And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, and the man of opened eye saith,
Balaam has tried twice to curse Israel, and both times God made him bless them. On his third try he starts by describing himself, not Israel. The titles he uses raise the question this scene turns on: can a man see what God sees and still be lost?
This time Balaam changes his method. One writer reads the change as a move to keep his distance from God:
Balaam knew God's will better than Balak did. Yet greed blinded him, so he too kept on in his own self-will, clearly imagining that Balak's purpose could still be reached. Knowing that God was determined to bless Israel, he did not go "as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness." This is the plainest statement of Balaam's evil intention: he tried to avoid getting into God's presence, because he knew God would not let him curse His people.
The Spirit of God came on Balaam before he spoke. That settled what came out of his mouth:
From this high place God would make Balaam speak out His thoughts about His people, and to this end "the Spirit of God came upon him." Balaam would gladly have spoken to curse Israel, under the influence of his familiar spirit or out of the depths of his own wicked heart. But under the compelling power of God's Spirit he must only speak what God determines.
The title Balaam gives himself sounds like a boast. One writer weighs how much it really proves:
In saying that his eyes were now opened, he confessed that they had been shut, and so he had been in the dark. It does not follow that his opened eye meant he had turned to God. Indeed his later history proves he had not. But his opening words assure us that he did speak as a prophet, and the words he spoke were the words of God.
Balaam goes on to call himself a man who falls down. One writer refuses to soften that:
The man knew that God had opened his eyes, and that he was looking at things his heart had no interest in. While he described the blessing and final triumph of the people he hated, he knew himself to be a fallen man. Not "fallen into a trance," as the older translation says, but truly fallen. This privileged but wilful man has gone down to eternal ruin.
This condition is not rare. One writer finds the same thing in the Gospels:
He was like the Pharisees of John 9, who asked the Lord, "Are we also blind?" The Lord answered them with these solemn words: "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains" (John 9:41). This is the state of religious men, who claim to be enlightened with the knowledge of God, but in reality are blind guides of the blind.
Commentators differ on why he faced the wilderness. Another writer sees it simply as the place where Israel was:
But Balaam set his face "toward the wilderness" — why? Because the children of Israel were still in the wilderness. The wilderness was not Canaan, but Israel was there. The world is not heaven or the glory, but the church is there now. While the church is in the wilderness, the Spirit of God can take up the parable and show what the church is in God's eye. So Balaam is not walking through the tents of Israel, or he would have heard their murmuring and discontent. He is not in the camp. He has gone up to the top of the hill, and looks at them with God's eye.
All the effort to curse Israel could not produce one word against them. One writer shows what it takes to see God's people as He does:
Not all the powers of earth and hell, men and devils combined, can draw out a single breath of curse or accusation against the Israel of God… They shine in all the beauty which He has put upon them. To see them like this, we only have to climb to the top of the rocks and have our eyes open, looking at them from His point of view, so that we may see them in "the vision of the Almighty."
One writer points out that the same three things belong to Christians now:
The Spirit of God came upon Balaam, his eyes were open and he heard the words of God — three advantages which we have. We are responsible to use them. Because we have the Holy Spirit our eyes have been opened, but we must want to understand the truth.
- Sight given. Balaam's opening words confess that his eyes had been shut. God opened them, and he said so before anything else.
- Sight compelled. The Spirit of God came upon him, so a man who wanted to curse could only speak what God determined.
- Sight without heart. Open eyes are not a changed heart. He praised a people he hated, and his later history proves he never turned to God.
- Sight and judgment. He was falling even while he saw. To claim sight and not obey it is the state of religious men who say "We see" and keep their guilt.
- Sight to use. From the top of the rocks he saw God's people as God sees them. The same Spirit, open eyes and words of God are ours.
He saith, who heareth the words of God, who seeth the vision of the Almighty, who falleth down, and who hath his eyes open
Balaam was hired to curse Israel, yet he opens this oracle by describing himself, not the people. His own words tell us where his message came from, and they raise a hard question: how can a man receive so much from God and still be lost?
Balaam's opening words claim prophetic authority. One writer also hears in them an admission of what he had been before.
As Balaam opened his lips for the third time he spoke of himself in a remarkable way. In saying that now his eyes were opened he confessed that they had been shut, and therefore he had been in the dark. The Spirit of God had come upon him, and he was saying what the Spirit forced him to say. So his opened eye does not mean that he had turned to God. His later history proves that he had not. But his opening words assure us of this: he really did speak as a prophet, and the words he spoke were the words of God.
Balaam heard God's words and saw God's vision. Both came to a man who knew he was fighting God.
In the opening words of this oracle, Balaam tells us that his eyes were open. He was not ignorant of the evil of his way. He knew full well that he stood in deadly opposition to the will of God when he sought to curse His people, and now he has to proclaim his own guilt. He had "heard the words of God," and he had seen "the vision of the Almighty." In other words, God had shown him His mind and will about His people. God even let him see the people as God Himself saw them.
Where Balaam stood shaped what he saw. One writer applies the same view to God's people today.
The world is not heaven or the glory, but the church is there now. While the church is in the wilderness, the Spirit of God can take up the oracle and show what the church is in God's eye. So Balaam is not walking through the tents of Israel, or he would have heard the murmuring and discontent of Israel. He is not in the camp, he is gone up to the top of the hill, and, looking at them with God's eye, what does he see? Israel resting in their tents according to their tribes.
This verse calls God "the Almighty." One writer explains what that title guarantees.
The word Balaam uses for God — "El" — is the expression of absolute Deity. Blessing — our blessing through grace — rests on what He is… This title of God is put into Balaam's lips, and it speaks of the absolute character of the blessings pronounced. "Has He said, and will He not do it?" So a further title is used (Num. 24:4), "Almighty" — the Accomplisher of all that He has spoken.
Commentators differ over the words "falling down with his eyes uncovered." Some read them as a physical collapse before the vision.
When he saw the visions of God, Balaam had to fall down, just as he did before the angel (ch. 22:31). Yet his eyes were so opened that he saw Israel from God's viewpoint. How sad that this had no lasting effect on his heart!
Another writer rejects the older "trance" wording. He hears in the word a verdict on the man.
The man knew that God had opened his eyes, and that he was looking at things his heart cared nothing for. Even while he described the blessing and the final triumph of the people he hated, he knew he was a fallen man. Not "fallen into a trance," as the Authorised Version puts it, but truly fallen. This privileged but wilful man has gone down to eternal ruin.
The beauty of these words makes the man's end even more solemn.
Where can we find nobler or more glowing words than what Balaam said in Num. 24:4 and the verses that follow? Yet what can be more appalling than the terrible history of his later life, and of his end? "Balaam also, the son of Beor, they killed with the sword" (Num. 31:8). Part of his prophecy came true in his own shameful death and beyond — "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near." No, wretched Balaam! no, indeed!
- Opened. Balaam says his eyes are open. That admits they had been shut, and that God opened them.
- Given. God gave him two things: His words in Balaam's mouth, and a sight of His people as He Himself sees them.
- Almighty. This title marks God as the One who carries out all He has spoken. That is why a hired curse could never land.
- Fallen. He fell down before the vision. Commentators read the word two ways: bowed low by God's power, or ruined as a man.
- Lost. The noblest of words came from a man who died under judgment. Sight and gift are no proof of a changed heart.