Numbers 23:7

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 Numbers 21:27.

Aram i.e. Aram -naharaim. See on Numbers 22:5. The short form Aram (cf. Hosea 12:12, where the meaning is the same as here) usually denotes the more westerly regions of which Damascus was the capital.

the mountains of the East The high ranges of the Syrian desert, the country of the nomad -children of the east" (Jeremiah 49:28; Ezekiel 25:4; Ezekiel 25:10), who wandered E. of Ammon, Moab, and Edom.