaching encampment is first poetically described, with images that point to perennial vitality and strength. Then as a settled nation Israel is described, irrigating broad fields and sowing them to reap an abundant harvest. Why comparison is made between the power of Israel and Agag one can only guess. Perhaps the reigning chief of the Amalekites was at this time distinguished by the splendour of his court, so that his name was a type of regal magnificence. The images of the wild ox and the lion are repeated with additional emphasis; and the strain rises to its climax in the closing apostrophe: "Blessed be every one that blesseth thee And cursed be every one that curseth thee." So strongly is Israel established in the favour of Shaddai, the Almighty One, that attempts to injure her will surely recoil on the head of the aggressor. And on the other hand, to help Israel, to bid her God-speed, will be a way to blessedness. Jehovah will make the overflowing of His grace descend like rain on those who take Israel’s part and cheer her on her way. In the light of what afterwards took place, it is clear that Balaam was in this last ejaculation carried far beyond himself. He may have seen for a moment, in the flash of a heavenly light, the high distinction to which Israel was advancing. He certainly felt that to curse her would be perilous, to bless her meritorious. But the thought, like others of a more spiritual nature, did not enter deeply into his mind. Balaam could utter it with a kind of strenuous cordiality, and then do his utmost to falsify his own prediction. What matter fine emotions and noble protestations if they are only momentary and superficial? Balak’s open jealousy and hatred of Israel were, after all, more complimentary to her than the high-sounding praises of Balaam, who spoke as enjoying the elation of the prophet, not as delighting in the tenor of his message. Israel was nothing to him. Soon the prosperity to which she was destined became like gall and wormwood to his soul. The encampment roused his admiration at the time, but afterwards, when it became clear that the Israelites would have none of him, his mood changed towards them. Ambition ruled him to the end; and if the Hebrews did not offer in any way to minister to it, a man like Balaam would by-and-by set himself to bring down their pride. Weak humanity gives many examples of this. The man who has been an expectant flatterer of one greater than himself, but is denied the notice and honour he looks for, becomes, when his hopes have finally to be renounced, the most savage assailant, the most bitter detractor of his former hero. And so strong often are the minds which fall in this manner, that we look sometimes with anxiety even to the highest. Numbers 24:10 And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. THE MATTER OF BAAL-PEOR Numbers 24:10-25 ; Numbers 25:1-18 THE last oracle of Balaam, as we have it, ventures into far more explicit predictions than the others, and passes beyond the range of Hebrew history. Its chief value for the Israelites lay in what was taken to be a Messianic prophecy contained in it, and various bold denunciations of their enemies. Whether the language can bear the important meanings thus found in it is a matter of considerable doubt. On the whole, it appears best not to make over-much of the prescience of this mashal , especially as we cannot be sure that we have it in the original form. One fact may be given to prove this. In Jeremiah 48:45 , an oracle regarding Moab embodies various fragments of the Book of Numbers, and one clause seems to be a quotation from Numbers 24:17 . In Numbers the reading is, "and break down, all the sons of tumult"; in Jeremiah it is, "and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult" The resemblance leaves little doubt of the derivation of the one expression from the other, and at the same time shows diversity in the text. The earlier deliverances of Balaam had disappointed the king of Moab; the third kindled his anger. It was intolerable that one called to curse his enemies should bless