And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder.
Balak, the king of Moab, brought Balaam to curse Israel in order to destroy them. He moved him from place to place in the vain hope of turning the blessing into a curse. In the verse Balaam tells Balak to remain standing by his burnt offering while he goes elsewhere to meet the Lord. Balaam was a corrupt, hypocritical and avaricious prophet, a gain-seeker whose heart longed to curse God's people for reward.
In goodness and mercy God constrained and controlled him, forbidding the curse. His attempt to use magic, enchantment and divination could not prevail against God's prohibition. Instead God put inspired words of blessing and prophecy in his mouth against his own will, compelling him in the most exalted strains of inspiration to pronounce upon Israel the richest and most sublime blessings. The resulting blessing is poetry of great beauty. It declares that God has commanded a blessing that cannot be reversed, that He has not cursed Jacob nor defied Israel nor beheld iniquity in Jacob nor seen perverseness in Israel, that Israel dwells alone and is not reckoned among the nations, that the Lord his God is with him with the shout of a King among them, and that it shall be told of Jacob and Israel what God has wrought. It proclaims Israel as God's chosen under God's almighty protecting power, plainly visible even to the Moabites themselves.
This clear and distinct light from God's throne was the last ray of light shone upon a stiff-necked people who had set their wills in defiance of God's will. The repeated effort to move Balaam to change the blessing illustrates steadfastness under later pressure. Human pressure and fear could not shake Luther from his firm decision because divine power sustained him.
Balak, the king of Moab, brought Balaam to curse Israel in order to destroy them. He moved him from place to place in the vain hope of turning the blessing into a curse. In the verse Balaam tells Balak to remain standing by his burnt offering while he goes elsewhere to meet the Lord. Balaam was a corrupt, hypocritical and avaricious prophet, a gain-seeker whose heart longed to curse God's people for reward.
In goodness and mercy God constrained and controlled him, forbidding the curse. His attempt to use magic, enchantment and divination could not prevail against God's prohibition. Instead God put inspired words of blessing and prophecy in his mouth against his own will, compelling him in the most exalted strains of inspiration to pronounce upon Israel the richest and most sublime blessings. The resulting blessing is poetry of great beauty. It declares that God has commanded a blessing that cannot be reversed, that He has not cursed Jacob nor defied Israel nor beheld iniquity in Jacob nor seen perverseness in Israel, that Israel dwells alone and is not reckoned among the nations, that the Lord his God is with him with the shout of a King among them, and that it shall be told of Jacob and Israel what God has wrought. It proclaims Israel as God's chosen under God's almighty protecting power, plainly visible even to the Moabites themselves.
This clear and distinct light from God's throne was the last ray of light shone upon a stiff-necked people who had set their wills in defiance of God's will. The repeated effort to move Balaam to change the blessing illustrates steadfastness under later pressure. Human pressure and fear could not shake Luther from his firm decision because divine power sustained him.