Balaam, it need hardly be said was a very eminent, he was even an extraordinary, man. He lived largely among the wild race of the Midianites, but he had gifts and powers which, so far as we know, were entirely unshared by those among whom he dwelt.
I. (1) He was a careful observer of contemporary events; he was a man of trained political sagacity. (2) He was in possession of a truth which, quite apart from its awful and intrinsic value, gave purpose and meaning to a human life: he believed in one God. (3) He was endowed in a high degree with the gift of supernatural prophecy. Of this gift his closing words to Balak afford one remarkable specimen. His prediction of the star and sceptre that were to arise out of Jacob is not fully satisfied by the conquests of David, of Omri, of John Hyrcanus; it points to the spiritual empire of Jesus Christ. Balaam was in one age what Melchisedek had been in another, and Job in a third an organ of truth beyond the frontiers of the kingdom of truth.
II. With gifts like these, Balaam was naturally a person of great public consideration. Balak, the king of Moab, seems to have looked upon him as a very powerful wizard. Balak's view of Balaam illustrates the way in which in all ages statesmen are apt to look upon religion and its representatives. They see in it only one of the great forces which modify or control human life, and they desire, by whatever means, to enlist it on the side of the policy or the government which they for the moment represent.
III. The real character of Balaam was a very mixed one. On the one hand, he was a man with a clear idea of duty, based on a certain knowledge of God; on the other, we find that his notion of duty was clearly not what he could discover to be God's will, but only what God would not allow him to ignore. It was a minimising rule of duty.
IV. There are two or three considerations which the history suggests: (1) The ministry of grace and truth to others maybe quite independent of the personal character of the minister. (2) It is possible to know a great deal about truth, to make sacrifices for it, to be kept back from honour out of deference to its requirements, and yet to be at heart disloyal to it. (3) The only true safeguard against such a fate as Balaam's is the love of God.
H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiii., p. 241.
References: Numbers 24:11-13. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. x., p. 158. Numbers 24:15-24. J. Monro Gibson, The Mosaic Era,p. 305.Numbers 24:15-25. Expositor,2nd series, vol. v., p. 341.Numbers 24:17. Expositor,3rd series, vol. v., p. 166; J. G. Murphy, The Book of Daniel,p. 18; H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit,No. 1664.Numbers 25:6-8. J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College,vol. i., p. 258. Numbers 25:11. J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxi., p. 1.Numbers 25:12. Parker, vol. iv., p. 60. Numbers 25:12; Numbers 25:13. T. Arnold, Sermons,vol. vi., p. 49. Numbers 25:13. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons,p. 411