C.—BALAK’S SECOND MESSAGE, BALAAM’S WAVERING, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON HIM IN PERMITTING THE JOURNEY
Num_22:15-21
15And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honourable than they. 16And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me: 17For I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people. 18And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. 19Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more. 20And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I 21shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. And Baalam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The politic Balak saw clearly through the answer of Balaam, and knew how to approach him. A more stately embassy, flattering his love of distinction, a confidential alluring prayer of the king (
àַìÎðָà
), the prospect of high honor or rich rewards suited to his strong desire would prevail. Balaam understands the courtly message well, when he say: If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, etc.—[Hirsch: “Balaam’s answer betrays his real character. However much he seeks honor, he seeks wealth still more. Balak had not intimated in his message anything about gold. He has spoken only of great distinction, and said that every wish should be gratified. But Balaam immediately translates honor into gold. This is the supreme good with him.”—A. G.]. The real thought of his heart shines out clearly through this seemingly strong resolution. Still more when he asks them to tarry another night, as if to ascertain in a second nightly vision what more Jehovah would say to him, he intimates that he deemed it possible that He would decide differently this time. Knobel says, “there are other instances in the Old Testament in which God changes His mind when besought to do so (Num_16:21 sqq.; Exo_32:14; Jon_3:10).” Knobel ignores entirely the distinction between the merely seeming “changes of mind” in the way of mercy, and the still more apparent “change of mind” in judgment. He regards Balaam in a very favorable light. But one has examined the passage very superficially if he regards the second command of God as a concession. Now indeed the consequences of his character and conduct begin to gather around him, so that he goes on involved in inconsistencies, until the final disruption and ruin takes place. It had been easier for him to refuse Balak positively, than to make use of the permission to go, coupled with a condition which must entirely defeat his object. But yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. The deceitful heart allowed him to hope that Jehovah would at last grant him his wish, while the grand irony of the divine providence went on, giving him over to the judgment of his own double-heartedness. He might have been saved if now, when God tried or tested him, because he had sought to tempt God, he had sought permission to remain. [Upon the apparent contradiction between the prohibition, Num_22:12, and the permission, Num_22:20, and the anger of God at his going, Num_22:22, See Hengstenberg, Beiträge 3, 469; History of Balaam, p. 44, Note. The whole difficulty vanishes at once when we consider that the prohibition was to go and curse Israel, and in the permission to go he is still forbidden to curse. The curse was that for which Balak sent for him. That is forbidden throughout. The permission, or rather the command to go, for as Hengstenberg well says, “that which he sought to do in the service of his own sinful lusts, he must now do after any such hope has vanished, in the service of God,” was in fulfilment of the divine purpose and given partly with reference to Balaam himself, and partly through Balaam’s blessings to bless His own people, and to glorify His name among the heathen and in Israel. Balaam now became the unwilling instrument in the execution of the divine purpose. The anger of God was kindled against him, not because he went merely, but because he was going with a blind and persistent adherence to his own plan, under the control of his own lusts, and probably in the hope that in some way he would secure his own distinction and wealth. God holds His instruments in His own hands.—A. G.].
