_(a)_ His knowledge of the covenant-name of God.
_(b)_ His knowledge of a pure morality and a spiritual worship far
beyond sacrificial notions, and in some respects higher than the then
Old Testament standpoint.
_(c)_ The knowledge (which is implied in the text) of a future state,
which had gone far into the background, even if it had not been
altogether lost, among the Israelites. Is it not remarkable that the
religious ideas of this man were in advance of Israel's at this time;
that there seems to have lingered among these 'outsiders' more of a
pure faith than in Israel itself?
What a lesson here as to the souls led by God and enlightened by Him
beyond the pale of Judaism!
But all this knowledge, of what use was it to Balaam? He knows about
God: does he seek to serve Him? He preaches morality to Moab, and he
teaches Midian to 'teach the children of Israel to commit fornication.'
He knows something of the blessedness of a 'righteous man's' death, and
perhaps sees faintly the shining gates beyond--but how does it all end?
What a gulf between _knowledge_ and _life_!
What is the use of correct ideas about God? They may be the foundations
of holy thoughts, and they are meant to be so. I am not setting up
emotion above principle, or fancying that there can be religion without
theology; but for what are all our thoughts about God given us?
_(a)_ That they may influence our hearts.
_(b)_ That they may subdue our wills.
_(c)_ That they may mould our practical life.
If they do not do that--then _what_ do they do?
They constitute a positive hindrance--like the dead lava-blocks that
choke the mouth of a crater, or the two deposits on the bottom of a
boiler, soot outside and crust inside, which keep the fire from getting
at the water. They have lost their power because they are so familiar.
They are weakened by not being practised. The very organs of
intelligence are, as it were, ossified. Self-complacency lays hold on
the possession of these ideas and shields itself against all appeals
with the fact of possessing them. Many a man mistakes, in his own case,
the knowledge of the truth for obedience to the truth. All this is seen
in everyday life, and with reference to all manner of convictions, but
it is most apparent and most fatal about Christian truth. I appeal to
the many who hear and know all about 'the word,' What more is needed?
That you should do what you know ('Be not hearers only'); that you
should yield your whole being to Christ, the living Word.