uncommon originality, which takes a powerful hold upon all readers, and for which there is no exact parallel in the whole of the Old Testament. The functions of Hebrew prophets were sufficiently multifarious, but no seer of Israel was ever employed for such an office as Balaam. We have instances of prophets being consulted with regard to the issue of military expeditions,a and we have many instances of pious men interceding for others by prayer, or pronouncing blessings and curses, the effects of which were considered infallible.b But there is no other example of a prophet who, requested to pronounce a definite and prescribed speech, is forced, 'heav'n controll'd,' to express the very opposite again and again. There is, in the whole tenor of the Book, something peculiarly mysterious, which may perhaps be best described by the Greek term Saiμóviov. That singular impression is strengthened, if it is not partly created, by the disposition and conduct of Balak. To him the Pharaoh of the Exodus, among all the Old Testament characters, bears the greatest resemblance. The king of Egypt rises against the God of Israel, the king of Moab against Israel, God's people. Both employ magicians; the former, to prove his own gods of equal power with the God of the Hebrews; the latter, to overcome the Hebrews by any god the enchanter might choose to invoke. The one asks, at the beginning of the struggle, 'Who is the Lord whose voice I should obey to let Israel go?' and is finally annihilated by His power; the other, imagining that he can vanquish God's elected people by sorcery, is fated to hear, from the lips of his own chosen instrument, a See 1 Ki. xxii. 5-28; 2 Chron. xviii. 5-27; 2 Ki. iii. 11; comp. 1 Sam. xxiii. 2, 4, 10, 11; xxx. 8; etc. b See notes on xxii. 5-14; Comm. on Gen., pp. 720-722; on Levit. i. p. 301. c Exod. v. 2. that they are invincible through their extraordinary relation to that omnipotent God. In either case there are arrayed, on the one side, defiance and despair, and on the other, an awful power which shatters all resistance. But while Pharaoh's contest is accompanied by terrible trials and catastrophes, a grand repose is spread over this Book, in which even the subjugation of Moab is seen as an event of the distant future.' The one is intended as an historical picture, to represent a single though momentous episode; the other is designed to shadow forth, as it were typically, how God's love constantly watches over His people, demolishes the malignant schemes of their enemies, and by His immediate interposition even converts contemplated imprecations into unalterable blessings. It comprises the whole mission of Israel as the author had conceived it, and the whole career of Israel as far as he was able to survey it in his time. It is not history, but a wonderful amalgamation of poetical grace and prophetic fire. 17. LIMITS. Βυτ μηδὲν ἄγαν. We would fain preserve calmness of judgment, even in the fervour of admiration; lest we resemble that Roman historian, who felt that, while relating ancient events, 'somehow his mind became antique, so that he was inclined to accept reports simply because they were old. In our opinion, the main charm of the Book of Balaam lies, apart from the beauty of form, in that sincere universality, which, not satisfied with teaching the unity of all races theoretically, as it is taught often enough, makes it a living reality. ,באחרית הימים 17 ,14 .xxiv see on this term notes in loc. b Antiquus fit animus. But what is the intrinsic character of the religious notions pervading this section? How far do they stand the test of philosophic examination? In a word, how far have they permanent and absolute truth? We shall try to answer these questions plainly and impartially. The Hebrew mind, however richly endowed, had its limits. Hebrew literature, however remarkable, is not free from grave deficiencies. The Hebrew mind was wanting in that 'dry light' of reason, which, undimmed by fancy or enthusiasm, penetrates into the depth and nature of things with sober discernment. The Hebrews, therefore, never advanced beyond the first rudiments in any science. They did not even produce a truly pragmatic history patiently tracing effect to cause. Unable to emancipate themselves from the charmed circle of theocratic conceptions, they knew no other standard of historical probability than the mechanical principle of retribution. The work which approaches nearest to philosophical speculation-the Book of Job-concludes with the negative result that man can fathom nothing;t and the work which displays the greatest independence of thought-the Book of Ecclesiastes-moves in a scepticism so empty and incoherent that a later time deemed it necessary to supplement its teaching by some positive ideas, though these again remain within the old and narrow boundaries. The prophetic writings, which exhibit the Hebrew intellect in its brightest glory, reveal no less prominently its shades and failings. They are indeed unequalled for ardour and sublimity, noble aspiration and single-minded patriotism. But all these beautiful a See Comm. on Levit. ii. pp. 609, 610. bBehold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from F evil, that is understanding;' Job xxviii. 28. c Eccles. xi. 9b; xii. 7, 13, 14, have been proved to be such additions. qualities are blended with an alloy of self-illusion which, in a great measure, neutralises their value. The prophets did not hesitate to come forward as workers of miracles.a Instead of offering their counsels and exhortations on their own authority, they represented them—not figuratively but literally-as the direct emanations of God, with whom they believed they had personal communion. They, consequently, described visions, to which it is impossible to attribute any reality. They had too much earnestness to introduce merely as an artistic creation what to them appeared objective truth, and they were not sufficiently prepared to appreciate the eternal reality of poetic truth. In their grandest vaticinations they indeed applied the teleological law, which, with far-reaching sagacity, connects means and end, and beholds in each epoch of history an organic link in the great chain of human development. They composed, therefore, predictions reflecting their ideal of the ultimate happiness of their own people and of mankind. But these prophecies were, for the most part, no more than soaring hopes and anticipations, magnificent and incomparable if presented as poetical pictures, but questionable and misleading when set forth as Divine utterances, and, severed from the safe ground of experience and reflection, involving a reversion a 2 Ki. ii. 19-22; iii. 17; iv. 32-35, 42-44; v. 10; vi. 6; etc. b See Comm. on Lev. i. pp. 439, 455. Not even the cautious theory of a recent critic (Kuenen, Relig. of Isr., i. pp. 203-207), who grants that 'the conviction of being interpreters of Jahveh forced itself upon the prophets in a moment of ecstasy,' but supposes that their ecstasy was, as a rule, confined to that one occasion of installation, can materially alter the view above taken; for if the effects of one moment of visionary enthusiasm remained at work for years, the result is practically the same as if that state of transport had been permanently continued or constantly renewed. The visions, however, are distinct from symbolical acts, some of which were actually carried out (as Jer. xix. 1 -13, etc.), while others were meant and understood as fictitious (as Hos. i. 2-9; Jer. xiii. 1-7; xxv. 15– 29; Ezek. iv. v., etc. of the order of nature. The hazy halo in which they are enveloped is rendered more perplexing and dangerous by their very grandeur and elevation; and if we survey the history of the last three thousand years, as far as it was influenced by prophetic and Messianic writings, we are, in candour and truthfulness, compelled to admit that the dim indistinctness, which speaks as with a higher sanction, has cast many a gloomy shadow on the path of mankind -steep and rugged at best-and has, perhaps more than any other obstacle, contributed to delay that universal peace, goodwill, and brotherhood, which formed the noblest hopes of those noble minds. Applying these tests to the Book of Balaam, we shall find that, as it is distinguished by all the admirable characteristics of prophetic literature, so it shares nearly all its doubtful features. The narrative professes to be simple history, and yet is charged throughout with superhuman elements; and it describes, with infinite skill, the time of David, and yet takes every possible care to make the reader believe that it is describing the time of Moses. The author is evidently a man of the most earnest piety, and yet he does not scruple to make Balaam utter words which he contends were put into the seer's mouth by God. Balaam has constant intercourse with God as with a familiar, though superior, Being; for 'God comes to Balaam' in dreams, and Balaam 'goes to meet God' by day in solitude; God asks Balaam, in distinct words, special questions, and Balaam receives from God directions in terms equally explicit. It is difficult to see how a pure conception of the spiritual nature of the Deity can thus be maintained. And, lastly, a prophet who, in the time of Moses, was able to a xxii. 9-12, 20; xxiii. 3, 4, 15, 16; xxiv. 1. |