231 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. 3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you.”
He went to a bare height. 4 God met Balaam: and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.” 5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 He took up his parable, and said,
“From Aram has Balak brought me,
the king of Moab from the mountains of the East.
Come, curse Jacob for me.
Come, defy Israel. 8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied? 9 For from the top of the rocks I see him.
From the hills I see him.
Behold, it is a people that dwells alone,
and shall not be reckoned 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 righteous!
Let my last end be like his!” 11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.” 12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from whence you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there.” 14 He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. 15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet Yahweh yonder.” 16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.” 17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?” 18 He took up his parable, and said,
“Rise up, Balak, and hear!
Listen to me, you son of Zippor. 19 God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor the son of man, that he should repent.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received a command to bless.
He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it. 21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob.
Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel.
Yahweh his God is with him.
The shout of a king is among them. 22 God brings them out of Egypt.
He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. 23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob;
Neither is there any divination with Israel.
Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel,
What has God done! 24 Behold, the people rises up as a lioness,
As a lion he lifts himself up.
He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey,
and drinks the blood of the slain.” 25 Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” 26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?’” 27 Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse me them from there.” 28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert. 29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
241 When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. 2 Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him. 3 He took up his parable, and said,
“Balaam the son of Beor says,
the man whose eye was closed says; 4 he says, who hears the words of God,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
falling down, and having his eyes open: 5 How goodly are your tents, Jacob,
and your tents, Israel! 6 As valleys they are spread forth,
as gardens by the riverside,
as aloes which Yahweh has planted,
as cedar trees beside the waters. 7 Water shall flow from his buckets.
His seed shall be in many waters.
His king shall be higher than Agag.
His kingdom shall be exalted. 8 God brings him out of Egypt.
He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
He shall eat up the nations his adversaries,
shall break their bones in pieces,
and pierce them with his arrows. 9 He couched, he lay down as a lion,
as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
Everyone who blesses you is blessed.
Everyone who curses you is cursed.”
10 Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times. 11 Therefore now flee you to your place! I thought to promote you to great honor; but, behold, Yahweh has kept you back from honor.” 12 Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I also tell your messengers who you sent to me, saying, 13 ‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the word of Yahweh, to do either good or bad of my own mind. I will say what Yahweh says’? 14 Now, behold, I go to my people: come, and I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.”
15 He took up his parable, and said,
“Balaam the son of Beor says,
the man whose eye was closed says; 16 he says, who hears the words of God,
knows the knowledge of the Most High,
and who sees the vision of the Almighty,
Falling down, and having his eyes open: 17 I see him, but not now.
I see him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob.
A scepter will rise out of Israel,
and shall strike through the corners of Moab,
and break down all the sons of Sheth. 18 Edom shall be a possession.
Seir, his enemies, also shall be a possession,
while Israel does valiantly. 19 Out of Jacob shall one have dominion,
and shall destroy the remnant from the city.” 20 He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said,
“Amalek was the first of the nations,
But his latter end shall come to destruction.” 21 He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said,
“Your dwelling place is strong.
Your nest is set in the rock. 22 Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted,
until Asshur carries you away captive.” 23 He took up his parable, and said,
“Alas, who shall live when God does this? 24 But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim.
They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber.
He also shall come to destruction.” 25 Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.
251 Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab: 2 for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods. 3 Israel joined himself to Baal Peor: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel. 4 Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to Yahweh before the sun, that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel.” 5 Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor.”
6 Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 7 When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand; 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 9 Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. 10 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace: 13 and it shall be to him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’” 14 Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among the Simeonites. 15 The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian.
16 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Harass the Midianites, and strike them; 18 for they harassed you with their wiles, with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.”
14 He called all the multitude to himself, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15 There is nothing from outside of the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!” 17 When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him, 19 because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, thus purifying all foods [1]?” 20 He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, 22 covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
24 From there he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house, and didn’t want anyone to know it, but he couldn’t escape notice. 25 For a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 He said to her, “For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 She went away to her house, and found the child having been laid on the bed, with the demon gone out.
31 Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of Decapolis. 32 They brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. They begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside from the multitude, privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue. 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly. 36 He commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it. 37 They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak!”
(Read Mark 7:14-23)
Our wicked thoughts and affections, words and actions, defile us, and these only. As a corrupt fountain sends forth corrupt streams, so does a corrupt heart send forth corrupt reasonings, corrupt appetites and passions, and all the wicked words and actions that come from them. A spiritual understanding of the law of God, and a sense of the evil of sin, will cause a man to seek for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to keep down the evil thoughts and affections that work within.
(Read Mark 7:24-30)
Christ never put any from him that fell at his feet, which a poor trembling soul may do. As she was a good woman, so a good mother. This sent her to Christ. His saying, Let the children first be filled, shows that there was mercy for the Gentiles, and not far off. She spoke, not as making light of the mercy, but magnifying the abundance of miraculous cures among the Jews, in comparison with which a single cure was but as a crumb. Thus, while proud Pharisees are left by the blessed Saviour, he manifests his compassion to poor humbled sinners, who look to him for children's bread. He still goes about to seek and save the lost.
(Read Mark 7:31-37)
Here is a cure of one that was deaf and dumb. Those who brought this poor man to Christ, besought him to observe the case, and put forth his power. Our Lord used more outward actions in the doing of this cure than usual. These were only signs of Christ's power to cure the man, to encourage his faith, and theirs that brought him. Though we find great variety in the cases and manner of relief of those who applied to Christ, yet all obtained the relief they sought. Thus it still is in the great concerns of our souls.
