"And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, 4 and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. 7 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“From Aram Balak has brought me,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
and come, denounce Israel!’
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
9 For from the top of the crags I see him,
from the hills I behold him;
behold, a people dwelling alone,
and not counting itself among the nations!
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!”
11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” 12 And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
Numbers 23:1-12
In the first prophecy of Balaam, we should note the plain statement in 9 'the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations'. Here is Balaam's discernment of the 'separated' character of this people whom God had called to be His own. And it is a word that has been marvellously fulfilled and literally true of Israel down the long centuries thirty long centuries of turbulent history, in which empires have waxed and waned, and nation after nation has tried to destroy them, but in vain. Is it not wonderful that so long ago such a clear delineation of the future should be given to men? This is what God does when evil men presume to threaten and do despite to His purposes and His people.
That being said, we must now consider the mysterious fact that such an authentic word from God should have been spoken by, and through, a man who was such a questionable character. For we can hardly suppose, in view of that ultimately followed at the end of the story, that Balaam was walking in fellowship with God. All the evidence seems to point to the fact that his doubledealing, wily nature was sovereignly overruled by God. It is clear that Balaam's words were what we would term an ecstatic prophetic utterance, and this, as has been pointed out, does not in itself signify particular spirituality, nor does it follow that those who thus prophesy are necessarily good and faithful servants of God, as this story, and a similarly graphic one in 1 Samuel 19:1824 (which see) make plain. Nor must we forget our Lord's solemn reminder in Matthew 7:2123 that prophesying in His Name does not even guarantee acceptance with Him at the last.