Balak has no reason to hope that Israel will be ruined. First, because God is unchangeable. Men change their minds, and break their words; they lie. But God doesn’t. He never changes His mind, and therefore never takes back His promise. It is impossible for God to lie, Heb. 6:18. Israel is a blessed people; they are born under the

Balaam and Balak plan to bribe God with altars and sacrifices. Ridiculous nonsense, to think that this will please God! Balaam's way is still perverse, and God is still his enemy; but God will cause him to utter such a confession, to the honour of God and Israel, as will make those forever inexcusable who take up arms against them.Balaam

We have here the meeting between Balak and Balaam, enemies to God's Israel; but here they seem to differ in their expectations of success. Balak speaks of it with confidence, not doubting that he will get what he wants now that Balaam has come. In expectation of this, he goes out to meet him, partly to gratify his own impatient

We must not think that, because God does not by His providence restrain men from sin, therefore He approves of it, or that it is therefore not hateful to Him; He allows sin, and yet is angry at it. God lets Balaam know his displeasure against him by sending an angel. Angels are enemies to sin, and perhaps are employed

Balak tries even harder to get Balaam to come. Sinners stick at no pains, spare no cost, and care not how low they stoop, for the gratifying either of their desires or of their hatred. Balaam seems to resist but actually yields to this temptation. His convictions tell him to stick to the command of God, and he replies as

The Moabites are terrified of Israel, but they have no need to be if they understand (and probably Moses let them know) the orders God has given to Israel not to fight with the Moabites, Deut. 2:9. But, if they do know about these orders, they don’t trust them. Despite the old friendship between Abraham and Lot, the Moabites determine

Sihon goes out with his forces against Israel in the wilderness, without any provocation given. Moses says that God hardens his spirit, that He might deliver them into the hand of Israel, Deut. 2:30. Sihon's army is routed, and all his country comes into the possession of Israel. The Amorites are one of the nations whose land God has promised

The Israelites have now gone around the land of Edom (which they are not to invade, nor disturb, Deut. 2:4-5), and have come to the border of Moab. The enemies of God's people may slow their passage, but cannot prevent their entrance into the promised rest. Care is taken to let us know that the Israelites in their march observe

Our Saviour has told us (John 3:14-15), that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so the Son of man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish. Notice the similarities: 1. Between their disease and ours. The devil is the old serpent. Sin is the biting of this fiery serpent; it is painful

When the Canaanites see that the Israelites are facing towards them, Arad decides to go on the offensive and fight them. But this proves disastrous; had he sat still, his people might have been the last to be destroyed of all the Canaanites, but now they are the first. At first Arad seems to succeed. His advance-guards pick up some