The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 308

and character of the seer. Compare the ria.y• is truly said, 110,'l'ever, that a passing illUBion ingof Sophocles(' Anti!!'.,' 1056}, rcl pal'ruto11 of this kind, while it testifies that the yap ,rii11 ~•Aapyvpov -ywoc. Apostle understood the words like all his con• Yer. 18.-I unnot go be:f:ond the word of tempomries, in their moot natural and simple the Lord my God. Ba.la.am s fe.ith was para- sense, does not oblige us to hold the same mount within its own sphere of operation. riew; if he was mistaken in this matter, it It did not control his wishes ; it did not does not at all affect the inspired truth of his secure the heart obedience which God loves ; teaching. Two theories, therefore, have but it did secure, and that absolutely, out. been propooed in order to avoid the difficul- ward obedience to every positive comme.nd ties of the ordmary belief, while vindicating of God, however irksome; and Balaam never the reality of the occurrence. It has been made any secret of this. ~eld by some that the whole affair took place Ver. 22.-And God's anger we.s kindled m a trance, and resembled St. Peter's beca.111e he went, or, "that he we.s going." vision of the sheet Jet down from heaven (Act.II L 10), which we rightly conceive to :m, ';]~;;,-,~- Septuagint, or, ,,ropE~I'/ have been purely subjective. This is o~n avroc. There can be no question the.t the to the obvious and apparently fatal objection ordine.ry translation is right, and that God that no hint is given of any state of trance or we.s angry with Ba.lae.m for going at all on ecstasy, and that, on the contrary, the word• such an errand. lt is true that God had ing of the narrative as given to us is incon- given him permission to go, but that very sistent with such a thing. In ver. 31 Bale.am's permission was a judicial act whereby God eyes are ae.id to have oeen opened so that punished the covetous and disobedient lon~- he saw the angel ; but to have the eyes open ings of Ba.le.am in allowing him to have his so that the (ordinarily) invisible became own way. God's e.nger is kindled by sin, visible, and the (otherwise} inaudible became and it we.snot less truly &in which prompted audible, WBS precisely the condition ofwbich Balaam to go beca11.&e he had succeeded in Bale.sm speakll (eh. xxiv. 3, 4} as that of obtaini.ng formal leave to go. The angel of trance. .A.ccordmg to the narrative, there- the Lord stood in the way. The same angel fore, Ba.le.am was in an ecstasy, if at all, after of the covenant apparently of whom Moses the speaking of the ass, and uot before. By had spoken to the Edomites(see on eh. :a:. 16). others it he.a been put forward, somewhat For e.n adversary against him- i? lt?in. confusedly, the.t although Bale.am wss in his ordmary senses, he did not really hear a Septuagint, o,a/3a1'Eiv abr6v. Not so much human voice, but tha.t the " cries" of the because Bala.e.m we.s rushing upon his own e.ss became intelligible to his mind ; and it destrnction llS because he was going to fight is noted that as an augur he had been accus- with clll'SeS, µ' po~ible, against t~e Israel of tomed to assign meanings to the cries of God (cf. 2 Kings vi. 17; Pa. xx:nv. 7). animals. If instead of "cries " we read Ver. 23.-Alld the ass sa.w the angel of "brayings,'' for the ass is endowed by nature the Lord. This we.s clearly part of the with no other capa.eity of voice, being indeed miracle, the cr,jµl<ov which was to exhibit in one of the dumbest of " dumb" animals, such a striking manner the stupidity and we he.ve the matter more fairly before us. blindness of the most brilliant and gifted To most people it would appear more in- intellect when clouded by greed and seliiah- credible that the brayings of an ass should ness. It is nothing to the point that the convey these rational questions to the mind lower animals have e. quicker perception of of its rider than that the beast should have some natural phenomena than men, for this spoken outright with a man's voice. It was not a natur&l phenomenon ; it is nothing would indeed seem much more satisfactory to to the point that the lower anima.ls are regard the story, if we cannot accept it as credited by some with possessing "the literally true, as a parable which Balaam second sight," for all that belongs to the WTOte 11$3inst himself, and which Moses fantastic and legendary. If the e.ss sa.w the simply mcorporated in the narrative ; we angel, it was because the Lord opened her should at least preserve in this way the eyes then, as he did her mouth afterwards. immense moral and spiritual vnlue of the Ver. 25. -She thrullt herself unto the story, without the necessity of pla.eing non• wall. Apparently in order to de.ss the angel natural constructions upon its simple state• beyond the reach of his swor ; when this men ta. Supposing the miracle to have really we.a clearly impossible she fell down. occurred, it must always be observed that Ver. 28. -And the Lord opened the mouth the words put into the e.ss's mouth do of the &111. On the face of it this expression nothing more than express such feelings as a would seem decisive that an audible human docile and intelligent animal of her kind 'Voice proceeded from the a.as's mouth, as St. would have actually felt. That domestio Poter beyond doubt believed: virotvyw,o &Dimala, and especie.lly such as have been a;wll'Ot' hr ci,,l;pw'll'Olf f"'"'U f3Ey(ap.tl'Of', It long in the service of man, feel smprise. OH, XXII. 2-40.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 291