Victory now rests upon Israel. Their song at the “well” is as a fresh starting-point, and marks a change of wilderness history. At the first, they sang Jehovah's triumph over the Egyptian foe. Their song now is the fitting sequence to the latest type of the death of Christ. At the Red Sea God was for them, the enemy was overthrown; the serpent of brass shows how the “flesh” is to be overcome. The flesh which had shown itself in such varied forms during the journey is now judged before God in the death of Christ. The soul that realizes this by faith rises above the circumstances of the wilderness, and finds springs of living water. The wilderness does not change, it is still a dreary waste; but God has provided grace and communion, and the rain filleth the pools. At the Red Sea they did nothing; here the princes and the nobles dig with their staves. It is the activity of faith laying hold of the blessings brought within reach by grace. This is the work of faith, no toil, no labor, no opposing influence to set aside, but grasping the blessing brought nigh. And just as the princes must dig with their staves, so must we take hold of the blessings now given to us in the gospel. In contending with the world, in bearing the daily burden, there is the labor of faith; in putting forth the hand to take what God gives, is the intelligent obedience of faith. It brings communion and joy; and (in knowing that we have the victory over flesh, over sin in us, through death) sets the believer above the present condition, and puts the song in his mouth, “Spring up, O well.” And this is the “well” that God has told us of in the revelation of Christ. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:1111Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:11)); see also 1 Peter 4:1, 21Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1‑2). Only those who in the obedience of faith reckon themselves to have died to sin, to the flesh, can fully sing this song. A believer may, even while the “flesh” is yet unjudged, sing the song of the Red Sea; but while the flesh is active, unjudged in its nature, and bringing discipline upon him, there cannot be this true singing of the soul to God. Reckoning ourselves dead to sin is not to reckon the flesh dead; he who reckons thus will soon find his mistake, for “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us;” but to reckon that we have died to it, is God's divine way of giving us victory over it. It is of faith, not of works lest any should boast.
Israel did not rise to the height of the blessing, nor was it God's purpose they should. It was reserved till Christ should come; and the fullness of its meaning, like the good wine at the marriage of Cana, was kept for the church now. They rejoiced in the gift; it is ours to joy in God the Giver as revealed in Christ.
They soon prove that they had not full confidence in God. In a little while they come to the possessions of the Amorites, and messengers are sent to Sihon the king. The land of the Amorite was included in the original gift of God to Israel, and the question arises, Why send messengers asking permission to pass through it, as they did to Edom? The land of Edom and of Moab formed no part of Israel's promised possession, it was God's command that they should not be dispossessed. The land of the Amorite was given; was it of faith to ask merely to pass through it? The request did bring out their hatred, and their attempt to hinder Israel. Their destruction was the consequence. But the question remains, ought not Israel to have taken possession at once? To ask permission to pass quietly through a land given to them of God, was it the obedience of faith? Upon the Amorite there was righteous retribution, for they had taken that land from Moab; and now Israel by the will of God takes it from them.
The Amorite boasted against Moab. Israel now boasts over the Amorite, and in derision turns their boasting against them. They had a national song commemorating the capture of Heshbon, and Israel takes it up as a proverb against them. “Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared; for there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath consumed Ar of Moab and the lords of the high places of Arnon.” Sihon seems to have made the captured city the point whence, in his boasting song, fire issued and consumed Ar of Moab. Whether the following verse (29th) be the continuation of the Amorite's boast, or Israel's lament over Moab, the impotence of their god Chemosh is declared. In irony they say that Chemosh had played them false, and had given his sons and daughters (the Moabites) captives to the Amorite. If this be the language of Israel, it is but a proof of the deceitfulness of the heart, for Israel afterward worshipped the god they here despise. The 30th verse seems the triumph of Israel over the Amorite. “We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.” If fire came from Heshbon and destroyed Ar of Moab, fire came from Israel and Heshbon perished.
Again the old want of confidence in God appears; “And Moses sent to spy out Jaazar” Had not a sufficient lesson been given as to the employment of spies? Here however no disaster follows. Is it not that the fullness of grace as seen in the “well” covers as it were the want of faith in the promise of God? This is not a solitary instance of the sovereignty and grace rising above failure (have we not daily proofs?) and setting it aside that the goodness of God might triumph over the untrustful heart of man. In all their history grace is the rule, as real after law if not so prominent as before. It was the same grace that told Moses to speak to the rock in Num. 20:88Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. (Numbers 20:8) as bade him smite the rock in Ex. 17:66Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. (Exodus 17:6). And in this comparatively late day, when their journeyings are closing, grace shines out with equal brightness as before. Alas! there is also the breaking out of the old human prudence. How offensive this mast be to God whose word was pledged to them that they should have the land! It is the opposite of faith; for faith resting upon His word never sends spies, looks not at obstacles with the eye of doubt and fear, refuses to meet unfavorable or opposing circumstances in a human way, but counts on God and His unfailing word, and thus overcomes. Was Moses again pleased to send spies (Deut. 1:2323And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: (Deuteronomy 1:23))? He had before asked Hobab to be eyes for them; failing him, they use their own. But we are here in the full efficacy of the grace that made the dead rod to bloom, and the well to spring up in the desert. It is peculiar to grace to rise above the lack of faith, accomplishing its own purposes. Thus Israel dwells in the cities of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, like Sihon, is delivered into their hand, and they possess his land.
In the following scene (Num. 22) no greater confirmation of the word in Rom. 8:3131What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) can be given. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Principalities and powers are here, the powers of the unseen world are invoked, man unites with Satan to curse the people of God. How intensely interesting to the believer to watch the continuous attempts of evil on the one side, and on the other the marked intervention of God, baffling and bringing to naught the aims of Satan. For he it is, though hiding himself behind Balak and Balaam. It is a question of God's care for His people, and of His power. He has given Israel victory over their fleshly enemies: can He turn aside the malice and power of Satan? God permits Satan to try, that we may have as it were a pre-confirmation of the word of the Lord. Nothing shall take us out of His hand. And may we not say that God emphasizes His love and care for us? For in this scene He uses no mere human instrument but contends personally with the enemy who is shrouded in the person of Balaam. If this tells how precious Israel was to Him, does it not speak with yet more power to the church of God now? If so much to them who had only the shadows of the good things to come, how much more to believers now who know and have the reality? Behold how God condescends personally to enter the arena of the contest, meeting the foe upon his own ground. If Balaam goes to meet enchantments, it is God that meets him; if he will go to Balak, it is Jehovah with His drawn sword that withstands him in the way; if he will speak against Jehovah, God compels him to utter blessings and not curses; and at last Balaam broken under the power of God is forced to otter judgment against the man from whom he would joyfully have received his house full of silver. For his heart was with Balak, and his desire to curse Israel no less. When no longer held in the hand of God, his will is seen; where he cannot curse, he would seduce; and, having more Satanic wisdom than Balak, he succeeded later by wiles (Num. 31:1616Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. (Numbers 31:16)), where in a question of direct power against God he could only be crushed.
The two prominent factors in Satan's attempt are the dismay that filled Balak's mind when he saw the hosts of Israel, and the covetousness that ruled Balaam's soul. Balak sends for Balaam. In this early day we see the power of the world uniting with the religion of the world against that which is of God. The most terrible instance of this union is not yet come, when the Beast and the false prophet will unite to make war with the Lamb. Here we have the secular soliciting the aid of the ecclesiastical, as since the ecclesiastical has oft called upon the secular. But whichever solicited, the other always responded; and every difference or jealousy between the two was set aside to make common cause against the people of God.
Israel is now pitched in the plains of Moab, and brought thither by the power of God. They are there as victors bringing their trophies with them, fresh from the conquest of Sihon and Og, and in possession of their cities. A glorious but terror-striking scene met the eyes of Balak, as from the mountains of Moab he gazed upon the broad plains. Here were the people whose report had long before made the heart of the Canaanite to quake, whose miraculous path through the Red Sea, nor less wonderful through the desert, attested the mighty power of Him who led them. Balak saw, feared, and hated this people; and conscious that a power above his own led them, he lost all confidence in his own might. He seemed to be aware that no mere human arm could destroy this people, and he goes not forth as Amalek, Sihon, and Og, with their armies. The power that guards them is not flesh and blood, but one that is mysterious and to him unknown. But is there not a power on his side? Yea, and he invokes Baal-Peor by the intervention of Balaam his prophet. And thus the power of Satan hitherto masked by the idolatry of Moab is brought out in open conflict with the power of God.
Satan had been trying to ruin Israel ever since they passed through the Red Sea; and, now (seeing that in spite of his endeavors to make them disowned of God, they are on the contrary the objects of God's favor, which seems to increase as they become more unworthy), he brings his two servants, his king and his prophet, as he will do again ere long, in a futile attempt to curse them. What an instance of impotent rage and malice! Terror fills Balak, covetousness brings Balaam, but the rage and malice are deepest in Satan; yet is he not less impotent than his two agents who are in this scene his mere puppets, while God for a time wrests Balsam out of Satan's hand, and makes him utter the blessings and greatness of Israel. Satan as well as man must bow to God's will; he, the prime instigator, is here pitting his hatred and cunning against the might and purpose of God. The devil's wish to curse is the occasion for God to pronounce blessing.
Morally, Israel was not a whit better than on the passover night in Egypt when God put a barrier of blood between Himself and them, lest He destroyed them. How surprising then the testimony God brings out of the enemy! How could such words be the testimony of such a people? Only through, the finished work of Christ, in virtue of which God had looked upon them, as He now looks upon us who believe in Christ, and sees us now as He saw Israel then before Him in the acceptability of Christ. And how blessedly and truly is the overshadowing worth of Christ in His person and work manifested when the reluctant Balaam is made to say, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel.” Was not perverseness a most prominent feature in their history of the desert-way? Bidden to possess the land they refuse, alleging their fears of the sons of Anal; and when consequently told to turn towards the desert, they essay to enter the land. They cried in their hunger for bread, and God gave them bread from heaven; afterward they loathed it and preferred the fleshpots of Egypt, and even said that Egypt was better than Canaan! Is not this the extreme of perversity? God's mercies misconstrued, His blessings denied, His forbearance abused.
In presence of this what otherwise could be said than what Moses said, “Thou art a stiff-necked people” (Deut. 9:66Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people. (Deuteronomy 9:6))? But the infinite value of Christ covers all their perverseness and their iniquity, and God will not behold it. The word does not say that there was no iniquity among them, but that God will not look at it; He will look at Christ. He will not look at the debt, but at Him who paid it; not at the sin, but at Him who bore the judgment. Nor will He allow the enemy to say one word against His people. Moses as the servant of Jehovah might tell them that they had been rebellious ever since the day they came out of Egypt; but not Balaam. He was Balak's willing mouth-piece to utter curses, but no reproach can pass his lips against Jehovah. Leprosy might break out in the camp, and their habitations become defiled; but he, the hater of Israel, is forced to say, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel.” Again we say, how could such a testimony be borne of such a people, save as the result of that grace which we cannot measure; of that precious blood whose preciousness God alone can estimate?
It was through, and in virtue of, the cross (though not then accomplished, but only shadowed forth in characters that God could read) that He looked down upon Israel, and made the wretched but impotent Balaam thus speak. Satan's eyes were on them, and malediction in his heart; but he is powerless. If he made such efforts to get Israel cast off by God (for that was his aim) need we wonder that the church of God is the constant object of his attacks; and even if he knows how impossible it is to take the church out of the hand of God are we surprised that he uses all his power to hinder our being what we should be before God? Nay, but are we not amazed that there is so little of watchfulness on our part? Nevertheless, we can still say, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"