Those ships of Chittim, too, have a great and glorious
future before them. Some day or other they will come and afflict
Asshur, the great empire of the East, out of which Balaam probably
came; and afflict Eber too, the kingdom of the Jews, and they too
shall perish for ever.
Dimly he sees it, for it is very far away. But that it will come he
sees; and beyond that all is dark. He has said his say; he has
spoken the whole truth for once. Balak's house full of silver and
gold would not have bought him off and stopped his mouth when such
awful thoughts crowded on his mind. So he returns to his place--to
do what?
If he cannot earn Balak's gold by cursing Israel, he can do it by
giving him cunning and politic advice. He advises Balak to make
friends with the Israelites and mix them up with his people by
enticing them to the feasts of his idols, at which the women threw
themselves away in shameful profligacy, after the custom of the
heathens of these parts.
In the next chapter we read how Moses, and Phinehas, Aaron's
grandson, put down those filthy abominations with a high hand; and
how Balaam's detestable plot, instead of making peace, makes war;
and in chapter xxxi.
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