Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 22:2
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
2 19. Balak king of Moab being frightened by the near proximity of the Israelites sent for Balaam a famous soothsayer to curse them, offering him liberal payment. Balaam came but refused to utter any oracle but that which Jehovah revealed to him.
Zippor ] The word denotes ‘a little bird,’ the fem. of which is seen in ipprah, Moses’ wife. The name may point to early totemistic beliefs (see Frazer, Totemism 2, W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem. 2 124 ff.).
the Amorites ] Og, the king of Bashan, is not mentioned; see on Num 21:33-35.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Balak the son of Zippor – The comparison of Num 22:4 with Num 21:26 suggests that Balak was not the hereditary king but a Midianite, and that a change of dynasty had taken place. His fathers name, Zippor, Bird, reminds us of those of other Midianites, e. g., Oreb, Crow, Zeeb, Wolf. Possibly the Midianite chieftains had taken advantage of the weakness of the Moabites after the Amorite victories to establish themselves as princes in the land.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Num 22:2-14
Balak . . . sent messengers unto Balaam.
Balaks 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 (Gen 9:25; Jos 6:26; 2Ki 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. Gods access to mans mind.
2. Gods interest in mans life.
3. Gods authority over mans 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 (Luk 12:15-21). (W. Jones.)
Balaks 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 (Lev 26:36; Deu 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 Gods 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 Satans 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 lions skin that is too short with the foxs 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 Jehovahs. 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 Gods kingdom among them. When force would do no good, then they resort to cunning, or to caution, that they may oppose the progress of Gods 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 Christs 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 Gods 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 Num 22:2-41; Num 23:1-30; Num 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 Balaams story, most of our best scholars conclude that in some way he derived it from Balaam himself. We are told (Num 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 (Num 22:1-41; Num 23:1-30; Num 24:1-25.; Mic 6:5-8; 2Pe 2:12-16; Num 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 Gods 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 Gods 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 devils 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 Gods 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 Balaams going with the princes of Moab as madness and iniquity: he was rebuked for his iniquity; the dumb ass, speaking with mans 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 hairs-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 hearts 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 hearts 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 (Jos 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 (Num 22:8; Num 22:13; Num 22:18-19; Num 23:3; Num 23:8; Num 23:12; Num 23:21; Num 23:26; chap. 24:1, 6, 13), by which He was specially made known to Israel (Exo 6:2-3). And such terms as, the Lord my God (Num 22:18); the Almighty (Num 24:4); the most High (Num 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 (Num 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 Gods name. (See Num 23:10; Num 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 Gods 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 Balaams 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 Gods law, and in Gods presence in their midst; and so to them the use of all these heathen arts was absolutely interdicted (Deu 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 mans 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. Balaams 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 Balaams 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 Balaams 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 apostates guilty soul. Dumb things have a voice to him that hath ears to hear, rebuking our madness.
4. Contemplate the issue of Balaams apostasy. It entailed immense mischief upon others. Through him thousands of the Lords people perished. At the same time his fall issued in woeful disappointment to himself. (J. Heaton.)
What men are these with thee?—
Gods interest in mans 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
(1) by the voice of conscience;
(2) by the preaching of His truth;
(3) by the exhortations and admonitions of His Word; and
(4) by the remonstrances of His Spirit.
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 Balaams 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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Balak, the son or successor of him whom Sihon had spoiled of part of his kingdom, Num 21:26. Of him see Jdg 11:25; Mic 6:5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Balakthat is, “empty.”Terrified (Deu 2:25; Exo 15:15)at the approach of so vast a multitude and not daring to encounterthem in the field, he resolved to secure their destruction by othermeans.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. The word “Amorites” being particularly pointed, shows, as Aben Ezra observes, that Sihon and Og are both meant, and that there were not among the kings of the land of Canaan any so great as they; wherefore when Balak, who was the present king of Moab, saw what Israel had done to them, that they had conquered them, and seized upon their kingdoms: he reasoned within himself, and said, as Jarchi represents him, that if they could not stand before Israel, much less could he and his people; and the rather, since those kings Israel had subdued were too powerful for the king of Moab, and had taken part of his country from him, and yet Israel was too strong for them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The rapid defeat of the two mighty kings of the Amorites filled the Moabites with such alarm at the irresistible might of Israel, that Balak their king, with the princes of Midian, sought to bring the powers of heathen magic to bear against the nation of God; and to this end he sent messengers with presents to Balaam, the celebrated soothsayer, in Mesopotamia, who had the reputation of being able both to bless and curse with great success, to entreat him to come, and so to weaken the Israelites with his magical curses, that he might be able to smite them, and drive them out of his land (Num 22:1-7). At first Balaam declined this invitation, in consequence of divine instructions (Num 22:8-14); but when a second and still more imposing embassy of Moabite princes appeared before him, God gave him permission to go with them, but on this condition, that he should do nothing but what Jehovah should tell him (Num 22:15-21). When on the way, he was warned again by the miraculous opposition of the angel of the Lord, to say nothing but what God should say to him (Num 22:22-35). When Balak, therefore, came to meet him, on his arrival at the border of his kingdom, to give him a grand reception, Balaam explained to him, that he could only speak the word which Jehovah would put into his mouth (Num 22:36-40), and then proclaimed, in four different utterances, what God inspired him to declare. First of all, as he stood upon the height of Bamoth-baal, from which he could see the end of the Israelitish camp, he declared that it was impossible for him to curse this matchless, numerous, and righteous people, because they had not been cursed by their God (Num 22:41-23:10). He then went to the head of Pisgah, where he could see all Israel, and announced that Jehovah would bless this people, because He saw no unrighteousness in them, and that He would dwell among them as their King, making known His word to them, and endowing them with activity and lion-like power (Num 23:11-24). And lastly, upon the top of Peor, where he could see Israel encamped according to its tribes, he predicted, in two more utterances, the spread and powerful development of Israel in its inheritance, under the blessing of God (Num 23:25-24:9), the rise of a star out of Jacob in the far distant future, and the appearance of a ruler in Israel, who would break to pieces all its foes (Num 24:10-24); and upon this Balak sent him away (Num 24:25).
From the very earliest times opinions have been divided as to the character of Balaam.
(Note: On Balaam and his prophecies see G. Moebius Prophetae Bileami historia, Lips. 1676; Lderwald, die Geschichte Bileams deutlich u. begreiflich erklrt (Helmst. 1787); B. R. de Geer, Diss. de Bileamo, ejus historia et vaticiniis; Tholuck’s vermischte Schriften (i. pp. 406ff.); Hengstenberg, History of Balaam, etc. (Berlin, 1842, and English translation by Ryland: Clark, 1847); Kurtz, History of the Old Covenant (English translation: Clark, 1859); and Gust. Baur, Gesch. der alttestl. Weissagung, Giessen, 1861, where the literature is given more fully still.)
Some (e.g., Philo, Ambrose, and Augustine) have regarded him as a wizard and false prophet, devoted to the worship of idols, who was destitute of any susceptibility for the true religion, and was compelled by God, against his will, to give utterance to blessings upon Israel instead of curses. Others (e.g., Tertullian and Jerome) have supposed him to be a genuine and true prophet, who simply fell through covetousness and ambition. But these views are both of them untenable in this exclusive form. Witsius ( Miscell. ss. i. lib. i. c. 16, 33ff.), Hengstenberg (Balaam and his Prophecies), and Kurtz (History of the Old Covenant), have all of them clearly demonstrated this. The name (lxx ) is not to be derived, as Gesenius suggests, from and , non populus, not a people, but either from and (dropping one ) , devourer of the people ( Simonis and Hengstenberg), or more probably from , with the terminal syllable -, devourer, destroyer ( Frst, Dietrich), which would lead to the conclusion, that “he bore the name as a dreaded wizard and conjurer; whether he received it at his birth, as a member of a family in which this occupation was hereditary, and then afterwards actually became in public opinion what the giving of the name expressed as an expectation and desire; or whether the name was given to him at a later period, according to Oriental custom, when the fact indicated by the name had actually made its appearance” (Hengstenberg). In its true meaning, the name is related to that of his father, Beor.
(Note: The form Bosor, which we find instead of Beor in 2Pe 2:15, appears to have arisen from a peculiar mode of pronouncing the guttural (see Loescher de causis ling. ebr. p. 246); whereas Vitringa maintains (in his obss. ss. l. iv. c. 9), that Peter himself invented this form, “that by this sound of the word he might play upon the Hebrew , which signifies flesh, and thus delicately hint that Balaam, the false prophet, deserved to be called the son of Bosor, i.e., , or flesh, on account of his persuading to the indulgence of carnal lusts.”)
, from , to burn, eat off, destroy: so called on account of the destructive power attributed to his curses (Hengstenberg). It is very probable, therefore, that Balaam belonged to a family in which the mantic character, or magical art, was hereditary. These names at once warrant the conjecture that Balaam was a heathen conjurer or soothsayer. Moreover, he is never called , a prophet, or , a seer, but , the soothsayer (Jos 13:22), a title which is never used in connection with the true prophets. For , soothsaying, is forbidden to the Israelites in Deu 18:10., as an abomination in the sight of Jehovah, and is spoken of everywhere not only as a grievous sin (1Sa 15:23; Eze 13:23; 2Ki 17:17), but as the mark of a false prophet (Eze 13:9; Eze 22:28; Jer 14:14, and even in Isa 3:2, where forms the antithesis to ). Again, Balaam resorts to auguries, just like a heathen soothsayer (Num 24:1, compared with Num 23:3, Num 23:5), for the purpose of obtaining revelations; from which we may see that he was accustomed to adopt this as his ordinary mode of soothsaying.
(Note: “The fact that he made use of so extremely uncertain a method as augury, the insufficiency of which was admitted even by the heathen themselves (vid., Ngelsbach, homer. Theol. pp. 154ff.), and which no true prophet among the Israelites ever employed, is to be attributed to the weakness of the influence exerted upon him by the Spirit of God. When the Spirit worked with power, there was no need to look round at nature for the purpose of ascertaining the will of God” (Hengstenberg).)
On the other hand, Balaam was not without a certain measure of the true knowledge of God, and not without susceptibility for such revelations of the true God as he actually received; so that, without being really a prophet, he was able to give utterance to true prophecies from Jehovah. He not only knew Jehovah, but he confessed Jehovah, even in the presence of Balak, as well as of the Moabitish messengers. He asked His will, and followed it (Num 22:8, Num 22:13, Num 22:18-19, Num 22:28; Num 23:12), and would not go with the messengers of Balak, therefore, till God had given him permission ( Num 22:20). If he had been altogether destitute of the fear of God, he would have complied at once with Balak’s request. And again, although at the outset it is only Elohim who makes known His will (Num 22:9, Num 22:20), and even when he first of all goes out in search of oracles, it is Elohim who comes to him (Num 23:4); yet not only does the angel of Jehovah meet him by the way (Num 22:22.), but Jehovah also puts words into his mouth, which he announces to the king of the Moabites (Num 23:5, Num 23:12, Num 23:16), so that all his prophecies are actually uttered from a mind moved and governed by the Spirit of God, and that not from any physical constraint exerted upon him by God, but in such a manner that he enters into them with all his heart and soul, and heartily desires to die the death of these righteous, i.e., of the people of Israel (Num 23:10); and when he finds that it pleases Jehovah to bless Israel, he leaves off resorting any longer to auguries (Num 24:1), and eventually declares to the enraged monarch, that he cannot transgress the command of Jehovah, even if the king should give him his house full of silver and gold (Num 24:13).
(Note: The significant interchange in the use of the names of God, which is seen in the fact, that from the very outset Balaam always speaks of Jehovah (Num 22:8, Num 22:13, Num 22:18-19), – whereas, according to the historian, it is only Elohim who reveals Himself to him (Num 22:9-10, Num 22:12), – has been pointed out by Hengstenberg in his Dissertations; and even Baur, in his Geschichte der alttestl. Weissagung (i. p. 334), describes it as a “fine distinction;” but neither of them satisfactorily explains this diversity. For the assumption that Balaam is thereby tacitly accused of hypocrisy (Hengstenberg), or that the intention of the writer is to intimate that “the heathen seer did not stand at first in any connection whatever with the true God of Israel” ( Baur), sets up a chasm between Elohim and Jehovah, with which the fact that, according to Num 22:22, the wrath of Elohim on account of Balaam’s journey was manifested in the appearance of the angel of Jehovah, is irreconcilable. The manifestation of God in the form of the angel of Jehovah, was only a higher stage of the previous manifestations of Elohim. And all that follows from this is, that Balaam’s original attitude towards Jehovah was a very imperfect one, and not yet in harmony with the true nature of the God of Israel. In his Jehovah Balaam worshipped only Elohim, i.e., only a divine being, but not the God of Israel, who was first of all revealed to him according to His true essence, in the appearance of the angel of Jehovah, and still more clearly in the words which He put into his mouth. This is indicated by the use of Elohim, in Num 22:9-10, Num 22:12. In the other passages, where this name of God still occurs, it is required by the thought, viz., in Num 22:22, to express the essential identity of Elohim and the Maleach Jehovah; and in Num 22:38; Num 23:27, and Num 24:2, to show that Balaam did not speak out of his own mind, but from the inspiration of the Spirit of God.)
This double-sidedness and ambiguity of the religious and prophetic character of Balaam may be explained on the supposition that, being endowed with a predisposition to divination and prophecy, he practised soothsaying and divination as a trade; and for the purpose of bringing this art to the greatest possible perfection, brought not only the traditions of the different nations, but all the phenomena of his own times, within the range of his observations. In this way he may have derived the first elements of the true knowledge of God from different echoes of the tradition of the primeval age, which was then not quite extinct, and may possibly have heard in his own native land some notes of the patriarchal revelations out of the home of the tribe-fathers of Israel. But these traditions are not sufficient of themselves to explain his attitude towards Jehovah, and his utterances concerning Israel. Balaam’s peculiar knowledge of Jehovah, the God of Israel, and of all that He had done to His people, and his intimate acquaintance with the promises made to the patriarchs, which strike us in his prophecies (comp. Num 23:10 with Gen 13:16; Gen 28:14; Num 24:9 with Gen 49:9; and Num 24:17 with Gen 49:10), can only be explained from the fact that the report of the great things which God had done to and for Israel in Egypt and at the Dead Sea, had not only spread among all the neighbouring tribes, as was foretold in Exo 15:14, and is attested by Jethro, Exo 18:1., and Rahab the Canaanites, Jos 2:9., but had even penetrated into Mesopotamia, as the countries of the Euphrates had maintained a steady commercial intercourse from the very earliest times with Hither Asia and the land Egypt. Through these tidings Balaam was no doubt induced not only to procure more exact information concerning the events themselves, that he might make a profitable use of it in connection with his own occupation, but also to dedicate himself to the service of Jehovah, “in the hope of being able to participate in the new powers conferred upon the human race; so that henceforth he called Jehovah his God, and appeared as a prophet in His name” (Hengstenberg). In this respect Balaam resembles the Jewish exorcists, who cast out demons in the name of Jesus without following Christ (Mar 9:38-39; Luk 9:49), but more especially Simon Magus, his “New Testament antitype,” who was also so powerfully attracted by the new divine powers of Christianity that he became a believer, and submitted to baptism, because he saw the signs and great miracles that were done ( Act 8:13). And from the very time when Balaam sought Jehovah, the fame of his prophetical art appears to have spread. It was no doubt the report that he stood in close connection with the God of Israel, which induced Balak, according to Num 22:6, to hire him to oppose the Israelites; as the heathen king shared the belief, which was common to all the heathen, that Balaam was able to work upon the God he served, and to determine and regulate His will. God had probably given to the soothsayer a few isolated but memorable glimpses of the unseen, to prepare him for the service of His kingdom. But “Balaam’s heart was not right with God,” and “he loved the wages of unrighteousness” (Act 8:21; 2Pe 2:15). His thirst for honour and wealth was not so overcome by the revelations of the true God, that he could bring himself to give up his soothsaying, and serve the living God with an undivided heart. Thus it came to pass, that through the appeal addressed to him by Balak, he was brought into a situation in which, although he did not venture to attempt anything in opposition to the will of Jehovah, his heart was never thoroughly changed; so that, whilst he refused the honours and rewards that were promised him by Balak, and pronounced blessings upon Israel in the strength of the Spirit of God that came upon him, he was overcome immediately afterwards by the might of the sin of his own unbroken heart, fell back into the old heathen spirit, and advised the Midianites to entice the Israelites to join in the licentious worship of Baal Peor (Num 31:16), and was eventually put to death by the Israelites when they conquered these their foes (Num 31:8).
(Note: When modern critics, such as Knobel, Baur, etc., affirm that the tradition in Num 31:8, Num 31:16; Jos 13:22 -viz., that Balaam was a kosem, or soothsayer, who advised the Midianites to seduce the Israelites to join in the worship of Baal-is irreconcilable with the account in Num 22-24 concerning Balaam himself, his attitude towards Jehovah, and his prophecies with regard to Israel, they simply display their own incapacity to comprehend, or form any psychological appreciation of, a religious character such as Balaam; but they by no means prove that the account in Num 22-24 is interpolated by the Jehovist into the Elohistic original. And all that they adduce as a still further confirmation of this hypothesis (namely, that the weaving of prophetic announcements into the historical narrative, the interchange of the names of God, Jehovah, and Elohim, the appearance of the angel of the Lord, the talking of the ass, etc., are foreign to the Elohistic original), are simply assertions and assumptions, which do not become any more conclusive from the fact that they are invariably adduced when no better arguments can be hunted up.)
Num 22:2-4 Balaam Hired by Balak to Curse Israel. – Num 22:2-4. As the Israelites passed by the eastern border of the land of Moab, the Moabites did not venture to make any attack upon them; on the contrary, they supplied them with bread and water for money (Deu 2:29). At that time they no doubt cherished the hope that Sihon, their own terrible conqueror, would be able with perfect ease either to annihilate this new foe, or to drive them back into the desert from which they had come. But when they saw this hope frustrated, and the Israelites had overthrown the two kings of the Amorites with victorious power, and had conquered their kingdoms, and pressed forward through what was formerly Moabitish territory, even to the banks of the Jordan, the close proximity of so powerful a people filled Balak, their king, with terror and dismay, so that he began to think of the best means of destroying them. There was no ground for such alarm, as the Israelites, in consequence of divine instructions (Deu 2:9), had offered no hostilities to the Moabites, but had conscientiously spared their territory and property; and even after the defeat of the Amorites, had not turned their arms against them, but had advanced to the Jordan to take possession of the land of Canaan. But the supernatural might of the people of God was a source of such discomfort to the king of the Moabites, that a horror of the Israelites came upon him. Feeling too weak to attack them with force of arms, he took counsel with the elders of Midian. With these words, “ This crowd will now lick up all our environs, as the ox licketh up the green of the field,” i.e., entirely consume all our possessions, he called their attention to the danger which the proximity of Israel would bring upon him and his territory, to induce them to unite with him in some common measures against this dangerous foe. This intention is implied in his words, and clearly follows from the sequel of the history. According to Num 22:7, the elders of Midian went to Balaam with the elders of Moab; and there is no doubt that the Midiantish elders advised Balak to send for Balaam with whom they had become acquainted upon their trading journeys (cf. Gen 37), to come and curse the Israelites. Another circumstance also points to an intimate connection between Balaam and the Midianites, namely, the fact that, after he had been obliged to bless the Israelites in spite of the inclination of his own natural heart, he went to the Midianites and advised them to make the Israelites harmless, by seducing them to idolatry (Num 31:16). The Midianites, who are referred to here, must be distinguished from the branch of the same tribe which dwelt in the peninsula of Sinai (Num 10:29-30; Exo 2:15-16; Exo 3:1). They had been settled for a long time (cf. Gen 36:35) on the eastern border of the Moabitish and Amoritish territory, in a grassy but treeless steppe-land, where many ruins and wells are still to be found belonging to very ancient times ( Buckingham, Syr. ii. pp. 79ff., 95ff.), and lived by grazing (Num 31:32.) and the caravan trade. They were not very warlike, and were not only defeated by the Edomites (Gen 36:35), but were also subdued and rendered tributary by Sihon, king of the Amorites (see at Num 31:8). In the time of the Judges, indeed, they once invaded the land of Israel in company with the Amalekites and the sons of the East, but they were beaten by Gideon, and entirely repulsed (Judg 6 and 7), and from that time forth they disappear entirely from history. The “ elders of Midian” are heads of tribes, who administered the general affairs of the people, who, like the Israelites, lived under a patriarchal constitution. The most powerful of them bore the title of “ kings” (Num 31:8) or “princes” (Jos 13:21). The clause, “and Balak, the son of Zippor, was king of the Moabites at that time,” is added as a supplementary note to explain the relation of Balak to the Moabites.
Num 22:5-6 Balak sent messengers to Balaam to Pethor in Mesopotamia. The town of Pethor, or Pethora ( , lxx), is unknown. There is something very uncertain in Knobel’s supposition, that it is connected with , a place to the south of Circessium ( Zozim. iii. 14), and with the mentioned by Ptolemy, v. 18, 6, and that these are the same as Anah, , “Anatha ( Ammian. Marcell. xxiv. 1, 6). And the conjecture that the name is derived from , to interpret dreams (Gen 41:8), and marks the place as a seat of the possessors of secret arts, is also more than doubtful, since corresponds to in Aramaean; although there can be no doubt that Pethor may have been a noted seat of Babylonian magi, since these wise men were accustomed to congregate in particular localities (cf. Strabo, xvi. 1, 6, and Mnter Relig. der Babyl. p. 86). Balak desired Balaam to come and curse the people of Israel, who had come out of Egypt, and were so numerous that they covered the eye of the earth (see Exo 10:5), i.e., the whole face of the land, and sat down (were encamped) opposite to him; that he might then perhaps be able to smite them and drive them out of the land. On for , the imperative of , see Ewald, 228, b. – “For I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.” Balak believed, in common with the whole of the ancient world, in the real power and operation of the curses, anathemas, and incantations pronounced by priests, soothsayers, and goetae. And there was a truth at the foundation of this belief, however it may have been perverted by heathenism into phantasy and superstition. When God endows a man with supernatural powers of His word and Spirit, he also confers upon him the power of working upon others in a supernatural way. Man, in fact, by virtue of the real connection between his spirit and the higher spiritual world, is able to appropriate to himself supernatural powers, and make them subservient to the purpose of sin and wickedness, so as to practise magic and witchcraft with them, arts which we cannot pronounce either mere delusion or pure superstition, since the scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments speak of witchcraft, and condemn it as a real power of evil and of the kingdom of darkness. Even in the narrative itself, the power of Balaam to bless and to curse is admitted; and, in addition to this, it is frequently celebrated as a great favour displayed towards Israel, that the Lord did not hearken to Balaam, but turned the curse into a blessing (Deu 23:5; Jos 24:10; Mic 6:3; Neh 13:2). This power of Balaam is not therefore traced, it is true, to the might of heathen deities, but to the might of Jehovah, whose name Balaam confessed; but yet the possibility is assumed of his curse doing actual, and not merely imaginary, harm to the Israelites. Moreover, the course of the history shows that in his heart Balaam was very much inclined to fulfil the desire of the king of the Moabites, and that this subjective inclination of his was overpowered by the objective might of the Spirit of Jehovah.
Num 22:7-11 When the elders of Moab and Midian came to him with wages of divination in their hand, he did not send them away, but told them to spend the night at his house, that he might bring them word what Jehovah would say to him. , from , soothsaying, signifies here that which has been wrought or won by soothsaying – the soothsayer’s wages; just as , which signifies literally glad tidings, is used in 2Sa 4:10 for the wages of glad tidings; and , , which signifies work, is frequently used for that which is wrought, the thing acquired, or the wages. If Balaam had been a true prophet and a faithful servant of Jehovah, he would at once have sent the messengers away and refused their request, as he must then have known that God would not curse His chosen people. But Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness. This corruptness of his heart obscured his mind, so that he turned to God not as a mere form, but with the intention and in the hope of obtaining the consent of God to his undertaking. And God came to him in the night, and made known His will. Whether it was through the medium of a dream or of a vision, is not recorded, as this was of no moment in relation to the subject in hand. The question of God in Num 22:9, “ Who are these men with thee?” not only served to introduce the conversation ( Knobel), but was intended 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”’ (Hengstenberg).
Num 22:12-14 God then expressly forbade him to go with the messengers to curse the Israelites, as the people was blessed; and Balaam was compelled to send back the messengers without attaining their object, because Jehovah had refused him permission to go with them. , Num 22:11, imper. of = (see at Lev 24:11).
Num 22:15-17 The answer with which Balaam had sent the Moabitish messengers away, encouraged Balak to cherish the hope of gaining over the celebrated soothsayer to his purpose notwithstanding, and to send an embassy “of princes more numerous and more honourable than those,” and to make the attempt to overcome his former resistance by more splendid promises; whether he regarded it, as is very probable, “as the remains of a weakly fear of God, or simply as a ruse adopted for the purpose of obtaining better conditions” (Hengstenberg). As a genuine heathen, who saw nothing more in the God of Israel than a national god of that people, he thought that it would be possible to render not only men, but gods also, favourable to his purpose, by means of splendid honours and rich rewards.
(Note: Compare the following remarks of Pliny ( h. n. xxviii. 4) concerning this belief among the Romans: “ Verrius Flaccus auctores ponit, quibus credat, in oppugnationibus ante omnia solitum a Romanis sacerdotibus evocari Deum, cujus in tutela id oppidum esset, promittique illi eundem aut ampliorem apud Romanos cultum. Et durat in Pontificum disciplina id sacrum, constatque ideo occultatum, in cujus Dei tutela Roma esset, ne qui hostium simili modo agerent; ” – and the further explanations of this heathen notion in Hengstenberg’s Balaam and his Prophecies.)
Num 22:18-21 But Balaam replied to the proposals of these ambassadors: “ If Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot transgress the mouth (command) of Jehovah, my God, to do little or great, ” i.e., to attempt anything in opposition to the will of the Lord (cf. 1Sa 20:2; 1Sa 22:15; 1Sa 25:36). The inability flowed from moral awe of God and dread of His punishment. “From beginning to end this fact was firmly established in Balaam’s mind, viz., that in the work to which Balak summoned him he could do nothing at all except through Jehovah. This knowledge he had acquired by virtue of his natural gifts as seer, and his previous experience. But this clear knowledge of Jehovah was completely obscured again by the love for the wages which ruled in his heart. Because he loved Balak, the enemy of Israel, for the sake of the wages, whereas Jehovah loved Israel for His own name’s sake; Balaam was opposed to Jehovah in his inmost nature and will, though he knew himself to be in unison with Him by virtue of his natural gift. Consequently he fell into the same blindness of contradiction to which Balak was in bondage” ( Baumgarten). And in this blindness he hoped to be able to turn Jehovah round to oppose Israel, and favour the wishes of his own and Balak’s heart. He therefore told the messengers to wait again, that he might ask Jehovah a second time (Num 22:19). And this time (Num 22:20) God allowed him to go with them, but only on the condition that he should do nothing but what He said to him. The apparent contradiction in His first of all prohibiting Balaam from going (Num 22:12), then permitting it (Num 22:20), and then again, when Balaam set out in consequence of this permission, burning with anger against him (Num 22:22), does not indicate any variableness in the counsels of God, but vanishes at once when we take into account the pedagogical purpose of the divine consent. When the first messengers came and Balaam asked God whether he might go with them and curse Israel, God forbade him to go and curse. But since Balaam obeyed this command with inward repugnance, when he asked a second time on the arrival of the second embassy, God permitted him to go, but on the condition already mentioned, namely, that he was forbidden to curse. God did this not merely because it was His own intention to put blessings instead of curses into the prophet’s mouth, – and “the blessings of the celebrated prophet might serve as means of encouraging Israel and discouraging their foes, even though He did not actually stand in need of them” ( Knobel), – but primarily and principally for the sake of Balaam himself, viz., to manifest to this soothsayer, who had so little susceptibility for higher influences, both His own omnipotence and true deity, and also the divine election of Israel, in a manner so powerful as to compel him to decide either for or against the God of Israel and his salvation. To this end God permitted him to go to Balak, though not without once more warning him most powerfully by the way of the danger to which his avarice and ambition would expose him. This immediate intention in the guidance of Balaam, by which God would have rescued him if possible from the way of destruction, into which he had been led by the sin which ruled in his heart, does not at all preclude the much further-reaching design of God, which was manifested in Balaam’s blessings, namely, to glorify His own name among the heathen and in Israel, through the medium of this far-famed soothsayer.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
2. Balak “ A Waster.” This was the complimentary title of the king of the Moabites. His character is evinced by his actions narrated in this and the two following chapters. Zippor may have been the “former king of Moab.” Num 21:26. The Jewish tradition is, that Moab and Midian were united into one kingdom and ruled by a king chosen alternately from each.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Balak’s Entreaty to Balaam ( Num 22:2-14 ).
The story began with Balak sending important messengers to Balaam. These were ‘chieftains’ (sarim – ‘nobles’, ‘chieftains’, ‘princes’) who would seek to persuade him to come to Moab and curse Israel. This was to be the subject of the first fourteen verses.
Analysis.
The first fourteen verses relate to Balak’s first appeal to Balaam. These can be analysed chiastically.
a Balak is afraid of the children of Israel and fears that they will spoil Moab (Num 22:2-4)
b He sends messengers to Balaam describing ‘the people who have come from Egypt’ (Num 22:5)
c He calls for him to come and curse Israel and drive them from the land (Num 22:6)
d The elders leave with rewards in their hand to persuade Balaam to curse Israel (Num 22:7)
e Balaam tells them to wait while he obtains a word from Yahweh. (Num 22:8)
e The word of God comes to Balaam, ‘What men are these? (Num 22:9)
d Balaam says that Balak sent them, and wanted Israel cursed (Num 22:10-11)
c God tells him not to go and not to curse Israel (Num 22:12)
b Balaam tells messengers to return home (Num 22:13)
a The chieftain messengers return. Balaam will not come. (Num 22:14)
Balak Is Afraid of the Children of Israel and Fears That They Will Spoil Moab ( Num 22:2-4 )
Num 22:2
‘And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.’
Balak, king of Moab (Num 22:4), had received notice of all that Israel had done to the Amorites. This would especially relate to what he knew had happened in the adjacent kingdom. Whether Og had also been defeated at this time we do not know. We can, however, understand Balak’s fear when he saw all the Amorites slain and their cities taken, for he himself had not been able to withstand the Amorites who had possessed half his land. He was not aware of Yahweh’s word to Moses that Moab was not to be disturbed, or if he had received messages to that end he probably thought that he had cause not to believe them. He clearly did not lay as much stress on the family relationship as God did (Deu 2:9).
Num 22:3
‘And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many, and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.’
So Moab were dreadfully afraid of Israel, because of the size of their army. And as they saw them encamped seemingly permanently almost on their borders and heard what they were accomplishing elsewhere they were ‘distressed because of the children of Israel’. They waited pensively and apprehensively, wondering when the attack would be turned on them.
Num 22:4 a
‘And Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.’
In their dilemma they also consulted with their allies, a group of Midianites (probably including Amalekites and Kenites, both of whom were inter-related to the Midianites through Abraham – see Num 24:20-21; Gen 25:2; Gen 36:12; Exo 18:1 with Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11) who had been settled in the kingdom of Sihon (Jos 13:21) and who had quite possibly escaped to Moab territory. They described to the ‘elders’ (chief men and advisers) of these Midianites how Israel were denuding their neighbours like a hungry ox denudes a field, as they had good cause to know. It would surely be their turn next. They suggested that they needed to act together to rid themselves of this menace.
Balak Sends Messengers to Balaam Describing ‘The People Who Have Come From Egypt’ Who Are In Large Numbers ( Num 22:5 ).
Having consulted with the Midianite elders, Balak, king of Moab, sent messengers to Balaam pleading with him to come and help them against Israel, emphasising the huge numbers that they were opposing.
Num 22:4 b
‘And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.’
This note is put in so as to explain why it was he who acted and responded to the people’s fears. It was because at that time he was the king of Moab. (His pre-eminence in the matter suggests that the Midianites in mind here were in Moabite territory and in treaty relations with him – compare Abraham with the king of Salem in Genesis 14)
Num 22:5
‘And he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to 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.’
Balak was aware that Moab could not defeat Israel unless somehow they were weakened and the power of their God neutralised. So he formulated a plan. He sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, the great prophet of Pethor by the Euphrates, (probably the Pitru of Assyrian inscriptions), which was ‘the land of the children of his people’. This may mean simply his native land, or may indicate that it was a place where many such diviners and sorcerers had taken up residence. In Jos 13:22 Balaam is called a ‘diviner’ (qasam). This clearly also involved him being in contact with the spirit world. Some see ‘his people’ (‘ammo) as referring rather to ‘the land of the ‘Amavites’ mentioned in a 13th century BC inscription from Alalakh.
For Balak to send to a stranger in so far off a place for assistance must have meant that the reputation of Balaam was awesome. Balaam had obviously built up an extensive reputation as being effective in cursing people, for the Midianites later called on him again in spite of his failure in this case, and it was then that Balaam was slain along with the Midianite leaders (Num 31:8). This was because he who had advised the method of destroying the Israelites by causing them to offend Yahweh (Num 31:16). This last incident warns us against seeing him as deserving of Yahweh’s approval.
Num 22:6
‘Come now therefore, I pray you, curse me this people, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.’
Balak’s intention was that Balaam might weaken Israel by putting a curse on them so that Moab could then smite them. And he called for him to come and curse Israel, so weakening them that he and his armies could deal with them. For he knew that when Balaam cursed men, they were cursed, and conversely that when he blessed men they were blessed. If he could be blessed and Israel could be cursed, in his view this would give him a real advantage. This confirms the kind of reputation that Balaam had in this direction. Many an army would be unwilling to fight and would fight less well if they heard that they had been cursed by a man like Balaam. It would be enough to put them off fighting altogether. And many would fight better because he had blessed them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Though Balak saw the destruction of the Amorites by Israel, yet had he consulted what was said concerning Moab, he might have learnt that Israel had no commission at that time to hurt Moab. On the contrary as Moab sprung from Lot, the LORD had given special command, concerning the preservation of Moab. See Deu 2:9 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
done to the Amorites. Compare Num 21:35.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Num 21:3, Num 21:20-35, Jdg 11:25
Reciprocal: Num 22:4 – And Balak