Numbers 23:21-24 He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither has he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him… "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all." But Balaam said, "No; you cannot treat God's messengers in that way. As a matter of fact they are here; you have to account for them being here, and to reckon with them while they are here." We cannot quiet things by ignoring them. By simply writing "Unknowable" across the heavens we really do not exclude supernatural or immeasurable forces. The ribbon is too narrow to shut out the whole heaven; it is but a little strip; it looks contemptible against the infinite arch. We do not exclude God by denying Him, nor by saying that we do not know Him or that He cannot be known. We cannot neutralise God, so as to make Him neither the one thing nor the other. So Balaam was the greatest mystery Balak had to deal with. It is the same with the Bible-God's supernatural Book. It will not lie where we want it to lie: it has a way of getting up through the dust that gathers upon it and shaking itself, and making its pages felt. It will open at the wrong place; would it open at some catalogue of names, it might be tolerated, bat it opens at hot places, where white thrones are and severe judgments, and where scales are tried and measuring wands are tested. It will speak to the soul about the wrong-doing that never came to anything, and the wicked thought that would have burned the heavens and scattered dishonour upon the throne of God. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. |
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