3. The literal translation of the text is, " Let my soul (or my life) die the death of righteous men, and let my future be like that of one of them." The future, or last end (as our translation gives it) is a very general expression, and may mean anything that comes after. The authors of the old Greek version of the Seventy thought that the prophet meant his posterity, and have so rendered the word. But Balaam, it is to be feared, was too complete an egotist to have taken even that first step out of the abject selfishness which makes a man care for his posterity more than for himself. The common traditional interpretation of the passage is the truest. The selfish, worldly prophet did actually desire for a moment that, when he died, he might die the death of righteous men, and that whatever there be that follows death might be for him such as it was for them.
Let us consider — I. The Eighteous. II. Balaam.
III. The Death of the Eighteous.
IV. The Death of Balaam.
L
The Eighteous.
1. It is necessary to observe particularly what Balaam under- stood by righteous. And he himself is introduced in the Book of Micah as explaining it ; if by righteous is meant good, as to be sure
J A. Barry, Pcwables of the Old TentamenC, 2^7.
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it is. " O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal." From the mention of Shittim it is manifest that it is this very story which is here referred to, though another part of it, the account of which is not now extant. " Eemember what Balaam answered, that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord " ; i.e. the righteousness which God will accept. Balak demands, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? " Balaam answers him, " He hath shewed thee, 0 man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God 1 " Here is a good man expressly characterized, as distinct from a dishonest and a superstitious man. No words can more strongly exclude dishonesty and falseness of heart than doing justice and loving mercy ; and both these, as well as walking humbly with God, are put in opposition to those ceremonial methods of recommendation which Balak hoped might have served the turn. It thus appears what he meant by "the righteous," whose death he desired to die.
He serves his country best Who lives pure life and doeth righteous deed. And walks straight paths, however others stray, And .leaves his sons as uttermost bequest A stainless record which all men may read. This is the better way.
No drop but serves the slowly lifting tide; No dew but has an errand to some flower; No smallest star but sheds some helpful ray, And, man by man, each helping all the rest, Makes the firm bulwark of the country's power. There is no better way.
2. It would be felt to be a prayer universally applicable, were it not for one doubt : " There is none righteous ; no, not one. . . . All have sinned and come short of the glory of God ! " It is true
4i6 THE DEATH TO DIE
that Balaam would feel no such difficulty. To him it was quite sufficient to be able to believe that some of the Jews con- scientiously lived up to the rich heritage of truth they had received. That was sufficient to constitute them " righteous " in his view. But still the difficulty remains, that if we know that nobody is righteous the prayer becomes an empty mockery. But St. Paul himself supplies a cheering reply to this problem in the very chapter from which the above passage is quoted (Rom. iii. 2-22) : " By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested ; . . . even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe." Wesley puts the matter very plainly in his twentieth sermon : " Inherent righteousness is not the ground of our acceptance with God, but the fruit of it, and is therefore not identical with the imputed righteousness of Christ, but is consequent upon it."
^ On Sundays we have attended the Welsh service in the morning, which we could easily follow, and the English in the afternoon. As there are four services in the day, the English sermon generally faUs to some clergyman passing through, and they do not always fare well in consequence; for instance, ten days ago an old canon of Manchester, who preached, recommended us to keep regularly a journal for entering all our good and all our bad actions, and to take care to keep the balance on the side of the former, as we should then feel very comfortable on our death-beds.^