And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.
Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel for its destruction, and Balaam was a corrupt and hypocritical seeker of gain whose avaricious heart longed to curse God's people for reward. The LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth to carry back to Balak, so that he spoke only what God commanded rather than the curse Balak had hired him to pronounce. Angels were present at that meeting, and Balaam could not use magic or his own power to curse Israel.
Though Balak moved him from place to place in the vain hope that the blessing would turn into a curse, Balaam declared he could not curse those whom God had not cursed. Balak even urged him to curse only part of Israel, yet still he could speak only what God commanded. Repeated attempts to alter a divinely given outcome cannot make it change.
God's power controlled the avaricious prophet and forced blessings and prophecies in favor of His people from his lips instead of a curse. Constrained by that power, he pronounced the richest blessings, proclaiming Israel as God's chosen people with God's almighty power as her protection. His utterance was an unwilling prophecy of blessing to Israel, given in the most exalted strains of inspiration.
That unwilling prophecy stands among the earliest as well as the most sublime poetic utterances known to man found in the Scriptures, and is not inferior in beauty. The constrained blessing showed God's goodness and mercy to Moab and Midian as clear and distinct light from God's throne and evidence that the mighty Jehovah is the God to serve, which even the Moabites could see. It was the last ray of light to a stiff-necked people who set their wills in defiance of God's will, so that when they afterward followed Balaam's suggestion to ensnare Israel, they filled up the measure of their iniquities and their probation ended.
Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel for its destruction, and Balaam was a corrupt and hypocritical seeker of gain whose avaricious heart longed to curse God's people for reward. The LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth to carry back to Balak, so that he spoke only what God commanded rather than the curse Balak had hired him to pronounce. Angels were present at that meeting, and Balaam could not use magic or his own power to curse Israel.
Though Balak moved him from place to place in the vain hope that the blessing would turn into a curse, Balaam declared he could not curse those whom God had not cursed. Balak even urged him to curse only part of Israel, yet still he could speak only what God commanded. Repeated attempts to alter a divinely given outcome cannot make it change.
God's power controlled the avaricious prophet and forced blessings and prophecies in favor of His people from his lips instead of a curse. Constrained by that power, he pronounced the richest blessings, proclaiming Israel as God's chosen people with God's almighty power as her protection. His utterance was an unwilling prophecy of blessing to Israel, given in the most exalted strains of inspiration.
That unwilling prophecy stands among the earliest as well as the most sublime poetic utterances known to man found in the Scriptures, and is not inferior in beauty. The constrained blessing showed God's goodness and mercy to Moab and Midian as clear and distinct light from God's throne and evidence that the mighty Jehovah is the God to serve, which even the Moabites could see. It was the last ray of light to a stiff-necked people who set their wills in defiance of God's will, so that when they afterward followed Balaam's suggestion to ensnare Israel, they filled up the measure of their iniquities and their probation ended.