And Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, If Balak give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the commandment of Jehovah my God, to do less or more.
Balak's messengers offer Balaam silver and gold, and he answers with words that sound like pure devotion. Yet the same chapter shows him asking them to stay the night — so is this faith speaking, or a bargain dressed up in God's name?
Balaam does not merely mention God; he claims Him as his own. Commentators read that phrase as the mark of a man who had real knowledge of God but no heart for Him.
The history of Balaam is very solemn. While it brings out the sovereign grace of God, it also reveals the elements of religious corruption that prevail in the last days. Satan cannot defeat the saints of God by open attack, so he corrupts instead. In Balaam we have the character of that which corrupts. There was a knowledge of God. He had this — he even says "the LORD my God." He called Israel's God his God, but his heart was busy with covetous practices. He "loved the wages of unrighteousness." Peter describes Judas the same way. Thirty pieces of silver were the reward of wickedness for the man who greeted Jesus as Master. Both men show a feature of religious apostasy that at last perishes in its own corruption.
Balaam cannot give Balak what he wants. So he turns his refusal into a show of devotion.
Balaam sends word to Balak: "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God." How pious he has become now! If he might have gone, he would. Though he cannot do what he would like to do for Balak, he still keeps up his credit as a prophet of the LORD. Just as if he had the secret of the LORD, he says, "I will know what more the LORD will say to me."
Balaam names the silver and gold in the very act of refusing it. His delay says more than his words.
If Balaam's heart had been right with God, he would have dealt with Balak's message at once. It would not have cost him a moment's thought to send a reply. But Balaam's heart was all wrong, and in chapter 22 we see him in the sad condition of a man pulled by conflicting feelings. His heart was set on going, because it was set on the silver and gold. At the same time there was some reference to God: an appearance of religion put on as a cloak to cover his covetous practices. He longed for the money, but he would gladly get hold of it in a religious way.
Still, what he said was true. He could not cross the line, however much he wanted to.
The greedy prophet replied that if the king gave him a house full of silver and gold, he still could not come without God's consent. His covetous nature showed how strong the restraint on him was.
But his fine answer does not end there. What he adds next undoes it.
Balaam's answer sounds well. But he added, "Stay here tonight too, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me." Such an attitude was sheer wickedness. The LORD had already stated His mind clearly, so there was nothing left to consult Him about. But Balaam was set on going. He knew enough of God not to want open conflict with Him. He would bend the LORD to his self-will if he could!
God did let Balaam go with the men. That permission was not approval.
This was not the course of His holy will. It was God dealing with the stubborn according to his stubbornness. He does this when there is no faith in a man's mind, and no honest, undivided purpose with it. He allows a man to follow his own blind schemes... Where He sees integrity, He graciously meets the trembling heart and the hesitating mind. But there was no hesitation with Balaam. There was self-will, and this in the face of the glorious expression of God's will. At bottom he makes nothing of God or His word.
- Profession. Balaam calls the LORD "my God" and speaks of His command. Knowing about God is not the same as belonging to Him.
- Price. His heart was set on the very silver and gold he claimed to refuse. Religion was the cloak over his greed.
- Restraint. His words were true. He could not go beyond God's word, and his greed shows how strong that hold on him was.
- Pressure. He asked God again about a matter God had already settled. That is not obedience; it is trying to bend God.
- Permission. God let the stubborn man have his way. He meets the honest, hesitating heart with grace. The difference lies in the will, not the words.
And now, I pray you, abide ye also here this night, and I shall know what Jehovah will say to me further.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.