Numbers 23

Nu. 23 11 AND Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD putteth in my mouth? And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder. And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak. And he came to him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken? And he took up his parable, and said,

Rise up, Balak, and hear; Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:

19. God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: And he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel:

The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them.

22. God bringeth them forth out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox. 23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob, Neither is there any divination with Israel: Now shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 24 Behold, the people riseth up as a lioness, And as a lion doth he lift himself up: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, And drink the blood of the slain.

25. And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. But Balaam 26 answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I 27 must do? And Balak said unto Balaam, Come now, I will take thee unto another place; per- 28 adventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. And Balak took 29 Balaam unto the top of Poor, that locketh down upon the desert. And Balaam said unto 30 Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 24 1 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times, 2 to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came 3 upon him. And he took up his parable, and said,

Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith:

4. He saith, which heareth the words of God, Which seeth the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open: 5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, Thy tabernacles, O Israel! 6 As valleys are they spread forth, As gardens by the river side, As lign-aloes which the LORD hath planted, As cedar trees beside the waters. 7 Water shall flow from his buckets, And his seed shall be in many waters,

And his king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted.

8. God bringeth him forth out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox: He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, And shall break their bones in pieces, And smite them through with his arrows. 9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Blessed be every one that blesseth thee, And cursed be every one that curseth thee.

10. And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether 11 blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote 12 thee unto great honour; but, lo, the LORD hath kept thee back from honour. And Balaam said 13 unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD, to 14 do either good or bad of mine own mind; what the LORD speaketh, that will I speak? And now, behold, I go unto my people: come, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do 15 to thy people in the latter days. And he took up his parable, and said,

Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith:

16. He saith, which heareth the words of God, And knoweth the knowledge of the Most High, Which seeth the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open: 17 I see him, but not now: I behold him, but not nigh: There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, And shall smite through the corners of Moab, And break down all the sons of tumult. 18 And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession, which were his enemies; While Israel doeth valiantly. 19 And out of Jacob shall one have dominion,

And shall destroy the remnant from the city.

20. And he looked on Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; But his latter end shall come to destruc- tion. 21 And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwelling place, And thy nest is set in the rock. 22 Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. 23 And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this? 24 But ships shall come from the coast of Kit- tim, And they shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, And he also shall come to destruction.

25. And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his way.

Balak first met Balaam on the banks of the Arnon, then proceeded north with him to Kir-jath-huzoth (22:39), the northern Kiriathaim, and its high place, the top of Attarus immediately above it, and the first conspicuous eminence north of the Arnon; then across the Zerka the next day to the high places of Baal (verse 41), Baal-meon, afterward changed by the Reubenites into Beth-meon. Thence, in order that he might see the utmost part of Israel’s host, he brought him still further north to the top of Pisgah (23:14). Finally, in the last vain attempt to conciliate the Deity by fresh sacrifices, he led him to the top of Peor (verse 28), which, following the topographical sequence, I would place where there are a group of ruins on the summit of the ridge due west of Heshbon and exactly opposite Beth-Jesimoth, which is probably identical with the Jeshimon of Nu. 33:28. Thus we have, with every reasonable probability, the identification of the four sacrificial stations of Balak and Balaam. H. B. T.

This oracle depicts the source of Israel’s peculiar happiness as to be sought in its exceptional relation to God. Thanks to the Divine Law it is a holy people; thanks to Divine revelation it is an enlightened people; and thanks to God’s royal leading it is an unconquerable people for whom a glorious future is reserved. Orelli.

19. Men change their minds, and therefore break their words. But God never changes his mind, and therefore never recalls his promise. Balaam had owned (verse 8) that he could not alter God’s counsel, and from thence he infers here that God himself would not alter it; such is the imperfection of man, and such the perfection of God. It is impossible for God to lie (Heb. 6:18). And when in Scripture he is said to repent, it is not meant of any change of his mind (for he is in one mind, and who can turn him?), but only of the change of his way. This is a great truth, that with God there is no variableness or shadow of turning. 20. He hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it—that is, “I cannot prevail with him to reverse it.” Israel were of old a blessed people; they were born under the blessing of the covenant, and born to the blessing of Canaan, and therefore they could not be cursed, unless the God of eternal truth should break his word and become false to himself and his people. 21. He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Not but that there was iniquity in Jacob, and God saw it; but there was not such a degree of iniquity as might provoke God to abandon them and give them up to ruin. There was no idolatry among them, which is in a particular manner called iniquity and per-

perverseness; we have found nothing of that kind in Israel since the golden calf, and therefore though they were in other instances very provoking yet God would not cast them off. H.

Balaam speaks of Israel as an upright and righteous nation. There is something in such a description which cannot fail to astonish us, so vivid is the recollection of their constant rebellion, disobedience, and ingratitude, of the trouble they caused their God, and of the numerous punishments and plagues with which he had to visit them. We must look deeper for an explanation. Balaam’s prophetic glance and saying was not concerned with what Israel might be at any one particular time in its outward and variable appearance, but with its calling and election in every age. In this sinful world there is always a contrast, of less or greater strength, between the idea and the outward manifestation. We find it in Israel; and on many occasions it became most terribly glaring. But the imperishable seed of the promise, which had been deposited in the outward Israel by him who had begotten the spiritual Israel, was still there. A genuine Israel, to whom the predicate of honorable and righteous might justly be applied, still continued to exist in the most deeply degraded periods as a counteracting leaven, though it might be confined to the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. And even at such periods as these, according to its calling and election, which must eventually be realized, Israel was a nation of just and righteous men. So essential a characteristic was this of Israel, so inseparable was the inward call from the outward manifestation, that the Deuteronomist, whom no one could charge with unduly glorifying and idealizing his nation, has incorporated this idea in the word Jeshurun, which he adopts as a proper name for Israel (De. 32:15; 33:5, 26; Is. 44:2). Balaam looked upon Israel in its separation from the heathen; and in this respect, notwithstanding all its wanderings, it was and remained a people of Jesharim, a Jeshurun; since its wanderings were only for a time. Under the guidance and teaching and chastisement of Jehovah, it always returned from its wanderings and rose up from its fall, whereas the way of the heathen was from first to last a false way. K.

22. Here we find an answer to the question, why this occurrence has been left on record in these sacred pages for all generations. A man who was called to curse feels himself irresistibly impelled by the power of the Spirit from on high to bless the people of the Lord: what was such a man, if not a powerful witness to the greatness and the honor of Israel? To use his own words, it was necessary to show that “no enchantment availed against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel;” and that the people of the Lord had nothing to fear in any case from heathen superstition and sorcery. Thus they were encouraged against approaching days of darkness, and assured of the protection of an Almighty power, which if need were could change even the curse into a blessing. And the history and utterances of Balaam were not merely of the deepest significance for that time, but remain such for all succeeding ages. Van O.

At this point of time Israel was on the threshold of Canaan. Sihon and Og had fallen. The spirit of a pure and vigorous faith in God was never more thoroughly national than in this generation. As between Moab and Israel, the contrast was never greater. God’s people as seen by his prophetic eye were on the eve of sublime victories. No enchantment or divination could have force against them. That was the era in their history when it might fitly become a standing exclamation: “What hath God wrought?” H. C.

28. He led Balaam this time to the top of Mount Peor, which rose immediately above the plain in which Israel was encamped, and where the whole camp lay spread out before the eyes of the seer, like the contents of an open book. Altars were erected, and sacrifices offered, as before; but Balaam did not go and seek for auguries. K.