Numbers 24:2

_AND BALAAM LIFTED UP HIS EYES, AND HE SAW ISRAEL ABIDING IN HIS TENTS ACCORDING TO THEIR TRIBES; AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAME UPON HIM._ Balaam lifted up his eyes - a Hebrew phrase for earnest observation, used even when the spectator was looking down. AND HE SAW ISRAEL ABIDING, х_ SHOKEEN_ (H7931)] - encamped. The spot from which the weird seer of Mesopotamia, with the king of Moab and the sheikhs of Midian, were now surveying the hosts of Israel, was not now a distant one, as "the high places," the bare hill on the top of the rocks," or the cultivated "field" of Zophim on "the top of Pisgah," but "from the top of Peor" - the eminence that commanded a wide prospect of the Arabah. (See this view graphically described, Drew's 'Scripture Lands,' p. 96; Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 130, 293, 315.) ACCORDING TO THEIR TRIBES - i:e., in the orderly distribution of the camp, ...

1-9 Now Balaam spake not his own sense, but the language of the Spirit that came upon him. Many have their eyes open who have not their hearts open; are enlightened, but not sanctified. That knowledge which puffs men up with pride, will but serve to light them to hell, whither many go with their eyes open. The blessing is nearly the same as those given before. He admires in Israel, their beauty. The righteous, doubtless, is more excellent than his neighbour. Their fruitfulness and increase. Their honour and advancement. Their power and victory. He looks back upon what had been done for them. Their power and victory. He looks back upon what had been done for them. Their courage and security. The righteous are bold as a lion, not when assaulting others, but when at rest, because God maketh them to dwell in safety. Their influence upon their neighbours. God takes what is done to them, wheth...

Verse Numbers 24:2. _THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAME UPON HIM._] This Divine afflatus he had not expected on the present occasion, but God had not yet declared the whole of his will....

Balaam gazed over the camp of Israel that stretched before him, and allowed the spectacle to work its own influence upon him....

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 BALAAM LIFTED UP HIS EYES,.... Being on Mount Peor: AND HE SAW ISRAEL ABIDING IN HIS TENTS ACCORDING TO THEIR TRIBES; in that exact order in which they were directed to encamp under four standards, and so many tribes under each standard, Numbers 2:1 AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAME UPON HIM; not in his grace but in his gifts; not as a spirit of sanctification, but as a spirit of prophecy, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it; and so sometimes the Spirit of God in this sense has come upon wicked men, as on Caiaphas and others, John 11:51....

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 ...

NUMBERS 23:25 TO NUMBERS 24:2. BALAK'S SACRIFICES PRELIMINARY TO BALAAM'S THIRD ORACLE. The scene of these was Peor, some mountain overlooking the desert bordering the Dead Sea on the W. The inconsistency between Balak's indignant dismissal of Balaam in Numbers 23:25 and his renewed attempt in Numbers 23:27 f. to gain what he wanted has suggested that with Numbers 23:25 one account of the episode ends, and that what follows comes from another, with editorial links. The allusion in...

ACCORDING TO THEIR TRIBES. Compare Numbers 2. THE SPIRIT OF GOD (Hebrew. _'Elohim)_. This expression occurs eight times outside the books of Samuel (Genesis 1:2; Genesis 41:38; Exodus 31:3; Exodus 35:31.Exodus 24:2.Ezekiel 11:24; 2 Chronicles 15:1;...

Numbers 24:1-2. Balaam knew that Jehovah wished Israel to be blessed; he did not therefore seek an omen to guide him, but began his declaration at once....