ART. II.-BALAAM'S PROPHECIES-THEIR FORM AND

IMPORT.

TENTATIVELY must every conclusion be held which may be reached upon the subject of the form in Hebrew poetry. The endeavor to trace meters in the Hebrew verse has not been satisfying, although this effort took its rise very early in the Christian era. Josephus, Eusebius, and Jerome are advocates of the metrical arrangement of Hebrew verse. In our own time (for we take the liberty of passing by the many commendable attempts to trace meter in Hebrew poetry which other centuries contain), Dr. Bickel has applied a theory of meter to the entire Psalter, Proverbs, Job, Lamentations, Song of Solomon, and also to much of the poetry found in the historical and prophetical books. His theory discards the distinction of syllables as long or short, and also the terminology of classic

meters.

Whatever may be said of the success of these attempts, a silent judgment, arising from their general neglect, relegates meter to a place of secondary importance. The termination of the line, however, is of vital significance. Herein lies the import of the results of Bishop Lowth's investigations. Whereever there is found a synonymous parallelism the limits of the lines are clearly defined, if the parallelism is limited to a couplet. The same limitation to the line is pointed out in the "antithetical couplet." Yet such lines are comparatively few in the face of the whole body of Hebrew poetry. And certainly Dr. C. A. Briggs is judicious in affirming "that the majority of the verses are synthetical, and these in such a great variety that it seems still more important in many cases to classify and distinguish them than to make the discrimination proposed by Bishop Lowth."

The stich (line or verse) has undoubtedly a constant ratio between its interval and accent, yet this ratio is still uncertain. Perhaps the greatest service which knowledge of this ratio would render is that it would give us insight into the melody of sounds such as the Hebrews loved. Very important, however, is the determination of the stich itself. Form and meaning are closely related, since form is expression's greatest assistant.

The combination of the stich into the strophe furnishes to each investigator his most attractive field of research within the domain of Hebrew poetry.

The oracles of Balaam are specimens of poetry, unique in that they present a strophic structure which allures attention, and fascinating because they contain expressions of the highest poetic excellence. The form of these oracles will be best presented by a translation exhibiting this form, and then by making such a detailed explanation as will reveal the symmetry in the form. The import of each oracle may best be presented in connection with and sequent to the exposition of the form.

ORACLE I.

"From Aram Balak brings me,

The king of Moab, from the mountains of Kedem.

"Come, curse for me Jacob,

And come, rage at Israel.

"Why should I curse?

God has not cursed.

Why should I rage?

Jehovah has not raged.

"But from the rocky heights I can see him,

And from the hills I can view him.

"Behold a people which dwells alone,

And does not consider itself among the nations.

Who is he who counts the dust of Jacob.

And who numbers the square encampment of Israel?

"Let me die the death of the upright,

The above proposed arrangement is symmetrical. Indeed, it is the fundamental assumption which poetry requires, that there be symmetry. Yet it must not be a mere external symmetry, which is everywhere in the poem at variance with the thought. Complete grammatical expressions must not be violently sundered in order to force symmetry upon the poem. The above arrangement presents a couplet at the beginning and a couplet at the close which really form a tetrastich, interrupted by the body of the oracle. The two themes of this first oracle

are each stated in a couplet, and together make a tetrastich; further, each theme is expanded in a tetrastich. The statement of this structure is as follows:

Introduction, a distich.
First theme, a distich.

Expansion of theme, a tetrastich.
Second theme, a distich.

Expansion of theme, a tetrastich.
Conclusion, a distich.

It will be seen that the strophic structure of this oracle is of greatest assistance in the interpretation. The introductory distich is a simple personal statement. It is a courteous recognition of Balak, king of Moab. Emphasis is given to the urgency of the need of this king by the stress which Balaam places upon the locality whence he came.

The first theme contains the words of the king of Moab. They are significant, because by them we learn the fear which caused this king greatest alarm, and also have evidence of that belief, widespread among the nations of antiquity, that the divine curse upon a nation was a presage to it of greatest evil and calamity. Jacob and Israel are equivalent words; this distich is a simple synonymous parallelism. The request of the king in it has only this import, that the prophet should somehow secure God as an enemy to Jacob. It says:

"Come, curse for me Jacob,

And come, rage at Israel."

The expansion of this theme is natural. There is no utterance of censure upon the king. His fate is, however, an unavoidable inference. The king says, "Curse;" the prophet says, "Why should I curse?

God has not cursed."

The prophet asserted simply what the king had observed, what every observer of the progress of Jacob could not have failed to observe. A prophet's words are nothing if they contravene what are the evident purposes of God. The king further says, "Rage; " the prophet replies,

"Why should I rage?
Jehovah has not raged."

Each distich in this tetrastich is antithetic. A single and the same truth, ever unalterable, is set forth in each. A prophet may not be in antithesis to God. The prophet and God are ever on the same side, and that side is where God stands.

The second theme is furnished by what Balaam saw. The height to which the king led the prophet brought into view this people whom the prophet could not curse, because God had not cursed. The multitude of Israel was so vast that the summit of a mountain was not far enough off to minify Jacob. The subject of the theme is made prominent in a synonymous parallelism. The distich setting forth this theme is:

"But from the rocky heights I can see him,

And from the hills I can view him."

Two truths forced themselves upon the observing prophet: one, that Israel remained separate; the second, that the camp of Israel was vast. These truths are gathered and presented in the expansion of the second theme. The whole is in a tetrastich. The first of these truths is given in a synonymous parallelism : "Behold a people which dwells alone,

And does not consider itself among the nations."

The separateness of Israel, a nation apart from other nations, is emphasized by this portion of the oracle. Not a word is said here of a triumphant march in the field of conquest; yet this is not denied, but rather implied, because the people should dwell alone. Yet if history confirms one abiding truth re'specting this people it is the truth that this nation remains separate. The extent to which this peculiar trait of this strange race of Israel is set forth in this place by the prophet is a matter of conjecture.

The second truth in this tetrastich is given also in a synonymous parallelism:

"Who is he who counts the dust of Jacob,

And who numbers the square encampment of Israel?"

This couplet would seem to limit the prophetic utterance contained in it to simply the facts suggested by the sight of the camp of this warlike and victorious people. And should this be conceded it would limit at least the interpreter to claim nothing but a possible prophetic hint in the preceding couplet. The one fact

asserted in this second couplet is the fact of multitude. Yet / this fact had fearful import for Balak, king of Moab.

The conclusion is in a distich, and one line is synonymous to the other. No inference can be drawn from it other than one which makes the future of Israel so attractive to the prophet that his wish, emphatically stated, is that his death may be like Israel's. This distich is:

"Let me die the death of the upright,
And let my end be like his!"

We have nothing to do with the meaning imported into this couplet by subsequent ages. A new application of an utterance, extending the significance of the words therein, is no new phenomenon in literature. The unalterable truth in the wish is that Israel, who possessed peculiar and significant powers, was so exalted and favored that this seer could desire nothing beyond.

There are two words in this oracle which outline Israel's peculiar possession and its peculiar significance to Israel. The words are "Jehovah" and "upright." These are really the greatest words in this oracle. Our estimate of them is not to be diminished by the fine-spun web that unites parts of a Jehovist narrative and an Elohist narrative into one whole. Our position is that the whole of Balaam's narrative has significance only as the prophet sees what is characteristic of Israel, what was his one distinctive, sole differentiating possession; and the prophet did see and outline this differentiated character by the words "Jehovah" and "upright." The chief characteristic of this oracle as related to Balak may be traced in the fact that as little is said to the king as may be said; still, the logic of the words uttered is that Israel would be a conquering people and had the blessing of Jehovah.

ORACLE II.

"Rise, Balak, and hear;

Listen to me, son of Zippor:

"Not a man is God, that he should lie;
Nor a son of Adam, that he should repent.
Hath he said, and shall he not do?

And spoken, and shall he not establish it?