And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
Read Chapter 24
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Divination. Septuagint, "to meet the birds. "The augurs judged of future events by the flying, eating, and other appearances of birds. Hebrew, "enchantments. "(Menochius)
Desert. The plains of Moab, where the Israelites were encamped. He found himself, as it were, involuntarily transported by the spirit of God, ver. 2. (Calmet)
Yet, for all that, he did not become more holy. Some work miracles, and are damned, Matthew vii. 22. (Worthington)
Now, in order that He might be shown to have together in Himself at once the nature of God and that of man—as the apostle, too, says: Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 Now a mediator is not of one man, but two, Galatians 3:20 — it was therefore necessary that Christ, in becoming the Mediator between God and men, should receive from both an earnest of some kind, that He might appear as the Mediator between two distinct persons.
