on Judah, Gen, xlix. 9 ; and the same speech concludes with
the words, "Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he
that curseth thee," Gen. xxvii. 29. Moreover, the knowledge
displayed by Balaam of the nature and will of Jehovah the
God of Israel, is too exact and definite to have been derived
from isolated, faint tones which had reached him from that
primitive revelation which itself knew little of the God of
Israel. If we assume that Balaam drew only from it, we must
maintain, what has no analogy in its favour, that in his pro-
phecies he was a mere passive tool, that he gave utterance to
conceptions for which there was no rapport in his nature.
