when there is no genuine abhorrence of wrong-doing. 2. In the Divine compulsion under which he ie placed to punrue hie journey. "Go with the men," &c. He would fain drnw bnck, but it is too late now; he must do the work and bear the testimony thnt God has determined for him, When men are bent upon that which is evil, God often nllowe them to become entangled in circumstances of danger from which tl,ere ie no escape, thnt "they mny eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices" (Prov. i. 31).-W.
EXPOSITION. B.u.A..,Ud'e PROPHEOIES (eh. xxii. 41- from which the immediate prospect w1111 un- xxiv.). Ch. xrii. 41.-The high places of interrupted. llaal, or "Bamoth-Baal." Perliaps the Ba- Ver. 4.-I have prepared ■even altars. moth mentioned in eh. n:i. 19, 20. This Balaam, acting for the king of Moab, his is, however, by no means certain, because heathen patron, in this difficult bnsiness, high places were no doubt numerous, and points out to God that he had given him the that Bamoth would seem to have been too full quota of sacrifices to begin with. It w1111 far from the present camp of Israel. In implied in this reminder that God wonld any case they crossed the Amon, and ran naturally feel disposed to do something for some risk by adventuring themselves on Balaam in return. hostile territory. That thence he might Ver. 7.-Took up his panble. ',~ (cf. eee the utmost part of the people. Accord- eh. x::xi. 27). Balaam's utterances were in ing to the quasi-sacramental character at- the highest degree poetical, according to the tributed to the cursing of a seer, it was held antithetic form of the poetry of that day, necessary that the subject of the curse should which delighted in sustained paralielisms, in be in view, Balak desired to attain this lofty figures, and in abrupt turns. The object with as little risk as possible, and "=hal " of Balaam resembled the " bur- therefore he took Balaam first of all to these den" of the later prophet.!! in this, that it heights, whence a distnnt and partial view of was not a discourse uttered to men, but a Israel might be had. thing revealed in him of which he bad to deliver himself as best he might in such Ch. :x:xili. 1.-Build me here seven altars. words as came to him. His inward eye was Accordin~ to the common opinion ·of the fixed on this revelation, and he gave utter- heathen, 1t was necessary to propitiate with ance to it without consideration of those sacrifices the God with whom they had to who heard. Aram, i.e. Aram-Naharsim, or do, nnd if possible to secure his favourable Mesopotamia (cf. Gen. .x::rix. I ; Dent. x:riii. consideration on their side. The number 4). Defy, or "threaten," i. e. with the seven was especially connected with the wrath of Heaven. Jacob. The use of this revelation of the true God, the Creator of name as the poetical equivalent of Israel the world, and was probably observed here shows that Balaam was familiar with the for this reason. The sacrifices were offered no story of the patriarch, and understood his doubt to Jehovah. relation to the people before him. Ver. 3.-Peradventure the Lord will come to meet me. It might be concluded from Ver. 9.-The people ahall dwell alone, eh. n:iv. 1 that Balaam went only to look and shall not be reckoned. Rather, " It is for "auguries," i. e. for such natural signs a people that dwelleth apart, and is not in the flight of birds and the like as the nnmbered." It was not the ontward isolation heathen were wont to observe as manifesta- on which his eye was fixed, for that indeed tions of the favour or disfavour of God, the was only temporary and accidental, but the success or failure of enterprises. It seems religious and moral separateness of Israel as clear that it was his practice to do so, either the chosen people of God, which was the as having some faith himself in sucn uncer- very secret of their national greatness. tainties, or as stooping to usual heathen arts Ver. 10. - The fonrth part of Israel. which he inwardly desrised. But from the l,';li-n~ is so rendered by the Targums, as fact that God met him (we know not how), alluding to the four great camps into which and that such supernatural communication the host was divided. The Septuagint has was not unexpected, we may conclude that o,jµovi; apparently from e.n incorrect rea.d- Balanm's words meant more for himself than in". The Samaritan and the older versions, the mere observance of auguries, whatever followed by the V ul&3te, render it "progeny," they muy have meant for Balak. To an but this meaning IS conjectural, and there high place. Rather, " to a bald place " seems no sufficient reason to depart from the ('~r-compare the meaning of " Calvary"), common translation. Let me die the death 814 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS [OIi. :XXJI. 41-UIV,