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Numbers 23

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1 And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.

2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.

3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go: it may be the LORD will come to meet me: and whatever he showeth me I will tell thee. And he went to a high place.

4 And God met Balaam: and he said to him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.

5 And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

6 And he returned to him and lo, he stood by his burnt-sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.

7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, defy Israel.

8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

11 And Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse my enemies, and behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.

12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?

13 And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and from thence curse them for me.

14 And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

15 And he said to Balak, Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I meet the LORD yonder.

16 And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again to Balak, and say thus.

17 And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, What hath the LORD spoken?

18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise, Balak, and hear; hearken to me, thou son of Zippor:

19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoke, and shall he not make it good?

20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel; the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.

22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn.

23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he shall eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

25 And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.

26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?

27 And Balak said to Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee to another place; perhaps it will please God that thou mayest from thence curse them for me.

28 And Balak brought Balaam to the top of Peor, that looketh towards Jeshimon.

29 And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.

30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1756

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1756. All these matters presented above are those which in general are embodied in the internal sense of this chapter; but the whole train of thought, and its beauty, cannot be seen when every single thing is explained according to the meaning of the words, as they would be if they were comprehended in a single idea. When all are comprehended in a single idea those things which hitherto have lain scattered now appear beautifully joined and linked together. The situation is as with someone who listens to another speaking but pays attention solely to the words he uses. In this case he does not grasp the speaker's idea nearly so well as he would if he paid no attention to the words and their particular shades of meaning; for the internal sense of the Word in relation to the external or literal sense is very similar to speech in relation to the actual words used when these are scarcely listened to, still less paid attention to, as when the mind is intent on the sense alone of the things meant by the words used by the speaker.

[2] The most ancient manner of writing represented real things by the use of persons and of expressions which they employed to mean things entirely different from those persons or expressions. Secular authors of those times compiled their historical narratives in this way, including those things which had to do with public life and private life. Indeed they compiled them in such a way that nothing at all was to be taken literally as written, but something other was to be understood beneath the literal narrative. They even went so far as to present affections of every kind as gods and goddesses, to whom the heathen subsequently offered up divine worship, as every well-educated person may know, for ancient books of that kind are still extant. This manner of writing they derived from the most ancient people who lived before the Flood, who used to represent heavenly and Divine things to themselves by means of visible objects on earth and in the world, and in so doing filled their minds and souls with joys and delights when they beheld the objects in the universe, especially those that were beautiful on account of their form and order. This is why all the books of the Church in those times were written in the same style. Job is one such book; and Solomon's Song of Songs is an imitation of them too. Both the books mentioned by Moses in Numbers 21:14, 27, were of this nature, in addition to many that have perished.

[3] Because it had come down from antiquity this style was later venerated both among the gentiles and among the descendants of Jacob, so much so that whatever was not written in this style was not venerated as Divine. This is why when they were moved by the prophetic spirit - as were Jacob, Genesis 49:3-27; Moses, Exodus 15:1-21; Deuteronomy 33:2-end; Balaam, who was one of the sons of the east in Syria, where the Ancient Church continued to exist, Numbers 23:7-10, 19 24; 24:5-9, 17-24; Deborah and Barak, Judges 5:2-end; Hannah, 1 Samuel 2:2-10; and many others - they spoke in that same manner, and for many hidden reasons. And although, with very few exceptions, they neither understood nor knew that their utterances meant the heavenly things of the Lord's kingdom and Church, they were nevertheless struck and filled with awe and wonder, and sensed that those utterances carried what was Divine and Holy within them.

[4] But that the historical narratives of the Word are of a similar nature, that is to say, that the particular names and particular expressions used represent and mean the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom, the learned world has not yet come to know, except that the Word is inspired right down to the tiniest jot, and that every single detail has heavenly arcana within it.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.