Numb. xxiv. 15 — 17. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of JBeor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, who heard the words of God, and knew the Jcnoivledge of the Most High, who saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open : I shall see him, but not now : I shall behold him, but not nigh : there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre
shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
IT has pleased God on various occasions to make known his will to persons of a very unworthy cha- racter ; and to shew that his ways and thoughts are not regulated by the vain maxims of human wisdom. He proclaimed to Ahaz the conception of our Emmanuel in the womb of a virgin. To Ne- buchadnezzar he revealed the successive destruction of the four great monarchies, and the erection of the Messiah's kingdom on the ruins of them all. Thus, in the passage before us, we are informed, that he declared to Balaam not only his purposes respecting Israel and the nations that surrounded them, but the advent of that glorious person, who, as a star should enlighten, and as a prince should govern, the whole world.
Let us consider,
I. The prophecy —
The introduction to this prophecy is not unworthy of our notice —
[It seems very strongly to characterize the person who delivered it. When prophecies have been delivered by pious men, they have either been introduced with a plain declaration, " Thus saith the Lord ;" or the prefatory observations have been calculated to exalt and glorify God. But Balaam's pre- diction is ushered in with a pompous exhibition of his own attainments, intended, as it should seem, to wrest from Balak that respect and honour, which he had failed to procure by his preceding prophecies3.
It shews us too, in a very awful and convincing light, how much knowledge we may possess, while yet we are utterly destitute of converting grace. The most highly favoured of God's servants from the beginning of the world had not delivered a clearer prophecy of Christ than that which was uttered by Balaam on this occasion. Nor is it improbable
a There is some little obscurity in the passage, occasioned by the translation. The words "whose eyes are open," in ver. 15. should be, " whose eyes were shut ; " and the words "in a trance," which are printed in italics, should not have been inserted. The former refers to his not seeing the angel, when the ass saw him ; and the latter to his falling flat on his face when the angel discovered himself to him. See Numb. xxii. 27 — 31.