Numbers 24 continues the prophecies of Balaam. And what prophecies they are! Reading the words in this chapter really gives a sense of a person enraptured by God. Balaam's prophecies are both grandiose and poetic. To give an example: "How beautiful are thy tabernacles, O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel! As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the water side" (Numbers 24:5-6). I was stunned by the beauty of this language. This is spoken by a man who is not even associated with the Hebrews. Balaam is a pagan mystic, basically, and yet God is using him as an outside figure looking upon His children and foretelling their fate. I had no idea, though, the gravity of his prophecies that would come later in the chapter. After Balac tries to silence Balaam, the Mesopotamian prophet can't help but continue to speak God's words. And in verse 17 he drops a bomb: "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel." I immediately assumed this verse was about the Messiah, Jesus Christ. A quick glance at my commentary solidified my assumption. Balaam is indeed seeing a vision of the future Christ. However, his vision as a whole also deals with the coming of the king David, who will smite the Moabites. But there are clear-cut signs pointing to Jesus as the eventual king who will subdue all nations, not just the Moabites. Balaam even prophecies the eventual destruction of the Jews, and many of the other nations of area, when he says, "They shall come in galleys from Italy, they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish" (Numbers 24:24). In short, no nation will survive. In the end, Christ the King will overcome all the peoples of the earth.
Wow, what a prophecy! It is even theorized that when Balaam says that he "shall behold him, but not near" that he is referring to the Christ Child as seen through the eyes of the Magi; literally that Balaam sees Jesus in the manger through the eyes of men who came from the east, just as he did. Balaam's vision in this chapter is obviously quite grand, and it would take books to deconstruct it and try to understand every word. In basic terms we have a scene here wherein a worldly, pagan king, Balac, wants a particular people destroyed, only to find out through a prophet that said people are highly special, and that they will not be defeated, and that a king shall rise out of their midst who will destroy Balac's people, and eventually an even greater king will arise, the Son of God Himself, out of Isreal, who all nations will bow to, unto the end of the world. Spectacular.
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