Chapter 40—Balaam
This chapter is based on
Numbers 22
to
24
.
Returning to the Jordan from the conquest of Bashan, the Israelites,
in preparation for the immediate invasion of Canaan, encamped beside
the river, above its entrance into the Dead Sea, and just opposite the
plain of Jericho. They were upon the very borders of Moab, and the
Moabites were filled with terror at the close proximity of the invaders.
The people of Moab had not been molested by Israel, yet they
had watched with troubled forebodings all that had taken place in the
surrounding countries. The Amorites, before whom they had been
forced to retreat, had been conquered by the Hebrews, and the territory
which the Amorites had wrested from Moab was now in the possession
of Israel. The hosts of Bashan had yielded before the mysterious
power enshrouded in the cloudy pillar, and the giant strongholds were
occupied by the Hebrews. The Moabites dared not risk an attack
upon them; an appeal to arms was hopeless in face of the supernatural
agencies that wrought in their behalf. But they determined, as Pharaoh
had done, to enlist the power of sorcery to counteract the work of God.
They would bring a curse upon Israel.
The people of Moab were closely connected with the Midianites,
both by the ties of nationality and religion. And Balak, the king of
Moab, aroused the fears of the kindred people, and secured their co-
operation in his designs against Israel by the message, “Now shall this
company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the
grass of the field.” Balaam, an inhabitant of Mesopotamia, was reported
to possess supernatural powers, and his fame had reached to the land
of Moab. It was determined to call him to their aid. Accordingly,
messengers of “the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian,” were
sent to secure his divinations and enchantments against Israel.
[439]
The ambassadors at once set out on their long journey over the
mountains and across the deserts to Mesopotamia; and upon finding
Balaam, they delivered to him the message of their king: “Behold,
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