Indignation, and grief in the presence of the utmost astonishment, notoriously pro, injustice and ill-treatment is abundantly duce no efl'ect at the moment upon a mind certain. In many well.authenticated cases which is thoroughly exasperated. they have done things in order to erpress Ver. 31.-The Lord opened the eyes of these feelinga which seemed 88 much beyond Balaam, and he saw the angel. As on their " irrational " nature as if they had other occasions, the angel was not pereeptiblo epoken. We constantly eay or a dog or a to ordinary sight, but only to eyes in some horse that he can do everything but speak, way quickened and purged by the Divine and why should it seem incredible that God, operation. This explams the fact that who has given the dumb beast so close an Be.Jaam'e companions would appear to have approximation to human feeling and reason, seen nothing (cf. Acts ix. 7). should for once have given it human voice f Ver. 32.-Bece.uae thy way is perverse. With respect to Bal.aam's companions, their t:11:0 an uncommon word, which seems to presence need not canse any difficulty. The mean " leading headlong," t. e. to destrne princes of Midian and Moab had probably tion. t, gone on to announce the coming of Balaam ; Ver. 33.-Unless .. surely. '<¥•••'cl~. his servants would natumlly fbllow him at It is somewhat doubtful whether this phrase some little distance, unless he summoned can be translated as in the Septnagint(,i µi, .. them to his side. It is very likely too that viiv oi'iv) and in all the versions; but even Balaam was wont to carry on conversations if the construction of the sentence be broken, with himself, or with imaginary beings, as this is no doubt the meaning of it. And he rode along, and this circumstance would saved her alive. Compare the ca.se of the account for any sound of voices which a.as of the disobedient prophet in 1 Kings reached the ears of others. :riii 24. It is plainly a righteous thing Vl!X'. 29.-And Balaam said unto the 1111. with God that obedience and faithfulness That Balaam should atlllWer the ass without should be respected, and in some sense re- expressing any astonishment is cert.a.inly warded, even m an ass. more marvellous than that the ass should Ver. 35.-Go with the men. It may be speak to him. It must, however, in fairness asked to what purpose the e.ngel appeared, it be considered-I. That Balaam was a pro- Balaam was to proceed just the same. The phet. He was accustomed to hear Divine answer is that tlle e.ngel was not a warning, voices speaking 'to him when no man was but a destroying, angel, a visible embodiment near. He had a large and unquestioning of the anger of God which burnt against faith, and a peculiar familiarity with the Balae.m for his perversity. The angel would unseen. 2. Balaam was a sorcerer. It waa have slain Balaam, as the lion slew the dis- part of his profession to show signs and obedient/rophet, but that God in his mercy wondera such as even now in those countries permitte the fidelity lilld wisdom of the a.ss confound the most experienced and sceptical to save her master from the immediate con- beholdera. It is likely that he had often se!luences of his folly. If Balaam had hnd a made dumb animals speak in order to be• mmd capable of iruitrnction, he would indeed wilder othera. He must indeed have been have gone on ns he wns bidden, but in a. very conscious to some extent of imposture, but different spirit and with very different de- he would not draw lilly sharp line in his signs. own mind between the marvels which really Yer. 36. - Unto a oit:, of llloab, or, happened to him and the ma,rvels he dis- pla:,ed to others. Both as prophet and as "unto Ir-Moab" (::l~\l.l ,~-',~), probo.bly sorcerer, he must ho.ve lived, more than any the same ru1 the Ar mentioned in eh. xxi. other even of the.t age, in an atmosphere of 15 as the boundary town of 1,foab at tha.t the supernatural. If, therefore, this portent time. wu rea,lly given, it was certainly given to the Ver. 39. -Kirjath-huzoth. "City of very man of all that ever lived to whom it streets." Identified by some with the ruins W88 most 8tlitable. Jnst 88 one cannot of Shihtl.n, not far from the supposed site of: imagine the miracle of the ste.ter (Matt. Ar. xrii. 27) ha,ppening to any one of less simple Ver. 40.--aalak offered oxen and sheep. and childlike faith than St. Peter, so one Probably these se.crifices were offered not to could not think of the ass 111! speaking to Chemosh, but to the Lord, in whose nllme any one in the Bible but the wizard prophet, Balaam alwe.ys spoke. Indeed the known for whom-both on his good and on his bad fact the.t Balaam was a prophet of the Lord side-the boundary liMs between the natural was no doubt one of Balak's chief reasons and supernatural were almost obliterated. for wishing to obtain his services. Balak 8. Bwm was a.t this moment intensely shared the common opinion of antiquity, tbat angry, and nothing blunts the edge of natural the various na,tional deities wore enabled by arprise so much as rage. Things which circumsto.nces pa.st human understanding to afterwards, when calml7 roeollected, cause do sometimes more, sometimes less, for their 294 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. tc11. :x:xu. 2-40.
apeci&l votaries. He perceived that the God such a policy. Thus Pliny quotes anolent of Israel was likely, as thin!!S stood, to carry authors as affirming "in oppugnation1bua all before" him ; but he thought that he ante omnia solitum a Rot Banis Bacrdotibus might by judicious management be won over, evocari Deum, cujus in tuteltl. id oppidum at Ieast to some extent, to desert the cause of esset, promittique illi eundem aut-ampliorem Isniel e.nd to favour the.t of Moab. To this apud Romanos cultum,"and he adds, "durst encl he "retained" at great cost the services in Pontificum disciplinA id eacrum, conatat- of Balaam, the prophet of the Lord, and to que ideo occultatum, in cujus Dei tutela this end he was willing to offer any number Roma esset, ne qui hostium simili modo of sacrifices. Even the resolute and self. agerent." And sent, i e, portions of the reliant Romans believed in the wisdom of eacrifici&l meats.