now extant; as there are many quotations in Scripture out of books
which are not come down to us. Remember what Balaam answered, that
ye may know the righteousness of the Lord; i.e., the righteousness
which God will accept. Balak demands, Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before
him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord
be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers
of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit
of my body for the sin of my soul? Balaam answers him, he hath
showed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
thy God? Here is a good man expressly characterised, as distinct
from a dishonest and a superstitious man. No words can more
strongly exclude dishonesty and falseness of heart than doing
justice and loving mercy; and both these, as well as walking humbly
with God, are put in opposition to those ceremonial methods of
recommendation, which Balak hoped might have served the turn. From
hence appears what he meant by the righteous, whose death he desires
to die.

Whether it was his own character shall now be inquired; and in order
to determine it, we must take a view of his whole behaviour upon
this occasion. When the elders of Noah came to him, though he
appears to have been much allured with the rewards offered, yet he
had such regard to the authority of God as to keep the messengers in
suspense until he had consulted His will. And God said to him, Thou
shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people, for they
are blessed. {19} Upon this he dismisses the ambassadors, with an
absolute refusal of accompanying them back to their king. Thus far
his regards to his duty prevailed, neither does there anything