071. Balaam--His Way

Balaam--His Way

2Pe 2:15-16. These are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass, speaking with man’s voice, forbad the madness of the prophet. Of all the evil propensities to which human stature is subject, there is no one so general, so insinuating, so corruptive, and so obstinate, as the love of money. It begins to operate early, and it continues to the end of life. One of the first lessons which children learn, and one which old men never forget, is, the value of money. The covetous seek and guard it for its own sake, and the prodigal himself must first be avaricious, before he can be profuse. This, of all our passions, is best able to fortify itself by reason, and is the last to yield to the force of reason. It most unremittingly engages the attention and calls into their fullest exertion all our powers of body and of mind. Ambition and pride, those powerful motives of human conduct, are but ministering servants to avarice. Reputation and power are pursued chiefly as the means of procuring wealth; and all the fierce contentions which have distracted the world, and deluged it with blood, may be traced up to an eager desire to obtain the territory, or the treasure of another. Age, which blunts all our other appetites, only whets this; and after the heart is dead to every other joy, it lives to the clear, the inextinguishable delight of saving and hoarding. In exact proportion to their incapacity and disinclination to make use of money, is the violence of men’s thirst to possess it; and on the threshold of eternity it cleaves to them, as if life were just beginning. Philosophy combats, satire exposes, religion condemns it in vain: it yields neither to argument, nor ridicule, nor conscience. Like the lean kine in Pharaoh’s dream, it devours all that comes near it, and yet continues as hungry and meager as ever. If a representation of the odiousness, criminality, and danger of this vile affection can be of any use, it must be to those whose hearts are not yet hardened, whose consciences are not yet blinded by habits of indulgence in it; for if it has once gotten possession of the mind, you might as easily reinvigorate feeble age by a discourse on the advantages and joys of youth, or restore a constitution wasted through consumption by an elaborate declamation on the blessing of health. Avarice, with the deaf adder, “will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.”[*]Psa 58:5

We have already had occasion, in the course of these exercises, to trace the character of a selfish man, and to observe the workings of the human mind, under the influence of this base and destructive passion, in the history of Laban the Syrian. There we saw every principle of generosity and gratitude, of truth and justice, of humanity and natural affection, of piety and decency vilely sacrificed to this insatiate idol, which, like the grave, “never says it is enough.” We have, in the history referred to by the apostle, in the words which I have now read, another striking and instructive instance of the dreadful operation of covetousness, in a mind enlightened by wisdom, awake to all the worthier feelings and propensities of nature, capable of forming the justest notions of right and wrong, and of conveying these notions in the clearest and strongest expressions: fully instructed and firmly persuaded respecting; his duty; but actuated by this fatal passion deliberately deviating from the sight path, seducing those whom he durst not curse, degrading the dignity of the prophet, in the venality of the courtier, and shamefully bartering conscience for gain. We shall find, then, the words of Peter a perfect key to the relation of Moses: and whatever inconsistency shall appear in the conduct of Balaam, whatever fluctuation in opinion; whatever plausibility of language and sentiment, combined with whatever irresolution in virtue, all is explained by this one discovery of his real character, he “loved the wages of unrighteousness.” We come to illustrate this position by the history itself.

Forty years almost have elapsed since the miraculous deliverance from Egypt; and the whole generation, which partook of the joy of that deliverance, because of their unbelief, is well nigh extinguished. Thousands and ten thousands have dropped into the grave. The individuals which formed the congregation of Israel are lost and forgotten; but Israel still lives, the care of Providence, the object of favor. The shafts of vengeance have spent themselves, and nothing can now stem that current of promise and destiny, which is carrying God’s favored people to victory, and the possession of Canaan. Their decampments and progress, therefore, are no longer the lingering and wanderings of a devoted people doomed to die in the wilderness: but the bold, direct, and successful progress of a warlike nation, from conquest to conquest. A multitude so great, subsisting in a desert so long, in a manner so singular, could not but attract the notice of all the adjacent nations, who must have been anxiously solicitous which way their route was directed, and where they were to attempt a settlement at length. Being arrived at the border of the wilderness, where it is contiguous to the country of the Amorites; not imagining that any part of their inheritance was to be allotted them on this side Jordan; they petition Sihon, the king of the country, to grant them leave to pass peaceably through his territories, to the place of their destination. This he roughly refuses, and, without waiting to see whether Israel meant to attempt a passage by force, he collects his whole strength, advances into the wilderness to attack them, and thereby hastens on his own fate; for his army is smitten with the edge of the sword, and his whole land falls an easy prey to the victor. Og, king of Bashan, is rash enough to follow his example, provokes his own destruction, is subdued in his turn, and the fertile plains, over which he reigned, swell the triumphs of Israel.

Advancing forward to Jordan, they pitch their camp in the plains of Moab. This nation was descended from Lot, the nephew of Abraham, by an incestuous commerce with his elder daughter. They had long before this been reduced into a regular form of civil government, that of monarchy, and were living in the quiet possession of a fruitful country, secured to them by the appointment of Providence, in consideration of their relation to their venerable ancestor: and Israel was expressly prohibited to disturb them, or their brethren and neighbors, the children of Ammon, the posterity of Lot by his younger daughter, in the possession of their inheritance. The report of their victories, however, over Og, and Sihon, has roused the attention and the jealousy of Balak king of Moab. Instead of employing the rational policy, of courting alliance and friendship with a people so formidable, and who were neither disposed nor permitted to molest them: or of adopting the manly policy of repelling bold invaders by open war, he has recourse to the mean, timid, and contemptible arts of necromancy or divination. For this purpose he sends messengers to Balaam, the son of Bosor, a noted enchanter of those times, with large money in their hands, styled in Scripture “the rewards of divination,” and “the wages of unrighteousness,” and a message to this purpose: “Behold there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me. Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.”[*]Num 22:5-6 Thus Providence fulfilled the words of the oracle, pronounced in the song of Moses thirty-eight years before, immediately on the passage of the Red Sea; “Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them: all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them: by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone.”[*]Exo 15:15-16 Now the person, to whom Balak applied on this trying occasion, was a man of it very extraordinary character, and of very singular gifts and abilities. He seems to have united qualities, the most dissimilar and opposite. He exhibits in his language and conduct, a very uncommon combination and contrast of virtues and vices. What can exceed on the one hand, the generosity and disinterestedness which he expressed and put in practice, when repeatedly urged to employ his prophetic sagacity or magical skill against Israel? If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.”[*]Num 22:18 What can equal on the other, the vile prostitution for hire of his great talents in the service of an idolatrous prince against the people whom he knew to be favored and protected of Heaven! We see him this day seeking and enjoying the most intimate communication with the living and true God; and tomorrow recurring to the practice of infamous and infernal arts, to accomplish a most detestable and diabolical purpose: proclaiming at one time, in language which the spirit of wisdom and prophecy alone could inspire, the security, glory, and happiness of that people whom God delighted to honor; and, with the very next breath, insidiously suggesting counsels, which directly tended to destroy that security, to tarnish that glory, and to dissolve that happiness. In a word, we behold him fully impressed with the importance of a holy life, in order to a peaceful and happy end, and yet living in the commission of the most flagrant enormities, and prematurely cut off; with all his imperfections on his head; cleaving to the last to the mammon of unrighteousness, and yet sufficiently impressed with the loveliness of true goodness to pray in these words, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!”[*]Num 23:10 For the farther clearing up of this very singular character and history, it may be of importance to observe, that though the descendants of Abraham for many ages after the death of that patriarch, were distinguished as the peculiar people of God, to whom were committed the lively oracles, and “to whom pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;”[*]Rom 9:4 yet Scripture permits us not to consider all divine knowledge as confined to that people, previous to their establishment in Canaan. The dispersion from the wild attempt of Babel, necessarily conveyed in everyone of its fragments some knowledge of the nature, will, and worship of the God of their fathers; which, though in process of time, obscured by tradition and forgetfulness, and disfigured by human invention, must still have retained somewhat of both its original form and substance. The example and instructions of so good a master, and a neighbor so respectable as Abraham himself, could not but have made a sensible effect on his numerous domestics, who were of various countries, and upon the princes with whom he came into connection and for this very end probably it was, that Providence kept him wandering from place to place,. By means of their intercourse with Abraham, we know that Pharaoh and Abimelech attained at least a certain degree of acquaintance with the true God. We find, in like manner, Job, at whatever period he lived, and his three friends, in Arabia, and particularly Elihu of the kindred of Ram, discovered very profound knowledge in divine things; and Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, in the land of Midian, appears evidently to have possessed the same advantage. It is not therefore matter of very great surprise, that Balaam, a stranger and an enemy to the commonwealth of Israel, should enjoy this advantage in common with many of his neighbors, and that he should have made such an indifferent use of it: this alas, being the misery of multitudes, who are favored with a still clearer light than he was. Neither will it excite wonder, if we find superstitious and idolatrous rites gradually blending with the worship of the great Jehovah. Laban, though not to be set down as wholly given to idolatry, long before the period now under review, had his Teraphim or household gods, which he highly prized, either as objects of religious veneration, or on account of the precious materials of which they were composed. And this too will in part account, for that strange mixture which we find in the character of Balaam, his sudden transition from the acknowledgment of the God of Israel, to a participation in the profane rites employed in the worship of the idols of Balak and Moab.

But, notwithstanding this odious and abominable mixture, we observe in more than one instance, the great God winking at these times of ignorance, and condescending to make known his will, even to men who were daily. insulting him by their abominations as is the case of Pharaoh and Abimelech already mentioned, as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, the grossest of idolaters, many ages afterwards, and in the case before us. All this leads to make an obvious and an important distinction, between the extraordinary gifts and the graces of God’s Spirit. It to one thing to have a clear, enlightened head, and another, to have an affectionate and obedient heart. It is a blessed union where they meet, but the former without the latter only renders wickedness more conspicuous, and condemnation more just. The charge, alas! does not stop at wicked, covetous Balaam; it was matter of complaint down to the days of Micah, and of prophets of a different description. “The heads” of God’s people judge “for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money.” And our blessed Lord, to level all confidence in the possession of the choicest gifts, assures us, that many shall say to him in the great day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity.”[*]Mat 7:22-23

We observe farther, that though God was sometimes pleased to bestow the gift of prophecy upon the unworthy, the prediction, though uttered by unholy lips, was the truth of God, which no weakness, perverseness, nor disinclination of the prophet was able either to alter or suppress. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”[*]2Pe 1:21 They spake under an irresistible impulse; they spake sometimes what they understood not, and what they would have concealed, if they could. Thus Caiaphas, the avowed enemy of our blessed Lord, uttered a notable prophecy concerning him, not knowing what he said. Thus Jeremiah, disgusted with the ill success of his preaching, finding the Word of the Lord made a reproach and a derision daily, by the thoughtless men of his generation, resolved not to make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. “But,” says he, “his word was in mine heart, as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” And Josephus, in perfect consistency with the character of Balaam, as drawn by Moses, puts into his mouth this address to the king of Moab, who upbraided him with breach of agreement, in pronouncing the warmest of benedictions, where he was expressly hired to curse: “Can you imagine, that when prompted by the Spirit of God to disclose futurity, it depends on us to be silent, or to speak out? He makes our voices the vehicles of his will, without permitting us a choice in the matter. I well remember for what purpose the joint entreaties of you and the Midianites have brought me hither. I have undertaken this journey with a fixed determination to favor your earnest wishes: but God is more powerful than the bent of my inclination, which aimed at the gratification of your desires. For when he takes possession of our minds, he occupies them wholly, and leaves us nothing of our own. I had nothing less in my intention, than to trumpet the praises of this mighty host, or to display the blessings which God has in reserve for this favored race. But being graciously disposed towards them, and determined to exalt them to the highest pinnacle of glory and felicity, He suggested to me the predictions which I could not but utter.”[*]Joseph Antiq. lib. iv. cap. 4.

Sometimes the representation of some dreadful punishment, to be instantly inflicted, if they dared to falsify the oracle committed to them, might serve as a curb to their own natural and unruly propensities; and, sometimes carried wholly out of themselves, they delivered, in an ecstasy, what was committed to them, unconscious of what they said or did. In the prosecution of the history, we shall find Balaam under both these kinds of inspiration; both awed by fear, and wrapped into the vision of futurity, in a trance.

I only make one observation more, for the clearing up of this remarkable story. It was a generally received opinion among the Gentile nations, that prophets, or diviners, had a power, by means of incantation, to inflict or to remove public calamities; that they understood the art of decoying from among their enemies, the tutelary deities who presided over them; in consequence of which, they were easily and certainly discomfited. Homer makes the capture of Troy to depend on the removal of the sacred image of Minerva from its residence in the citadel of that metropolis: and Joshua himself, in the conquest of Canaan, takes advantage of this vulgar prejudice, to encourage his men to proceed to victory; and to prevent the ill effects of the timid and terrifying report of his colleagues respecting the strength of the country. “Rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.”[*]Num 14:9 it was accordingly usual, on undertaking military expeditions, to nerve the arm, and to whet the sword of the soldier, by the tongue of the priest, and the tremendous forms of religion. They attempted to make the gods parties to their quarrels, and devoted to perdition the nations against whom they waged war. An ancient author has transmitted to us the form of execration employed on such occasions, which, on account of its relation to our subject, perhaps you will have the curiosity to hear. It is a perfect contrast to the blessing which Balaam was obliged, reluctantly, to pronounce upon Israel. The priest destined to this awful employment, after presenting the usual sacrifice, advanced to the head of the army, and in the presence of the general and principal officers, pronounced aloud words to this effect: “Almighty Father of gods and men, or if thou wouldst rather be addressed by the name of Jupiter, or if any other appellation be more grateful to thine ear; pour out, I conjure thee, upon this army,” or “this city,” according as the case required, “the spirit of terror and dismay; deprive of the sight of their eyes, all those who shall level their blows at us, our legions or troops; spread darkness over our enemies, over their cities, over their fields, over their armies. Look upon them as a thing accursed: bring them under the hardest conditions that ever an enemy was constrained to undergo. As for me, to destruction I hereby devote them; my curse I pour upon them, and take this prince, these captains, this people, to be witnesses of it.”[*]Macrob. Saturnal. lib. iii. cap. 9. This ceremony being performed, and the soldiers inspirited by the sanctions of religion, they advanced to the combat, in confidence of success.

It was for a purpose of this kind, that Balaam was now sent for by the confederated powers of Moab and Midian. How the latter of these two nations had been induced to join in such an embassy, we are not informed. The middle forty years of his life, Moses had spent among that people; had formed alliance with them, by marrying the daughter of Jethro, one of the princes of the country, with whom he maintained a most friendly correspondence, after he was raised to the command of the armies of Israel. He cannot, therefore, be suspected of forming a hostile design against his ancient hosts and relations; and it was much more natural for them to form an alliance with a man of Moses’ well known wisdom and moderation, and with a people so sensibly favored of Heaven as Israel was, than with a nation of idolaters, and a prince, who was reduced to employ the poor arts of incantation against his enemies. But, in many cases it happens, that, aiming at an over-refined wisdom and policy, men prove themselves fools. Jethro was probably by this time dead, and the Midianitish estate was governed by councils, very unlike those which would probably have been suggested by that wise and good man: and a deputation of their princes joins those of Balak, in an application to Balaam, to strengthen their united forces, by laying Israel under a curse.

It is melancholy to think that from the beginning to this day, men have been more eager to bring mischief upon others, than to procure good to themselves. Had these Midianites, and Moabites, associated together to strengthen their borders; had they invited a prophet to come and confirm their bands of alliance, and encourage the hearts of their soldiery, by pronouncing a blessing upon themselves, they had not been reprehensible; but such is the corruption and malignity of the human heart, that it not only takes pleasure in the evil that befalls another, where our own interest is concerned, but in the very mischief that is wrought for mischief sake. The great evil is, men engage in transitory pursuits, as if they were immortal; and had they the power, together with the inclination, would prosecute momentary offences with everlasting punishments. What is it to one nation that another great nation be utterly exterminated, provided a favorite scheme of ambition, commerce, or revenge, be thereby promoted! When we hear a poor wretch, a common curser and swearer, on the most frivolous occasions, imprecating eternal damnation on his fellow-creature, we are filled with horror; and yet without surprise, we behold religious sects in their zeal, and mighty empires in their pride and fury, deliberately doing the same thing. What principle so important to individuals and to states, as a principle of true religion! It is a comforter in affliction, a counsellor in darkness and uncertainty, a refuge in danger and distress, a support in death. What so seductive and mischievous as an erroneous principle of this sort! “If the light that is in men be darkness, how great is that darkness?” False religion is a wandering fire of the night, hurrying men over a precipice; plunging them in the gulf--pretending to bring a tribute of glory to God by destroying mankind. It is the spirit of the great enemy of God and man, who is a liar and a murderer from the beginning.

It is the perilousness of the times that has tossed Balaam into notice, and consequence, and infamy. In a quieter period, he had floated unnoticed on the surface, and silently increased the paltry gains of his black art, by playing on the credulity of silly women and children. But the old wizard has had the good fortune to attract the notice of princes, and has the opportunity of selling his magical spells at his own price; and he fails not to make the most of his market. With the clue afforded us in Scripture, we will attempt in another Lecture, to follow the various turnings and windings of that profoundest, darkest, most intricate of all labyrinths, a carnal, covetous heart. We conclude the present with calling upon you:

I. To remark and to revere the righteous judgment of God, in giving up to strong delusion those who seek and follow delusions. Every deliberate violation of God’s law, every victory which a man gains over his own conscience becomes his punishment, as it is his crime. Let not him who has wilfully deceived himself, in the first instance, pretend to complain, that he has been flurried into mistakes which he never intended, but could not avoid. The first wrong step was in his power, but not the fourth or the fifth. The man needed not, unless he chose, to have set himself a running down a steep place, but, once in motion, it is not in his power to stop when he would. If therefore he plunge into the flood beneath, the fault is in himself, not the laws of motion, which only carried on what his own will had begun. The man who has destroyed his faculties by excess, must not charge his bad memory, his erroneous judgment, or the inconveniences in which they have involved him, upon nature or the God of nature. No, they only establish the work of his own hands. In this view, it is perfectly just that “to him who hath should more be given, and from him who hath not, even that which he hath should be taken away.”

II. Let us rejoice that we have a clear and “sure word of prophecy,” to direct and assist us in every doubtful and difficult case; and that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” The gift of prophecy was not always a blessing to the possessor; and, as the mere knowledge of future events, it would be the reverse of a blessing. In tender mercy and in loving kindness, God conceals futurity from men. But all that pertains to the acquisition of wisdom, and the attainment of happiness; all that assures us of life and immortality, and makes us meet for the enjoyment of it, the words of this prophecy fully unfold. “The righteousness of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart: That is, the word of faith which we preach, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”[*]Rom 10:6-9 To know but this, is more than “to speak with the tongues of men and of angels”--is more than to have the gift of prophecy, and to understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and to have all faith, so as to be able to remove mountains.” “Covet earnestly the best gifts;” but rather cultivate the fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”[*]Gal 5:22-23

III. While we admire the wisdom and goodness of God, in counteracting the intention of wicked Balaam, and turning the curse in his mouth into a blessing, let us bow the knee in gratitude to that great Prophet, who has wholly, and forever done away the curse; let us give glory to “God, who hath sent his Son Christ Jesus to bless everyone of us, in turning us from our iniquities;” and to introduce us into more than an Eden, more than a Canaan, even into the paradise of God; where there is no more curse”--“where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”[*]Rev 21:4

IV. While we behold “the madness of the prophet”--a heart hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, let us tremble to think that the seeds of this very sin are implanted deeply in our own nature; that they have even discovered their baleful shoots; that they bring forth fruit unto death. Every plant which our heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be plucked up and rooted out; and this is one of them. Look to it carefully, O man watch it with a holy jealousy. “It is the root of all evil.” “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”[*]1Jn 2:15-17