The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 304

PRELIMINARY NOTE TO CHAPTER XXII. 2-XXIV. That this section of the Book of Numbers has a character to a great extent peculiar and isolated is evident upon the face of it. The arguments indeed derived from its language and style to prove that it is by a different hand from the rest of the Book are obviously too slight and doubtful to be of any weight; there does not seem to be any more di.ersity in this respect than the difference of subject matter would lead us to expect. The peculiarity, however, of this section is evident from the fact that these three chapters, confessedly so important and interesting in themselves, might be taken away without leaving any perceptible void. From eh, xxii. 1 tho narrative is continued in eh. xxv., apparently without a break, and in that chapter there is no mention of Balaam, It is only in eh. :x:x:xi. (vers. 8, 16) that two passing allusions are made to him: in the one his death is noted without comment; in the other we are made acquainted for the fimt time with a fact which throws a most important light upon his character and career, of which no hint is given in the section before us. Thus it is evident that the story of Balaam's coming and prophe- cies, although imbedded in the narrative (and that in the right place as to order of time), is not structurally connected with it, but forms an episode by itself. If we now take this section, which is thus isolated and self-contained, we shall not fail to see at once that its literary character is strikingly peculiar. It is to all intents and purposes a sacred drama. wherein characters and events of the highest interest are ho.ndled with consummate art. No one can be insensible to this, whatever construction he may or may not put upon it. Probably the story of Balaam was never made the subject of a miracle play, because the character of the chief actor is too subtle for the crude intelligence of the age of miracle plays. But if the sacred drama were ever reintro- duced, it is certain that no more effective play could be found than that of Balaam and Balak. The extraordinary skill with which the strangely complex cho.rocter of the wizard prophet is dro.wn out; the felicity with which it is contrasted with the rude simplicity of Bo.lak ; the picturesque grandeur of the scenery and incident ; and the art with which the story leads up by successive stages to the final and complete triumph of God and of Israel, are worthy, from a merely artilltic point of view, of the greatest of dramatic poets. There is no such minute drawing out of an isolated character by means of speech and incident to be found in the Old Testament, unless it be in the Book of Job, the dramatic form of which serves to give point to the comparison ; but few would fail to see that the much more subtle character of Balaam is far more distinctly indicated than that of Job. Balo.am is emphatically a "study," and must have been intended to be so. Yet it must be reme111bered that it is only to modem eyes that this part of the varied truth and wisdom of Holy Scripture has become manifest. To the Jew  288 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [cas. xxn.- xxrv.