Balaam

Numb. xxii. 4, 5, &c.BALAAM, a Prophet or Diviner of the City of Pethor upon the Euphrates. Moses informs us, that Balak King of the Moabites having seen the great multitude of the Israelites, was afraid that they would fall upon his Country; and perceiving that he was not strong enough to resist them with his arms, he resolved to send for Balaam the Divine, that he might devote and curse them, according to a very ancient superstition in use among the Heathens. He sent therefore deputies to Balaam the Son of Beor, who dwelt at Pethor upon the Euphrates, desiring him to come and curse the Israelites. Hereupon the deputies of Midian and Moab departed, carrying with them wherewithal to pay the Diviner, and declared what they were commissioned to say to him. His answer was, Continue here this night, and I will answer you to morrow, as the Lord shall speak unto me. In the night the Lord appeared to him, and said, What men are these with thee? Balaam replied, They are Envoys from Balak King of Moab, who requested of me, to go and curse a certain people, which covereth the face of the earth, and is now upon the frontiers of his Dominions.

The Lord said to him, Have a care how you go and curse this people, for they are blessed. Balaam rising in the morning, delivered his answer to the Princes of Moab and Midian: Return into your Country, for the Lord hath forbidden me to go with you. The deputies therefore returned with this answer to Balak; who sent others in greater number to Balaam, and of greater quality than the first. These came and earnestly intreated him to go, promising him all the honours imaginable from Balak, and to give him what he pleased.

But he answered, If Balak would give me his house full of gold and silver, I cannot go beyond the Word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. I desire you therefore to continue here this night, that I may know the will of the Lord.

The night following the Lord appeared to him, and said, If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them; but yet the word that I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do: Balaam therefore rose, took his Ass, and went with the Envoys. But God, who saw the evil dispositions of his heart, was angry with him, and an Angel stood in the way to prevent his proceeding farther. Balaam’s Ass seeing the Angel with a naked sword in his hand, turned out of the way, and crossed the fields. Balaam forced him by blows into the way again, and the Angel again appearing to him in a narrow passage between two walls, which inclosed some vineyards, the Ass run against the wall, and bruised Balaam’s leg. At last, while he continued to push on, and strike his beast, the Angel appeared to him a third time in so narrow a place, that it was not possible for him to turn either to the right hand or the left. Then the Ass fell down under the Diviner, and would not move a step farther, and while Balaam was so violently beating of her, the Lord opened the mouth of the Ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done? Why hast thou smitten me these three times? Balaam answered, Because thou hast deserved it, and mocked me: I would I had a sword to kill thee! The Ass answered, Am not I thine Ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee? He said, Never. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he perceived the Angel in the way, with a drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. And the Angel said, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine Ass these three times? behold I went out to withstand thee; because thy way is perverse before me, unless thine Ass had turned out of the way, surely now had I slain thee. Balaam answered, I have sinned unto the Lord, for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me. Now therefore if it displease thee, I will get me back again. And the Angel said unto him, Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that shalt thou speak. He continued his journey therefore with Balak’s deputies, and this Prince upon notice of his coming went to meet him, and said, I sent persons to desire you to come, why did you not set out immediately? Now I am come, said Balaam, I can say nothing: the word that God putteth in my mouth, that must I speak. He conducted him therefore to the capital City of Moab, Kirjath-huzoth, slew sheep and oxen, whereof he made presents to Balaam, and the next morning carried him to the high places consecrated to Baal, and from thence shewed him the extremity of the Israelites Camp.

Numb. xxxiii. 1, 2, &c.Then Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven Altars, and prepare me seven oxen and seven rams, which was done accordingly, and a bullock and a ram was offered on each Altar. Then Balaam said to Balak, Stand by the Burnt-offering while I go apart and see if the Lord will appear to me; and what he shall command me to speak, that will I tell thee. God immediately appeared to Balaam, who said, I have prepared seven Altars, and on each have offered a bullock and a ram. And the Lord put a word in his mouth, and said, Return; which he did, and found Balak standing by the seven Altars with the Princes of Moab about him; he said, therefore Balak King of the Moabites hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the East, and said, Come, curse me Jacob, come, defie Israel. How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? How shall I defie whom the Lord hath not defied. From the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.

And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and behold thou hast blessed them altogether. And Balaam answered, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them all, for thou hast seen but a part of them, and curse me them from thence; so he led him to the top of Mount Pisgah, where he erected seven Altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on each, then went aside to seek the Lord. And the Lord put a word in his mouth, and sent him back to Balak, who inquiring what the Lord had said, was answered by Balaam in these terms, “ Rise up, Balak, and hear, God “ is not a man that he should lye, neither “ the Son of Man that he should repent: “ hath he said and shall he not do it? or “ hath he spoken and shall he not make it “ good? Behold I have received commandment to bless; and he hath blessed and “ I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he “ seen perverseness in Israel: The Lord “ his God is with him, and the Shout of “ a King is among them; God brought “ them out of Egypt, he hath as it were “ the strength of an unicorn. Surely, “ there is no enchantment against Ja- “ cob, neither is there any divination against Israel; according to the time, “ it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, “ what hath God wrought? Behold the “ people shall rise up as a great Lion, and “ lift up himself as a young Lion; he “ shall not lye down until he eat of the “ prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

Then Balak said unto Balaam, neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all; but Balaam answered, Did I not tell thee saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do? Balak, in order to see whether God at last would inspire him with something else, carried him to the top of Mount Peor, and there erected seven Altars as before. But Balaam no longer doubting what the will of the Lord was, went not as at other times to seek for enchantments, but set his face towards the wilderness, and began Numb. xxiv. 1, &c.to speak after this manner: “ Ba- “ laam the Son of Beor hath said, and the “ man whose eyes are open hath said, he “ who heard the words of God, who saw “ the vision of the Almighty, falling into “ a trance but having his eyes open; (he “ alludes to what happened, when his Ass “ fell under him;) how goodly are thy “ tents, O Jacob! As the valleys are they “ spread forth as gardens by the river side, “ as the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord “ hath planted, and as cedar-trees besides “ the waters. He shall pour out the water out of his bucket, and his seeds shall “ be in many waters. His King shall be “ higher than Agag, and his Kingdom “ shall be exalted. God brought him out “ of Egypt, he shall eat up the nations “ his enemies, and shall break their bows, “ and pierce them through with arrows. “ 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.

Balak hearing him, was inraged at him, and said, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and behold thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee unto thy place. I thought to promote thee to great honour, but now the Lord hath kept thee back from honour. Balaam answered, Spake I not also to thy Messengers, which thou sendest unto me, saying, If 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 my own mind. Nevertheless, before I return, I will advise you what you have to do, and will inform you what this people in the latter days will do to yours: Then re-assuming his prophetical style, he continued his discourse in this manner, “ Hear what Ba- “ laam the Diviner says, I shall see him “ (meaning the Great King the Messiah so “ much desired) but not now: I shall behold him but not nigh; there shall come “ a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall “ rise out of Israel, and shall smite the “ corners of Moab, and destroy all the “ children of Sheth. And Edom shall be “ a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his Enemies, and Israel shall do “ valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he “ that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the City.” Then looking on Amalek, he said, “ Amalek ” Amalek was the first of the nations, but ” his latter end shall be, that he perish for ” ever. And he looked on the Kenites, ” and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, ” and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. ” Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, ” until Ashur shall carry thee away captive. ” Alas ! who shall live when God doth ” this ? People shall come from the coast ” of Chittim¹, (that is Macedonia) who ” shall overcome the Assyrians, and at last ” shall themselves perish.

After this Balaam separated from Balak, and returned into his own Country. But before he left the land of Moab, he told Numb. xxiv. 14. Mich. vi. 5. 2 Pet. ii. 5 Jude v. 11. Rev. ii. 14.Balak and the Midianites, that if they would secure themselves from the attempts, which the Hebrews might make against them, and obtain even some advantage over them, they should ingage them in idolatry and whoredom: that then they would be forsaken by their God, and would become a prey to their Enemies. This bad counsel was pursued: The young women of Moab invited the Hebrews to the Feasts of Baal- Peor; after they had persuaded them to imbrace idolatry, they seduced them to impurity. God commanded Moses to revenge this crime. He declared war against the Numb. xxv. 17, 18.Midianites, killed five of their Princes, and a great number of other persons without distinction of age or sex ; and Balaam himself was involved in this misfortune. This is what we learn from Scripture concerning Numb. xxxi. 1, 2, 7, 8.Balaam.

But the Rabbins² relate many other particulars of his Life and Person. They believe that at first he was one of Pharaoh’s Counsellors, that he made his escape from the Court, and retired into Ethiopia, where he appeared in arms, and ingaged a celebrated City to join with him in his rebellion, pretending to render it impregnable by the secret charms of his magick. But Moses disappointed all his endeavours, and made himself master of the City. Balaam escaped, and fled into Arabia. Some of the Hebrews confound him with Elihu, Job’s friend: and S. Jerom takes notice of this opinion in his Hebrew Questions. Others take Laban and him for the same person, and make him the Father of Jannes and Mambres, two eminent Magicians. They say he squinted, and was lame. They pretend that he was the Author of that passage in Numbers, wherein his history is related, and that Moses inserted it in his work, in like manner as he inserted, for example, the last words of Jacob; and some passages of the Book concerning the Wars of the Lord. Some of the Fathers were of opinion³, that the wise men who came to worship Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, were Disciples and Descendants of Balaam, and from him learned, that upon the rising of a miraculous Star, a new King, and the Messiah would appear in Israel.

The Mahometans maintain, that he was by nation a Canaanite, of the race of the Anakims, or Giants of Palestine; that he had read Abraham’s Books, wherein he had learnt the ineffable name of God⁴, by virtue whereof he foretold things to come, and obtained of God all that he asked for. The Giants of the country astonished at the great number of the Israelitish Army, and the prodigies which God wrought in its favour, sent to Balaam, desiring him to come to curse his people. They brought him large presents, and sollicited him very earnestly to devote this people. At first he vigorously refus’d to comply with them; and had not at last submitted, but for the pressing sollicitations of his Wife, whom the Canaanites had won upon by their presents.

Balaam therefore setting forth, in order to pronounce his curse against Israel, God, who was offended with his proceeding, so wrought upon his memory, as to make him forget his ineffable Name, withdrew his graces from him, and gave him up to his own sense, so that, as Mahomet expresses it, he may be compared to a dog hanging out his tongue always, and shewing his teeth when he is left, after having been pursued. See above Balaam’s Ass.

It is made a question, whether Balaam were a true Prophet of the Lord, or no more than a Diviner, a Magician, or Fortune-teller, Hariolus as he is called in Numbers, xxii. 5. Upon this point opinions are divided. Origen says⁵, that all the power this man had consisted in Magick and Cursing; because the Devil, by whose influence he acted, can only curse and do mischief, but cannot bless. Theodoret thinks⁶, that Balaam did not consult the Lord, but that the Lord inspired him, whether he would or no, and put those things into his mouth, which he had no inclination to pronounce. S. Cyril of Alexandria says⁷, that he was a wicked Wretch, a Magician, an Idolater, a false Prophet, who spoke truth against the grain, and contrary to his usual custom. S. Ambrose⁸ compares him to Caiaphas, who prophesied without knowing what he said. The generality of Commentators think likewise⁹, that Balaam was a Magician and Idolater.

But S. Jerom seems to have adopted the opinion of the Hebrews¹⁰, which he relates, and was to this purpose, viz. that Balaam knew the true God, that he erected Altars to him, and was a true Prophet, tho’ very corrupt in his manners. Moses says expressly, Numb. xxii. 8, 9, 12, 18, 19, 20,that he consulted the Lord, and Balaam calls the Lord his God, Numb. xxii. 18. I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God. S. Austin did not venture to decide this question¹¹, he says, Balaam will be one of those who at the day of Judgment shall say to God, Lord, have I not prophesied in thy name? which intimates that he believed him to be a true Prophet, tho’ a very bad man, and among the reprobate. Tostatus and other Commentators are of the same opinion.

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