God’s Word for You
Numbers 23:21-24 cursum perficio
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, November 22, 2021
21 No disaster is in sight for Jacob.
No suffering is seen in Israel.
Israel had already received punishment for giving in to the temptation to doubt with the sin of unbelief. Their forty years of wandering were at an end, and although Moab might not have fully understood the meaning behind these words, the truth remains: God had no plans to bring trouble on his people, which is an oblique way of saying that God had plans to do just the opposite, blessing them with amazing things. What is the opposite of disaster, if not spectacular success? What is the opposite of suffering, if not delight through unexpected, divine blessing? Israel could not be cursed by Satan or any of his momentary human allies.
It is often thought by us to be a great tragedy that God shortened the lifespan of fallen mankind from Adam’s nine hundred years to our present seventy, eighty or ninety years (Psalm 90:10), but consider this: Sometimes individual men grow to be so powerful that they influence an entire generation. The French writer, adulterer, and blasphemer, Voltaire, is an example of a man who almost single-handedly destroyed Christianity in a country. While the church survives, the Voltaires perish and fall into eternal judgment. If my short life also means a short life for an enemy of the church, then perhaps the cross of life’s brevity becomes all the more lighter and easier to bear.
The LORD his God is with him.
The shout for the King is among them.
He rejoices in his King.
In this central part of the second oracle, Balaam discloses a unique and amazing blessing within the nation of Israel. Among other peoples, including the Arameans in the north and here among the Moabites, the gods were seen as minor deities that were local. That is to say, when one set up a shrine in one location, it was dedicated to that god. In another place, it would have to be an altar or shrine to the local god there. But Israel was different. As the surrounding nations were beginning to realize, Israel carried with them a portable tent, the tabernacle, which was the dwelling of their God. He was always with them wherever they went: “I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites” (Numbers 35:34). “The Lord is with him; the shout for the King is among them.” They did not yet realize that he himself was directing their movements; telling them where to go. The Moabites did not consider the Lord to be much more than a mascot, the way their Baals and other gods would be if they thought they could move them around in little boxes or oxcarts.
22 God brings them out of Egypt.
God is like the horns of a wild ox for him.
Talking of oxcarts, Balaam compares God with the horns of a wild ox. No one who’s ever faced the business end of a bull, an ox, or a buffalo will fail to understand the power Balaam describes. The wild ox is not to be tamed or controlled by man (Job 39:9); so also God is not to be controlled, manipulated, bribed, or commanded by mankind. “Who has prescribed God’s ways for him, or said to him, ‘You have done wrong?’” (Job 36:2). Yet the Lord’s ways are not unknown to mankind. “He made known his ways to Moses” (Psalm 103:7), and he even “instructs sinners in his ways” (Psalm 25:8). God, by his grace, teaches us his ways so that we can know his will, so that we can repent when we violate his will, so that we can know about our loving Savior who covered over the guilt of those sins, and so that we can be guided in how we live as his forgiven people (Psalm 23:3).
23 Surely there is no occult power against Jacob,
no omen against Israel.
They will say about Jacob and Israel,
“What great things God has done!”
Translations all say the same thing with different words in this verse, since the technical Hebrew term nahash is not common to English. Whether “sorcery” (NIV), “enchantment” (KJV), “omen” (NASB) or “occult power” here in the EHV, the same idea comes through. Spells won’t work against Israel. The second term, qesem, is easier to nail down, since “omen” or “divination” are ways of talking about the same thing (one is the object, the other is the act). Such things “have power to hurt, [but] will do none” not because sorcerers like Balaam are slow to temptation, but because the power of God which covers his people is infinite. No magic, no demonic power, has the strength or the possibility of overthrowing what God wills. Only a sinful man, corrupted and confused about his own life of faith, can destroy his faith or invite the devil in to corrode, erode, and chip away at his beliefs, or the beliefs of his poor children. So we put our faith in God, and pray with faith what Balaam says with frustration and disbelief: “What great things God has done!”
24 Look, the people rise up like a lioness.
Like a lion they lift themselves up.
He will not lie down until he eats the prey,
until he drinks the blood of the slain.
The subject of lions and their prey are common enough in the Bible (Psalm 111:5 [Hebrew text]; Isaiah 5:29; Amos 3:4; Nahum 2:12). Here, the Lord’s nation of Israel is compared with a savage lion—a nation best left alone. This was especially true for Balak, since we know that Balak was afraid of Israel even though Israel had no plans to take over the land of Moab at all. Moab was not included in the boundaries of the Promised Land, and the only reason that the Amorites had been destroyed is because they attacked Israel rather than let them pass harmlessly through their land. Israel was simply trying to reach its goal. This is also a lesson we learn as Christians. What a blessing to be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race; I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). Some readers may remember a musician named Enya, whose first album, Watermark, included a song with a Latin title, “Cursum Perficio.” While the Latin text was chosen by the Irish artist because of its association with Marilyn Monroe (the name of her home), the meaning is “My course is completed.” But this is all very close to Paul’s words, “I have finished the race” or “If only I may finish the race” (Acts 20:24), which is the Christian’s hopeful prayer about the way we live out our lives of faith, with the power of the Almighty God like a wild ox guarding us, and with the Lion of the Tribe of Judah dwelling in our midst. He is Jesus, and all of his blessings fill us like a strong November gale, driving away doubts and griefs, and focusing our attention always only on him. He will bring us safely to the end of our race, and we may say in faith: cursum perficio.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.