Numbers 22

Chap. XXII. Ver.1—21. Balak sends for Balaam, who is allowed to go to him conditionally.—It is very natural that Balak should be alarmed at the progress of the Israelites, and in accordance with his character, as a pagan prince, that he should send for a prophet, like Balaam, to curse his enemies, for it is certain, that it was common with the heathen, before deities, and to imprecate on their enemies all manner of evils. Balaam, too, seems exactly the character Balak might be expected to apply to. Being originally a prophet of Jehovah, he had acquired celebrity by the accomplishment of his predictions; but being ambitious of wealth, as well as fame, he had united to this the very inconsistent profession of a necromancer, or diviner; and had, probably, been previously employed by other kings to anathematize their enemies.

In Balaam himself, we have a striking instance of the conflict between knowledge and principle, on the one hand, and the master passions of ambition and avarice on the other. He must know that Israel were the descendants of Abraham, “the friend of God:” he knew, also, it was in vain for him to curse whom God had blessed: and that if he attempted it, he was in danger of being struck dead in a moment: he knew, farther, that if he did not curse Israel, he was in danger of exasperating Balak to destroy him; and yet, in the face of all these dangers, such was his love to the “wages of iniquity,” that he had a strong propensity to go. Perhaps he might not be required to bless Israel; perhaps he might be allowed to deliver some equivocal oracle, which might not offend the Lord, and yet flatter Balak; perhaps his evident desire to please the king might procure promotion, though he was not able to go the length required; perhaps, even, though he did bless Israel, he might be able to introduce a curse into their camp more potent than his anathemas: this last proved to be the case.

It cost the lives of 24,000 Israelites, and afterwards the life of the wicked prophet himself, as we shall see in a following chapter. But how does it appear that Balaam wished to go? Did he not, in the first instance, refuse to go? He did; till the king sent more honourable messengers, with promises of greater reward: then, though he knew he had been forbidden, and that the design was in opposition to the divine will, yet he entreats them to stop a night with him, that he might try to obtain permission. But did he not obtain leave before he went? He did so; but mark the condition: “If the men come to call thee, arise and go:” but instead of waiting for their calling, he rose up in the morning, as it should seem, to call them; and such, we shall see as we proceed, was his conduct all through the business.

But what is the proper improvement of this awful narrative, so far as we have proceeded? St. Paul will tell us— ‘They that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil.” ((1 Timothy 6:9-10).) Ver. 22—41. Balaam opposed by an angel, and reproved by an ass.—We now come to a part of Scripture that has, perhaps, provoked more infidel ridicule than any other; but let us examine it dispassionately. In the first place, Balaam himself is no object of ridicule, merely because he was mounted upon an ass; for, much as we despise these oppressed animals, they were formerly “for the king’s household to ride on:” ((2 Samuel 16:2).) It is the man, and not the ass, that excites our contempt. In the first place, the ass saw more than the prophet: she saw the forbidding angel, and turned aside; and when she could no more turn aside, fell down: nothing could prevail upon her to go forward in opposition to the angel: thus she “forbade the madness of the prophet.” ((2 Peter 2:16).) But the ass spoke! True; and this fact is sufficiently accounted for by the historian telling us, “God opened the mouth of the ass.” But, perhaps, this was not a greater miracle than his opening the eyes of the Ver. 22. Because he went.—But was he not told to go? ‘This, in no case, amounted to more than permission; “Go if you please!” But it was his promptness in going without being called, that is considered to have given prophet, who was as little able to see the angel, as the ass herself was to reason with her master.

The fact is, he that made man’s mouth, made also the mouths of animals; and he that opened the eyes of the ass to see the angel, wrought the same effect upon the prophet. Perhaps had the animal been a fox or an elephant, the narrative might not have appeared so incredible. But if Satan had given speech to a serpent, ((Genesis 3:1).) surely the Lord might give it to an ass. If we allow the Almighty to work one miracle, we cannot stay his hand, and say, “Hitherto shalt thou go, but no farther.” All events, not implying an absolute contradiction, are equally practicable to him re, 3 gave laws to nature. The angel here spoken of is, doubtless, the Angel of the covenant, who appeared so often to the fathers.

Twice had the Lord appeared to Balaam in his dreams, and was recognised; now he appears in open day, and is unseen by him, till the scales are taken from his eyes; for it appears that supernatural, like spiritual objects, require our eyes to be prepared for them. Balaam’s mind, probably, was so occupied with his hopes of preferment and reward, and was so enraged by the hinderance of his journey, that he was insensible to all other objects, and sinks apparently much below the animal he rode, who calmly reasons, while he rages with passion. The injured beast reproves his master for cruelty, and hints that he ought to have reflected, that there must be some extraordinary circumstance Ver. 39.

Kirjath-huzoth.—(Or, a city of streets. Pope see Moab, now called Rabba, the capital of the Moabites; and being the royal city, distinguished by its streets.)—Bagster. him to inquire of his conscience, whether the impediments in his way ought not to have checked his course. It should seem, that Balaam was as insensible to the miracle of the ass speaking, as he was to the glory of the angel, who now appears and explains the mystery. He also reproves the prophet for his cruelty and want of feeling; and tells him, in language which shows he could not be a mere created angel, “Thy way is perverse before me:” by which he meant, not to censure him for the act of going, but his “way” in a moral sense, his present disposition of mind—his being ready to curse even the Lord’s people for reward; this his way was his folly and his sin.

(See (Psalms 49:13).) As to his going to Balak, that is still permitted; but by this enigmatical circumstance of the ass speaking with man’s mouth, he is taught that he is to be merely the mouth of God; not speaking his own words, but such as should be put into his mouth, even as the words of the animal had been put into his mouth. And here, perhaps, we may be allowed to remark, that when a wicked man delivers the word of God, it is merely in this way; while the words of God are put into the heart of a good man, and are delivered from the treasury of his heart. ((Matthew 12:35).)

Notes on the verses

Chap. XXII. Ver. 1. The plains of Moab.—“They had taken no part of the country that at present appertained to the Moabites, only what had been taken from them by the Amorites—On this side Jordan, by Jericho.—That is, opposite to it. Dr. Clarke.; fg Ver. 5, Pethor.—Dr. Kennicott justly remarks, that ‘the description now given of Balaam’s residence, instead of being particular, agrees with any place, in any country where there is a river—for he lived by “Pethor, which is by the river of the land of his people.” But was Pethor, then, near the Nile in Egypt? Or in Canaan, near Jordan? Or, in Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates, and belonging to the Ammonites? This last was in fact the case; and therefore, it is well that twelve Hebrew MSS.

(with two of De Rossi’s) confirm the Samaritan text here, in reading, instead of “ammon” ‘his people,’ Ammon, with the Syriac and Vulgate versions.” Houbigant justly contends for this reading; and necessity urges the propriety of adopting it; and it thus agrees with (Deuteronomy 23:4). Ptolemy calls Pethor, Pachura, and Eusebius, Pathwra; who places it in upper Mesopotamia. Calmet is of opinion, that it was situated at Thapsacus, beyond the Euphrates. —Bagster. Ver. 6. Curse me this people.—It is, to be sure, a mere conjecture, and as such is offered; but might not this man have been previously employed by Sihon, king of the Amorites, to curse the Moabites under Balak’s predecessor? If so, Balak would very naturally attribute the victory gained by Sihon to this cause; and knowing that reward was Balaam’s primary object, he might justly conclude he would curse whomsoever he was paid for cursing.

Dr. Clarke remarks that Macrobius has a whole chapter on the incantations used on such occasions, from which he gives two examples. ‘The Romans held, that no city should, or could be taken, till its tutelary deities were withdrawn; and the Greeks, from the same principle, employed all their artifice to steal the Palladium from Troy.—See Clarke’s Comment.: Ver. 15. And Balak sent yet again, &c.—A respectable traveller in the East says, “Men of consequence in the city at different intervals presented themselves; and as we proceeded, two of the brothers of the Ameen-ad-dovlah, arrayed in brocade coats, with shawls round their caps, paid their respects to the ambassador. This succession of personages, whose rank increased as we approached the city, may bring to mind the princes, more and more honourable, which Balak sent to Balaam, (Numbers 22:15).—Mortier’s second Journey through Persia, p. 129. om offence. The Arabic inserts here, ‘He went with a covetous disposition.” Compare (2 Peter 2:15).—Boothroyd. Ver. 31. The Lord opened the eyes of Balaam.—Hebrew, “Uncovered the eyes:” so Ainsworth. So Hagar’s eyes were opened. ((Genesis 21:19).) The heathen, also, were strongly impressed with the necessity of man’s eyes being open to discover divine and spiritual objects. See Oriental Customs, Ver. 41. High places, &c.—(Bamoth baal “the high places of Baal,” probably the same as Bamoth mentioned in ch. xxi. 19, 20.; and, if not the same, yet evidently not far from Baal-meon, in the mountains of Abarim: for the Israelites were now encamped in the plains of Moab,

which these mountains overlook. Baal, which signifies a lord, or governor, was a name common to many idols; and probably here was the same as Chemosh, the god of