people, the Lord himself met Balaam again, and con- strained him, in his reply to Balak, to declare,
I. The immutability of God —
Balaam had endeavoured to turn God from his pur- pose; and perhaps, from having, as he conceived, prevailed upon him to reverse his word before, he hoped to succeed in like manner again. But he was compelled to confess to Balak the inefficacy of his attempts to change the mind of God —
[Balak had supposed Balaam to be capable of effecting great things ; and had imputed his former answer to a want of inclination, rather than of power, to comply with his wishes. But Balaam here distinctly confesses, that it was not in his power to "reverse," or alter, what God had spoken: and that, consequently, it was in vain to make any renewed attempts.
Man, from a variety of causes, might be led to change his mind : he might gain a further insight into a matter than he had possessed before ; or he might be biassed by some inter- vening interests ; or he might find himself incapable of execut- ing his projects for want of power : but no such occasions of change can exist in God : " He is not a man that he should lie ;" there is in him " no variableness, neither shadow of turn- ing :" "He cannot lie:" "it is impossible that he shouldb:" he is as unchangeable in his purposes, as he is in his perfec- tions : " He is of one mind ; and who can turn him ? " So self-evident was this truth, that Balaam appealed even to the conscience of Balak himself respecting it : " Hath he said, and shall he not do it?"
This view of the Deity was a sufficient answer to Balak : it was a pledge to him, that the promises originally made to Abra- ham should be fulfilled to his descendants. And it is an answer too to all the unbelieving fears which occasionally arise in our minds. " God's gifts and callings are without repentance0." " He will not forsake his people, because it hath pleased him to make them his people d:" and it is owing solely to the un- changeableness of his mercies, that any one of his people escapes destruction : " He changeth not ; and therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed6."]
The immutability of God being established, Balaam proceeded to recite,
II. The kindness he (God) had already shewn to his
people —
b Tit. i. 2. Heb. vi. 18. c Rom. xi. 29.
d 1 Sam. xii. 22. e Mai. iii. 6.
173. J Balaam's second attempt to curse Israel. 147
This was such as gave Balak but little hope of ever succeeding against them —
[God had forgiven their sins, so that nothing which they had done amiss should ever provoke him to destroy them. Doubtless there was in them much " iniquity," and much " per- verseness:" but they had not renounced their allegiance to him or their affiance in him ; and therefore he would not give them up to their enemies. He had " cast all their sins behind his back into the depths of the sea," and he viewed them only with an eye of love and mercy. He considered them still as his peculiar people : and he dwelt in the midst of them as their God. Moreover, such manifestations did he afford them of his love and favour, that they could not but rejoice in their security, and triumph in him, with shouts and acclamations, as their Almighty Protector.]
It shews us also what God does for his people at this time —
[The best of his people are but imperfect creatures: " in many things we all offend." But, if we be truly his, " he does not behold iniquity or perverseness in us." We are not by this to understand, that sin, if committed by the Lord's people, is not sinful ; or that it is not most hateful in his eyes : but we are to understand that he is " not extreme to mark what we do amiss ;" that, on the contrary, he views us as " perfect in Christ Jesus," by whom we are "presented faultless before him," and through whose blood and righteousness we are made "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, yea holy, and without blemish f."