Numbers 24:20-25: a reflection

20He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall come to destruction.” 21He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock. 22Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive.” 23He took up his parable, and said, “Alas, who shall live when God does this? 24But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction.” 25Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.

In his final oracles, Balaam looks out over the nations and pronounces their futures, and a pattern runs through them all. Of Amalek he says, Amalek was first among the nations, but its end shall be destruction. He surveys the Kenites, and Asshur, and others, and one by one their greatness is shown to be temporary, all of them destined, in time, to fall. Even the nation that was first among the nations comes to destruction.

Notice what Balaam sees from his vantage. Nations that seemed preeminent, dominant, permanent, are, under God's gaze, passing. Amalek was first, and its end is ruin. The strongholds set in the rock will still be carried away. From God's perspective, the greatness of nations is transient; empires rise and are, in due course, brought low. None of them is as permanent as it imagines itself to be.

That is a steadying perspective in a world that often seems dominated by the great forces of the moment. The nations, empires, and forces that loom so large, that seem to hold the future in their hands, are passing, all of them, under the sovereignty of the God who outlasts them. Do not be overawed by earthly strength as though it were permanent; do not fear it or envy it as though it had the last word. Amalek was first among the nations, and its end came. Set your hope not on any earthly force, which passes, but on the God whose kingdom does not.

Lord, Balaam saw that even the foremost nations come to their end, that all earthly greatness is passing under your sovereign gaze. When the forces of the moment loom large and seem permanent, keep me from being overawed, from fearing or envying them as though they held the future. They pass; you remain. Set my hope not on any earthly strength but on you and your kingdom, which does not end.