Numbers 23:7-10

Then Balaam uttered his oracle: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’ How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced? From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!”

It is scarcely to be conceived to what a degree superstition will blind the eyes of men. There is nothing so absurd or incredible, which a person under the influence of it is not ready to believe. Who would imagine that people could be brought to believe the infallibility of the Pope, and the power of the Popish priests to forgive sin? Who would suppose that any person could be brought to believe, that a priest is able to convert bread and wine into the body and soul; yes, and into the Godhead also, of Christ; and that every individual who partakes of that bread and wine, eats and drinks the whole body, the whole soul, and the whole Godhead of Christ? Yet these things are credited by millions of people, as firmly as they believe that there is a God.

Were it not that we have such evidence of the power of superstition in later ages, we could scarcely conceive, that any Being endowed with reason would act like Balak, when he sent for Balaam to curse Israel. How could he entertain such a foolish thought, as that Balaam should be able to inflict a curse upon the whole Israelitish nation, so as to ensure the conquest of them to the king of Moab? Yet this superstition prevailed, not only there, and at that time, but fifteen hundred years afterwards at Rome also, where there was an officer expressly appointed to imprecate curses on their enemies.

How little it was in the power of Balaam to effect, we see in every renewed attempt that he made. So far from being able to inflict a curse on Israel, he was not able even to denounce one; for God overruled and constrained him to bless the people whom he desired to curse.

Having offered seven bullocks and seven rams on as many altars, he came to Balak, who was anxiously expecting the accomplishment of his wishes. But, behold, the man on whose power he relied to curse Israel, was constrained explicitly to declare,

I. Israel’s security.

Balaam acknowledges that it was not in his power to curse them; and declares that, instead of being vanquished by Balak, they would prevail against every enemy, and be a peculiar people to the end of time.

This has ever since been verified in relation to those who are Israelites after the flesh.

That nation did prevail over their enemies. They did get possession of Canaan. They did maintain it against all their enemies, until, for their iniquities, God sent them into captivity in Babylon. Yet even there did they retain their peculiarities; yes, even at this day, though dispersed through every country under Heaven, they are as much a peculiar people as ever. Other nations, when vanquished and dispersed, have become incorporated with their victors, and been assimilated to the people among whom they have dwelt; but the Jews in every country are still a distinct people; and are living witnesses of the truth of this prophecy.

It is no less verified in relation to the spiritual Israel.

Every blessing promised to Abraham and his natural seed was, in a spiritual sense, made also to his spiritual seed. The Gospel itself, with all the blessings of salvation, was contained in that promise, “In your seed shall all nations be “blessed, Galatians 3:8.” It is evident, moreover, that Balaam himself was instructed by God to prophesy of people under the gospel dispensation, even of those who should be the subjects of the Lord Jesus Christ, Numbers 24:17-19.

Now they are indeed a peculiar people, Exodus 19:5-6; 1 Peter 2:9.” They “dwell alone;” “though in the world, they are not of the world, even as Christ himself was not of the world, John 17:14; John 17:16;” they “are not conformed to it;” “they come out from it and are separate;” they can “have no more communion with it, than light can have with darkness, or Christ with Belial.” They dwell in the midst of enemies. Wherever they are, they are, and ever have been, in a greater or less degree, objects of hatred and persecution. Every possible method has been used to extirpate them; but no enemy has ever been able to prevail against them. They are still, and ever shall be, monuments of God’s saving power, and objects of his saving love.

II. Israel’s increase.

The Israelites, as a nation, became very numerous.

At the time that Balaam saw them, they probably amounted to two million people; but after their settlement in Canaan they multiplied exceedingly, so as to fulfill the promise made to Abraham, Genesis 28:14, and to justify the declaration in the text.

But the true Israel shall indeed be “as the dust of the earth”.

In the first ages of Christianity they were spread over the whole Roman empire; and though we acknowledge that hitherto they have not been numerous, when compared with their enemies—yet we are assured, that they shall in due time cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and for the space of a thousand years fill the whole earth. And, if we consider how they will multiply when wars shall cease, when the diseases arising from men’s folly and wickedness shall be removed, and “the man dying at a hundred years old shall be considered but a child” brought to an untimely end, Isaiah 65:20; we may well imagine, that their numbers shall far exceed that of all who have perished in their sins. We are sure at all events, that, in the last day, they shall be “a multitude, which no man can number, out of every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue;” and that they shall join together in everlasting hallelujahs, “saying, Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb! Revelation 7:10.” O blessed period! May “God hasten it, in His time!”

III. Israel’s happiness.

Balaam proclaims them happy also in their eternal state.

Here he must refer to those who were the true Israelites; since an ungodly Jew can no more be saved, than an ungodly heathen. And it is worthy of notice, how strongly he asserts the happiness of the godly in the future world. He looked forward to their future state; he saw them distinguished from the ungodly; he saw, that, however they might be involved in the calamities of the wicked here, they would be translated by death to a state of endless felicity; hence he envied them, and desired to have “his last end like theirs!”

And truly in this view believers are objects of envy to the whole world.

The wish that Balaam expressed is the wish of every man, even of the most abandoned. There is no one living under the light of the Gospel, but feels an inward persuasion that God will put a difference between the righteous and the wicked. However much he may hates the godly, he envies their state; and has at some time the thought arising in his mind, ‘If I were now to die, I should be glad to be found in your state.’ And well may this be the case, seeing that God has prepared for them “such good things as surpass man’s understanding”. Were it not for their future prospects, Christians would be rather in a pitiable condition, especially in seasons of bitter persecution 1 Corinthians 15:19. But, with such hopes before them, they can be in no condition whatever, wherein they are not greatly to be envied.

To improve this subject, we shall add:

1. A word of warning.

Balaam by all his efforts could not prevail on God to reverse his word respecting Israel; on the contrary, the word which he delivered by God’s command has been fulfilled to them in all ages.

Just so, shall not what God has spoken both here and elsewhere, respecting the end of the righteous and the wicked, be fulfilled? Shall any man die the death of the righteous, if he will not live his life; or shall he attain his end without walking in his way? If God has declared that he will “put a difference between those who serve him, and those who serve him not,” who shall prevail upon him to change his mind? Or “who shall harden himself against him, and prosper?” O, think of this, beloved, and do not buoy up yourselves with unfounded expectations of Heaven at last; for “God is not a man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should repent.”

2. A word of consolation.

Little did Israel know what plots were formed against them; but God knew, and counteracted them all. Thus it is with God’s Israel now. Both men and devils are confederate against them. Satan especially, “like a roaring lion, goes about seeking, if possible, to devour them;” but God overrules all their devices for good, and gives us a blessing where they would have sent a curse. He has promised, that “no weapon that is formed against us shall prosper;” and he will fulfill it even to the end; he will “keep us by his own power through faith unto everlasting salvation.”

Let us then not say, “A conspiracy! a conspiracy!” But let us “sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and make him our fear, and him our dread.” He will be “a wall of fire round about us, and the glory in the midst of us;” he will keep us even as the apple of his eye; nor “shall any one who trusts in him, ever be ashamed or confounded world without end.”

As Balaam could not prevail against Israel of old, so “not all the gates of Hell shall prevail against us!” Only put your trust in God, and you may, in the language of the Apostle, defy the whole universe to “separate you from the love of God! Romans 8:35-39.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)