Numbers 24:16

_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....

15-25 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...

AND KNEW, THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MOST HIGH - With the addition of these words, which point to the greater importance and the more distinctly predictive character of what follows, the introduction to this last parable is the same as the introduction to the preceding parable....

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;...

Numbers 24:15...

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

MOST HIGH. Hebrew. _Elyon,_ the High One over all the earth. See note on first occurrence, Genesis 14:18. The Old Testament usage of this title is always in connection with dominion in the earth. App-4....

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