Numbers 23

Numbers 23:1-12

In this chapter we have Balak and Balaam busy at work to do Israel a midway. Here is, 1. The first attempt to serge Israel. (1.) The preparation made for it by sacrifice, ver. 1—3. (2.) The contrary instruction God gave Balaam, ver. 4, 5. (3.) The highest Balaam was compelled to pronounce upon Israel instead of a curbs, ver. 7—10. (4.) The great disappointment of Balak, ver. 11, 12. (2.) The second attempt balked, ver. 13—26. (3.) Preparations made for a third, ver. 27—30. the issue of which we have in the next chapter.

1. AND Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen, and seven razes. 2. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock

and a ram. 3. And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me; and whatsoever he sheweth me, I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. 4. And God met Balaam, and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. 5. And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 6. And he returned unto him, and lo, he stood by his burnt-facrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7. And he took up his parable and said, Balak the king of Moab, hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the café, spray, Come, curle me, Jacob, and come, defy Israel. 8. How shall I curle, whom God hath not curled? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied? 9. For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die: the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. 11. And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curle mine enemies, and behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. 12. And he answered and said, Must not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?

To engage God on his side Balaam prepares his sacrifices, and Balak, at his command, offers them on seven altars. Hereupon, 1. He retires with an expectation of meeting with God; and though the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, yet, for purposes of his own glory, he will give him his answer. Balaam, on God’s appearance, boasts of the charge he had been at in the sacrifices, and seems to expect such an answer as corresponded to his wishes; but God confounded his desires, and made him the unwilling prophet of Israel’s glory and Moab’s confession. Note, (1.) They who think to make God a debtor by their services, will be deeply disappointed; the curle of pride, on the services of the self-righteous, will be heavier than the curle of sin on the careless. (2.) God will meet those who wait on him in his ways, with an answer of peace, and put a word in their mouth of blessing and comfort. 2. His return to Balak, who stood by his sacrifice. He was not weary of waiting in so bad a cause; and shall not we much more always pray and never faint? Balak now is big with expectation, but how confounded with Balaam’s midway! His parable, or prophetic word, confirms Israel’s blessedness. 1. He owns his intention was to curle, but that is impossible, God hath decreed the contrary, and nothing can reverse the sentence. Inviable is the safety of God’s Israel, and impotent the malice of men or devils against them; none can place them from the Saviour’s hands, or separate them from his love. 2. He is struck with their appearance, and hurts forth into an admiration of their happiness. They are confessing a people separated for God, under the divine guidance, and distinguished by their honourable peculiarity, from all the nations around them. God’s are a blessed people, chosen by his everlasting love, called by his effectual grace, distinguished by a holy separation from the world, in all their ways, and designed to dwell alone with him in his heavenly land of hills and glory. He expresses his astonishment at their multitude, counclets as the dust of the plain where they appeared; yea the fourth part of them, a squadron only of their hosts, appears innumerable. So remarkably were the promises to Abraham fulfilled, even by the confession of their enemies. Note, When all God’s spiritual Israel are collected at the last great day, they will be a more glorious host, which no man can number. Fain would he have his lot in death with righteous Israel, not wishes a greater portion than that his last end might be like theirs. Vain wish! succeeded by no efforts, and dying as it dropt from his tongue. Note, (1.) The righteous die as other men; God’s covenant protects them not from temporal, though it secures them from eternal death. (2.) Their death is deliverable, not dreadful; as their ablance from the body they will be admitted to the presence of their Lord. (3.) Many wills their end, who do not like their way; but these are inseparable. We must be companions with them in our lives, if in our deaths we would not be divided. Provoked highly at the unexpected disappointment, with rage the King of Moab reproaches the prophet; while Balaam urges, in his defence, the necessity under which he acted, and owns the over-ruling power of the Almighty God. Note, (1.) God will make men know, that the heavens rule. (2.) Kings rage in vain against the Lord and against his anointed.

13. And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with Chap/XXIV. Babes’ Child 1.10. 4 Or, The bill. 4 Chap. coll. 35. 4 p. Sam. ex. 95, Mid. in 8, Ram. in 98. 2am. l. 17. Tit. l. 6. 4 Pr. Isaiah 11. 4 Chap. min. 8, Decr. xxxiii. 17. 5 Or, in. 1 Gen. xlv. 2 Ibid. 17.

with me unto another place, from whence thou mayst see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curle me them from thence. 14. ¶ And he brought him into the field of Zophim; to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. 15. And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I meet the LORD yonder. 16. And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and laid, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 17. And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Nnab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken? 18. And he took up his parable and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zepper: 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 revere it. 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perseveren in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the thou of a king is among them. 22. God brought them out of Egypt: he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. 23. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 24. Behold, the people shall rise up: a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down, until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

Numbers 23:13-24

Not discouraged with one disappointment, this retitute seems of God’s people renews his attempts against them, hoping another place and sacrifice might be more successful, and that he might prevail against a part of the bulls of Israel, if not against the whole. Balaam, as before, goes to meet the Lord, and returns to answer Balak’s enquiry with a message yet more confounding. They who persist in the ways of sin, will surely find each day repeated and bitterer disappointment.—Balaam summons the King’s solemn attention; for who dares trifle when God is speaking by his servants? 1. He pronounces God’s irreversible decree. His purposes are unchangeable, and his word more spoken unalterable. Israel is secure in the divine faithfulness, and the object of the divine regard; he beholds no iniquity among them, since they had wholly crafted from idols. Note, (1.) God’s people are bound to trust him, and are safe in his faithfulness. His gifts and calling are without repentance. 2. God regards no iniquity in the soul that is found in Christ; his past sins are all forgiven; his remaining corruption is hid by the constant sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, and cloushed in perfect righteousness he appears without spot before God. 3. He declares their power irresistible. Since God is for them and with them, opposition is vain. Note, ‘In our comfort to think, amidst every attack of our spiritual enemies, that the everlasting arms of the omnipotent God are under us. 4. He foretells the ravages they should make among the nations, like a great lion amidst the defenceless flocks; so that their foes in amazement, and themselves in triumph, shall cry, “What hath God wrought?” Note, (1.) God’s wonders of grace will, to eternity, be the matter of his people’s triumphant songs. (2.) Where Jesus our King is in the midst of us, we shall assuredly go on conquering and to conquer. 6. He owns the vanity of his own enchantments, and the fruitlessness of every other’s attempt. Even the enemies of God’s people shall at last be made to confess their impotence to hurt them, Fistis Galilæ.

25. ¶ And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. 26. But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, ‘All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do? 27. ¶ And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place: peradventure it will please God, that thou mayst curse me them from thence. 28. And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jethimon. 29. And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks, and seven rams. 30. And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

Numbers 23:25-30

Balak is now quite dispirited with his attempts. Fun would be compound the matter, that Balaam shall neither bless nor curse, whilst he owns the impulse he is under, which

he is unable to engross. God’s counsel shall stand, notwithstanding the devices of man; and he will make the enemies of his people, however unwilling, know that he hath loved them. Once more the King is earnest to make trial, and Balaam as desirous to gain the wages of unrighteousness; the place chosen is sacred to Baal, the sacrifices repeated, and there he would gain hope at least something may be done. Note, The devil always labours to prop up the sinking hopes of sinners, and leads them from one refuge of lies to another, till their ruin is compleated.