Bible Commentaries

Numbers 22:18

This was a brave answer, but it was spoilt by what Balaam added: "Tarry ye here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more." As if God were likely to change His mind! The word "tarry" was a clear tampering with the voice of God. Balaam met his death at the hands of the people whom he had betrayed into sin. We may learn the following lessons from his life:—

I. The first is to beware of tampering with conscience. When we are tempted, conscience stands in the way as an adversary, flashes before us some great word of God, forbidding us to do what we were bent on doing. Well for us if we do not struggle with that angel adversary, if, at the sight of his glittering sword, we bow down and say, "I have sinned"!

II. We learn from the life of Balaam how vain are good wishes when separated from good actions. We must live the life of the righteous if we would die the death of the righteous.

"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." But such a death must be preceded by a life "in the Lord."

R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 3rd series, p. 109.

Reference: S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 178.

Numbers 22:20-22

In the story of Balaam we have a seeming contradiction. God said, "If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them," and yet "God's anger was kindled because he went." How can these things be?

I. When God sent this message to Balaam, it was not the first time that Balaam had sought an answer from God on this very subject of whether he should go or not. Something had made him fear to go and speak the bitter curse till he had learned the pleasure of God. His wishes may well be supposed to have been all in one direction; his conscience alone restrained him. In the night came a message from God: "Thou shalt not go." But Balaam persuaded himself that what was wrong yesterday might be right to-day, and that what was God's will at one time might not be God's will at another. God answered the fool according to his folly, and as the wretched man had dared to think of tampering with God, God rewarded him (if we may use the word) by tampering with him. God suffered him to "believe a lie." The lie was but the reflection of the wishes that were lording it in the heart of Balaam, and to these wishes God for a time gave him over.

II. Men are doing precisely as Balaam did every day. Temptation to self-aggrandisement of various kinds comes before us; the only condition is a course of action about the lawfulness of which we, are in doubt. We look to see if for some little swerving from the rigorous path of virtue some excuse may not be found. We ask for guidance, perchance with a divided heart, and then, if God speaks to us at all, it is a voice which speaks to a conscience that has become confused and a judgment that has suffered itself to be dispirited, and though the voice may seem to be the voice of God, it is indeed only a lie.

A. Jessopp, Norwich School Sermons, p. 149.

References: Numbers 22:20-22.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 39. Numbers 22:22-35.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 315. Numbers 22:22-36.—Expositor, 2nd series. vol. v., p. 120 Numbers 22:23.—A. Watson, Christ's Authority, and Other Sermons, p. 284. Numbers 22:26.—C. J. Vaughan, My Son, Give Me thine Heart, p. 61; Sermons/or Boys and Girls, 1880, p. 376. Numbers 22:27.—S. Baring-Gould, The Preacher's Pocket, p. 167. Numbers 22:28-30.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. i., p. 366; vol. viii., p. 397; Parker, Christian Chronicle, April 2nd and 9th, 1885; S. Greg, A Layman's Legacy, p. 244. Numbers 22:34.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 113. Numbers 22:34, Numbers 22:35.—F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 4th series, p. 34; Preacher's Monthly, vol. v., p. 316. Numbers 22:37.—Parker, vol. iv., p. 59.

Numbers 22:38

The first and most general account of Balaam would be this: that he was a very eminent person in his age and country, that he was courted and gained by the enemies of Israel, that he promoted a wicked cause in a very wicked way, that he counselled the Moabites to employ their women as a means of seducing the chosen people into idolatry, and that he fell in battle in the war which ensued. Yet when we look into Balaam's history closely, we shall find points of character which may well interest those who do not consider his beginning and his end.

I. He was blessed with God's especial favour. Not only had he the grant of inspiration and the knowledge of God's will, an insight into the truths of morality clear and enlarged, such as we Christians cannot surpass, but he was even admitted to conscious intercourse with God, such as we Christians have not.

II. Balaam was, in the ordinary sense of the word, a very conscientious man. He prayed before taking a new step. He strictly obeyed the commands of God. He said and he did; he acted according to his professions. He showed no inconsistency in word or deed.

III. The strange thing is that while he so spoke and acted, he seemed as in one sense to be in God's favour, so in another and higher to be under His displeasure. Balaam obeyed God from a sense of its being right to do so, but not from a desire to please Him, not from fear and love. His endeavour was, not to please God, but to please self without displeasing God, to pursue his own ends as far as was consistent with his duty. Hence he was not content with ascertaining God's will; he attempted to change it. His asking twice was tempting God. As a punishment God gave him leave to ally himself with His enemies and take part against His people.

IV. The following reflections are suggested by the history of Balaam: (1) We see how little we can depend in judging of right and wrong on the apparent excellence and high character of individuals. (2) We sin without being aware of it, yet wrath is abroad and in our paths. (3) When we have begun an evil course, we cannot retrace our steps. (4) God gives us warnings now and then, but does not repeat them. Balaam's sin consisted in not acting on what was told him once for all.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iv., p. 18; also Selection from the same, p. 319.

References: Num 22—Parker, vol. iii., p. 303. Num 22-24.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. i., p. 353; Parker, vol. iii., pp. 322, 331. Num 22-25.—W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 388; J. Monro Gibson, The Mosaic Era, p. 295. Numbers 23:1-26.—Expositor, 2nd series, vol. v., p. 199.