Come, Curse Me This People — Joseph Hall on Numbers 22

Come, Curse Me This People

"Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed."

Numbers chapter 22 verse 6

Moab and Midian had been all this while standers by, and lookers on; if they had not seen the pattern of their own ruin in these neighbours, it had never troubled them to see the kings of the Amorites and Bashan to fall before Israel. Had not the Israelites camped in the plains of Moab, their victories had been no eye-sore to Balak. Wicked men never care to observe God's judgments, till themselves be touched.

The fire of a neighbour's house would not so affect us, if it were not with the danger of our own. Secure minds never startle, till God come home to their very senses.

Balak and his Moabites had wit enough to fear, not wit enough to prevent judgment. They see an enemy in their borders, and yet take no right course for their safety. Who would not have looked, that they should have come to Israel with conditions of peace? Or, why did they not think, either Israel's God is stronger than ours, or he is not? If he be not, why are we afraid of him? If he be, why do we not serve him?

The same hand which gives them victory, can give us protection. Carnal men that are secure of the vengeance of God, ere it do come, are mastered with it when it does come; and, not knowing which way to turn them, run forth at the wrong door.

The Midianites join with the Moabites, in consultation, in action, against Israel. One would have thought they should have looked for favour from Moses, for Jethro's sake, which was both a prince of their country, and father-in-law to Moses, and either now, or not long before, was with Israel in the wilderness. Neither is it like, but that Moses having found forty years' harbour amongst them, would have been (what he might) inclinable to favourable treaties with them; but now they are so fast linked to Moab, that they will either sink or swim together.

Entireness with wicked consorts is one of the strongest chains of Hell, and binds us to a participation both of sin and punishment. An easy occasion will knit wicked hearts together in conspiracy against the church of God.

Their errand is devilish; "Come, curse Israel." That which Satan could not do by the swords of Og and Sihon, he will now try to effect by the tongue of Balaam. If either strength or policy would prevail against God's church, it could not stand. And why should not we be as industrious to promote the glory of God, and bend both our hands and heads to the causes of the Almighty? When all helps fail Moab, the magician is sought to.

It is a sign of a desperate cause, to make Satan either our counsellor or our refuge. Why did they not send to Balaam to bless themselves, rather than to curse Israel? It had been more easy to be defended from the hurt of their enemies, than to have their enemies laid open to be hurt by them. Pride and malice did not care so much for safety as for conquest. It would not content them to escape Israel, if Israel may escape them. It was not thank-worthy to save their own blood, if they did not spill the blood of others; as if their own prosperity had been nothing, if Israel also prospered.

If there be one project worse than another, a wicked heart will find it out. Nothing but destruction will content the malicious.

I know not whether Balaam were more famous, or Balak more confident. If the king had not been persuaded of the strength of his charm, he had not sent so far, and paid so dear for it; now he trusts more to his inchantment, than to the forces of Moab and Midian; and, as if heaven and earth were in the power of a charmer's tongue, he saith, "He that you blessed, is blessed; and he whom you curse, is cursed."

Magic, through the permission of God, is powerful: for whatsoever the devil can do, the magician may do: but it is madness to think either of them omnipotent. If either the curses of men, or the endeavours of the powers of darkness, should be effectual, all would be hell. No, Balak. So short is the power of your Balaam, that neither you, nor your prophet himself can avoid that curse, which you would have brought upon Israel.

Had Balaam been a true prophet of God, this bold assurance had been but just. Both those ancient seers, and the prophets of the Gospel, have the ratification of God in heaven to their sentences on earth. Why have we less care of the blessings, and less fear of the curses and censures of God's ministers? Who would not rather have Elisha's guard, than both the kings of Israel, and Assyria? He himself, as he had the angelical chariots and horsemen about him, so was he the chariots and horsemen of Israel.

Why should our faith be less strong than superstition: or why should God's agents have less virtue than Satan's?

I should wonder to hear God speak with a false prophet, if I did not know it has been no rare thing with him, as with men, to bestow words, even where he will not bestow favour. Pharaoh, Abimelech, Nebuchadnezzar, receive visions from God; neither can I think this strange, when I hear God speaking to Satan in a question, no less familiar than this of Balaam; "Whence come you, Satan?" Not the sound of the voice of God, but the matter which he speaks, argues love.

He may speak to an enemy; he speaks peace to none but his own. It is a vain brag, God has spoken to me. So may he do to reprobates or devils. But what said he? Did he say to my soul, I am your salvation? has he indented with me that he will be my God, and I shall be his? I cannot hear this voice, and not live.

God heard all the consultation and message of these Moabites; these messengers could not have moved their foot or their tongue, but in him; and yet he which asked Adam where he was, asks Balaam, "What men are these?" I have ever seen, that God loves to take occasion of proceeding with us from ourselves, rather than from his own immediate prescience. Hence it is, that we lay open our wants and confess our sins to him that knows both better than our own hearts, because he will deal with us from our own mouths.

The prevention of God forbids both his journey and his curse. And what if he had been suffered to go and curse? What corn had this wind shaken, when God meant to bless them? How many bulls have bellowed out execrations against this church of God! What are we the worse? Yet I doubt if we had been so much blessed, had not these Balaamitish curses been spent upon us.

He that knows what waste wind the causeless curses of wicked men are, yet will not have Balaam curse Israel: because he will not allow Balak even so much encouragement in his opposition, as the impression of this help. Or, perhaps, if Balak thought this sorcerer a true prophet, God would not have his name, so much as in the opinion of the Heathen, scandalized, in usurping it to a purpose, which he meant not should succeed.

The hand of God is in the restraint of many evils, which we never knew to be towards us. The Israelites sat still in their tents, they little thought what mischief was brewing against them; without ever making them of counsel, God crosses the designs of their enemies. He that keepeth Israel is both a sure and a secret friend. The reward of the divination had easily commanded the journey, and curse of the covetous prophet, if God had not stayed him.

How oft are wicked men curbed by a divine hand, even in those sins which their heart stands to! It is no thank to lewd men that their wickedness is not prosperous. Whence is it that the world is not over-run with evil; but from this, that men cannot be so ill as they would?