THEOSISAmbrose of Milan
A fitting consequence for his wrongdoing! For upon realizing that he was unable to utter a curse due to the turmoil in his mind, he offered the king this counsel: ‘Prophecy comes from God. Act in opposition to God’s prophecies. This people is just, and God looks upon them with favor, for their devotion is to the eternal God alone, not to magic or divination; thus, they surpass others in their faith. Yet even the devout can falter under the weight of physical desires and the allure of worldly appearances. You possess many women, most of whom are not lacking in beauty.
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However, there is nothing that ensnares men as swiftly as the charms of a woman, particularly when the flames of passion are stoked by frequent encounters, igniting the heart like a burning torch—then a husband, indulging in the hope of possession, will completely surrender to his feelings. Therefore, let your women use the craft of their enticing voices, and instead of remaining distant, let them be both pleasing in appearance and engaging in conversation; let them roam about the army, encircling it and using their skill to attract their husbands, but they should not agree to intimate relations unless they extract a pact of complicity in sacrilege as a demonstration of reciprocity. Thus, they may lose the heavenly protection if they themselves turn away from the Lord their God. Therefore, Balaam, who incited illicit relationships and sacrilege, cannot be deemed righteous, as it is explicitly stated in the Revelation of John, where the Lord speaks to the angel of the church at Pergamum: ‘You have those there who adhere to the doctrine of Balaam, who instructed Balak on how to entice the children of Israel to sin, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. Likewise, you hold to the teachings of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:14-15).’ Thus emerged the sacrilegious actions of the Manichaeans, who compounded sacrilege with shameful deeds. Therefore, God was neither unjust nor fickle in His intention. He discerned the heart and soul of Balaam; thus, He tested him, bestowing upon him a divine gift, yet He did not elect him as a prophet. And truly, Balaam ought to have repented in light of such prophetic grace and lofty revelation. Yet his soul, filled with wickedness, spoke words without believing in them, seeking to alter a future that it itself had predicted. And since prophecies cannot falter, Balaam provided false counsel, leading the wayward people of Israel into temptation, but not into enslavement. For the righteousness of one priest dispelled all the schemes of the wicked man (Num. 25:8), and it is far more astounding that, through one man, the army of the ancestors could be delivered than that he could be led astray.