Numbers 23:9, commentary and pictures

Balaam was brought from Aram to curse Israel, but God put the blessing in his mouth and by His power constrained him to bless those He had promised to prosper, leaving him unable to curse or reverse it. The utterance declares Israel to be God's chosen people under His protection, set apart by His favor and not to be treated as equal to other nations. To dwell alone means to remain a distinct people who shall not be united with, swallowed up by, or reckoned among the nations, but shall grow and prosper in that distinctness, a promise fulfilled through captivity and dispersion and continuing for the true Israel scattered as sojourners with citizenship in heaven. The same word calls present believers to stand apart as God's special, peculiar people, separate from the world in habits, practices, and sentiments by obedience, faith shown in good works, and earnest service, with the seventh-day Sabbath as the sign marking them as His. That separation cuts them off so far as possible from heathen connection, as Abraham was separated from his idolatrous kindred to preserve the true faith in purity, forbidding intimate alliances, worldly confederacies, and secret societies, so that God may gather through them a people for Himself out of every nationality.

Balaam's Forced Blessing

The utterance belongs to the unwilling prophecy of blessing over Israel, spoken after Balak had brought the seer from Aram to curse Jacob whom God had not cursed. Constrained by divine power, the hired curser was compelled to bless instead of cursing for reward, having been commanded to bless and left unable to reverse it. By His angel God put the word in his mouth in solemn prophetic style, leaving him no power to say anything beyond it, so that he could not curse or devote to destruction those whom God had promised to prosper. It is Bible poetry and song of great beauty, among the earliest and most sublime poetic utterances known and not inferior to other Scripture poetry, picturing Israel seen from the top of the rocks and beheld from the hills.

Balak led him from one point to another in the vain hope that he might be induced to turn the blessing of Israel into a curse. The blessing could not be turned aside, a firmness like that later shown when Luther stood firm as a rock against repeated efforts to move him to compromise, with human applause and the fear of man alike powerless to shake his decision because he was sustained by a divine power. The speaker, though once acknowledged as God's prophet, proved unfaithful and would have misrepresented God's people if permitted.

The blessing displayed God's goodness and mercy under His almighty protection and gave Moab and Midian clear evidence that Jehovah was the God they should serve. It was the last ray of light shining upon a stiff-necked people set in defiance of God's will before their probation ended.

Israel a Distinct People

Lo, the people shall dwell alone describes Israel as God's chosen people, set apart from other nations by His favor and distinctive character under His almighty protection, not cursed or rejected by Him and not to be treated as their equal or to stand on their level. To dwell alone means to remain a distinct people who shall not be united with, swallowed up by, absorbed into, lost among, or reckoned as one of the other nations. Their distinctness itself is part of their promised prosperity.

The utterance also promises future growth, prosperity, and strength, that they would become far more numerous than they then were. Though Israel had no permanent settlement when the words were spoken from the hills, the promise was fulfilled as the people remained distinct even through captivity and dispersion. What was spoken over a wandering host was thus vindicated in their later history.

The same separation applies to the true Israel of God, who live scattered among the nations as sojourners on earth with their citizenship in heaven. Even in uttering it Balaam saw that the end of the righteous is truly desirable, and desired that his own last end might be like theirs.

Separation for God's People

The declaration that the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations belongs to present believers as well as to ancient Israel, for God's people are to stand apart by themselves as His special people, distinct from the nations around them and separated for Him. That standing alone means being a peculiar people, separate from the world in habits, practices, customs and sentiments, marked by obedience to His commandments, by lives that do not follow the world's evil practices, by faith expressed through good works, by earnestness in service to God, and by freedom from fellowship with the works of darkness. Keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is the sign between God and His people marking that separation and marking them as His. Through them in that separated state God works to gather a people for Himself out of every nationality.

The command to dwell apart teaches God's people not to join secret societies or worldly confederacies. It likewise teaches them not to form intimate alliances with those who do not obey God, because such relationships can draw them into worldly habits and sin.

The verse reveals God's wise arrangement to cut His people off so far as possible from connection with the heathen, a separation that applies to training and schooling. This was seen when Abraham was separated from his idolatrous kindred so he could train and educate his family apart from the seductive influences in Mesopotamia. There he guarded them from corrupting practices and taught them to worship the living God, so that the true faith would be preserved in its purity by his descendants from generation to generation.