These three chapters form a distinct section of our book—a truly marvelous section, abounding in rich and varied instruction. In it we have presented to us, first, the covetous prophet, and secondly, his sublime prophecies. There is something peculiarly awful in the case of Balaam. He evidently loved money—no uncommon love, alas! in our own day. Balak’s gold and silver proved a very tempting bait to the wretched man—a bait too tempting to be resisted. Satan knew his man, and the price at which he could be purchased.
If Balaam’s heart had been right with God, he would have made very short work with Balak’s message; indeed it would not have cost him a moment’s consideration to send a reply. But Balaam’s heart was all wrong, and we see him in chapter xxii. in the melancholy condition of one acted upon by conflicting feelings. His heart was bent upon going, because it was bent upon the silver and gold; but at the same time, there was a sort of reference to God—an appearance of religiousness, put on as a cloak to cover his covetous practices. He longed for the money, but he would fain lay hold of it after a religious fashion. Miserable man!—most miserable! His name stands on the page of inspiration as the expression of one very dark and awful stage of man’s downward history. “Woe unto them!” says Jude; “for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after _the error of Balaam for reward_, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” Peter, too, presents Balaam as a prominent figure in one of the very darkest pictures of fallen humanity—a model on which some of the vilest characters are formed. He speaks of those “having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls; a heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: which have forsaken the right way, and 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.” (2 Peter ii. 14-16.)
These passages are solemnly conclusive as to the true character and spirit of Balaam. His heart was set upon money—“he loved the wages of unrighteousness,” and his history has been written by the pen of the Holy Ghost as an awful warning to all professors to beware of covetousness, which is idolatry. We shall not dwell further upon the sad story. The reader may pause for a few moments, and gaze upon the picture presented in Numbers xxii. He may study the two prominent figures—the crafty king and the covetous, self-willed prophet; and we doubt not he will rise up from the study with a deepened sense of the evil of covetousness, the great moral danger of setting the heart’s affections upon this world’s riches, and the deep blessedness of having the fear of God before our eyes.
We shall now proceed to examine those marvelous prophecies delivered by Balaam in the audience of Balak, king of the Moabites.
It is profoundly interesting to witness the scene enacted on the high places of Baal, to mark the grand question at stake, to listen to the speakers, to be admitted behind the scenes on such a momentous occasion. How little did Israel know or imagine what was going on between Jehovah and the enemy. It may be they were murmuring in their tents at the very moment in the which God was setting forth their perfection by the tongue of the covetous prophet. Balak would fain have Israel cursed, but, blessed be God, He will not suffer any one to curse His people. He may have to deal with them Himself, in secret, about many things; but He will not suffer another to move his tongue against them. He may have to expose them to themselves, but He will not allow a stranger to expose them.