And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.
After the sacrifices God sent His angel to meet Balaam to give him words to speak. The meeting restored utterance as when Balaam was wholly devoted to God's service. God commanded him to return to Balak and speak that word. He had no power to say anything beyond what God gave him, but could say only what God put in his mouth.
Balak led Balaam from one place to another in the vain hope of getting him to turn the blessing of Israel into a curse. The word put in his mouth was a solemn prophetic utterance. He could not curse or devote to destruction Jacob and Israel where God had given blessing. God had not cursed them but had promised to prosper them. Neither human applause nor fear of man could shake Balaam from speaking God's blessing.
The utterance declared that Israel would dwell alone and remain a distinct people. They would not be reckoned among the nations and would not be united with, swallowed up by, or lost in any other nation. It declared that they would become far more numerous than at that time, as the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel, with prosperity and strength. In it Balaam prophetically desired that his own life might end with the desirable death of the righteous. The same divine power that held Balaam to God's word sustains God's messenger still, as shown in Luther, to speak only what God puts in his mouth.
After the sacrifices God sent His angel to meet Balaam to give him words to speak. The meeting restored utterance as when Balaam was wholly devoted to God's service. God commanded him to return to Balak and speak that word. He had no power to say anything beyond what God gave him, but could say only what God put in his mouth.
Balak led Balaam from one place to another in the vain hope of getting him to turn the blessing of Israel into a curse. The word put in his mouth was a solemn prophetic utterance. He could not curse or devote to destruction Jacob and Israel where God had given blessing. God had not cursed them but had promised to prosper them. Neither human applause nor fear of man could shake Balaam from speaking God's blessing.
The utterance declared that Israel would dwell alone and remain a distinct people. They would not be reckoned among the nations and would not be united with, swallowed up by, or lost in any other nation. It declared that they would become far more numerous than at that time, as the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel, with prosperity and strength. In it Balaam prophetically desired that his own life might end with the desirable death of the righteous. The same divine power that held Balaam to God's word sustains God's messenger still, as shown in Luther, to speak only what God puts in his mouth.