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Balak is named in Rev_2:14 along with Balaam. Like Balaam (q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] ), Balak is to be regarded here as a typical figure. The former teaches doctrine which is false in itself, corrupt in its motive, and immoral in its fruits; while Balak is, as in the OT, the heathen power which thrusts Balaam’s sorceries on the faithful. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that, if Balaam is the teacher of Gnosticism, Balak is the Roman power which has adopted syncretism and seeks to compel the Christians to adopt its ways also, and so makes them fall into the corruptions attendant on pagan worship.
W. F. Cobb.