from WL Worcester (H Blackmer, ed.), 
The Sower.  Helps to the Study of the Bible in Home and Sunday School
 
(Boston: Massachusetts New-Church Union, n.d.)

Table of Contents
 

 

Lesson 51

Topical and Doctrinal Notes

Leading Thought: Balaam the Wizard

The countries of which we have been reading were among those lands where people used to have a true religion. Centuries before the children of Israel existed, the people in Egypt, in Arabia (including the land of Midian, Mount Horeb, etc.), in Canaan, and other countries, had the Word of God. Not indeed the one we have now, the Word of the Old and New Testaments, but the Ancient Word, portions of which we have in the first seven chapters of Genesis, and elsewhere. The people who read this Ancient Word, and so knew the Lord, and worshiped Him, constituted the Ancient Church. They were well acquainted with the Science of Correspondences, far better than we are at the present day - for it was only by knowing correspondences that they could read the Ancient Word. And their worship all consisted of correspondences. The plan of their temples, the way these were constructed, their ornamentation, the clothing of the priests, the clothing of the worshipers, the ceremonials, etc., etc., all were according to correspondence. And this helped them to think the thoughts of angels, and be united in love with heaven and with the Lord, for what is done on earth according to correspondence, avails in heaven.

But when people began to become wicked, they made a bad use of correspondences. They continued to study them, but applied them to selfish and evil purposes; and so, instead of coming in contact with the angels of heaven, they came in touch with evil spirits. Instead of having a beautiful worship that helped them to be better, they indulged in magic, or, as it is also called, sorcery, and divination, and incantation, and necromancy, and the like. That was the age of spiritism, although it was not called so.

Among the people who preserved a knowledge of correspondences for a long while, were the "children of the East," or the Syrians. Balaam, of whom we read in today's chapter, belonged to that people, and was a wizard, or magician. King Balak knew this, and therefore he sent for Balaam, offering him valuable presents in payment for his magic, or as it is translated in verse 7, he sent him "rewards of divination."

You will notice that the Lord did not want Balaam to go to curse Israel, but Balaam was so anxious to have the rewards offered by Balak, that the Lord let him go, although He did not wish him to go. The Lord never forces people. He tries to lead them, but lets them have their own way if they insist upon it.

It turned out afterward, that, although Balaam made use of all his knowledge of correspondences, especially of his knowledge of the number seven, yet he could not curse Israel, but had to bless them, because they were encamped according to a certain order which corresponded with the order in which the angel societies are arranged in heaven, and this caused Balaam to see heaven, in spite of himself, so that he could not curse them. He tried to get away from the powerful effect of the correspondential order of the encampment, by having his altars placed where he could not see the whole camp, but only a small end of it, but even then he did not succeed; the influence of heaven was too great.

Afterward, he showed his deceit by teaching Balak how to lead the Israelites astray by wickedness of the worst kind. He had blessed them; now he led them into the greatest sins. So he was not only an enchanter but also a hypocrite. You will find that he stands for hypocrisy in Revelation 2:14.

But we have been going ahead of the story of this chapter and must return to it.

You will be especially interested in that part of the story which tells about the ass which Balaam rode, and which turned three times out of the way because she saw the angel with the drawn sword and, when Balaam whipped the ass, she spoke to him.

When Balaam was riding the ass, he was thinking all the time about the enchantments that he was going to use against the children of Israel, and about the money which he would receive for them. But the ass upon which he rode represented his enlightened mind. He knew and understood that it was wrong for him to think of sorcery and of obtaining money by means of sorcery. How did he know? As we all know: by the Divine Truth which he had learned. This Divine Truth which enlightens the mind and fights against wrong thoughts was signified by the angel with the drawn sword. Therefore the ass turned out of the way three times, for Balaam's enlightened understanding did not agree with his thoughts about sorcery, and a "way" means the way a person is thinking when he or she is intending to accomplish something. Although Balaam was not a good man, yet he knew that there is a God, and from his knowledge of correspondences, he knew that he would die if he would use enchantments against Israel. This is the reason why the angel spoke as he did in verse 33.

This very interesting story therefore tells us the beautiful and very important and comforting truth, that those who are in good and truth - as represented by the children of Israel in their encampment - cannot be harmed by those who speak from seeming enlightenment, and yet would like to lead astray.

Many people have wondered how the ass could speak to Balaam. The fact is that the ass did not speak, but that it sounded to Balaam as if she spoke to him. He did hear someone speaking: it was spirits speaking to him, for his spiritual ears were opened. And because what the spirits said was in accordance with enlightened thought, it sounded as if it came from the ass.

Swedenborg tells us that he has often heard horses apparently speaking to him, when yet the speech was not from them, but only seemingly so. (E. 140)

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