B
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Balaam
He was the solitary self-seeker—alone, isolated, loving to be separated from all other men; admired, feared and sought.
F. W Robertson, Sermons, 4:37
Balaam asks permission of God again. Here is the evidence of a secret hollowness in his heart, however fair the outside seemed. In worldly matters “think twice”; but in duty, it has well been said, “first thoughts are best.” … Deliberation is often dishonesty. God’s guidance is plain, when we are true…. “With the froward”—oh how true!—“thou wilt show thyself froward.” [See also Ps. 18:26.]
F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 4:38–39
Balaam did what men so entangled always do. The real fault is in themselves. They have committed themselves to a false position, and when obstacles stand in their way, they lay the blame on circumstances.
F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 4:40
Balaam wanted to please himself without displeasing God.
F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 4:42
God will not curse the good; therefore, Balaam tries to make them wicked; he tries to make the good curse themselves, and so exasperate God. [Num. 25; 31:15–16; Rev. 2:14]
F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 4:47
See how a man may be going on uttering fine words, orthodox truths, and yet be rotten at heart.
F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 4:50
If we want to die the death of the righteous, we had better live the life of the righteous!
Balaam’s insidious device for getting his own way while pretending to seek God’s will was simply to get a different perspective. Keep looking for a “different angle” and you will probably find one, and wish you hadn’t.
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Barnabas
Thus we see that Barnabas staked his all—his reputation, his life, his church which was dearer than life—on Paul’s sincerity. He gave Saul the weight of his influence, which weight was like a mighty anchor to a ship tempest beaten. He gave his hand, which hand was like a keen sword to one sorely pressed in battle. Had it not been for that warm and strong extended hand of Barnabas, Saul might have been chilled into obscurity….
R. G. Lee, Glory Today for Conquest Tomorrow, p. 89
Barnabas played second fiddle, but he played it so well that the Kingdom of God made progress. He rode second in the Gospel chariot, but he did it with such humility and joy and gratitude until heaven will forever rejoice that he was “a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith” and that, because of him, “much people were added to the Lord” [Acts 11:24].
Lee, Glory Today, p. 96
When Paul had gone back to Tarsus and Barnabas had gone to electrify with his wisdom the Church at Antioch, the older preacher was sad because he had all the glory. He wanted the young man to share it; he determined that he should share it. He went to Tarsus and brought him to the scene of triumph. He gave him a place among the Christian workers. He went about continually in his company, that men might say, “There go Barnabas and [Saul].” He knew well the power of association—how a tarnished name if linked with a great name may lose its tarnish; and he resolved that Paul should reap the advantage of such a union.
GM-RMB, 2:298
Baruch (Jer. 45:45)
There in a flash we have the revelation of the difference between true and false ambition. That reveals the peril of ambition. When the whole is lost sight of and its well-being is not sought, ambition becomes deadly. The action growing out of it becomes cruel and ruthless. When a man seeks great things for himself, what cares he how many suffer so that he succeeds; how many are downtrodden so that he may rise; how many are flung out by the whirling wheel, so long as he arrives at the goal? Such ambition is the spawn of hell, the “progeny” of Lucifer who fell from his high estate by ambition that was entirely self-centered.
GCM, 9:26
Boaz
The men of his day would have valued him for something impersonal. From a worldly point of view he had many advantages. He was of a good family. He had great social influence. He was possessed of much wealth. He belonged to a tribe which was already beginning to take the lead in Israel. But by none of these things does this man endure. Their remembrance is only kept alive by the remembrance of another quality, which his contemporaries would have passed by—the possession of a tender heart.
GM-RMB, 2:131
Boaz pictures Jesus Christ as Lord of the harvest and the one willing to sacrifice so that he might claim his bride. The unnamed kinsman redeemer would not forfeit his inheritance, but Boaz made Ruth a part of his inheritance!
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