Numbers 23:21

_AND HE TOOK UP HIS PARABLE, AND SAID, RISE UP, BALAK, AND HEAR; HEARKEN UNTO ME, THOU SON OF ZIPPOR:_ _ `Rise up, Balak, and hear! Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippori! God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent:_ Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not execute it? Behold, I have received insructions to bless: He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. He beholds not iniquity in Jacob, And sees not fault (sorrow) in Israel: Yahweh his God is with him, And the shout of a king is in him. God brought them out of Egypt: Their strength is like that of a room. For there is no incantation against Jacob, Neither any divination against Israel: At the time it shall be said to Jacob and to Israel, What hath God wrought (done)! Behold, the people like a lioness shall rise, And like a young lion ripe in strength (literall...

21._He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob. _Some understand by און, _aven, _ עמל _, gnamal, _idols, (161) which bring nothing but deadly labor and trouble to their worshippers; as if it were said that Israel was pure and untainted by such offenses, in that they duly served the one true God. But how will it be correct to say that God saw not idolatry in the people, when they had so openly fallen into it? For, although the golden calf was only made on one occasion, still their manifold and almost constant rebellions were such as to forbid these wicked and perverse men from being thus absolved. Since, however, these two words in connection signify all sorts of iniquities, which tend to men’s hurt, or to the infliction of harm and loss, a more proper meaning will be, that such iniquity is not seen in Jacob as to include him with the nat

11-30 Balak was angry with Balaam. Thus a confession of God's overruling power is extorted from a wicked prophet, to the confusion of a wicked prince. A second time the curse is turned into a blessing; and this blessing is both larger and stronger than the former. Men change their minds, and break their words; but God never changes his mind, and therefore never recalls his promise. And when in Scripture he is said to repent, it does not mean any change of his mind; but only a change of his way. There was sin in Jacob, and God saw it; but there was not such as might provoke him to give them up to ruin. If the Lord sees that we trust in his mercy, and accept of his salvation; that we indulge no secret lust, and continue not in rebellion, but endeavour to serve and glorify him; we may be sure that he looks upon us as accepted in Christ, that our sins are all pardoned. Oh the wonders of pro...

Verse Numbers 23:21. _HE HATH NOT BEHELD INIQUITY IN JACOB, NEITHER HATH_ _HE SEEN PERVERSENESS IN ISRAEL_] This is a difficult passage; for if we take the words as spoken of the _people_ Israel, as their _iniquity_ and their _perverseness_ were almost unparalleled, such words cannot be spoken of _them_ with strict truth. If we consider them as spoken of the patriarch _Jacob_ and _Israel_, or of Jacob _after_ he became _Israel_, they are most strictly true, as _after_ _that time_ a more unblemished and noble character (_Abraham_ excepted) is not to be found in the page of history, whether sacred or profane; and for his sake, and for the sake of _his_ father _Isaac_, and his grandfather _Abraham_, God is ever represented as favouring, blessing, and sparing a rebellious and undeserving people;...

“Iniquity” and “perverseness” are found together again in the Hebrew of Psalms 10:7; Psalms 90:10, and elsewhere; and import wickedness together with that tribulation which is its proper result. THE SHOUT - The word is used (Leviticus 23:24 note) to describe the sound of the silver trumpets. The “shout of a king” will therefore refer to the jubilant sounds by which the presence of the Lord as their King among them was celebrated by Israel....

NUMBERS 23:1 BUILD ME HERE SEVEN ALTARS. According to the common opinion of the heathen, it was necessary to propitiate with sacrifices the God with whom they had to do, and if possible to secure his favourable consideration on their side. The number seven was especially connected with the revelation of the tree God, the Creator of the world, and was probably observed here for this reason. The sacrifices were offered no doubt to Jehovah. NUMBERS 23:3 PERADVENTURE THE LORD WILL COME TO MEET me. It might be concluded from Numbers 24:1 that Balaam went only to look for "auguries," _i.e; _for such natural signs in the flight of birds and the like a

HE HATH NOT BEHELD INIQUITY IN JACOB, NEITHER HATH HE SEEN PERVERSENESS IN ISRAEL,.... Not that there was no sin in them, nor any observed by the Lord; yet not so as to mark it in strict justice, and punish for it; but he forgave it, hid his face from it, and did not impute it to them; all the three Targums restrain it to idolatry, that there were none among them that worshipped idols, which was the reason why the Lord could not be prevailed upon to curse them: and Aben Ezra observes, that from hence Balak learnt to send women to the Israelites, to entice them to lewdness, and so to idolatry, that he might be able to carry his point: this is true of the spiritual Israel of God; for though there is sin in them, and which is continually done by them, yet their sins are removed from them, and have been laid on Christ, and he has bore them, and made reconciliation for them, and made an end o...

THE PARABLES OF BALAAM Chapter S 23-24 _ 1. The first parable (Numbers 23:1)_ 2. Balak's surprise and Balaam's answer (Numbers 23:11) 3. At Zophim (Numbers 23:13) 4. The second parable (Numbers 23:18) 5. Balak's request and Balaam's reply (Numbers 23:25) 6. Balaam's third parable (Numbers 24:1) 7. Balak's anger and Balaam's firmness ...

BALAAM'S SECOND ORACLE. This goes beyond the preceding in frustrating the hopes of Balak, for it declares that God has not only not cursed Israel, but has positively blessed it, and describes Israel's freedom from adversity and its formidable strength. NUMBERS 23:19. _Cf._ 1 Samuel 15:29 Numbers 23:20. he hath blessed, etc.: read (LXX), I must bless and I must not reverse it. Numbers 23:21. He hath not beheld, etc.: read (Syr.), I have not beheld calamity in Jacob, nor have I seen trouble in Israel. THE SHOUT OF A KING: _i.e._ the shouting in honour of a king (a title of Yahwe

INIQUITY. Hebrew. _'avon,_ trespass. App-44. PERVERSENESS. Hebrew. _'amal._ App-44....