The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 320

false religions and all corruptions of the true service of God that priests and prophets have been greedy after money. They promise spiritual things and make large demands for oarnal things; the more they get the more they promise, and the more they get t~~ m?re t~~y want. . " The priests teach for hire, and the prophets divine for money (Micah m. 11). Simon Magus must have known well the greed of his tribe when he offered money to Simon Peter, It is the mark of a true bishop that he is not greedy of fil,thy lucre (1 Tim. iii. 3). Jesus sent forth his disciples to make a free gift in healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and casting out devils. "Freely ye have received, freely give." "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, como, buy wine and milk without money and without price." (Isa.. Iv. 1 ). II. BALA.1..M's RECEPTION OF THE MESSENGERS. He cannot give a prompt answer. We are certainly very much in the dark concerning Bale.am's past life and present position. If he knew anything of Israel's true character and God's purpose concern- ing Israel, then, of course, there was not the smallest excuse for delay. But even supposing him ignorant in this respect, was there any excuse for delay to an upright man? Did not Be.le.k's wish at once suggest the answer an upright man would have given ? Blessing and cursing are great realities, not mere priestly fictions (Deut. :n:vii., xxviii.), but they cnn never become mere matters of money. "The curse ea.useless shall not come." He who deserves blessing cannot be cursed, nor he who deserves cursing, blessed. God's sovereignty, mysterious enough in its operations, is never arbitrary. A.n upright man would have felt it was no use pretending to consult God with a bribe in his hand. The bribe vitiated the spirit of his prayer, and prevented a proper reception of the answer. There a.re certain propositions which upright men do not need to sleep or deliberate over. The answer should follow the request like the instantaneous rebound of e. ball. Balak did not send asking advice in general terms, or that Balaam should do the best he could, but he pointed out e. certain, well-defined road which no upright man could possibly take. If we acquit the prophet of dishonesty and evasion in this plea of delay, we can only do it by convicting him of great darkness in his own spirit and great ignorance of God. IIL THE INTERPOSITION OF Gon. God does not seem to have waited for any request from Balaam. While the prophet is considering all the honour and emolu- ment that may come to him out of this affair, God comes to him with the prompt and sobering question, "What men are these with thee? 11 A.11 the depths of thia question we cannot penetrate, but at all events it was enough to prepnre the prophet, one would think, for an unfavourable answer. A.nd may we not also assume thnt it was expressive of a desire to extricate him when he had only ta.ken one or two steps into temptation? A.s to Balak's request, God settles everything with a brief, e. very brief, but sufficient utterance: " The people are blessed." A.nd blessed beyond all doubt they had been of late, not in word only, but in deed. Note that God does not send any mes,age of r=rance to Balak. There is guidnnce for Balaam, security for Israel, but for Balak only blank denial. If Balak had come in the right spirit to Balaam, and Balaam in the right spirit to God, then the messengers might have gone back cheerful, and welcome to their expectant master. But what begins badly ends worse. He who sets himself in opposition to God's people cannot expect to hear comfortable words from God. If we are to hear such words, we must approach him in the right spirit. We must not seek good for ourselves by a selfish infringement on the good of others. It was one thing for Israel, under the leadership of God, to attack the wicked A.morites; quite another for Moab, on a mere peradventure, to attack Israel. IV. BALAAM's ANSWER TO THE MESSENGERS. He does not repeat what the Lord said; thus advancing further in the revelatiqn of his corrupt heart. Why not have told them plainly these words: "Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are ble■sed"? Simply because it was not pleasant to say such words with the flattering message of Balak still tickling hie ears. It was not true then that whom he blessed we.s blessed, and whom he cursed was cursed; but to have told Moab so would have been to publish hlll humiliation far and wide, and hurt his repute as a great sooth- 1111.yer. Yet how much better it would have been for Balaam as a man, and a man  0B, XXII, 2-40.J TBB BOOK OF NUMBERS.