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Numbers Chapter
Twenty-two
Numbers 22
Chapter Contents
Balak's fear of Israel
He sends for Balaam. (1-14)
Balaam goes to Balak. (15-21) The opposition to Balaam by the way. (22-35)
Balaam and Balak meet. (36-41)
Commentary on Numbers 22:1-14
The king of Moab formed a plan to get the people of
Israel cursed; that is
to set God against them
who had hitherto fought for
them. He had a false notion
that if he could get some prophet to pray for evil
upon them
and to pronounce a blessing upon himself and his forces
that then
he should be able to deal with them. None had so great a reputation as Balaam;
and Balak will employ him
though he send a great way for him. It is not known
whether the Lord had ever spoken to Balaam
or by him
before this; though it
is probable he had
and it is certain he did afterwards. Yet we have abundant
proof that he lived and died a wicked man
an enemy to God and his people. And
the curse shall not come upon us if there is not a cause
even though men utter
it. To prevail with Balaam
they took the wages of unrighteousness
but God
laid restraint upon Balaam
forbidding him to curse Israel. Balaam was no
stranger to Israel's cause; so that he ought to have answered the messengers at
once
that he would never curse a people whom God had blessed; but he takes a
night's time to consider what he should do. When we parley with temptations
we
are in great danger of being overcome. Balaam was not faithful in returning
God's answer to the messengers. Those are a fair mark for Satan's temptation
who lessen Divine restraints; as if to go against God's law were only to go
without his leave. The messengers also are not faithful in returning Balaam's
answer to Balak. Thus many are abused by the flatteries of those about them
and are prevented from seeing their own faults and follies.
Commentary on Numbers 22:15-21
A second embassy was sent to Balaam. It were well for us
if we were as earnest and constant in prosecuting a good work
notwithstanding
disappointments. Balak laid a bait
not only for Balaam's covetousness
but for
his pride and ambition. How earnestly should we beg of God daily to mortify
such desires in us! Thus sinners stick at no pains
spare no cost
and care not
how low they stoop
to gratify their luxury
or their malice. Shall we then be
unwilling to do what is right? God forbid! Balaam's convictions charged him to
keep to the command of God; nor could any man have spoken better. But many call
God theirs
who are not his
not truly because not only his. There is no
judging men by their words; God knows the heart. Balaam's corruptions at the
same time inclined him to go contrary to the command. He seemed to refuse the
temptation; but he expressed no abhorrence of it. He had a strong desire to
accept the offer
and hoped that God might give him leave to go. He had already
been told what the will of God was. It is a certain evidence of the ruling of
corruption in the heart
to beg leave to sin. God gave Balaam up to his own
heart's lusts. As God sometimes denies the prayers of his people in love
so
sometimes he grants the desires of the wicked in wrath.
Commentary on Numbers 22:22-35
We must not think
that because God does not always by
his providence restrain men from sin
therefore he approves of it
or that it
is not hateful to him. The holy angels oppose sin
and perhaps are employed in
preventing it more than we are aware. This angel was an adversary to Balaam
because Balaam counted him his adversary; those are really our best friends
and we ought so to reckon them
who stop our progress in sinful ways. Balaam
has notice of God's displeasure by the ass. It is common for those whose hearts
are fully set in them to do evil
to push on violently
through the
difficulties Providence lays in their way. The Lord opened the mouth of the
ass. This was a great miracle wrought by the power of God. He who made man
speak
could
when he pleased
make the ass to speak with man's voice. The ass
complained of Balaam's cruelty. The righteous God does not allow the meanest or
weakest to be abused; but they shall be able to speak in their own defence
or
he will some way or other speak for them. Balaam at length has his eyes opened.
God has many ways to bring down the hard and unhumbled heart. When our eyes are
opened
we shall see the danger of sinful ways
and how much it was for our
advantage to be crossed. Balaam seemed to relent; I have sinned; but it does
not appear that he was sensible of this wickedness of his heart
or willing to
own it. If he finds he cannot go forward
he will be content
since there is no
remedy
to go back. Thus many leave their sins
only because their sins have
left them. The angel declared that he should not only be unable to curse
Israel
but should be forced to bless them: this would be more for the glory of
God
and to his own confusion
than if he had turned back.
Commentary on Numbers 22:36-41
Balak has now nothing to complain of
but that Balaam did
not come sooner. Balaam bids Balak not depend too much upon him. He seems to
speak with vexation; but is really as desirous to please Balak
as ever he had
pretended to be to please God. See what need we have to pray every day
Our
Father which art in heaven
lead us not into temptation. Let us be jealous over
our own hearts
seeing how far men may go in the knowledge of God
and yet come
short of Divine grace.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on
Numbers》
Numbers 22
Verse 1
[1] And
the children of Israel set forward
and pitched in the plains of Moab on this
side Jordan by Jericho.
The plains of Moab —
Which still retained their ancient title
though they had been taken away from
the Moabites by Sihon
and from him by the Israelites.
By Jericho —
That is
over against Jericho.
Verse 3
[3] And Moab was sore afraid of the people
because they were many: and Moab
was distressed because of the children of Israel.
Sore afraid — As
it was foretold both in general of all nations
Deuteronomy 2:25
and particularly concerning
Moab
Exodus 15:15.
Verse 4
[4] And
Moab said unto the elders of Midian
Now shall this company lick up all that
are round about us
as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the
son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.
The elders —
Called the kings of Midian
Numbers 31:8
and princes of Midian
Joshua 13:21
who though divided into their kingdoms
yet were now united upon the approach of the Israelites their common enemy
and
being
as it seems
a potent and crafty people
and neighbours to the Moabites
these seek confederacy with them. We read of Midianites near mount Sinai
Exod.
2
and 3
which seem to have been a colony of this people
that went out to
seek new quarters
as the manner of those times was
but the body of that
people were seated in those parts.
Lick up —
That is
consume and utterly destroy
in which sense the fire is said to lick
up the water and sacrifices
1 Kings 18:38.
All that are round about us — All our people
who live in the country adjoining to each city
where
the princes reside.
Verse 5
[5] He sent
messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor
which is by the
river of the land of the children of his people
to call him
saying
Behold
there is a people come out from Egypt: behold
they cover the face of the
earth
and they abide over against me:
Balaam —
Who is called a prophet
2 Peter 2:16
because God was pleased to inspire
and direct him to speak the following prophecies. Indeed many of the Jewish
writers say
that Balaam had been a great prophet
who for the accomplishment
of his predictions
and the answers of his prayers
had been looked upon justly
as a man of great interest with God. However it is certain
that afterwards for
his covetousness
God departed from him.
Beor —
Or
Bosor
2 Peter 2:15
for he had two names
as many
others had.
Pethor — A
city in Mesopotamia.
By the river — By
Euphrates
which is called the river
by way of eminency
and here the river of
Balaam's land or country
to wit
of Mesopotamia.
Verse 6
[6] Come now therefore
I pray thee
curse me this people; for they are too
mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail
that we may smite them
and that I
may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is
blessed
and he whom thou cursest is cursed.
Curse them for my sake and benefit; use thy
utmost power
which thou hast with thy Gods
to blast and ruin them.
We may smite them —
Thou by thy imprecations
and I by my sword.
Verse 8
[8] And
he said unto them
Lodge here this night
and I will bring you word again
as
the LORD shall speak unto me: and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam.
This night —
The night was the time when God used to reveal his mind by dreams.
The Lord —
Heb. Jehovah
the true God
whom he here mentions
either for his own greater
reputation
as if he consulted not with inferior spirits
but with the supreme
God; or rather because this was Israel's God
and the only possible way of
ruining them was by engaging their God against them: as the Romans and other
Heathens
when they went to besiege any city
used enchantments to call forth
that God under whose peculiar protection they were.
Of Moab —
And of Midian too.
Verse 9
[9] And
God came unto Balaam
and said
What men are these with thee?
What men are these — He
asks this that Balaam by repeating the thing in God's presence might be
convinced and ashamed of his sin and folly
in offering his service in such a
business: and for a foundation to the following answer.
Verse 20
[20] And
God came unto Balaam at night
and said unto him
If the men come to call thee
rise up
and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee
that
shalt thou do.
If the men come — On
this condition he was to go.
Verse 22
[22] And
God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the
way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass
and his two
servants were with him.
Because he went —
Because he went of his own accord
with the princes of Moab
and did not wait
till they came to call him
which was the sign and condition of God's
permission
but rather himself rose and called them. The apostle describes
Balaam's sin here to be
that he ran greedily into an error for reward
Jude 1:11.
For an adversary — To
oppose
if not to kill him.
His servants with him — The rest of the company being probably gone before them. For in those
ancient times there was more of simplicity
and less of ceremony
and therefore
it is not strange that Balaam came at some distance
after the rest
and
attended only by his own servants.
Verse 28
[28] And
the LORD opened the mouth of the ass
and she said unto Balaam
What have I
done unto thee
that thou hast smitten me these three times?
Opened the mouth —
Conferred upon her the power of speech and reasoning for that time.
Verse 29
[29] And
Balaam said unto the ass
Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a
sword in mine hand
for now would I kill thee.
Balaam said —
Balaam was not much terrified with the ass's speaking
because perhaps he was
accustomed to converse with evil spirits
who appeared to him and discoursed
with him in the shape of such creatures. Perhaps he was so blinded by passion
that he did not consider the strangeness of the thing.
Verse 31
[31] Then
the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam
and he saw the angel of the LORD standing
in the way
and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head
and
fell flat on his face.
On his face — In
token of reverence and submission.
Verse 32
[32] And
the angel of the LORD said unto him
Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass
these three times? behold
I went out to withstand thee
because thy way is
perverse before me:
Thy way is perverse —
Springing from covetousness.
Verse 33
[33] And
the ass saw me
and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned
from me
surely now also I had slain thee
and saved her alive.
I had slain thee — I
had slain thee alone
and not her
therefore her turning aside and falling down
was wholly for thy benefit
not for her own
and thy anger against her was
unjust and unreasonable.
Verse 35
[35] And
the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam
Go with the men: but only the word that
I shall speak unto thee
that thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes
of Balak.
Go with the men — I
allow thee to go
upon the following terms.
Verse 36
[36] And
when Balak heard that Balaam was come
he went out to meet him unto a city of
Moab
which is in the border of Arnon
which is in the utmost coast.
In the utmost coast —
Not far from the camp of the Israelites
whom he desired him to curse.
Verse 40
[40] And
Balak offered oxen and sheep
and sent to Balaam
and to the princes that were
with him.
The princes —
Whom the king had left to attend him.
Verse 41
[41] And
it came to pass on the morrow
that Balak took Balaam
and brought him up into
the high places of Baal
that thence he might see the utmost part of the
people.
The high places of Baal — Consecrated to the worship of Baal
that is
of Baal Peor
who was their
Baal or God.
The utmost part —
That is
all that people
even to the utmost and remotest of them
as appears
by comparing this with
Numbers 23:13. He hoped that the sight of such a
numerous host ready to break in upon his country would stir up his passion.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Numbers》
22 Chapter 22
Verses 2-14
Balak . . . sent messengers unto Balaam.
Balak’s first application to Balaam; or
man and supernatural
I. Men in
difficulty seeking supernatural help. “It was supposed that prophets and
sorcerers had a power to curse persons and places so as to frustrate their
counsels
enervate their strength
and fill them with dismay.”
1. There is a measure of truth in this. Men have had power granted
them to curse others (Genesis 9:25; Joshua 6:26; 2 Kings 2:24). It is probable that
Balaam had this power.
2. There is much error in the views under consideration. No man can
curse those whom God hath blessed.
II. Man conscious
of supernatural powers and of his subjection to divine authority in the use of
them. Balaam was certainly not altogether an impostor. “In his career
” says
Dean Stanley
“is seen that recognition of Divine inspiration outside the
chosen people which the narrowness of modern times has be n so eager to deny
but which the Scriptures are always ready to acknowledge
and
by
acknowledging
admit within the pale of the teachers of the Universal Church
the higher spirits of every age and of every nation.” But notice--
1. His consciousness of great powers.
2. His consciousness of subjection to God in the use of his powers.
3. His sin against God.
III. Man receiving a
supernatural visitation.
1. God’s access to man’s mind.
2. God’s interest in man’s life.
3. God’s authority over man’s life.
IV. Man dealing
unfaithfully with a Divine communication. Balaam belonged to that still
numerous class who theoretically know God
and who actually do fear Him
but
whose love and fear of God are not the governing principles of their minds.
They are convinced
but not converted. They would serve God
but they must
serve mammon also; and in the strife between the two contending influences
their lives are made bitter
and their death is perilous.
V. Men dealing
unfaithfully as messengers. Learn--
1. The Divine communications have never been limited to any one
people
or country
or age.
2. Great goodness is not always associated with great gifts. “The
illumination of the mind is by no means necessarily associated with the
conversion of the heart.”
3. Great gifts involve great responsibility and grave peril.
4. The temptation to covetousness is of great subtlety and strength
and assails even the most gifted natures (Luke 12:15-21). (W. Jones.)
Balak’s motives in sending for Balaam
The first motive is fear
yet in Deuteronomy
2. God forbade them to meddle with Moab
and thereupon they
were
driven to compass about to their great trouble. But this is the just judgment
of God upon them that have not their peace made with Him
to be vexed in their
minds with unnecessary fears (Leviticus 26:36; Deuteronomy 28:65
&c.). You see how
small a noise will startle thieves and other malefactors. Whereupon it is said
Oh
wickedness
ever fearful. These are they that tremble at every crack of
thunder. Their conscience is a continual scourge to them. The fear of the Lord
is strength to the upright man
but fear shall be for the workers of iniquity
saith Solomon.
2. The second motive is envy. They were their kindred
and they
should have rejoiced
turned to them
and by common prayer sought the appeasing
of God. But bitter envy seeing God’s favour to them
and mighty power among
them
desireth rather their overthrow and confusion. They are motes in their
eyes
rather than comforts to their hearts.
3. A third motive was suspicion. Balak
king of the Moabites
suspecteth this and that
according to his own fancy
and these imaginations
and suspicions are as grand truths to him
making him cast this way and that to
meet
with imagined danger
and among other ways to resolve of sending for the
soothsayer
or sorcerer
Balaam. Oh
suspicion
what a mischief is it amongst
men! Every man thinks his suspicion to be knowledge or little less. How many
can you name that have given place to suspicion
and have not given place to
error? Yet it hurteth no man more than him that hath it
whose inwards it
tormenteth
whose sleep it driveth away
whose body it alters
and consumeth
the heart to very powder in the end.
4. A fourth motive to this sending for Balaam was Satan’s subtlety
working in Balak to take that course: for it may be observed often
that when
Satan seeth open fury will not serve
then he directeth to wiles and guiles
piecing out the lion’s skin that is too short with the fox’s tail. (Bp.
Babington.)
Balak and Balaam
The Israelites
toughened physically and morally by their
long sojourn in the desert
and now well consolidated into a nation
are
beginning to emerge from their southern retreat
and to betray their designs
upon the regions bordering on the Jordan. They have met and defeated the desert
tribes
and are now threatening Moab
which lies in their way. Balak
king of
Moab
undertakes the defence of his territory
and
like a wise general
studies and adopts the tactics of his successful enemy. He has learned that the
Israelites are led by Moses
a prophet of Jehovah
and that his prayers in the
battle against Amalek secured the victory. He will see what of the same sort he
can do on his side. Hundreds of miles away
near the head waters of the
Euphrates
there lived another prophet of Jehovah
whose reputation filled the
whole region. It does not concern us whether his gifts were on one side or the
other of the line called supernatural; whether his sagacity was merely
extraordinary or was clarified by special
Divine light. It is enough for us
that he was great
keen and lofty in his vision
comprehensive in his judgment
that he had a high sense of his prophetic function
and was at first a man of
integrity. Balak sends for him. The Israelites have a prophet; he will have a
prophet. He sees in the battles hitherto fought a weight not belonging to the
battalions
a spiritual force that won the victory; he will employ that force
on his side. Moses is a prophet of Jehovah; his prophet also shall be
Jehovah’s. A. very shrewd man is this Balak. Holding to the Oriental custom of
devoting an enemy to destruction before battle
he will match his enemy even in
this respect as nearly as possible. That a prophet should be found outside the
Hebrew nation is simply an indication that God has witnesses in all nations; it
denies the theory that would confine all light and inspiration to one chosen
people. That Balaam comes from the ancient home of Abraham hints the
possibility of a still lingering monotheism in that region. Though so remote
he probably knew all about the Israelites: their history from the patriarchs
down
their exodus from Egypt
their religion
their development under the
guiding hand of Moses
their power in battle
and the resistless energy with
which they were slowly moving up from the desert with their eyes on the rich
slopes of Palestine
He doubtless knew that this was not only a migration of a
detached people
such as was now often occurring in Asia
but a migration
inspired by a religion somewhat in keeping with his own. These Israelites were
not his enemies
and he could not readily be made to treat them as such. When
the messengers of Balak come to him with their hands full of rewards
asking
him to go and curse Israel
he weighs the matter well
devotes a whole night to
it
carries it to God in the simplicity of a good conscience
and refuses to
go. So far he seems a true man
acting from considerations of mingled wisdom
and inspiration. The messengers retrace their long journey
but Balak sends
again by more honourable men and doubtless with larger gifts. He is a shrewd
man
and knows what sort of a thing is the human heart. He sends not only
gifts
but promises of promotion to great honour
and all by the hands of
princes--a triple temptation: flattery
riches
place. How often does any man
resist their united voice? Often enough he resists one of them; flattery cannot
seduce him
nor money buy him
nor ambition deflect him
but when all
unite-flattery dropping its sweet words into the ear
gold glittering before
the eye
and ambition weaving its crown before the imagination--who stands out
against these when they unite to a definite end? They had their common way with
Balaam
hut not at once. Such men do not go headlong and wholly over to the bad
side in a moment. The undoing of a strong character is something like its
upbuilding
a process of time and degree. (T. T. Munger.)
The seductive spirit of the world
The relative position of the world to the kingdom of God is
substantially the same as that of Moab and Midian to Israel
now drawing near.
The same enmity still remains in the world
in manifold forms; and it is the
instinct of self-preservation which incites the world and its followers to do
their utmost against the coming of God’s kingdom among them. When force would
do no good
then they resort to cunning
or to caution
that they may oppose
the progress of God’s cause among them in so far as it is possible; and natural
enemies
such as Midian
and Moab
frequently become sworn friends for a time
whenever it appears
expedient to combine against the one whom both oppose. On every hand
the world
looks out for allies
servants
friends; as Balak did to Balaam
she promises
to bestow on you her favours and her wealth
if you but follow her behests
and
make her will your own. If you refuse
as he did at the first
the world will
not believe that you act but from principle--rather
she thinks that you regard
self-interest; but she will give you large rewards when you but sell yourself
to her. “All things will I give Thee
if Thou wilt fall down and worship me”:
so spake the prince of this world to Jesus; and at every turn he modifies his
voice
but still to say the same thing
in the softest tone
to all Christ’s
followers--nay
even to every one of His redeemed. What is it that you seek
insatiable heart--honour
or luxury
or gold? All these
if need be
may be had
for almost nothing by the man whose conscience is not over scrupulous. This
Balak also
like a true destroyer
rests not for an instant till he brings you
where he will; and if the first attempt does not succeed
he makes a second
and a third. The world knows very well
like Balak
how to suit herself to
circumstances when they change
and to attract some friends from every side.
Nay
she can even
in her own time and way
be quite religious--that is
from
mere policy
and ill-concealed self-interest; and if you like
she shows all
possible respect for--forms. But
for your very life
ye who are striving for
her praise and her reward
venture not to show that you really will obey God
rather than any man! The world
if need be
will forgive you everything; but
this it cannot possibly forgive--that you most earnestly believe God’s Word
and give obedience to what He requires. Scarce can you show
like Balaam
that
you hesitate
because the truth is much too strong for you
ere favour from the
world is quite withdrawn; your name appears no longer on the list of friends
but is consigned to deep oblivion; and all the more dishonour falls on you
the
greater was the honour meant for you at first. You are a most unpleasant
useless man
and quite intractable; like Balaam
you are roughly pushed aside
and told
“The Lord hath kept thee back from honour”; and then the world
instead of her intended laurel-wreath
presents you with a crown of thorns. Her
love
it now appears
was nothing but fine show--her flattery
deceit. To such
a world--so selfish
false
malicious
just like Balak--should you make your
heart a slave? (J. J. Van Oosterzee
D. D.)
Possible origin of the chronicle of Balaam
Every reader of this book must have observed that in Numbers 22:2-41; Numbers 23:1-30; Numbers 24:1-25 we have an episode complete
in itself; and all the modern critics who have studied this Scripture concur
I
believe
in the conclusion that
in this place
the author or compiler of the
book has inserted one of those ancient
detached or detachable
documents of
which we find so many in the Pentateuch. Where and how he got it is a question
not easy to answer
if
indeed
answer be possible. But
from the comparatively
favourable light in which the chronicle presents the facts of Balaam’s story
most of our best scholars conclude that in some way he derived it from Balaam
himself. We are told (Numbers 31:8) that
together with five
Midianite chiefs
Balaam was taken prisoner by the Israelites
and put to “a judicial
death” after the battle had been fought and won. A judicial death implies some
sort of trial. And what more natural than that Balaam should plead in his
defence the inspirations he had received from Jehovah
and the long series of
blessings he had pronounced on Israel when all his interests
and perhaps also
all his inclinations
prompted him to curse them: Such defences
in the East
were commonly autobiographical. Even St. Paul
when called upon to plead before
kings and governors
invariably told the story of his life as his best
vindication. And if Balaam called upon to plead before Moses and the elders
told the story we now read in his chronicle--what a scene was there! What a
revelation his words would convey to the leaders of Israel of the kindness of
God their Saviour
of the scale on which His providence works
and of the
mystery in which it is wrapped to mortal eyes! So
then
God had been working
for them in the mountains of Moab
and in the heart of this great diviner from
the East
and they knew it not! Knew it not? nay
perhaps were full of fear and
distrust
doubting whether He Himself were able to deliver them from the perils
by which they were encompassed! As Balaam unfolded his tale
how their hearts
must have burned within them--burned with shame as well as with thanks
fulness--as they heard of interposition on their behalf of which up till now
they had been ignorant
and for which at the time perchance they had not
ventured to hope! Balaam may well have thought that such a story as this would
plead for him more effectually than any other defence he could make. And
no
doubt
it did plead for him; for we all know that it is when our hearts have
been touched by some unexpected mercy that they are most easily moved to pity
and forgiveness: it might even have won him absolution but for that damning sin
of which nothing is said here--the infamous counsel he gave to the daughters of
Midian which had deprived Israel of four-and-twenty thousand of its most
serviceable and precious lives. Even with that crime full in their memories
it
must have cost Moses and the elders much
one thinks
to condemn to death the
man who had told them such a story as this. (S. Cox
D. D.)
God came unto Balaam.--
Balaam
In Balaam we have one of the most mysterious
in some respects one
of the most puzzling
contradictory
and tragical of the characters of Holy
Writ; withal one of the most instructive and interesting. He is complex;
multiform in his mental and spiritual conformation
many-sided in his mental
and spiritual manifestations. One man appears at one time; another and vastly
different at another. You despair of catching and fixing the permanent man.
I. Let me first
ask attention to some preliminary points which may be noted.
1. The materials on which our knowledge of him is based are chiefly
contained in four passages of Scripture (Numbers 22:1-41; Numbers 23:1-30; Numbers 24:1-25.; Micah 6:5-8; 2 Peter 2:12-16; Numbers 31:1-54.).
2. I would next note the generosity
the magnanimity
of all these
Scripture notices. The whole story is told with a fineness of touch
a magnanimous
silence
or the merest hint concerning his grosser sin
a generous concealment
of all aggravating circumstances. It is in the Bible
and
so far as Church
histories are concerned
probably in the Bible alone
that we find not only
justice
but generosity
towards defeated rivals
generous tributes to what is
good
generous veilings of what is bad.
3. I would also call attention to the fact that there is free and
full acknowledgment made of the reality and the sublimity of his inspiration.
It is never denied: it is unequivocally owned. And this though Balaam was a
heathen
one outside the visible Church; nay
not only outside of it
but
arrayed against it.
4. Mark
too
the various opinions concerning this strange man held
in different ages and by different authorities in the Church. The historian of
the Jews
Josephus
styles him
in strongest language
“the first (best) of the
prophets of the time”--ungrudgingly regarding him as a true prophet of the true
God
but with a disposition ill adapted to meet temptation. Coming down to
Christian writers
we find Ambrose and Augustine speaking of him as a magician
and soothsayer
a prophet
indeed
but inspired of the devil; but we find
Tertullian and Jerome
with greater and more Scriptural liberality
more
favourably interpreting his position and the source of his endowments.
II. Let us now
proceed to the analysis of the life and its story. Balaam would have protested
against being called an enemy of God; would have insisted on being regarded as
a friend. To every accuser he could have replied that he was obedient all
through to God’s voice
that he did not go till God gave permission
and that
he was careful to yield to the prophetic power that spoke through him; yet all
through he was a force against God
an opponent of the purposes of grace
and
on the side that could not be either for the glory of heaven or the gain of
earth. And so there are men who would feel outraged if called thieves who will
all the same
sell an article for what it is not; who would deem you mad were
you to accuse them of murder
yet will help a brother on to the death of his
soul; who name the name of Christ
yet are forces for the meatiness and
avarice
the uncharity and unchastity
which the law cannot reach
but which
are as far from the mind of Christ as is the theft or the murder which the law
can. (G. M. Grant
B. D.)
The character of Balaam
It is common to speak of Balaam as a wicked man
to censure him as
utterly devoid of principle
as completely abandoned to the dominion of evil
especially of avarice. And we have the highest authority for regarding him as a
wicked man: he loved the wages of unrighteousness. But when we conceive of
Balaam as a wicked man simply
we have by no means a just conception of his
real character. He was not under the entire dominion of any evil principle or
habit whatever. There is in him a wonderful admixture of good and evil; a
combination of elements the most opposite.
I. We see in
Balaam a man of great mental endowments
of varied spiritual gifts
and of
extraordinary illumination.
II. We see in
Balaam great apparent deference to the Divine will
an anxious solicitude to
know it
and to act according to it.
III. We have in
Balaam a melancholy instance of an attempt to reconcile a sense of duty to a
vicious inclination--to conform the unyielding rule of right to the designs of
avarice. This is the instructive peculiarity of his character. He knew what was
right
and for many reasons he was anxious to do it. His conscience would not
allow him to act in direct opposition to the will of God; but
at the same
time
his heart was not wholly in God’s service. Covetousness lay deep within
him. How obvious the reflection that no man knows what he is until he is tried!
During the hard frosts of winter it is impossible to tell what venomous
insects
what noxious weeds or beautiful flowers are concealed in the earth;
but let the genial showers and sunshine of spring come
and the weeds and the
flowers will show themselves
and the venomous insects will come forth out of
their hiding-places. So is it with men.
IV. Another remark
suggested by the character and history of Balaam
relates to the rapid and
fearful progress of sin. So it was with Judas: he had not the slightest wish to
injure his Lord; he wished only to obtain the thirty pieces of silver. So it
has been with many ambitious monarchs: they have had no pleasure in the misery
of their fellow-creatures; they have thought only of their own fame and power.
So it has been with many zealous persecutors: they have no natural thirst for
human blood; they have thought only of the establishment of their creed--the
extension and honour of their Church. So it is with many in common life: they
have no wish to injure others; but they wish to secure their own ends
and they
do not hesitate to trample on those who stand in their way.
V. In the
character and history of Balaam we have a striking illustration of the
deceitfulness of the human heart. Men will neglect the moral
and yet will
attend to the ceremonial
and on this ground will think themselves clear; they
will commit the greater
and yet will hesitate to commit the less
and on this
ground will pronounce themselves pure; they will violate the entire spirit of
the Christian law
and yet will scrupulously observe the letter of some precept
or precedent
and on this ground will pronounce themselves consistent
Christians.
VI. The history of
Balaam illustrates some very important principles of the Divine government. The
present is a state of probation
but there is in it not a little that is
retributive; and though God deals with us as a kited parent
there is often
much that is judicial in His proceedings. We have a striking illustration of
this in the history of Balaam. In his heart Balaam desired permission to go with
the princes of Moab
because he coveted the wages of unrighteousness; and God
gave him that permission. This was not an act of mercy
but of judgment. The
history of Balaam illustrates another principle of the Divine government--that
which is involved in the statement
“The way of transgressors is hard.” This is
as much in mercy as in judgment. The history of Balaam also illustrates the
solemn truth
that the “wages of sin is death.” “Balaam also
the son of Beer
they slew with the sword.”
Whatever may be the result here
the ultimate end of such a course as that
which we have endeavoured to describe must be destruction. (J. J. Davies.)
Balaam
Balaam is one of those instances which meet us in Scripture of
persons dwelling
to a certain extent
in the gloom of heathenish practices
while preserving at the same time a certain knowledge of the one true God. He
was endowed with a greater than ordinary knowledge of God; he had the intuition
of truth
and could see into the life of things; he was
in fact
a poet and a
prophet. Moreover
he confessed that all these superior advantages were not his
own
but derived from God
and were His gift. Thus
doubtless
he had
won for himself among his contemporaries a high reputation not only for wisdom
and knowledge
but also for sanctity. And although his sanctity comes to very
little in the end
when his besetting sin overmastered him
yet it may be
readily understood that
judged by the standards which prevailed among the
heathen nomad tribe which sent for him to curse the nation of Israel
he would
appear to be an eminently holy man
so much so that
as Balak said to him at
their first interview
“I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed
and that
he whom thou cursest is cursed.” But then
it may be asked
if Balaam was
looked upon as a holy man and as a worshipper of Jehovah
how came Balak to
send for him and to offer him vast rewards to curse the people of Jehovah? The
answer is
that it was not uncommon among those heathen nations--nor is the
practice even now unknown among pagan tribes--to offer sacrifices to the gods
of the enemy to propitiate them to themselves. The ancient Romans repeatedly
did this. Doubtless there were many professed enchanters and soothsayers in the
land of Moab; but king Balak--perhaps having previously tried these without
success--may have preferred sending five hundred miles for a renowned prophet
who had the reputation of more than mortal wisdom and power
who was also a
worshipper of Jehovah
and who might for that reason be all the more likely to
propitiate His anger
or to turn Him against that strange people which had
“come out of Egypt
” and now
marching with unearthly tokens along the desert
had pitched their tents within sight of the strongholds where Balak had his
habitation. Consider now the first message which the renowned soothsayer
received from the terrified king. Clearly he wished to go
and was disappointed
and chagrined at being prevented. But why should he feel any disappointment? We
might have been at a loss to know
had it not been for the ray of inspired
light shed upon the whole narrative by a single line from the pen of the
Apostle Peter. That apostle tells us that “he loved the wages of
unrighteousness.” He did not particularly like the work
but he loved the wages.
Like many another covetous soul
if he could have grasped the wages without
doing the devil’s work
he would have preferred it; and he loved the wages so
well that
although he at first refused to go
yet presently we find him
venturing on the work for the sake of getting the pay.
1. Mark here
then
the first
the earliest effect of cherishing any
besetting sin. It is that God is served reluctantly. Sin is looked at with a
longing eye. The prohibition seems hard and unreasonable.
2. Mark now the second application made by Balak
in which the
unhappy prophet
who has begun by grumbling at God’s will
is placed in further
and severer temptation. I cannot but pity him here
as we pity many another
poor slave who makes just one momentary effort to break off his chains. Or
perhaps the speech with which he met the second deputation from Moab was
artfully intended to enhance the value of subsequent compliance--we cannot
certainly tell. But at all events he protests manfully: “If Balak would give me
his house full of silver and gold
I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my
God
to do less or more.” So also Peter valiantly protested when his Master was
about to be betrayed: “Though all men should deny Thee
though I should die
with Thee
I will not deny Thee.” Yet within a few short hours Peter had denied
his Master thrice; and within a few short hours Balaam was on his way to the
borders of Moab. The difference between the two cases is that Peter at once
went out
wept bitterly
and received forgiveness; whereas Balaam
having
started on a career of covetousness
never retraced his steps
and is set forth
to us in the lurid light portrayed by St. Jude
“suffering the vengeance of
eternal fire.” We have seen that the first effect of besetting sin is that the
Lord is served reluctantly. The next effect is that pretences are sought for
its indulgence
or at least for putting ourselves in the way of it. The second
time that God appears to Balaam there seems to be a permission to go
though
coupled with a warning that he would say nothing but what the Lord should
command. It by no means follows that because Balaam received a kind of
permission to go
that his journey had the Divine approval. The Lord answers
our prayers sometimes as He answered the prayers of Israel for a king
in His
anger; nor is it easy for a greater curse to come upon a man than to be left to
the gratification of his own selfish and sinful desires. Let us pray that God
Almighty would cross our most cherished purposes
and defeat our darling
projects
rather than suffer us in our own self-willed perverseness to enter upon a path in
defiance of His holy will. St. Peter speaks of Balaam’s going with the princes
of Moab as madness and iniquity: he “was rebuked for his iniquity; the dumb
ass
speaking with man’s voice
forbade the madness of the prophet.” And is
this the man who so boldly declared that he would not turn aside from the will
of God one hair’s-breadth if Balak would give him his house full of silver and
gold? Poor human nature! How little do even great men know themselves! How
small the importance to be attached to mere profession! How are people likely
to deceive themselves and to deceive others when speaking what is called their
experience
but which is sometimes only a strong emotion of the moment
to be
displaced or destroyed by the first attack of temptation! How often has it
happened that those who make the loudest profession of their virtue
and of
their love to the cause of God
are the first to succumb to covetousness or
other besetting sin I And now the narrative
in opening before us a fresh
scene
suggests at the
same time a further view of the progress of a besetting sin. How striking is
the circumstance that
although the ass
on three several occasions
saw the
Angel with drawn sword standing in the way
Balaam saw Him not! God
says St.
Augustine
had punished his cupidity
by according to him a permission
conformable to his wicked inclination; and we see in him all the corruption of
the human heart
and all the depravation of a will enslaved to a dominant lust.
Other interpreters maintain that his permission to go was on the understood
condition that he was not to curse Israel; and that it was because his heart
craving after the gold
was already wavering from this purpose
that the Angel
of the Covenant accused him of perverseness
and having given him a striking
and solemn warning
suffered him again to go forward. I confess that this view
of the case commends itself to my own judgment.
3. But whichever view you adopt
the blindness of this perverse
prophet is equally monitory. He appears before us a type of those
well-instructed sinners whom every one except themselves sees to be running to
their own ruin
blinded by the fascination of covetousness or some other master
sin. After this Balaam is given up to his own heart’s lust--the last and most
terrific result
in this life
of the indulgence of besetting sin. “Go with the
men
” the Lord says to him
giving him up to his own heart’s lusts
which he
followed to his destruction. “Go with the men”--when neither the first words of
God who forbade him
nor the signs and dangers which met him by the way
could
turn his heart or deliver him from his error
the Lord bids him to go on--as
Jarchi
the Jew
well paraphrases the words--“Go with the men
for thy portion
is with them
and thine end to perish out of the world.” (L. H. Wiseman.)
Balaam
Balaam was certainly a heathen soothsayer and diviner (Joshua 13:22). But he was more than a mere
soothsayer. He had certainly
for one thing
a very full knowledge of the
character of God. Thus
he again and again employs
in speaking of God
that
covenant name “Jehovah” (Numbers 22:8; Numbers 22:13; Numbers 22:18-19; Numbers 23:3; Numbers 23:8; Numbers 23:12; Numbers 23:21; Numbers 23:26; chap. 24:1
6
13)
by
which He was specially made known to Israel (Exodus 6:2-3). And such terms as
“the
Lord my God” (Numbers 22:18); the “Almighty” (Numbers 24:4); “the most High” (Numbers 24:16)
also occur in the course
of his utterances
implying
by the variety of expression so easily adopted
a
very much wider acquaintance with the Divine character than is commonly
supposed to belong
to ordinary heathens. Nor was the knowledge which Balaam
possessed of the character of God a merely verbal or speculative knowledge. It
is manifest that he stood in certain intimate personal relations with Jehovah.
He speaks of the Lord as “the Lord his God” (Numbers 22:18); and the whole tenor of
his intercourse with Jehovah
on this occasion
implies a previous acquaintance
with God--such an acquaintance with God
indeed
as almost presupposes previous
immediate communications between God and himself. And it may have been
that
his extraordinary reputation as a prophet had arisen from the fact that God
had
from time to time
“put words into his mouth
” which he had spoken
and
which had also come to pass. Nor is there wanting in the character of Balaam a
certain tone of high religious feeling also. He has the profoundest reverence
for the authority and word of God. The word that God putteth into his mouth
that will he speak! Nay
nor would he
though Balak should give him his house
full of silver and gold
go beyond the word of the Lord
&c. Nor must we
deny to Balaam a certain personal and spiritual sympathy with the truths he uttered
in God’s name. (See Numbers 23:10; Numbers 24:23.) “He
too
is borne away
at least for a time
by the grandeur of the announcements he is making. There
is that in him which reaches out with a true
although too transient
yearning
after the coming triumphs of the people and kingdom of God.” We must not paint
this portrait wholly black. An honest and a truthful man; an independent and
(in a certain sense) high-minded man; a Godfearing and religious man: such is
Balaam
the son of Beer
of Pethor
on one side of his character. And yet he is
a bad man
despite his many virtues
and a man who finally perished miserably
with the enemies of God’s people. A strange phenomenon
indeed
this Balaam! a
heathen soothsayer and an inspired servant of the Lord; a man full of richest
endowments
animated by many very noble impulses
uttering the most exalted
sentiments; and yet a man whose heart was rotten at the core
whose life is
only written as a warning against sin
whose death was an unmitigated tragedy.
I. We see here
in
the fact of Balaam’s inspiration
although he was a heathen soothsayer
an
evidence and witness to the wider relations that God holds with man than is
sometimes supposed. The fact is
it hath pleased God
for His own most wise and
gracious purposes
gradually and slowly to mature His final plan of mercy for
the world in Jesus Christ; and
with a view to its completeness and maturity
to confine it
at the first
within restricted lines of influence. But it is a
monstrous
heathen notion to suppose that all the while this final plan of
mercy was in course of development
the great
wide world
without the
parallels in which it moved
was utterly neglected and forsaken of its God. No!
the world was also being educated
in its way
as well as the Church: educated
on a humbler method
and with more “rudimentary” instruction
but educated; and
educated of God. Two lines of culture
then
have been going on in the world
side by side
under the providential direction of the Most High God
and with a
view to the ultimate salvation of the world. A primary and rudimentary culture
under what Paul calls the “elements of the world
” consisting of the ordinary
course of Providence
with occasional interpositions of sovereign grace and
special instances of inspiration; and a systematic and formal culture for a
selected portion of the human family
under the written law of God
with
constant interpositions of sovereign grace
and almost constant inspiration.
II. That
in
dealing with men by His spirit
the Lord has regard to the moral and spiritual
standpoint at which each man may be found. Balaam is a soothsayer
and yet he
is inspired of God! Balaam seeks the Lord by means of enchantments
and yet the
Lord does not refuse to come to him
but responds to his appeal again and again
I But
then
it is to be considered that Balaam was a heathen
and that he had
been brought up in the midst of the practice of divination
if he had not
indeed
inherited his position as a diviner from his father. It was plainly one
thing for such a man as Balaam to employ enchantment
and quite another for an
Israelite to do so. For to Israel
if I may so speak
was given a diviner
augury--in God’s law
and in God’s presence in their midst; and so to them the
use of all these heathen arts was absolutely interdicted (Deuteronomy 18:9-14). But
as the art of
divination was the highest point to which the heathen world had been able to
attain in their pursuit of the unseen
so God condescended to meet Balaam
at
that special point of spiritual culture
that He might lead him thenceforth to
higher forms of truth and nobler modes of worship.
III. How broad is
the distinction between spiritual endowments and spiritual character. Balaam
was both an inspired man
and also
at the same time
a very wicked man. He
gave expression to the noblest sentiments
and yet performed the basest deeds.
See
then
how little mere endowments
even of the highest kind
can do for us;
how widely separated from each other are gifts and graces. The gifts which we
receive from God are
in reality
no proper part of us
until we make them ours
by a light use of them. And our character is measured
not so much by the
number of talents we have received
as by the fidelity we have exhibited in the
employment of the talents we have. It by no means follows because we have
spiritual faculties that we are spiritual men. These faculties are given to us
beforehand to aid our usefulness
if we become spiritual men
and in the hope
as one may say
that we shall become spiritual men. But
for all our gifts
we
may still be “in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” It is
quite possible for divinely-bestowed gifts to miss their object and intention!
(W. Roberts.)
Balaam tempted
I. In the first
place observe that there is no time of man’s life wherein he may not be
tempted
or may not be in danger of falling off from God and goodness; which
should be an argument to us for constant care and watchfulness over ourselves.
Even those whom God hath favoured in a very particular manner
and with
heavenly gifts and graces
are no more secure than others
if they take not
proportionable care.
II. Observe how
dangerous a thing it is so much as to attend or listen to the charms of wealth
and honour. For a gift will sometimes blind the wise
and a bribe will beguile their
hearts. Balaam looked too much upon the golden presents
and was too sensibly
struck with the sound of honour and preferments; which made him the less
consider upon how slippery ground he stood
and how dangerous an affair that
was to concern himself in.
III. Observe
that
when God sees men leaning too far to ambitious or covetous desires
and not
wise enough to take such gentle hints as might be sufficient to call them back
he then leaves them to pursue their own hearts’ lusts
and lets them follow their
own imagination.
IV. Observe next
how foolish a part a man acts
and how he exposes himself to contempt and
scorn
as well as danger
when he takes upon him to follow his own way and
humour
and will not have God for his guide.
V. Observe
further
that when once willful men have run such lengths in opposition to the
will of Heaven
God then gives them up to a reprobate mind
and lets them fall
from one degree of wickedness to another. So it was in Balaam.
VI. One thing more
we may observe from his history
which is this: that the Spirit of God may
sometimes vouchsafe to come upon a very wicked man (so far as concerns the
extraordinary gifts) without reforming or influencing the same man as to his
life and morals
in the way of ordinary operation. These two things are very
distinct
and may often be separate
as in Balaam at that time
and in Judas
afterwards. (D. Waterland
D. D.)
Apostasy
I. The piety of
Balaam.
1. The spiritual enlightenment of Balaam evinces his piety.
2. Balaam’s piety is seen in his distinctly recognising the supreme
authority of the will of God.
3. The piety of Balaam was manifested in his obedience to the will of
God.
II. The apostasy of
Balaam.
1. The means through which Balaam was induced to apostatise must not
be overlooked. He was enticed by worldly wealth and distinction. Principle is
surrendered
honour lost
the soul itself bartered for the wages of
unrighteousness. Such was “the error of Balaam.” And who knows not that by this
very means multitudes have been seduced from their integrity
and lost for
ever? Like the fabled Atalanta
while they were running well
the golden apple
was thrown at their feet
tempting them; and stooping from their high
principles to take it up
they have lost the race.
2. Mark the progress of Balaam’s apostasy. First
we notice the
indulgence of evil desire--desire for gain and honour
which could only be
obtained by wrongdoing; his heart goes after covetousness. Next he tampers with
temptation. The reiterated overtures of Balak should have been indignantly
rejected. Why are these ambassadors received even a second time? Why another
and another audience granted to them? Alas! he is fascinated by the very means
of his ruin: like a silly fish
he is playing about the bait. Then
how he
struggles with conscience! Guard against the beginnings of evil. If the
downward career of apostasy be once commenced
whither thou mayest be hurried
to what depths of degradation thou mayest fall
God only knows. Like the swine
of the Gadarenes
thou mayest be driven onward
literally possessed by the
devil
until plunged into the abyss below. Oh bow deeply have some fallen I
from small beginnings degenerating to the darkest crimes--crimes which are a
loathing and an abhorrence. “Is thy servant a dog that he should do this
thing?”--but
as a quaint writer saith
“the dog did it.” We may start from the
line of rectitude at a very small angle
the divergence becoming gradually
wider and wider
till we are as far from righteousness as hell is from heaven.
3. Consider the checks which presented themselves in the way of
Balaam’s apostasy
but which he obstinately resisted and overtrod. What pains
the gracious Lord taketh to prevent our self-destruction I To the truth of this
every backslider is witness. How powerful an obstacle is conscience
which ever
and anon raiseth its voice
and will be heard
like the voice of the Lord which
thundereth! Death
too
like a spectre from the invisible world
again and
again obtrudes it elf on the apostate’s guilty soul. Dumb things have a voice
to him that hath ears to hear
rebuking our madness.
4. Contemplate the issue of Balaam’s apostasy. It entailed immense
mischief upon others. Through him thousands of the Lord’s people perished. At
the same time his fall issued in woeful disappointment to himself. (J. Heaton.)
What men are these with
thee?--
God’s interest in man’s companionships
This question was designed to awaken “the slumbering conscience of
Balaam
to lead him to reflect upon the proposal which the men had made
and to
break the force of his sinful inclination.” God addresses the same question to
the young who are forming dangerous associations
to Christians who take
pleasure in worldly society
&c. He urges this solemn inquiry
This inquiry indicates the Divine concern as to human
companionships. We may regard this concern as--
I. An indication
of the Divine solicitude for the well-being of man.
II. An indication
of the importance of our companionships.
1. Our associates indicate our character. “A man is known by the
company which he keeps.”
2. Our associates influence our character. “He that walketh with wise
men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”
III. An indication
of our responsibility to God for our companionships.
IV. An indication
of the danger of dallying with temptation. (W. Jones.)
Evil company to be avoided
Flee unholy company as baneful to the power of godliness. Be but
as careful for thy soul as thou wouldst be for thy body. Durst thou drink in
the same cup
or sit in the same chair
with one that hath an infectious
disease? And is not sin as catching a disease as the plague itself? Of all
trades
it would not do well to have the collier and the fuller live together;
what one cleanseth
the other will blacken and defile. Thou canst not be long among
unholy ones but thou wilt hazard the defiling of thy soul
which the Holy
Spirit hath made pure. (W. Gurnall.)
The Lord refuseth to give
me leave.
Hesitating to do right
Whence this mingled petulance and feebleness? Plainly Balaam wants
to go with the princes of Balak
and he is irritated that he cannot go; and so
first of all
he vents his spleen upon the men who were the innocent occasion
of his disappointment. And yet
in the midst of all his anger
he cannot bring
himself to utter such decisive words as shall foreclose for ever the prospects
of advancement opened up to him by Balak. There can be no mistaking the spirit
of this language. It is at once both insolent and hesitating; it is abrupt
and
yet circuitous. There are deeply agitating influences at work upon the mind of
him who
yesterday
a master of wise speech and full of graceful hospitality
can say to inoffensive guests
“Get you into your own land; for the Lord
refuseth to give me leave to go with you.” Here
then
we first catch sight of
Balaam’s weakness and infirmity. The prospect of emolument in the discharge of
his prophetic office had excited his cupidity. When he first saw the rewards of
divination he was
perhaps
scarcely conscious of their influence upon his
mind. So long as the question of his going with the men was undecided
he
betrayed no agitation on the subject; but now that these rewards were passing
out of his reach--now that he was absolutely forbidden to do anything that
would secure them
a passionate desire to be possessed of them was stirred
within his breast
and unmistakably betrayed itself in his behaviour towards
the men to whom
he had promised to communicate the answer of the Lord. (W. Roberts.)
Verses 15-35
If the men come to call thee
rise up
and go with them.
No contradiction between God’s two answers to Balaam
The first time God tells him not to go; the second time He bids
him go
but is angry with him because he goes. What dues this contradiction
mean? There is no meaning in it till we drop the external shell of the story
and look at the moral working of Balaam’s mind
when all becomes orderly and
natural. There is here no contradiction. Between the first and second asking
there is a change in his moral attitude. In the first he is docile and
obedient
and the voice of conscience
which is the voice of God
prevails and
decides his conduct. He enters into the second already half won by Balak
dislodged from his old sympathies
restless under the comparison between his
old life and that laid open to him. When men revolve moral questions in such a
temper
they commonly reach a decision that accords with their wish rather than
with their conscience. Balaam has abandoned the field of simple duty--duty so
plain that there is no need of second thoughts. It is clear enough that in no
way could it be right to curse those whom God had blessed; this he well knows
and the
spontaneous verdict of his conscience is God’s first answer But
brooding over
the matter and sore pressed by temptation
he begins to contrive ways in which
he may win the gifts and honours of Balak
and also remain an honest prophet.
Here is his mistake. Duty is no longer a simple
imperative thing
but something
that may be conjured with
a subordinate
unstable tool instead of an absolute
law. Having thus blinded himself as to the nature of duty
there will no longer
be any certainty in his moral operations; confusion of thought leads to
confusion of action; in his own transformation he transforms God; he now hears
God bidding him do what he desires to do. Still
at times
conscience revives
his judgment returns
and then he knows that God is angry with him for doing
what he had brought himself to think he might rightly do. This is every-day
experience put into this ancient story in a dramatic yet real way. When a man
has thus trifled with himself and with his duty
God does indeed seem to say to
him
“Go on in your chosen course.” He serves God in the externals of religion
but in business cheats and lies in what he calls business ways
and grinds the
faces of the poor under some theory of competition
yet God prospers him; no
hindering word comes to him from Providence or from the insulted Spirit of
truth. It may be better
it may be
in a certain sense
the command of God
that one who starts on such a path shall follow it to the end
and find out by
experience what he has rejected as an intuition. With the froward God shows
Himself froward. To those who have pleasure in unrighteousness God sends
a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. This is the concrete way of
stating how the moral nature acts when it is led by double motives. It comes
into bewilderment; it gets no true answers when it appeals to God; its own
sophistries seem to it the voice of God. It can no longer tell the voice of God
from its own voice. “Fair is foul
and foul is fair.” (T. T. Manger.)
God answers men as they wish
It is not unusual with God to grant
not only the desires of an
holy and upright mind
but also our desires for inferior things
when the heart
is set upon them in preference to Himself. For instance
a man is on his guard
against the dangers of wealth and station; but by degrees he thinks whether he
cannot obtain them lawfully
and by and by he is engaged in the pursuit
and in
such a ease God gives the man usually that for which he craves. He seeks
he
obtains; God seems to say
“Go on.” There is no greater danger than for God to
answer a man according to the desires of his own heart; and therefore Job says
“If thou prepare thine heart
and stretch out thine hands towards Him; if
iniquity be in thine hand
put it far away” (Job 11:14). And in Ezekiel God says
if a
man comes to inquire of Him with idols in his heart
and setting the
stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face
He will answer him according
to his idols
he will be taken in his own heart. “If that prophet be deceived
”
it is added in very remarkable words
“I the Lord have deceived him
and I will
punish him” (Ezekiel 14:4-5; Ezekiel 14:9). But yet in this case God
does not give us up altogether. As when Israel asked for a king
He gave indeed
what they desired--but He expostulated
He warned
He sent them a token of His
displeasure. So will He show us by His Providence that He is displeased with
us; in the way that we go
His angel with the sword in his hand will meet us
i.e.
some calamity
some accident
some grief
is sure to cross our way to remind us
from God that the way that we are going is not the way of holiness or of peace.
And these are all calls from God
not at all the less so because when a man’s
eyes are blinded with worldly business and covetousness he does not see them to
be such. (Isaac Williams
B. D.)
Balaam; or
spiritual influence
human and Divine
I. The influence
of a bad man upon society.
1. A man’s influence in this world is no proof of his moral worth.
The millions of all ages readily accede to the claims of the pretender
however
lofty; and the more lofty the better
if the claimant can manage to keep his countenance
while the admiring dupes look on.
2. Society
in relation to true intelligence and right sympathy
is
in a very lamentable state. A true education
involving the harmonious
unfolding of the feeling as well as knowing faculties of the soul
will make a
man a “discerner of spirits.”
3. The high probability of a future retributive economy. Does not the
mutual relation between empty pretenders and the ignorant victims of all ages
predict a reckoning day
and cry out for a judgment?
II. The influence
of the great God upon a bad man (Numbers 22:18).
1. God does exert a spiritual influence over the minds of bad men.
2. The spiritual influence He exerts over the minds of bad men is of
a restraining character.
3. God’s restraining influence upon a bad man is for the good of
society. (Homilist.)
Balak’s second application to Balaam; or
the decrease of
resistance to evil
I. The repetition
with increased force of the request of Balak to Balaam.
1. The embassage was more influential.
2. The message was more urgent.
3. The inducements were stronger.
Learn: that temptations which have been declined half-heartedly
are presented again
and with greater force. The manner of Balaam’s dismissal of
the former messengers prepared the way for a repetition of their mission.
II. The repetition
under aggravating circumstances of guilty delay by Balaam.
1. He had been challenged by God as to the presence of the former
messengers.
2. He had already been prohibited from complying with the request of
Balak.
3. He himself felt arid plainly declared that he was bound by the
word of the Lord in the matter.
III. The repetition
of the Divine visit to Balaam.
1. The permission granted.
2. The condition enforced.
IV. The setting out
of Balaam on the journey. (W. Jones.)
The character of Balaam
We take this to be the great crisis in Balaam’s life. We take this
act
which to many appears so excellent
to be the first step in his downward
course. It was not only the day of God’s power towards Israel
but a day of
grace to Balaam; but
alas! he knew it not. The precious moment on which so
much depended was lost; henceforth his downward course was rapid. He perished
in the rejection of grace and mercy. There is a crisis in our histories as in
Balaam’s
a time
perhaps a moment
on which our eternity depends. There may be
nothing to mark it out as a great crisis at the time. The Spirit of God may
strive with you
gently strive. There may be some conviction in your mind
and
all may depend on your yielding up your heart to Christ
and acting upon that
conviction at once. If you waver when you ought to act; wait for more light
when you have light enough; if you allow any second thought to come in to
determine what you shall do
anything selfish or worldly
when you ought to act
simply for God
then the Spirit may leave you; your day of grace
like
Balaam’s
may pass by
or it may be some temptation which is presented to you.
We do not mean any awful temptation
one which the world itself would counsel
you to resist. It may be some offer which you would be deemed foolish in
rejecting
something that the world thinks an advantage; and yet if you do give
way to the temptation
oh
what unforeseen consequences may follow
step by step
with unerring certainty! Let it now be impressed upon your hearts what great
and eternal consequences may depend upon one little act. Oh
be faithful to
God
faithful in apparently little things
as well as in great. But we must go
a step further and ask
“What was it that gave this bias to Balaam’s will
and
led him still to inquire
when he ought to have felt
‘God has revealed His
will; it is enough. I will not move from my place’?” Scripture gives a complete
answer to that question. It was a besetting sin
and we are told what it was.
It was the sin of covetousness (2 Peter 3:15). There are two most
solemn lessons which this ought to rivet on our hearts. First
we see the amazing
power and awful effects of one besetting sin. We see how it perverts the will
how it keeps the heart from resting on the plain word of God--how it leads to
neglect
yea
not even to know
the day of visitation--and how it hurries the
soul onward
blinded and debased
to a point at which at first it would have
shuddered. The other lesson is the deceitfulness of the human heart. Its wishes
may be quite opposite to its most solemn professions; and at the very moment
when it seems to be guided by the will of God it may be following some device
or desire of its own. To what earnest self-inspection should this character
lead us
lest our hearts
too
should be hardened by the deceitfulness of
sin--lest
satisfied with a decided profession
we forget that God is the
searcher of the heart
and that He deals and will deal with us
not according
to what we profess to be
but according to what we are
according to the real
state of our hearts. (G. Wagner.)
Perversion as shown in the character of Balaam
I. Perversion of
great gifts.
1. By turning them to purposes of self-aggrandisement. Balak struck
the keynote of his character when he said
“Am I not able to promote thee unto
honour?” Herein
then
lies the first perversion of glorious gifts: that Balaam
sought not God’s honour
but his own.
2. By making those gifts subservient to his own greed.
II. Perversion of
conscience.
1. The first intimation we have of the fact that Balaam was tampering
with his conscience
is in his second appeal to God. There is nothing like the
first glance we get at duty
before there has been any special pleading of our
affections or inclinations. Duty is never uncertain at first. It is only after
we have got involved in the sophistries of wishing that things were otherwise
than they are that it seems indistinct. Considering a duty is often only
explaining it away. Deliberation is often only dishonesty. God’s guidance is
plain
when we are true.
2. The second stage is a state of hideous contradictions: God permits
Balaam to go
and then is angry with him for going. There is nothing here which
cannot be interpreted by bitter experience. We must not explain it away by
saying that these were only the alternations of Balaam’s own mind. They were;
but they were the alternations of a mind with which God was expostulating
and
to which God appeared differently at different times; the horrible mazes and
inconsistencies of a spirit which contradicts itself
and strives to disobey
the God whom yet it feels and acknowledges. To such a state of mind God becomes
a contradiction. “With the forward”--oh
how true! - “Thou wilt show Thyself
froward.”
3. We notice next the evidences in him of a disordered mind and
heart. It is a strange
sad picture. The first man in the land
gifted beyond
most others
conscious of great mental power
going on to splendid prospects
yet with hopelessness and misery working at his heart. Who would have envied
Balaam if he could have seen all the hell that was working at his heart?
4. Lastly
let us consider the impossibility under such circumstances
of going back. Balaam offers to go back. The angel says
“Go on.” There was yet
one hope for him
to be true
to utter God’s wolds careless of the
consequences; but he who had been false so long
how should he be true? It was
too late. In the ardour of youth you have made perhaps a wrong choice
or
chosen an unfit profession
or suffered yourself weakly and passively to be
drifted into a false course of action
and now
in spite of yourself
you feel
there is no going back. To many minds
such a lot comes as with the mysterious
force of a destiny. They see themselves driven
and forget that they put
themselves in the way of the stream that drives them. They excuse their own
acts as if they were coerced. They struggle now and then faintly
as Balaam
did--try to go back--cannot--and at last sink passively in the mighty current
that floats them on to wrong. And thenceforth to them all God’s intimations
will come unnaturally. His voice will sound as that of an angel against them in
the way. Spectral lights will gleam
only to show a quagmire from which there
is no path of extrication. (F. W. Robertson
M. A.)
Obedience without love
as instanced in the character of Balaam
I. Balaam was
blessed with God’s especial favour.
1. He had the grant of inspiration.
2. The knowledge of God’s will.
3. An insight into the truths of morality
clear and enlarged
such
as we Christians even cannot surpass.
4. He was admitted to conscious intercourse with God
such as even
Christians have not.
II. Balaam was a
very conscientious man.
1. When sought by Balak he prayed to God for direction.
2. When forbidden to go
he refused to go.
3. Only when God gave him leave did he go.
4. And when he was come to Balak he strictly adhered to God’s orders.
Balaam was certainly high-principled
honourable
conscientious. He said
and
he did; he professed
and he acted according to his professions.
III. Yet
while in
one sense in God’s favour
he was in another and higher sense under God’s
displeasure. He was displeasing to God amid his many excellences. So that
in
Balaam’s history
we seem to have the following remarkable case--i.e.
remarkable according to our customary judgment of things--a man Divinely
favoured
visited
influenced
guided
protected
eminently honoured
illuminated--a
man possessed of an enlightened sense of duty
and of moral and religious
acquirements
educated
high-minded
conscientious
honourable
firm; and yet
on the side of God’s enemies
personally under God’s displeasure
and in the
end (if we go on to that) the direct instrument of Satan
and having his
portion with the unbelievers. This surely is most fearful to every one of
us--the more fearful the more we are conscious to ourselves in the main of
purity of intention in what we do
and conscientious adherence to our sense of
duty.
IV. What is the
meaning of this startling exhibition of God’s ways?
1. It is possible to be generally conscientious
or what the world
calls honourable and high-principled
yet to be destitute of that religious
fear and strictness which God calls conscientiousness
but which the world
calls superstition or narrowness of mind.
2. God gave Balaam leave to go to Balak
and then was angry with him
for going
because his asking twice was tempting God. God is a jealous God. We
may not safely intrude upon Him
and make free with Him.
Concluding lessons:
1. We see how little we can depend
in judging of right and wrong
on
the apparent excellence and high character of individuals.
2. Observe the wonderful secret providence of God
while all things
seem to go on according to the course of this world.
3. When we have begun an evil course we cannot retrace our steps.
4. God gives us warnings now and then
but does not repeat them.
Balaam’s sin consisted in not acting upon what was told him once for all.
Beware of trifling with conscience. May He give you grace so to hear as you
will wish to have heard when life is over--to hear in a practical way
with a
desire to profit--to learn God’s will and to do it! (J. H. Newman
D.
D.)
Balaam
We
in these days
are accustomed to draw a sharp line between the
good and the bad
the converted and the unconverted
the children of God and
the children of his world
those who have God’s Spirit and those who have not
which we find nowhere in Scripture; and therefore when we read of such a man as
Balaam we cannot understand him. He knows the true God. More
be has the Spirit
of God in him
and thereby utters wonderful prophecies; and yet he is a bad
man. How can that be? Now bear in mind
first
theft Balaam is no impostor or
magician. He is a wise man
and a prophet of God. God really speaks to him
and
really inspires him. And bear in mind
too
that Balaam’s inspiration did not
merely open his mouth to say wonderful words which he did not understand
but
opened his heart to say righteous and wise things which he did understand.
What
then
was wrong in Balaam? This
that he was double-minded. He wished to
serve God. True. But he wished to serve himself by serving God
as too many do
in all times. That was what was wrong with him--self-seeking; and the Bible
story brings out that self seeking with a delicacy
and a perfect knowledge of
human nature
which ought to teach us some of the secrets of our own hearts.
But what may we learn from this ugly story? Recollect what I said at first
that we should find Balaam too like many people nowadays; perhaps too like
ourselves. Too like indeed. For never were men more tempted to sin as Balaam
did than in these days
when religion is all the fashion
and pays a man
and
helps him on in life; when
indeed
a man cannot expect to succeed without
professing some sort of religion or other. Thereby comes a terrible temptation
to many men. I do not mean to hypocrites
but to really well-meaning men. They
like religion. They wish to be good; they have the feeling of devotion. They
pray
they read their Bibles
they are attentive to services and to sermons
and are more or less pious people. But soon--too soon--they find that their
piety is profitable. Their business increases. Their credit increases. They
gain power over their fellow men. What a fine thing it is
they think
to be
pious! Then creeps in the love of the world; the love of money
or power
or
admiration; and they begin to value religion because it helps them to get on in
the world. Aye
they are often more attentive than ever to religion
because
their consciences pinch them at times
and have to be drugged by continual
church-goings and chapel-goings
and readings and prayings
in order that they
may be able to say to themselves with Balaam
“Thus saith Balaam
he who heard
the word of God
and had the knowledge of the Most High.” So they say to
themselves
“I must be right. How religious I am; how fond of sermons
and of
church services
and missionary meetings
and charitable institutions
and
everything that is good and pious. I must be right with God.” Deceiving their
own selves
and saying to themselves
“I am rich and increased with goods
I
have need of nothing
” and not knowing that they are wretched
and miserable
and blind
and naked. Would God that such people
of whom there are too many
would take St. John’s warning and buy of the Lord gold tiled in the fire--the
true gold of honesty--that they may be truly rich
and anoint their eyes with
eye-salve that they may see themselves for once as they are. (C. Kingsley
M. A.)
Trifling with conscience
What was Balaam’s prime mistake? I think it was this
that he
trifled with his conscience. God speaks once to the human soul
and speaks
loudly; but if you disobey His voice
it soon sinks to a whisper. “When I was a
little boy
” said Theodore Parker
“in my fourth year
one fine day in spring
my father led me by the hand to a distant part of the farm
but soon sent me
home alone. On the way I had to pass a little pond
then spreading its waters
wide; a rhodora in full bloom
a rare flower which grew only in that locality
attracted my attention
and drew me to the spot. I saw a little spotted
tortoise sunning itself in the shallow water at the root of the flowering
shrub. I lifted the stick I had in my hand to strike the harmless reptile; for
though I had never killed any creature
yet I had seen other boys out of sport
destroy birds and squirrels and the like
and I felt a disposition to follow
their wicked example. But all at once something checked my little arm
and a
voice within me said
clear and loud
‘It is wrong.’ I held my uplifted stick
in wonder at the new emotion
the consciousness of an involuntary but inward
check upon my actions
till the tortoise and the rhodora both vanished from my
sight. I hastened home
and told the tale to nay mother
and asked what it was
that told me ‘it was wrong.’ She wiped a tear from her eye
and taking me in
her arms said: ‘Some men call it conscience
but I prefer to call it the voice
of God in the soul of man. If you listen and obey it
it will speak clearer and
clearer
and always guide you right; but if you turn a deaf ear and disobey
then it will fade out little by little
and leave you in the dark and without a
guide. Your life depends on heeding that little voice.’ “ This is the truth
let me say again
of Balaam’s history; and having so shown it to you
or tried
to make you see it
I might almost leave it to your reflection without a word.
But as I want you to realise what the human conscience is
and how responsible
you all are for your mode of treating it
there are just two or three remarks
which I will make.
1. Firstly
there are some people who make a boast
as it were
of
having what I may call a loose or easy conscience. They think it a sign of
intellectual light to be free from conscientious scruples. They say
“Oh
yes
no doubt there was a time when it was thought wrong to touch or to read
newspapers and secular books on Sundays
or to go to a theatre
or to
participate in dancing or card-playing or any such thing; but these were
Puritan days
and we have outlived them
we have learned to laugh at them
we
do nowadays pretty much as we like.” This is the sort of language which is
often heard in the world. Now what I say to you about it shall be simple common
sense. I agree to some extent with the people who so speak. It is a mistake
I
think
to multiply the number of sins. There are so many things which are wrong
in the world
and it is so hard for most of us to keep from doing them
that I
should say we make a mistake if we involuntarily add to the number of things
which we may not do. Only forgive my saying that
if one must make a mistake
then it is better to err on the side of abstaining from good than on the side
of running heedlessly into wrong. It is better to have a weak conscience than a
wicked one. Do not you think that for one person who violates the Sunday from a
religious motive
there are twenty who violate it because they do not care for
religion at all? And is it not likely--ah! how likely--that
if we are not
careful to cherish the means of grace and of religious practice
if we do not
go to church and to the Holy Communion
we shall gradually sink into a worldly
way of looking at things
and our religion will die away altogether?
2. Again
let me impress upon you that your conscience is plastic;
you are always forming it
always making it better or worse. If you listen to
it when it speaks
it speaks more plainly; if you neglect it
it will simply
cease to speak. Ought it not to be your prayer
your daily effort
to see good
and evil as God sees them? For
believe me
I am telling you what I know
when
you grow up and go out into the world
you will hear people saying of even the
vilest sins
“What does it matter? I do not see the wrong of it.” There is a
blindness of the soul as well as of the body; and although the blinded soul
cannot behold the Sun of Righteousness
the Sun is shining in the heaven all
the same.
3. Lastly
follow your conscience
and it shall lead you to God.
Believe me
the only way to get more spiritual light is to live according to
the light you have. It may be only a ray that breaks athwart the darkness; make
the most of it
and some day you shall have more. There may be hereafter only
one duty which is clear to you
only one friend or kinsman whom you can help
only one boy whom you can keep from evil
only one piece of work which you
alone can do. Well
do that. Try to accomplish that one object. Try to save
just that one human soul. Gradually
it may be after many a day
the clouds
will break. You will know more of God’s will. He will seem nearer to you. His
voice will sound more clearly in your soul. You shall enter into that Divine
peace which the world may neither give nor take away. (J. E. C. Welldon
M.
A.)
Balaam
an instance of moral perversion
How came it that Balaam acted so inconsistently with his knowledge
and convictions
and succeeded for the time
as we may say
in juggling with
his conscience? The answer is not hard to find. He loved money. His heart was
set on gold. He had allowed the passion of covetousness to become the ruling
principle of his nature. I have somewhere read of one who
having found a young
leopard
petted it
and trained it to be his daily companion in his chamber. It
grew up to maturity
but still it was kept beside him
and men wondered at his
foolhardiness in permitting it to go unchained. But he would not be advised.
One day
however
as it licked his hand with its rough tongue
it ruffled the
skin
and tasted his blood; and then all the savage nature of the brute came
out
and there was a fearful struggle between them
from which he escaped only
by destroying it. So it was
in some respects
in this case. Balaam had
nurtured his covetousness into strength; and now
at the offer of Balak’s
rewards
its full force came out; but
instead of fighting with it and slaying
it
he yielded to it and was destroyed. What a terrible passion is this of
covetousness! and how dangerous it is
especially to those who wish to preserve
a fair appearance! For in men’s estimation it is
at least in its beginnings
a
respectable thing. Nor is its respectability its only danger
for in the minds
of many it is associated only with large sums of money; whereas in reality it
may be as strong in the heart of him whose dealings are carried on in cents as
in that of one whose transactions are concerned with hundreds of thousands of
dollars. No one of us
whether rich or poor
whether minister or layman
has a
right to say that there is no fear of him in this matter; for if the love of
money takes possession of the heart
it will blind the eyes
and harden the
conscience
and become a root of evil
so that we shall “fall into temptation
and a snare
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts that war against the
soul.” But what is true of covetoushess is true also of every evil principle
so that we may generalise the lesson here
and say that if the heart be fixed
on any object as its God
other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ
we may expect in the end
whatever may be our knowledge
and whatever
our scruples in other respects
that we shall act against our convictions
and
make shipwreck not only of the faith
but also of ourselves
“ without possibility
of salvage.” (W. M. Taylor
D. D.)
Balaam the man of double mind
He was one of those unstable men whom the apostle calls
doubleminded--an ambidexter in religion
like Redwald
king of the East Saxons
the first who was baptized
who
as Camden relates
had
in the same church
one chapel for the Christian religion
and another for sacrificing to devils. A
loaf of the same leaven was our resolute Rufus
who painted God on one side of
his shield and the devil on the other
with the desperate inscription in
Latin--“I am ready for either.” (C. Ness.)
Balaam’s protest
A brave speech
certainly! Yes
no doubt it was true that
Balaam felt that even for a house full of silver and gold he could not go
beyond the word of the Lord. But
in the first place
why protest so much
concerning silver and gold? Balak’s message had not mentioned silver and
gold--it spoke specially of honour. Surely it must have been because the mind
of Balaam was so much preoccupied with thoughts of silver and gold that he thus
spake; answering himself rather than others. And then
why does Balaam say
“I
cannot” go beyond the word of the Lord? Why does he not roundly say
“I will
not go beyond the word of the Lord”? As it is he only speaks of inability; he
does not mention such a thing as personal disinclination. These flaws we notice
in his words. But still
upon the whole
his speech was brave
just
perhaps
as one may say
one whit too bold. For if there be one thing that we have need
to stand in doubt of
in moments of temptation
it is high sounding phrases of
determination. For
as a rule
we may be sure the courage of the heart is in an
inverse proportion to the valour of the lip. Balaam was conscious of an inward
faltering in reference to that which lay before him
and he sought to veil the
weakness of his purpose by the vigour of his protestations. (W. Roberts.)
Dallying with temptation
Balaam is very sure that he shall confine himself to the
word of the Lord
but he
himself
out of his own heart
has begun to entertain
the purpose of getting upon the scene of these glittering temptations. He
proposes to remain a true man
but he enjoys the company of these honourable
princes. He will remain a true man
but he would like to be near a king who can
send such presents. He will remain a true man
but
once in Moab
his wit will
stand him in hand better than in these dull regions where he dwells. It is the
old
old story of humanity--dallying with temptation in the field of the
imagination
bribing conscience with fair promises
yet all the while moving up
to the forbidden thing. It is a history not seldom repeated. Oh
no! I shall
never become a miser
but I propose to be exceedingly prudent. I shall never
throw away my reputation
my character
but I will feed eye and ear and
imagination with pictures of forbidden pleasure. I shall never become a
drunkard
but I will drink in moderation. I shall never permit myself to be
called a selfish man
but I will take good care of myself in this rough world.
I shall never become dishonest
but I will keep a keen eye for good chances.
Thus it is that men are passing to ruin over a path paved with double purposes.
Balaam now gets a different answer. The first time he is honest and open
and
is told to remain; the next time he takes into the interview his own desires
which are against his convictions
and a half-formed purpose
and he comes out
of it with the answer he wants; desire has taken the lead of conscience. He
starts on his ill-fated journey
meets with strange
confounding
experiences--reflections of the moral confusion into which he has
fallen--experiences
however
that serve to steady and buttress him on his
professional side
but are not able to prevent his fall as a man. (T. T.
Munger.)
On tampering with conscience
Is this conduct of Balaam’s strange or unusual? Have we none of us
done exactly as Balaam did? I protest that men are doing precisely as Balaam
did every day. Yes
and every day are meeting with the selfsame punishment
and
braving the selfsame anger. Temptation to self-aggrandisement of various kinds
comes before us
there is a prospect of a brilliant success
there is the hope
of some tempting reward; the only condition is a course of action about the
lawfulness of which we are in doubt. Then comes the trial--we ponder: on one side
is the bait glittering--we long for so great a prize. But God comes to
us--speaks to us in our consciences--speaks to us by His Word--speaks to us by
His Spirit
saying
Forbear! there is sin in the doing of that which must be
done ere the end you long for can be attained. And at first we acquiesce.
Clearly it has been shown to us
that though ease and pleasure be sweet
duty
is stern and may not be gainsaid; that though success be exquisite delight
unfairness is always vile and bad; that though fame and position be longed for
never so eagerly
yet to depart from truth or honesty is to depart from God.
But by and by the temptation
is looked at again and again--the thing we long for is always before us
the
thing we fear is far; and we begin to ask whether our first impression was
really quite so unmistakably right as we believed it. We look to see if for
some little swerving from the rigorous path of virtue some excuse may not be
found. And we question whether the end may not be attained without quite using
all the means. We seek to know if our consciences cannot allow us to grasp the
thing we wish
and for its sake bear us blameless for once in doing the thing
we shrink from; and
in short
little by little
we give ourselves to be
deceived as Balaam did. We ask for guidance
perchance with a divided heart; we
pray God to teach us how to act
when we have already more than half decided.
We pretend to leave ourselves in His hands
and yet we are only pretending; and
then if He speaks to us at all
it is a voice which speaks to a conscience that
has become confused
and a judgment that has suffered itself only too willingly
to be disjointed; and though the voice seems to be
and in some sense is the
voice of God
yet it is
indeed
only a lie. (A. Jessopp
M. A.)
Withstanding temptation
That was a bright suggestion of a little boy who made the
following answer to the question of a passer-by. Seeing the little fellow
patting his father’s horse
that was standing in front of his house
the man
asked
“Can your horse go fast
my boy?” “No
not very
” he replied
“but he
can stand fast.” That is a virtue not to be despised in a horse; a faithful
animal that can be trusted to remain in his tracks without pulling down the
hitching post or breaking his halter is to be coveted. Can it be said of you
boys
that you “can stand fast”? Are you firm when tempted to do wrong? Are you
easily led astray? Put yourself on the right side
and when urged to step aside
from it remember always to stand fast. (Juvenile Templar.)
Gold an ignoble motive for service
The noblest deeds which have been done on earth have not been done
for gold. It was not for the sake of gold that our Lord came down and died
and
the apostles went out to preach the good news in all lands. The Spartans looked
for no reward in money when they fought and died at Thermopyhae; and Socrates
the wise asked no pay from his countrymen
but lived poor and barefoot all his
days
only caring to make men good. And there are heroes in our days also
who
do noble deeds
but not for gold. Our discoverers did not go to make themselves
rich when they sailed out one after another into the dreary frozen seas; nor
did the ladies who went out to drudge in the hospitals of the East
making
themselves poor
that they might be rich in noble works; and young men
too
did they say to themselves
“How much money shall I earn” when they went to the
war
leaving wealth and comfort
and a pleasant home
to face hunger and
thirst
and wounds and death
that they might fight for their country and their
Queen? No
children
there is a better thing on earth than wealth
a better
thing than life itself
and that is
to have done something before you die
for
which good men may honour you
and God your Father smile upon your work. (C.
Kingsley.)
“No” without any “Yes” in it
Many a promising youth has been ruined because he did not
know how to say “No.” There are many people who say “No
” but so faintly that
there seems a “Yes “ in it
so that it only invites further persuasion. Many a
man
tempted by appetite within
and by companions without
says “No” feebly
and faintly. His “No” has a “Yes” in it. A lad was coming along the street one
day with a young man who lived near him who was somewhat excited by strong
drink
and after walking along awhile with his companion he drew a bottle from
his pocket
and said
“Have some? Well
hand it over
” replied the lad. The
bottle was passed to him
and raising it aloft he hurled it with a crash
against the stone wall
and turning to his astonished companion
he said
“Don’t you ever put a bottle to my lips again.” The young man was inclined to
be irritated
but he had sense enough to retain his anger. The lad’s “No” had
not any “Yes” in it There are scores of young men who need the decision which
this lad had. (S. S. Chronicle.)
A rotting conscience
I think no man could have his arm rot and drop away
from
wrist to shoulder
and not know it; but you shall find numberless men whose
consciences have rotted
from circumference to core
and they know nothing
about it
They are less concerned about themselves than when the corruption
first began. This silence of the hollowing out of a man--this noiseless process
of preparing him for destruction
is an element of very great fearfulness. It
fills me with grief and sadness
as I look on men
to know that as the snow
falls
flake by flake
and no sound tells of its accumulation--that as the dust
sifts in
and no noise warns of its choking rise
so silently
so surely
man
is heaping to himself wrath against the day of wrath
and does not know it. (H.
W. Beecher.)
Something wrong with conscience
A steamboat going at full speed approached a bridge. The
pilot saw that the draw was not open
and rang his bell to have the engines
reversed. There was ample time to bring the vessel to a stand
if the signal
had been obeyed. But
in spite of it
the boat went crashing through the
bridge
causing great
damage and much peril
though
as it happened
no actual
loss of life. It was found afterwards that the bell-wire was broken
so that
the bell did not ring in the engineer’s room. Something like this often happens
to that safeguard of our soul which we call conscience. It gets disordered in
one way or another and doesn’t work. A danger is perceived. We see plainly the
course we ought to take. Conscience warns us that we are on the wrong road. Why
don’t we stop
and turn into the way we know is safe? Because conscience has
lost its power. In the engine-room of our ship of life
where Will presides
the voice of conscience is unheard
or
if heard at all
is unheeded. Instead
of being a recognised and regarded imperative
as it ought to be
it has become
impotent. The instinct that tells us to do what is right and to shun what is
wrong is one of the highest faculties of the human soul. Like all our powers
both of mind and body
it may be blunted and withered and deadened until it is
practically lost. Youth is the time to watch against and avert this awful
disaster. We cannot too carefully cherish the first and quick sensitiveness
which gives to conscience its proper mastery
and causes it to be obeyed as
God’s own voice speaking in the heart of man. (Christian Age.)
Parallels to the case of Balaam
Parallels to the case of Balaam are not difficult to find.
Cardinal Wolsey
dispensing ecclesiastical ban and blessing
at the mandate of
Henry the Eighth; Richelieu and Mazarin
each betraying his churchly trust for
the sake of political power--are well-known instances. Contrast with these
Ambrose’s stern arraignment of Theodosius
an account of which will be found in
any good ecclesiastical history. The schoolboy who sneers at religion
hoping
to gain thereby the favour of his companions
is unconsciously following in the
footsteps of Balaam. The demons gave good testimony to Christ (Luke 8:28-29) and to His apostles (Acts 19:15)
but that did not render them
any the less demons. So Balaam
himself a wicked man
prophesied of the coming
Messiah. Compare the case of Caiaphas the high priest (John 11:50-51). Recall Christ’s
description of the judgment
where many who have prophesied the truth in His
name will be told that they are none of His (Matthew 7:22-23). Balaam fell
though his
eyes were open. (American S. S. Times.)
God’s anger was kindled
because he went.
God permits Balaam to go
and yet is angry
“Go
” said the Voice; “but only the word that I shall speak unto
thee
that thou shalt speak.” Was this merely the echo of the Divine word in a
hollow
bewildered conscience? That is not a full explanation of the fact
though it is one which we must not disregard. Balaam did go
and was intended
to go. He would not have learned the lesson which he was to learn if he had not
gone. And yet his going was a wilful act. It was the struggle of one determined
to have his own way
claiming the privilege of a man
while he was reducing
himself into the condition of an animal
one that mast be held in with bit and
bridle
because he will not be guided and governed as a spiritual creature. You
are puzzled at the language of Scripture about God’s permitting Balaam to go
and then being displeased at him for going. You may well be puzzled. For what
are so utterly bewildering as the mazes and contradictions of a human will
confessing a Master
struggling to disobey Him? But would you rather that the
Bible left this fact unnoticed? Would you rather that it described human
actions and events without reference to it? Is that the proof which you demand
that it was written by God and for men? You will not have that sign if you ask
for it ever so much. Not here alone
but everywhere
you will be met with these
contradictions; man striving with God
God dealing with him as a voluntary
creature
such as He had made him to be
not crushing his will by an act of
omnipotence
but teaching it to feel its own impotency and madness. (F. D.
Maurice
M. A.)
The Divine permission of self-will
I do not see how any thoughtful man can consider this story
without discovering why God allows men to enter on ways which are not good
and
which are therefore full of peril
and why He nevertheless “withstands” them
when they walk in them. He allows them to enter on such ways that they may come
to know themselves as they are
in their weakness as well as in their strength
that they may see clearly what is evil in their nature as well as what is good;
and He withstands them in order that they may become aware of the perils to
which they are unconsciously exposing themselves
may feel their need of His
guidance and help
and may suffer Him to save them from their sins
and out of
weakness make them strong. (S. Cox
D. D.)
The cause of God’s anger with Balaam
God is not angry without cause; and the one cause which makes Him
angry with men is some unrighteousness in them
or some inward leaning toward
unrighteousness. And what could the unrighteous leaning of Balaam be but that
in the conflict between his own interests and desires and the will of God
he
was permitting his interests and desires to prevail over his sense of duty
suffering the baser elements of his nature to override the promptings of that
in him which was highest and best
giving way
in short
to the temptation
which Balak had held out before him
and scheming how he might please man
without altogether breaking with God. So absorbed is he in his schemes
so
preoccupied
that this man
ordinarily so alert
so quick to discern omens
so
sensitive to spiritual intimations
so proud of his open eye
actually does not
see the angel who stands full in his path
with his sword drawn in his hand. This
inward preoccupation and deterioration was “the madness” which the dumb ass
forbad and rebuked. And how severe and humiliating
yet how merciful
the
rebuke! How humiliating that he who prided himself on being “the man whose eyes
are open
who heareth the words of God and seeth the vision of the Almighty
”
should find himself outdone by the very beast he rode
blind to what even his
ass could see; so insensate
so “transported from himself” as that he had
sought to slay the very creature who had saved him! And yet what a wonder of
mercy and grace was it that even while
as the angel told him
his way was
rash
foolhardy
full of hidden perils which he ought never to have affronted
God had not forgotten or forsaken him
but had miraculously interposed to warn
him that the course he was meditating could only lead him to destruction
to
arrest him in his downward path
to quicken his attention
to open his eyes to
the spiritual facts and omens of which he had lost ken
and to call him back to
the allegiance he so loudly professed! (S. Cox
D. D.)
The opposition of God’s angel
Is not this opposition of the angel to Balaam a picture and a
symbol of the way in which God is evermore withstanding evil courses? When
Jacob was at Peniel
we read
“there wrestled a man with him until the breaking
of the day” (Genesis 32:24). That man
also
was the
angel of the Lord (Hosea 12:4)
come forth to withstand
Jacob in his crooked ways
until Jacob should surrender them
and win a
blessing from his adversary. And so God was
by His angel
opposing Balaam’s
evil way
until he should abandon it
and thus be blessed of God (Numbers 22:32). And see
in this symbolic
action of the angel
of the Lord
how the resistances of God to evil thicken on us in our sinful
paths. At first the ass swerves only from the beaten track; then she injures
Balaam’s foot; then she falls down under him. And is not this a picture
to the very life
of things
that happen every day to evil-doers? They find instruments and agencies
on
which they have implicitly relied
betraying them or failing them. They find
themselves injured or maimed in their endeavours to press forward in their mad
career. And suddenly life perfectly breaks down with them
and leaves them
prostrate on the earth. And is not Balaam’s blindness to the angel of the Lord
a picture of the blindness to the course of Providence which evil-doers not
unfrequently display? Things which one would think must cause reflection
come
and go without exciting even notice. Bent on their own self-willed career
they
are completely
blind to all besides
till presently disaster overtakes them
and they narrowly
escape destruction. And does not the insensate rage of Balaam fitly typify the
wrath and anger that we feel at all the opposition we encounter in an evil way?
What savage thoughts breed in our hearts
and cruel words breathe from our
lips
in moments such as these! We are ready to destroy the very things that
serve us; aye
the very things that save us! Balaam would have slain his ass
though she had served him many years
and though she now preserved his life by
her sagacity. Brethren
let us rather be thankful for the oppositions of the
angel of the Lord
when we are in an evil way; for these opposing providences
are designed for
our salvation and deliverance. (W. Roberts.)
God’s opposition to Balaam
We have here an account of the opposition God gave to Balaam in
his journey towards Moab; probably the princes were gone before
or gone some
other way
and Balaam had appointed where he would meet them
or where they
would stay for him
for we read nothing of them in this encounter; only that
Balaam
like a person of some quality
was attended with his two men;--honour
enough
one would think
for such a man
he needed not be beholden to Balak for
promotion.
1. Here is God’s displeasure against Balaam for undertaking this
journey
God’s “anger was kindled because he went” (Numbers 22:22). Note--
2. The way God took to let Balaam know His displeasure against him.
An angel stood in the way for an adversary. Now God fulfilled His promise to
Israel
“I will be an enemy to thine enemies” (Exodus 23:22). The holy angels are
adversaries to sin
and perhaps are employed more than we are aware of in
preventing it
particularly in opposing those that have any ill designs against
God’s Church and people
for whom Michael
our prince
stands up (Daniel 12:1; Daniel 10:21). What a comfort is this to
all that wish well to the Israel of God
that He never suffers wicked men to
form any attempt against them
but He sends His holy angels forth to break the
attempts
and secure His little ones! This angel was an adversary to Balaam
because Balaam counted him his adversary; otherwise those are really our best
friends
and we are so to reckon them that stop our progress in a sinful way.
The angel stood with his sword drawn (Numbers 22:23)
a flaming sword
like
that in the hands of the cherub (Genesis 3:24)
turning every way. Note
the holy angels are at war with those with whom God is angry
for they are the
ministers of His justice. Balaam has notice given him of God’s displeasure--
3. By the ass
and that did not startle him. “The ass saw the angel”
(Numbers 22:23). How vainly did Balaam
boast that he was a man whose eyes were open
and that he saw “the vision of
the Almighty” (Numbers 24:3-4)
when the ass he rode on
saw more than he did
his eyes being blinded with covetousness and ambition
and dazzled with the rewards of divination! Note
many have God against them
and His holy angels
but are not
aware of it.
4. Balaam at length had notice of God’s displeasure by the angel
and that did
startle him. When God opened his eyes he “saw the angel” (Numbers 22:31)
and then he himself “fell
flat upon his face
” in reverence of that glorious messenger
and in fear of
the sword he saw in his hand. God has many ways of breaking and bringing down
the hard and unhumbled heart.
5. The angel
however
continued his permission
“Go with the men” (Numbers 22:35). Go
if thou hast a mind
to be made a fool of
and to be made ashamed before Balak
and all the princes
of Moab. “Go
but the word that I shall speak unto thee
that thou shalt
speak
” whether thou wilt or no. For this seems not to be a precept
but a
prediction of the event
that he should not only not be able to curse Israel
but he should be forced to bless them; which would be more for the glory of God
and his own confusion
than if he had turned back. Thus God gave him fair
warning
but he would not take it; he went with the princes of Balak. For the
iniquity of Balaam’s covetousness God was “wroth and smote him
” but he “went
on frowardly” (Isaiah 57:17). (Matthew Henry
D. D.)
Restraints from sin
I. The forms of
restraint from sin.
1. They appear in external appliances. The revealed Word of God
stands in the way as a hindrance to what is wrong
and a guide to good-will to
man and obedience to the Lord
if only fairly consulted.
2. In addresses to the understanding. The remembrance of some words
of God
or the words of some man
overheard or directly spoken to you
may be
the means of placing in light some dark feature of thought
or some evil
action.
3. In stirrings of conscience. These are graduated from an almost
insuperable prohibition to the scarcely perceptible whisper of doubt.
4. In excite-merits of the emotions. Each pang of remorse
and each
thrill of fear
utter
in different forms
“Keep back from sin.”
II. The
characteristics of restraints from sin.
1. They are frequent.
2. They are progressive. If being turned aside will not induce a
retreat
there will be a crushing of the foot.
3. They are near
though oft unnoticed. (D. G. Watt
M. A.)
God withstanding sinners
No longer are there
miracles performed to intimate to the ungodly man that it shall
not fare well with him
and that he shall but eat the fruit of what he sowed.
But heaven and earth
the dead and those who live
nature and grace
appear as
if they now and then combined in earnest supplication to exclaim
“Stop
sinner
stop!” Who has not some time
like Balaam
come face to face with God
upon the path of sin
when He made known His terrors and His threatening? And
what man dares affirm that there has been too little effort made to lead him
from the broad way to the narrow path of life? Nay
more; Balaam’s brief
experience is
in a certain sense
as nothing when compared with that long
labour of love which God in Christ has most unweariedly bestowed upon us
that
we might be saved. Nay
God has no delight in any sinner’s death
but spares
when He could smite; nor does He ever suffer us to hold on in the way to death
without affording us a last
loud warning
that not seldom comes on us as if it
were an angel’s sword piercing our very bones. Blessed
thrice blessed he who
with a more unfeigned humility than that of Balaam
can acknowledge
“I have
sinned
” and who does not grow hard in sin
but lets himself be led. Soon shall
he learn
with deep astonishment
that God’s good angels round encircle him in
all his ways; and that far more is to be gained in serving Him than the
disgraceful pittance offered by the Balak-hand of a vain world. But if
like
Balaam
you still kick against the pricks
the time is drawing nigh when you
like him
shall be cast from the presence of the God of everlasting
righteousness
and given over to that death which you so obstinately choose
before the life now offered you. (J. J. Van Oosterzee
D. D.)
Balaam’s vision
1. In looking at this passage we must make every allowance for the
difference between those times and ours. I do not know any valid reason why God
in the accomplishment of His infinitely wise designs might not employ the means
here described
and miraculously impart to the ass the organs of articulation
and a knowledge of their use.
2. After the most close and candid attention
however
which I have
been able to give to the subject
I am led to the conclusion that the
occurrence here related was a dream
or vision
which took place on the night
previous to his journey. He knew that he was doing wrong; for
although he had
permission to go
yet it was not permitted him to do so with the wicked design
which he cherished in his heart--that of cursing the people. On this account
his guilty conscience tormented him
and
in his sleep
vividly presented to
his mind the scene here recorded. At the end of Numbers 22:35 (after the scene is
finished) the words
“So Balaam went with the princes of Balak
” seem to refer
to his setting out on his journey.
3. There is one objection which may be urged to this view. St. Peter
says
“The dumb ass
” &c. To this it may be replied
that the occurrence
though happening only in a dream
appeared as real to the mind of the prophet
as though it had actually taken place
and was designed to have all the force
and effect of a real transaction.
4. In favour of the hypothesis the reasons are
I think
numerous and
satisfactory.
Obstructive providences
I. The lessons it
taught Balaam.
1. It convinced him of spiritual blindness.
2. It taught absolute submission to God.
II. Lessons to us.
1. We often go on wrong errands
or on right errands in a wrong
spirit.
2. God cheeks us in His providence and in love to our souls. Illness;
raising up of insuperable difficulties; falling off of friends; superior
success to rivals
&c.
3. We are apt to fret and be angry at the instruments of our
disappointment. We cast our spite and blame on second causes.
4. We should seek spiritual enlightenment to see that it is God’s
doing. Be not angry and resentful
but give yourselves to prayer; else
like Balaam
you will not see it is God who opposes you (Numbers 22:34).
5. We can only be permitted to go forward when we are brought to a
state of perfect subjection to God. Two things are here included--a perfect
purity of motive and freedom from worldly self-seeking
and an entire
acquiescence in whatever God appoints
desires
or does. (T. G. Horton.)
Balaam stopped by an angel
1. It lies quite within our experience that we do get our own way
and
yet have a sense of burning and judgment
of opposition and anger all the time.
Men forget that there is a time when they need not ask the Lord any questions.
Never trouble the Lord to knew whether you cannot do just a little wrong; He is
not to be called upon in relation to business of that kind. He does not pray
who palters with moral distinctions
who wants to make compromises
who is
anxious to find some little crevice or opening through which he can pass into
the land of his own desire.
2. Men are stopped in certain courses without being able to tell the
reason why. That also is matter of experience. The wind seems to be a wall
before us; the road looks quite open
and yet we can make no progress in it.
The business stands still; we have risen at the same hour in the morning
carried out the usual arrangements
been apparently on the alert all the time
and yet not one
inch farther are we permitted to go. Suppose we have no God
no altar
no
Church limitations
no ghostly ministry exerting itself upon our life and
frightening us with superstition and spectre--we are healthy reasoners
downright robust rationalists--men who can take things up and set them down
square-headed men--yet there is the fact
that even we
such able-bodied
rationalists
such healthy souls that any society would insure us on the slightest
inquiry--there we are
puzzled
mystified
perplexed
distracted.
3. It also lies within the region of experience that men are rebuked
by dumb animals. That is odd
but it is true. The whole Scripture is charged
with that statement
and so charged with it as to amount to a practical
philosophy in daily life: “But ask now the beasts
and they shall teach thee;
and the fowls of the air
and they shall tell thee.” “The stork in heaven
knoweth her appointed times.” “The ox knoweth his owner
and the ass his
master’s crib.” “Go to the ant
thou sluggard; consider her ways
and be wise.”
Dumb creatures are continually teaching us. They keep law with wondrous
obedience. The poorest brutes are really very faithful to the rude legislation
under which they live. In temperance
in acceptance of discipline
in docility
I know not any beast that is ever used by man that may not teach some men
very
distinctly
helpful and useful lessons.
4. Then
again
it does lie within our cognition that men do blame
second causes for want of success. Balaam blamed the ass. That is what we are
always doing. There is nothing exceptional in this conduct of the soothsayer.
We want to get on--it is the beast that will not go. Who ever thought that an
angel was confronting him--that a distinct ghostly purpose was against him?
5. Does it not also lie within the range of our experience that men do want to
get back sometimes but are driven forward? Did not Balaam want to return when
he said
“If it displease Thee
I will get me back again”? We cannot. Life is
not a little trick
measurable by such terms
h man cannot make a fool of
himself
and instantly turn round as if nothing had happened; we cannot drive a
nail into a tree and take it out without leaving a wound behind. Conduct is of
greater consequence than we imagine. Humanity is a sublime mystery
as well as
God; and there is no way backward
unless it be in consent with the Mind that
constructed and that rules creation.
6. But there is a difficulty about the dumb ass rebuking the perverse
prophet. So there is. I would be dismayed by it if I were not overwhelmed by
greater miracles still. This has come to be but a small thing--a very momentary
wonder--as compared with more astounding circumstances. A. more wonderful thing
than that an ass should speak is that a man should forget God. The miracles of
a physical and historical kind may admit of postponement as to their
consideration; but that men should have forgotten God
and insulted law
and
done unrighteously--these are mysteries which must not be delayed in their
explanation and settlement.
7. So we come again and again to the great practical inquiry--Being
on the wrong
road
how shall we get back? There is no answer in man. If Balaam could have
retraced his steps
put up his ass in the stable and gone about his business as
if nothing had occurred
it would have been but a paper universe. That he could
not do so
that
he was under the pressure of mightier forces
indicates that the universe is itself a
tragedy
and that the explanation of every character
every incident
and every
flush of colour
must be left for another time
when the light is stronger and
the duration is assured. Meanwhile
we can pray
we can look up
we can say
each for himself
“I have sinned.” (J. Parker
D. D.)
Balaam’s ass
I. The historic
character of the miracle here recorded.
II. The miracle
itself.
III. The object of
the miracle.
1. It was calculated to humble him in relation to a gift of God upon which he
probably prided himself. It is likely he was an eloquent man. He would now see
that God could endow a brute with the gift of speech.
2. He would also see that an ass could discern a messenger from
heaven
where he
blinded by his desire for gain
could see nothing but empty
space.
3. He might also have learned that all speech was under Divine
control
and that he would be able to utter only such words as God would
permit. (W. Jones.)
Obstacles to vision
A revelation of the truth is not enough. There must be an
inner sympathy with the truth. Light avails not where there are no eyes to see.
Take a blind man into a tunnel
and you have a symbol of the natural man
without a Divine revelation. There are two obstacles to vision; first
the
darkness around him
and then his own blindness. Lead him forth under the open
firmament of revealed truth. Still he does not see. You have done something
towards his enlightenment
you have given him knowledge
doctrine
the form of
truth. But that is not enough. He lacks spiritual understanding. The scales
must fall from his eyes. The Divine Spirit alone can accomplish this. (J.
Halsey.)
The way of the perverse
For the man who neglects salvation there is no rescue. Everything
will plead against him. The waters will say
“We told him of the living stream
where he might wash all his sins away
but he would not come.” The rocks will
say
“We told him of a shelter and defence to which he might run.” The sun will
say
“We told him of the Dayspring from on high
but he shut his eyes.” The
Bible will say
“I called him by a thousand invitations
and warned him with a
thousand alarms.” The throne of judgment will say
“I have but two
sentences--that to the friends of God
and that to His rejecters.” “Escape he
must not
” Jesus will say. “I called on him for many years
but he
turned his back on My tears and blued.” Then God will speak; and with a voice
that shall ring through the heights and depths and lengths of His universe
say
“Escape he shall not.” May the Lord God avert such a catastrophe! (T.
De Witt Talmage.)
Balaam rebuked
but not checked
Balaam is doing what he knows he ought not to do; there is a great
wrong in his heart sending up its protests to the brain. The man is at cross
purposes
and vents his unrest and ill-feeling upon outward objects. How often
it happens! One in ill-humour often curses the tools he is using--the dulness
of a saw
the waywardness of a shuttle
the knife that wounds his hand; he
beats his horse or dog; he scolds his children. Here we come nigh the very
heart of the story. When
in some fit of ill-temper brought on by our own
wrongdoing
we have beaten an animal
or spoken roughly to a child
and then
have noticed the humble patience of the brute under our anger
or the meek
undesert of the child reflected from its upturned eyes
there comes over us a
sense of shame and an inward confession that the wrong is not in the brute or
in the child
but in us. The beast or the child speaks back to us; its very
bearing and looks become audible voices of rebuke. When a great man like Balaam
gets involved in wrong-doing
all nature is changed to him
and from all things
come rebuking voices. When Macbeth returns from the murder of the king
a
simple knocking at the gate appals him and deepens the colour of his
blood-stained hands; one sense runs into and does the office of another. To a
harassed and guilty conscience the light comes with a condemnation; every true
and orderly thing meets it with reproof--angels of God that confront it
but do
not turn it from its fatal course. Balaam would have turned back
but he is
told to go on. This is only another stage of the moral confusion into which he
has fallen
lie would go back
but the spirit of sophistry again begins to
work
and he goes forward
but he will speak only the true word-evil drawing
him on
while he excuses it with the plea of right intentions--a daily history
on every side! Why did Balaam not go back? He could not. When a man does wrong
in a simple and impulsive way under the direct force of temptation
he can
retrace his steps; but when he has found what seems to him a safe path to a
coveted end
he seldom gives over. Many men with scrupulous consciences do not
regret being yoked with partners who are less particular; and many men do
as a
corporation
what not one of them would do as an individual. Balaam could not
avail himself of these modern methods
and so made a partnership and
corporation of his own divided nature; reaping speedily in himself the bitter
consequences of such action that overtake the modern man slowly but no less
surely. (T. T. Munger.)
The talking ass
and what it taught Balaam
The real difficulty of the incident to those who feel a special
difficulty in it consists
I suppose
in the alleged fact that the ass spoke
spoke in apparently human words and with a human voice. And this difficulty
has
to say the least of it
been very neatly turned by many of our ablest
critics and commentators
some of whom have as little love for miracles as the
veriest sceptic. They say
Balaam
the soothsayer and diviner
was trained to
observe and interpret the motions and cries of beasts and birds
and especially
anything that was exceptional in them; to draw auguries and portents from them
to see in them the workings of a Divine power
to infer from them indications
of the Divine will. Here was a portent indeed
and he must interpret it. And to
him it seemed that the ass was striving
and remonstrating with him; that
conscious of a presence of which he himself
was unaware
it was seeking to save him from a doom which he was heedlessly
provoking. And so
with the dramatic instinct of an Oriental poet
either
Balaam himself or the original writer of the chronicle translated these
subjective impressions into external facts
and made the ass “speak” the
meaning which he read in its motions and groans. For myself
indeed
I care
very little what interpretation may be placed on this singular passage in
Balaam’s story
and would as soon believe that the mouth of the dumb ass was
really opened to utter articulate human words as that Balaam’s sensitive and
practised ear heard these words into his groans and cries. Put what
construction on the talking ass you will; call it fact
call it fable
or say
that Balaam read an ominous rebuke into the natural cries of the beast on which
he rode--whatever the construction you put upon it
you will be little the
wiser for it
little the better
unless you listen to the appeal
to the
rebuke
which Balaam heard from the mouth of the ass or put into it. That
lesson may be
and is
a very simple one; but its very simplicity at once makes
it the more valuable
and renders it the more probable that
much as we need to
learn it
we may have overlooked it. What
then
was this lesson or rebuke? The
ass said
or Balaam took her to say
“Wherefore smite me? Have I not served you
faithfully ever since I was thine? Am I wont to rebel against you?” How could
Balaam fail to look for an ethical meaning in this appeal
or fail either to
find it
or to find how heavy a rebuke it carried for himself? He too had a
Master
a Master in heaven
and was loud and frequent in his protestations of
loyalty to Him. Yet could he look up to heaven and say to his Master
“Why hast
Thou checked and rebuked me? Have not I served Thee faithfully ever since I was
Thine unto this day? Am I wont to disobey Thy word?” Why
at that very moment
he was untrue
disloyal
to his Master; he was plotting how he might speak
other words than those which God had put into his mouth
and serve his own will
rather than the Divine will! Might he not
then
well hear in the rebuke of the
ass some such appeal as this: “Have you been as true to your Master as I to
mine? Have you been as mindful of the heavenly vision as I of the heavenly
apparition which I have seen? Has your service been as faithful
as patient
as
disinterested as mine?” The lesson is simple enough
I admit; but is it not
also most necessary and valuable? He is convicted--
1. Of having cruelly wronged the innocent creature who had saved him
from the sword.
2. Of having failed at his strongest point and lost the “open eye “
of which he was wont to boast; and--
3. Of not being as true to his Master in heaven
despite his loud
professions of loyalty and obedience
as she had been to her master on earth.
If no rebuke could be more severe and humbling
none surely could have been
more kind and merciful. For if men are not to be held back from evil by an
angel
is it not well that they should be held back even by an ass? If the
gentler strokes of correction fail
is it not well that they should be followed
by severer and more effectual strokes? If appeals to our higher nature do not
suffice to arrest us
is it not well that we should be arrested by appeals to
our lower nature? (S. Cox
D. D.)
Balaam’s ass
or cruelty rebuked
How many just and good men have been remarkable for their
tenderness to animals! Tradition tells us of the partridge of St. John
the
tame lion of St. Jerome; we find in St. Francis an enthusiastic love of birds;
and to come to modern days
in the letters of Bishop Thirlwall
thought to be a
man of giant intellect
we read that often he could not sleep at night
because
he was haunted by some story of cruelty to animals which he had heard
whilst
the writings of Sir Arthur Helps
the most charming essayist of our age
tells
us that he would not live his life over again
if the chance was offered
for
he had suffered so much from indignation and sympathy with the sufferings of
animals. Often cruelty arises from thoughtlessness. Children do not reflect on
what they are doing
and it is the duty of all persons to teach
in every way
humanity and kind feeling to the animals around us. A disposition which
practises cruelty towards animals will not stop there
for it is only a
training for the bad treatment of human beings. It was remarked of Domitian
the cruel Emperor of Rome
that he spent his leisure moments in killing flies.
Who can doubt but that it was the horrible taste for wild beast fights that led to the still
more horrible conflicts of gladiators in the Roman amphitheatres? And so
too
in Spain
the savage excitement of the populace in the bull fights led even
religious men to witness unmoved the auto-da-es of the Inquisition. Ever
should we recollect that these creatures belong to God
constructed by His
wondrous skill
watched over by His gracious care
and not to be ill-treated or
tormented without incurring His vengeance. A boy was once teasing a poor
kitten. “Don’t!” said his little sister
“it is God’s kitten.” Her remark fell
upon the ear of her father
a careless drunkard
as he was turning out of the
door
and like an arrow from a bow there struck into his conscience the
thought
“If this little creature belongs to God
how much more a soul like
mine!” And the arrow of conviction lodged in his heart
and gave him no rest
till he entered on a better life
as belonging to God. Let us
then
strive to
make all God’s creatures around us as happy as we can
find in them loving
friends and companions
and thank God for giving us the animals as our humble
friends and loyal servants; ever remembering
as a forcible preacher has said
“There is no sin that will sink a soul so low in hell as cruelty to helpless
creatures.” (J. W. Hardman
LL. D.)
Sin perverse
That Balaam answered the ass when he heard her speak
and rather
stood not amazed at the strange work of God
note earnestly with yourself what
a strong possession covetousness had taken of his heart
so holding of him
captive that he was not able to observe this strange thing
but blind and besotted
with hope of worldly honour and gain
feedeth still upon that
and admitteth no
stop nor stay of this journey by his good will. Such is the power of any sin if
it once rule in a man or woman
it bereaveth them of all judgment to see their
estate
or the love of them that persuade them otherwise. How blockish was
Pharaoh till he was overthrown! How senseless the Jews till Jerusalem and they
tasted of extremity! Swearers and swaggerers
drunkards and whoremongers
liars
and libellers
railers and slanderers
with all the rest
are as blind and
blockish as Balaam here
doting upon their own course tilt they smart for it
or the Lord open their eyes to see Him against them as at last here He did
Balaam’s eyes to see the angel with drawn sword against him. When the ass
saith
“Did I ever serve thee thus before?” it may admonish us not to be too
rash with our neighbours and brethren
who have never been noted to be such
offenders
but ever of good and virtuous behaviour. (Bp. Babington.)
I have sinned.--
Balaam’s “I have sinned”
Balaam was a man who had frequent and extraordinary communications
with God. Balaam was undoubtedly a man of great light; and his gifts were rare
and transcendent. If you ask
“Were they from God or from the Evil One?” I do
not know. I should say both. If God endowed him
certainly Satan occupied him:
if Satan taught him
as certainly God used him. The light and the darkness were
in tremendous nearness and antagonism in that one breast. The restraining power
was very large; the determination of will was stronger still. He had very soft
seasons: but they passed like April gleams! His convictions were real and deep;
but they proved quite barren. His aspirations were beautiful and holy: “Let me
die the death of the righteous
and let my last end be like his!” but his faith
never grasped
and his life never followed
those high desires. He acknowledged
fully the blessedness of the people of God: “God hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob”: “Blessed is he that blesseth thee
and cursed is he that curseth thee”;
but he never tried to be one of those happy ones. Israel’s future was clear and
bright to him--in all its safety and its joy--but it was never more than a
confession
which played before his fancy! He saw the Lord Jesus Himself--as in
a vista--but ii was a Jesus seen
but not known; admired
but never felt. See
then
the exact position of Balaam. On his lips
“I have sinned”; probably in
his heart a condemning sense that he was wrong; a conviction that he had made a
great mistake; but his passions high wrought; a resolute will and purpose in
direct antagonism to the known will of God; one sin
all the while
tightly
grasped; and a worldly
covetous affection in the ascendant! This was Balaam
as he went out at Pethor that early morning
through the vineyards of the city.
I need not follow him further. You remember how his gifts grew greater
and his
prescience grew clearer
and his language grew lovelier
and his pretensions
grew loftier--just in the same proportion as his determination grew sterner
and his desires more grovelling--till the sure end came at last
and he became
carnal
his counsel was gross
his wisdom diabolical
and he laid
with his own
hand
the scheme to his own destruction; and his unsanctified and debased
talent was his own scourge
and his own ruin! Reduce the picture to the scale
of ordinary life
and it is the life of many. A man of religious
knowledge--very impulsive and feeling--a clever man
with strong inward
conflict--conversant with God--with the language of piety on his
lips--speaking
not without some reality
the words of true penitence
and yet
at the
very same time
with a direct hostility to God--harbouring a secret
evil
appetite in his heart--and bent only upon selfishness! Draw near
and say
whether you see yourself anywhere in the portrait? There is an acknowledgment
of sin
under sorrow
which often clothes itself in very strong expressions
even to tears
and which is little else than a passion. It is not altogether an
hypocrisy. At the moment it is sincere
very earnest. But it is an emotion--only an
emotion. There is no real love to God in it
no true sense of sin
no relation
to Christ. It does not go on to action. I have known a person--whose wonder and
regret was that his penitence never seemed to deepen or increase; yet he said
and said often
and said truly
“I have sinned.” The reason was
he never put
the “I have sinned” upon the right thing. He said it about his sins generally
or he said it about some particular sin; but
all the while
there was another
sin behind
about which he did not say it. The sin he willingly forgot--he
connived at it--he allowed it I All the rest he was willing to give up
but not
that. And that was his sin. And that sin reserved and in the background
poisoned and deadened the repentance of all other sins! The “I have sinned”
fell to the ground impotent--like a withered blossom. That was Balaam--and that
may be you! Or is it thus? You have an object in life very dear. You know that
the object is not after God’s will
but still you pursue it. You recur to it
again and again--after voices-after providences--which have all told you that
it is wrong. But you will have your darling object at any cost--even though it
forfeit peace of mind
and though you lose God’s favour. This
again
is
Balaam. Can you wonder if the “I have sinned” goes for nothing at all
and if
you are left to your own rash
reckless way? There is many a man who says
in
his own room
very often
and at church
“I have sinned”; but throughout the
week
every day
and all the day
he is grasping in his business
he is anxious
in his home
he is occupied in his thoughts about money. It is money
money
everywhere. Money gives its tone and colour to his whole life. That is Balaam
to the very letter. (James Vaughan
M. A.)
Balaam went with Balak.
The meeting between Balak and Balaam
We have here the meeting between Balak and Balaam
confederate
enemies to God’s Israel; but here they seem to differ in their expectations of
the success.
1. Balak speaks of it with confidence
not doubting but to gain his
point now Balaam was come. In expectation of this he went out to meet him
even
to the utmost border of his country (Numbers 22:36); partly to gratify his own
impatient desire to see one he had such great expectations from
and partly to
do honour to Balaam
and so to engage him with his utmost power to serve him.
See what respect heathen princes paid to those that had but the name of
prophets
and how welcome one was that came with his mouth full of curses. What
a shame is it
then
that the ambassadors of Christ are so little respected by most
and that they are so coldly entertained who bring tidings of peace and
blessing! Note
promotion to honour is a very tempting bait to many people; and
it were well if we would be drawn into the service of God by the honour He sets
before us. Why do we delay to come unto
Him? Is not He able to promote us to
honour?
2. Balaam speaks doubtfully of the issue
and bids Balak not depend
too much upon him. “Have I now any power at all to say anything?” (Numbers 22:38). I am come
but what the
nearer am I? Gladly would I curse Israel; but I must not
I cannot
God will
not suffer me. He seems to speak with vexation at the hook in his nose
and the
bridle in his jaws; such as Sennacherib was tied up with (Isaiah 37:29).
3. They address themselves with all speed to the business; Balaam is nobly entertained
overnight
a sacrifice of thanksgiving is offered to the gods of Moab for the
safe arrival of this welcome guest
and he is treated with a feast upon the
sacrifice (Numbers 22:40); and the next morning
that no time might be lost
Balak takes Balaam in his chariot to the high
places of his kingdom
not only because their holiness (such as it was)
he
thought
might give some advantage to his divinations
but their height might
give him a convenient prospect of the camp of Israel
which was to be the mark
at which he must shoot his envenomed arrows. And now Balaam is really as
solicitous to please Balak as ever he pretended to be to please God. See what
need we have to pray every day
“Our Father in heaven
lead us not into temptation.” (Matthew
Henry
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》