The Second “Parable” of Balaam

It was but natural that Balak should have been equally surprised and incensed at the words of the soothsayer. The only solution he could suggest was, that a fuller view of the camp of Israel might change the disposition of the magician. “Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them (viz., in their totality); only the end (utmost part) of them seest thou, but the whole of them thou seest not—and from thence curse me them.” ^{12Numbers 23:13. So literally; the critical discussion see in Keil, Bible Commentary vol. 2 p. 313.} The station now selected was on the field of the watchers,” on the top of Pisgah, affording not only a full view of the camp, but of the Land of Promise itself. Here Moses, not long afterwards, took his farewell prospect of the goodly heritage which the Lord had assigned to His people. ^{13A description of the view from Pisgah is given in a subsequent chapter.} The same formalities as before having been gone through, in regard to altars and sacrifices, Balaam once more returned to Balak with the following message:BHOTV3 20.1

Rise up, Balak, and hear, Hearken to me, son of Zippor! Not man is God that He should lie, Nor a son of man that He should repent! Hath He said, and shall He not do it, Hath He spoken, and shall He not fulfill it? Behold, to bless, I have received—And He hath blessed, and I cannot turn it back! He beholdeth not iniquity in Jacob, And He looketh not upon distress in Israel: Jehovah his God is with him, And the king’s jubilee in the midst of him. ^{14That is, the shout of jubilee on account of the abiding presence of Jehovah as their King is in the midst of the camp of Israel. This is symbolized by the blast of the trumpets, which is designated by the same word as that rendered “jubilee.”}BHOTV3 21.1

God bringeth them out of Egypt—As the unwearied strength of the buffalo is his. ^{15Viz., Israel’s.} For, no augury in Jacob, no soothsaying ^{16The same word by which Balaam himself is uniformly designated as “the soothsayer.”} in Israel, According to the time it is said to Jacob and to Israel what God doeth. ^{17In due time God reveals by His word to Israel His purpose.}BHOTV3 21.2

Behold, the people, like a lioness it riseth, And like a lion it raiseth itself up—He shall not lie down, till he has eaten the prey, ^{18Literally, “the torn,” what he had torn in pieces.} And drink the blood of the slain.BHOTV3 21.3

The meaning of this second “parable” needs no special explanation. Only it will be noticed, that the progress of thought is successively marked by four lines—the last two always expressing the ground, or showing the foundation of the two first. The center couplet is the most important. It marks forever, that the Covenant-Presence of God in Israel, or, as we should now express it, that the grace of God, is the ultimate cause of the forgiveness of sins, and that the happy realization of Jehovah as the King is the ground of joy. Whenever and wherever that Presence is wanting only unforgiven sin is beheld; wherever that shout is not heard only misery is felt.BHOTV3 21.4