God’s Word for You

Numbers 24:6-9 Gardens, aloes, and salvation

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, November 25, 2021

6   Like rows of palm trees they stretch out,
      like gardens by the riverside,
      like aloes which the LORD has planted,
      like cedar trees beside the waters.

To identify what “they” are in this verse we remember Balaam praising the tents of Israel in verse 5. He compares the nation with an orderly grove of palm trees, the sort that produce Canaan’s ever-present dates, one of the most important products of the land. Palm trees grow especially well around the city of Jericho, called “the City of Palms” by Moses (Deuteronomy 34:3). The word for “Palm Tree,” Tamar, was used for a girl’s name throughout Biblical times (Genesis 38:6; 2 Samuel 13:1, 14:27).

The “gardens by the riverside” are especially important and beloved by all people of the Middle East. In a land rich (if that is the word) in stone and sand, patches of ground able to be cultivated are a treasure. These oases are beautified and tended by those who possess them. Solomon says, “I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them” (Ecclesiastes 2:5), and gardens are part of the promise offered by God to the returning exiles (Amos 9:14; Jeremiah 29:28) and also an image of heaven (Isaiah 66:17). The first Psalm compares the Christian to a tree in such a place, “planted by a canal of water” (Psalm 1:3).

Aloe is not indigenous to Palestine. It grows in southeast Asia and northern India. Its transliterated name is simply used by other cultures who lack a word for it. In Biblical Hebrew, ahal or ahalo is just the word aloe written in Hebrew letters. Another variety, perhaps the one purchased by Nicodemus at the time of the Savior’s death (John 19:39), is native to the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. It was imported by the Egyptians for embalming. It seems strange that Balaam would have mentioned this tree, rare at any point in Israel’s history. However, he is seeing a vision, and the bounty of God’s blessings is a wonder to describe. Aloe was a very expensive item at all times (Song of Solomon 4:14; Proverbs 7:17).

Cedar trees grow to one hundred feet tall. Its fragrant wood is prized by many, including my mother, whose cedar chest was one of her most dearly prized possessions. In addition, cedar wood does not easily rot.

If we place these four blessings together, we understand Balaam to be saying, among other things, that Israel is a fruitful people like a forest of palms, a specially cared-for people like an oasis, a precious and valuable people like the distant aloe tree, and a strong, delightful and useful people like the cedar.

7   Water will flow from his buckets.
      His seed will have abundant waters.
      His king will be higher than Agag.
      His kingdom will be lifted up.
8   God brings him out of Egypt.
      God is like the horns of a wild ox for him.
      He will eat up the nations who are his adversaries.
      He will gnaw on their bones.
      He will pierce them through with his arrows.
9   He crouches like a lion.
      He lies down like a lioness.
      Who will rouse him?
      The one who blesses you is blessed.
      The one who curses you is cursed.

These verses continue to describe the way that God blesses his people. From the folksy “full bucket” to the chomping jaws of a protecting predator, there is a whole string of remarkable comparisons here, a tapestry of comparative theology. One detail that may need explanation is “Agag” in verse 7. This was the name of some of the kings of the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:8-9), and it may even have been a hereditary name that was closer to being a title, the way Caesar went from being one man’s name to the titles Caesar, Czar, and Kaiser in different languages.

God is described many ways, but each one should be taken separately to avoid the image of an ox-horned, lion-maned, bone-gnawing monster who can shoot a bow. This is a warning to the enemies that try to curse or oppose God and his people, but it is also a warning to his own people, that if they turn away from him, they will be “so fearful of him in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight” (Leviticus 26:36; Genesis 3:8). God has fearsome, powerful attributes, but especially to be remembered is that he cares for his people. His enemies are invited to lay aside their futile opposition and enter into the Lord’s tents. There is no compulsion. There is only God’s compassion. “The Lord is good,” the prophet sang (Nahum 1:7), “a refuge in a day of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” What Balaam saw as a vision of God’s protection and providence we have in the memory of the cross. There is the lion and the lamb, the one who overpowered, chewed up and spat out his enemy the devil, who tore apart death and the grave as with the horns of a wild ox, who is the King higher than any earthly king. He is the one who has released us from every danger, and he is the one who will bring us safely home.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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