Numbers 23:10-2110Who 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! 11And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. 12And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? 13And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. 14And 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. 15And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder. 16And the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 17And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the Lord spoken? 18And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: 19God 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? 20Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. 21He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. (Numbers 23:10‑21)
BALAAM went on with his parable, and said, “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?” Then he adds, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!”
Alas, for the poor wretched prophet who loved the wages of unrighteousness; for he died as he lived. Later, when the victorious armies of Israel warred against the Midianites Balaam was slain along with them. For the most part men die as they have lived. If one would die the death of the righteous then let him live the life of the righteous.
Balak was greatly vexed at Balaam. Not only had the prophet blessed Israel but he himself had even uttered the wish that he might share their blessing at the end. “I took thee to curse mine enemies,” he said, “and, behold, thou Nast blest them altogether.... Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place.”
In Balak we see how lost was the knowledge of God among the nations. He thought God was like himself, or just another god like his own. To his darkened mind God was but a god of one particular people; He might be powerful in one place but in another place or circumstance another god might be more powerful than He. We find this in the history of the kings of Israel for on one occasion the Syrians said the God of Israel was god of the hills but not of the valleys.
How blest we are who know Him as the only true God, the Lord of heaven and earth, “the Creator who is blessed forever,” who has revealed Himself to faith in the Person of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, “to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Balak would take Balaam to another point where he would not see all Israel, but just a part of them, and then he would curse them from there. As if that would make any difference. For God is not a man that He should lie, or the Son of man that He should repent. He will make good what He has spoken. Balaam had received commandment to bless; “and He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.”
Evidently Balaam would have liked to reverse the decree of God, but he could not. Neither man nor all the powers of hell could change God’s purpose to bless Israel, and nothing can frustrate His purposes of blessing toward His people now. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 8:38,3938For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38‑39).
Balak then brought Balaam to the top of Pisgah. Again he offered sacrifices and went through his ritual, and again the Lord met him and told him what to say. Each time he rises higher and higher in expressing the fullness of God’s thoughts of blessing toward His people.
“He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel.” How could this be? The answer is found only in Christ. In those times God was looking forward to the work of Christ and so He could act in grace toward those who lived in faith. Now God sees the believer as cleansed by the blood of Christ, “holy and without blame before Him in love.” (Eph. 1:44According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Ephesians 1:4).)
ML-05/05/1974