Numbers 24:3–18

But let us now see what things Balaam declares in the third prophecy. "Balaam the son of Beor has spoken," he says, "the man who truly sees has spoken, he has spoken who hears the words of the Mighty One, who saw the vision of God in sleep, his eyes uncovered." It is truly astonishing how Balaam is held worthy of such great praise, who, having taken up his parable, pronounces these things about himself. For how Balaam should be a man who truly sees—he who devoted himself to divination and auguries, who also pursued magic, as we showed above—is very astonishing, unless perhaps, on account of what was said above, namely that the Spirit of God came to be in him and that the word of God was placed in his mouth, these such great proclamations are thought to have been written concerning him. For neither Moses nor any other of the prophets will easily be found exalted with such great praises. Hence these things seem to me rather to fit that people at the time when, now converted to the Lord, it laid aside the veil which was over its heart—"and the Lord is a Spirit." Therefore, finally, he says: "his eyes uncovered," as of eyes that until now had been closed and now, through the Spirit of God which has come upon him, with the veil removed, are uncovered. Now, then, is when he truly sees and truly hears the words of the Mighty One and sees the vision of God in sleep—that is, those things which were designated at their appointed times in sleep to the prophet Daniel, he will see fulfilled; and those visions which were brought to him in sleep he sees, that is, he understands and recognizes, with his eyes uncovered. For he will be made like those who were saying: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." Yet I would wish to inquire what those eyes of his are which are said to be uncovered: lest perhaps they be the very ones which in other passages of Scripture, as we read in certain copies, are called "the eyes of the earth," and that which Paul calls the sense of the flesh, when he says of a certain man: "vainly puffed up by the sense of his flesh." Concerning these eyes I believe the serpent also spoke to Eve: "For God knew that on whatever day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened"; and a little after: "and they ate," he says, "and the eyes of both were opened." For unless there were differences of eyes, and some were those which are opened through transgression, and others those with which Adam and Eve were seeing before these were opened, Scripture would surely never—while those eyes of theirs which were laid open from transgression were not yet opened—say: "And the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and pleasing to the eyes for seeing and beautiful to contemplate, and taking of the tree she ate; and she gave to her husband with her, and they ate. And the eyes of both were opened." For how, if the eyes of both were not yet opened, did the woman see that the tree was good for eating, and that it was pleasing to the eyes for seeing? with which eyes also it is said to have been beautiful to contemplate? But I, hearing the voice of my Lord Jesus Christ and understanding the power of his goodness, thus take note of that which he says: "I came into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind"—that in sinners those eyes which are better do not see, but these which are called the sense of the flesh and which were opened by the counsel of the serpent. It is therefore a magnificent work of our Savior the Lord, that those who do not see with the better eyes the things that are good, but with those which were laid open by the counsel of the serpent behold the things that are evil, should become blind, and that those who have been blinded in those eyes which the serpent's persuasion opened should see the good things of the Lord with these eyes which Jesus our Savior came to open. For unless the sight of evils be first closed, the beholding of good things will not be laid open. So therefore I also take that saying of the good God which he spoke: "Who made the seeing and the blind?"—seeing indeed according to Christ, but blind according to the counsel of the serpent. Now we have called these things to mind so that it might shine forth more evidently which are the eyes that are closed and which are the eyes that are uncovered; at the same time so that from these there might also be understood that which is written in the prophet: "Seeing you shall see and shall not see," that we may know with which eyes they see and with which, seeing, they do not see. It is apparent, therefore, that this Balaam too, because his eyes had been uncovered, says of himself: "the man who truly sees," and says: "he has spoken who hears the words of the Mighty One." For in the same order in which some eyes are closed and others opened, so also some ears are understood to be closed and others to be opened. But if anyone should wish to take these things as said also according to the history, he can say that in this, that "Balaam saw that it was good in the sight of the Lord to bless Israel," his uncovered eyes are shown and that he was made a man who truly sees; for he saw true things which were to come concerning Israel or Jacob. He will say too that he heard the words of the Mighty One in this, when God came to him and said to him in sleep: "The word which I shall give in your mouth, this observe that you may speak"; and this will be the vision of God, which I saw in sleep. And through these things he will assert that his eyes were uncovered, and that he was able to see what he saw. These things indeed concerning those which in his preface Balaam seemed to prophesy about himself.

Concerning the production of foliage, it is said in the Book of Numbers: "How goodly are your tents, O Jacob; your encampments, O Israel! They are like gardens beside a stream." These are the mysteries of Scripture. Who can conceive the charm of the mysteries of Sacred Scriptures?

Now let us already see what things he says in what follows: "How good," he says, "are your houses, O Jacob, your tents, O Israel! Like shady groves, like gardens beside rivers, and like the tents which the Lord has pitched, like cedars beside the waters." When he calls the houses of Jacob good, I do not think that he is praising their earthly dwellings; for nothing of such a kind among them, beyond the other nations, is recorded. But let us see whether perhaps, since the people was divided by tribes, and each single tribe was apportioned by clans, and again the clans by kindreds, and the kindreds by the houses of families, and again the houses of families were numbered by the number of names and by heads—that is, everyone who was from twenty years and above, a male able to go forth to war—it is these houses that Balaam, beholding them in the spirit, magnifies and extols. But the meaning is not to be contemplated in these things by the letter alone, since indeed what Balaam speaks he speaks having taken up his parable. In parables, therefore, let us too hear what is said. For if you consider those divisions and orders of the peoples which will exist in the resurrection among the people of the true Israel, when each one shall rise in his own order, if you are able to behold those tribes and clans and kindreds in which there is not so much the kinship of flesh and blood as of mind and soul, then you will understand how good are the houses of Jacob and how good the tents of Israel. But if you should also inquire into the difference between houses and tents, and the diversity between Jacob and Israel, concerning this too some such distinction is to be maintained. A house is a thing founded and stable and enclosed by fixed boundaries; but tents are certain dwellings of those who are always on the way and always walking and have not found the end of their journey. Therefore Jacob is to be understood in the persons of those who are perfect in acts and in work; but Israel are to be understood those who bear a zeal toward wisdom and knowledge. Since, then, the exercises of works and deeds are closed by a fixed end—for the perfection of works is not without an end—when someone has fulfilled all that he ought to do and has come to the end of the perfection of works, that very perfection of works will be said to be his good houses. But of those who apply themselves to wisdom and knowledge, since there is no end—for what will be the limit of God's wisdom? where, the more one has drawn near, the more profound the things he will find, and the more one has searched, the more he will find them ineffable and incomprehensible; for incomprehensible and inestimable is the wisdom of God—for that reason, of those who walk the way of God's wisdom he does not praise houses, for they have not arrived at an end, but he admires tents, in which they always walk and always advance, and the more they advance, the more the way of advancing is enlarged for them and stretches out into the immeasurable; and therefore, beholding through the spirit these very advances of theirs, he names them the tents of Israel. And truly, if anyone has taken up some advances in knowledge and has drawn some experience in such things, he knows assuredly that, when he has come to some contemplation and recognition of spiritual mysteries, there the soul tarries as if in a certain tent. But when out of the things he has found he searches out yet others and advances to other understandings, then, as if his tent had been raised, he stretches toward the higher things and there sets the seat of his soul, fixed by the stability of his senses; and thence again out of these very things he finds other spiritual senses, which without doubt the consequence of the former senses has laid open; and thus, always extending himself to the things before, he seems to march by certain tents. For there is never a time when a soul kindled by the little fire of knowledge can be idle and at rest, but it is always called forth from good things to better and again from better things to higher. This way, then, of God's wisdom he has described graciously enough and with much elegance, saying: "like shady groves, and like gardens beside rivers, and like the tents which the Lord has pitched, like cedars beside the waters." For those who walk this way walk through shady groves; for the groves that give them shade are the whole company of the just and the choir of the holy prophets. For under the shade of the meanings which they find written among these, their souls are refreshed, and, as it were walking through the shade of the groves, they are delighted in their teachings. These men also find gardens beside rivers, like and akin to that garden in which is the tree of life. And by the rivers we can understand either the Gospel and apostolic Scriptures, or even the aids of the angels and heavenly powers toward souls of this kind; for they are watered and flooded by them and are nourished unto all knowledge and recognition of heavenly things—although our Savior too is a river, who "gladdens the city of God," and the Holy Spirit is not only himself a river, but also, for those to whom he has been given, "rivers proceed from their belly"; and God the Father says: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water," from which fountain, namely, those rivers proceed. Flooded, therefore, with these rivers, the tents of Israel become tents such as those which the Lord has pitched. But perhaps it may move the attentive hearer that the present discourse mentions two kinds, as it were, of tents. For he says: "How good are your houses, O Jacob, your tents, O Israel! like shady groves, and like gardens beside rivers," and again he compares tents to tents and says: "and like the tents which the Lord has pitched." Therefore, after those we brought forward above, another exposition too can be received, so that we may say that the houses of Jacob are the law and the tents of Israel are the prophets. For he praises not Jacob himself, but his houses, nor Israel himself, but his tents; and he praises them then, when his eyes have been uncovered. For as long as a veil is placed over the reading of the law and the prophets, the tents are not seen to be good nor the houses praiseworthy. But when the veil has been taken away and the law has begun to be understood as spiritual, and the prophets likewise, then good and wonderful are the houses of Jacob; and then the tents of Israel will be admirable, when, the letter which kills being removed, you have begun to perceive from them the life-giving spirit. It can still be understood in yet another way, so that the bodies and souls of this believing and perfect people, which has been gathered by Christ from among the nations, seem to be praised together, and the house of Jacob is said of the bodies, just as also in a certain little book it is read that Jacob is the house of Israel—that is, that his body is called Jacob and his soul Israel. In like manner, therefore, the bodies also of all the perfect are said to be praiseworthy houses. For the body is a praiseworthy Jacob, when it is adorned with continence and chastity, and sometimes also with martyrdom. But the tents can be referred to perfect souls, to which the name Israel too fits, from seeing God. But these tents are, he says, "like shady groves, and like gardens beside rivers, and like the tents which the Lord has pitched." Therefore he shows that there are other tents which the Lord has pitched, to which the tents of Israel are like. It befits me to go forth outside this world, in order that I may see what are the tents which the Lord has pitched—those, no doubt, which he showed to Moses, when he was building the tabernacle in the desert, saying to him: "See," he says, "that you make all things according to the type which was shown you on the mountain." Therefore, in imitation of these tents which the Lord pitched, Israel ought to make tents, and each one of us to prepare and construct his own tent. Hence it seems to me not to have happened by chance that Peter indeed and Andrew and the sons of Zebedee were found fishermen by trade, but Paul a tentmaker by trade. And since those, called from the trade of catching fish, are changed and become fishers of men, the Lord saying: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men," there is no doubt that Paul too, since he also was called an Apostle through my Lord Jesus Christ, was changed by a similar transformation of his trade, so that, just as they from fishers of fish were made fishers of men, so this man too was transferred from making earthly tents to constructing heavenly tents. For he constructs heavenly tents, teaching each one the way of salvation and showing the road of the blessed mansions in the heavens. Paul makes tents when, from Jerusalem round about as far as Illyricum, he fills up the Gospel of God by constructing churches; and in this manner he too makes tents after the likeness of the heavenly tents which God showed to Moses on the mountain. But each one of us also, if indeed he has gone forth out of Egypt and dwells in the desert, ought to dwell in a tent and to keep the festal day in tents. For just as commemoration is made of the going out of Egypt through the Passover and the unleavened bread, so also memory is made of the sojourn in the desert through tents; for in tents our fathers dwelt in the desert. And from what should these tents be made, except from the words of the law and the prophets, from the discourses of the Psalms and of all that is contained in the law? For when out of the things that have been written the soul advances, and always indeed, forgetting the things that are behind, stretches itself to the things that are before, and, progressing from a lower place, grows and advances to the higher, from the increase of virtues and from the very changing of its advances it will deservedly be said to dwell in tents. But see whether the tents which God has pitched are not also those which the Savior mentions in the Gospel, saying: "Make yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity, so that, when you fail, they may receive you into eternal tents." And they are said to be pitched by God, as those which are not carried about by every wind of doctrine. But these tents are still also "like cedars beside the waters." He does not here call cedars those in which a blameworthy loftiness is marked, but the cedars of God, which receive the branches of that vine which was transplanted from Egypt, and in which rests that fruit "whose shade covered the mountains." If you have understood how great a rest the way of wisdom has, how much grace and how much sweetness, do not disregard it, do not neglect it, but set out upon this way and do not shudder at the solitude of the wilderness. For as you dwell in tents of this kind, the heavenly manna too will meet you, and you will eat the bread of angels. Only begin, and let not the solitude of the desert, as we have said, terrify you. Soon into your company the angels also will come, whom I judge to be indicated under the appearance of the cedars.

But now let us see what he also prophesies concerning Christ. For it is he of whom he says: "There shall come forth a man from his seed, and he shall have dominion over many nations; and his kingdom shall be exalted above Gog, and his kingdom shall grow. God led him out of Egypt, as the glory of a unicorn is his." It is Christ, therefore, who came forth from the seed of Israel according to the flesh, who, how he has dominion over the nations, needs no exposition, especially for one who reads what was said to him by the Father: "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and for your possession the ends of the earth." But what is it that he says: "his kingdom shall be exalted above Gog"? Gog is interpreted "above the roofs," and in this passage it is not set down for the name of some nation, as is thought, but, as in some other places, the Hebrew word itself has been left uninterpreted, and on this account it seems to be said as though of some nation. The consequence of the discourse, therefore, is this: "and his kingdom shall be exalted above the roofs, and his kingdom shall grow." To be exalted above the roofs is said of the perfection of believers, but to grow refers to the multitudes. In those, therefore, who are perfect, the kingdom of Christ is exalted above the roofs—that is, above even those who are in the higher places and dwell in the upper regions. For perhaps there are some even among the heavenly beings, beyond whom these who are in the kingdom of Christ advance more and are exalted more highly. And therefore, I believe, the Savior himself too was saying: "Let him who is on the roof not come down to take anything out of the house," admonishing that those who have come to the lofty perfection should not again come down to the low and abject things of this world, which is now called a house. But that too which he says: "What you have heard in the ear, preach upon the roofs," looks nonetheless to this. So, then, above Gog his kingdom is exalted, and his kingdom grows. For it grows while the churches are multiplied and the number of the faithful is increased; and the kingdom of Christ grows to such a degree, until the Father "put all his enemies under his feet," and moreover destroy "the last enemy, death."

The oracle in the previously quoted prophecy, in saying that the Lord would come into Egypt, foretold the journey of our Lord Jesus Christ when he went into Egypt with his parents. Here we have the prophecy of his return from Egypt in its natural order, when he came back with his parents into the land of Israel, in the words "God led him out of Egypt." For our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ of God, was the only one of the seed of Israel and of the Jewish race who has rule over many nations, so that it is indisputable that he is the fulfillment of the prophecy which says, literally, "that a man will come from the Jewish race and rule over many nations." If he is not, let him who will suggest some other famous man among the Hebrews who has ruled over many nations. But this he cannot do, for such a man never existed. But with regard to our Savior, truth itself will shout and cry aloud, even if we say nothing. This shows plainly that his divine power has ruled, through the human he took of the seed of Israel according to the flesh, and even now will rule many nations.

After these things it is further written concerning Christ that: "God led him out of Egypt," which seems to be fulfilled in that place where, after the death of Herod, he is called back from Egypt, and the Gospel indicates it, saying: "Out of Egypt I called my son." This saying seems to some to have been taken from this passage and inserted into the Gospels, but to others to be from the prophet Hosea. Yet it can also be understood according to allegory, that, after he came to the Egypt of this world, the Father led him out and took him up to himself, so that he might make a way for those who were to ascend out of the Egypt of this world to God. "And the glory of a unicorn is his." For Christ, casting down all the kingdoms of the demons, founded his one kingdom in glory, as of a true unicorn. For that horn is often named for a kingdom we have taught. "He shall eat," he says, speaking still of the same one, "the nations of his enemies, and shall gnaw out their marrow." The nations, he says, which his enemies possessed, he himself shall eat, the power of the enemy having been destroyed, and shall gnaw out their marrow, when he thins out from them all gross and carnal understanding and converts it to spiritual intelligence. And that grossness is held blameworthy in the Scriptures, that which is written will be the sign: "The heart of this people has been made gross," and elsewhere: "He was filled, and grew gross, and the beloved kicked back." He shall eat the nations, therefore, and he has for food those who believe in him, just as he himself also says in the Gospel: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me." Whose will indeed was this, that the nations should be converted to the faith. But if, as we taught above, grossness is held blameworthy, on the contrary fineness is to be held praiseworthy, since the "spirit of wisdom" too, which is called intelligible and holy and only-begotten and manifold, is likewise reported to be subtle. "And with his darts he shall shoot the enemy." His darts are his words, by which he either conquered the devil or overcomes and transfixes even now all his enemies and those who contradict him; for everyone who sins is his enemy, while he sins. But if he hears the words of God and, recognizing his sins, is transfixed by them and pierced with compunction and turns to repentance, having been bored through by the word of truth, he too will be said to have been transfixed by his darts. But after these things he also mentions the very dispensation of the passion and says: "Lying down he rested like a lion and like the whelp of a lion; who shall rouse him up?" He rested like a lion when, placed upon the cross, he stripped off the principalities and powers and triumphed over them on the wood of the cross; but like the whelp of a lion, when he rises from the sleep of death. And that he is compared at once to a lion and to the whelp of a lion can still be understood also on this account, that in those who are perfect he is named a lion, but in those who are beginners and untrained, the whelp of a lion. But as to his saying: "Who shall raise him up?"—this is because at one time he is said to be raised up by the Father, and at another he himself says that he will raise up the temple of his body after three days; and rightly in this the disposition, as it were, of one asking is indicated. "Those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed." It is certain that those who bless Christ are blessed and taken up into the communion of the Father's blessing; but those who curse him are cursed. For if you look to that people which curses Christ, it is found, even lamentably, to be cursed. For what else could befall those who curse wisdom, who curse truth, who curse life, except that they should lie banished and exiled from all these good things? For all these things are Christ; and he who curses Christ, as one cursing all these, is condemned to perpetual malediction. Yet I think that not only he curses Christ who utters against him a cursing word, but also he who under the name of Christian acts wickedly and lives basely and, by his dishonest words or deeds, makes his name to be blasphemed among the nations; just as, on the contrary, not he who blesses the Lord with words alone is to be thought to bless, but he who by his deeds and life and manners makes the name of the Lord to be blessed by all. And in these it will be more fully accomplished, that which the third prophecy of Balaam designates, that those who bless Christ shall be blessed and those who curse him shall be cursed. Wherefore let us in every way take heed lest through our works and acts the name of Christ be blasphemed, but rather let us so act that we may deserve to be partakers of his blessings. To him be blessing and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

We now take up in hand the fourth of these prophecies which Balaam spoke in the word of God, wishing to open up, concerning this one too, whatever God may grant. To this prophecy, however, there were prefixed in the introduction things similar to those above. For it says: "And Balak was angry with Balaam, and clapped his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam: I called you to curse my enemy, and behold, blessing you have blessed him three times. Now therefore flee to your own place; I said: I will honor you, and now the Lord has defrauded you of honor." In these words he shows that Balak too understood that Balaam was no longer being deceived by the ministry of demons, but was being carried over to better things by the power of God, and therefore he says: "The Lord has defrauded you of honor." But passing quickly over these things, which are plain, let us come to what follows. "And Balaam said to Balak: Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying: If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I shall not be able to transgress the word of the Lord, to do it, whether good or evil, of my own accord? Whatever God shall say to me, this I shall speak. And now behold I return to my place." Balaam, knowing that responses were not brought to him through the accustomed ministers, but from Him who has power over all, rightly is seen to have protested that he could not transgress the word of the Lord and do it, whether small or great, of his own accord. For the one who spoke to him was not one who could be changed by sacrifices and gifts, but was one with whom there is no change nor shadow of change. And therefore the prophet cannot be altered by a fee, where God is not moved by gifts. Yet as he is about to depart, Balaam begins again to prophesy, and says: "Come, I give you counsel, what this people shall do to your people in the last days." And taking up his parable he said. But before we come to the explanation of the things which have been prophesied, I would like to inquire what this sense is, or what the order of the words is, in that he says: "Come, and I give you counsel." And indeed he seems to give no counsel, but says what this people is about to do to your people in the last days, whereas it would surely have seemed more fitting if it had said: "Come, I prophesy to you what this people is about to do to your people in the last days"; and it would surely follow as a consequence that Balaam would seem to prophesy about those things which the people of Israel were about to do to the people of Balak or to the rest of the nations, and that he would do it in power, so as to leave none of the cities of Moab that would be saved.

But the prophecy also, nonetheless, which he joins to it in what follows concerning Christ, saying: "A star shall arise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise up out of Israel, and he shall lay waste the princes of Moab," would seem fittingly placed if it had been written: "Come, and I prophesy to you." But now what shall we say to this, that it is written: "Come, I give you counsel, what this people shall do to your people"? Let us therefore inquire how it ought to be understood, this that is written: "I give you counsel," concerning which, often inquiring within myself, I could find no outcome for the meaning, if we suppose that this which he says, "I give you counsel," is said in the common and ordinary way. But I saw that this rather is fitting, that what he says, "I give you counsel," is to be understood as though he had said: The divine counsel, which is to be fulfilled in the last days, now revealed to me I open and make manifest to you, that you may know what this people shall do to your people. And in this way it seemed to me able to stand, this that he says: "I give you counsel, what this people is about to do to your people," that is: I announce and make manifest to you the counsel of God. Indeed, as I inquired whether perhaps somewhere in the divine Scriptures some similar saying under this expression might occur, it seemed that this also was similarly to be noted, which the Apostle says: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" For here "who" is taken not for "no one," but for "rare" or "exceptional." For how did his Only-begotten not know the mind of God, who says: "No one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son shall will to reveal him"? What else, then, is it to know the Father, except to know both his counsel and his mind? But also the Holy Spirit, who searches even the deep things of God, what does he do but recognize his mind? Therefore both the Son and the Holy Spirit recognize the mind of the Lord, and those to whom the Son shall will to reveal it. But if the Son recognizes the mind of God, then he is also his counselor. But "counselor" is not to be taken as though the Son or the Holy Spirit gives counsel to him as to one ignorant of what he is doing; but in that the Son and the Holy Spirit are partakers of, and knowing in, his counsel and will. In a similar way, then, Balaam too, because he was making Balak a partaker of, and acquainted with, the counsel which God had revealed to him, says: "Come, I give you counsel," as one who truly sees and has truly heard the words of God, as he says in what follows: "Balaam, the son of Beor, said, the man who truly sees, hearing the words of God, knowing the knowledge of the Most High, and seeing the vision of God in sleep, his eyes uncovered." Of all these things we have already spoken above, since in the introduction of the third prophecy the same things were written. This alone in the present passage seems added, that he says: "knowing the knowledge of the Most High." For this was not said of Balaam in the earlier passages; which indeed I have found not easily written of any one of all the holy prophets.

One day we had before us the book of Numbers written by Moses, and [Fabiola] modestly questioned me as to the meaning of the great mass of names there to be found. Why was it, she inquired, that single tribes were differently associated in this passage and in that, how came it to be that the soothsayer Balaam, in prophesying of the future mysteries of Christ, spoke more plainly of him than almost any other prophet? I replied as best I could and tried to satisfy her inquiries.

For the ungodly man knows not the evil things he has done, except when he has already begun to be punished for those same evil deeds. Hence it is said by the Prophet; And the vexation alone shall give understanding to the hearing. For he then 'understands' what he has heard, when he now grieves that he is 'vexed' for the neglect of it. Hence it is said by Balaam concerning himself; the man whose eye is shut hath said: He hath said which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, which shall fail, and so his eyes shall be opened. For he gave counsel against the children of Israel, but he saw afterwards in punishment what it was he had been guilty of before in sin. Now the Elect, forasmuch as they see beforehand so that they should not sin, the eyes of these surely are open before their fall. But the wicked man opens his eyes after his fall, because after his sin he now in his own punishment sees that he ought to have avoided that ill which he did.

The unholy man does not know the evil he does unless he begins to be punished for the same evils. For Balaam offered counsel against the Israelites and afterwards saw in his punishment what sin he had previously committed. But the elect, who should not sin, are watchful. Their eyes are open before they fall. The eyes of the wicked man are open only after he falls, because after his sin he sees, in his punishment, that he should have avoided the evil he did.

Whence also I greatly marvel how this was written of Balaam, to whom it was not even granted to say what is customary among the prophets: "Thus says the Lord," but he says: "Balaam said, the man who truly sees said." Then further, how will it be worthy that so much be understood of Balaam, that he knows the knowledge of the Most High—he who even taught King Balak how to send a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, that they might eat things sacrificed to idols and commit fornication? For scarcely will anyone find it said of the holy prophets or Apostles that they know the knowledge of the Most High. Although Paul said that he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for men to utter, yet he did not profess to have the knowledge of the Most High. On which account let us attend more diligently, in case perhaps God may deign to reveal something worthy to us upon this expression. In the book which among us is usually held among the volumes of Solomon and is called Ecclesiasticus, but among the Greeks is named the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, it is written: "All wisdom is from God." Which perhaps we might so understand, as though from God were also that wisdom of this world, which is said to be destroyed, and of the princes of this world, and if there is any other by which false knowledge is commended; were it not that in the same little book it says in what follows: "For the discipline of wickedness is not wisdom." By which surely he teaches that every discipline which asserts anything false, even if it seem forceful and plausible and such as can hardly be overthrown, yet by no means ought knowledge of this kind to be applied to the title of wisdom. What then is it that he says: "All wisdom is from God"? He seems to me to have meant this: that every skill which is held necessary for human use in regard to any art, or the knowledge of any matter whatever, is said to be wisdom given by the Lord. In short, in Job it is written: "Who gave to women the wisdom of weaving and the discipline of embroidery?" But also in Exodus: "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Behold, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the divine spirit of wisdom and understanding and discipline, that he may have understanding in every work, and be an architect to work silver and gold and bronze and stones for setting and all works of craftsmanship, and in wood, that he may work according to all the works to which I have appointed him. And also Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put understanding into the heart of everyone who is prudent, that they may make all the things which I have appointed you." Consider therefore from all these things how the craftsman's wisdom is from the Lord, whether in gold or in silver or in any other material whatever, or even the wisdom of weaving; and see that of all these it can rightly be said that the knowledge of them is from the Most High. But if the craftsman's knowledge is declared to be from the Most High, how is not also geometry, from which surely this knowledge, which Scripture names architectonic, is derived? Indeed, in Zechariah too a geometric line is mentioned, with which an angel measures Jerusalem, and therefore I do not think it seems absurd if this knowledge too is said to be of the Most High. But what shall we say of music, all the skill of which the most wise David had so grasped, and had gathered the disciplines of all melody and rhythm, that from all these he might discover sounds by which he could, by playing, even soothe the king when troubled and vexed by an evil spirit? Whence I do not think anyone of right sense would deny, in the knowledge of all these things, that all wisdom is from God. But now concerning the knowledge of medicine I do not think there can even be a doubt; for if there is any knowledge from God, what will more be from him than the knowledge of health, in which even the powers of herbs and the qualities and differences of juices are discerned? Therefore from all these things it is gathered that even this knowledge of Balaam, for the sake of which he was summoned from the mountains of Mesopotamia in the east to curse Jacob, has indeed its beginnings and origin from the Most High, and thence too is the discernment by which he had learned either the natures of animals or the movements of birds or the differences of voices, but that the things which he had received unto the knowledge of good things, he had turned to the use of evil ones. This seems to me similar to as if one who had learned medicine and come to know the powers of herbs and their tempering—given by God to men doubtless for the sake of healing—should wish to reverse his purpose and use all this knowledge, which was granted for the health of bodies, unto evil, and become a poisoner instead of a physician, bringing diseases instead of remedies, deaths instead of healings. But that we may understand still more fully that the wisdom of all knowledge draws its origin from God, but that by men of evil purpose, or even by demons mingling in certain corruptions of the wisdom of God, it is turned aside to evil, let us reread the things which are written in Daniel concerning Daniel himself and his three friends, whom King Nebuchadnezzar handed over to be instructed for three years, wishing them to become most learned in their own—that is, the ancestral—wisdom of the Babylonians. There, then, it is written that: "The Lord gave them knowledge and understanding and prudence in every grammatical art; and to Daniel he gave understanding in every word and vision and dreams; and they were before the king, and in every word and prudence and discipline concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them tenfold more than were the sophists and philosophers who were in all his kingdom." And these things indeed are found in the copies of the Seventy translators; but in the codices of the Hebrews I found something even more forceful, which, although we do not use them, yet for the sake of acknowledgment we shall state, what we read there also: "God gave them," it says, "understanding and prudence in all grammatical wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in every vision and dreams," and after a few words: "and they stood," it says, "in the sight of the king, and in every word of wisdom and discipline concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them tenfold above all the enchanters and magicians who were in all his kingdom." From all these things, then, it can be understood how Balaam too said of himself: "who knows the knowledge of the Most High," namely, that it may be understood that the origin of all knowledge took its beginning from him, but that by the fault of human malice, with demons also breathing upon and stealing in, those things were turned to destruction which were granted for usefulness. Let these things concerning that which he said, "knowing the knowledge of the Most High," have been discussed by us according to our powers.

If God's prophecies were inserted in the sacred books by Moses, how much more so were they copied by men who then lived in Mesopotamia, for they considered Balaam splendid and certainly were disciples of his art! After his time the profession and instruction of the seers is said to have flourished in parts of the Orient. Possessing copies of everything which Balaam prophesied, they even have it written: "A star shall advance from Jacob, and a man shall rise from Israel." The magi kept these writings more among themselves, and so when Jesus was born they recognized the star and understood that the prophecy was fulfilled more than did the people of Israel who disdained to hear the words of the holy prophets. Therefore, only from the writings which Balaam had left, they learned that the time was approaching, came and immediately sought to adore him. Moreover, in order to show their great faith, they honored the little boy as a king.

A star shall arise out of Jacob, there shall be raised up a man out of Israel—and he shall smite the princes of Moab—and destroy all the sons of Seth. By the sons of Sêth he means the whole world. And this is not applicable to anyone except the Lord Christ, for Sêth is by interpretation a foundation. Since therefore Cain and his seed perished utterly in the deluge, while Abel the younger died childless, Sêth was posterior to these, from whom both Noah and all the world are descended, and who is thus a foundation as it were of mankind. Moreover for this reason Adam, inspired by the deity, addressed him by the name of Sêth, that is, foundation; and therefore he said: And he will subdue all the sons of Seth, that is, the whole world. Now this is applicable to Christ, and to Him alone, whom all scripture ever keeps in view.

We are told that Balaam's successors moved by this (for the prediction was preserved most likely among them)4 when they noticed in the heavens a strange star besides the usual ones, fixed above the head, so to say, and vertically above Judea, hastened to arrive at Palestine, to inquire about the king announced by the star's appearance.

Listen to the Evangelist's words about Caiaphas, the high priest of the Jews: "He did not give this as a personal opinion, but in his capacity of high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was destined to die, not for the person alone but to bring together into one also the nations that had been scattered." You will find something like it occurring again in the story of Balaam also: When urged to curse the people, he not merely did not curse them but even prophesied great and wonderful things, not merely about the people but also about the coming of the Savior.

Although it was a gift of divine favor that the birth of the Savior should become recognizable to the nations, nevertheless, to understand the wonder of the sign, the wise men were also able to be reminded through the ancient pronouncements of Balaam, for they knew that it had at one time been spread abroad in a famous and memorable prediction: "A star will appear out of Jacob, and a man will rise up from Israel. He will rule over the nations." So the three men, stirred by God through the shining of this unusual star, follow the course of its gleaming light ahead of them, thinking that they would find the indicated child in the royal city of Jerusalem.When this conjecture had failed them, however, they learned from scribes and teachers of the Jews what the sacred Scriptures had told about the birth of Christ. Encouraged by the double evidence, they sought him out with an even more ardent faith, the one to whom both the brightness of the star and the authority of prophets pointed.

Moses himself [wrote] in the book of Numbers: "There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a man shall arise out of Israel." For this cause, therefore, being God, he took upon him flesh, that, becoming a mediator between God and man, having overcome death, he might by his guidance lead man to God.

After these things he says: "seeing the vision of God in sleep, his eyes uncovered." Of these things it has been sufficiently discoursed in the third vision, and it is idle to repeat the same things. Let us therefore see what it is that he says in what follows: "I will show him, and not now; I bless him, and he does not draw near." In other copies indeed it reads: "I will see him, but not now"; which, if it be accepted, will be thought to be understood more easily, so that he says that Christ, of whom he speaks in what follows: "A star shall arise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise up out of Israel," is to be seen, but not now, that is, not at that time at which he was saying these things; for in the last days, when the fullness of times came, God sent his Son. But if it is to be read according to what we have in our copies, that is: "I will show him, and not now; I bless him, and he does not draw near," it refers not to this Balaam, through whom these things are said, but to those whose person we have said is represented in this. For those teachers of the law and scribes will show Christ prophesied in the law and the prophets, but not now, that is, not at the time at which he came, but when the fullness of the nations shall have entered in, and all Israel shall begin to be saved—then they will show him and then they will bless him whom they now blaspheme. But this time, in which these things are to be, does not draw near; for it is far off and to be hoped for at the very end of the age. And therefore he says: "I will show him, and not now"—"to him," that is, to the people who will then be saved. After these things: "A star," he says, "shall arise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise up out of Israel." Of these things we spoke also in the earlier passages, that it is evidently prophesied of the star which appeared to the Magi in the east; with which as their guide they came to Judea seeking him who was born, the King of Israel, and having found him, offered gifts and adored him. But it moves me that concerning that very star, after it was said in the Gospel that it went before the Magi as far as Bethlehem, and coming, stood above where the child was, nothing further was said, that either it departed thence or vanished or was taken up, or that the Gospel narrative indicated anything at all about this, but it said only this: that it came and stood above where the child was. Lest therefore perhaps, just as at the time of the baptism, when Jesus, having been baptized, ascended from the Jordan, the heavens were opened to him and John saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and remaining upon him, and heard a voice from heaven saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," so also this star, which came above where the child was and stood there, likewise remained upon Christ, just as the Holy Spirit too is said to have come in the appearance of a dove and to have remained upon him. And just as we understand that the Spirit of God came upon him and remained upon him in such a way that the Spirit of God never departed from him, so also the star, which came and stood over him, I think is to be understood to have so stood over him that it was never moved thence. And therefore I am of the opinion that that star was an indication of his deity. Whence also the order of the prophecy shows these same things consequently, when concerning his deity indeed it says: "A star shall arise out of Jacob," but concerning his human nature: "and a man shall rise up out of Israel," so that in both, according to deity and according to humanity, Christ may evidently appear to have been prophesied. "And he shall lay waste the princes of Moab." Moab indeed is a nation, whose princes we understand to be none other than the spiritual wickednesses and those principalities against whom is our wrestling. These, then, that man out of Israel shall lay waste, when he shall strip off the principalities and powers, and shall fasten them to his cross. For he could not save the Moabites and lead them to the knowledge of God, unless he had laid waste those princes who had held the dominion of impiety over them. "And he shall despoil all the sons of Seth." Seth is the son of Adam, of whom Eve said, when he was born: "For God has raised up for me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." This, then, is Seth, from whom the whole human race in this world is said to descend; for of those who had been born of Cain, they perished in the flood. The sons of Seth, therefore, are all men who are in this world. And when it is said: "he shall despoil all the sons of Seth," take "spoil" as we interpreted it in the earlier passages, where it is written: "he shall eat the nations of his enemies," and where he is compared to a lion's cub and to a lion. Here too, then, he takes as spoil all the sons of Seth. When the adversary demons are conquered, Christ leads the men who were held under their dominion as, so to speak, the spoil of his victory, and carries off the plunder of salvation, just as it is written of him also elsewhere that: "ascending on high he led captivity captive"; that captivity, namely, of the human race, which the devil had taken to perdition, this one in turn led captive and recalled from death to life. Would then that Jesus might always hold me too captive and lead me as his spoil, and that I might be held bound by his chains, so that I too might deserve to be called a prisoner of Christ Jesus, just as Paul too glories of himself.

"And Edom shall be an inheritance, and Esau his enemy shall be an inheritance." Edom is the same as Esau. He according to history indeed is the enemy of Israel, but at the coming, he says, of Christ, he too shall be his inheritance, that is, he shall be received unto the faith and shall not be excluded from the inheritance of Christ. But if we consider it spiritually, Edom is understood as the flesh, which is opposed to the spirit and is its enemy. At the coming, then, of Christ, when the flesh shall have been subjected to the spirit, through the hope of resurrection it too shall come to the inheritance. For not the soul alone, but also the flesh, which once had been an enemy, through the obedience of the spirit shall become a sharer of the inheritance to come. "And Israel did it in power." This is what he says: that then Edom or Esau, that is, the nature of the flesh, shall be called into the fellowship of the inheritance, when Israel, namely the soul, shall have been made to be in power and shall have been fittingly filled with virtues. For if the soul does not come to the virtues, but perseveres in sloth, neither shall the flesh come to the inheritance, but to the judgment of him who can destroy both soul and body in gehenna.