Both Moses and Balaam bear witness concerning Israel: the former to their moral condition; the latter to God's estimation of them, now what Christ is for them having been (typically) set forth. That the first witness is true, their whole history proves. Balsam's testimony is no less true, for it really testifies of Christ. According to Moses, not one bright spot in their whole course as a nation unless we except the song of the Red Sea. And among the few individuals who stood faithful to God, scarce one without a recorded failure. The congregation are marked by persistent disobedience, constant complaints. It was at the well that sovereign grace silenced their complaining, and God fulfilled His own promise that He would quite take away their murmurings. A fuller accomplishment yet remains when their iniquity is all purged away. Instead of murmuring they sing. Yet their singing is more the testimony to God's grace than the evidence of thankful hearts. Not long after their song they proved how unchanged were their hearts. Balaam's view of Israel is altogether from a different stand-point; he speaks not of what they were practically as Moses did, but how grace could think of them as redeemed by Christ. Moses testifies what Israel is toward God, Balaam what God is for them. Moses speaks of them as responsible and constantly rebelling, Balaam utters the purpose of grace. Moses accordingly proposes their blessing as contingent upon their obedience, Balaam, the settled and fixed purpose of God dependent only upon His will and power; yea, even present blessing, and the hiding of sin and iniquity.
There is the same kind of double testimony concerning us; for that of Moses is analogous to the testimony of the Spirit in us as to our ways and nature. Nay we ourselves are witnesses to ourselves that there is nothing good in the flesh, that the old nature is unrenewed, and incapable of it. All the characteristic evils of the flesh whether in its religious or more corrupt aspect have been developed by the circumstances of the way. And if we in the light of God judge ourselves, will our judgment of self be different from that of Moses concerning Israel? Many an evil root has sprung up, owing to circumstances. But it is not the will of God that we should be the creatures of circumstances; it is ours to live above them. But the same Spirit testifies to us the perfectness of Christ, and to our perfectness in Him. It would be an impeachment of the cleansing power of His blood if, as in Him, there was a spot or stain to be seen.
Satan made strenuous efforts to curse Israel. But the very way in which God was pleased to frustrate them shows how completely God held in His hand both him and his wretched servant, Balaam, so that not a movement against Israel was possible till the words of God were all spoken; yea, Balaam himself made to say them. If Jehovah was more visibly for His people at the Red Sea, not more gloriously than here at the close of their wilderness journey. But Balaam's natural character comes out too; for by this Satan works. I doubt if he initiates any evil; he brings it to the surface, energizes it, leads it and makes corrupt nature his instrument for all evil. Man is made wise with Satanic wisdom, and the common desires of the mind are combined with those which are clearly more Satanic in character. Thus in this man covetousness is combined with enmity against God and against His people, which might not have so clearly appeared, had he been kept from accompanying the messengers of Balak. The truth is, Balaam was in accord with Satan, willing to curse Israel. He was held in by bit and bridle, and compelled to utter the words of God, not the desire of his own heart.
The messengers in result came with the rewards of divination or witchcraft; but the power of God immediately appears, for at the first call Balaam says, “I will bring you word again, as Jehovah shall speak to me.” It was not his wont to seek counsel of God; his intercourse was with the powers of darkness. He says he will bring the word of Jehovah, but he knew not the import of that Name, though compelled to use it. We surely see in this that it was God as the Jehovah of Israel Who met him, at once proclaiming Israel's relationship to Him and Himself as their God. He was for them. But He was not “Jehovah” to Balaam, it was “God” that met him. Balaam's constant use of that Name only makes him, the unwitting witness that God was for Israel and against Moab. Constrained to refuse at first, and again seeking to know what God would say to him, it shows how determined his will was, how great his desire to get the reward that Balak promised. It, also, in result brings out more clearly the intervention of God on behalf of His people, for we should not have had these wonderful prophecies if he had not gone. God is making the power and malice of the enemy to praise Him, and to manifest this, to make Satan's discomfiture more complete, God on the second occasion bids him go (i.e. allows him to follow his own will, yet telling him he is powerless and can only speak the word God gives him). This permission to go did not lessen his sin in going. The thought, the desire to curse Israel was still uppermost in his mind; therefore the angel of Jehovah met him in the way and would have slain him. We know how he escaped; the dumb ass rebuked the madness of the prophet.
Balaam feigns obedience and offers to return. He says, “I have sinned.” Where was his conscience that he had sinned in persisting to go after God had told him not to go? His thought was merely that he had failed to discern the presence of the angel in the way. This was not in itself a sin, but it was the consequence of sin, and as such illustrated the moral blindness that sin always produces; in an unbeliever it is fatal. But even in a saint following, in any degree, however small, the impulse of his own will, how can he discern the mind of the Lord? The blind unbeliever rushes upon the sword of the Lord, and is destroyed; the saint is preserved, spite of himself, but when his eyes are opened it is to find that the Lord has been withstanding him. We may take warning even from a wicked Balaam. The peculiar tendencies of our own hearts are often turned into a thick veil by Satan, so that we fail to discern the Lord's mind. Covetousness was the human element of this man's opposition to God; it was the blind through which he found himself rushing to destruction. So it was with Judas, who not for a house full of silver, but for only thirty pieces betrayed his Master. I have said “human element” to distinguish it from the deeper wickedness—enmity against God, though this, even as the other, has its seat in the human heart.
His heart is unchanged. Therefore he is again bidden to go, and again reminded of his inability to say aught but what God gave him to say. Had his confession of sin been real, would he not have found mercy? Not being real, he is allowed to follow the bent of his own will, the willing servant of Satan. But, while filling up the measure of his iniquity, God all the while uses him to accomplish His will, and to declare for our profit and joy the unchangeable counsels of God.
It is a wonderful scene; was there ever any other occasion (save the cross) where the wickedness of man and the rage of Satan were so evidently against God and yet used to make known His power and blessing for His own?
“And God's anger was kindled because he went and the angel of Jehovah stood in the way for an adversary against him.” There was an appearance, which is always indicated when it is said “the angel of Jehovah,” though not always of a person. Not necessarily when it is simply “Jehovah spake,” as so frequently to Moses. The appearance may be a flame a of fire out of the midst of bush, but it is the angel of Jehovah (Ex. 3:22And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. (Exodus 3:2)). So also the cloud that went between Israel and the Egyptians was “the angel of God” (Ex. 14:1919And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: (Exodus 14:19)). The man that appeared to the wife of Manoah was “the angel of Jehovah.” There is no necessity to suppose an appearance to Balaam before this, when on his journey the angel of Jehovah met him in the way; for God can make His power and presence felt without assuming an appearance. Evidently there was an opposition now, for the ass saw, though Balsam was not at first permitted to see. But his blindness made his will more manifest.
It would seem that not only the name “Jehovah” but the use of the number “seven” was borrowed from Israel by the nations outside. For on the high places Balaam caused seven altars to be prepared, and a bullock and a ram on each; and by way of making himself acceptable to God says, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.” Thus would man—the flesh—endeavor to propitiate God; is there anything more offensive to Him? From these high places he sees the utmost of the people; the whole camp is spread out before his astonished eyes. He pronounces them blessed, and confesses his own impotence. “How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed, or how shall I defy whom Jehovah hath not defied?” Balak reproaches him, and the unwilling Balaam owns the power that controlled him. Another place is selected whence only the outskirts of the camp can be seen. As if Balaam's limited view could tarn the blessing into a curse, or thwart the purpose of God!
In Balak we see how utterly lost was the knowledge of God. The world by wisdom knew Him not; nor was the ignorance of Balak darker than the world's wisdom. Indeed its wisdom and its ignorance are both alike here. God is known only by revelation, and Balak's ignorance is less astonishing than that of the wise world. The wisdom of the world searched for God not in creation where His eternal power and Godhead were surely displayed, but in the dark and filthy caverns of a filthy and corrupt imagination. What that produced is graven on every page of the world's history. What Balak's idea of God was is evident from his words to Balsam. He thought God was altogether such as himself, or such as he conceived his own god to be. For he in his highest thoughts could not conceive anything beyond nature; he might imagine a monster possessing every conceivable attribute that nature could suggest; and his god Baal was but the expression of his own imagination. He might think that Jehovah was a more powerful God than Baal, and so did not direct Balaam to consult the god of Moab. But to him gods and men were not beyond the influence of circumstances and place. And so he says, judging Jehovah as he would Baal, “thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence.” But God is not man that He should lie, or the Son of man that He should repent; He had spoken, and would make it good. Balaam, had received commandment to bless and he could not reverse it; as if he said, I would but I cannot. In effect a fuller blessing is pronounced; and Balak, despairing of cursing them, would fain content himself with hindering blessing. There was no enchantment, no divination, able to bring a curse upon Israel: on the contrary the enchanter himself had been blessing—had even uttered the wish that he could share in their lot at the end, and die the death of the righteous. And the miserable king, beginning to feel how hopeless it was to strive against the God of Israel, says, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all;” as if he would say, Let them and me be equal, and then I may overcome them. But Jehovah's interposition for His people is never merely to frustrate the aims of the enemy and turn aside evil; there is always the positive side of blessing. And here how great the blessing is, how comprehensive yet not circumstantial in its details; each step rising in fullness, until God in the person of the coming Star of Jacob triumphs gloriously over the power and malice of Satan. What a marvelous sort of conflict between the power of God and the power of evil!
Yet again another place is chosen (ver. 27). The God of heaven and of earth is unknown. To his dark idolatrous soul, what was the Jehovah of Israel more than the tutelary deity of a particular people, or of a limited locality where indeed He might be supreme, while in another place another god would prevail? Such was evidently the thought of Balak. The idolatry of every clime and age never went beyond this; each nation had its own god: Elysium and Tartarus, earth and sea, each its own deity. Or if the philosophic mind went farther, it was but a fruitless attempt to grasp at an indefinable intangible something, of which the name they gave, Chaos, only declared their ignorance. The common people did not rise even to this. Long afterward the Syrians said the God of Israel was the god of the hills, and not of the valleys. Even the wicked Balsam somehow learned better. Perhaps even before, he was like the Roman augurs who, as Cicero surmised, winked to each other when they beheld the superstitious folly of the common people. But though he might have been as much as others the slave of superstition, and as firm a believer in his own enchantments, when, for the third time, Balak prepares his altars and his sacrifices at another place, Balaam meets not his thought implied in change of place; he feels the folly of seeking enchantments as at other—the former—times, and sets his face toward the wilderness.
Notwithstanding this apparent giving up of his divinations, in yielding again to Balak's importunity he gives further evidence of his own will, unbroken yet powerless. And is it not that God would wake His power still more manifest? Balaam seeks not enchantments; his own “familiar spirit” is driven from the battlefield, and now it is said “the Spirit of God came upon him.” He is now only as a captive chained to the chariot of the Conqueror. He was no better than his ass, which spoke when God opened his mouth. And so must Balaam.
The Spirit of God came upon him, but not in saving power. This is not the only instance of the Spirit using an unconverted man, and here an enemy, as a mere instrument for His purpose. God works by whomsoever He will, but His instruments are always chosen according to His infinite wisdom. No prophet from among Israel could so well have proved the truth of God's power, and that the God of Israel was the true God of heaven and earth. This was of the highest importance as a testimony to the heathen world, and declared to them that their gods were no gods. In Balaam, unwilling, resisting to the last, the unmistakable testimony is wrung out of him, to the supreme power and sovereignty of the God of Israel. No doubt the prophecies of Balaam with the attendant circumstances were known to the nations, as well as the miraculous passing of Israel through the Red Sea (Josh. 2:1010For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. (Joshua 2:10)). Thus beyond the special point of Israel's blessing here is a witness of the Being and Power of God over and above the testimony of creation. Judgment was imminent over the Canaanite; ere it falls, a fresh and altogether new witness of the One true God is given, and through them to all nations. To continue in idolatry after such proof increased their sin. The world is willingly ignorant. “So that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:2020For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20)).
The word affords other instances of the Spirit coming upon a man as quite distinct from His presence where there is a broken spirit resting on redemption. When the conscience is in the presence of God, and bows to His judgment, then the Spirit of God acts in saving grace, not using the matt as a mere instrument, but blessing his soul: in a word, it is salvation. But even where there is no conscience-work, and consequently no salvation, the power of the Spirit may be so great that for the time he who is under it becomes another man. After Saul was anointed, the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and he became another man (1 Sam. 10:66And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. (1 Samuel 10:6)). The Spirit of God came again upon him (1 Sam. 19:2323And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. (1 Samuel 19:23)), and he prophesied as on the former occasion; but at neither time was there any work in the conscience, or change of heart. Indeed on the second of these two occasions his behavior was such as to be evidence to the contrary. Yet on both he was so unlike himself (-became another man) that the people amazed said “Is Saul also among the prophets?” So also another instance of this same power of the Spirit of God is seen in that the lying and seducing prophet is made to pronounce judgment upon the disobedient prophet (1 Kings 13). In all these the prophesying is the manifestation of the Spirit's power, not in saving efficacy, but as sovereign and selecting His instruments according to divine wisdom.
Surely there is contained in these facts a very solemn consideration for those who are now used in the service of God. To be a prominent servant and a useful one in the greatest of all works is no proof even of conversion. No zeal, no success, in preaching can compensate for the absence of life. There are those who will say, “Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name? And in thy Name have cast out devils, and in thy Name done many wonderful works?” The Lord's answer to such reveals the sad and solemn fact, that their activity in such labor and zeal was without the knowledge of the Lord; and, as without, this saving knowledge, all their labor and zeal was nothing else than the work of iniquity. “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7). There is only one ground of salvation (and indeed for acceptable service), that as lost sinners we are saved only by Christ—by faith in Him. The great apostle himself had no other plea but this the common ground of all. “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)).
Three times the enemy has tried and thrice failed in his attempt. Now Satan in the person of Balak appears in more open opposition, and seeks as if he would be revenged upon his helpless servant. For Balak here is but the mouthpiece of Satan. He had his rewards for the prophet, but they were offered in vain. In anger and disappointment he tells Balaam to flee to his place. “I thought to promote thee unto great honor; but lo, Jehovah hath kept thee back from honor.” It is against Jehovah that Balak speaks, it was against His will that the king now openly declares himself.
It was a question between righteousness and grace. Satan was not ignorant of the demands of righteousness, he knew that Israel deserved to lose the promised inheritance; but he knew nothing of the purposes of grace, or how these purposes could be fulfilled without setting aside the demands of righteousness. He is as it were challenging God, whether He can bless a people hitherto rebellious. And wondrously have the Wisdom and the Power (1 Cor. 1) met the challenge. The great question is settled before God, though the time was not then come for the public setting forth of Christ Himself as the propitiatory for sin (Rom. 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25)). It is in view of the cross that God can declare Israel blessed. The book of types and shadows had been unrolled before Israel, but unread by them; the true Light had not to them illuminated the page; but all was before God, and the people who most deserved to be cut off are those to whom the highest and greatest (earthly) blessings are assured. Nor could Satan read the record more than man, he never knew it till the great fact of atonement was accomplished. God did not make Satan the depositary of His counsels. But on the cross where Christ was lifted up as the answer to all Satan's charges, as well as to assure every believer, then Satan knew how God could be just and the Justifier of the ungodly.
Now though Satan was the prime mover in the attempt to curse Israel, stirring up the evil in the hearts of these two men to accomplish his purpose, yet after all it was not so much the people, as the fearing and hating Him who was to come from them. Satan knew the meaning of the first word given in Eden. The Lord who was to come should bruise his head. The word was renewed to Abraham: Satan saw it was connected somehow with Israel. If he could destroy Israel, the promised Seed could not come. But the counsel of God as to Hip Christ is eternal; and “hath Jehovah spoken, and shall He not make it good?” Satan, vanquished, disappears. His two servants may each go their way. Nay, not yet; God has not done with Balak; this great controversy is not to be left so. God as it were now takes the initiative, and the curse Balak sought for Israel is pronounced upon himself. “Come, I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.” And now it is not Israel, but the STAR out of Jacob that is before the eye of God. It is in Him and by Him that the future victories and greatness of Israel will be achieved. Moab and every other power of the world that has stood up against Christ and His people shall be subdued under His mighty power. The ships of the west may afflict Asshur and Eber; but their leader shall perish. It is the judgment of the quick at the end of the age, even then and thus pronounced.
The scene closes, the curtain drops upon this wonderful drama: Satan for the time is vanquished, and the everlasting counsels of grace stand firm in the power of God, which is yet to make all good for Israel.
Did Israel know how wondrously God, their Jehovah was maintaining their cause, yea, His own sovereign right of grace against the enemy? Nay, they, unconscious, dwelt at ease in their tents, while the battle was fought and won upon the high places of Moab.