BALAAM

    ‘He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of
    Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of
    the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold
    there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they
    cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against
    me.’–NUM. xxii. 6.
Give a general outline of the history. See Bishop Butler’s great sermon.
I. How much knowledge and love of good there may be in a bad man.
Balaam was a prophet:
_(a)_ He knew something of the divine character,
_(b)_ He knew what righteousness was (Micah v. 8).
_(c)_ He knew of a future state, and longed for ‘the last end of the
righteous.’
He would not break the law of God, and curse by word of mouth:
But yet for all that he wanted to curse. He wanted to do the wrong
thing, and that made him bad. And when he durst not do it in one way,
he did it in another.
So he is a picture of the universal blending and mixture that there is
even in bad men.
It is not knowledge that makes a man good.
It is not aspirations after righteousness. These dwell more or less in
all souls.
It is not desire ‘to go to heaven’–everybody has that desire.
Perfectly vicious men are devils. There is always the blending.
Many of us are trusting to these vagrant wishes, but my friends, it is
not what a man would sometimes like, but what the whole set and tenor
of his life tends towards, that makes him. There may be plenty of
backwater eddies and cross-currents in the sea, but the tide goes on
all the same.
  ‘All these fancies and their whole array
   One cunning bosom sin blows quite away,’
‘Let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous.’
Do not trust your convictions; they are powerless in the fight.
II. How men may deceive themselves about their condition, or the
self-illusions and compromises of sin.
These convictions will never, by themselves, keep a man from evil, but
they may lead men to try to compromise, just as Balaam did. He would
go, but he would not, for the life of him, curse; and he evidently
thought that he was a hero in firmness and a martyr to duty.
He would not curse in words, but he did it in another way–by means of
Baal-peor.
So we find men making compromises between duty and inclination; keeping
the letter and breaking the spirit; obeying in some respects and
indemnifying themselves for their obedience by their disobedience in
others; very devout, attentive to all religious observances, and yet
sinning on. And we find such men playing tricks upon themselves, and
really deluding themselves into the idea that they are very good men!
This is the great characteristic of sin, its deceitfulness. It always
comes as an ‘angel of light,’ like some of those weird stories in which
we read about a strange guest at a banquet who discloses a skeleton
below the wedding garment!
‘Father of lies.’ ‘_Nihil imbecillius denudato diabolo._’ The more one
sins, the less capable he becomes of discerning evil. Conscience
becomes sophisticated, and it is always possible to refine away its
judgments.
‘By reason of use have their senses exercised to discern.’ ‘Take heed
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.’
III. The absurdity and unreasonableness of unrighteousness.
We look at Balaam, and think, how could a man purpose anything so
foolish as to go on seeking for an opportunity to break a law which he
knew to be irrevocable!
Yet what did he do but what every sinner does?
All sin is the breach of law which at the very moment of breaking is
known to be imperative.
All sin is thus the overbearing of conscience, or the sophistication of
conscience, and all sin is the incurring voluntarily of consequences
which at the moment are or might be known to be certain, and far
overbalancing any fancied ‘wages of unrighteousness.’
Thus all sin is the overbearing of reason or the sophisticating of
reason by passion. Men know the absurdity of sin, and yet men will go
on sinning. ‘A rogue is a roundabout fool.’ All wrongdoing is a mighty
blunder. It is only righteousness which is congruous with a man’s
reason, with a man’s conscience, with a man’s highest happiness. ‘The
fear of the Lord,’ that is wisdom.
IV. The wages of unrighteousness.
How Balaam’s experiment ended–his death. He tried to make the ‘best of
both worlds,’ so he ran with the hare and hunted with the hounds, and
this was how it ended, as it always does, as it always will. How death
ends all the illusions, sternly breaks down all the compromises,
reveals all the absurdities!
Men are one thing or the other. Learn, then, the lesson that no gifts,
no talents, no convictions, no aspirations will avail.
Let this sad figure which looks out upon us with grey streaming hair
and uplifted hands from beside the altar on Pisgah speak to us.
How near the haven it is possible to be cast away! Like Bunyan’s way to
hell from near the gate of the celestial city.
Balaam said, ‘Let me die the death of the righteous!’ and his death was
thus:–‘Balaam they slew with the sword,’ and his epitaph is ‘Balaam
the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,’ got them, and
perished!

King James Bible

Bible Verses About love – Proverbs 5:19
[Let her be as] the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

Bible Verses About love – John-2 1:1
The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;

Bible Scriptures – Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Bible Favorites

Bible Verses About love – Ephesians 6:21
But that ye also may know my affairs, [and] how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:

Bible Verses About love – Psalms 38:11
My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.

Bible Verses About cross – Mark 15:32
Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

Bible Verses About confounded – Ezekiel 16:54
That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.

Bible Verses About doubt – Luke 12:29
And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

Bible Verses About tyre – Kings-1 7:13
And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.

Bible Verses About mizpah – Kings-2 25:25
But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.

Bible Verses About assemble – Chronicles-1 15:4
And David assembled the children of Aaron, and the Levites:

Bible Verses About lewdness – Ezekiel 22:9
In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

Bible Verses About uttered – Nehemiah 6:19
Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. [And] Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

Bible Verses About nabal – Samuel-1 25:34
For in very deed, [as] the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

Bible Verses About dumb – Mark 9:25
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, [Thou] dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

Bible Verses About followed – Kings-2 17:15
And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that [were] round about them, [concerning] whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

Bible Verses About horses – Samuel-2 15:1
And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.

Bible Verses About kish – Samuel-1 9:1
Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name [was] Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.

Bible Verses About understanding – Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Bible Verses About bullock – Numbers 29:3
And their meat offering [shall be of] flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals for a bullock, [and] two tenth deals for a ram,

Bible Verses About low – Luke 23:27
And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

Bible Verses About prey – Psalms 124:6
Blessed [be] the LORD, who hath not given us [as] a prey to their teeth.

Bible Verses About fountain – James 3:11
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet [water] and bitter?

Bible Verses About taking – Romans 7:11
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].

Bible Verses About sockets – Exodus 27:12
And [for] the breadth of the court on the west side [shall be] hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.

Bible Verses About prayer – Psalms 42:8
[Yet] the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song [shall be] with me, [and] my prayer unto the God of my life.

Bible Verses About kindness – Corinthians-2 6:6
By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

Bible Verses About goodness – Romans 11:22
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in [his] goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Bible Verses About worship – Deuteronomy 11:16
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

Bible Verses About joy – Matthew 28:8
And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

Bible Verses About anger – Exodus 30:33
Whosoever compoundeth [any] like it, or whosoever putteth [any] of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.

Bible Verses About peace – Ezekiel 46:12
Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the LORD, [one] shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth [one] shall shut the gate.

Bible Verses About water – Genesis 1:10
And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.

Bible Verses About clean – Numbers 9:10
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or [be] in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.

Bible Verses About courage – Psalms 27:14
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Bible Verses About life – John 10:28
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.

Bible Verses About poor – Leviticus 23:22
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I [am] the LORD your God.

Bible Verses About salvation – Ephesians 6:17
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Bible Verses About marriage – Deuteronomy 7:3
Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

Bible Verses About husbands – Colossians 3:19
Husbands, love [your] wives, and be not bitter against them.

Bible Verses About wisdom – Isaiah 29:14
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, [even] a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise [men] shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent [men] shall be hid.

Bible Verses About health – Samuel-2 20:9
And Joab said to Amasa, [Art] thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.

Bible Verses About birth – Luke 1:14
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

Bible Verses About sadness – Ecclesiastes 7:3
Sorrow [is] better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

Bible Verses About fear – Luke 8:37
Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.

Bible Scriptures About whoredom – Hosea 6:10
I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there [is] the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

Bible Scriptures About soul – Psalms 146:1
Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

Bible Scriptures About wind – Job 8:2
How long wilt thou speak these [things]? and [how long shall] the words of thy mouth [be like] a strong wind?

Bible Scriptures About wicked – Jeremiah 23:11
For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

Bible Scriptures About heart – Job 10:13
And these [things] hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this [is] with thee.

Bible Scriptures About captivity – Jeremiah 29:31
Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:

Bible Scriptures About covenant – Psalms 78:37
For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

Bible Scriptures About rain – Jeremiah 14:10
Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

Bible Scriptures About smite – Mark 14:27
And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.

Bible Scriptures About camp – Kings-2 7:8
And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid [it]; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence [also], and went and hid [it].

Bible in Basic English

Bible Verses About anger – 2-Kings 14:10
It is true that you have overcome Edom and your heart is uplifted; let that glory be enough for you, and keep in your country; why do you make causes of trouble, putting yourself, and Judah with you, in danger of downfall?

Bible Verses About peace – Isaiah 48:18
If only you had given ear to my orders, then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:

Bible Verses About faith – 1-Thessalonians 2:10
You are witnesses, with God, how holy and upright and free from all evil was our way of life among you who have faith;

Bible Verses About wisdom – Revelation 7:12
So be it. Let blessing and glory and wisdom and praise and honour and power and strength be given to our God for ever and ever. So be it.

Bible Verses About salvation – Isaiah 63:1
Who is this who comes from Edom, with blood-red robes from Bozrah? he whose clothing is fair, stepping with pride in his great strength? I whose glory is in the right, strong for salvation.

Bible Verses About mothers – Mark 13:12
And brother will give up brother to death, and the father his child; and children will go against their fathers and mothers, and put them to death.

Bible Verses About fear – Isaiah 8:9
Have knowledge, O peoples, and be in fear; give ear, all you far-off parts of the earth:

Bible Verses About clean – Numbers 19:14
This is the law when death comes to a man in his tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will be unclean for seven days.

Bible Verses About prayer – Job 21:15
What is the Ruler of all, that we may give him worship? and what profit is it to us to make prayer to him?

Bible Verses About giving – Luke 5:28
And giving up his business, he got up and went after him.

Bible Verses About hope – Hebrews 12:5
And you have not kept in mind the word which says to you as to sons, My son, do not make little of the Lord's punishment, and do not give up hope when you are judged by him;

Bible Verses About worship – Deuteronomy 13:2
And the sign or the wonder takes place, and he says to you, Let us go after other gods, which are strange to you, and give them worship;

Bible Verses About water – Leviticus 14:50
And put one of the birds to death in a vessel of earth over flowing water;

Bible Verses About love – Psalms 119:167
My soul has kept your unchanging word; great is my love for it.

Bible Verses About poor – Zechariah 7:10
Do not be hard on the widow, or the child without a father, on the man from a strange country, or on the poor; let there be no evil thought in your heart against your brother.

Bible Verses About women – Isaiah 3:12
As for my people, their ruler is acting like a child, and those who have authority over them are women. O my people, your guides are the cause of your wandering, turning your footsteps out of the right way.

Bible Verses About baptism – John 4:2
(Though, in fact, it was his disciples who gave baptism, not Jesus himself),

Bible Verses About husbands – Jeremiah 44:19
And the women said, When we were burning perfumes to the queen of heaven and draining out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes in her image and give her our drink offerings without the knowledge of our husbands?

Bible Verses About money – Proverbs 20:14
A poor thing, a poor thing, says he who is giving money for goods: but when he has gone on his way, then he makes clear his pride in what he has got.

Bible Verses About strength – 1-Samuel 2:4
The bows of the men of war are broken, and the feeble are clothed with strength.

World English Bible

Bible Verses About beloved – James 2:5
Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

Bible Verses About gilgal – Judges 3:19
But he himself turned again from the quarries that [were] by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.

Bible Verses About falsehood – Hosea 7:1
When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, [and] the troop of robbers spoileth without.

Bible Verses About leaves – Mark 13:28
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

Bible Verses About stretch – Ezekiel 25:13
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.

Bible Verses About wages – Genesis 31:8
If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstreaked.

Bible Verses About careful – Philippians 2:28
I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

Bible Verses About embrace – Job 24:8
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

Bible Verses About nail – Isaiah 22:23
And I will fasten him [as] a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

Bible Verses About shadow – Psalms 109:23
I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.

Bible Verses About fox – Luke 13:32
And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third [day] I shall be perfected.

Bible Verses About arrows – Luke 12:7
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Bible Verses About burning – Psalms 140:10
Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.

Bible Verses About shave – Corinthians-1 11:5
But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with [her] head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

Bible Verses About cunning – Jeremiah 10:9
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple [is] their clothing: they [are] all the work of cunning [men].

Bible Verses About kidneys – Leviticus 4:9
And the two kidneys, and the fat that [is] upon them, which [is] by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away,

Bible Verses About sustain – Genesis 27:37
And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?

Bible Verses About bribe – Job 15:34
For the congregation of hypocrites [shall be] desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

Bible Verses About ewe – Genesis 21:29
And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What [mean] these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?

Bible Verses About welfare – Nehemiah 2:10
When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard [of it], it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.