Numbers 23 - Introduction
Numbers 23:1-26 (E). _Balaam's two prophetic messages_... [ Continue Reading ]
Numbers 23:1-26 (E). _Balaam's two prophetic messages_... [ Continue Reading ]
Balaam demanded a seven-fold sacrifice, in order to propitiate God, that He might be willing to give His prophet a message. Balak complied with the request, hoping that the message might be a curse.... [ Continue Reading ]
Balaam went some distance away, in the hope that Jehovah would meet him. It is not necessary to suppose that he went to practise enchantments like a soothsayer, e.g. to watch the clouds or the flight of birds. Jehovah had already spoken to him when he was in his own home, and he might expect Him to... [ Continue Reading ]
_he took up his parable_ i.e. he took up upon his lips, he uttered; Numbers 23:18; Numbers 24:3; Numbers 24:15; Numbers 24:20 f., Numbers 24:23. Cf. Job 27:1; Job 29:1; Amos 5:1 and frequently. On the Heb. _mâshâl_(-parable"), a didactic or artistic utterance, see... [ Continue Reading ]
_Balaam's first prophetic message_. This consists of seven short couplets. Balaam declares the uselessness of Balak's action in fetching him for the purpose of cursing (Numbers 23:7 f.); the security of Israel, their separateness from other nations, and their great numbers (Numbers 23:9 a); and he p... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_ RECKONETH NOT ITSELF _among the nations_ Israel felt themselves to be completely separate from, and superior to, other nations because they possessed Jehovah's love and protection.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Or number the fourth part of Israel_ involves a necessary emendation, the Heb. text (represented in R.V. marg.) being scarcely translateable. For -the _fourth part_" (רֹבַע) some would read -the _myriads_" (רִבְבֹת), or perhaps, as LXX. suggests, -the _multitude of the people_of Israel" (רֹב עַם י... [ Continue Reading ]
Balak was angry that Jehovah did not put a curse into Balaam's mouth, and begged him to try again on another spot. The seven-fold sacrifice was again offered.... [ Continue Reading ]
_unto another place_ It was a not infrequent practice with soothsayers, if they were unable to obtain an omen according to their wishes, to try several times in hopes of better success. Balak thought that if Balaam went to a more favourable spot, Jehovah might be persuaded to change His mind! _thou... [ Continue Reading ]
TO _the field of Zophim_ The site is unknown. _Ẓôphim_means -watchers," and it was evidently high ground which afforded an extensive outlook. _the top of_ THE _Pisgah_ See on Numbers 21:20. There were probably many places in the mountains of Moab which would be useful as posts for sentinels. This... [ Continue Reading ]
_Balaam's second prophetic message_. This consists of eleven, or (see on Numbers 23:23) more probably ten, couplets. Balaam declares that God will never change His mind (as Balak had thought, Numbers 23:13), and that He had bidden him to bless and not curse (Numbers 23:18; Numbers 23:18). Israel is... [ Continue Reading ]
_Neither_ A _son of man_ a mere mortal, with human caprices. It is the only occurrence of the expression that is certainly earlier than Ezekiel.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_ IF HE BLESSETH, THEN _I cannot reverse it_ It is not necessary to read, with LXX., -and I will bless.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath not beheld … Neither hath he seen_&c. The verbs are impersonal: -one hath not [i.e. no one hath] beheld …" But in accordance with Numbers 23:9, it is better to read (with Pesh.) - I BEHOLD NOT … NEITHER DO I SEE. " CALAMITY _in Jacob_… TROUBLE _in Israel_ This rendering is much more in har... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath as it were the_ HORNS _of the wild-ox_ -He" means Israel, not God. The word for -horns" is rare; but Deuteronomy 33:17 helps to decide the meaning. In Psalms 95:4 it denotes mountain peaks. The wild-ox (_re"çm_) -is the _rîmu_of the Assyrian inscriptions. It is represented on the Assyrian s... [ Continue Reading ]
Cf. Micah 5:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
Balak in his anger refuses to allow Balaam to make any further utterances about Israel, either to curse or to bless. Balaam reminds him of his reiterated statement that he could only say what Jehovah commanded him (Numbers 22:38; Numbers 23:3; Numbers 23:12). Balaam's relations with Balak, therefore... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse is a connecting link, added by the compiler, between the E and the J narrative. The words -I will take thee unto another place" cannot be from J, for he has not yet related that Balaam was taken to any place; but the whole of ch. 24 is from J.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the top of_ THE _Peor_&c. An expression exactly parallel to that in Numbers 21:20 (see note). The site of -the Peor" is unknown, but it was evidently in the neighbourhood of the Pisgah. And Beth-peor (Deuteronomy 3:29; Deuteronomy 4:46; Deuteronomy 34:6; Joshua 13:20) cannot have been far distant,... [ Continue Reading ]