There was nothing of this in Balaam; Balaam was not turned back. When the angel withstood him in the narrow way, and his ass fell under him, there was none of this godly sorrow working repentance. But our Isaac is restored. He seeks another way, and takes up and follows after God’s object from that moment. It is not "the _madness_ of the prophet" that the Spirit records in Isaac, as He had to do in Balaam, but the _faith_ of the prophet. For in this hour of happy restored fellowship with the mind of God, after his trembling, "with a great trembling greatly," the way of Isaac is sealed and signalized by the Spirit. "By faith Isaac blessed Esau and Jacob concerning things to come." And this is the only matter in the life of Isaac which is noticed by the Spirit in that chapter, Heb. xi. But this had character in it, and the Spirit has distinguished it. The victories of faith which Moses gained were very fine. He answered both the _attractions_ and the _terrors_ of Egypt; refusing to be called the son of the king’s daughter, and forsaking the country, not fearing the king’s wrath. These were splendid victories; and are so to this day, when achieved in the saint. But there are conquests much less distinguished, which nevertheless are conquests, recorded in this chapter which celebrates the deeds of faith. They may be seen in Isaac and in Jacob. Each of these witnesses of faith, in his day, blessed the children or the sons before him _according to God_, though this was _contrary to nature_. Isaac would have preferred Esau, and Jacob would have preferred Manasseh; but Isaac persisted in his blessing of Jacob, and Jacob in his blessing of Ephraim, and in this, _nature_ was conquered. It was not, we may allow, the _world_, in either its snares or its dangers, that stood out to try the strength of faith in the saint--but still it was an opposer. It was _nature_; the suggestions or sympathies or partialities of nature--and while we may admire the splendour of the victories of a Moses or an Abraham, let us remember and look to it, that we fight the fight of faith with _nature_, and gain the day in that field, with Isaac and Jacob.