NUMBERS 22
The children of Israel are seen here at the gate of the promised land; they are “on the other side of the Jordan from Jericho” (verse 1). But at this point the Spirit of God turns aside from their history and experiences, and takes us behind the scenes to disclose the thoughts and counsels of their adversaries. That there should be a people on earth who have learned to judge the flesh, and to give place to the Spirit, and thus to become victorious over influences which are hostile to God, is a cause of fear and aversion (verse 3) to the pride of man as represented by Moab. (See Isaiah 16; Jeremiah 48). The pride of man realises that its very existence is at stake; all that nourishes it will be licked up “as an ox licks up the green herb of the field” (verse 4) unless something can be done [p. 289] to weaken that which has come out of the world by God’s redemption and salvation. A people not in the flesh but in the Spirit must, if possible, be brought under a curse and driven out of the land (verse 6).
God makes known to us that such counsels are in progress. For it is not here open warfare, but a secret plan to bring a curse on His people, and to render null and void His thoughts of blessing, We may think it madness to attempt such a thing, but it is a madness which is inherent in the pride of man’s heart. The pride of man, wherever it works, has in it the spirit of curse towards what is approved of God; it has the disposition to curse what God has blessed. Paul would not have asked, “who against us? ... Who shall bring an accusation against God’s elect? ... Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:31; Romans 8:33; Romans 8:35) if there had not been powers adverse to God’s people who would wish to damage them, even if unable to do so. God is pleased to let us know that there is a power working behind the scenes which is minded to bring a curse upon us, but He lets us know this that we may learn most definitely His thoughts of blessing, and the character of His work in His elect people.
Balak, to gain his object, sent to Mesopotamia for a man reputed to have power to bless and to curse (verse 6). Balaam had some knowledge of the true God, and could use Jehovah’s name, but there was with him an unholy mixture of the divine and the satanic, for he used enchantments also. He was a corrupt and money-loving man, the prototype of the false teachers and ungodly persons who appear in times of departure and apostasy, and in whom is concentrated intense opposition to all that is spiritual (see 2 Peter 2:15,16; Jude 11).
“And God said to Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people; for they are blessed” (verse 12). The proposal to curse the people was a direct challenge to God, and He answered it Himself. His people had nothing to say or to do in the matter; it was just a question whether the enemy could prevail to curse those whom God had blessed. It was all settled really in those three words, “They are blessed”. All the contrariety of the flesh in His people had been exposed, but it had also been, typically, condemned in the serpent lifted up. The people, as singing to the well, had been seen identified, in affection and purpose, with the Spirit. So that the love of God was free to have its own way, and He could say, “They are blessed”. “But Jehovah thy God would not listen to Balaam; and Jehovah thy God turned the curse into blessing unto thee, because Jehovah thy God loved thee” (Deuteronomy 23:5).
It is not that the flesh in God’s people is any better than the flesh in others, but His saints have learned to judge it, and to be thankful to see it condemned in the Son of man lifted up. They believe on the only begotten Son of God as the only source of life, and they live in virtue of having the Spirit. All this is the outcome of sovereign love on God’s part, according to which He has worked in His people. It is impossible for Him to curse, or to allow to be cursed, what He has Himself wrought in the sovereignty of His love. It is an unquestionable fact that the saints are the product of a wonderful working of God (see Romans 14:20; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 2:10). It is therefore possible for them to be regarded from that point of view, and in so regarding them they are seen in a character which attaches to them by grace, and which is entirely different to that which attached to them by nature, or as in the flesh. We may be sure that God takes account of us according to what He has wrought, for that is what we are truly as His elect. God’s people cannot be cursed because they are the subjects of His work, according to His electing love. We could hardly have this set forth, even in type, in the actual history of Israel, and that is why we are turned aside from that history to see God’s ways with Balaam, and to learn how he was made to express what is true of the saints regarded purely as subjects of the work of God. Balsam’s parables are of great spiritual value as helping us to view the saints, and ourselves amongst them, in the light of what they are by the work of God. This is an essential preparation for the inheritance, for it is only as subjects of the work of God that we can enter upon the inheritance, or even have any true appreciation of it. None but those who are the subjects of God’s work are blessed. Flesh is never blessed; it is condemned; and if there was nothing divinely wrought in men the thought of blessing would have no place. The fact that Jehovah said, “they are blessed”, was the truth that they were, typically, apart from the flesh, not only by the death of Christ, but as being the subjects of His work.
The enemy regards men from the standpoint of his own works. He knows what to expect from the flesh, but he is baffled when he meets with the work of God. He was quite mistaken about Job. He expected Job to curse God, and so he would if there had been nothing there but what Job was by nature. But Job had been the subject of divine working, and therefore he did not curse God even when greatly tried.
Jehovah saying, “they are blessed”, should have settled the matter definitely, but these words evidently did not take out of Balsam’s mind the thought that perhaps, after all, it might be possible to curse them, and to earn the wages of unrighteousness which he loved. So that when another call came from Balak to come and curse the people, he said to the princes sent, “And now, I pray you, abide ye also here this night, and I shall know what Jehovah will say to me further” (verse 19). He feared to come into conflict with the power of God, like Gamaliel in Acts 5:39, but his heart was unchanged.
God, seeing the motives that were actuating him, took special means to put a check upon him. The Angel of Jehovah set Himself in the way as an adversary against him, and he had a three-fold warning that the way in which he was moving was for his ruin. He was really blinder and more foolish than his ass, and God used the ass to forbid his folly. No folly could be greater than for Satan or for men to think that they can defeat God, and bring a curse where He has put a blessing. And God knows how to control the most wicked man in the world, and how to make him say and do just what he does not at all intend to say or do. It pleases God sometimes to assert His power over even unconverted men, and make them feel it. The absolute supremacy of God is one of the greatest comforts of faith. In this case He was pleased to make Balaam His servant, to declare in presence of the pride and hatred of man what His people are as the subjects of His work, and as those on whom His blessing rests. This has been made known for our learning, for it sets forth what is now brought to pass in spiritual reality in those whom God has taken out of the nations for His name.