How can I curse what God has not cursed? How can I denounce what the LORD has not denounced? Sermons
1. Malicious designs. E.g., Balaam's wish to curse; the plot of the Jews to stone Paul at Iconium (Acts 14:5), and to assassinate him at Jerusalem (Acts 23.). 2. Words of execration. E.g., Shimei (2 Samuel 16); the blasphemies spoken against Christ, and the libels uttered against his people (Matthew 10:24-26). 3. Witchcraft and divination. In reply to all such foolish fears let it suffice to say, "I believe in God" (Isaiah 8:13, 14: 1 Peter 3:13). 4. Assaults and all violence. E.g., the various attempts to seize or kill Jesus Christ when "his hour was not yet come." When the hour for suffering "as a Christian is come," let him glorify God "(1 Peter 4:12-16). Such calamities are not "curses" from God, and God can change all other curses into blessings, as in the case of Balaam (Deuteronomy 23:5). 5. Every kind of persecution (Romans 8:35-39). The devil's curse is a telum imbelle; his defiance an empty threat. The objects of God's care are invincible, if not invulnerable (Isaiah 54:17). - P.
How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Balaam's declaration of the happiness of Israel sets forth the blessedness of the people of God.I. IT IS PLACED BEYOND THE POWER OF THEIR ENEMIES. II. IT CONSISTS IN THEIR SEPARATION FROM THE UNGODLY. In three respects were the Israelites separated from other nations. 1. Politically they were independent of them. 2. Morally they were separated from them. 3. By the possession of peculiar privileges they were separated from them. III. IT CONSISTS ALSO IS THEIR VAST NUMBERS. 1. Unlimited as regards time. 2. Unlimited as regards place. 3. Unlimited as regards race or class. IV. IT CONSISTS ALSO IN RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHARACTER. V. IT IS IN SOME RESPECTS DESIRED EVEN BY THE UNGODLY. (W. Jones.) 1. God's Israel are owned and blessed of Him. He has not cursed them, for they are delivered from the curse of the law; He has not abandoned them, though mean and vile. 2. Those that have the good-will of heaven have the ill-will of hell; the serpent and his seed have an enmity to them. 3. Though the enemies of God's people may prevail far against them, yet they cannot curse them: that is, they cannot do them any real mischief, much less a ruining mischief, for they cannot separate them from the love of God (Romans 8:39). 2. He pronounceth them happy — in three things.(1) Happy in their peculiarity, and distinction from the rest of the nations (ver. 9). It is the duty and honour of those that are dedicated to God to be separated from the world, and not to walk according to the course of it. Those who make conscience of peculiar duties may take the comfort of peculiar privileges, which it is likely Balaam has an eye to here; God's Israel shall not stand upon a level with other nations, but be dignified above them all, as a people near to God and set apart for Him.(2) Happy in their numbers; not so few and despicable as they were represented to Him, but an innumerable company which made them both honourable and formidable (ver. 10). Balak would have him see the utmost part of the people (Numbers 22:41), hoping the more he saw of them the more would he be exasperated against them, and throw out his curses with the more keenness and rage; but it proved quite contrary; instead of being angry at their numbers he admired them. The better we are acquainted with God's people the better opinion we have of them. He takes notice of the number —(a) Of the dust of Jacob, i.e., the people of Jacob, concerning whom it was foretold that they should be as the dust for number (Genesis 28:14). Thus he owns the fulfilling of the promise made to the fathers, and expects that it should be yet further accomplished.(b) Of the fourth part of Israel; alluding to the form of their camp which was cast into four squadrons under four standards. Note, God's Israel is a very great body; His spiritual Israel is so, and they will appear to be so, when they shall all be gathered together unto Him in the great day (Revelation 7:9).(3) Happy in their last end. Let me die the death of the righteous Israelites, that are in covenant with God, and let my last end, or future state, be like theirs, or my recompense, viz., in the other world. Here —(a) It is taken for granted that death is the end of all men; the righteous themselves must die; and it is good for each of us to think of this with application, as Balaam himself doth here, speaking of his own death.(b) He goes upon the supposition of the soul's immortality, and a different state on the other side death, to which this is a noble testimony, and an evidence of its being anciently known and believed. For how could the death of the righteous be more desirable than the death of the wicked upon any other account, but that of a happiness in another world, since in the manner and circumstances of dying we see all things come alike to all?(c) He pronounceth the righteous truly blessed, not only while they live, but when they die; which makes their death not only more desirable than the death of others, but even more desirable than life itself; for in that sense his wish may be taken. Not only when I do die, let me die the death of the righteous; but I could even now be willing to die, on that condition that I might die the death of the righteous and take my end this moment provided it might be like his. ( Matthew Henry, D. D..) 1. "How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?" This supposes that God had blessed Israel. To be blessed of the Lord is all that a man can desire. But who are they that are blessed of God?(1) They on whom God has set His love; not for anything in them to merit that love.(2) When that solemn engagement was entered into, the Book of Eternal Life was written, and the names of those ordained to it written therein. 2. "How shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?" The idea refers to warfare (1 Samuel 17:45). God's spiritual Israel, whose names are in the Book of Life, are they whom God hath not defied, that is, He hath made them more than conquerors through Him that loved them. And, in order to see this, we must look upon them as being in Christ, their Covenant Head, from all eternity. So that, just as He came off more than conqueror over all His spiritual foes, so shall they. II. NOTICE HOW CONSPICUOUS ISRAEL IS IN THE EYES OF GOD. 1. "For from the top of the rocks I see him." We may regard God as saying this of His people, chosen in Christ.(1) There is the rock of the everlasting covenant. He sees them not as sinful. He sees not perverseness in them, but He sees them accepted in the Beloved, and made complete in Him.(2) There is the rock of sovereign grace.(3) There is the rock of God's faithfulness. 2. From the hills I behold him.(1) God's eternity.(2) God's uuchangeableness. III. THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF ISRAEL FROM THE WORLD. "Lo, the people shall dwell alone," &c. God's regenerated blood-bought people, as a spiritual fact, live alone. True, they are in the world, perform its duties, and are reckoned among the nations, but they are not of the world (John 15:19). As soon as God calls them in His grace, puts His Spirit in them, and makes them new creatures in Christ Jesus, from that time they may be said to live alone. For, let a regenerated person live in the same house in which are a number of unregenerate persons, his own relatives, he lives alone, for he has desires and feelings and spiritual sympathies different from theirs. His dwelling-place is on high; he walks with God in the light of the living; the Spirit of God draws his affections upwards, so that he may be said to live alone, so far as outward society goes. Yet he is not alone, for he has the presence of God with him. (J. J. Eastmead.) The people shall dwell alone. I. THE EXACT FULFILMENT OF THIS ANCIENT PREDICTION, IN EVERY DIFFERENT AGE CONSTITUTES ONE OF THE MOST ASTONISHING FEATURES OF JEWISH HISTORY.1. Travellers have related that the deep red waters of the Rhone, flowing into the Lake of Geneva, may afterwards be traced for miles and miles; the dark, turbid stream of the river still refusing to mingle with the clear waters of the lake. And thus it is, and ever has been, with the Jews. Like that river they have in every age continued a distinct people, and this too amidst circumstances which, it might have been thought, must have inevitably broken down every middle wall of partition between them and others. 2. And there is yet another consideration. It is without a parallel in the history of the world. In every case where even the most discordant elements have been thrown together, they have imperceptibly blended in the course of ages. II. SOME OF THE IMPROVING REFLECTIONS WHICH IT MAY BE INTENDED THAT WE SHOULD DERIVE FROM THE PROPHECY. 1. There is a national use to be made of this prediction of Balaam. What is literally true of Israel is spiritually true of England. We, as a people, may be said to be "dwelling alone." In regard to our mercies, our privileges, and our blessings, how much have we received above all other people under heaven! No slavery tolerated amongst us — law for the poorest — protection for the weakest, and the homes of England bright and happy — such as are found nowhere else. And above all the rest, the greatness of our religious privileges. 2. But, from the national, let us turn to the individual application of the prophecy. Let us admonish you that there is an important sense in which every Christian must "dwell alone." You cannot follow Christ and yet be like other men. (H. Hutton, M. A.) This text is a prophecy, and hath more steps towards its accomplishment than one. The prosperity and distinction of a far more illustrious family than the house of Israel are intended here: While, therefore, the literal Israel are the type, the prophecy is to be applied to the saints of God in every age as the antitype.I. SPECIFY SOME CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL, STRONGLY TYPICAL OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN ALL AGES. In this view, the history of Israel becomes an instructive emblem of the original state, deliverance, pilgrimage, and happy rest of the ransomed of the Lord. II. SPECIFY SOME OF THE PECULIARITIES WHICH DISTINGUISH THEM FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD. My text represents them as a distinct incorporated society. They are a people — a people dwelling — a people dwelling alone — and a people who shall not be reckoned among the nations. They are a distinct people, as to their extraction, as to their language, as to their privileges, as to their objects of pursuit, as to their manners, as to their allies, as to their sorrows, and as to their joys. III. POINT OUT WHENCE IT IS THAT THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD ARE SUCH A SINGULAR PEOPLE. "They shall not be reckoned among the nations." Literally has this prediction been accomplished in the history of the posterity of Jacob. Uglanare found nowhere else. And above all the rest, the greatness of our religious privileges. 2. But, from the national, let us turn to the individual application of the prophecy. Let us admonish you that there is an important sense in which every Christian must "dwell alone." You cannot follow Christ and yet be like other men. (H. Hutton, M. A.) This text is a prophecy, and hath more steps towards its accomplishment than one. The prosperity and distinction of a far more illustrious family than the house of Israel are intended here: While, therefore, the literal Israel are the type, the prophecy is to be applied to the saints of God in every age as the antitype.I. SPECIFY SOME CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL, STRONGLY TYPICAL OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN ALL AGES. In this view, the history of Israel becomes an instructive emblem of the original state, deliverance, pilgrimage, and happy rest of the ransomed of the Lord. II. SPECIFY SOME OF THE PECULIARITIES WHICH DISTINGUISH THEM FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD. My text represents them as a distinct incorporated society. They are a people — a people dwelling — a people dwelling alone — and a people who shall not be reckoned among the nations. They are a distinct people, as to their extraction, as to their language, as to their privileges, as to their objects of pursuit, as to their manners, as to their allies, as to their sorrows, and as to their joys. III. POINT OUT WHENCE IT IS THAT THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD ARE SUCH A SINGULAR PEOPLE. "They shall not be reckoned among the nations." Literally has this prediction been accomplished in the history of the posterity of Jacob. Uglanare found nowhere else. And above all the rest, the greatness of our religious privileges. 2. But, from the national, let us turn to the individual application of the prophecy. Let us admonish you that there is an important sense in which every Christian must "dwell alone." 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