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Numbers Chapter
Twenty-four
Numbers 24
Chapter Contents
Balaam, leaving divinations, prophesies the happiness of
Israel. (1-9) Balak dismisses Balaam in anger. (10-14) Balaam's prophecies.
(15-25)
Commentary on Numbers 24:1-9
Now Balaam spake not his own sense, but the language of
the Spirit that came upon him. Many have their eyes open who have not their
hearts open; are enlightened, but not sanctified. That knowledge which puffs
men up with pride, will but serve to light them to hell, whither many go with
their eyes open. The blessing is nearly the same as those given before. He
admires in Israel, their beauty. The righteous, doubtless, is more excellent
than his neighbour. Their fruitfulness and increase. Their honour and
advancement. Their power and victory. He looks back upon what had been done for
them. Their power and victory. He looks back upon what had been done for them.
Their courage and security. The righteous are bold as a lion, not when
assaulting others, but when at rest, because God maketh them to dwell in
safety. Their influence upon their neighbours. God takes what is done to them,
whether good or evil, as done to himself.
Commentary on Numbers 24:10-14
This vain attempt to curse Israel is ended. Balak broke
out into a rage against Balaam, and expressed great vexation. Balaam has a very
full excuse; God restrained him from saying what he would have said, and
constrained him to say what he would not have uttered.
Commentary on Numbers 24:15-25
Under the powerful influence of the Spirit of prophecy,
Balaam foretold the future prosperity and extensive dominion of Israel. Balaam
boasts that his eyes are open. The prophets were in old times called seers. He
had heard the words of God, which many do who neither heed them, nor hear God
in them. He knew the knowledge of the Most High. A man may be full of the
knowledge of God, yet utterly destitute of the grace of God. He calls God the
Most High and the Almighty. No man could seem to express a greater respect to
God; yet he had no true fear of him, love to him, nor faith in him; so far a
man may go toward heaven, and yet come short of it at last. Here is Balaam's
prophecy concerning Him who should be the crown and glory of his people Israel;
who is David in the type; but our Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah, is chiefly
pointed at, and of him it is an illustrious prophecy. Balaam, a wicked man,
shall see Christ, but shall not see him nigh; not see him as Job, who saw him
as his Redeemer, and saw him for himself. When he comes in the clouds, every
eye shall see him; but many will see him, as the rich man in hell saw Abraham,
afar off. He shall come out of Jacob, and Israel, as a Star and a Sceptre; the
former denoting his glory and lustre; the latter his power and authority.
Christ shall be King, not only of Jacob and Israel, but of all the world; so
that all shall be either governed by his golden sceptre, or dashed in pieces by
his iron rod. Balaam prophesied concerning the Amalekites and Kenites, part of
whose country he had now in view. Even a nest in a rock will not be a lasting
security. Here is a prophecy that looks as far forward as to the Greeks and
Romans. He acknowledges all the revolutions of states and kingdoms to be the
Lord's doing. These events will make such desolations, that scarcely any will
escape. They that live then, will be as brands plucked out of the fire. May God
fit us for the worst of times! Thus Balaam, instead of cursing the church,
curses Amalek the first, and Rome the last enemy of the church. Not Rome pagan
only, but Rome papal also; antichrist and all the antichristian powers. Let us
ask ourselves, Do we in knowledge, experience, or profession, excel Balaam? No
readiness of speech, even in preaching or prayer, no gifts of knowledge or
prophecy, are in themselves different from, or superior to the boasted gifts of
him who loved the wages of unrighteousness, and died the enemy of God. Simple
dependence on the Redeemer's atoning blood and sanctifying grace, cheerful
submission to the Divine will, constant endeavours to glorify God and benefit
his people, these are less splendid, but far more excellent gifts, and always
accompany salvation. No boasting hypocrite ever possessed these; yet the
feeblest believer has something of them, and is daily praying for more of them.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on
Numbers》
Numbers 24
Verse 1
[1] And
when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at
other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the
wilderness.
At other times — In
former times.
Toward the wilderness — Where Israel lay encamped, expecting what God of his own accord would
suggest to him concerning this matter.
Verse 2
[2] And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents
according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him.
Came upon him —
Inspired him to speak the following words.
Verse 3
[3] And
he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man
whose eyes are open hath said:
Whose eyes are open —
Heb. Who had his eyes shut, but now open. The eyes of his mind, which God had
opened in a peculiar and prophetical manner, whence prophets are called Seers, 1 Samuel 9:9. It implies that before he was
blind and stupid, having eyes, but not seeing nor understanding.
Verse 4
[4] He
hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty,
falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
The vision — So
called properly, because he was awake when this was revealed to him: A trance -
Or, extasy, fainting and falling upon the ground, as the prophets used to do.
Verse 6
[6] As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as
the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside
the waters.
As the valleys —
Which often from a small beginning are spread forth far and wide.
As gardens —
Pleasant and fruitful and secured by a fence.
As lign-aloes — An
Arabian and Indian tree of a sweet smell, yielding shade and shelter both to
man and beast; such is Israel, not only safe themselves, but yielding shelter
to all that join themselves to them.
Which the Lord hath planted — Nature, not art.
Verse 7
[7] He
shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters,
and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
He shall pour the water — That is. God will abundantly water the valleys, gardens, and trees,
which represent the Israelites; he will wonderfully bless his people, not only
with outward blessings, of which a chief one in those parts was plenty of
water, but also with higher gifts and graces, with his word and spirit, which
are often signified by water, and at last with eternal life, the contemplation
whereof made Balaam desire to die the death of the righteous.
His seed shall be in many waters — This also may be literally understood of their seed, which shall be sown
in waterish ground, and therefore bring forth a better increase.
His King —
That is, the King of Israel, or their chief governor.
Than Agag —
Than the King of the Amalekites, which King and people were famous and potent
in that age, as may be guessed by their bold attempt upon so numerous a people
as Israel. And it is probable, that Agag was the common name of the Amalekitish
Kings, as Abimelech was of the Philistines, and Pharaoh of the Egyptians, and
Caesar of the Romans.
Verse 9
[9] He
couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up?
Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
He lay down —
Having conquered his enemies the Canaanites, and their land, he shall quietly
rest and settle himself there.
Verse 11
[11]
Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour;
but, lo, the LORD hath kept thee back from honour.
The Lord —
Whose commands thou hast preferred before my desires and interest; and
therefore seek thy recompence from him, and not from me.
Verse 17
[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, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
I shall see him —
Or, I have seen, or do see the star, and sceptre as it here follows, that is, a
great and eminent prince, which was to come out of Israel's loins, the Messiah,
as both Jewish and Christian interpreters expound it, who most eminently and
fully performed what is here said, in destroying the enemies of Israel or of
God's church, here described under the names of the nearest and fiercest
enemies of Israel: And to him alone agrees the foregoing verb properly, I shall
see him, in my own person, as every eye shall see him, when he comes to
judgment.
Not now —
Not yet, but after many ages.
A star — A
title often given to, princes and eminent persons, and particularly to the
Messiah, Revelation 2:28; 22:16.
A sceptre —
That is, a sceptre-bearer, a king or ruler, even that sceptre mentioned Genesis 49:10.
The corners —
The borders, which are often used in scripture for the whole country to which
they belong.
Of Sheth —
This seems to be the name of some then eminent, though now unknown place or
prince in Moab; there being innumerable instances of such places or persons
sometime famous, but now utterly lost as to all monuments and remembrances of
them.
Verse 18
[18] And
Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies;
and Israel shall do valiantly.
A possession —
Which was also foretold, Genesis 25:23, and in part fulfilled, 2 Samuel 8:14; 1 Chronicles 18:13, but more fully by Christ, Amos 9:12; Obadiah 1:18, who shall subdue and possess all
his enemies; here signified by the name of Edom, as Jacob or Israel, his
brother, signifies all his church and people.
Seir — A
part and, mountain of Edom.
Verse 19
[19] Out
of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that
remaineth of the city.
Out of Jacob —
Out of Jacob's loins.
He that shall have dominion — David, and especially Christ.
Of the city — Or
from or out of this city, that is, the cities, the singular number for the
plural. He shall not subdue those Moabites and Edomites which meet him in the
field, but he shall pursue them even to their strongest holds and cities.
Verse 20
[20] And
when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the
first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.
He looked on Amalek —
From the top of Pisgah, which was exceeding high, and gave him the prospect of
part of all these kingdoms.
The first —
Heb. the firstfruits; so called either, because they were the first of all the
neighbouring nations which were embodied together in one government: or,
because he was the first who fought against Israel and was vanquished by them.
That victory was an earnest and first-fruit of the large harvest of victories
which the Israelites should in due time get over all their enemies.
He shall perish for ever — He began with God and with Israel, but God will end with him, and the
firm purpose of God is, that he shall be utterly destroyed; so that Saul lost
his kingdom for not executing this decree, and God's command pursuant
thereunto.
Verse 21
[21] And
he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy
dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
The Kenites —
The posterity or kindred of Jethro; not that part of them which dwelt among the
Israelites, to whom the following words do not agree, but those of them who
were mingled with the Amalekites and Midianites.
Thy nest —
Thy dwelling-place, so called, either because it was in an high place, as nests
commonly are: or in allusion to their name, for ken in Hebrew signifies a nest.
Verse 22
[22] Nevertheless
the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
The Kenite —
Heb. Kain, that is, the Kenite, so called, either by a transposition of
letters, which is very usual in the Hebrew tongue; or from the name of some
eminent place where they lived, or person from whom they were descended, though
now the memory of them be utterly lost, as it hath fared with innumerable other
places and persons, famous in their generations, mentioned in ancient Heathen
writers.
Shall be wasted — Shall
be by degrees diminished by the incursions of divers enemies, till at last the
Assyrian comes to compleat the work and carries them into captivity. For the
Kenites who lived partly among the ten tribes, and partly with the two tribes,
were carried captive with them, part by Salmaneser, the King of Assyria, and
part by Nebuchadnezzar, who also is called an Assyrian, Ezra 6:22; Isaiah 52:4.
Verse 23
[23] And
he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!
Who shall live —
How calamitous and miserable will the state of the world be, when the Assyrian,
and after him the Chaldean, shall over-turn all these parts of the world? Who
will be able to keep his heart from fainting under such grievous pressures?
Nay, how few will escape the destroying sword?
Verse 24
[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.
Chittim — A
place or people so called from Chittim the son of Javan, Genesis 10:4, whose posterity were very
numerous, and were first seated in the lesser Asia, and from thence sent forth
colonies into the islands of the Aegean sea, and into Cyprus, afterwards into
Macedonia and other parts of Greece, and then into Italy. Whence it comes to
pass that by this name is understood sometimes Macedonia, as 1Mac. i. 1, and
1Mac. viii. 5, sometimes Italy, as Daniel 11:29,30, and sometimes both, as in this
place: for he speaks here of the scourge that God hath appointed for the Assyrian
after he had done God's work in punishing of his people and the bordering
nations. Now although the Assyrian and Chaldean empire was subdued by the Medes
and Persians, yet the chief afflictions of that people came from two hands,
both beyond the sea and brought to them by ships; first from the Grecians under
Alexander and his successors, by whom that people were grievously oppressed and
wasted; then from the Romans, who subdued all the Grecian empire, one great
part whereof were the Assyrians largely so called.
Eber —
The posterity of Eber, the Hebrews, who were the chief and flower of Eber's
children.
He also —
Not the Hebrews: they shall have a better end; all Israel shall be saved; but
the afflicter or scourge of Ashur and Eber, namely, the Grecian and Roman
empire. Thus Balaam, instead of cursing the church, curses Amalek, the first,
and Rome, the last enemy of it!
Verse 25
[25] And
Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his
way.
To his place — To
Mesopotamia; tho' afterwards he returned to the Midianites, and gave them that
devilish counsel which was put in practice, Numbers 25:16-18.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Numbers》
PEOPLE OF GOD.
Balaam’s words
about God’s people ( Numbers 24:5-9,17-19; Deut.33:29), illustrate what God
does for them.
Ⅰ. God’s people are a goodly people (verse 5). Goodly because
partakers of the goodness of God. The valleys, with their fruitfulness and
flowers, are an illustration of the goodly fruits and fragrance that are
produced in the lives of those who are possessed by, and are under the power of
Him.
Ⅱ. God’s people are a supplied people (verse 7). Water poured out of
buckets is but a simile of His continual supply and His all-sufficient grace to
meet our every need.
Ⅲ. God’s people are an exalted people. “ His people shall be higher
than Agag” (verse 7). Our King is Christ; He is exalted to the right hand of
God (Phil.2:9), and we are exalted with Him (Ephesians 2:6).
Ⅳ. God’s people are a delivered people. We are delivered from the
wrath to come (1.Thess.1:10); from the second death (2.Cor.1:10); from our
enemies (Luke 1:74); and from this present evil world (Galatians 1:4).
Ⅴ. God’s people are an honored people (verse 17-19).
Ⅵ. God’s people are a happy people (Deut.33:29). Happy because their
sins are forgiven (Psalm 32:1,2); because chosen by Him (Psalm.34:8). Because
occupied with Him (Psalm 40:4); because ministering to others for Him (Psalm
41:1); because abiding in him (Psalm 65:4; 84:4); because strengthened by Him
(Psalm 84:5). The word “blessed” in the Psalms is the same word that is
rendered “ happy” in Deuteronomy 33:29).
Ⅶ. God’s people are a saved people. Saved by the death of Christ as to
the means of salvation (John 10:9-11); saved by the Holy Spirit as to the
effectual cause of salvation (Titus 3:5); saved by the Holy Spirit as to the
effectual cause of salvation (Luke 7:50); saved by the Gospel as to the
knowledge of salvation (1.Cor.15:2); saved by the risen living Christ as to
being kept from sinning (Rom.5:10); and saved by hope as to the completeness of
our salvation (Rom.8:24).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
24 Chapter 24
Verses 1-9
He set his face toward the wilderness.
The face set toward the wilderness
Evidently there is a change at this point in Balaam’s method.
Hitherto he has played the soothsayer. At last he confesses himself vanquished,
and instead of renewing the practices of his magic science, awaits, with eye
fixed upon the waste distant desert, a revelation different in kind from any
that have gone before it. It was a turning-point in his strange history. Not
the first, nor the greatest, yet real, and, would he have had it so, saving. He
has learned the helplessness of man striving with his Maker. He has learned the
futility of approaching the God of truth with a lie in the right hand. He has
learned that to “set the face toward the wilderness” is the one hope and wisdom
of inquiring man; to look away from enchantments; to look away from courts and
crowds, from pleasures and businesses; to look away from types and forms, and
to fix the earnest gaze upon that solitude of earth and heaven which is the
presence of the soul in the presence of God. The crisis was lost, we know, upon
Balaam. The dreams of avarice and of worldliness prevailed in him, even over
the open vision. We cannot alter his destiny; let us learn something from this
incident.
1. There is in all of us a strange reluctance to the thing here
described--this setting of the face toward the wilderness where God is alone. I
might say many things to you of the ministerial man--the man, I mean, whose
office it is to communicate with God for the edification of His people. How
often, when this ministry, the Church’s prophesying, is to be, exercised, does
the indolent, the half-hearted, the perfunctory minister run to his
“enchantments”; to his books and to his manuscripts, to his commentaries; to
the old “bakemeats,” his own or another’s, which have done duty before, and can
be made “coldly to furnish forth” another “table”! How often--to change the
illustration--does the abler, the more ingenious, the more eloquent minister
betake himself to his task of preparation for preaching by a mustering of his
own gifts of argument, of rhetoric, of pathos and persuasiveness, as the
enchantments by which he is to bring God into these hearts I How often does a
man--to use the prophet’s strange but expressive metaphor--“sacrifice to his
net, and burn incense to his drag”; pay the homage of a gratified vanity to his
own performance, count instead of weighing his hearers, and set down all to his
own credit in prophesying, of which he should rather say to himself in deepest
self-humiliation, “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?”
2. Yet think not that the Balaams of this age are all prophets, or
that the warning is only for the professional teacher. I seem to see a place
for it in these lives which minister and people live in common. How often, in
the anxious questionings which life brings to all of us--at those dubious
turnings which compel decision, and cannot be decided upon twice over--is the
temptation powerfully present to seek for some “enchantment” of discrimination
between the wrong for us and the right! Who has not made advice such an “enchantment”?
“In the multitude of counsellors there is safety”; but then the counsellors
must be well chosen, must be honestly sought, must be diligently informed, must
be faithfully followed.
3. I would add a word upon the application of the text not to the life,
but to the soul. Side by side with a bold scepticism which simply passes by the
gospel on the other side there is also an anxiety, a curiosity, to hear, which
secures an audience wheresoever there is a preacher, which stimulates all
manner of agencies for bringing home the gospel. In the same degree the warning
is more urgent, that we confound not, in these highest matters, the
“enchantments” and the “wilderness.” Who feels not in himself the easiness of
listening and the difficulty of praying? Who is not conscious of the temptation
to compound for inward torpor by outward bustle, and to make a multiplication
of services and communions an apology for neglect and shameful sloth in the
nearer and more intimate converse between the soul and its God? (Dean Vaughan.)
Balaam . . . the man whose
eyes are open.
Balaam--the open eye
An open eye is a rare thing even in the matters of common
experience. They are the few who can see clearly the things which God has set round
them in their daily paths. Men of science tell us that it is difficult to meet
with a competent observer of even the simplest and most familiar phenomena.
Lawyers complain that a good witness, who can tell what he knows, and only what
he knows, is as rare. It is supposed by experienced persons that a fact is just
the most difficult thing in the world to get at, so few walk with their eyes
open and care to make themselves simply conductors of truth. We see things
through mists which take the colours of prejudice or passion, and it is but a
vague outline of them which meets our sight. “Lord, that our eyes may be
opened,” is a prayer full of meaning for all of us as we move amidst the
realities of our daily lives. In the higher sphere of the being the open eye is
rarer still. The realities in that region are solemn things to look upon. There
is something awful in their grandeur, and even in their beauty. A man needs
courage and faith to face them as they are.
I. Balaam was a
man whose eye was open in his day. He was a man of splendid natural genius. We puzzle
over the definition of genius; but perhaps it is only the open eye, the power
to see things simply as they are. In every sphere of man’s intellectual
activity the man of
genius is the seer.
II. Balaam’s is at
the same time a character of singular perplexity. He had both the open eye and
the itching palm. And this condition is far from rare. Splendid endowments are
often mated with moral narrowness or feebleness. With many of these men of
insight, men with the seer’s power, there is a flaw in the thoroughness
somewhere. But then these men, when their genius possesses them, rise above the
sphere of their humiliation; the temptations which ensnare them snap like the
withes of Samson; they see clearly, and declare with the freedom and the force of
prophets the things which have been shown to them by the Lord. Lord Bacon may
have been capable of very poor ambitions, very grovelling thoughts and actions;
but when his genius possessed him, when he loosed his splendid faculty in the
quest of truth, the simplest fact became sacred to him; he would not have dared
to misrepresent or to tamper with what he saw for worlds. It was thus with
Balaam. On the lower level of his life he was grovelling; but when God took
possession of his genius he yielded it readily, and then he was true as steel to the vision.
III. The man whose
eyes were open saw some things with startling clearness. Some words of his ring
out like trumpet notes through the field of life’s battle; they are conceived
with a vividness and expressed with a force which makes them prophetic for all
ages; we hear from his lips the words of God.
1. The only word which a man can say with power is truth. The word
that God also saith, that shall stand (Numbers 22:38). The counsellor who knows
the Divine plan is the man who has power. The position of the Jews among the
nations, and the influence which they wielded, which is popularly much
under-estimated, rested wholly on the fact that they knew as no other nation
knew the Divine counsels, they held the key to the mystery of all these worlds.
Balaam saw that the trickster and liar is impotent. Laocoon, locked in the
serpent wreaths, wrestling madly, but with the death agony in his face, is not more
powerless than the monger of falsehood to escape his doom. The gain is there,
it is always there; you can have it if you like by cheating and lying. Balaam
saw it, and there was that within him which longed for it. But his eye was
open; he dared not touch it. He saw the pure folly as well as the shame of
dreaming of it, of thinking that anything but truth, right, and the blessing of
God can stand a man in any stead in life, in death, and in the great court of
Heaven.
2. He saw with that open eye that the man who stands with God stands
absolutely beyond the reach of harm (Numbers 23:23).
3. There was a third thing that Balaam saw. The man whom God blesses
is blessed; the man whom God curses is cursed, absolutely and for ever. (J.
B. Brown, B. A.)
How goodly are thy tents,
O Jacob.--
The prosperity of the Church
With great admiration he beginneth to declare the future
prosperity of that people, and doth it by six similitudes.
1. As the valleys are they stretched forth, or as the rivers say
some, which coming from one head spread themselves into great broad waters, so
this people having sprung from Jacob, one patriarch, hath spread into this
multitude, and yet further shall spread into many more.
2. “As gardens by the river’s side.” Such gardens are watered so by
the rivers as if the heat be never so great, yet they are not burned up. So
shall this people in all adversities and dangers be preserved by the power and blessing of God till
the coming of the Messiah, and overcome by no assaults of Satan and his
instruments.
3. “As the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted.”
4. “As the cedar trees beside the waters,” which, growing to a great
height, notably show how this people with their offspring should wonderfully
grow with their virtue and famous acts, getting a great name in the world.
5. “The water droppeth out of his bucket”; that is, as such water
floweth abroad, so shall this people abound with the water of heavenly doctrine
and wisdom, and from them be spread to other nations plentifully, according to
that “Out of Sion shall a law go, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
6. “His seed shall be in many waters.” As seed that is cast into a
field well watered soon springeth and beareth fruit, so this people. These are
the prophetical resemblances of this people Israel, which do still declare unto
us the flourishing and happy state of God’s Church, whatsoever worldly men
conceive and think. The Church is the tabernacle of God, wherein He dwelleth,
and familiarly with His chosen as with His domestics and household servants
converseth, providing things necessary both for this life and that to come. The
Church is that little river which spreadeth itself far and wide throughout the
world. The Church is that well-watered garden, set with sweet trees casting
forth the fragrant smell of life, of the knowledge of God and of virtue,
whereof Solomon in his Canticles: “My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed,
as a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed up.” The Church is that shadow that
yieldeth comfortable cooling, in the sense and feeling of God’s wrath to sin.
It is that cedar planted by the water-side, and growing so high, whereof the
prophet in the Psalm: “The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree, and grow
like a cedar in Lebanon. Such as be planted in the house of the Lord shall
flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in their
age; they shall be fat and flourishing,” &c. The Church is that bucket, containing
doctrine of life, and dropping it out to the comfort of souls. Finally, that
seed shall live again in the life to come, and for ever spring and flourish. (Bp.
Babington.)
Balaam’s third parable: the glory of the people of God
I. The preparation
of the prophet to declare the Divine will.
1. Balaam renounces the search for auguries.
2. He beholds the encampment of Israel.
3. He is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
4. He hears Divine words and sees Divine visions.
II. The declaration
by the prophet of Israel’s glory.
1. Their beautiful appearance.
(a) Of order.
(b) Of culture and fertility.
2. Their prosperous condition.
3. Their exalted position.
4. Their conquering power.
Balaam’s third parable
Seen from the top of the rocks, everything about Israel is perfection.
Had we been down in the valley, and looked into them from an earthly
standpoint, we should have seen deformity enough. But from God’s presence
everything is changed. But mark the figures under which this beauty is
described. “As valleys are they spread forth.” These are the valleys watered by
the river; these are the people of God, made beautiful by the refreshing
streams of living water which flow down from the throne of God. Not yet are
they as watered “valleys,” but as “gardens by the river’s side.” This is a
richer description still. They are the garden of the Lord. They are the plants
planted by the Father. They have been taken out of the world--transplanted--and
are now to “bring forth much fruit.” The streams from “the river of God” find their
way to the roots of their spiritual life; and thus they become fruitful. Jesus
is the source of their life and their fruitfulness. And in all this we see
growth--“as the valleys are they spread forth; as gardens by the river’s side.”
The entire figure implies sanctification--growth in grace. There will always be
three kinds of growth where the soul is really abiding in Jesus. There will be
the outward growth as the “lily”--the life before men; the hidden growth as the
“roots” of Lebanon--the life before God; and the relation toward men as the
“branches spreading,” the influence which they cast around. But the figure
grows in richness: “as trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted.” The
aloe tree was highly valued on account of its fragrance, and it was the tree
from which the incense was prepared. Thus the believer abiding in Jesus is a “
sweet savour” of Christ. The fragrance of that blessed One is diffused far and
wide through him. He is beautiful with the beauty which the Lord puts upon him.
His “scent is as the wine of Lebanon.” And to what cause is all this fragrance
due? To the “Lord’s planting.” There is one more step in advance in the
spiritual life in this verse: “as cedar trees beside the waters.” As the “lily”
and “trees of Lebanon” in the passage, in Hosea, so here. The growth of the
believer is brought before us under the loftiness of the cedar tree, its
luxuriance, and the durability of its wood. Now, having noticed what the people
of God are as seen in Jesus, let us mark their testimony. “He shall pour the
water out of his buckets.” The people of God are personified, as a man carrying
two pails overflowing with water. A bucket or vessel is empty. It can give
nothing. It can only receive. The “buckets” are the “empty vessels” to be filled
with “living water” by the Holy Ghost. Like the two pails on a man’s shoulder
which are filled to the brim, he cannot move a step without the water
overflowing. So with the believer abiding in Jesus. He is the empty vessel
filled by the Holy Ghost. He cannot move a step without making that influence
felt. There will be a trail of living water in his path--a track of light in
every step of the way. And oh, what empty places there are within us and around
us! Within us--desires, affections, longings, hopes, aims, plans; without
us--home, duties, efforts, a weeping Church, and a dying world. Oh, that these
“buckets” were filled with the “living water”! Then would gladness be written
as with a sunbeam on every brow, and sunshine light up every heart. “His seed shall
be in many waters.” This is the effect of the outpoured water from the buckets
of the believer’s soul. He is made a blessing on every side. “His king shall be
higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.” Christ the King of the
Jews is to be “higher” than all the kings of this world; and Christ’s kingdom
“exalted” above all other kingdoms. All this glory is then traced to the first
great act of redemption “God brought him forth out of Egypt.” Thus deliverance
from Egypt and future glory are linked together. “He hath as it were the
strength of the buffalo.” Here is the power of God abiding with, and resting
upon, those whom He has redeemed. Then follows, in connection with their
redemption from Egypt, that final triumph and glory. “He shall eat up the
nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with
his arrows.” This is the foretold destruction mentioned in the New Testament,
which awaits all the enemies of the Lord at His coming. But in the meantime the
attitude of the Church of Christ is one of expectation. Her attitude is not one
of judgment yet, but one of grace. This is strikingly brought before us in the
next clause; “he couched, he lay down as a lion.” The “couching” of the lion is
always the attitude of expectation--looking forward to the moment when he shall
spring upon his prey. “Lying down” indicates rest. The believer now rests in
Jesus, and awaits His return. In the meantime blessing is his portion--“blessed
is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.” And we notice
how the blessing culminates here. The first was, “How shall I curse, or how
shall I defy?” After it was, “He hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.”
Lastly, it is “Blessed is he that blesseth thee.” This last form in which Balaam
expresses himself shows us God’s estimate of His people Israel. “He that
toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye.” (F. Whitfield, M. A.)
Sermon at reopening of a church
I. Let us attempt
to justify and elucidate this sacred exclamation. The language is proper.
1. On account of the author of their construction.
2. The beneficial effect of their institution.
3. The pleasantness of their unity.
4. The joys of their fellowships.
5. Their perpetuity, and the certainty of their increase.
II. What ought to
be the effects produced upon us by such a survey of the assemblies of the
people of God. We should--
1. Cherish a spirit of gratitude for the establishment and increase
of these tents of God.
2. Shun all that would impair, and diligently maintain all that would
secure the blessing.
3. Endeavour to increase the number of those who frequent the
tabernacles, and dwell in the tents of Jacob. Imitate the tribes when
ambulating in the wilderness. Remember that you are surrounded by those who
have no hope. Tell them plainly that you are pilgrims and strangers. Inform
them of the privileges you enjoy by the way; of the manna which drops by your
door; of the streams which flow from the rock Christ; of the light which guides
your feet; of the cloud which screens you from temptation; of the victories you
obtain over your foes; of the prospect you have of passing through Jordan
safely; and of the rich land of promise which you are shortly about to enter.
Press on them not to linger.
4. Anticipate the time when your tents will be struck, and all the
ransomed tribes assemble in the tabernacle above. These tents of the Israelites
were valuable as they
traversed the sands of Arabia; but they left them when they entered on the rest
which their prophets had predicted, and their poets sung. And what are our temples?
They are only preparatory for the enjoyments of the Canaan above. May it be your privilege to
join the tribes of the redeemed as they go up to Zion with everlasting joy upon their heads!
(J. Clayton, M. A.)
Verse 9
Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth
thee.
God will be merciful to such as be merciful to the Church
God will bless those that do good to His people, they shall not
lose their labour that favour the Church, but such as are enemies unto them
shall find God an enemy unto them. We see how God blessed the house of Laban
for Jacob’s sake (Genesis 30:27); and the house of Potiphar
for Joseph’s sake (Genesis 39:3). Rahab, the harlot,
receiving the spies and
preferring their life before her own life, was herself saved from the common
destruction. The widow of Sarepta giving hospitality to Elijah, and offering
him part of that poor pittance which was left her and her son in those days of
drought, was with all her family miraculously sustained in the famine,
continuing three years and six months (1 Kings 17:10). The Shunamite
receiving the prophet Elisha, making him a chamber, providing all necessaries
for him. She showed some mercy, but received more mercy; she ministered comfort
to the prophet, but herself received more comfort.
1. First, God will honour all those that honour Him, He will despise
all those that despise Him. This is the gracious promise that is gone out of
His own mouth, which He cannot but verify, for He is not as man that He should
lie; He is not as the son of man that He should deceive. This is it which the
Lord spake by the mouth and ministry of Samuel concerning Eli and his house (1 Samuel 2:30). And, therefore, they
shall prosper that love the Church (Psalms 122:1-9).
2. Secondly, God hath appointed it to be the end of our obedience;
our mercy to others shall procure mercy upon ourselves. This the apostle
setteth down (Romans 2:10).
3. Thirdly, mercy, a notable fruit of love received, kindleth the
hearts, and inflameth the affections of God’s people, both to praise God for
them, and to pray unto God for them that have been helpful and serviceable to
the Church.
The uses follow--
1. First, from hence we have the confirmation of another holy truth
in our Christian religion, that merciful, liberal, and kind men, shall be
surely blessed.
2. Secondly, it is our duty to love God’s people, seeing such as
favour them do fare the better for them.
3. Thirdly, hereby we are warned to exhort one another to this duty,
and by all means to provoke one another to mercy, in regard of the great
recompense of reward that is laid up for merciful men.
4. Lastly, this doctrine is both a great encouragement unto us in
well doing and a great comfort in all adversities. (W. Attersoll.)
Verses 10-19
Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam.
Balaam and Balak
I. The cause of
Balak’s anger. That Balaam had not fulfilled the terms of his contract (Numbers 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.
3. Consider how Balaam had failed in his contract (Numbers 23:1-30; Numbers 24:1-9).
II. Balaam’s
self-justifying answer (Numbers 24:12-13).
1. Was it true? Yes (Numbers 22:13-18).
2. If true, why did he leave home? He loved money (2 Peter 2:15).
3. If God Commanded him to go (Numbers 22:20), why was he blamed for
going (Numbers 22:22)?
III. Balaam’s
parable (Numbers 24:14-19).
1. The situation.
2. The parable.
(a) The prophet sees Him in person.
(b) He is able to distinguish His nationality.
(c) He sees Him as a mighty conqueror.
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. Balaam’s 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 son’s
son.” He saw no calling from God and therefore refused it, and betook himself
to a private life, saying (Judges 8:22-23). The like we see in our
Saviour Christ, He refused to be made a temporal king (John 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 (Matthew 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 (Ecclesiastes 10:6-7). (W. Attersoll.)
Verses 17-19
I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh.
Balaam’s vision
As I read these words I seem to look on the scene described. What
do I see? I see the top of a wild mountain range, and I see altars smoking with
sacrifices. Hard by stands Balak, with many slaves bearing costly gifts, gold,
and precious stones, and spices, and garments. A little apart is Balaam, that
“strange mixture of a man.” And now, as he gazes from the high places of Baal,
and the altars of idolatry, he sees far below Israel abiding in their tents.
There are the banners of the different tribes waving in the wind; the eyes of
Balaam are opened, and he recalls the past of Israel’s history, and he foresees
the future. And now, as we turn aside from this unwilling prophet who utters a
blessing, in every word of which there was breathed a curse, what lessons are
there for us of to-day.
1. First, we learn the awful danger of trifling with conscience, the
whisper of the Holy Spirit within us. Balaam knew what was right, yet desired
to do wrong.
2. We learn, too, the sin of trying to make a bargain, or compromise,
with God. Hundreds of people are trying to do this, endeavouring to serve God a
little, and the world a good deal. They profess to obey God, but only in the
matters which they choose.
3. We learn, also, from the story of Balaam’s sin, never to neglect a
plain duty for the sake of earthly gain. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)
Two ways of seeing Christ
Commentators have differed as to the way of explaining the pronoun
“him,” some referring it to Israel. We need scarcely say that we agree with
those who refer to Him who is Jacob’s star and sceptre. False as his heart was,
the seer saw Him in the spirit of prophecy, and felt that a time would come
when he would actually see Him. But the time when Jacob’s Star would arise was
not come, it was distant, and so he adds, “but not now; I shall behold Him, but
not nigh.” This seems to be the obvious meaning of the words. But if you look
at them in connection with Balaam’s state of mind, do they not contain a deeper
and more awful meaning? Are they not prophetic of himself, as well as of
Christ?--of his own awful end, as well as of Israel’s great destiny? “I shall
see Him!” Yes, when He comes again; but does he express hope that he will share
in the Redeemer’s glory and Israel’s blessedness? No, there is no word of hope,
no expression of desire, as in the words of Job, “For I know that my Redeemer
liveth,” &c. “My Redeemer!” says the afflicted saint, with an appropriating
faith; “whom I shall see for myself,” he adds, in hallowed longing; but all
that the “unrighteous” prophet could say was, “I shall behold Him, but not
nigh.” In what spirit do we think of that day of which these men speak? All of
us, without any exception, will see Christ. “Every eye shall see Him.” But how
shall we see Him--nigh, or afar off? Like Job, or like Balaam? Has it been
given us to say with the first, “My Redeemer--mine, for He died
for me”? Or do we feel--must we feel, that we have no part in His salvation;
and that when we see Him, it may be “afar off.” (G. Wagner.)
A Star out of Jacob.
Balaam’s prophecy of Christ as Star and Sceptre
Balaam, moved by the Spirit, sets forth Jesus in this prophecy in
a twofold character--as the Giver of light, and as exercising kingly power.
I. First, as the
giver of light: “There shall come a Star out of Jacob.” We all know that the
Redeemer is more than once compared in Scripture to the sun (Malachi 4:2; Luke 1:78). It is not, perhaps, quite so
easy to see why Christ is compared to a “star”; for as the stars shine with a
borrowed light, they seem more suited to be illustrations of the followers of
Jesus than of the Saviour Himself. And so they are used in Revelation 1:20 of ministers: “The seven
stars are the angels of the seven Churches”; and by St. Paul of all Christians
(Philippians 2:14). Applied to Christ, it
may be to teach us how Jesus shines through all the long night of the Church’s
sorrows. The sun dissipates darkness; where it shines, darkness ceases. It is
so with the rule of sin. Into whatever heart Christ shines, there the power of
sin is broken. The star gives light without dissipating darkness. It guides the
wanderer’s feet. So Jesus gives light in the night of affliction. He does not
altogether remove it, nor exempt His people from suffering. But they are not
left in utter darkness. There is a star in the heavens above, so bright that it
can penetrate the darkest cloud, and gladden with its light the loneliness of sorrow.
But St. John teaches us something more about this star when he records the
words of the glorified Redeemer, “I am the root and the offspring of David, and
the bright and morning Star” (Revelation 22:16). And why the morning
star? The morning star is the last to disappear. It still continues to shine
when the rays of the sun have overwhelmed every other light; and thus it is a
beautiful emblem of Christ. Is Christ Jesus your Star, your morning Star? Is it
to His light that you look? And if any earthborn cloud interrupts His light
from your soul, do you look through the cloud, and wait, not impatiently, but
earnestly, for its removal? Those false lights with which we encompass ourselves,
the sparks of our own kindling, will certainly all go out, and great will be
the consternation of those who will then be left in darkness. But if you are
looking to Jesus, guided by His light, then your path will get brighter and
brighter, until it ends in the perfect light of His presence, a height to which
no cloud can rise. But there is one thing more that we must notice with regard
to this Star. Balaam tells us the point from whence he saw it arise. “There
shall come,” he says, “a Star out of Jacob.” This points us to the humanity of
Jesus. All the brightness of the Godhead came to us through the humanity of
Jesus.
II. But let us pass
on to the second part, the kingly office of our Redeemer: “And a Sceptre shall
rise out of Israel.” It may be thought, perhaps, in consequence of the words
that follow, “and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children
of Sheth,” that this prophecy was fulfilled in the time of David, when the
boundaries of Israel were so much enlarged, and their enemies overcome. But we
ought to remember that just as the prophets and priests of Israel were types of
Jesus as Prophet and Priest, so were its kings types of Him who was and is a
King of kings. Jesus was a King in the days of His suffering on earth. It was under
the direction of God’s providence that Pilate, though he meant it not so, wrote
the title, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The sceptre was in His
hand; but He did not then put forth His great power and reign. His kingly
office was held for a time in abeyance. True it is that Christ does reign. He
reigns in the hearts of His willing people, and over a reluctant world. But
this is the time of His patience and long-suffering. The hour is not yet come
for the full manifestation of His kingly office and power. Does He reign in our
hearts, destroying and keeping under our spiritual enemies?
III. But there is
one point more in our text which we must not leave unnoticed, and that is, the
consequence of the coming of the Star, and rising of the Sceptre--a power given
to Israel to overcome his enemies. Those enemies are described, not generally,
but very minutely. Moab is mentioned first, because, headed by Balak, the
Moabites were then endeavouring to destroy Israel. The expression, “Smite the
corners (or sides) of Moab,” signifies an entire destruction, perpetrated along
the whole compass of its dominions. The next expression, “The children of
Sheth,” has puzzled commentators. Some have taken it as a proper name, to
designate one of Adam’s sons; but
it is impossible to extract any good meaning from it if so understood. The
Hebrew word has, however, lately been shown to be the contracted form of
another word which signifies “tumult”; and this is strongly confirmed by a
reference to a
remarkable prophecy of Jeremiah concerning Moab, in which we can scarcely fail
to observe an allusion to this prophecy of Balaam (Jeremiah 48:42). The enemies of Israel
were called the children of tumult, because they were ever restless; restless
in themselves, because they knew not Israel’s God, and restless as neighbours,
because they would give Israel no peace. Next to Moab, Edom is mentioned. Then
follow predictions of judgments on Amalek, Israel’s first enemy, on the
Kenites, strong as they seemed to be in their mountain-passes, on Asshur and
Eber; and so terrible did these judgments appear to the seer, that he could not
help exclaiming, “Alas I who shall live when God doeth this?” But all these are
but typical of the greater enemies with which we have to contend. The “sons of
tumult” encompass us about. Satan, knowing that his time is short, is ever busy. The world, so
restless because it knows not Christ, pours in its influences upon us. The old man within
us, though crucified, is ever struggling for victory. And Under these
influences our very relatives and friends may hinder us on our way, just as Edom did Israel. What
must we do to overcome? We must fix our eye upon Jacob’s Star, the bright
morning Star. We must cling to the sceptre of Jesus. Remember that the enemies
of God’s people are already doomed to destruction. Yet a little while, and if
you are Christ’s, Satan will be bruised under your feet. The world will not
attract or frighten you. The old man will not struggle and weary you. (G.
Wagner.)
The Star of Jacob
Our Lord, then, is compared to a star, and we shall have seven
reasons to assign for this.
I. He is called a
star as the symbol of government. You will observe how evidently it is connected
with a sceptre and with a conqueror. Jacob was to be blessed with a valiant
leader who should
become a triumphant sovereign. Very frequently in oriental literature their
great men, and especially their great deliverers, are called stars. Behold,
then, our Lord Jesus Christ as the Star of Jacob. He is the Captain of His
people, the Leader
of the Lord’s hosts, the King in Jeshurun, God over all, glorious and blessed
for ever!
1. We may say of Jesus in this respect that He has an authority which
He has inherited by right. He made all things, and by Him all things consist.
It is but just that He should rule over all things.
2. Our Lord as a star has an authority which He has valiantly won.
Wherever Christ is King He has had a great and a stern fight for it.
3. This kingdom of Christ, wherever it is, is most beneficent.
Wherever this star of government shines, its rays scatter blessing. Jesus is no
tyrant. He rules not by oppression. The force He uses is the force of love.
II. The star is the
image of brightness. Our Lord Jesus Christ is brightness itself. The star is
but a poor setting forth of Ills ineffable splendour. As Mediator, exalted on
high, enjoying the reward of His pains, He is bright indeed.
1. Observe, that our Lord as a star is a bright particular star in
the matter of holiness. In Him was no sin.
2. As a star, He shines also with the light of knowledge. Moses was,
as it were, but a mist, but Christ is the Prophet of light. “The law was given
by Moses”--a thing of types, and shadows--“but grace and truth come by Jesus
Christ.” If any man be taught in the things of God, he must derive his light from
the Star of Bethlehem.
III. Thirdly, our
Lord is compared to a star to bring out the fact that He is the pattern of
constancy. Ten thousand changes have been wrought since the world began, but
the stars have not changed. There they remain. So with our Lord Jesus. He is
the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. What the prophets and apostles saw in
Him, we can see in Him, and what He was to them, that He is to us, and shall be
to generations yet unborn. Hundreds of us may be looking at the same star at
the same time without knowing it. There is a meeting-place for many eyes. We
may be drifted, some of us, to Australia, or to Canada, or to the United States,
or we may be sailing across the great deep, but we shall see the stars there.
It is true that on the other side of the world we shall see another set of
stars, but the stars themselves are always still the same. As far as we in this atmosphere are
concerned, we shall look upon some star. So, wherever we may be, we look to the same Christ.
Jesus Christ is still the same, the same to all His people, the same in all
places, the same for ever and ever. Well, therefore, may He be compared to
those bright stars that shine now as they did of old and change not.
IV. In the fourth
place, we may trace this comparison of our Lord to a star as the fountain of
influence. The old astrologers used
to believe very strongly in the influence of the stars upon men’s minds. But
whether there be an influence in the stars or not, as touching this world, I
know there is great influence in Christ Jesus. He is the fountain of all holy
influences among the sons of men. Where this star shines upon the graves of men
who are dead in sin they begin to live. Where the beam of this star shines upon
poor imprisoned spirits, their chains drop off, the captive leaps to lose his
chains. When this star shines upon the backslider, he begins to mend his ways,
and to follow, like the eastern sages, its light till he finds his Saviour once
more.
V. In the fifth
place, the Lord Jesus Christ may be compared to a star as a source of guidance.
There are some of the stars that are extremely useful to sailors. I scarcely
know how else the great wide sea would be navigated, especially if it were not
for the Polar Star. Jesus is the Polar Star to us.
VI. Our Lord is
compared to a star, safely, as the object of wonder. We used to think when we
were little ones that the stars were holes pricked in the skies, through which
the light of heaven shone, or that they were little pieces of gold-dust that
God had strewn about. We do not
think so now; we understand that they are much greater than they
look to be. So, when we were carnal, and did not know King Jesus, we esteemed
Him to be very much like anybody else, but now we begin to know Him, we find
out that He is much greater, infinitely greater than we thought He was. And as
we grow in grace, we find Him to be more glorious still.
VII. Our Lord is
compared to a star, as lie is the herald of glory. The bright and morning star
foretells that the sun is on its way to gladden the earth with its light.
Wherever Jesus comes lie is a great prophet of good. Let Him come into a heart,
and, as soon as He appears, you may rest assured that there is a life of
eternity and joy to come. Let Jesus Christ come into a family, and what changes
He makes there. Let Him be preached with power in any town or city, and what a
herald of good things He is there. To the whole world Christ has proclaimed
glad tidings. His coming has been fraught with benedictions to the sons
of men. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Balaam’s prophecy
I. Christ’s
predicted human ancestry. “Out of Jacob,” &c. He was the “Lord from
heaven”; but He came through the lowly door of human birth.
1. His ancestry was chosen by God. That there was a fitness we cannot
doubt; what it consisted in we do not know.
2. Its destinies were guided by God with a view to this great
consummation. This explains many a dark passage in Israel’s history. So when we
can view God’s leading of us from the result, all will be clear.
3. It was a lowly ancestry. Contrast with the great ancient powers.
4. It was by no means a pure and worthy ancestry. The clean came out
of an unclean. Endless hope for man in that.
II. The twofold
representation of Christ’s reign.
1. A Star. In its guidance.
2. A Sceptre.
The Star of Jacob and the Sceptre of Israel
I. The Star of
Jacob or Israel.
1. Christ is a Star to give Divine light and guidance to the soul.
2. Christ is a Star of glory for His Church, and of conquest over all
His foes.
II. Christ is the
Sceptre of Israel, or of the Church of God. The sceptre is the emblem in all
realms and ages of royal authority. Now Christ holds the sceptre of royal power
in two ways.
1. As the Divine Lawgiver and Ruler of His Church for government.
2. For victory and eternal glory. (J. G. Angley, M. A.)
Balaam and the Star of Jacob
I. The deliverer
of this prophecy.
II. The person
foretold in this prophecy.
1. A star may be conceived an apt emblem of Jesus, from the loftiness
and dignity of its position. Lofty as is the sphere of the common star,
infinitely loftier is the mediatorial range of the circuit of Christ, the Star
of Bethlehem. In His course as a Saviour, He completely overtops with His
excellency all length, and breadth, and depth, and height--all time--all
eternity.
2. A star, also, is an apt emblem of Jesus, inasmuch as it helps to
relieve the monotonous aspect of the gloom of night with its brilliant
presence. How undefined would be the face of night without the stars! It is the
constant twinklings that are emitted from the various groups of stars above our
heads which convert the dulness of night into positive cheerfulness. And is not
Jesus the Star that gilds the dark night of affliction with the blessings of
His spiritual presence?
3. How wonderful is it that He generally reserves the disclosure of
His unsearchable ways to His chosen until the darkest hour of the night of
tribulation! But Jesus, also, is aptly represented under the figure of a star,
as being set forth to the world at large as a sign from heaven. To some He shines far off,
as the star of better days to come; to more as the star of ill omen and wrath
from on high to them that are disobedient and care not for the truth.
III. The purport of
this prophecy. (R. Jones, B. A.)
Balaam’s vision
It is evident that the star and the sceptre are to be taken as emblems or types of
some prince or warrior; for it is a living form which Balaam first represents
himself as beholding, though he immediately proceeds to describe the being
under images drawn from the inanimate creation. And that the star and sceptre
did but figure some illustrious person is yet more clear from what instantly
follows, seeing that the deeds of a conqueror are ascribed to him by the
prophet--“and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.”
The successes of this potentate are then more fully stated - “And Edom shall be
a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies.” And the
prophecy, so far as we are now to consider it, is shut up in the declaration,
that the warrior figured by the star and the sceptre should not be alone in his
conflict, but should be associated with the people from whom he was to arise,
“Israel shall do valiantly.” And who, think ye, is this leader or prince to
represent? The first opinion is, that it was David whom Balaam foresaw and
foretold; the second, that it was Christ. And these opinions may both be
correct. It is very common for prophecies to have a double fulfilment. The
first when they are taken in a somewhat restricted sense; the second when they
are taken in their largest sense. And this is peculiarly the case when an
individual is himself the type of a more illustrious; and when therefore it may
naturally be expected that his actions serve also as predictions of those of
his antitype. Now it is not necessary that we Should show you that a king such
as David might be fitly represented under the emblem of a star and a sceptre.
This at least will be immediately admitted in regard of the sceptre; for the
sceptre being that which a king holds and sways, suggests necessarily the idea
of a royal ruler or potentate. And if we cannot affirm quite the same of the
star, we know that, in the imagery of Scripture, stars are put for the leading
men of a country--those most conspicuous in the political firmament: so that
when great convulsions are to be delineated--those agitations of society which
confound all orders and ranks--it is by such emblems as that of the stars
falling from the heavens that the overthrow of princes and grandees was
commonly represented. We turn then to the things said to be done by the being
thus figuratively described; and in these we may certainly recognise the
actions of David. It is affirmed of the predicted king that he shall “smite the
corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth”; Sheth (according to
the best interpreters) having been the name of a great Moabitish prince. This
affirmation (if Moab be literally understood) requires that the ruler of Israel
should lay waste the country in which Balaam then stood; and so far the
prediction was undoubtedly accomplished by David. For you read in the Second
Book of Samuel--“David smote Moab, and he measured them with a line, casting
them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and
with one full line to keep alive: and so the Moabites became David’s servants,
and brought gifts.” It is next said “Edom shall be a possession”; and you find
it stated of David in the very chapter from which we have just quoted, “David
put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became servants.” As to
what follows--“Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies”--it seems to be
only a repetition of the former clause; for Seir was the name given to some parts of the country
of the Edomites. So that the prophecy--a prophecy verified by the historical
facts already adduced, is that David’s occupation of the land would be so
complete that he should have possession of its fastnesses and heights. We need
scarcely add that the remaining words of the text, “Israel shall do valiantly,”
apply thoroughly to the people over whom David ruled; for the nation became
eminently warlike under so illustrious a leader, and distinguished itself by courage in the
field. And thus we may fairly say that if David were represented by the star
and the sceptre, his registered actions and achievements correspond with
sufficient accuracy to the prophetic delineation. But we doubt whether this
accomplishment of the prophecy can seem to any of you commensurate with the
grandeur of the diction with which it is conveyed. We thus bring you to the
most important part of our subject. We are to apply the prophecy to Christ, and
examine whether there be not a special fitness in the emblems of the star and
the sceptre, when considered as designating the Redeemer; and whether the
smiting of Moab and Edom do not aptly represent His victories and His triumphs.
Indeed, so usual was it to associate the promised Christ with a star, or to
take the star as His emblem, that we read of an impostor in the days of the
emperor Adrian, wishing to pass himself off for the Messiah, assumed a title
which signifies The Son of the Star; meaning thereby to announce himself as the
star which Balaam had seen afar off. But admitting that the emblem of the star
is employed in designating Christ, is there any special appropriateness in such
an emblem? We reply at once that everything which has to do with light may
fitly be taken as an image of Christ. There is nothing which so fitly
represents the moral condition of the world when Christ appeared on earth as
darkness. His office cannot be better represented than when He is exhibited
under figures derived from the nature and the agency of light. But yet, why
describe Him as a star, which does little towards irradiating a benighted
creation? Why not rather take the sun as His emblem? He will be a sun to His
Church throughout the heavenly states: but He is only as a star during the existing
dispensation. And may not this, indeed, be most truly affirmed of a state in
which at best “we see through a glass darkly,” and can “know but in part”? The
night is yet upon us, though that night may be far spent; but it is no longer
the starless night which it was ere the Redeemer brought life and immortality
to light by His gospel. A star--a morning star has occupied our horizon, and
the tempest-tossed barque, in danger of everlasting shipwreck, may steer itself
by the light of that star to the haven where it would be, and where there is to
be no more night, though no more sun. Christianity, as set up in the world, is
but in its twilight. The night is still unbroken over a vast portion of our
globe; and even where revelation has been received, we must rather speak of
streaks like those on the eastern sky, whose gold and purple prophesy of
morning, than those rich full lustres which flood creation when the sun has
reached the zenith. On every account, therefore, is our Redeemer fitly emblemed
by the figure which He applied to Himself--the emblem of the bright and morning
star. And surely we need not say much to prove to you that the emblem of the
sceptre is equally appropriate. You know that in Christ are combined the
offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. But admitting the appropriateness of the
emblems thus given to Christ, we have yet to examine whether the predicted
actions were such as to be ascribed to the Redeemer. We have already shown you
that if Moab and Edom are to be literally taken--that if they designate
countries anciently so called--there are recorded events in the annals of the
Jews which may be fairly considered as having accomplished the prediction. Now
this is, of course, upon the supposition that the star and the sceptre
represent David or some other Jewish prince, and will not hold when Christ is
regarded as the subject of the prophecy. We need not say that Christ never ]aid
waste the literal Moab and Edom; and we may add that there is nothing in
Scripture to lead us to suppose that the countries formerly so called are
hereafter to be specially visited by His vengeance. But you cannot be ignorant
that it is common in the Bible to take a name which has belonged to some great
foe of God, and to use it of others whose wickedness is their only connection
with the parties originally so called. Edom and Moab are the names which
prophecy gives to the enemies of the Church, who are to perish beneath the
judgments with which that sun shall be saturated, when every baser light is to
be lost in the star, and every other empire in that of the sceptre. And,
therefore: in predicting the desolation of Moab and Edom, Balaam may be
regarded as predicting the final overthrow of all the power of anti-christ,
that a clear scene may be swept for the erection of the kingdom of Christ and
His saints. The sign of the Son of Man is yet to be seen in the heavens, where
it was beheld by
Balaam, from the summit of Peor. I know not what that sign shall be; perhaps
again the star--fearful meteor!--like that which hung over the fated Jerusalem,
boding its destruction; perhaps again the sceptre--brilliant
constellation!--burning with majesty and betokening the extinction of all
meaner royalty; perhaps the Cross, as it appeared to the Roman--aye, when he
was taught to know the God of battles, and to place Christianity upon the
throne of the Caesars. But whatever the sign, the Being whose emblazonry it
exhibits, shall come to deal out a long-delayed vengeance on tribes that have
refused to walk in His light and submit to His rule. Now it is to be observed
that though we have thus referred the close of the prediction to the close of
the existing dispensation, there has been from the first and there still is a
partial accomplishment of all that Balaam announced. There is evidently a great
mixture in the prophecy. It is a prophecy of illumination, of dominion, of
destruction, and all these are to be traced ever since Christ revealed Himself
to man. There have been always those in whose hearts the day star has
risen--always those who have yielded themselves as willing subjects to the
Mediator--always the Moabite and the Edomite who have defied His authority, or
sunk beneath His vengeance. So that however the grand fulfilment is yet to be
expected in the complete triumph of Christianity and the overthrow of all the
foes of the Church, enough is continually occurring to prove that the
prediction sketched the whole period of the present dispensation. Throughout
this whole period the words have been fulfilled, “Israel shall do valiantly.”
Israel has borne up bravely against incessant assault, and supported from on
high has been successful in withstanding the armies of the aliens. (H.
Melvill, B. D.)
A new star
Professor Henry, of Washington, discovered a new star, and
the tidings sped by submarine telegraph, and all the observatories of Europe
are watching for that new star. Oh, hearer, looking out through the darkness of
thy soul to-night, canst thou see a bright light beaming on thee? “Where?” you
say, “where? how can I find it?” Look along by the line of the Cross of the Son
of God. Do you not see it trembling with all tenderness and beaming with all
hope? It is the Star of Bethlehem. (T. de Witt Talmage.)
Variety of representation of God
The Bible sets us an example of fashioning for ourselves a
personal God to suit our need. When I find Paul using figures to represent to
himself God, as his wants required Him, I know that I may do the same thing.
When I want love, I may make God my tender and loving father or sister, or
mother. When I want pity, I may make Him a Being of unfailing and boundless
pity. When I want courage, He is my lion; when I want light and cheer, He is my
bright and morning star--my God alert, my sun, my bread, my wine. We may
imagine Him everything that is to us good and beautiful, tender and true, and
know that we are not cheating ourselves by vain fancies, but have only touched
the extreme outer edge of the ever-blessed reality. There may be dangers in
this freedom and variety of our representation of our God; but there are
dangers in all forms of our thought of Him, and in none half so much as in
having no realisation of Him at all, in considering Him an abstraction of all
the omnis. Thinking of Him thus, none can ever love Him, or walk with
Him. (H. W. Beecher.)
Seeing the star
This one thing I have noticed in everybody--the moment they come
to a clear apprehension of the love of Christ, they turn right about upon the
minister, or upon the Christians who have been labouring, perhaps for years, to
bring them to that very point, and say, “Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
Why, it’s what we’ve been always telling them. I think that trying to point a
man to the love of Jesus is like trying to show one a star that has just come
out, the only star in the whole cloudy sky. “I can see no star, says the man.”
“Where is it?” “Why, there; don’t you see?” But the man shakes his head; he can
see nothing. But by and by, after long looking, he catches sight of the star;
and now he can see nothing else for gazing at it. He wonders that he had not
seen it before. Just so it is with the soul that is gazing after the Star of
Bethlehem. Nothing in the world seems so hidden, so complex, so perplexing, as
this thing, until it is once seen by the heart, and then, oh, there never was
anything that ever was thought of that is so clear, so simple, so
transcendently glorious! And men marvel that the whole world does not see and
feel as they do. (H. W. Beecher.)
Death the crown of life
Our text may be considered either as a plaint, a sigh, or a
song--a dirge winding to a march. There are, in reality, three questions
interlinked in this passage. It is a question of studious curiosity. What kind
of a race will then inhabit the earth? Men are naturally inquisitive to know
who are to be their successors. Why not? They are to be the heirs in turn of
our heritage; the tenants who are to move in as we move out; to enjoy our
repairs, and to do, in turn, their own repairing for those who shall follow
them. Who are they? The question deepens into a sigh. Here we go! just as we
begin to take on the meaning of things about us ; scarce sooner found than
lost. But what of that which is to transpire long after all these are past?
Some one will tread the path that I am treading! Some one will saunter in the
grove where I now linger! Some one will loiter to enjoy the landscape which now
feeds me with its soft beauty! Some one will scent the fragrance of these
laughing flowers! Some one will be soothed and hushed by the melody of the
rippling stream! Some one will look beseechingly up into the face of the
twinkling stars! Some one will cry out with unutterable longing, as we now
cry, “Alas! who shall live when God doeth this?” We are baffled at the grave.
We put our eyes close to the bars, but we cannot see. Death is the crown
of life; and yet it is not the triumph of man over time, but of time over man.
We leave the world behind us. Do lasting slumbers hold us? Is there no more of
us when we are gone? When the reduplicated forces of the earth shall be put
under command; when man shall sit in plumed victory over the opposing energies
of nature; when the sword shall be beaten into a ploughshare, and the spear
into a pruning-hook; when old hoary tyrannies and rusty wrongs shall be
entombed for ever; when health shall mantle the cheek, and happiness shall
festoon the fireside; when man shall keep faith with his fellow-man, and
worship and adore his Maker--shall I live then? The thought gladdens, but it
maddens as well. The scepticism that would console me with the thought that
death is but a momentary pang; that I shall sleep in death’s dateless night;
that all these struggles shall have come to their rest; ah! this scepticism is
but a miserable comforter after all. Shall I be shut out from my share in
history? shut out from my right to know? It is voiced in another shape: “If a
man die, shall he live again?” God has provided a way by which His people may
be released, and yet view this earth in all its perfected beauty and glory.
Only the wisdom of God could compass this. The resurrection solves this mighty
problem. All who labour shall see the reward of their labour. The sower shall
be partaker of the fruit. Every journeyman who worked wearily upon the temple,
shall be present when the topstone is lifted to its place. Fall in, and catch
up the anthem to the King of kings! Fall in, and live for ever. Follow Christ,
and shout victory. Presently time shall have halted from its confused scramble,
and God’s finished workmanship shall have been taken from the loom, and the
tapestry shall be revealed in all its beauty and perfection--the pattern will
be complete. Then shall we learn that when we die we do not die out;
that death is not death ; that to die is not to die, but to blossom into life.
(H. S. Carpenter, D. D.)
Verse 25
Balaam rose up, and went, and returned to his place: and Balak
also went his way.
The parting of Balaam and Balak: the separations of life
I. Balaam and
Balak parted, having utterly failed in their designs.
II. They parted
with characters considerably modified by their association with each other.
III. They parted,
but not for ever. Those who have been associated in this present life will meet
again in the great hereafter. Tempter and tempted, oppressor and oppressed,
companions in evil designs and companions in noble enterprises--all will meet
again. (W. Jones.)
The desires of evil men against the Church come to nothing
God disappointeth the policies of the ungodly against the Church;
so that how cunningly soever they are contrived, He bloweth them away as with
the wind, and He melteth them as wax with the fire. Many rest in vain hope, and
put confidence in deceitful things. The Egyptians had a purpose to kill all the
males of the Israelites, but see how wide they shot, and how far they missed (Exodus 1:12). The enemies of Christ say
in the pride of their hearts, “Let us break their bands, and cast their cords
from us; yet He that sitteth in the heaven laugheth them to scorn, and giveth
to His Son the heathen for a possession” (Psalms 2:3). Hereunto cometh the saying
of the prophet (Psalms 7:14). When Christ had preached
the gospel at Nazareth, they were filled with such wrath against Him that they
rose up and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him even unto the top of the
hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong; but
He passed through the midst of them and went His way (Luke 4:30). So we read in the Acts of the
Apostles that certain Jews made an assembly, and bound themselves with a curse,
saying, “That they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul” (Acts 23:22). But they were disappointed,
and their purpose, though closely contrived, was utterly disannulled. The
reasons will make this truth more apparent.
1. If we consider this essential property of God that He is full of
justice, He will reward as our works are. If we rest in vain and wicked
practices He will not hold His peace, but throw down that which we build up,
and He will disappoint that which we hope for.
2. The expectation of the wicked is vanity, because they can give no
comfort or assurance.
The uses are next to be considered, as they arise from this
doctrine.
1. We may conclude from hence the unhappy estate of them that have
only eyes of flesh, to rest on things which they see with their fleshly eyes.
If we regard and receive only present blessings, they are of small moment. If,
then, we wait on lying vanities and forsake God, our strength and salvation, we
are unhappy and most miserable.
2. We learn that no wisdom, be it never so deep; no understanding, be
it never so politic; no counsel, be it never so prudent; no subtilty, be it
never so hidden, shall overthrow the purpose of God, or prevail against His
truth, or hinder the execution of His will. For His infinite wisdom is able to
overmatch all the wisdom that is in the creatures, and to prevent whatsoever
devices they have set abroach.
3. Let us not rely on vain things, for then all our expectations
shall be in vain. Who is so simple, that to stay him up from danger would rest
on the web of a spider, or the staff of a reed, or the strength of a rush? All
the devices of men, the power of princes, the courage of horses, the help of
creatures, are as a broken weapon to defend us, and unserviceable to deliver
us. This the prophet teacheth us (Psalms 146:3-5).
4. When we see the enemies conspire against the Church, let us, from
this consideration of the vain confidence of the wicked, take occasion to
comfort ourselves and to cheer up our hearts; all their expectation shall turn
into smoke. Let them gather themselves together, and take crafty counsel one
with another; He that ruleth in heaven shall scorn at their inventions, and frustrate
them of their mischievous purposes.
5. Seeing all evil inventions and devices of the devil are
disappointed, let us not stand in fear of any attempts made against us by his
instruments. The enemies of the Church had hired a sorcerer and conjurer to waste
and weaken them, yet we see his enchantments are defeated and come to nothing. (W.
Attersoll.)
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