Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times. Therefore, flee to your place, now! I thought to promote you to great honor; but, behold, Yahweh has kept you back from honor.”
Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, ‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond Yahweh’s word, to do either good or bad from my own mind. I will say what Yahweh says’?
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10–11 In token of anger.
In token of anger.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10, 13 Num 24:10 And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam,…
Num 24:10 And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed [them] these three times.
Ver. 10. And he smote his hands together.] So doth God at the covetous person, such as Balaam was. "Behold, I have smitten my hands at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made," &c. {Eze 22:13}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10–11 He smote his hands together; a sign of great…
He smote his hands together; a sign of great anger, Eze 21:17; 22:13.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v10 We have here the conclusion of this vain attempt…
We have here the conclusion of this vain attempt to curse Israel, and the total abandonment of it. 1. Balak made the worst of it. He broke out into a rage against Balaam (Num 24:10), expressed both in words and gesture the highest degree of vexation at the disappointment; he smote his hands together, for indignation, to see all his measures thus broken, and his project baffled. He charged Balaam with putting upon him the basest affront and cheat imaginable: "I called thee to curse my enemies, and thou hast shown thyself in league with them, and in their interests, for thou hast blessed them these three times, though, by appointing the altars to be built and sacrifices to be offered, thou madest be believe thou wouldest certainly curse them." Hereupon he forbade him his presence, expelled him his country, upbraided him with the preferments he had designed to bestow upon him, but now would not (Num 24:11): "The Lord hath kept thee back from honour. See what thou gettest by pleasing the Lord, instead of pleasing me; thou has hindered thy preferment by it." Thus those who are any way losers by their duty are commonly upbraided with it, as fools, for preferring it before their interest in the world. Whereas, if Balaam had been voluntary and sincere in his adherence to the word of the Lord, though he lost the honour Balak designed him by it, God would have made that loss up to him abundantly to his advantage. 2. Balaam made the best if it. (1.) He endeavours to excuse the disappointment. And a very good excuse he has for it, that God restrained him from saying what he would have said, and constrained him to say what he would not; and that this was what Balak ought not to be displeased at, not only because he could not help it, but because he had told Balak before what he must depend upon, Num 24:12, Num 24:13. Balak could not say that he had cheated him, since he had given him fair notice of the check he found himself under. (2.) He endeavours to atone for it, Num 24:14. Though he cannot do what Balak would have him do, yet, [1.] He will gratify his curiosity with some predictions concerning the nations about him. It is natural to us to be pleased with prophecy, and with this he hopes to pacify the angry prince. [2.] He will satisfy him with an assurance that, whatever this formidable people should do to his people, it should not be till the latter days; so that he, for his part, needed not to fear any mischief or molestation from them; the vision was for a great while to come, but in his days there should be peace. [3.] He will put him into a method of doing Israel a mischief without the ceremonies of enchantment and execration. This seems to be implied in that word: I will advertise thee; for it properly signifies, I will counsel thee. What the counsel was is not set down here, because it was given privately, but we are told afterwards what it was, Num 31:16. He counselled him to entice the Israelites to idolatry, Rev 2:14. Since he could not have leave from God to curse them, he puts him in a way of getting help from the devil to tempt them. Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo - If I cannot move heaven, I will solicit hell.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–13 And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam,.... He had…
And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam,.... He had bore much and long, but he could bear no longer, he was quite impatient, his last words more especially must exceedingly nettle him:
and he smote his hands together; as expressive of his indignation, vexation, and disappointment:
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and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse my enemies; he had sent princes to him, one set of them after another, to invite him into his country, and to his court, with great promises of reward to curse Israel, whom he reckoned his enemies, and not to bless them:
and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times; done nothing else but bless them with blessing upon blessing, time after time; even everyone of the three times he opened his mouth, as Balak expected, to have cursed them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v11 The Lord - Whose commands thou hast preferred before…
The Lord - Whose commands thou hast preferred before my desires and interest; and therefore seek thy recompence from him, and not from me.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v11 Verse 11. Lo, the Lord hath kept thee back…
Verse 11. Lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour.] A bitter and impious sarcasm. "Hadst thou cursed this people, I would have promoted thee to great honour; but thou hast chosen to follow the directions of Jehovah rather than mine, and what will he do for thee?"
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Together, to hinder him from being heard, and through…
Together, to hinder him from being heard, and through indignation, Job xxxvii. 23.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v10 10And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he…
H.—THE LAST SAYING
Num_24:10-25
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10And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. 11Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour. 12And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, 13If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the Lord saith, that will I speak? 14And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. 15And he took up his parable and said,
Balaam the son of Beor hath said,
And the man whose eyes are open hath said:
16 He hath said, which heard the words of God,
And knew the knowledge of the Most High,
Which saw the vision of the Almighty,
Falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
17 I shall see him—but not now:
I shall behold him—but not nigh:
There shall come a Star out of Jacob,
And a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel,
And shall smite the corners of Moab,3
And destroy all the children of Sheth.
18 And Edom shall be a possession,
Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies;
And Israel shall do valiantly.
19 Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion,
And shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
20And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said,
Amalek was the first of the nations;4
But his latter end shall be5 that he perish for ever.
21And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable and said,
Strong is thy dwelling place,
And thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
22 Nevertheless the Kenite6 shall be wasted,
Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
23And he took up his parable and said,
Alas! who shall live
When God doeth this!
24 And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim,
And shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber,
And he also shall perish for ever.
25And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his went his way.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
[Num_24:14. Heb. אִיעָצְךָ. I will give thee counsel or advice. It is not used for a simple announcement.—A. G.]
[Num_24:14. Better at the end of days, since that is the usual significance of the word אַחֲרִית.—A.G.]
[Num_24:17. The text is better than the margin here. פַּאֲהֵי, the two corners or sides of Moab, from side to side.—A.G.]
[Num_24:17. Children of Sheth, rather the sons of tumult or confusion. See Jer_48:45; Amo_2:2. So most modern interpreters.—A. G.]
[Num_24:18. Increase in power and wealth.—A. G.]
[Num_24:22. The particles כִּי אִם—and עַד־מָה may be better rendered here with Ewald and Knobel. only then—when; or with Keil, Bible Com.: For surely is it that (giving the אִם a strong negative force) Kain shall be for destruction. He shall not be until, etc.—A. G.]
[Num_24:23. Sets, establishes him. מִשֻּׂמוֹ, since, or from his establishing. The suffix may refer to the general destruction which follows, or to the power by which it is wrought.—A. G.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
In his indignation Balak changes his courtly conduct towards Balaam. He does not indeed go further than a threatening movement of his hands. [The clapping of the hands together was not, however, designed to terrify Balaam. It was simply an expression of the disappointment and passion of the king.—A. G.] Still he describes the calling of Balaam as a royal command which he had thrice disregarded. But now he commands him to flee. He drives him away and with scorn. He had thought to promotehim to honor; but Jehovah (i. e. Balaam’s belief in Jehovah) has withheld him from this distinction. But his anger seems to have kindled also the anger of the proud seer. He reminds Balak of his declaration at the very outset that he was dependent upon Jehovah (Num_22:18). The breach between them is indicated in the expression: Since I am going hence to my people, come therefore I will teach you what this people will do to thy people at the end of days. [Kurtz: “ ‘The end of days’ denotes the horizon of a prophetic uttterance. It begins when the prophecy enters upon its actual fulfilment. For Jacob, whose hope and desire were limited largely to the dwelling of his descendants in the land of promise, the end began at the time of Joshua; but for Moses and Balaam, who saw that this possession of the promised land did not give perfect rest, ‘the end of days’ could only be when the strifes and hindrances should be removed, the enemies overcome. The end to them began with the line of David. The prophecy then received its preliminary and partial fulfilment. But that fulfilment was only relatively perfect, since the entire opposing powers to the people of God were not yet destroyed. There remained yet a future and wider fulfilment. ‘The end of days’ was not yet complete.”—A. G.]
Num_24:15. It is scarcely correct to say that the succeeding outburst of anger is to be viewed as the culminating point of his predictions, as perhaps we might be inclined to do from the striking figure of the star out of Jacob. The narrator lets him pour out his saying without any preliminary or preparatory announcement. His self-consciousness comes out clearly in the description he gives of himself. He is here as one having the knowledge of the Most High עֶלְיוֹן, in which respect he may be regarded as belonging to the primitive religion of Melchizedec. But as a worshipper of אֵל עֶלְיוֹן, he passes into the ranks of those who worship El-Shaddai and receives the vision which the Almighty discloses to him, with his eyes open and falling to the ground. The fundamental thought in his saying is now almost exclusively, the King who shall come forth out of Israel. We must distinguish here also between the conscious purpose of the seer, and the typical significance of his words, which grows out of the fact that he has a vision of the glory of Israel, and that the glory of Israel is in reality a type of the Messianic kingdom. I shall see him, but not now. What could this mean in the conscious thought of the man who was just about to pass by the tents of Israel on his way homeward? The thought: I see him now, but not as a man of the present, is not definitely and clearly expressed. It might be rendered: I shall see him; but He is not here. I shall look for him, but not nigh (not as one near at hand). The typical significance of the words extends to the time of the kings of Israel, and still further to the time of its ideal king. The declaration which follows: there shall come a star out of Jacob, is explained more fully by the sceptre of Israel, which should first smite Moab on every side, as he had already been smitten on the side of Heshbon. It is not in this way that the ideal Messiah would be announced. We call to mind also that it is not the purpose of the writer to include Balaam among the Messianic prophets; still less here when he burns with anger against Balak. That this prediction, as all that follows it here, must be fulfilled, is the result of the idea, that Israel is the people of Jehovah. And they were fulfilled. After Moab follow the sons of Sheth, not of Seth, nor of ‘the drinker,’ to wit, Lot, but of those rising up tumultuously against the dominant people of God (see Psalms 2). Then follows Edom first as to its people, then as to its land (Seir). By it as a possession will Israel grow strong. We translate the additional clause: One shall descend out of Jacob, and shall destroy all the fugitives out of the city, i. e. the captured cities.
The prophecy closes with single sentences foretelling the general destruction of all heathen powers. The first of the hostile heathen nations is Amalek; but his latter end shall be: to destruction. [First: Not as pre-eminent among the hostile nations in position and power, nor as the most ancient of these nations, but as the first who had entered into conflict with Israel, and had resisted successfully their entrance into the promised land, Exo_17:8 and Num_14:45. The conflict began with Amalek. They were to experience early its necessary issue in subjection.—A. G.]
The second utterance brings to view a new feature, viz. that one nation perishes by the hand of another; the Kenites by Asshur. In the interpretation of the following obscure sentences, we agree with Keil: enduring is thy dwelling-place, and laid (past participle) upon the rock thy nest. For is it that Kain shall fall into destruction until, i. e. Kain shall not be destroyed until [see Text. Note.—A. G.]. The Sept. gives the remarkable interpretation which seems to imply that Balaam alludes to the destruction which he himself brought upon the Midianites. Knobel appears to have been guided by the passage in Jdg_4:14; Jdg_4:17. “A part of the Kenites had separated themselves from their tribe in the south, and had settled in Kadesh in Naphtali, and were doubtless carried away captive with others when Tiglath-Pileser wasted Galilee about 740 B. C. 2Ki_15:29.” Thus this part of the Kenites, sons of the blacksmith (Kain), dwelt safely up to this time in their rocky nest in the northern mountains of Canaan. [The Kenites were probably of Midianitish extraction, as Moses’ father-in-law, who was a priest of Midian, was a Kenite. Kurtz holds that Balaam here refers to the Midianites, who as enemies of Israel must be involved in ruin, and who here receive the unusual name Kenites from the resemblance between קֵן, their rock-dwellings or fastnesses, and קֵינִי, the Kenites. He urges that as the Midianites were even now in covenant with Moab for the cursing and destruction of Israel, it is perfectly in place to regard them as the object of the curse directed against the Kenites; that it would be remarkable indeed if they had not been mentioned among the enemies of Israel who must perish, and that unless they are alluded to here, they are passed by entirely. But there is no sufficient evidence that the Midianites were ever called Kenites. Nor is it necessary to suppose that every enemy of Israel should be specifically mentioned; on the contrary those who are named appear in their representative character. It is very questionable too whether this view can be reconciled either with the text, or with the demands of the history. It seems on the whole better with Keil to regard the Kenites as the friends, and not the foes of Israel, who having laid their nest upon a rock, i. e. joined the true people of God, and thus a secure resting-place and refuge, were safe from destruction until Israel itself should fall under chastisement. Keil adds: “There is no prediction here of the captivity of Israel, because that was simply a transitory judgment, which served to refine the nation of God, and not destroy it, but which became a captivity of judgment to the Kenites, because they were not really in fellowship with Israel, though outwardly associated with them.” The outward association secured a strong dwelling-place, safety for a time. For should Kain be destroyed, until, i. e. Kain or Kenite shall not perish until Asshur shall carry thee captive. See Num_10:32; Deu_35:19.—A. G.]
In the next saying Balaam appears to have seen more than he may announce to Balak. Alas, who shall live when God appointeth him (Asshur to do this). In his present state and disposition, he bewails the future of Israel (Knobel, p. 147). Still he comforts himself with the thought that God appoints Asshur to execute His judicial sentence (Isa_10:5). From Mesopotamia, Balaam might well know Asshur’s martial strength and lust of conquest. Keil regards the lamentation as introductory to the prophecy concerning Asshur. Balaam bewails the sons of his people. [He renders also with our version: who sets, doeth this, making the suffix in מִשֻׁמוֹ neuter and referring to the substance of the following prophecy, and not to Asshur. What pained the heart of the seer was not merely that Israel and the associated Kenites should be carried captive, which seemed to “involve the ruin of all peace and safety upon earth,” but that the judgment should fall upon Asshur, upon his own people.—A. G.]
Num_24:23. A new saying truly begins here. But it does not follow that the saying must refer to Asshur, since the judgment upon Asshur opens with a disjunctive particle in Num_24:24. Why should not his woe apply to the unuttered future lot of Israel which appeared to be so directly in conflict with his previous blessing? Let it be noticed also, that the judgment upon the naval power from Chittim is not introduced with a new parable. At last the universal ruin of the nations appears in the vision. Hostile ships come from Chittim. “כִּתִּים is Cyprus with its capital Citium (Gen_10:4) mentioned as intervening between Greece and Phœnicia, and the chief station for the maritime commerce of Phœnicia, so that all the fleets passing from the west to the east necessarily took Cyprus in their way.” Keil. These ships afflict Asshur and afflict (cast them to the ground) Eber. A mere vague glimpse of a great western empire, which overthrows the oriental power, limits his prophetic horizon, and his vision of judgment closes with this, that he sees even the shadowy and unknown one, the prince of the ships from Chittim going down unto destruction. And he shall perish forever. “These words cannot refer to Eber and Asshur, for their fate is already announced in the word afflict or press, but only to the new western power which was to come over the sea.” Keil. But when Keil says Eber “neither refers to the Israelites merely as Hebrews (Sept. and Vulg.), nor to the races beyond the Euphrates (Onkelos and others), but like ‘all the sons of Eber’ (Gen_10:21), to all the posterity of Abraham, who descended from Eber through Peleg, and also to the descendants of Eber through Joktan,” his exposition lies aside from the actual and peculiar thought of Balaam. The strange vision meets him again, so in conflict with the whole scope of his prophecy, that with the posterity of Eber, not only the descendants of Abraham generally, but Israel itself should be visited with judgment; but he prefers to say Eber rather than Israel. And since he combines Eber with his native race Asshur, he chooses for them the mildest term. They shall be bowed, humbled; while of the unknown one, under whose power they shall be bowed, he says with apparent delight: he also shall perish forever. The shadowy nature of these last visions of judgment is a strong proof of the great antiquity of this prophecy. The look into the far distant future stretches beyond the Babylonian and Persian histories, and rests upon a faint vision of the Macedonian empire, behind which the Roman power lay hidden, or with which it was included. Punitive judgments and universal ruin form the last words of the heathen prophet; a picture unrelieved by any light background, more terrible even than the Scandinavian “twilight of the gods” Thus Balaam takes his departure from Balak, not only in anger, but in a kind of despair; the Spirit of God appears to have revealed nothing more encouraging, and in this state he may easily have offered himself to Moses, as Simon Magus to Peter. At all events this excessive spirit of judging and cursing is that very extreme which, according to ancient and modern experience, passes over into the region of impure and idolatrous fanaticism. For special treatises upon the narrative, see Tholuck, Hofmann, Keil [also Hengstenberg and Kurtz.—A. G.]. Above all things, we must guard against including Balaam in the class of the Messianic prophets, and the typical significance of his words must not be confounded with conscious prophecies.
[The question here, however, is not whether Balaam was conscious of the real import of his words. He was speaking under the influence of the Spirit of God. Lange’s view that he spake in anger, because reproached by Balak, has not sufficient ground, at least not in the sense and importance he gives it. How far in his condition he may have been subject to ordinary frames and passions, we cannot determine.
Whatever may have been true, these frames and passions were under the control of the Spirit who came upon him.—Neither is it possible to determine how far he may have been conscious of what his words meant. We are to deal with the words, not his inward consciousness or passions. The thing of moment is what his words really mean. Are they explained, or fairly explainable on any other supposition than that they are Messianic? Do they find their complete fulfilment in the immediate future, or at the time of David, or in Christ and His kingdom? It is not necessary to determine, further, whether on the supposition that the prophecy is Messianic, we are to regard it as pointing to Christ only as the ideal King, and under whom the ideal kingdom would come to completion, all its enemies be subdued and destroyed, as Hengstenberg, or with Kurtz, that Christ is referred to as the personal, concrete, real King—the Messiah Himself. Both views are consistent with the full Messianic interpretation of the prophecy while the latter seems on the whole preferable. It is here at the close of the prophecy that we may best consider what is its real character. If the words he shall perish forever refer as the tenor of the prophecy implies and the later history demands, to the western power which the prophet saw in the dim distance coming over the sea—to the Macedonian and Roman empire—then we have, as Kurtz well says, “a real prophecy of that which no human wit, no powers of penetration, either in the time of Moses or David, or even Malachi, could have foreseen.”7 The overthrow of this last power of the world connects this prophecy with those of Daniel, who takes up and describes more accurately these world powers in their nature and progress and decay. If this is so then the end of days in which Balaam’s prophecy falls, within which it all lies, must embrace the Messianic period, or at least the period of the kingdom, from its beginning through all its stages of progress, until its completion in the kingdom of God, and the destruction of all its foes, when in the widest sense of the words Even he shall perish forever. But if the end of days denotes the whole period of the kingdom, then the prophecy whose very core and substance is in the words, there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite all the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth, or tumult, finds its preliminary fulfillment in David in whom the kingdom was established, and by whose victories the power of Moab and Edom was broken, but its final and complete fulfillment only in Christ, in whom the kingdom reaches perfection, and who destroys all the enemies of Israel. Any other interpretation limits the “end of days,” so that it no longer affords scope for the very terms and exigencies of the later predictions. It would afford no room for the appearing and downfall of that power which the prophet sees coming from the west, triumphing over all its foes, but whose end is that “even he shall perish forever” We must either find some escape from the clear reference to the Macedonian and Roman empire, or we must recognize both the possibility of prophetic predictions, and that this prophecy speaks of Christ—or at least the Messianic kingdom. That Balaam’s prediction was not exhaustively fulfilled by the victories of David, is clear not only from the history, in which both Moab and Edom appear again and again in their hostile attitude, throwing off the yoke under which they had been brought—a history confirmed by the inscriptions upon the Moabitish stone—but from the repeated and explicit references in the prophets to those powers centuries after the time of David. See Isaiah 15 and Isa_16:1-5; Amo_2:1; Zep_2:8-9; Isa_34:5; Ezekiel 12-14; Amo_9:11-12.
The Messianic view is so obviously implied in the terms of the prophecy, that it was universally held by the Jews from the most ancient times. They held indeed that it received its preliminary fulfillment in David, but always regarded it as pointing to the Messiah. See Hengst.: Christology, Vol. I. p. 105. So wide-spread was this explanation that the renowned pretender, or Pseudo-messiah in the reign of Hadrian styled himself Bar-Cochba (the son of the star) with a clear reference to this prophecy. From the Jews it passed into the Christian Church, and has been the prevalent view down to the present day. It is rejected of course by the extreme rationalists; but the attempt to find any adequate explanation of its terms in the person and triumphs of David, is so in the face of the facts of the history subsequent to the time of that monarch, that those who receive the history at all are conscious of failure. We must either reject the whole history, even that part which the critics regard as genuine, or admit that the star out of Jacob, the ruler who should smite through all the opposing powers of the world, is the Messiah.
It is no objection to this view that at the time of Christ Moab and Edom had disappeared from the history. For these nations appear here as the present enemies of Israel, but at the same time as the representatives of all the nations hostile to the kingdom of God. It is not as Moabites that they are to be smitten, but as the enemies of the people of God. It is not their national character, but their attitude and spirit in relation to the divine kingdom, which calls for judgment. The limits of their national existence cannot therefore be the limit of the prophecy or of its fulfillment. So that even if it could be maintained that Moab and Edom were completely destroyed by David, that the application of the prophecy to those particular enemies was thus final and complete, that would not change the fact that Moab in the wider prophetic sense still existed, and would exist, until all the enemies of the kingdom of God were subdued or destroyed. The eternal principles and ideas of prophecy run through infinite cycles. Where there are enemies, there are Moabites, and there the predictions of Balaam must be fulfilled.
When it is said that we can hardly suppose Balaam to have rejoiced in such a kingdom, which should in its onward progress crush all the powers which placed themselves in its path, it is enough to reply, that we are not told that he did. We do not know what were his personal feelings any more than we know how far he was conscious of the import of what he said. He was in a prophetic state. The Spirit of God came upon him; he was under the influence and control of that divine agent, and so spake his predictions. It is not probable that he did rejoice in what he saw, as we know that he remained in will and heart opposed to Israel. But this in no way affects the scope and meaning of his prophecy.
If we compare Balaam’s prophecy with the prediction of the dying Jacob, “that the sceptre should not depart from Judah until Shiloh came to whom the nations should gather,” we feel at once that they are closely connected, and yet that they are very different both in the definiteness of the predictions, and in the spirit they breathe. But this difference is to be accounted for partly from the nature of the Messianic prophecy, unfolding itself more and more fully in history, from the germ to the full bloom and fruit, and partly from the inward and outward circumstances which give rise to the prophecy. Balaam sees “the nation of Israel encamped, according to its tribes, in the face of its foes, the nations of the world.” “He looks only upon the external results of the Messianic kingdom, and these again in a one-sided limited aspect, to the heathen powers in their opposition to the kingdom of God and their consequent subjection. Of the spiritual and earthly blessings which the Messiah should bring, not only for Israel, but for the heathen who should voluntarily yield to His sway, he sees and describes nothing.” Kurtz. Still he does not lose sight of the blessed and the blessing nature of the Messianic kingdom, Num_24:5-9. “Balaam, the heathen seer, out of Mesopotamia, the centre of the national development of the ancient world, proclaims, first to the existing representatives of the nations hostile to Israel,” and through them to all hostile powers as they should rise in succession, that in their enmity to Israel they were struggling against the power of the Almighty, and must perish, “since life and salvation were found only in Israel whom God had blessed.”
The star which the wise men from the East saw, and which led them in the way to the newborn “king of the Jews,” refers clearly to the prophecy of Balaam. It was not the star which he foretold, which he saw but not nigh; that star was Christ. The star which appeared to them announced that the star which Balaam saw had now risen out of Jacob in the birth of the king of the Jews. These Magi were, like Balaam, from the east. They were engaged in similar pursuits, devoting their lives to the study of occult sciences; men whose whole disposition would lead them to study eagerly the revelation made to the people of God scattered widely throughout the known world. They would naturally be drawn to the predictions of Balaam, one of their own class, and from their own country. “Upon this natural enlightenment,” says Hengstenberg, “rests the supernatural revelation granted to them. God unfolded to their minds, which were already filled with a longing for the ‘Star out of Jacob’ foretold by Balaam, the meaning of the star which proclaimed the fulfillment of Balaam’s prophecy; He revealed to them, that is to say, the fact that it announced the birth of the ‘King of the Jews.’ And just as Balaam had joyously (?) exclaimed ‘I see Him,’ and ‘I behold Him,’ they also could say ‘We have seen his star.’ ”—A. G.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
On the whole section: Balaam is a type which is reflected a thousand-fold in art, poesy, science, in the pulpit, in ecclesiastical government, whose double face appears often in the contrast between a higher inspiration, or spiritual (enthusiastic) contemplation, and a lower tendency and final reprobation.
His history is important for the knowledge of prophetic psychology, for the distinction between verbal and typical prophecy, for that between belief and superstition regarding blessings and curses, as well as for hermeneutical science. Even the ass throws a light on the question of animal psychology, a question over which not only has rationalism fallen, but Apologetics has stumbled. See the exegesis.
[The history is impressive further as to the blinding power of sin when persisted in. Balaam’s love of gold blinds him to the light of that knowledge of God which he obviously possessed before Balak’s call—to the clearer light which shone from the angel who met him in the way—and lastly to the light of those revelations which shone around him so clearly. The person so blinded passes into deeper darkness from the very process through which he has passed. The light within becomes darkness, and how great is the darkness.
The history brings out clearly the Providence of God in the development and growth of the characters of bad men. The conditions under which that progress is made, the outward circumstances which furnish the occasion by which the character is tested and matured, these are a part of the divine plan. Balaam’s place in history is not accidental, nor are the circumstances in which he appears either the result of chance, or shaped merely by human agencies. But all through his history the divine providence works restraining the evil principles, then permitting the man to have his own way, until the final test is applied, when he must choose between conscience and sinful lusts, between God and self. The history of Balaam repeats itself more or less fully in a thousand cases. It is obvious further, how God shields and blesses His people.—A. G.].
HOMILETICAL HINTS
The policy of Balak. He seeks by the curse to depress the courage of the Israelites and to stimulate the courage of the Moabites, and thus secure the power to destroy Israel. An old story, yet ever new. It is like a page from the latest contemporary history. The dark fame of Balaam—that as a curser or imprecator he was without a rival. The character of Balaam. This combination of great capacities for inspiration with low aims and passion, is of more frequent occurrence than we are apt to think (see the exegetical notes). Balaam’s struggle and apparent triumph. The signs of his defeat and the fearful depths of his fall. The self-contradiction in his nature grew into an irreconcilable breach. Balaam’s speaking ass, a mystery of the animal, and still more of the human soul-life. The prophecies of Balaam: examples of the overpowering rhetorical pathos of (enthusiastic) inbreathed spiritual discourse. The gradation in his prophecies. The core and heart of them. The typical star. The Balaam behind the scenes. Balaam and Balak. Balaam as presented in the Old Testament and in the New.
[Num_22:9-14. Balaam’s true state betrays itself at the outset. He knows to some extent the history of Israel, and that God had blessed them. Yet he inclines to go and pronounce the curse. He parleys with the temptation. He lays himself open to stronger temptation. The Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you.—1. He wishes to go. 2. He is restrained only by fear. 3. His reply invites a renewal of the proposals, and prepares the way for the overmastering temptation to come.
Num_24:15-21. Henry: “The enemies of the church are restless and unwearied in their attempts against it. How artfully Balak manages the temptation. 1. The messengers were more and more honorable. 2. The request was more urgent. 3. The rewards were greater.” Balaam’s seeming refusal, his real inclination and purpose. Wordsworth: “He adds hypocrisy to covetousness. Thus he tampers with his own conscience, and tempts God to change His mind whom he knew and declared to be immutable.” Go with them.—Henry: “As God sometimes denies the prayers of His people in love, so sometimes He grants the desires of the wicked in wrath. It is a fearful thing when God leaves a bad man to follow his own will, Isa_66:4; Jer_2:19.
Num_24:22-25. God’s anger was kindled.—Henry: “The sin of sinners is not to be thought the less provoking to God because He permits it. We must not think that therefore He approves it. Nothing is more displeasing to God than malicious designs against His people; he that touches them touches the apple of His eye.” God stands as an adversary in the way of sinners. He restrains and checks them in their downward career; and yet He makes them the ministers of His purposes toward His own children.
Num_22:41. On the morrow.—A deliberate act. He goes after full reflection, and yet without delay, he is eager to fulfil the wish of Balak and secure the coveted wealth.
Num_23:1-10. Balaam covers his purpose to curse Israel with a show of devotion. His sacrifice not to honor God, but either to constrain Him or win His favor. It is characteristic of hypocrisy. I have prepared altars and offered sacrifices. Henry: “He pronounces God’s people happy in three things. 1. Happy in their peculiarity and distinction from the rest of the nations (Num_24:9). 2. Happy in their numbers (Num_24:10). 3. Happy in their last end. Let me die, etc. There are many who, like Balaam, desire to die the death of the righteous, but do not endeavor to live the life of the righteous. They would be saints in heaven, but not saints on earth. This is the desire of the slothful which kills him because his hands refuse to labor.”
Num_24:11-24. He hath blessed and I cannot reverse it.—The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. The security of Israel against all the machinations and power of their enemies. 1. In the unchanging purpose of God, who has made them blessed (Num_24:19-20). 2. In their moral character, as they are viewed by God, the objects of His choice (Num_24:21). 3. In their past experience of the saving power of God (Num_24:22). 4. God’s presence with them as their King. What hath God wrought.—Henry: “The defeating of the design of the church’s enemies ought to be had in everlasting remembrance to the glory of God.”
Num_24:1-9. Henry: “The blessing is in substance the same as before, yet he admires in Israel: 1. Their order and beauty (Num_24:5); 2. their fruitfulness and increase (Num_24:6-7); 3. their honor and advancement; 4. their power and history (Num_24:8); 5. their courage and security (Num_24:9); 6. Their interest and influence upon their neighbors (Num_24:9).” Num_24:6-7. Wordsworth: “A beautiful picture of the true Israel of God flowing forth from Christ, the divine fountain of grace, pouring out the living waters of salvation, the pure streams of the Spirit (Isa_12:3; Joh_3:5; Joh_4:10; Joh_7:38-39), and watering the wilderness of the world to rejoice and be glad, and to blossom as the rose.”
Num_24:10-14. Balaam loses the wages of unrighteousness and the favor and blessing of God. Seeking to gain both, he gains neither. We cannot serve God and Mammon. The double-minded man ordinarily loses all.
Num_24:15-24. Know the knowledge of the Most High.—Henry: “A man may be full of the knowledge of God, and yet utterly destitute of the grace of God.” Here is the prophecy of the kingdom which is carried on and completed in Daniel. It shall come in the latter (at the end of) days; it shall come out of Jacob; it shall come as a star and sceptre in splendor and with authority; it shall be irresistible in its progress; its enemies shall be destroyed or fall into its possession; it shall be universal in its extent, and endure through the end of days.—A. G.]
Footnotes:
[3]Marg. or smite through the princes of Moab.
[4]Marg. The first of the nations that warred against Israel.
[5]Marg. shall be even to destruction.
[6]Heb. Kain.
[7]The effort of the rationalistic critics to find a basis for this prophecy in some transient landing of a few Greeks upon the coasts of Western Asia, who after inflicting some real damage were compelled to retreat; whose expedition scarcely left a trace or tradition behind it, is so absurd as not to require any refutation. The attempt to make this brief and comparatively harmless irruption an explanation of this prophecy of the wide and permanent ruin wrought by some western power, shows to what extremities they are reduced who start with the principle “that prophecy, strictly speaking, is impossible,” and to what shifts they will resort to escape conclusions which any fair exegesis involves, but which they rightly feel would be destructive to their principle.—A. G.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v10 Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote…
Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together--The "smiting of the hands together" is, among Oriental people, an indication of the most violent rage (see Eze 21:17; Eze 22:13) and ignominious dismissal.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10–12 10. He smote his hands together — This gesture…
10. He smote his hands together — This gesture indicates a strong contempt for the soothsayer. Job_27:23; Lam_2:15.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v10 10. these three times] If the utterances in chs.…
10. these three times] If the utterances in chs. 23 and 24 have been rightly assigned to E and J respectively, these words must have been added by the editor who combined the two accounts.
10–14. Balak, in anger, bade Balaam flee back to his land. Balaam replied, as before, that he was bound to utter the message which Jehovah gave him, and, instead of departing at once, uttered four further declarations.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13 (10) And he smote his hands together.—The smiting the…
(10) And he smote his hands together.—The smiting the hands was a token of strong feeling, whether of scorn, of indignation, or of despair. (Comp. Job_27:23; Lam_2:15.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v12 Spake I not also. This was altogether true. Balaam…
Spake I not also. This was altogether true. Balaam had enough of the true prophet about him not only to act with strict fidelity, as far as the letter of the command went, but also to behave with great dignity towards Balak.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v10 Balaks anger was kindled against Balaam.
Num_24:10-19
Balaks anger was kindled against Balaam.
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Balaam and Balak
I. The cause of Balaks anger. That Balaam had not fulfilled the terms of his contract (Num_24:10-11).
1. Consider the reason and nature of the contract. Urgency of case. Great reputation of Balaam.
2. Consider the position and reputation of Balaam.
(1) He is called a prophet (2Pe_2:16).
(2) God held communication with him (Num_22:9; Num_22:12; Num_22:20; Num_22:31; Num_23:4-5).
(3) He was also a warrior-chief (Num_31:8).
(4) He was a man of high gifts of intellect and genius, besides having a knowledge of the true God.
3. Consider how Balaam had failed in his contract (Num_23:1-30; Num_24:1-9).
II. Balaams self-justifying answer (Num_24:12-13).
1. Was it true? Yes (Num_22:13-18).
2. If true, why did he leave home? He loved money (2Pe_2:15).
3. If God Commanded him to go (Num_22:20), why was he blamed for going (Num_22:22)?
(1) Gods permission was based upon Barnums strong desire to go. God gave him up to his own lust.
(2) Gods displeasure arose from the fact that Balaam was so determined to go and do that which he was told he must not do. Sinners must not think that their sin is any the less odious because God permits it.
III. Balaams parable (Num_24:14-19).
1. The situation.
(1) Behind him lay the vast expanse of desert extending to his native Assyria.
(2) On his left the red mountains of Edom and Seir.
(3) Immediately below him lay the vast encampment of Israel.
(4) Beyond them, on the west of Jordan, rose the hills of Palestine--the promised land.
2. The parable.
(1) The condition of the prophet when he had the vision (Num_24:16).
(2) The leading subject of the parable--the mighty and glorious King of Israel.
(a) The prophet sees Him in person.
(b) He is able to distinguish His nationality.
(c) He sees Him as a mighty conqueror.
(3) That this refers to Christ is clear to any one who accepts the testimony of Gods Word.
Lessons:
1. God intrusts superior talents to men who may abuse them.
2. One besetting sin may be enough to dim the most splendid abilities and destroy the most brilliant reputation.
3. Balaams failure to curse Israel is a significant type of the fact that he whom God hath blessed can no man curse. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Spake I not also to thy messengers.--
Worldly profit should not withdraw us from Christian duties
Matters of profit must not carry us beyond our calling, we must not pursue them when we have no warrant to desire them. A notable example hereof we have in Gideon, he had a kingdom offered unto him; for the men of Israel said unto him, Reign thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy sons son. He saw no calling from God and therefore refused it, and betook himself to a private life, saying (Jdg_8:22-23). The like we see in our Saviour Christ, He refused to be made a temporal king (Joh_6:15). We see the disciples of Christ left all, and neglected the service of themselves, and the seeking of their own benefit for the service of God (Mat_19:27). Whereby we see that albeit profits be in time and place to be looked after, yet we must all look to have our warrant in seeking for them. The reasons remain to be considered, to enforce this truth, and to gain our affections to the embracing of it.
1. For, first, by too much following the profits of this life, we may lose a greater profit. If we should win the world, and lose our souls; if we should catch the riches of this life, and crack ,the peace of a good conscience, it would prove in the end a small gain unto us.
2. Secondly, the things of this life serve only for a season. The hope that we have is this--we look for a kingdom. We cannot have a heaven in this life, and another in the life to come.
The uses come now to be stood upon.
1. First, we see it is a dangerous bait to be in love with the world.
2. Secondly, we see that our own private respects are not the chief things that we must respect, but seek a sanctified use of the blessings of this life, and a warrant to our consciences for the right using of them. These blessings of God become curses unto us unless we use them lawfully.
3. Lastly, this doctrine serveth to reprove those that esteem earthly things above heavenly, and mind their profits more than their salvation. These invert the course of nature and turn all things upside down, they set the earth above the heavens, and thrust down the heavens beneath the earth. This is like that confusion and disorder which the wise man speaketh of (Ecc_10:6-7). (W. Attersoll.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v10 Num_24:10-25; Num_25:1-18
THE MATTER OF BAAL-PEOR
Num_24:10-25; Num_25:1-18
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THE last oracle of Balaam, as we have it, ventures into far more explicit predictions than the others, and passes beyond the range of Hebrew history. Its chief value for the Israelites lay in what was taken to be a Messianic prophecy contained in it, and various bold denunciations of their enemies. Whether the language can bear the important meanings thus found in it is a matter of considerable doubt. On the whole, it appears best not to make over-much of the prescience of this mashal, especially as we cannot be sure that we have it in the original form. One fact may be given to prove this. In Jer_48:45, an oracle regarding Moab embodies various fragments of the Book of Numbers, and one clause seems to be a quotation from Num_24:17. In Numbers the reading is, "and break down, all the sons of tumult"; in Jeremiah it is, "and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult" The resemblance leaves little doubt of the derivation of the one expression from the other, and at the same time shows diversity in the text.
The earlier deliverances of Balaam had disappointed the king of Moab; the third kindled his anger. It was intolerable that one called to curse his enemies should bless them again and again. Balaam would do well to get him back to his own place. That Jehovah of whom he spake had kept him from honour. If he delayed he might find himself in peril. But the diviner did not retire. The word that had come to him should be spoken. He reminded Balak of the terms on which he had begun his auguries, and, perhaps to embitter Moab against Israel, persisted in advertising Balak "what this people should do to his people in the latter days."
The opening was again a vaunt of his high authority as a seer, one who knew the knowledge of Shaddai. Then, with ambiguous forms of speech covering the indistinctness of his outlook, he spoke of one whom he saw far away, in imagination, not reality, a personage bright and powerful, who should rise star-like out of Jacob, bearing the sceptre of Israel, who should smite through the corners of Moab and break down the sons of tumult. Over Edom and Seir he should triumph, and his dominion should extend to the city which had become the last refuge of a hostile people. Of spiritual power and right there is not a trace in this prediction. It is unquestionably the military vigour of Israel gathered up into the headship of some powerful king Balaam sees on the horizon of his field of view. But he anticipates with no uncertainty that Moab shall be attacked and broken, and that the victorious leader shall even penetrate to the fastnesses of Edom and reduce them. A people like Israel, with so great vitality, would not be content to have jealous enemies upon its very borders, and Balak is urged to regard them with more hatred and fear than he has yet shown.
The view that this prophecy "finds its preliminary fulfilment in David, in whom the kingdom was established, and by whose victories the power of Moab and Edom was broken, but its final and complete fulfilment only in Christ," is supported by the unanimous belief of the Jews, and has been adopted by the Christian Church. Yet it must be allowed that the victories of David did not break the power of Moab and Edom, for these peoples are found again and again, after his time, in hostile attitude to Israel. And it is not to the purpose to say that in Christ the kingdom reaches perfection, that He destroys the enemies of Israel. Nor is there an argument for the Messianic reference worth considering in the fact that the pseudo-Messiah in the reign of Hadrian styled himself Bar-cochba, son of the star. A pretender to Messiah-ship might snatch at any title likely to secure for him popular support; his choice of a name proves only the common belief of the Jews, and that was very ignorant, very far from spiritual. There is indeed more force in the notion that the star by which the wise men of the East were guided to Bethlehem is somehow related to this prophecy. Yet that also is too imaginative. The oracle of Balaam refers to the virility and prospective dominance of Israel, as a nation favoured by the Almighty and destined to be strong in battle. The range of the prediction is not nearly wide enough for any true anticipation of a Messiah gaining universal sway by virtue of redeeming love. It is becoming more and more necessary to set aside those interpretations which identify the Saviour of the world with one who smites and breaks down and destroys, who wields a sceptre after the manner of Oriental despots.
In Balaams vision small nations with which he happens to be acquainted bulk largely-the Kenites, Amalek, Moab, and Edom. To him the Amalekites appear as having once been "the first of the nations." We may explain, as before, that he had been impressed on some occasion by what he had seen of their force and the royal state of their king. The Kenites, dwelling either among the cliffs of Engedi or the mountains of Galilee, were a very small tribe; and the Amalekites, as well as the people of Moab and Edom, were of little account in the development of human history. At the same time the prophecy looks in one direction to a power destined to become very great, when it speaks of the ships of Chittim. The course of empire is seen to be westward. Asshur, or Assyria, and Eber-the whole Abrahamic race, perhaps, including Israel-are threatened by this rising power, the nearest point of which is Cyprus in the Great Sea. Balaam is, we may say, a political prophet: to class him among those who testified of Christ is to exalt far too much his inspiration and read more into his oracles than they naturally contain. There is no deep problem in the narrative regarding him-as, for instance, how a man false at heart could in any sense enter into those gracious purposes of God for the human race which were fulfilled by Christ.
Balaam, we are told, "rose up and returned to his own place"; and from this it would seem that with bitterness in his heart he betook himself to Pethor. If he did so, vainly hoping still that Israel would appeal to him, he soon returned to give Balak and the Midianites advice of the most nefarious kind. We learn from Num_31:16, that through his counsel the Midianite women caused the children of Israel to commit trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor. The statement is a link between chapters 24 and 25. Vainly had Balaam as a diviner matched himself against the God of Israel. Resenting his defeat, he sought and found another way which the customs of his own people in their obscure idolatrous rites too readily suggested. The moral law of Jehovah and the comparative purity of the Israelites as His people kept them separate from the other nations, gave them dignity and vigour. To break down this defence would make them like the rest, would withdraw them from the favour of their God and even defeat His purposes. The scheme was one which only the vilest craft could have conceived; and it shows us too plainly the real character of Balaam. He must have known the power of the allurements which he now advised as the means of attack on those he could not touch with his maledictions nor gain by his soothsaying. In the shadow of this scheme of his we see the diviner and all his tribe, and indeed the whole morality of the region, at their very worst.
The tribes were still in the plain of Jordan; and we may suppose that the victorious troops had returned from the campaign against Bashan, when a band of Midianites, professing the utmost friendliness, gradually introduced themselves into the camp. Then began the temptation to which the Midianitish women, some of them of high rank, willingly devoted themselves. It was to impurity and idolatry, to degradation of manhood in body and soul, to abjuration at once of faith and of all that makes individual and social life. The orgies with which the Midianites were familiar belonged to the dark side of a nature-cultus which carried the distinction between male and female into religious symbolism, and made abject prostration of life before the Divinity a crowning act of worship. Surviving still, the same practices are in India and elsewhere the most dreadful and inveterate barriers which the Gospel and Christian civilisation encounter. The Israelites were assailed unexpectedly, it would appear, and in a time of comparative inaction. Possibly, also, the camp was composed to some extent of men whose families were still in Kadesh waiting the conquest of the land of Canaan to cross the border. But the fact need not be concealed that the polygamy which prevailed among the Hebrews was an element in their danger. That had not been forbidden by the law; it was even countenanced by the example of Moses. The custom, indeed, was one which at the stage of development Israel had reached implied some progress; for there are conditions even worse than polygamy against which it was a protest and safeguard. But like every other custom falling short of the ideal of the family, it was one of great peril; and now disaster came. The Midianites brought their sacrifices and slew them; the festival of Baalpeor was proclaimed. "The people did eat and bowed down to their gods." It was a transgression which demanded swift and terrible judgment. The chief men of the tribes who had joined in the abominable rites were taken and "hanged up before the Lord against the sun"; the "judges of Israel" were commanded to slay "every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor."
The narrative of the "Priests Code," beginning at Num_25:6, and going on to the close of the chapter, adds details of the sin and its punishment. Assuming that the row of stakes with their ghastly burden is in full view, and the dead bodies of those slain by the executioners are lying about the camp, this narrative shows the people gathered at the tent of meeting, many of them in tears. There is a plague, too, which is rapidly spreading and carrying off the transgressors. In the midst of the sorrow and wailing, when the chief men should have been bowed down in repentance, one of the princes of Simeon is seen leading by the hand his Midianitish paramour, herself a chiefs daughter. In the very sight of Moses and the people the guilty persons enter a tent. Then Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, following them, inflicts with a javelin the punishment of death. It is a daring but a true deed; and for it Phinehas and his seed after him are promised the "covenant of peace," even the "covenant of an everlasting priesthood." His swift stroke has vindicated the honour of God, and "made an atonement for the children of Israel." An act like this, when the elemental laws of morality are imperilled and a whole people needs a swift and impressive lesson, is a tribute to God which He will reward and remember. True, one of the priestly house should keep aloof from death. But the emergency demands immediate action, and he who is bold enough to strike at once is the true friend of men and of God.
The question may be put, whether this is not justice of too rude and ready a kind to be praised in the name of religion. To some it may seem that the honour of God could not be served by the deed attributed to Phinehas; that he acted in passion rather than in the calm deliberation without which justice cannot be dealt out by man to man. Would not this excuse the passionate action of a crowd, impatient of the forms of law, that hurries an offender to the nearest tree or lamp-post? And the answer cannot be that Israel was so peculiarly under covenant to God that its necessity would exonerate a deed otherwise illegal. We must face the whole problem alike of personal and of united action for the vindication of righteousness in times of widespread license.
It is not necessary now to slay an offender in order clearly and emphatically to condemn his crime. In that respect modern circumstances differ from those we are discussing. Upon Israel, as it was at the time of this tragedy, no impression could have been made deep and swift enough for the occasion otherwise than by the act of Phinehas. But for an offender of the same rank now, there is a punishment as stern as death, and on the popular mind it produces a far greater effect-publicity, and the reprobation of all who love their fellowmen and God. The act of Phinehas was not assassination; a similar act now would be, and it would have to be dealt with as a crime. The stroke now is inflicted by public accusation, which results in public trial and public condemnation. From the time to which the narrative refers, on to our own day, social conditions have been passing through many phases. Occasionally there have been circumstances in which the swift judgment of righteous indignation was justifiable, though it did seem like assassination. And in no case has such action been more excusable than when the purity of family life has been invaded, while the law of the land would not interfere. We do not greatly wonder that in France the avenging of infidelity is condoned when the sufferer snatches a justice otherwise unattainable. That is not indeed to be praised, but the imperfection of law is a partial apology. The higher the standard of public morality the less needful is this venture on the Divine right to kill. And certainly it is not private revenge that is ever to be sought, but the vindication of the elemental righteousness on which the well-being, of humanity depends. Phinehas had no private revenge to seek. It was the public good.
It is confidently affirmed by Wellhausen that the "Priestly Code" makes the cultus the principal thing, and this, he says, implies retrogression from the earlier idea. The passage we are considering, like many others ascribed to the "Priests Code," makes something else than the cultus the principal thing. We are told that in the teaching of this code "the bond between cultus and sensuality is severed; no danger can arise of an admixture of impure, immoral elements, a danger which was always present in Hebrew antiquity." But here the danger is admitted, the cultus is entirely out of sight, and the sin of sensuality is conspicuous. When Phinehas intervenes, moreover, it is not in harmony with any statute or principle laid down in the "Priests Code"-rather, indeed, against its general spirit, which would prohibit an Aaronite from a deed of blood. According to the whole tenor of the law the priesthood had its duties, carefully prescribed, by doing which faithfulness was to be shown. Here an act of spontaneous zeal, done not "on the positive command of a will outside," but on the impulse arising out of a fresh occasion, receives the approval of Jehovah, and. the "covenant of an everlasting priesthood" is confirmed for the sake of it. Was Phinehas in any sense carrying out statutory instructions for atonement on behalf of Israel when he inflicted the punishment of death on Zimri and his paramour? To identify the "Priestly Code" with "cultus legislation," and that with theocracy, and then declare the cultus to have become a "pedagogic instrument of discipline," "estranged from the heart," is to make large demands on our inattention.
In the closing verses of the chapter another question of a moral nature is involved. It is recorded that after the events we have considered Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, "Vex the Midianites, and smite them; for they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor." Now is it for the sake of themselves and their own safety the Israelites are to smite Midian? Is retaliation commanded? Does God set enmity between the one people and the other, and so doing make confession that Israel has no duty of forgiveness, no mission to convert and save?
There is difficulty in pronouncing judgment as to the point of view taken by the narrator. Some will maintain that the historian here, whoever he was, had no higher conception of the command than that it was one which sanctioned revenge. And there is nothing on the face of the narrative which can be brought forward to disprove the charge. Yet it must be remembered that the history proceeds on the theocratic conception of Israels place and destiny. To the writer Israel is of less account in itself than as a people rescued from Egypt and called to nationality in order to serve Jehovah. The whole tenor of the "Priests Code" narrative, as well as of the other, bears this out. There is no patriotic zeal in the narrow sense, -"My country right or wrong." Scarcely a passage can be pointed to implying such a sentiment, such a drift of thought. The underlying idea in the whole story is the sacredness of morality, not of Israel; and the suppression or extinction of this tribe of Midianites with their obscene idolatry is Gods will, not Israels. Too plain, indeed, is it that the Israelites would have preferred to leave Midian and other tribes of the same low moral best unmolested, free to pursue their own ends.
And Jehovah is not revengeful, but just. The vindication of morality at the time the Book of Numbers deals with, and long afterwards, could only be through the suppression of those who were identified with dangerous forms of vice. The forces at command in Israel were not equal to the task of converting; and what could be achieved was commanded-opposition, enmity; if need were, exterminating war. The better people has a certain spiritual capacity, but not enough to make it fit for what may be called moral missionary work. It would suffer more than it would gain if it entered on any kind of intercourse with Midian with the view of raising the standard of thought and life. All that can be expected meanwhile is that the Israelites shall be at issue with a people so degraded; they are to be against the Midianites, keep them from power in the world, subject them by the sword.
Our judgment, then, is that the narrative sustains a true theocracy in this sense, exhibits Israel as a unique phenomenon in human history, not impossible, -there lies the clear veracity of the Bible accounts, -but playing a part such as the times allowed, such as the world required. From a passage like that now before us, and the sequel, the war with Midian, which some have regarded as a blot on the pages of Scripture, an argument for its inspiration may be drawn. We find here no ethical anachronisms, no impracticable ideas of charity and pardon. There is a sane and strenuous moral aim, not out of keeping with the state of things in the world of that time, yet showing the rule and presenting the will of a God who makes Israel a protesting people. The Hebrews are men, not angels; men of the old world, not Christians-true! Who could have received this history if it had represented them as Christians, and shown us God giving them commands fit for the Church of today? They are called to a higher morality than that of Egypt, for theirs is to be spiritual; higher than that of Chaldea or of Canaan, for Chaldea is shrouded in superstition, Canaan in obscene idolatry. They can do something; and what they can do Jehovah commands them to do. And He is not an imperfect God because His prophet does not give from the first a perfect Christian law, a redeeming gospel. He is the "I Am." Let the whole course of Old Testament development be traced, and the sanity and coherency of the theocratic idea as it is presented in law and prophecy, psalm and parable, cannot fail to convince any just and frank inquirer.
The end of Balaams life may be glanced at before the pages close that refer to his career. In Num_31:8, it is stated that in the battle which went against the Midianites Balaam was slain. We do not know whether he was so maddened by his disappointment as to take the sword against Jehovah and Israel, or whether he only joined the army of Midian in his capacity of augur. F. W. Robertson imagines "the insane frenzy with which he would rush into the field, and finding all go against him, and that lost for which he had bartered heaven, after having died a thousand worse than deaths, find death at last upon the spears of the Israelites." It is of course possible to imagine that he became the victim of his own insane passion. But Balaam never had a profound nature, was never more than within sight of the spiritual world. He appears as the calculating, ambitious man, who would reckon his chances to the last, and with coolness, and what he believed to be sagacity, decide on the next thing to attempt. But his penetration failed him, as at a certain point it fails all men of his kind. He ventured too far, and could not draw back to safety.
The death he died was almost too honourable for this false prophet, unless, indeed, he fell fleeing like a coward from the battle. One who had recognised the power of a higher faith than his country professed, and saw a nation on the way to the vigour that faith inspired, who in personal spleen and envy set in operation a scheme of the very worst sort to ruin Israel, was not an enemy worth the edge of the sword. Let us suppose that a Hebrew soldier found him in flight, and with a passing stroke brought him to the ground. There is no tragedy in such a death; it is too ignominious. Whatever Balaam was in his boyhood, whatever he might have been when the cry escaped him, "Let me die the death of the righteous," selfish craft had brought him below the level of the manhood of the time. Balak with his pathetic faith in cursing and incantation now seems a prince beside the augur. For Balaam, though he knew Jehovah after a manner, had no religion, had only the envy of the religion of others. He came on the stage with an air that almost deceived Balak and has deceived many. He leaves it without one to lament him. Or shall we rather suppose that even for him, in Pethor beyond the Euphrates, a wife or child waited and prayed to Sutekh and, when the tidings of his death were brought, fell into inconsolable weeping? Over the worst they think and do men draw the veil to hide it from some eyes. And Balaam, a poor, mean tool of the basest cravings, may have had one to believe in him, one to love him. He reminds us of Absalom in his character and actions-Absalom, a man void of religion and morals; and for him the father he had dethroned and dishonoured wept bitterly in the chamber over the gate of Mahanaim, "My son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" So may some woman in Pethor have wailed for Balaam fallen under the spear of a Hebrew warrior.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 12 Balak's anger was kindled
Balak's anger was kindled
The increase in Balak's anger is spoken of as if it was a fire starting to burn. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Balak became very angry" (See: Idiom and Active or Passive)
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struck his hands together in anger
This was a sign of great frustration and anger. (See: Symbolic Action)
translationWords
Balaam
anger
call
adversary
Yahweh
reward
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v10 24:10 Balak clapped his hands in reproach (cp. Job…
24:10 Balak clapped his hands in reproach (cp. Job 27:23; Lam 2:15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.