Balaam, though a false prophet, was used of God to speak many wonderful things, for God did not allow him to speak what was in his heart. There can be no doubt that he was attracted by the reward of Balak, which Jude tells us he "ran greedily after," and to obtain this he was quite willing to curse God's people, but God put a word into his mouth which he was compelled to speak. The king of Moab had said to him, "Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel," but he is compelled to say, "How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?" Then he saw Israel from the top of the rocks, and said, "The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the fourth part of Israel?" (Num. 23:7-10).
Like their father Jacob, the nation of Israel had been chosen and blessed of God, and in spite of all they were naturally, God watched over them, and preserved them from the evil that their enemies thought to do them. After thus proclaiming the impossibility of bringing evil upon God's people, Balaam says, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his" (verse 10).
In Jacob we see very blessedly set forth the death of the righteous, even as recorded in Hebrews 11:21, "By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff." This was the beautiful end of Jacob's earthly sojourn. The blessing of the sons of Joseph was not according to nature, but in the light of God's calling and purpose; and in spite of his great love for Joseph, Jacob refused to accede to his request, but put his right hand upon the younger instead of upon the elder. How blessed it is when a dying man is concerned with the will and purpose of God. What Jacob said to his sons, as recorded for us in Genesis 49, manifests the wonderful hold that Jacob had on the mind of God, and what a remarkable hold the thoughts of God had on the heart of Jacob.
Jacob also worshipped as he was about to pass through the portal of death. He was not occupied with his own weakness, nor was he at all afraid of what lay ahead; but he was thinking of what was due to God, even when so weak, and when his days on earth were fulfilled. His spirit rose above all that had engaged him in the blessing of Joseph's sons, in the foretelling of what would mark Israel in that clear prophetic history, and above the weakness of the body, and his spirit went out to God in adoring worship. His thoughts were on God, and all that He had done for him, and been to Him, and this brought the worship that was so pleasurable to God.
The third mark of Jacob's death was that he leaned upon the top of his staff. He had been a pilgrim, like Abraham and Isaac, and his pilgrim character marked him right to the end. Although at the beginning of his course he had been marked by self-reliance, and had proved that it was inconsistent with and insufficient for a pilgrim and stranger on the earth, he had learned that dependence on God should mark His saints at all times, and this comes out most blessedly at the end.
There was not the shadow of a doubt about Jacob's relations with God; He believed God, and like Abraham, his faith was counted for righteousness. Whatever men have thought, and may think about Jacob, the spiritual mind readily perceives that Jacob highly valued God's blessing, and this because the blessing was from God. The last words of Jacob, and his last actions, clearly make known the righteous character of one who knew that he stood in the favour of God.
Balaam might well covet such a death as the death of Jacob, the death of the righteous; but, alas, Balaam was not a man like the righteous Jacob. Indeed, the Spirit of God makes it quite clear that he was an unrighteous man, for through the Apostle Peter He says, "Balaam the son of Bosor … loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Peter 2:15). There are many like Balaam, they live for this world, and for the gratification of their lusts, and would fain have the portion of the righteous at the end. They want the best of both worlds, though in reality the believer has the best in this life as also in that which is to come, even as Paul wrote to Timothy, "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Tim. 4:8).
This evil man, whose counsel caused Israel to trespass against the Lord (Num. 31:16), did not repent of his sin, and his death is given in this same chapter which tells of his wicked counsel (verse 8). He lived the life of the unrighteous, and died the death of the unrighteous, perishing with the kings of Midian, against whom Israel warred by the commandment of the Lord. It is possible for an unrighteous man to turn from his unrighteousness at the end of his days, like the thief on the cross, and to die the death of the righteous, but such cases are exceptional. Wisdom calls upon the sinner to seek the Lord while He may be found; and we are told that, "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation."
Not only did Balaam covet the death of the righteous, but he said, "Let my last end be like his." When the Christian dies he enters the paradise of God to be with Jesus; he is "absent from the body, and present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). This is at the end of his earthly sojourn, but it is not his "last end." Abraham is seen in heaven in Luke 16, and Moses is seen alive with Jesus on the holy mount (Luke 9), and Jacob is also in heaven, for as Jehovah said, I am "the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," and the commentary of the Lord on this is, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him" (Luke 20:37-38).
But the last end of the righteous is yet to come. The Old Testament saints, the Scripture tells us, are not yet made perfect (Heb. 11:40). They will no doubt be made perfect when they receive their new bodies to enter heaven with its eternal bliss. The righteous of this dispensation will receive their glorified bodies at the same time, whether they have died the death of the righteous, or are alive when the Lord comes.
The secret of God in 1 Corinthians 15:51 teaches us that "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed"; and the change is mentioned in verse 49, "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." We are to be like Jesus (1 John 3:2), for whom we wait, "Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself" (Phil. 3:21).
There will be different families of the righteous in heaven, every one named of the Father, and each blessed for eternity according to the will and purpose of God. The church will have its own peculiar place in relation to Christ as His body and His bride, and as His brethren. All in heaven will be there for the praise and pleasure of God, and for the honour of His Son; the last end of the righteous manifesting what God is in the greatness of His grace and in the wonders of His love.
Wm. C. Reid.