entirely forsaken the heads of the patriarchal families; though they had begun to mingle much superstition with the truth of God. The real motive, however, of Balaam's wishing to go with the messengers of Balak arose from his desire to obtain greater rewards and more profitable advantages. Therefore the anger of God is said to have been kindled against him (ver. 21); and the manner in which that anger was manifested has given rise to the scoff and sneer of the neologian and the infidel. The prophet was both profane, in blending the false worship with the true, and covetous, in desiring the rewards of the king of Moab. Both these vices, therefore, were to be reproved. We have seen that the wild ass was worshipped because of its usefulness. The ass may also be regarded as a proof that the prophet was wealthy and honourable; for the animal was ridden only by those who sat in judgment, or held high station. The idolatry and the covetousness, therefore, of the prophet were reproved in the manner recorded; and the meaning of the miraculous opening of the mouth of the ass may be said to be, "I, the god of the idolatry which you blend with the worship of Jehovah, am compelled by a higher and Divine power to reprove my own worshipper, and to declare the superiority of the God of Israel, who by His angel appeals to His erring prophet; and I, the dumb beast on which you ride, reprove, at the same time, the covetousness which debases the prophet, because I am the proof and token that this covetousness is not the fear of poverty, or the evidence of want and privation, but the love of the wages of unrighteousness." Such may be called the meaning and intent of the miracle. In other words we may say that the prevailing sin of the ancient patriarchal world was idolatry: the prevailing sin of the modern Christian world is covetousness. The one universal, general, corrupting, degrading vice is the "covetousness which is idolatry." And the God of Revelation has appointed the most unusual, striking, marvellous, wonderful of all the miracles, to reprove this most common and prevalent of all sins, that the believer in the only true God might ever remember His condemnation of that love of money which is emphatically called "the [a] root of all evil'." It may appear strange to say so, but the character of Balaam, in uniting error with truth, and the conduct of Balaam, in uniting covetousness with knowledge, is, without any exception, the most common that in any and every age has degraded the patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian Churches; that is, which has degraded the believer, in all times, of the one true Religion; and this, though the infidel may still deride the record of the event, this is the one great object of this singular history, that the Christian should never blend the false with the true-never love the wages of unrighteousness, and "the covetousness which is idolatry;" but that he should remember how "the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, forbade the madness of the prophet." He should remember that those who are resolved to be rich in any way which God condemns, “fall into temptation and a snare;" and will find at the hour of death, and in the world beyond the grave, that they have "pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 21 Tim. vi. 10. NUMBERS XXXIII. 48. The forty-first journey.—From Abarim to the plains of Moab by Jordan. BEFORE CHRIST L 48 And they departed the plains of Moab by Jor1452. from the mountains of dan near Jericho. ■ ch. 22. 1. ch. 33. 48. Judg. 11. 25. d Exod. 15. 15. • ch. 31. 8. Josh. 13. 21. Deut. 23. 4. & 24. 9. Mic. 6. 5. Abarim, and a pitched in NUMBERS XXII. 1-35. Balaam and Balak. 1 And the children of ture I shall prevail, that we Israel set forward, and may smite them, and that pitched in the plains of I may drive them out of Moab on this side Jordan the land: for I wot that by Jericho. 2 ¶ And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. he whom thou blessest is 7 And the elders of BEFORE CHRIST 1452. 8. 3 And Moab was sore 4 And Moab said unto e the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. 5 He sent messengers Josh. 13. 22. therefore unto Balaam the Neh. 13. 1, 2. son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his 8 See ch. 23. people, to call him, saying, Deut. 23. 4. Behold, there is a people 2 Pet. 2. 15. Jude 11. Rev. 2. 14. 7. + Heb. eye. h ch. 23. 7. come out from Egypt: which covereth the face of prevail in face of the earth, and me them; peradventure † I ↑ Heb. I shall h BEFORE CHRIST 1452. 1 ch. 23. 20. 1 curse the people: for they word which I shall say unto 13 And Balaam rose up Rom. 11. 29. in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your land: for the LORD refuseth to give 21 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. 22 And God's anger BEFORE CHRIST 1452. me leave to go with you. was kindled because he 15 ¶ And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honourable than they. 6. 17. 2 Pet. 2. 16. 23 And the ass saw the 'See 2 Kings angel of the LORD standing Dan. 10. 7. in the way, and his sword Acts 22. 9. 16 And they came to drawn in his hand: and the Jude 11. Balaam, and said to him, ass turned aside out of the Thus saith Balak the son way, and went into the + Heb. Be not of Zippor, Let nothing, field: and Balaam smote I pray thee, hinder thee the ass, to turn her into from coming unto me: thou letted from, &c. ver. 6. ch.24. 13. the way. 17 For I will promote m side. 25 And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and 18 And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, "If Balak would give me his house he smote her again. • 1 Kings 22. full of silver and gold, I 2 Chron. 18. Cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do 14. 13. 26 And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 27 And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. 28 And the LORD "opened the mouth of the ass, 2 Pet. 2. 16. BEFORE CHRIST 1452. and she said unto Balaam, | Wherefore hast thou smit- there were a sword in mine * Prov. 12. 10. hand, for now would I kill thee. y 2 Pet. 2. 16. 30 And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I + Heb. who thine ass, upon which hast ridden upon me. Or, ever since thou wast, &c. b 33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive. 34 And Balaam said thou hast ridden ever unto the angel of the LORD, с BEFORE CHRIST 1452. Heb. to be unto thee. an adversary 2 Pet. 2. 14, 15. 24, 30. & 26. 21. 2 Sam. 12. 13. since I was thine unto this I have sinned; for I knew 1 Sam. 15. See Gen. 21. opened the eyes of Balaam, again. 19. 2 Kings 6. 17. Luke 24. 16, 31. in thine eye. and he saw the angel of 35 And the angel of the the LORD standing in the LORD said unto Balaam, way, and his sword drawn Go with the men: but ver. 20. * Exod. 34. 8. in his hand: and he bowed only the word that I shall down his head, and Or, bowed himself. flat on his face. fell speak unto thee, that thou 32 And the angel of went with the princes of PRAYER.-LET US PRAY, that we never be guilty of the folly which makes the experience of the day in which we live, the criterion of the truth of the events recorded in Revelation. That we never be tempted by the rewards and honours of the world, to oppose the will, or deny the truth, of God. That we never confound the inventions and additions of men with the actual Revelation of that truth. That we especially guard our hearts against "the love of money, the root of all evil.” GIVE us grace, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, so to walk by faith and not by sight, in this transitory world, that we may not only endure and conquer temptation, "as seeing Him who is invisible," but that we never doubt of the truth of the wonders recorded in Thy Holy Word, because they are contrary to the results of our experience, the dictates of our weaker reason, or the observation of our senses. Whatever Thou hast recorded in the pages of Thy Holy Scriptures, give us wisdom to believe with the understanding, and grace to welcome with the heart. As Thou hast made all things of nothing, and created the world that is seen from the substance which does not appear-so convince us that Thy power may interfere, to direct as well as to create; that nothing is impossible with Thee; that the laws which Thou hast assigned to the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, and the elements which surround us, may be suspended and altered at Thy Will. Keep, O keep us, from the infidelity which denies the truth, from the false wisdom which explains it away, from the vain and foolish philosophy which confounds the unusual with the incredible, and the strange with the impossible. Let no man take our crown. Let no man spoil us of our faith, and hope, and dependence on Thy Providence. Let us never be guilty of making our own ignorance the criterion of the truth of the facts and actions solemnly declared and set forth as the truth in Thy holy Revelation-the best gift of God-the best guide to heaven. When the progress of intellectual corruption degrades and debases the more learned and influential men among us; when the Christian Religion is derided; when its mysteries are scorned as foolishness; when the humble Christian, who maintains and defends the holy faith of the Bible and of the Church, is despised as weak, and ignorant, and unworthy of the approbation of the philosopher, falsely so called, so guard, so defend us, that we never permit the fear of man, nor the hope of reward, nor the desire of the fame and estimation which attends the apostate from the humility of the common faith, to make us waver, or doubt, or deny Thy Sacred Word. May we ever be enabled with boldness, yet with meekness, with firmness, yet with gentleness, to contend earnestly for the faith. once delivered to the saints in Thy holy Revelation, and continually handed down to us Thy servants in the Church of the living God. And as we pray to Thee for wisdom, and knowledge, and strength, and power, to resist the proud infidelity, and the false philosophy, of the age in which we live; so also give us Thy grace to maintain and uphold the truth of the word of Thy Church, without any weak and vain compliance with the corruptions and superstitions, the additions and the inventions, which have rendered the ancient faith of Thy Holy Word a stumbling-block and a cause of offence to the meek and humble. Make Thy Word our rule. Give us grace to be directed by the Church, which is directed by Thy Word. And because "the love of money is a root of all evil," and the "covetousness, which is idolatry," is the sin that doth so easily beset us, and the chief cause of all the sorrows that pierce the soul in the remembrance of death and judgment; so give us Thy grace, that we ever remember the example of the prophet, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, and was reproved by Thine interfering Providence when the mouth of the voiceless beast of burthen was opened by Thy power to rebuke the iniquity and the madness of the prophet. Ever impress upon our hearts, when we are tempted by the love of money to betray the souls Thou hast committed to our trust, that the most unusual of all the marvellous actions of Thy power which are recorded for our benefit in the pages of Thy Holy Word, was accomplished to reprove the most easily besetting of the sins of Thy people. Save us from the crime of idolatry, from the leprosy of the love of money, from the corruption of the sin of covetousness. Raise our souls to heaven. Elevate our hearts and our affections from the things of earth to the things of heaven. May we lay up treasures in heaven. Wean us from the too great love of the gold and the silver, which absorbs the thoughts, and alienates the heart from Thee. Make us "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." May we use this world, as not abusing it; and so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Hear us, we pray Thee, O King of heaven; not in our own name, but in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. In His words we pray to Thee, as Our Father, &c. The grace of our Lord, &c. |