Editorial November 26, 1966 Issue

"The shout of a king"

Helen Wood Bauman

When the Israelites were nearing the end of their wilderness journey, already within sight of the Promised Land, they found themselves faced with a danger more serious than any they had ever encountered before—the threat of mental manipulation. When Balak, the king of the Moabites, saw that the Israelites had pitched their tents on the plains of Moab, he sent messengers to Balaam, a famous magician of the day, asking that he come and curse his enemies. If Balak could not conquer the invaders by physical means, he would try mental ones.

But Balak's scheme failed ignominiously. For Balaam, heeding the command of God, found himself incapable of cursing Israel. He said: "Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them." ^{Num. 23:20, 21;} And Balaam declared that enchantment and divination against the Israelites were not possible.

"The shout of a king"! Or, as Moffatt translates, "They shout in honour of their King." There was heard the acclaim of those who rejoiced in God's might of deliverance! The Israelites considered God as their reigning monarch, and they rejoiced in His power to protect them from evil. The student of Christian Science knows God as the Ruler of the universe, as the deliverer from the aggressions of the physical senses, in which all evil experiences inhere. The student's shouts may not be vocal, but his thoughts are filled with joy over the presence of God. He knows that this presence is protecting all the good he expresses. God blesses what He makes, and to deserve His protection we must manifest His nature; we must refuse to manifest an evil nature, which succumbs to mesmeric influence.

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