BIBLE STUDIES.
By
M. M. KALISCH, PH. D., M.A.
PART 1.
THE PROPHECIES OF BALAAM
(NUMBERS XXII. to XXIV)
OR
THE HEBREW AND THE HEATHEN.
LONGMANS,
GREEN AND CO.
1877
Public Domain
Digitized by
Ted Hildebrandt 2004
PREFACE.
ALMOST
immediately after the completion of the fourth
volume
of his Commentary on the Old Testament, in
1872,
the author was seized with a severe and lingering
illness.
The keen pain he felt at the compulsory interrup-
tion
of his work was solely relieved by the undiminished
interest
with which he was able to follow the widely ram-
ified
literature connected with his favourite studies. At
length,
after weary years of patience and ‘hope deferred,’ a
moderate
measure of strength seemed to return, inadequate
indeed
to a resumption of his principal task in its full ex-
tent,
yet, sufficient, it appeared, to warrant, an attempt at
elucidating
some of those, numerous problems of Biblical
criticism
and religious history, which are still awaiting a
final
solution. Acting, therefore, on the maxim, ‘Est
quadam prodire tenus, si
non datur ultra,’
and stim-
lated
by the desire of contributing his humble share to
the
great intellectual labour of our age, he selected, as a
first
effort after his partial recovery, the interpretation of
that
exquisite episode in the Book of Numbers which
contains
an account of Balaam and his prophecies. This
section),
complete in itself, discloses a deep insight into
the
nature and course of prophetic influence; implies
most
instructive hints for the knowledge of Hebrew
doctrine;
and is one of the choicest, master-pieces of
universal
literature. Love of such a subject could
not
fail
to uphold even a wavering, strength, and to revive an
PREFACE.
often
drooping courage. The author is indebted
to these
pursuits
for many hours of the highest enjoyment, and
he
feels compelled to express his profound for gratitude for
having
been permitted to accomplish even this modest
enterprise.
If strength be granted to him, he anxious,
in
continuation of the same important enquiry, still
further
to elucidate the mutual relation, according to the
Scriptures
and the Jewish writings, between the Hebrew
and
the Heathen, by commenting on the Book of Jonah,
of
which he proposes to treat in a Second Part of these
Bible
Studies.
The author would fain hope that the main
portions of
the
work may be found of some interest not only to
theologians
and Biblical students, but to a wider circle
of
readers, since the possibility of a general diffusion of
critical
or historical results is the only decisive test of
their
value.
In the Translation and the
Commentary he has ad-
hered
to the same principles which guided him in his
previous
volumes, and for the convenience of Hebrew
scholars
he has here also inserted the original Text.
Although he has neglected no
available source of in-
formation,
and has endeavoured to utilise, for the illustra-
tion
of his subject, both the most ancient traditions and
the
most recent discoveries and researches, he is well
aware
how much his effort stands in need of indulgence
but
he believes that he will not appeal in vain to the
forbearance
of those who realise the impediments and
difficulties
under which he has laboured.
M.
KALISCH.
CONTENTS
PAGE
1.—THE PROPHET AND HIS PROPHECIES.—PRELIMINARY
TREATISE 1
1. Summary 1
2. Uncertain
Traditions 3
3. The
Character of Balaam 7
4. Balaam’s
Religion 11
5. The
God of Balak 13
6. Balaam
the Prophet 16
7. Misrepresentations 22
The New Testament and Balaam 22
Josephus and Balaam 23
Philo and Balaam 25
Jewish Tradition and Balaam 27
8. Deterioration 34
9. Conclusions 38
10. The
Orginal Book of Balaam 40
11. The
Date of the Composition 42
12. The
Author 51
13.
Balaam’s Identity 52
14.
15. Analogy
of the Book of Ruth 58
16. Fame
and Character of the Book 61
17. Limits 64
18.
II.--
TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY.—NUMBERS XXII.-
XXIV 73
1 Introduction.
xxii. 73
2. Councils xxii. 2-4 83
3. First
Message xxii. 5-14 96
4. Second
Message. xxii. 15-21 116
5. The
Journey xxii. 22-35 124
viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
6. Arrival
and Reception. xxii. 36-40. 152
7. Preparations.
xxii. 41-xxiii. 6 159
8. Balaam's
First Speech. xxiii. 7-10 171
9. Remonstrances
and New Preparations. xxiii. 11-17 185
10. Balaam's
Second Speech. xxiii. 18-24 191
11. Again
Remonstrances and Preparations. xxiii. 25-xxiv. 211
12. Balaam's
Third Speech. xxiv. 3-9 220
13. Balak’s
Anger and Balaam's Reply. xxiv. 10-14 242
14. Balaam's
Prophecy on
15. SUPPLEMENTS.
xxiv. 18-24 263
16. Prophecy
on
17. Prophecy
on the Amalekites. xxiv. 20 277
18. Prophecy
on the Kenites. xxiv. 21, 22 282
19. Prophecy
on
20. Conclusion.
xxiv. 25 304
III.--APPENDIX.--THE
ORIGINAL FORM OF THE BOOK OF BALAAM 308
HEBREW TEXT.--NUMBERS XXII. TO XXIV.
1. SUMMARY.
The
contents of that portion of the Book of Numbers
which
we propose to examine, may be thus briefly sum-
marised.
On their way from
fortieth
year of their wanderings, the Hebrews had ad-
vanced
to the plains of
Alarmed
by the proximity of such large hosts, which had
just
discomfited powerful opponents in the same districts,
Balak,
the king of
chiefs
of Midian, resolved to summon, from Pethor on
the
and
to request hint to pronounce upon the Israelites
a
curse, by virtue of which he hoped to vanquish them
in
the expected conflict.b When the elders of
Midian,
who were selected as envoys, had arrived at
Pethor
and delivered their errand, Balaam bid them stay,
till
he had ascertained the will of God; and when he learnt,
through
a vision, that God disapproved of the journey
and
the curse, since the Israelites were a blessed nation,
he
declined to accompany the messengers.c On bearing
their
reply, Balak sent a second and still more weighty
embassy,
promising Balaam the highest distinctions
and
rewards, if he yielded to his wishes. But Balaam
declared
to the nobles, that no treasures or honours,
a Num. xxii, 1. b Vers. 2-6. c
Vers. 7-13
2 SUMMARY.
however
splendid, could induce him to act against the
command
of God, whom, therefore, he would again con-
sult.
This time he received permission to proceed to
adhere
to God's suggestions; after which he entered
upon
the journey together with the ambassadors.a
Yet when he had set out, God was
greatly displeased,
and
sent His angel with a drawn sword to oppose him.
The
prophet's ass, but not the prophet himself, beheld
the
Divine apparition. The terrified animal first retreated
from
the road into the field; next pressed, in anguish and
perplexity,
against a vineyard wall in a narrow path;
and
at last, unable to withdraw either to the right or
the
left, fell down on the ground, all this time angrily
beaten
by the vexed rider. 'Then the Lord opened the
mouth
of the ass,' who complained to Balaam of his
harshness,
and reminded him that she had never before
behaved
so strangely. ‘Then the Lord opened the eyes
of
Balaam,’ and the angel, now perceived by the seer,
rebuked
him for his cruel treatment of the faithful beast,
and
declared that he had come to resist the journey, since
he
deemed it pernicious. Balaam, mortified and penitent,
readily
offered to return, but the angel commanded him
to
go with the ambassadors, yet scrupulously to abstain
from
saying anything but what the Lord should prompt.b
On
the frontier of
to
whom he announced at once that he could speak
nothing
of his own mind, but was bound to obey the
voice
of God alone.c Hospitable entertainments followed;
preparations
were made for the prophecies; and then,
standing
on an elevation, from where a part of the
Hebrew
people could be surveyed, Balaam, in the pre-
a xxii. 14-21. b Vers. 22-36. c Vers. 36-38.
UNCERTAIN TRADITIONS. 3
sence
of Balak and his chiefs, uttered a speech, inspired
by
God, in which he extolled
and
specially elected by the Eternal, exceedingly nume-
rous,
and happy through righteousness.a The annoyed
king
took Balaam to another place where, after due
preliminaries,
the prophet pronounced a second Divine
oracle,
affirming that the blessing once bestowed on
was
irrevocable, since they were a pious people guided
by
the Lord, victorious by their prowess, and inapproach-
able
in their strength.b Balak,
troubled and amazed,
once
more made a determined attempt, but again Balaam
proclaimed
the praises of
tent,
and fertility of their land, the prosperity and splen-
dour
of their empire, and the terrible disasters they in-
flicted
upon their enemies.c In pain and rage, Balak now
commanded
the seer forthwith to flee to his own country.
But
before departing, Balaam spontaneously added a
prophecy
foreshadowing the subjugation of
by
an illustrious king of the Israelites;d and to this he
joined,
moreover, oracles on the future destinies of the
Hebrews
in connection with
Kenites
and the Assyrians.e Then Balaam and Balak
separated,
each returning to his home.f
2. UNCERTAIN TRADITIONS.
IT
is necessary for our purpose to notice the other Biblical
accounts
with respect to Balaam, and, first of all, to
consider
the following passage of Deuteronomy:g 'An
Ammonite
and a Moabite shall not enter into the con-
gregation
of the Lord . . . because they did not meet
a xxii. 39-xxiii. 10. d
Vers. 10-17. f Ver.
25.
b Vers. 11--24. e
Vers. 18-24, g Deut. xxiii. 4-6,
c xxiii. 25--xxiy. 9,
4 UNCERTAIN
TRADITIONS.
you
with bread and with water on the way, when you
came
forth out of
hired
against thee Balaam, the son of Beor, of Pethor in
would
not listen to Balaam, and turned the curse into a
blessing
for thee, because He loves thee.'a Hence the
Deuteronomist
evidently followed a tradition very differ-
ent
from that embodied in the narrative of Numbers.
According
to the former, Balaam, when ‘hired’ to curse
His
merciful love of
their
intended effect, transformed into benedictions; in
correspondence
with which, Nehemiah, quoting and
epitomising
Deuteronomy, records that ‘The Moabite
hired
Balaam against
turned
the curse into a blessing.’b A process so indirect
and
artificial is wholly at variance with the plain sim-
plicity
of the story before us. Here Balaam never
evinced
the least disposition or made the slightest
attempt
to hazard execrations which levelled against
the
elect of God, would have been hardly less than
blasphemous.
Nor did he allow himself to be ‘hired’ in
the
sense in which Balak wished to engage him; but he
submitted
unconditionally to the direction of the Lord,
who
would not permit an alien to call down upon His
people
imprecations, however empty and transitory.
Micah,
living in the eighth century B.C., alludes to the
tradition
concerning Balaam in a context, which leaves
no
doubt as to its spirit and tendency. For among the
a The change from the plural for
regarding, with some critics, the
(vmdq) to the singular (rbw), with- second part of verse 5, like the
out
the introduction of a new sub- following verse, as a fragmentary
jeet,
is indeed strange and incon- addition.
gruous,
but hardly a sufficient reason b Neh. xiii. 2.
UNCERTAIN TRADITIONS. 5
signal
favours bestowed by God upon His people, as their
deliverance
from Egyptian slavery and their safe guidance
under
leaders like Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, the prophet
mentions
this also: ‘0 my people, remember now, what
Balak,
king of
of
Beor, answered him . . . in order that you may know
the
kindness of the Lord.'a Balaam's ‘answers’ manifestly
did
not satisfy the king; they were blessings and praises
of
the Hebrews; and Micah is, therefore, in harmony
with
Numbers, not with Deuteronomy.
We come to another point, in which
tradition wavered.
The
Book of Joshua, closely connected with Deuteronomy,
states
that Balak actually ‘waged war against Israel.’b
But
the Book of Judges writes distinctly, ‘Did Balak,
the
son of Zippor, king of
did
he fight against them?c And so, according to Num-
bers
likewise, Balak's sole enterprise against
his
employment of Balaam. For, however eager he might
have
been to expel the dangerous invaders by resolute
combat,d
he desisted from the hopeless struggle when Ba-
laam's
co-operation had proved fallacious. Our account
concludes
with the words, ‘And Balaam rose and went
away
and returned to his place, and Balak also went his
way;’e and soon afterwards we
find the Hebrews and
Moabites
not merely living in peace but in friendship,
a Mic. vi. 5. By a strange mis- Aaron);' or, 'not with the
sword,
conception,
many (as Bishop Butler, but by
imprecations' (Keil), which
Lowth,
and others) understood this 'the
writer calls war' (Rosennmeller);
passage
in Micah (vi. 5-8) as 'a or,
'he showed a hostile feeling'
dialogue
between Balaam and Balak.' (Biur and others); and it is gra-
b Josh. xxiv. 9, lxrwyb
MHlyv, tuitous to assume 'small
attacks'
which
cannot mean, 'he intended to (Knobel), of which no mention is
wage
war, the intention being deemed made
in the Old Testament.
equivalent
to the deed' (Kimchi);
c Judg. xi. 25.
or,
' he fought by counsels and stra- d Num. xxii. 6, 11.
tagems'
(Kether Torah of Rabbi e xxiv. 2.5; see notes in
loc.
6 UNCERTAIN
TRADITIONS.
and
readily exchanging their religious views and prac-
tices.a
But the most important fluctuation
is the follow-
ing.
The Book of Joshuab clearly describes Balaam as a
‘soothsayer’
(MseOq),
and adds, moreover, that he was,
among
other enemies, slain by the Hebrews in their war
against
the Midianites, on whose side he fought. A sub-
sequent
portion of the Book of Numbers not only repeats
this
latter statement, but charges Balaam, besides, with
the
heinous crime of having, by infamous counsels,
enticed
the Israelites to the grossly licentious worship of
Baal-Peor,
and of having thus caused a fearful plague,
which
fell upon the people as a Divine chastisement.c It
was
naturally, and perhaps excusably, supposed that, in
the
section under consideration, Balaam is regarded in the
same
light--namely, as a common magician and a fiendish
tempter;
and starting from this view, theologians and
interpreters,
in ancient and modern times, have drawn a
picture
of Balaam's character which is truly awful.
There
is hardly a vice which they did not think themselves
justified
in attributing to him. They uniformly dis-
covered
that our author represented the foreign seer, above
all,
as swayed by the two master passions of ambition and
avarice
to a degree almost amounting to actual madness.d
But
in delineating his other numerous blemishes, they
differed
very considerably. They variously described
a xxv. 1-4. The words in
the either mean that
the curses pro-
Book
of Joshua, which follow upon nounced
by Balaam were turned
those
above referred to, although pro- into
blessings, or that he indeed pro-
bably
coinciding with the conception nounced
curses, but was also com-
of
Deuteronomy, fvmwl ytybx xlv pelled
to utter blessings.
Mktx jvrb jrbyv Mflbl (Josh. b
xiii. 22.
xxiv.
10), may yet be considered as c xxxi. 8, 16; comp. xxv.
1-9.
forming
a transition to that of Num- d
Freely applying to him the line
bers
with respect to the first discre- of
Sophocles: To> mantiko>n ga>r pa?n
panty
pointed out; for they may fila<rguron
ge<noj (
THE CHARACTER OF BALAAM. 7
him
as proud, insolent, and inflated, and yet cunning
and
hypocritical; as false and ungrateful; mendacious
and
treacherous; wavering, yet obstinate; diabolically
wicked
and mischievous; the primary type of all artful
seducers
of God's people; cruel and passionate; a sordid
trader
in prophecy and a mercenary impostor--the Simon
Magus
of the Old Testament; a sacrilegious trickster
and
blasphemous dissembler; an unhallowed idolater
and
a lying sorcerer; a profane reviler and sanctimonious
scoffer.a Indeed not a few writers have produced veri-
table
masterpieces of exegetical ingenuity.b
Justice, however, requires that,
before expressing a
decisive
opinion, we should at least endeavour to under-
stand
this narrative by itself and apart from other
Biblical
notices. This ‘Book of Balaam’--as we shall
henceforth
briefly call it--is in every way complete. It
is
pervaded by religious and historical conceptions pre-
senting
the most perfect unity. We shall, therefore, try
to
reproduce the figure of Balaam from this portion with
all
possible fidelity.
3. THE CHARACTER OF BALAAM.
THE
key to Balaam's whole conduct lies in the words,
‘I
cannot go against the command of the Lord to do
either
good or bad of my own mind.’c The same signi-
ficant
term 'of my own mind,' is, in the Pentateuch,
employed
on another and no less remarkable occasion.
When
Moses announced the miraculous punishment to
a This florilegium--which
is only b As Calvin, Michaelis,
Hengsten-
a
short specimen--has not been com- berg,
Baumgarten, Kurtz, Keil,
piled
at random, but we could quote Reinke,
Lange, Koehler, and others
authorities
of repute for each indivi- who
have influenced the interpreta-
dual
epithet, and shall hereafter have tion
of these chapters.
occasion
to do so to some extent. c yBli.mi, xxiv. 13.
8 THE CHARACTER OF BALAAM.
be
inflicted upon Korah and his associates, he said
‘Hereby
you shall know, that the Lord has sent me to
do
all these works, and that I have not done them of my
own
mind.’a As Moses
is the mouthpiece of God's behests
and
His instrument, so is Balaam. The greatest of the
Hebrew
prophets and the heathen seer here introduced
are
equals in this cardinal point, that all they say and do
is
not ordinary human speech and deed, but the expres-
sion
of the Divine will, which, renouncing their own
volition,
they are ready or compelled to obey.b Can a
stronger
proof than this parallel be conceived of the high
position
and dignity which the author assigns to Balaam?
From
this central view everything else is easily surveyed
and
illustrated. Never, under any circumstances, does
Balaam
forget that he has no independent power, but
that
he is the servant of God, whose visions he beholds
and
whose spirit comes upon him, whose direction he seeks
and
whose revelations he utters.c
Balak's messengers arrive, and, in
accordance with
custom,
bring him rewards for his expected services as
an
enchanter. But neither does the royal embassy, con-
sisting
of the chiefs of two nations, flatter his ambition,
nor
do the presents, no doubt considerable, tempt him
into
covetousness. When he hears the king's request, he
represses
both his inclination and his judgment. Not
even
by the slightest allusion are we informed to which
side
that personal disposition was leaning, since it is of
no
consequence or importance whatever. Declining to
return
an answer on his own account, he asks the
messengers
to wait till he has ascertained the Divine
will,
and when God commands him not to go to
a yBil.imi, Num. xvi. 28; comp. c xxii. 18, 19, 38;
xxiii. 3-5, 12,
Jude
11. 15, 16, 26; xxiv.
4,13,16: which
b See Comm. on Lev. vol.
i. p. 706. passages are distinct
and emphatic.
THE CHARACTER OF BALAAM. 9
curse
the Hebrews, he simply communicates to the
envoys
this injunction, which to him is final.a
Ere long, he is visited by a second
and still more
brilliant
embassy, empowered to make, in the king's
name,
the most alluring offers: ‘I will honour thee
greatly,
and whatever thou sayest to me that I will do’b
--offers
of a kind which it is almost beyond human
nature
to regard with indifference, and which only the
rarest
force of character can succeed in resisting. But
Balaam
remains unshaken. He may, indeed, for a
moment,
have been agitated by an inward struggle,
which
the author, with the subtlest psychological art,
intimates
by Balaam's hyperbolical declaration, that not
even
the king's ‘house full of gold and silver' could alter
his
resolution. But the temptation is no sooner felt than
it
is warded off, and for ever banished from his heart.
He
protests with greater decision than before, that he
‘cannot
go against the commandment of the Lord to do a
small
or great thing,’c and only after having received
God's
distinct permission, does he consent to accompany
the
princes to Moab.d
Balak, ready to prove that he had
not spoken empty
words
when he promised to Balaam the highest honours,
goes
out to meet him at the frontier of his kingdom.e
But
undazzled by this distinction, most flattering ac-
cording
to Eastern notions,f the prophet courageously
and
almost bluntly warns the anxiously expectant king
against
too confident hopes. For, without
speculating
whether
God's repeal of the previous prohibition of the
journey
involved or foreshadowed also a repeal of the
prohibition
of the curse, he tells Balak: ‘Behold, I am
a xxii. 8, 12, 13. b Ver. 17. will soon be apparent; see infra,
c Ver. 18. d Ver. 20. sect. 'Original Form.'
e Ver. 36. In this
survey, we pass f Comp. Gen. xxix. 13; xlvi. 29;
over
xxii. 22-35, for reasons which Exod.
xviii. 7, etc.
10 THE CHARACTER OE BALAAM.
come
to thee; have I now any power at all to say
anything?
the word that God puts in my mouth, that I
shall
speak.'a The next day, after having duly prepared
himself,
he awaits the Divine inspiration,b and having
obtained
it, he joins Balak, who, surrounded by his
nobles,
was standing at the altar and his sacrifices; and
here
he announces, in enthusiastic speech and without fear
or
hesitation, the direct opposite of what the king, as he
well
knew, expected of him and longed to hear.c He
meets
Balak's indignant remonstrances again merely by
affirming
that he dare not contravene the commands of
God.d A never appeal for
Divine direction results in similar
utterances,
followed by the same reproofs and the same
unflinching
confessions.e A third attempt differs from
the
former transactions only in this point, that Balaam no
more
goes out to secure a special revelation. For he is
now
certain that 'it pleases God to bless
convinced
that he may safely surrender himself to the
impulse
of the moment. Indeed, when he beholds the
vast
camp of the Israelites stretched out before his view,
he
exalts their prosperity and power, their fame and
triumphs,
with a solemnity and fervour he had not even
attained
before; and he concludes with declaring, that if
anyone
should presume to curse
that
the curse would recoil.f The king, struck by the
pointed
and ominous allusion, listens to those bursts of
prophetic
fire with increasing rage and consternation;
but
Balaam remains calm and unawed. He is now a
hateful
guest in
regardless
of the danger to which he exposes himself, he
not
only, with imperturbable tranquillity, reminds the
a xxii. 38. c Vers. 7-10. e Vers. 15, 16, 25, 26.
b xxiii. 3. d Ver. 12. f xxiv. 1-9.
BALAAM'S RELIGION. 11
monarch
of his former assurance, that not even all the
golden
treasures of a palace could move him to utter
oracles
‘of his own mind,’a but, rising to new enthusiasm,
he
announces to Balak, unrequested, the future fate of
his
own land, proclaiming that, like many other kingdoms,
it
was doomed to be subdued and crushed by the very
people
which, at that moment, was causing him dread and
horror.b
And then the author concludes his account of
the
seer, simply and quietly, ‘And Balaam rose and went
away
and returned to his place.’c
It would not be easy to find, in the
epic compositions
of
any country, a delineation of character more clear or
more
consistent than that of Balaam in this incomparable
section.
Firm and inexorable like eternal Fate, he regards
himself
solely as an instrument of that Omnipotence,
which
guides the destinies of nations by its unerring
wisdom.
Free from all human passion and almost from
all
human emotion, he is like a mysterious spirit from a
higher
and nobler world, which looks upon the fortunes
of
the children of men with an immovable and sublime
repose.
4. BALAAM'S RELIGION.
To test and to confirm this view, it
will be desirable to
enquire
whether Balaam is, in this portion, portrayed
as
a true Hebrew prophet, or whether and in what re-
spects
he is marked as a heathen.
First, it is important to notice,
that the God of Balaam
is
undoubtedly the God of the Hebrews. He is intro-
duced
with nearly all His Biblical names--Jahveh,
Elohim, El, Shaddai,
Elyon--and
no other deity is men-
a xxiv. 12, 13. c
Ver. 25.--The passage xxiv.
b
Vers. 14-17. 18-24 must
here also be excluded.
12 BALAAM’S
RELIGION.
tioned
throughout the entire Book. The most frequent
by
far is the appellation of Jahveh (hvhy), and it is not a
little
significant that Balaam uses predominantly that
holy
and specifically Hebrew name of Revelation and the
Covenant,
both in the narrative and in prophetic speech;a
a
few times only he employs El and once, respec-
tively,
Elohim (Myhilox<), Shaddai (yDawa), and Elyon (NOyl;f,).c
Wherever
the author relates in his own name, Jahveh
and
Elohim are introduced promiscuously;d
but it would
not
be possible, without resorting to artificial expedients,
to
establish a principle and design in this change or
alternation.
For as Jahveh puts the words into the
seer's
mouth and grants him revelations,e so does Elohim,f
whose
‘spirit comes upon Balaam.’g It
is true that, in
the
account of the first embassy, Elohim
is, with remark-
able
uniformity, used by the author, and Jahveh
by
Balaam;
"but this affords only a new and striking proof
of
the, writer's art and care, who desired to impart to
the
prophet's speech the most solemn emphasis possible,
a xxii. 8, 13, 18, 19; xxiii. 3,
8, xxiv.
1; the latter in xxii. 9, 20;
12,
21, 26; xxiv. 6, 13. xxiii. 4 ; xxiv. 3.
b xxiii. 8,, 19, 23; xxiv. 4, 8,
16, e xxiii. 5, 16.
24. f xxii. 9, 20, 38; xxiii. 4.
c xxii. 38 ; xxiv. 8, 16; comp. g xxiv. 3.--Particularly instruc.
xxiii.
21. How can we suppress tive
is xxiii. 3-5: Balaam expects,
a
feeling of astonishment at finding, that
hvhy
will meet him (ver. 3), in
that
this very circumstance--the reality
he is met by Myhlx (ver. 4),
constant
use by Balaam of the name and hvhy suggests to him the pro-
of
Jahveh--has been urged as a con- phecy
(ver. 5). The distinctions
clusive
proof of Balaam's sanctimony that
have been attempted (Heng-
and
arrogance, of his frauds and stenb.
1. c. pp. 409-411; Baur,
selfish
wiles' (Hengstenberg, Authen- Alttestamentliche
Weissagung, etc.,
tie
des Pentateucbs, i. 407, 411; i. 334; Ewald, Jabrbuecher, viii. p.
similarly
Baumyarten, Reinke, Bei- 18; Keil, Commentar zu Numeri, p.
traege,
iv. 227; comp., however, 297, etc.) are not satisfactory or
con-
Staehelin,
Kritische Untersuchun- vincing.
gen,
pp. 36, 37.) h xxii. 9, 10, 12, 20; and vers.
8,
d The former in xxiii. 6,
16; 13,
18, 19.
THE GOD OF BALAK. 13
while
preserving the greatest simplicity in his own
words.a
But we are not left to deduce, from uncertain
inference,
that the God of Balaam is no other than the
God
of
unmistakeably
expressed. Balaam speaks of Jahveh as
‘my
God,’b just as he says with reference to
Jahveh
is ‘his God;’c and that term 'Jahveh my God 'd
is
not 'merely the Hebrew designation of Balaam's
monotheism,'e
but involves and demonstrates the absolute
identity
of Balaam's monotheism and that of Israel.f
5. THE GOD OF BALAK.
A
CLEAR light is thrown upon the subject by considering
it
in conjunction with Balalc's religious notions.
The king sends messengers to the
seer with the gene-
ral
charge to come and curse the Hebrews.9 He does not
specify
the deity in whose name he desires the curse to
a By what perversion of judgment,
e vyhAlox<
xxiii. 21;
comp. 1 Ki.
was
it possible to discover in this xviii. 39, Myhlx
xvh hvhy;
Ps.
circumstance
also 'a silent accusation vii. 2,
4; xviii,. 7, 29; Hos. ii. 25;
of
hypocrisy against Balaam, who so viii.
2; Zechar. xiii. 9, etc.
boastfully
spoke of his Jehovah (der d yhAlox<
hOAhy;
sich
mit seinem Jehova so breit e Knobel, Numeri erklart, p. 131.
machte),
constantly crying Ku<rie f It is, therefore, not
sufficient to
Ku<rie, although in reality he was say, that 'Balaam's religion was
only
in connection with Elobim.'! probably
such as would be the na-
(Hengstenb. 1. c. pp.409, 411; Lange, tural result of a general acquaint-
Bibelwerk,
ii. 308, 311, 'an ostenta- ante
with God not confirmed by any
tiously
displayed belief in Jehova... covenant'
(Smith, Dictionary of the
...as
if he knew the God of salva- Bible,i.
163): Balaam's acquaintance
tion.'
In the passage xxii. 22-35 with
God was precisely that pos-
also,the
name hvhy
prevails, whether sessed by the
highest minds among
Jahveh
Himself (vers. 28, 31) or, the
Hebrews in the author's time.--
more
frequently, the 'angel of About
the question, how the Meso-
Jahveh'
(vers. 22-27, 31, 32, 34, potamian
Balaam obtained a know-
35),
while Myhlx
occurs but once ledge of Jahveh as the
God of the
(ver.
22). Hebrews, see notes on
xxii. 5-14.
b yhAlox< xxii. 18. g xxii. 5, 6.
14 THE
GOD OF BALAK.
be
pronounced. It is enough for him to know that
Balaam's
blessing and curse are potent and irresistible.
Does
he, in the author's view, mean the God of the
Hebrews
and Him alone? This cannot be assumed; for
if
he had deemed this point essential, he would not have
failed
to insist upon it in his explicit message. He
evidently
knew nothing of Jahveh, or he did not heed Him.
He
had heard of the exodus of the Hebrews from
but
he speaks of their deliverance as of an ordinary
event,
without alluding to Jahveh's assistance or inter-
ventiona--in
striking contrast to Balaam, who repeatedly
attributes
it to the power and mercy of
How
should he indeed expect an efficient execration from
a
soothsayer inspired by a strange god against his own
chosen
people? When Balaam, following the Divine
directions,
announced to the elders of
(hvhy) refuses to give me
leave to go with you;'c in what
form
did the elders bring back this answer to Balak?
They
simply said, 'Balaam refuses to come with us.’d
They
omitted to mention Jahveh, obviously because to
them
and to the king He was an unfamiliar god. If
Balak
had specially desired that the Hebrews should be
cursed
in the name of Jahveh, it would have been of the
utmost
importance to him to learn that it was Jahveh
Himself
who forbade Balaam to journey forth. But the
envoys
and the monarch alike were concerned about
nothing
except the bare fact of Balaam's non-compliance.
The second embassy was despatched
with the same
indefinite
message, no particular god being named.e
However,
when Balaam at last arrived in
to
the king, ‘I will go perhaps the Lord (hvhy) will
a xxii. 5. c
xxii. 13.
b xxiii. 22; xxiv. 8; see notes
on d
Ver. 14.
xxii.
5-14. e xxii,
15-17,
THE GOD OF BALAK. 15
come
to meet me; and whatsoever He will show me, I
will
tell thee.'a Then was Balak, for the first time, made
clearly
aware that Balaam was in the service of Jahveh,
and
then he might easily have informed himself about
His
nature and His relation to
he
thenceforth heard the same name from Balaam's
mouth,
both in the interviews and the prophetic speeches;b
and
when he, therefore, saw Balaarn the second time re-
turn,
prepared for uttering an oracle, he asked, in anxious
suspense,
‘What has the Lord (hvhy) spoken?’c He had
learnt,
that it was from Jahveh, the God of the terrible
Hebrews,
that he must expect his safety or destruction.
But
he had also learnt, that this Jahveh is the God or
Elohim;d
and, consequently, when he requested Balaam
to
make a new attempt in another place, he added, ‘Per-
haps
it will please Ha-Elohim, that thou mayest curse
me
them from there.'e Yet when, this time also, Balaam
pronounced
a blessing and not a curse, the frenzied king,
dismissing
the prophet from his presence, exclaimed,’—‘I
thought
to honour thee, but, behold, the Lord (hvhy) has
kept
thee back from honour'f thus mingling with
his
rage a derisive sarcasm, taunting Balaam's God as
delighting
to deprive of honours and rewards His most
scrupulous
worshippers; and with those defiant words,
Balak,
the type of blind and worldly paganism, so skil-
fully
placed in juxtaposition to Balaam, for ever discards
that
Jahveh, to whom he had turned for a moment
through
fear and selfishness.g
a xxiii. 3. will
be more fully unfolded in the
b Vers. 8, 12. Commentary.
Even Jewish tradition
e Ver. 17. admits,
that Balak was a more su-
d xxii. 38; comp. xxiii.
21. perstitious
idolater than Balaam;
e xxiii. 27. Midrash Rabb. Num. xx. 7, hyh qlb
f xxiv. 11. Mlfbm
rtvy wHn lfbv Mymsq lfb
g Balak's disposition and
views xmvsk
vyrHx jwmn hyhw.
16
6. BALAAM THE PROPHET.
WE
shall approach still nearer to a right estimate of
Balaam's
character by enquiring how he received
Jahveh's
revelations--whether in the manner of Hebrew
prophecy
or in connection with heathen rites?
When Balaam hears, from the first
ambassadors, the
king's
demand, he desires them to remain till the next
morning,
and promises a reply in accordance with God's
injunction.a
He is, therefore, sure of a Divine communi-
cation.
How is it conveyed? Certainly in the night--as
is
not only clear from the context, but is expressed in dis-
tinct
terms;b and evidently in sleep, for God orders Balaam,
‘Rise
and go with the men,’ after which the author adds,--
'And
Balaam rose in the morning ... and went with the
princes
of Moab.'c He received, therefore, his communi-
cations
in dream visions, and these were deemed by the
Hebrews
one of the legitimate and valued modes of
Divine
revelation.d Again, God speaks to Balaam, and
Balaam
speaks to God;e He ‘shows him’ words,’f puts
words
into his mouth,'g or gives him 'commands;'h in
fact
‘the spirit of God comes upon Balaam;’i phrases
which
we find constantly applied in the Old Testament to
the
true seers of Israel.k Balaam's speech or address is
indeed,
on account of its poetical character, generally
a xxii. 8. h
xxii. 18; xxiv. 13.
b Ver. 20. i
xxiv. 2 ; see notes in loc.
c Vers. 20, 21. k
Comp. Deut. xviii. 18; 2 Sam.
d Num. xii. 6 ; Gen. xx. 3; xxxi. xxiii.
2 ; Isai. li. 16; lix. 21; Jer.
11,
24; xlvi. 2; Job iv. 13-16, i. 9; Ezek, xxxiii. 7, etc. Balaam,
etc.;
see Commentary on Genesis, says Lange (Bibelwerk, ii. 309),
pp.
608, 640. with a refinement we
are unable to
e xxii. 8-12, 19, 20; xxiii. 26. realise, had ‘Verkehr’ with
God, but
f xxiii. not
'Umgang:' the distinction is
g xxii. 38; xxiii. 5, 12, 16. certainly
not essential.
BALAAM USE PROPHET. 17
designated
as ‘parable,’a but also as ‘Words of God,’b or
simply
‘utterance’c of Balaam, which is the specific term
for
prophetic communication.d
However, some circumstances are
mentioned which
seem
at least doubtful. We may here briefly pass over
the
fact that the king sent Balaam ‘wages’ or ‘rewards of
divination.’e
Supposing even that Balaam accepted them,
he
deserves no censure. For according to the notions of
those
times, no one ever consulted a seer without offering
him
a present, either in money or provisions, although
the
most trifling gift contented the simplicity of Hebrew
prophets,f
and the assertiong that the ‘men of God’ did
not
receive or take such presents is unfounded, though
in
some cases they may have had special reasons for re-
fusing
them.h--But preparations, apparently considered
indispensable,
are made for the predictions--altars are
erected
and sacrifices offered, at which the king is bound
to
stay.i As these arrangements
proceed from Balaam, we
are
justified in presuming that the sacrifices are presented
to
none else but Jahveh; at the time when this section
was
composed,k altars and sacrifices, not yet restricted to
one
central sanctuary, were lawful at any place;l and
although
prophecies were generally pronounced without
a lwAmA, xxii. 7, 18; xxiv. 3, i
xxiii. 1, 4, 6, 14, 15, 17, 29, 30.
15
; see notes on xxiii. 7-10. k See infra, 'Date.'
b lxe yrem;xi, xxiv. 4, 16. l
See Comm. on Levit. i. 17-19.
c Mflb Mxun; The
‘Moabite Stone’ (line 18) men-
d xxiv. 3, 4, 15,16; comp.jcfyx, tions ' vessels of Jahveh' (hvhy ylk)
xxiv.
14; see notes in locc. taken from the Hebrews,
at Nebo,
c xxii. 7, MymisAq;, see notes on by Mesha, king of
xxii.
5-14. sented to his god
Chemosh. There
f Comp. 1 Sam. ix. 7, 8; 1 Ki. were, therefore, evidently in
his time
xiii.
7 ; xiv. 3 ; 2 Ki. viii. 8, 9; still
(about B.C. 890) legitimate sanc-
see
Mic. iii. 5. tuaries of
God in the east-Jordanic
g Joseph.
h
2 Ki.
v. 15, 16, 26 ; comp. Gen. the very different spirit in the
long
xiv.
22, 23. account of Josh.
xxii. 10-34).
18 BALAAM
THE PHOPHET.
such
expedients, various analogies are not wanting,a
music
especially being used as a favourite auxiliary to
prophetic
inspiration.b--The spot from which the oracles
are
delivered is repeatedly altered.c These changes are
indeed
suggested by Balak, who shrinks from new dis-
closures
at a locality which had once proved inauspicious;
but
as traces of similar views were entertained by pious
Hebrews
also,d Balaam's compliance cannot be interpreted
to
his disparagement.--In order to secure the efficacy of
his
utterances, Balaam must actually see at least a part of
those
who formed the subject of his speeches. The king,
therefore,
chooses the places accordingly, and Balaam is
invested
with the Divine spirit only when beholding the
Israelites
in their camps.e But this circumstance also
involves
nothing which would appear strange in a true
Hebrew
prophet, as is proved by the close parallels which
may
be adduced;f and it is certainly not surprising
in
the comparatively early age to which this Book of
Balaam
belongs.
But, lastly, we have to mention a
point which is not
without
difficulty, and must be considered decisive on
the
present enquiry. How are we to understand the
repeated
statement, that Balaam went out 'to meet God,'g
which
seems to have been a current technical term, and
was
intelligible even in the still briefer form 'to meet?’h
Whenever
Balaam thus goes out, he makes it essential to
go
alone; and it would almost seem that his main object
a Comp. 1 Ki. xviii. 23, 24, 30- ‘prophesy with harps, with
psalteries,
33,
etc. and with cymbals' (tOrn.okiB;
MyxiB;n.iha).
b 1 Sam. x. 5 ; 2 Ki. iii. 15,
Eli- c
xxii. 41; xxiii. 13, 27.
sha
requested, 'Bring me a minstrel d
See notes on xxiii. 11-17.
(NGenam;) and it came to pass,
when e
xxii 41; xxiii. 13; xxiv. 2.
the
minstrel played, that the hand of f
See notes on xxii. 4 l-xxiii. 6..
the
Lord came upon him'; 1 Chr.
xxv.
1, 3, where the sons of Asaph, g
xxiii. 3, ytxrql hvhy hr,q.Ayi.
Heman,
and Jeduthun, are said to h xxiii. 15, hr,q.Axi.
BALAAM THE PROPHET. 19
in
occupying Balak with his sacrifices was to prevent
the
king from following him.a This might seem sus-
picious.
But in whatever manner the author may have
represented
to himself the process of Divine inspiration,
he
naturally, in connection with it, regarded solitude as
pre-eminently
appropriate, because most favourable to con-
centrated
thought and the undisturbed communion with
the
source of revelation. Love of retirement is a common
and
conspicuous trait in genuine Hebrew prophets. They
like
to dwell in caverns and on summits of mountains.b
They
seek above all the desert which, in its awful
grandeur,
its vastness, and silence, seems particularly
calculated
to elevate and inspire the Eastern mind;c and
Moses
himself received his first Divine manifestation in
the
burning bush of the wilderness.d There is, therefore,
nothing
questionable in the circumstance that Balaam
‘went
to a solitude.’e Now why did Balaam withdraw into
the
lonely desert? If we follow an apparently unequivocal
statement
of the text, he went, the first and second time,
‘to
seek enchantments.’f Here we seem suddenly to be
transferred
from the sphere of a pure religion to the
darkest
paganism; for the nechashim (MywiHAn;), wherever
mentioned
in the Hebrew Scriptures, are supposed to
refer
to obnoxious artifices of fraud and jugglery, and
are
forbidden in the Law among the most detestable of
criminal
practices.g So, then, Balaam
would really be
a xxiii. 3, 15: in the latter pas- b
1 Ki. xix. 9; 2 Ki. i. 9; ii. 16,
sage
the distinction between Balaam 25;
comp. Jer. xv. 17.
and
Balak is expressed in the pro- c 1 Ki. xix. 8; Matth.
xi. 7, 9.
noun
yknx
with some emphasis; the d Exod.
iii. 1 sqq.
third
time, when Balaam refrained e xxiii. 3, ypiw, j;l,y.eva see notes in
from
going apart, he did not, as on loc.; comp. hKo, ver. 15.
the
two previous occasions, request f
MywiHAn; txraq;li, xxiv. 1.
Balak
to 'remain by his burnt-offer- g
See Commentary on Levitic. i.
ing'
(comp. xxiii. 29; xxiv. 2), pp. 375, 401.
20 BALAAM
THE PROPHET.
nothing
else but an idolatrous deceiver, and the author
would
have erected a laborious structure with infinite
art,
in order to overthrow it with a single blow? But
some
considerations rise at once to warn us at least
against
rashness in our judgment. In his second speech,
Balaam
himself described it as one of the greatest
glories
of
nor
divination in
superstitious
rites as one of the chief sources of their
prosperity
and happiness. Should he, at that very time, be
himself
guilty of such devices, and thus, double-tongued,
palpably
falsify his own prophecies? Again, we read
that
the third time 'he did not go out as the first and
second
time.' Now, what was his object in going out?
Let
us only recollect that the narrative observes, in the
first
instance, ‘I will go, perhaps the Lord (hvhy) will come
to
meet me;’b and in the second, ‘I will go to meet,’c
after
which ‘the Lord (hvhy) met Balaam.'d It is, there-
fore,
Jahveh, the holy God of Israel, whom he goes out to
seek,
and not ‘enchantments.’ We may, with the utmost
confidence,
balance those repeated statements against
a
single and isolated expression strikingly at variance
with
the tenor and spirit of the entire composition; and
if
we cannot prove that the term nechashim
was, in
earlier
times, employed in a less offensive sense,e we are
justified
and even compelled to consider that word in the
passage
under discussion f as a corruption of the original
text,
whether it crept in accidentally or was ventured by
one
of Balaam's ancient detractors, and to alter it either
into
hvhy
or, what is easier, from the greater similarity
a xxiii. 23, wHana and Ms,q,, d
xxiii. 15, 16.
b hr,q.Ayi, xxiii. 3. e
Comp. notes on xxiii. 25-xxiv.
2;
also on xxii. 5-14.
c hr,q.Axi. f xxiv. 1.
BALAAM THE PROPHET. 21
of
the letters, into Myhlx, from whom, no less than
from
hvhy,
Balaam expected revelations.a If it had
been
'enchantments' or ‘auguries,’ for which Balaam
went
out, he would have adhered to them the third time
as
scrupulously as he had done before, because, according
to
heathen conceptions, they were the most important
element
of the procedure; whereas the circumstance that,
previous
to his final and most solemn speech, he abstained
from
going to meet God, is a necessary feature in the
author's
skilful design.b If, on the other hand, Balaam
really
received revelations from Jahveh by virtue of those
enchantments,
no reproach would fall upon Balaam, but
it
would argue so rude a conception of the Deity as no
enlightened
Hebrew entertained at the time when this
remarkable
Book was written.c
We may, therefore, state, as a safe
and well-founded
result,
that the Hebrew author represents Balaam, the
heathen,
in every respect as a true and noble prophet of
Jahveh,
and thus makes him participate in the highest
and
holiest privileges of the elect of the elected people.d
a xxii. 38. Considering the gra- prophecy is not described as
simply
phic
completeness of the narrative, human,
and his position to
it
is a gratuitous assumption that in not
hostile. Nor can it even be ad-
xxiii.
3, 4, and 15, 16, 'the inter- mitted,
that ‘the obnoxious traits of
mediate
link of looking out for Balaam's
character are, in these
auguries'
is, for brevity's sake, not chapters,
but slightly touched upon,
mentioned
(Ewald, Jahrb. x. 47). because the author did not wish to
b See supra, p. 10. weaken the
force and impression of
c As regards the view of Balaam's
the prophecies' (Herzog, Real-En-
gradual
development from a heathen cycl.
ii. 237): a fair construction of
seer
into a prophet of Jahveh, see the
author's words will never dis-
notes
on xxiii. 25-xxiv. 2. cover the slightest
allusion to an
d It can, therefore, not be
allowed, obnoxious trait.
Compare, on the
that
Balaam is meant to personify other
hand, the admirable remark of
'the
ideal wisdom of the world, or a living
English theologian: 'It is
secular
prophecy and poetry, in their one
of the striking proofs of the
antagonism
to the theocratic people' Divine
universality of the Old Tes-
(Lange, Genes. p.lxxviii.): Balaam's tament, that the veil is, from time
22
7. MISREPRESENTATIONS.
WE
feel a great reluctance to disturb the contemplation
of
so exquisite a production by any expressions of regret.
Yet
it will not be unprofitable to point out the tra-
ditional
and still too common views of Balaam's character
and
life as an instance of the deplorable confusion which
is
possible in Biblical interpretation. It is not, indeed,
our
intention to attempt a complete history of those
misconceptions.
The endless task would be without a
corresponding
advantage. We must be content with
introducing--instar omnium--some ancient specimens
from
these, as from a common parentage, all subsequent
errors
have sprung, which, though infinite in number, bear
all
a striking resemblance--qualem decet esse
sororum.
Continuing in the path of the later
Books of the
Hebrew
Scriptures,a the Jews developed the character
of
Balaam more and more in a spirit of depreciation, and
we
consequently find it, in the New Testament, drawn in
no
attractive colours. Those ‘that cannot cease from sin,
whose
heart is exercised in covetous practices, cursed
children,’
these are the people ‘who follow the way of
Balaam,
the son of Bosor (Beor), who loved the wages of
unrighteousness,b
but was rebuked for his iniquity.'c
The
wicked ‘run greedily after the error of Balaam for
reward,’d
and he is placed on the same level of iniquity
with
Cain, Korah, and Jezebel.e Very remarkable are
the
allusions made to this subject in the Revelation of
to
time, drawn aside, and other cha- a
See supra, p. 6.
racters
than those which belonged b {Oj misqo>n a]diki<aj h]ga<phsen
to
the chosen People appear in the c 2 Pet, ii. 14-16.
distance,
fraught with an instruction d
T^? pla<n^ tou? Balaa>m misqou?
which
. . . far outruns the teaching e]cexu<qhsan.
of
any peculiar age or nation' (Stan- e Jude 11; Rev. ii. 20,
which
ley, Jewish Church, i. 187). reference will soon be explained.
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND
BALAAM. 23
sect
or class of people is introduced, whose teaching is de-
nounced
as utterly pernicious and fatal to salvation.b It
cannot
be doubted that the term ‘Nicolaitans’ is meant to
be
identical with ‘Balaamites;’ for Nicolans in Greek, as
Balaam
in Hebrew, was understood to signify ‘destroyer
of
the people.’c Whether this term ‘Nicolaitans,’ as is not
improbable,
points, with designed obscurity, to Paul and
his
followers, who by their bold rejection of the cere-
monial
law, had drawn upon themselves the bitter
animosity
of Peter and his party,d or whether the Nico-
laitans
formed some other objectionable community, this
much
is certain, that they were held in deep aversion and
hatred,
which their enemies intended to signify, in the
strongest
and most intelligible manner, by associating
them
with the detested seer Balaam.
Similar is the account of Josephus, which bears the
usual
character of his Biblical paraphrase, being legendary
yet
frigid, minute yet inaccurate, and revealing little of
the
spirit and beauty of the original. Josephus regards
Balaam,
indeed, as a ‘prophet’ (ma<ntij),f evidently
even
a Nikolai*tai<. e Comp. Comm. on Lev. ii. 114;
b
Rev. ii. 6, 14, 15, 20-24. Hengstenb., Geseh. Bileam's, pp. 22-
c See notes on xxii. 2-4. 25; Renan, Saint
Paul, pp. 268 sqq.;
d
dietary
and the exclusive marriage pp. 934-938,
where Balaam, like
laws
of the Pentateuch seems, by the
Nicolaitans, is described as
his
Christian opponents, to have ‘doctor
vagaium libidinum carna-
been
considered equivalent to Ba- lium;' Witsii, Miscell. i. 690, 'Ba-
laam's
alleged seduction of the laamitas
et Nicolaitas vel eosdem
Hebrews
to idolatry and incest (su- vel consimiles certe haereticos,'
etc.;
pra, p. 6); hence the two
chief Buddeus, Miscell. i. 220, 221, class-
stumbling-blocks'
in the ‘doctrine ing Balaam among the ‘typici pec-
of
Balaam' are described by St. catores,'
etc.; Herzog, Real-Encycl.x.
John
to have been ‘eating the flesh 338-340; J. R. Oertel, Paulus in der
sacrificed
to idols, and committing Apostelgeschichte,
1868; J. W. Lake,
fornication'
(Rev. ii. 14, fagei?n Paul, the Disowned Apostle,
1876.
ei]dwlo<quta kai> porneu?sai). f Antiq. IV. vi. 4.
24 JOSEPHUS
AND BALAAM.
as
a prophet of the God of Israel, ‘who had raised him to
great
reputation on account of the truth of his predic-
tions,’a
and his speeches are referred to ‘Divine inspira-
tion.’b
But he is, in the first place, at least inexact,
when
he calls him also ‘the greatest of the prophets
at
that time;’c for he certainly did not mean to rank
him
above Moses. It can, therefore, hardly be doubted
that
he assigned to him some intermediate position
between
the Hebrew prophets and the common heathen
diviners.
This is confirmed by the circumstance that
Balaam's
sympathies are represented as being strongly
on
the side of
messengers,
again and again, that he eagerly desired to
comply
with their request;d and, after his first speech,
he
assures the king himself that it had been his earnest
prayer
that he might not disappoint him in his wishes
by
being compelled to invoke blessings upon his enemies.
He
offers the sacrifices in the hope that ‘he might observe
some
sign of the flight of the Hebrews;’e and then from
him,
and not from Balak, proceeds the proposal of another
attempt
at execrating
‘whether
I can persuade God to permit me to bind these
men
with curses.’f Thus Josephus destroys the wonderful
impartiality
and repose of the original, which attributes
to
the seer absolutely no other will than that of the God
of
'in
his own power,'g but 'is moved to speak by the
Divine
spirit,' which does not allow him to be silent, and
‘puts
into his mouth such speeches as he is not even
conscious
of.h But all this is merely intended to enhance
a Antiq. IV. vi. § 2, e
Ibid. § 4, w[j
troph>n i]dei?n sh-
b ]Epiqea<zein. mainome<nhn.
c Antiq. IV. vi. 2, ma<ntij
a@ristoj f Ibid. § 5.
tw?n to<te. g ]En e[aut&?.
d Ibid. §§ 2, 3. h
Ibid. §§ 2, 5.
PHILO AND BALAAM. 25
the
glorification of
barrier
between Hebrew and non-Hebrew, contrary to
the
spirit of the Book of Balaam. To complete his
misapprehension,
Josephus connects this narrative with
the
iniquitous advice which a different tradition imputes
to
Balaam, and on which he dwells with elaborate fulness
and
many fanciful adornments; and, advancing to the
very
opposite of the Biblical story, he lets Balaam say to
the
king and the princes, 'I must gratify you
even with-
out the will of God!'a A
conception of clear and noble
outlines
has thus been confused and almost effaced.b
A still more decided step in the
same direction was
made
by Philo, who could touch no subject without en-
larging
and deepening it by imagination and enthusiasm.
He
bestows upon Balaam a variety of appellations
applicable
only to a heathen soothsayer--'diviner by the
flight
of birds,' or 'an observer of birds,' ‘a searcher for
prodigies,'
and ‘a wily magician.’c In all these arts,
Balaam
was a consummate master. He foresaw the most
incredible
events, as heavy rain in the height of summer
and
burning heat in the midst of winter. He predicted
plenty
and famine, inundations and pestilence, and also
foretold
their cessation. But he was dishonest, avaricious,
and
blasphemous. Pretending to have communion with
God,
he mendaciously told the first envoys that it was
the
Lord who forbade him the journey; and as falsely he
assured
the second ambassadors, by whose costly presents
a Xrh>
ga<r me kai> para> bou<lhsin tion are called oi]wno<mantij (De Con-
tou? qeou? xari<sasqai u[mi?n, §§ 6, 13. fus. Ling., chap. 31), oi]wnoksko<poj
b
Various
other discrepancies be- and
oi]wnoskopi<a (Vit. Mos., loc. cit.,
tween
the account of Josephus and De Mutat.
Nom., chap. 37), terato-
that
of our section will be pointed sko<poj (De Confus. Ling., 1.
c.);
out
in the Commentary. sofistei<a
mantikh<
(De Mut. Nom.,
c Besides ma<ntij
and mantei<a (Vit. l. c.; Vit. Mos. i. 50) and magikh<
Mos.
i. 48), Balaam and his avoca- (Ibid.).
26 PHILO AND BALAAM.
he
was allured, that he went with them impelled by Divine
dreams.
For this base deceit and presumption he was
punished
by not being allowed, for some time, to see the
angel
on the road, which ‘was a proof of his obtuseness;
for
he was thus made aware that he was inferior to a brute,
at
a time when he was boasting that he could see, not only
the
whole world, but also the Creator of the world.’ It
is
true that he enquired of the angel whether he was to
return
home, but this was mere hypocrisy, justly calling
forth
the angel's wrath, ‘for there was no need to ask
questions
in a matter so self-evident.’ In delivering his
speeches
before the king of
free
from cunning and artful divination, but this was
not
his merit, ‘for God did not allow holy inspiration to
dwell
in the same abode with magic.’ Balaam ‘was like
the
interpreter of some other being, who prompted his
words,’
and he derived no real benefit from the inspira-
tion
thus exceptionally imparted to him.a Unable to
take
a warning from the first two prophecies which had
been
put by God into his mouth, Balaam, ‘more wicked
than
the king,’ still ‘most eagerly desired in his heart to
curse
the Israelites.’ A third time baffled in his nefarious
intentions,
since God's. invincible power ‘changed his
base
into good coin,’b and violently upbraided by the
king,
he offered him ‘suggestions of his own mind,’
recommending
that he should ensnare the Hebrews by
the
beauty of the Midianite women, and thus adopt the
only
possible means of success; and this scheme is set
forth
with embellishments similar to those devised by
Josephus.c
Therefore, whenever Philo has occasion to
mention
Balaam--and he employs him frequently as a
a De Mut. Nom., chap. 37. c
Comp. Philo, De Vit. Mos. i. 48-
b De Confus. Ling., chap.
31; 53, Opp. ii. 122 sqq.;
see also Targ.
comp.
De Mut. Nom. 1. c. Jonath. on xxiv. 25, and notes in loc.
JEWISH TRADITION AND
BALAAM. 27
convenient
illustration--he alludes to him in no terms of
sympathy
or regard. He calls him ‘the symbol of vain
people;’
a ‘runaway and deserter;’a a ‘child of the earth
and
not an off shoot of heaven;’b a man ‘misled by a mighty
torrent
of falsehood;’c 'an empty mass of contrary and
conflicting
doctrines,’d since the very name Balaam means
emptiness;e
in a word, a creature finally overthrown and
swallowed
up by his ‘insane iniquity,’ because 'he meant
to
stamp the Divinely inspired prophecies with his
deceitful
jugglery.'f
Thus a complex and unreal character
was constructed,
in
which neither the human nor the Divine elements
have
form or distinctness--a chaotic incongruity, half
man,
half demon.
The same features were worked out by
Jewish Tra-
dition with its own tenacious
ingenuity. A glimmer of
the
truth lingered long in isolated sayings of liberal
teachers.
The words of Deuteronomy,g ‘There arose
thenceforth
no prophet in
commented
upon: ‘Not in
arose
one among the other nations of the world, namely
Balaam.’
Nay, several and not unessential points were
enumerated,
in which Balaam's prophetic endowment
was
held to be superior to that of Moses himself, since
the
former, but not the latter, was described as ‘knowing
the
knowledge of the Most High.'.h This remarkable
pre-eminence
of a heathen is explained and justified by
a De Cherub. chap. 10, ma<taion d
Quod Deter. Potior. Insid.,chap.
lao>n o@nta, and a]stra<teuton
kai> 20, Opp. i. 205.
leipota<kthn. e
De Confus. Ling., chap. 31,
b Gh?j
qre<mma, ou]k ou]ranou? bla<- Opp. i. 429, kai>
ga>r ma<taioj e[rmh-
sthma.
neu<etai Balaa<m.
c
Quod. Deus
Immutab. chap. 37, f De Mut. Nom., chap. 37.
Opp.
i. 299, poll&? t&? th?j a]frosu<- g xxxiv. 10.
nhj xrhsa<menoj r[eu<mati ktl. h xxiv. 16 Nvylf
tfd fdy.
28 JEWISH TRADITION AND BALAAM.
urging
that God desired to deprive the pagan nations of
every
possible excuse, lest they should say: ‘God has kept
us
at a distance from Himself,a and if He had given us
a
prophet
like Moses, we should readily have served Him.’
For
a similar reason, God granted them also great kings
and
sages, though all these, unlike the Hebrew prophets,
kings,
and sages, brought to their peoples no blessings,
but
destruction; on which account, after the time of
Balaam,
the Divine spirit was for ever withdrawn from
the
Gentiles.b And again, Rabbi Abba bar Cahana, a
scholar
of the third Christian century, is reported to have
said:
‘There never were such philosophers in the world
as
Balaam, the son of Beor, and Eunomos, the weaver.’c
The
former proved the depth of his wisdom by the
answer
he gave to ‘all the nations of the earth,’ when
they
came to him enquiring, whether it was possible for
them
to rival the Hebrews, upon which he replied
‘Never,
as long as you hear the lisping of their young
children
in the schools and the houses of prayer.’d
But already in the Mishnah, Balaam, ‘the
wicked,’ is
very
distinctly contrasted with the pious Abraham his
disciples
are described as notorious for the signal vices
of
‘envy, haughtiness, and arrogance;’e and, like their
master,
they inherit hell, and are hurled into the pit of
a vntqHr
htx was a contemporary and
friend of
b Midrash Rabba. Num. Sect. Rabbi Mair, and lived, therefore,
xiv.
§§ 25, 26; xx. init.; Yalkut about the middle of the
second cen-
Shimeoni, §§ 765, 771; Sifre, last tury, A.C. Comp.
Midr. Rabb.
Sect.
sub fin.,fol. 150, ed. Friedmann; Exod.
xiii., init., and on Ruth i. 8,
Midrash Tauchuma, Sect. Balak §1, p. 60 Edit. Stett.
etc. d
Midr. Rabb. Genes. lxv. 10, and
c ydrgh
svmynbx. Neither
the Lam. init., Nypcpcm tvqvnyth
Mx
name
nor the surname of this philo- Mhl
Mylvky Mtx yx Nlvqb.
sopher
is certain, and he has been e hvr
Nyf, hvbg
Hvr, and wpn
variously
identified with Oinomaos hbHr, strangely deduced, respec-
of
nician
of Apamea, and others. He ‘kv Nxm yk; and xxii, 18.
JEWISH TRADITION AND
BALAAM. 29
destruction.a
This text is, in the Talmud, the Tar-
gumim,
and Midrashim, worked out with the utmost zest
and
relish. Balaam, accordingly, is not only ‘the wicked’
par
excellence,b but he is stamped as the permanent type
both
of human depravity and of the enmity of the im-
pious
against
identified,
or in some manner connected, with many of
the
most hateful personages of the Old Testament. His
very
name is supposed to testify to his pernicious nature;
for
he was truly a ‘devourer’ or ‘destroyer of the people,’c
not
only because 'he devised means to swallow up the
people
of
occasioned
the massacre of twenty-four thousand Hebrews,d
but
because his despicable jugglery, and the evil example
of
his life, drew the people, far and wide, into an abyss
of
moral and spiritual perdition.e His father--so assert
the
Rabbins, with that supreme disregard of chronological
probability,
which makes their treatment of history an
engaging
play of kaleidoscopic combinations--his father
Beor
was the Mesopotamian oppressor of the Israelites,
Cushan
Rishathaim,f who, again, was the same person as
the
Aramean Laban.g Yet Balaam himself was identified
with
Laban,h whom old Jewish writers credit with every
vice
of cunning and fraud.i He was
detestable like Cain
and
Doeg, Ahitophel, Gehazi, and Haman.k He was
among
those counsellors of Pharaoh who advised the
a Mishn. Avoth v. 19; compare d Num. xxv. 9.
Midr. Rabbah, Num. xx. 4; Yalk, e See notes on xxii.
2-4.
Shim.
§ 765; Bechai, Comment. on f Judg. iii. 7-10.
xxii.
13, etc. g Talm. Sanhedr. 105x.
b fwrh, passim; comp. Targ. h
Targ. Jon, xxii, 5,
Jon. Num, xxiii. 9, 10, 21,
xfywr. i See Comm. on Genes., pp. 465,
c Talm. Sanhedr. 105 Mflb= 466; comp. Maimon.
Mf flb. Targ. Jon. xxii. 5; Aruch ii. 41, etc.
s.
V., lxrWy Mf flbl tvcf Cfyw k
Talm. Sanh. 105a; Midr. Rabb.
and
various other expositions. Num. xx. 1 fin.
30 JEWISH TRADITION AND BALAAM.
murder
of every new-born male child of the Hebrews, in
order
thus to destroy their expected deliverer, and he
stimulated
the Egyptian people to cruel resistance against
the
oppressed strangers.a He was the instructor of those
impious
‘chiefs of sorcery,’ Jannes and Jambres, who in-
cited
the Egyptian king to the same ruthless measure,
who
tried to imitate the miracles of Moses by their secret
arts,b
and who, at the head of forty thousand of the
foreign
rabble,c induced Aaron to make the golden calf.d
These
two disciples accompanied him on his journey to
Moab.e
For his trade was witchcraft and interpretation
of
dreams, and after having once temporarily enjoyed the
gifts
of true prophecy, he immediately returned to that
trade
for ever afterwards.f All the circumstances of his
life
were inquired into. Thus we read in the Talmud,
that
a certain Sadduceeg asked Rabbi Chanina, whether
a Talm. Sanh. 106a; Sot. 11a; to
be again Jesus; comp. Levy, Cbal--
Targ. Jon. Exod. ix. 21. daeisches
Woerterbuch, i. 31, 337).
b Targ. Jon. Exod. vii. 11. Whatever foundation
there may be
c Exod. xii. 38. for these conjectures, there is no
d Targ. Jon. Exod. i. 15, ywyr doubt that Jesus and Balaam were,
xywrH, vii. 11; Midr. Tanch., Sect. in Talmudical and Rabbinical writ-
xwt yk, §19, p. 316, Ed. Stettin; ings, often brought into mutual
rela-
comp.
2 Tim. iii. 8; see Comm. on tion,
although some, probably, go
Exod.,
p. 114. It has been conjec- too
far in their surmises (as Geiger,
tured
that Jannes and Jambres co- Jud.
Zeitschr. vi. 34-36, 305, re-
inside
with the two men, xnHvy ferring to Christ also Mishn.
Avoth
xrmmv (in Talm. Menachoth 85a), v. 19; Sanhed. x. 2; Midr. Rabbah,
who
reproached Moses with having Num.
xiv. 25, 26, where, however,
brought
new kinds of enchantment ‘Balaam’ is
described as a non-Is-
into
into
enough
in magical superstitions; where
Balaam and Christ are clear.
and
that the first--xnHvy--is no ly
distinguished.)
other
than John ( ]Iwa<nnhj, Myn.iya) e Targ. Jon. Num. xxii. 22.
the
Baptist, and the second Jesus f Talm., Sanhedr, 106a; Midr.
(since
xrmm
means apostate, Talm. Rabb. Num. xx. 2, 9 ; Yallcut Shim.
Horay.
4a), who is also said to have §
765; Midr. Tanch. Balak, § 4.
introduced
Egyptian arts (Talm. g yqvdc, that is, probably, a Jew-
Shabb.
104b, where the son of Sat- ish convert to
Christianity (comp.
da--xdFs, or Mary--is supposed Avoth R. Nath. chap. 5).
JEWISH TRADITION AND
BALAAM. 31
he
knew how old Balaam was at the time of his death.
The
Rabbi replied, there was nothing written on the
subject,
but he believed he was justified in concludinga
that
Balaam reached an age of thirty-three or thirty-four
years,
upon which the Sadducee exclaimed, ‘Thou hast
spoken
rightly, for I have myself seen the chronicle of
Balaam,b
in which it is recorded that Balaam, the lame,
was
thirty-three years old, when he was killed by
Phinehas,
the robber.’c So much is certain, that Jewish
tradition
draws Balaam as disfigured by every conceivable
physical
and moral defect. He was lame on one foot and
blind
on one eye.d He was a pitiless knave, who, without
provocation,
burnt to exterminate millions of souls, and
a
fiendish tempter, who strove to overwhelm a pious
people
by sin and crime; a base hypocrite, who simulated
repentance,
when he was trembling in dastardly fear,e
and
a cunning deceiver, who, under the guise of fervent
blessings,
artfully veiled the bitterest curse and hatred;
an
incarnation of evil, endeavouring, by insincere and
excessive
praise, to hurl the Hebrews into moral ruin,
whereas
Moses, and all the other true prophets, earnestly
dwelt
on their trespasses, and compassionately exhorted
even
the heathen to righteousness; a hollow boaster,
who
promised much and performed little; an impostor,
whose
‘knowledge of the Most High’ chiefly consisted in
being
able to discover the seasons when God is disposed
a With reference to Ps.
lv. 24. has, the robber,' as Pontius Pilate,
b
Mflbd hysqnp (hxFsylp comp, .Perles, in Fran-
c hxFsyl, Talm. Sanhedr. 106b. kel's Monatsschrift, 1872, pp.
266,
This
passage also has been supposed 267),
to
imply a hidden allusion to Jesus, d
Talm. Sanhedr. 10Sa, 106a; the
who,
according to Jewish legends, one is
deduced from ypw (xxiii. 3),
was
lamed by falling from an. eleva- the
other from Nyfh Mtw (xxiv. 3,
tion
(comp. Talm. Sotah l0b), ‘the 15), in
the well-known manner of
chronicle
of Balaam' being taken allegorical
exegesis; see notes in loco.
as
one of the gospels, and ‘Phine- e Comp. xxii. 24.
32 MISREPRESENTATIONS.
to
wrath and judgment; a man puffed up by silly conceit,
though,
with all his pagan wisdom, unable to rebut the
censure
of his ass; insatiable in greed off honour and
riches;
unnaturally immoral even in his sorceries; an
implacable
foe, who betrayed the malignant joy of his
heart
at the expected execration of the Hebrews by the
impatient
eagerness with which he hastened the prepara-
tions
for the journey;a refractory against God, who was
compelled
to force him to his duty, as a man forces an
animal
by bit and bridle; and so reckless in his con-
tumacy,
that he defied Heaven itself and its immutable
decrees.b
Now if we consider this terrible
array of accusations,
which,
as we have observed, have been repeated in
numberless
modifications by patristic and scholastic
writers,
by commentators in the middle ages and even in
our
own time;c and if we enquire after the sources from
which
all these reproaches are derived, we reasonably
expect
that they are founded on reliable authorities. But
we
may well be astonished to find that they are simply
inferred
from the few and scanty allusions in the last two
a Comp. xxii. 21. to
other wicked men, like Pharaoh,
b Comp. Talm. Sanhedr. 105; Be- Laban, Nebuchadnezzar--Mdxk
rach.
7a; Midr. Rabb. Genes. xciii. xbHhb vwGlp lcx
jlvh'; also
on
11;
Num. xx, init., 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, xxiv. 3, Balaam is called rb,G, , that
10;
Yalkut Shim. §§ 765-771; is lvgnrt cock, because, lvgnrth
Midrash Tanchacm. Balak, 1-15; tvpvfh lkm
Jxvn, and for other
Targ.
Jonath. Gen. xii. 3, xxvii. 29; similar
reasons ; and on xxiv. 4, Ba-Num. xxii.-xxiv., passim; Ebn Ezra laam's gift of prophecy by no means
on
Num. xxii. 28: as is his wont equalled
that of the patriarchs, and
in
difficult questions, he speaks of a certainly
not that of Moses--thus
‘deep
mystery’ (dvs),
which he contesting the
more liberal view of
cannot
reveal; 'the part cannot earlier
Rabbins; etc.
change
the part, but the destination c Comp.
Calmet, Dictionnaire de
of
the whole changes the destina- la
Bible, vol. I., pp. 718, 719; and
tion
of the part,' etc.; Rashi on xxii. about the fables of the Mohamme-
8;
Bechai on xxiii. 4, 'God came dans, D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient.,
to
Balaam in the night--as He did pp. 180, 181.
MISREPRESENTATIONS. 33
Books
of the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua.a It is
entirely
out of the question to assume the support of
other
and independent traditions. For the original and
primitive
accounts, after having been fluctuating and
even
contradictory at least down to the seventh century,
cannot,
after the lapse of protracted periods, suddenly
have
received trustworthy additions all tending in one
direction.
The more actively the subject occupied and
interested
the popular mind, the more surely it was
liable
to modification and distortion. But what Hebrew
prophet
would have ventured to make such impure lips
pronounce
the most solemn oracles in the name of
Jahveh,
the Holy One? How should the Hebrew reader
have
expected benefit and advantage from the blessings
of
so depraved a heathen?
Even this, however, is not the most
important point to
which
we would advert. How can it be imagined or justi-
fled,
that all those hateful inventions have been considered
and
employed as a natural illustration of this ‘Book of
Balaam,’
to which, in spirit and in every detail, they
are
diametrically opposed? How can it be explained, that
so
many thousands have, from this section, constructed,
in
the person of Balaam, the vilest and meanest caricature
of
human nature? Is it possible to repress a feeling of
deep
pain at finding that the Book which, should be ‘a
lamp
to our foot and a light to our path,' the Book which
should
‘make wise the simple,’ and ‘illumine the eyes,’
has
been doomed to promote the most perplexing con-
fusion
in the minds of even pious men who prize the
truth?
Is there any other work, in connection with
which
such deplorable perversion of judgment, if at all
conceivable,
would be so long and so persistently upheld?
a See supra, pp. 3-7.
34
8.
DETERIORATION.
FOR
the progress of our enquiry, it is essential to ascertain
which
of the two divergent views taken in the Hebrew
Scriptures
of Balaam's life and mission is the older one,
and
how the change of tradition arose. We have, indeed,
but
slight materials available for guiding us in this
investigation,
but they are sufficient to lead at least to
an
approximate result.
In the words of Micah, above
referred to,a ‘Remember
now
what Balak king of
Balaam,
the son of Beor, answered him,'c the ‘scheme’ of
King
Balak is placed in clear juxtaposition to the answer
of
Balaam; but as there can be no possible doubt about
Balak's
intention, there can be none about Balaam's reply.
The
latter opposed the heathen king and was on the side
of
brought
about, as the prophet adds, that the Hebrews
‘might
know the kindness of the Lord.’ Balaam, there-
fore,
felt; himself guided by Jahveh, the God of Israel.
He
recognised His power and uttered praises in His name.
Since
Micah is thus in complete accordance with this por-
tion
of the Pentateuch, we are justified in concluding that,
in
his time still, or in the eighth century B.C., the seer
Balaam
was not only held in honour, but was remembered
with
proud gratification as one who had so splendidly
testified
to
In
our ‘Book of Balaam,’ stress is indeed laid on the
fact
of his being a Gentile, but none on his being a
heathen.
From the lips of the stranger,
tion
was to come with greater force and significance;
but
the author of this beautiful narrative knew, with
a Page 5. b CfayA c Micah vi. 5.
DETERIORATION. 35
respect
to religion, no hard line of demarcation between
Israelite
and pagan. He considered both alike capable
of
knowing Jahveh, of receiving His revelations, and of
delivering
His oracles. It is true, the principle of
election
is the leading idea of Hebrew prophecy, the
watchword
of which may be described to be: ‘Jahveh,
the
holy--the God of Israel;
people
of Jahveh.’ But, for many ages, the higher minds
among
the Hebrews were by this abstract idea never
prevented
from breaking through the narrow barriers.
Mindful
of the primeval traditions of a common origin of
mankind,
they were eager to enlarge the kingdom of
God
by including within its pale the noble spirits of all
nations.
Melchizedek, the Canaanite, was priest of the
‘Most
high God.’ Jethro acknowledged the omnipotence
of
the God of
of
them
a more ready obedience than any prophet ever
found
in
great
hostile empires of his time, after having effected
a
political union, would also adopt a common religion,
when
‘the Lord of hosts would bless them, saying,
Blessed
be
My
hands, and
phet
desires to see the time, when all nations shall con-
gregate
together on the mountain of the Lord's house.b
Zephaniah
beholds in his mind that happy future, when
God
will pour out over every people.a pure tongue, and
His
worshippers beyond the rivers of
gifts
to Jerusalem.c A Psalmist praises in lofty strains
a Isa. xix. 25; comp.
vers. 18- b isa. ii. 2, 3; Mic, iv.
1, 2;
24,
'there shall be an altar to the comp. Isa. lxvi. 23.
Lord
in the
36 DETERIORATION.
the
glorious promises vouchsafed to
abode:
‘I call
and
marked
and numbered by God, have in His city their
home,
their peace and salvation.a The great prophet who
wrote
towards the end of the exile, is inexhaustible in
developing
these magnificent hopes. God does not confine,
he
teaches, His truth and protection to
His
servant, is to be ‘the light of the nations to the end of
the
earth;' for he is appointed as mediator of a universal
covenant
with God, as the deliverer of all those who are
in
the bonds of darkness and error. Even ‘the sons of
the
stranger that join themselves to the Lord' in love
and
obedience, shall be reckoned among His people, and
their
sacrifices on the holy mountain shall be graciously
accepted;
‘for My house,’ says God, ‘shall be called a
house
of prayer for all nations.’b And as the same pro-
phet
clearly says of Cyrus, the Persian, that he invoked
the
name of Jahveh, and traced to Him every success and
triumph,c
so our author represents Balaam, the Aramaean,
as
enjoying a communion with Jahveh more constant
and
more familiar than any Hebrew prophet enjoyed,
with
the exception of Moses alone. Though this beauti-
ful
and enlightened toleration may, in a great measure,
be
attributable to the highmindedness of the author
himself,
it prevailed, as a matter of history, only in those
older
and happier times, when the free and pure spirit of
prophecy,
unfettered by fixed codes of ceremonial laws,
was
still breathing in the land, and when Micah was
a Ps. lxxxvii. 2-6. c
Isa. x1i. 25, 'I have raised him
b Isa. x1ii. 6, 7; xlix.
6; lvi. 1- up and he came.... him who calls
8;
lx. 3; lxvi. 18- 23; comp. Am. upon My name; comp. Ezra i. 2;
ix.
11, 12; Joel iii. 1, 2; Zech. see also Isa. xliv. 28; xlv. 1;
xlvi.
viii.
20-23; xiv. 16; Mal. i. 11. 11; xlviii. 14.
DETERIORATION. 37
permitted
to convey the whole sum of human duties in
those
simple words, which may well be regarded as the
most
important of all prophetic utterances: ‘The Lord
hath
shown thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth
the
Lord require of thee, but to do justice, and to love
mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?'a
But that free spirit disappeared too
soon, and Deutero-
nomy
was compiled, which, though still pervaded by
something
like the old prophetic buoyancy and freshness,b
insists
upon the fatal injunction, ‘You shall not add to
the
word which I command you, nor shall you take away
from
it,’c and enforces the severest measures with respect
to
heathen tribes and their extirpation.d Though this
rigour,
in the progress of time, effectually shielded the bulk
of
the people against the powerful allurements of idolatry,
it
proved, for the nobler minds, a check and a restraint,
which,
by inflexibly maintaining a uniform level, could
not
fail gradually to stifle all lofty and original aspira-
tions.
The promulgation of the Book of Deuteronomy
was
the first heavy blow dealt to the work of Hebrew
prophets.
That Book, accordingly, alludes to Balaam in
a
context and a spirit betraying a strong contrast, if not
a
deep-seated enmity, between
culminating
in the harsh command respecting the
Ammonite
and Moabite, ‘Thou shalt not ask their peace
nor
their welfare all thy days for ever.’e The kindred
Book
of Joshua stamps the seer distinctly as a kosem,
or
a
false and fraudulent soothsayer, who, for sordid reward,
pronounces
against
a Mic. vi. 8, see supra,
pp. 4, 5. d Deut. vii. 1-5, 22-26; xx. 16
b Comp. Deut. x. 12, 13;
v. 2.6; --18, hmwn lk hyHt xl; xxiii.
vi.
4, 5; xxx. 6, 11-14, 20. 3, 4; xxv. 19; comp.
Josh. x. 28,
c Deut. iv. 2, 5-8; xiii.
1; comp. 30-40; xi. 8, 14, 15, etc.
Josh.
i. 7, 8; Prov. xxx. 6. e Deut.
xxiii. 4-7.
38 CONCLUSIONS.
imprecations;a
till finally, the latest portions of the Pen-
tateuch
could venture to charge him with the blackest
crimes,
finding a just retribution in the wicked seducer's
ignominious
death.b
9.
CONCLUSIONS.
IT
is, therefore, most natural to suppose, that the portion
before
us originated at a comparatively early date; that,
complete
in itself, it was preserved as a small book or
scroll
from generation to generation, till it was ultimately
embodied
in the great national work, the Pentateuch, as
one
of its most precious ornaments. How the last
redactor
of that complex Book could, side by side, incor-
porate
two entirely contradictory versions, and how he
considered
they might be reconciled, these are no easy
questions,
the solution of which has exercised, and is still
exercising,
the zeal and sagacity of hundreds of interpre-
ters
which however, like the efforts of harmonising the
double
accounts of the Creation and the Flood, of Korah's
rebellion
and other events, and of many laws, must,
perhaps,
always remain open problems. It is enough to
know
that the compiler deemed an agreement possible,
and
it will not be without interest, in the exposition of
the
text itself, to search for his probable view. Nor shall
we,
in this place, do more than mention a few devices, by
which
the rest may be estimated. 'It is indeed certain,'
observes
a great critic, ‘that an intrinsic identity of
history
or form is out of the question; but in a higher
sense,
such wavering and contradiction are quite possible
in
a heathen, that is a lower, prophet, who momentarily
may
be filled with a purer spirit, and may, at such a
time,
speak and prophesy beyond the capacity of his
a Josh. xiii. 22; xxiv.
9, 10. b
Num. xxxi. 8-16; comp. xxv. 1-18.
CONCLUSIONS. 39
nature,
but who, being in his own mind very far behind
the
Divine spirit, may easily, when those transitory
moments
have passed, yield to very different impulses.’a
That
a man like Ewald should have rested satisfied with
so
equivocal an explanation, is hardly less astonishing
than
the difficulty which the explanation is meant to
remove.
Acumen and truthfulness led Lessing to recog-
nise
in Balaam ‘acts of the strictest honesty, and even of
an
heroic submission to God,’ and yet Balaam's character
was
to him a riddle--'a curious mixture,' in which
‘many
excellent qualities’ were allied with ‘the utmost
baseness
and iniquity.’ Balaam must indeed appear an
inexplicable
mystery to all who fail to separate the two
antagonistic
traditions. Had this been carefully done,
earlier
and recent writers would not, in troubled em-
barrassment,
‘have wondered at the strange inconsistency
and
complexity’ supposed to mark the seer's character;
at
‘the subtle phases of his greatness and of his fall;’ at
‘the
self-deception which persuaded him that the sin
which
he committed might be brought within the rules
of
conscience and revelation;' at ‘a noble course’ degra-
ded
by ‘a worldly ambition never satisfied,’ or at ‘the
combination
of the purest form of religious belief with
a
standard of action immeasurably below it.’b Had the
sources
been examined, we should not find Balaam des-
cribed
‘as a prophet of the true God, and a most detestable
type
of unredeemed wickedness;’c as ‘an extraordinary a
nondescript
between the Divine messenger and a sooth-
sayer
operating with the arts of heathen sorcery;’d nor
a Ewald, Jahrbuecher, viii. 39. c Michaelis, Anmerk., pp. 51, 52.
b Butter, Sermons, vii..; Newman, d
Riehm, Handwoert., i. 190, ‘als
Sermons,
iv.;
vi.;
summarised by
Church,
i. 188. etc.; Lergerke, Kenaan, i. 585, 594.
40 THE ORIGINAL BOOK OF BAALAM
as
any other of those impossible beings, which the fancy
of
able and learned men has so abundantly conceived.a
We have shown that the 'Book of
Balaam' is in com-
plete
accordance with the earlier phases of Hebrew
prophecy.
But we believe it is possible to establish the
date
of the composition with much greater accuracy.
With
this view it will be necessary, first to consider
whether
the three chapters, as we read them in the
traditional
text really represent the form in which
they
were originally written.
10. THE ORIGINAL BOOK OF BALAAM.
AN
attentive and impartial analysis incontestably proves
that
this portion includes several important interpola-
tions,
of which it is for our present purpose sufficient to
point
out the following two:--
1. When Balaam, after the arrival of
the second em-
a Comp. Deyling, Observatt., iii. still
changing and struggling'); etc.
102-117;
Clarke, Comm., p. 714 Correctly, however, two different
(although,
on the whole, judging of and
irreconcilable traditions are ad-
Balaam
with remarkable moderation mitted
by De Wette, Kritik der Is-
and
justice, and even defending the raelit.
Geschichte, i. 362; Vater,
evil
counsel he is said to have given Pentat.,
iii. 118-120, 457 ; A. G.
by
supposing that 'he desired to Hoffmann, in Ersch and Gruber's
form
alliances with the Moabites or Encvcl.,
x. 184 ; Gramberg, Reli-
Midianites
through the medium of gions-Ideen, ii.
349 ; Lergerke, Ken.
matrimonial
connections'); Beard, i. 582; Oort,
Disputatio de Pericope
Dict.
of the Bible, i. 123; Smith, Num.
xx. 2-xxiv., p. 124 ; Bun-
Dict.,
i. 162 ; Davidson, Introd. to sen, Bibelwerk, v. 599, 600; Noel-
the
Old Test., i. 331, 332 ; Herzog, deke,
Untersuchungen, pp. 87, 90;
Real-Encycl.,
ii. 237; H. Schultz, Colenso, Pentat. and Book of Joshua,
1
Alttestam. Theol., ii. 35; Reinke, Parts v., vi.; Fuerst, Gesch. der
Beitraege,
iv. 215, 232; Lange, Bibel- Bibl. Liter., ii. 228, 230; Krenkel, in
werk,
ii. 307-309 ('the dogmatic Schenkel's
Bibel Lex., i. 456; Riehm,
Balaam'
must be taken in connec- l.
c.; etc. But many of these writers
tion
with 'the worldly politician and either
do not attempt at all to fix
tempter
Balaam;' we have before the
mutual relation of the two ver-
us
not 'a settled character, but one sions, or fix it hazardously.
THE ORIGINAL BOOK OF BALAAM. 41
bassy,
consulted God again, he received the answer
‘Rise,
and go with the men.’a Yet when, following this
distinct
direction, he had entered upon the journey, we
read
that ‘God's anger was kindled because he went, and
the
angel of the Lord placed himself in the way to
oppose
him,' for ‘the journey was pernicious in his eyes.’b
No
ingenuity, no dialectic skill, will ever succeed in
harmonising
these two statements. They are simply
antagonistic.
Therefore, the whole passage in which this
contradiction
occursc must be considered as interpolated;
the
more so, as that passage interrupts the thread of the
narrative,
destroys the unity and symmetry of the con-
ception,
and is, in spirit and in form, as a whole and in
its
details, strikingly different from the main portion.d
2. Balaam was called by Balak, that
he might by im-
precatory
utterances assist him in the anticipated struggle
between
tion
of
fall
fitly within the author's plan. But everything elsef
must
be regarded as inappropriate, and would, from this
consideration
alone, be marked as unwarranted addition.
But
other arguments lead to the same conclusion. After
having
finished his oracles on
Balak,
‘Come, I will tell thee what this people is
destined
to do to thy people in later days.’g After this
clear
introduction, we have merely to expect a prophecy
a xxii. 20, see supra, p. 2. in
Schenkel's Bibel-Lexie., i. 457;
b Vers. 22, 32. and
others; comp. also Hoffmann,
c
xxii.
22-35. in
Ersch and Grub. Encycl. x. 184,
d See notes on xxii.
22-35. who
considers that this passage is
Some
modern writers have justly ‘not indeed an interpolation, but
perceived
the incongruous character borrowed
from a different source.'
of
these verses; as Gramberq, l. c., e xxiv. 14-17.
ii.
348; 0ort, l. c., p. 120; Beard, f xxiv. 18-24.
Dict.
of the Bible, i. 123; Krenkel, g
xxiv. 14, jmfl hzh Mfh.
42 THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION.
on
in
language and rhythm, in tone and tendency, on
and
Amalek, on the Kenites, the Cyprians, and Assyrians.a
Again,
throughout the portions we have before discussed,
the
principle is maintained that the prophet must see
those
on whom he pronounces prophecies;b for the
Moabites
also he beholds in their chief representatives,
the
king and the princes. But that characteristic prin-
ciple
is disregarded, at least with respect to some of the
nations
just mentioned, if not to all. Thus the firm
framework
of the narrative is loosened, and the ad-
mirable
completeness of the picture destroyed.c
Now if we consider the section
before us with the
exclusion
of these two passages,d we may arrive at a
safe
result as to
11. THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION.
THE
following points seem evident:--
1. All the tribes of
the
land in security and prosperity.e The date of the
Book
is, therefore, neither before Joshua, nor after the
reign
of the kings of
(B.C.
770-740), when the first Assyrian deportations
took
place under Pul or Tiglath-pileser.f
2. The people are constituted as a
monarchy.g The
a Vers. 18-24. in
loc.); the word MywHn, xxiv. 1,
b See supra, p. 18. probably
for Myhlx
or hvhy
(see
c See notes on xxiv.
18-24. supra, pp. 19-21).
Some
other passages, apparent, in d Viz., xxii. 22-35, and
xxiv.
our
opinion, as interpolations or 18-24; see Appendix.
corruptions,
but without importance e
xxiii. 9, 24; xxiv. 2, 5.
for
establishing the date of the f 2 Ki. xv. 19, 20, 29; 1
Chr.
Book,
will be pointed out in their v. 26.
due
places; as xxii. 3, 4 (see notes g xxiv. 7, 17, lxrWym
Fbw Mqv.
THE DATE OF THE
COMPOSITION. 43
section
belongs, therefore, to a time not anterior to
Samuel.
3. One king rules the country, and Jacob and
are
identical.a There is no trace of an allusion to the
disruption
of the kingdom, the whole people forming
one
commonwealth, irresistible through their unity. The
piece
can, therefore, have only been written in the time of
the
undivided kingdom, under Saul, David, or Solomon.
4. The Moabites are mentioned as
utterly vanquished
and
humbled.b They were, indeed, defeated by Saul,
but
his success was neither brilliant nor decisive, and is,
in
the Hebrew records, but cursorily stated, together with
other
military advantages.c Moreover, the power of the
Hebrews
and their position among the nations were, in
Saul's
time, not of that eminence upon which these
chapters
dwell so emphatically. There remains, there-
fore,
only the alternative between the reign of David
and
that of Solomon. But
5. This section breathes, on the
whole; a warlike spirit.
The
country is still compelled to remain fully prepared
against
watchful adversaries: ‘Behold, it is a people
that
riseth up as a lioness, and lifteth himself up like a
lion;
he doth not lie: down till he eateth his prey, and
drinketh
the blood of the slain';d or
the
nations, his enemies, and crusheth their bones and
pierceth
with his arrows.'e Such descriptions do not
harmonise
with the peaceful times of king Solomon.
The Book of Balaam was, therefore,
most probably writ-
ten
in the latter part of David's reign (about B.C. 1030),
a xxiv. 5, 7, 17. and
against
b xxiv. 17, bxvm
ytxp CHmv. kings
of Zobab, and against the
c ‘So Saul fought against
all his Philistines,' 1 Sam. xiv. 47, 48.
enemies
on every side, against
and
against the children of Ammon, e
xxiv. 8; comp. 9a, 17.
44 THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION.
when
it was inspired by those glorious triumphs over
the
Moabites and other rebellious foes, which the last
prophecy
introduces with such peculiar power and pride.a
Although
we possess no details of David's wars against
the
bitterest animosity and left a deep impression behind.b
Of which of David's great
contemporaries would this
exquisite
masterpiece of epic and lyrical composition be
unworthy?
Indeed, in some passages, it recalls the
energetic
sweetness of the Davidic Psalms, while, in others,
it
breathes their heroic force.c However, it would be
vain
to fix, by conjecture, upon a name which men would
have
delighted to hold in immortal honour.
There is nothing in the genuine
parts of the section
which
points to a time later than David. For what does
the
author know of the Hebrews and their history?
They
are a blessed and a pious people, worshipping,
Jahveh,
and protected by His love.d They have come
out
of Egypt.e On their way from this country into
who
consider them as hostile and dread them.f They
have
acquired beautiful and extensive abodes, which
they
enjoy in comfort and abundance, and where they
form
a very populous kingdom.g But they keep apart
from
other nations, since God has assigned to them a
peculiar
position and vocation.h They are divided in
tribes,
all of which are mutually at peace.i Their
monarchy
has already distinguished itself by many feats
of
arms,k and they have thus obtained very considerable
a xxiv. 17, tw
ynb lk rqrqv. e
xxii. 5; xxiii. 22; xxiv. 8.
b 2 Sam. viii 2; see
notes on f
xxii. 3-6, 11.
xxiv.
3-9, 15-17. g xxiii. 10; xxiv.
5-7.
c
Comp.
xxiv. 8 and Ps. xviii. h xxiii. 9, Nkwy
ddbl
38-43. i
xxiv. 2, vyFbwl Nkw lxrWy
d See infra, Sect. 14. k
xxiv. 7b, vtklm xWntv.
THE DATE OF THE
COMPOSITION. 45
power,
which they exercise with stern determination and
unbending
energy.a They are particularly illustrious
through
an exalted and far-famed king, who, besides
discomfiting
other contumacious as foes, has humbled and
crushed
the Moabites.b
There is, therefore, in this
portion, no feature which
leads
beyond the rule of David, and which would not
even
accord with the time of Saul, if this king could be
deemed
sufficiently distinguished to be compared to a
star.'
If the words, ‘A people that dwelleth apart, and
is
not reckoned among the nations,’c imply an allusion
to
altered.
For that idea was familiar to the people even
in
the period of the Judges. It was clearly conveyed
in
Gideon's answer, when he refused the offered crown;d
and
it was by Samuel insisted upon even with a certain
vehemence,e
although after the actual establishment of
the
monarchy, it naturally suffered various and essential
modifications.f
Those who fail to separate the later
additions from the
original
Book, are naturally unable to arrive at a well-
established
conclusion. This fundamental neglect alone
could
have misled one of the most keen-sighted and
appreciative
scholars so far as to find in our section ‘a
spirit
bent down by the people's misery,’ and ‘the picture
of
an empire grievously harassed and imperilled by
enemies
near and distant,’ and, for this reason, to place
the
Book in the eighth century.g Where, throughout
the
whole of the Old Testament, is there a spirit so
joyous
and hopeful, so confident and resolute?h It could
a xxiii. 24; xxiv. 8, 9. f
See notes on xxiii. 7-10; comp.
b xxiv. 17. Comm.
on Exod., p. 330.
c xxiii. 9, bwHty
xl Myvgbv. g
Ewald, Jahrbuecher, viii. 21,
d Judg. viii. 22, 23. 22,
24, 28.
e 1 Sam. viii. 6, 7 ; x.
18, 19. h See infra,
Sect. 14.
46 THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION.
not
escape that scholar's fine literary taste, how materially
the
terse and almost epigrammatic precision of Balaam's
utterances
differs from the flowing fulness of prophetic
speech
in the time of Isaiah; but drawn by that original
error
into the most singular assumptions, he ventures
the
opinion that the author designedly imitated that
older
manner of ‘brief, abrupt, sharply defined words:’
as
if Balaam's prophecies were ‘imitations’ in any sense,
and
not rather among the freest and purest creations ever
produced
by an original mind. Nor is there, in the
authentic
parts of the piece, any indication that Balaam
‘announces
Hezekiah;’a for it would be strange
indeed if the author
had
treated, with copiousness and ardour, the time of
the
early monarchy, which for him would have been in
the
remote past, while alluding to his own age in an
appendix,
and with a few obscure if not incoherent
words,
little worthy of the momentous events of the
Assyrian
period. And yet it is the Assyrian period to
which,
for the untenable reason stated,b most critics have
assigned
the Book of Balaam, as if that age alone could
have
produced a work of art so perfect in form and matter.c
a Knobel,
Numeri, 121, 127. Myhlx wrd, which is the explana-
b Comp. xxiv. 22, 24. tion
of lx txrb Nybh, is, in the
c So Gramberq,
Religions-Id., ii. Chronicler's
view, a priestly and not
348-356
(in the reign of Heze- a
prophetic function; moreover, Uz-
kiah');
Bohlen, Gen., p. cxxxv.; ziah
cannot be the ‘star’ of xxiv.
Lengerke, Kenaan, i. 582 (about
720);
Vaihinger, in Herzog's Real- trod.
to the Old Test., i. 337, 338
Enc.,
ii. 238; Schultz, Alttestam. (in
‘the, first half of the eighth cen-
Theol.,
ii. 3; comp. i. 472, 473; tury,’ when ‘traditional matter had
Hitzig, Gesch. d. Volkes Isr.,
i. 226; become incorporated with
the his-
Fuerst, Bib]. Liter., ii. 227,
230 (‘in torical groundwork’); Kuenen, Re-
the
early part of Uzziah's reign,' ligion of
even
naming as the author that but according to Oort, 1. c., pp. 81-
kings
counsellor, Zechariah; comp. 118, on
uncertain conjectures, under
2
Chron. xxvi. 5, where, however, Jeroboam
II.
THE DATE OF THE
COMPOSITION. 47
No less open to objections is the
view which places
the
Book in a time anterior to David; those who try to
uphold
this opinion are compelled not only to disregard
all
intrinsic evidences above pointed out,a but to have
recourse
to the most strained interpretations, contrary
alike
to language and history.b But least of all is it
possible
to maintain that this section was written in the
age
of Moses. For if so, how shall we understand the
mode
of its composition? Assuming an historical founda-
tion
of the narrative, however slight, that is, assuming
that
a heathen seer, at the express request of a heathen
king,
pronounced some such blessings and prophecies as
we
read in the Book; how did those utterances find
their
way into a national work of the Hebrews? It
has
been seriously asserted that the whole of this ac-
countd was written by Balaam
himself with a view of
setting
forth his claims upon
his
immediate disciples, whom he instructed in magic,
and
that it was by Moses, or the compiler of the Penta-
teuch
embodied in his work just as he had received it.e
Certainly,
unless, as ancient interpreters did not hesitate
to
do, refuge be taken to a direct and literal inspiration,
this
portion, as it now lies before us, cannot possibly have
been
composed without the co-operation of Balaam.
a Pp. 42, 43. 10-17 is placed by
Bunsen in the
b F. i., Bunsen, Bibelwerk, v. time of David, and xxiv. 20-24 in
597-609:
'the kernel of the epic' that of Sennacherib and King Heze-
(xxii.
2-xxiv. 9) was compiled in kiah, we. 701).
Shilo,
in the time of Joshua or a c Comp. Oort, 1. c., pp. 48-81.
little
later, prompted by the first en- d Num. xxii.-xxiv.
thusiasm
and popular elevation of e So Steudel; see Hengstenberg,
the
young republic; which conjec- Geschiehte
Bileam's and seine Weis-
ture
the author supports by an im- sagungen, pp. 18, 214; Fabricii
possible
conception of the words Pseudepigraph. Veter. Testament.,
vklm GGxm Mryv (xxiv. 7; see notes ii. 105; and similarly Justi, Hezel,
in
loc. However, the passage xxiv. and others.
48 THE DATE OF THE ('OMPOSITION.
Omitting,
for the present, the incident on the road,a in
which,
besides the angel, no one was concerned except
Balaam
and his beast, since his servants and the ambas-
sadors
are not noticed in the transaction; there remain
the
questions to be answered: Did Balaam write down
the
speeches after their delivery, since they were not
prepared
by him, but are represented as Divine sugges-
tions
of the moment, almost independent of the prophet's
spontaneity?
Or were they transcribed by some Moabite
or
Midianite present, having retained them in his memory
with
all but miraculous fidelity? Again, in which
language
were they delivered? In the classical Hebrew
in
which we possess them, or in some Mesopotamian or
Aramaic
dialect? And how did one who was not a
Hebrew
attempt and contrive to write in a spirit so
thoroughly
and so distinctively Hebrew?
Some of these questions engaged even
Jewish writers in
early
times, without, however, being by them advanced
towards
an acceptable conclusion. Thus Josephus charac-
teristically
praises Moses for his impartiality and truth-
fulness
in not appropriating to himself this beautiful
composition,
as he might easily have done without fear
of
detection, but setting it down in the name of
enemy,
and thus securing for Balaam eternal fame. But
then
the historian dismisses the matter with the wavering
remark:
‘Let everyone think of these points as he
pleases.’b Philo, likewise touching hardly more than
the
outskirts of the subject, evidently evidently supposes that
Balaam
pronounced his speeches in Hebrew, for he
believes--and
this view has been gravely repeated by
later
writers in a hundred forms-that 'Balaam, without
at all understanding the
words which, he uttered--spoke
a xxii. 22-35. b Josephus, Antiq., IV. vi. 13.
THE DATE OF THE
COMPOSITION. 49
everything
that was put into his mouth;’ for ‘God
throughout
guided his speech and governed his tongue,
so
that his own words were unintelligible to him.’a This
expedient
is still more clearly insisted upon in the
Talmud
and the Midrashim by maintaining that God
directed
Balaam's language 'as a man directs animals by
attaching
an iron bit to the bridle, and forces them to
go
wherever he pleases;’b it has been repeated by many
modern
writers, who pointedly observe that ‘God con-
trolled
Balaam's articulation of speech not otherwise than
He
managed those of his ass;'c and it has been eloquently
developed
by high-minded critics and scholars into such
doctrines
as these: ‘The prophet, even if humanly intent
upon
a perversity, is compelled by God to say the very
opposite,
so that God, after His own will, turns the word
in
his mouth;'d or expressed with more subtle delicacy
‘The
Divine message, irresistibly overpowering Balaam's
baser
spirit, and struggling within him, was delivered in
spite
of his own sordid resistance.'e Leaving this matter to
the
verdict of reason and common sense, we must further
ask: Who, in the time of Moses, furnish