The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 317

Vere. 2-4.-.Moab take, alarm. I. AN INTERESTED OBSERVER Olf AN IMPORTANT ACTION, "Balak saw all thllt Israel had done to the Amo rites." The thing wa, worth observilng in itself, that this great host of people, coming with but little notice, having no land of its own, no visible basis of operations, no military renown, should yet have crushed into ruin such powerful kings as Sihon and Og. It was not merely the conquest of one army by another; there was something decisive and very si 6"1lifi- cant about the conquest. Just as in profane history some battles, such as Marathon and Salamis, Waterloo and Trafalgar, stand out like towering mountains because of the great issues connected with them, so these victories of Israel over Sihon and Og are for all generations of God's people to consider. Balak of course was interested as a neighbour, but we, living thousands of miles from the scene of these events, and thousands of years after them, should be not less interested. They concern us just as much BI! they concerned Balak. Distant as they are from us in time, they have to do very practically with our interests and the yet unaccomplished purposes of the ever-living God. We are too observant of trifles, the gossip of the passing day, the mere froth on the waves of time. The thing also pressed/or notice. The Amorites were Moab'e neighbours, and Moab had been conquered by them. If Israel then had conquered the conqueror, there was need for prompt action. So long as Israel was far away, w11Ddering in the wilderness, with no aim in its course that could be aecertained,-that course aimless rather, so far as others could make out,-there was no feeling of alarm. But now, with Israel iri its very borders, Moab feels it must do something. Yet the pressure was not of the right sort. Moab was driven to consider its position not because of dangers within, not because of idolatry and unrighteoUBnees (eh. xxv.), nor that it might become a pure and noble-minded nation, but because of the selfish fear that another people close to its territory might prove hostile and destructive. Thus we ollow considerations to press on us which should not have the slightest force. Where our minds should be well-nigh indifferent they are yielding and sensitive ; and where they should be yielding and sensitive, indifference too often possesses them. When Jesus fed the multitude, the action pressed for notice not because the multitude appreciated the spiritual significance of the action, but they eat of the loaves and were filled. Balak did well when he noticed the victories of Israel, but very ill when he noticed them simply as bearing on the safety of his kingdom. II. THE CONSEQUENT DISQUIETUDE OP' MoAB. The Amorites had conquered Moab, but Israel had conquered the Amorites. The presumption then was that Israel, having the power, would as a matter of course advance to treat Moab in the same fashion; just as an Alexander or Napoleon goes from one conquered territory to conquer the next; just as a fire spreads from one burning house to its neighbour. It was therefore excusable for Moab to be sore afraid; but though excusable, it was not reasonable. The alarm came from knowledge of some things, mixed with ignorance of things more important. The alarm then was groundless. General os that alarm was, Moah had really nothing to fear. Its way of reasoning was utterly erroneous. If Moab had known the internal history of Israel half as well as it knew the present external appearance and recent triumphs, it would not have been alarmed because of the children of. Israel, and because they were many. The children of Israel had been commanded to cherish other purposes than those of conquering Moab, and the mind of their leader was occupied with things far nobler than military success. Besides, as God had remembered the kinship of Israel and Edom, so he remembered that of Israel and Moab (Deut. ii. 9). Moab was afraid of the people because they were many. What a renlation of their craven and object spirit in the past he would have had if he had seen them thr11atening to stone Caleb and Joshua (eh. xiv.). And though they were many, he would have seen that all their numbers availed nothing for success when God was not with them (eh. xiv. 40-45). III. MOAB's CONCLUSION WITH REUARD TO HIS OWN RESOURCES. He could no more resist Israel than the grass of the field resist the mouth of the ox. Thie expresses hie complete distrust of hie own resources, and was a prudent conclusion, even if humiliating, as far as it went, and always supposing that Israel wished to play the part of the ox. The fall of Sihon had taught nothing to Og, the self-confident giant, but the fall of Sihon, and naxt the fall of Og, had taught Moab this at least, that in  802 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [OH. XXII. 2-(0,