There is no reason, therefore, against simply believing the story as
it stands. It seems a very ancient story indeed, suiting exactly in
its smallest details the place where Moses, or whoever wrote the
Book of Numbers, has put it.
We, in these days, are accustomed to draw a sharp line between the
good and the bad, the converted and the unconverted, the children of
God and the children of this world, those who have God's Spirit and
those who have not, which we find nowhere in Scripture; and
therefore when we read of such a man as Balaam we cannot understand
him. He is a bad man, but yet he is a prophet. How can that be?
He knows the true God. More, he has the Spirit of God in him, and
thereby utters deep and wonderful prophecies; and yet he is a bad
man and a rogue. How can that be?
The puzzle, my friends, is one of our own making. If, instead of
taking up doctrines out of books, we will use our own eyes and ears
and common sense, and look honestly at this world as it is, and men
and women as they are, we shall find nothing unnatural or strange in
Balaam; we shall find him very like a good many people whom we know;
very like--nay, probably, too like--ourselves in some particulars.
Pages:
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189