And God came to Balaam, and said, Who are these men with thee?
Balak's messengers slept in Balaam's house, waiting to hear if he would curse Israel. God came to Balaam that night — so why speak to a fortune-teller for hire, and why ask about men He already knew?
Balaam had told the messengers he would consult the LORD. He was used to hearing a voice, but not this one.
But God did not leave this a matter of demons and deceptions. Balak dared to bring in a power higher than man to ruin the future of God's people. That at once brought out the true God. Balaam in his hypocritical way talks about consulting Jehovah. This has always happened. Those who have least to do with God often speak of Him in the most casual way. It was so then, and it is so now. "God," it is written, "came to Balaam and said, Who are these men with you?" He was not alarmed, because he was used to an evil spirit. For all he knew, the power that came to him was the old spirit he was used to. God caught the crafty in his own net.
God made the first move. Balaam was not seeking Him at all.
Balak's messengers went to Mesopotamia "with the fees for divination in their hand" (Num. 22:7). Balak knew that the false prophet "loved gain from wrongdoing" (2 Peter 2:15), so he made sure of him by sending cash in advance. But the treacherous deceiver brought Jehovah's name into the matter. He put the messengers up for the night, pretending to seek the mind of God. The business in hand was hugely important. He was asked to bring about the ruin of a whole nation. Did he then spend the night in prayer to God? Nothing was further from Balaam's thoughts. He just went to bed. God was watching every move with the deepest interest, and He came to Balaam with the challenge: "Who are these men with you?"
God did not ask because He needed to know. One writer ties this question to the way God opened His talk with Satan about Job.
The great principle of the Balaam story is that God guarded and blessed His people without being asked. He is active for them out of His own grace, and nothing escapes Him. "Who are these men with you?" says God to Balaam. God began as He did with Satan in Job's case, "Have you considered my servant Job?"
Balaam hid nothing in his reply. The same writer asks why he used the LORD's name at all.
Balaam did not get in touch with the spirit he usually consulted. Instead he met the God of Israel, who "came to Balaam and said, 'Who are these men with you?'" Balaam knew exactly why Balak had sent his princes to him. He knew he stood in the presence of God, so he hid nothing of what Balak had told him. You might well wonder why he pretended to serve Jehovah when he had no link with Him at all. No doubt he had heard of all that Jehovah had done for His people, and he sought his own advancement by attaching the Name of Israel's God to his evil work.
In Israel's camp nothing was stirring that night. No one prayed about the danger, because no one knew.
The people of Jehovah had been ungrateful and disobedient all through their desert journey. Now they were in grave danger. They were not aware of it and therefore did not make supplication to God. But Jehovah Himself took the matter up. That reminds us of His unchanging favour. He loved the people, despite all that they were, and He would not allow the enemy to harm them. Oh, the comfort of this thought for ourselves!
Balaam asked whether he should go, and God's clear answer changed his position.
The first time Balaam asked the Lord, "Shall I go?", God answered a clear No. He made the reason for the refusal just as clear. It seems He gave this answer for one of two reasons. Perhaps the fortune-teller was asking Him for advice for the first time. Or perhaps he was not sure it would be wrong to accept Balak's invitation. But once the Lord had told him he must not go, and that Israel was blessed, Balaam's position was no longer the same. He now knew the will of God. Without the possibility of a doubt, it would be evil to go into Moab.
- God moves first. Israel knew nothing of the plot against them. God took it up before anyone asked Him.
- God intercepts. A man waiting for his usual spirit met the God of Israel instead. God caught the crafty man in his own net.
- God exposes. God did not ask for facts. The question pulled into the open what Balaam's religious talk was covering.
- God protects. He loved a people who had been ungrateful the whole way, and He would not let the enemy touch them.
- God settles it. Once God answered, Balaam's doubt was over. What came after was deliberate disobedience, not confusion.
And Balaam said to God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Behold, a people is come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the land. Now come, curse me them perhaps I may be able to fight against them, and drive them out.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And God said to Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people; for they are blessed.
Balak, king of Moab, has sent messengers to hire Balaam to curse Israel, and Balaam keeps them overnight while he asks God about it. God's answer is a flat refusal with a reason attached, and that reason says more about His people than about Balaam.
Israel is camped nearby and knows nothing about this deal. No prayer of theirs brings God into the story; He speaks first.
The great principle of the Balaam history is that God guarded and blessed His people without being asked. The plots of enemies go on, and Israel knows nothing about them. So Israel asks nothing from God. But He is active for His people out of His own grace to them, and nothing escapes Him. "Who are these men that come to you?" says God to Balaam.
Balaam worked with spirits, and his offer to seek the Lord's mind was cover. What came to him in the night was not what he expected.
Balaam in his hypocritical way talks about consulting the LORD. This has always been so. Those who have least to do with God often talk about Him most lightly... He was not alarmed, because he was used to an evil spirit. For all he knew, the power that came to him was the spirit he always dealt with. God caught the crafty man in his own net. This is just where the mighty power of God shows what He is against every enemy who dares to oppose His people.
Neither Balak nor Balaam speaks Israel's name. They call them only a people who came out of Egypt.
Neither Balak nor Balaam used the people's name "Israel," because they were probably afraid of that name, which means "a prince with God."
God settles the matter in private. Later Balaam has to say the same thing out loud on the hilltops.
When Balak's delegation came to Balaam, God had said to him, "You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed." What God told him there in secret he must now speak in public... How many have tried to curse Jacob and denounce Israel? They have never succeeded. Isaiah's vision has come true in every generation: "No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment." No magic, no voice, no power, no tongue can undo the decree of God.
In the morning Balaam tells the princes only that the Lord will not let him go. He keeps back the reason God gave.
Balaam could have no doubt about God's thoughts of His people, or about what God expected from him. Yet he does not tell the princes of Balak what God's word to him meant. His own words imply that the only reason he did not go with them was, "The LORD has refused to let me go with you." He would have been glad to go and carry out the evil mission Balak wanted. But having just come from God's presence, he knew he could not.
His edited answer left Balak room to try again.
Had Balaam given Balak's princes the word he received from God, it is not likely that he would have been tempted again. He could have told Balak that these were the people of the living God. He could have repeated God's words to him: "You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed." That would have settled the matter as far as Balaam was concerned.
Later God tells Balaam he may go, and that change puzzles many readers. Commentators answer that verse 12 had already closed the question.
Verses 12 and 13 show that God had first of all forbidden Balaam to go. Balaam clearly wanted Balak's reward, despite his high talk in verse 18. It was wrong of Balaam to ask again. Yet when he did, God used his going as a witness of divine grace to Israel, and of Balaam's own perverseness.
Darby turns from what Balaam did to what he felt.
The blessing of the people never comes into his mind. He is a complete stranger to the generosity of grace. The thought that they were blessed of God does not move him, and he finds no delight in His blessing on His people.
- God speaks first. Israel never asked for protection. God moved first and questioned Balaam before Balaam could act.
- God gives a reason. God does not just refuse. He says why: the people are blessed.
- The secret becomes public. What God said in the night, Balaam later had to announce on the hills. No magic and no tongue can reverse it.
- Man edits the message. Balaam reported the refusal but not the blessing. That half-answer invited a second attempt.
- Self-will gets its way. Asking again after a clear word was wrong. God let him go, and used even that to show His grace to Israel and expose Balaam.