Numbers 24:15

_AND HE TOOK UP HIS PARABLE, AND SAID, BALAAM THE SON OF BEOR HATH SAID, AND THE MAN WHOSE EYES ARE OPEN HATH SAID:_ (See the note on the word "said," Numbers 23:7) The repetition of the prefatory formula in these words imparts a character of solemn importance to the prophecy about to be uttered....

15._Balaam the son of Beor hath said. _Inasmuch as he was preparing to treat of most important matters, it is not without reason that he renews his preface, in order to obtain more authority for his prophecy: and although it was not without ambition that he proclaimed these magnificent titles, still we cannot doubt but that God would ratify by them what he had determined to deliver through the mouth of the prophet. It was requisite that this worthless man, whose doctrine would otherwise have been contemptible: should be marked out by Divine indications; and thus it was that he assumed a character that he did not possess, and attributed to himself what only belongs to true prophets. I have before explained how the open and the closed eye are spoken of in the same sense, though for different reasons: forhe calls the eye “hidden,” as perceiving the secret things of darkness, which are incom...

15-25 Under the powerful influence of the Spirit of prophecy, Balaam foretold the future prosperity and extensive dominion of Israel. Balaam boasts that his eyes are open. The prophets were in old times called seers. He had heard the words of God, which many do who neither heed them, nor hear God in them. He knew the knowledge of the Most High. A man may be full of the knowledge of God, yet utterly destitute of the grace of God. He calls God the Most High and the Almighty. No man could seem to express a greater respect to God; yet he had no true fear of him, love to him, nor faith in him; so far a man may go toward heaven, and yet come short of it at last. Here is Balaam's prophecy concerning Him who should be the crown and glory of his people Israel; who is David in the type; but our Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah, is chiefly pointed at, and of him it is an illustrious prophecy. Bala...

Verse Numbers 24:15. _THE MAN WHOSE EYES ARE OPEN_] Numbers 24:3. It seems strange that our version should have fallen into such a mistake as to render שתם _shethum, open_, which it does not signify, when the very _sound_ of the word expresses the _sense_. The Vulgate has very properly preserved the true meaning, by rendering the clause _cujus obturatus est oculus_, he whose eyes are shut. The Targum first paraphrased the passage _falsely_, and most of the versions followed it....

NUMBERS 24:1 AS AT OTHER TIMES, or, "as (he had done) time after time." SEPTUAGINT, κατὰ τὸ εἰωθός. TO SEEK FOR ENCHANTMENTS. Rather, "for the meeting with aunties." לִקְמראת נְחַשִׁים. Septuagint, to συνάντησιν τοῖς οἰωνοῖς. _Nachashim; _as in Numbers 23:23, is not enchantments in the sense of magical practices, but definitely auguries, i.e. omens and signs in the natural world observed and interpreted according to an artificial system as manifesting the purposes of God. As one of the commonest and worst of heathen practices, it was forbidden to Israel (Leviticus 19:26;...

AND HE TOOK UP HIS PARABLE, AND SAID,.... In this and the following verse; the same preface, in the same words, is made to his prophecy as before, Numbers 24:3 Numbers 24:4; only one clause is added, "and knew the knowledge of the Most High"; that Balaam had some knowledge of God is certain from the names by which he calls him, being such that he made himself known by to the patriarchs, and by which he is frequently called in the sacred writings; but then this knowledge of his was merely notional and speculative, and not spiritual and supernatural, and was such as men may have who are destitute of the grace of God: he was one that professed to know him in words, but in works denied him, see 1 Corinthians 13:2 and he

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 FOURTH ORACLE. In this it is predicted that Israel, previously declared to be formidable to its foes in general, will bring destruction upon Moab and Edom in particular. NUMBERS 24:17. NOT NOW. NOT NIGH: _i.e._ the prediction relates to the distant future. A STAR: a figure for an illustrious king (_cf._ Isaiah 14:12; Revelation 22:16). The passage possibly influenced the belief that the birth of the Messiah would be heralded by a star (Matthew 2:2); and the name of _Bar-cochba_, son of a star, was assumed by a pretended Messiah in A.D. 120. In the last two lines read, And shall smite throu

See Numbers 24:3....

DISCOURSE: 176 CHRIST THE STAR SPOKEN OF BY BALAAM Numbers 24:15. _And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, who heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, who saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth._ IT has pleased God on various occasions to make known his will to persons of a very unworthy character; and to shew that his ways and thoughts are not regulated by the vain maxims of human wisdom. He proclaimed to Ahaz the conception of our Emmanuel in the womb of a virgin. To Nebuchadnezzar he revealed the su