The foregoing line of truth is most forcibly illustrated in Balaam’s four parables. To speak after the manner of men, we never should have had such a glorious view of Israel as seen in “the vision of the Almighty”—“from the top of the rocks”—by one “having his eyes open,” had not Balak sought to curse them. Jehovah, blessed be His name, can very speedily open a man’s eyes to the true state of the case, in reference to the standing of His people and His judgment respecting them. He claims the privilege of setting forth _His_ thoughts about them. Balak and Balaam, with “all the princes of Moab,” may assemble to hear Israel cursed and defied; they may “build seven altars,” and “offer a bullock and a lamb on every altar;” Balak’s silver and gold may glitter under the covetous gaze of the false prophet; but not all the powers of earth and hell—men and devils combined, in their dark and terrible array, can evoke a single breath of curse or accusation against the Israel of God. As well might the enemy have sought to point out a flaw in that fair creation which God had pronounced “very good,” as to fasten an accusation upon the redeemed of the Lord. Oh, no; they shine in all the comeliness which He has put upon them, and all that is needed in order to see them thus, is to mount to “the top of the rocks”—to have “the eyes open” to look at them from His point of view, so that we may see them in “the vision of the Almighty.”
Having thus taken a general survey of the contents of these remarkable chapters, we shall briefly glance at each of the four parables in particular. We shall find a distinct point in each—a distinct feature in the character and condition of the people as seen in “the vision of the Almighty.”
In the first of Balaam’s wonderful parables, we have the marked separation of God’s people from all the nations most distinctly set forth. “How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied? for 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.”[19]
Here we have Israel singled out, and partitioned off to be a separated and peculiar people—a people who, according to the divine thought concerning them, were never, at any time, on any ground, or for any object whatsoever, to be mingled with or reckoned amongst the nations. “The people shall dwell _alone_.” This is distinct and emphatic. It is true of the literal seed of Abraham, and true of all believers now. Immense practical results flow out of this great principle. God’s people are to be separated unto Him, not on the ground of being better than others, but simply on the ground of what God is, and what He would ever have His people to be. We shall not pursue this point further just now; but the reader would do well to examine it thoroughly in the light of the divine Word. “_The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations._” (Chap. xxiii. 8, 9.)
But if Jehovah, in His sovereign grace, is pleased to link Himself with a people; if He calls them out to be a separate people in the world—to “dwell alone,” and shine for Him in the midst of those who are still “sitting in darkness and the shadow of death,” He can only have them in such a condition as suits Himself. He must make them such as He would have them to be—such as shall be to the praise of His great and glorious name. Hence, in the second parable, the prophet is made to tell out, not merely the negative, but the positive condition of the people. “And he took up his parable and said, ‘Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: God is not a man, that He should lie; 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 a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath _God wrought_! [not, What hath Israel wrought!] Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.’” (Chap. xxiii. 18-24.)