_AND BALAAM SAID UNTO BALAK, BUILD ME HERE SEVEN ALTARS, AND PREPARE
ME HERE SEVEN OXEN AND SEVEN RAMS._
Build me here seven altars. Balak, being a heathen, would naturally
suppose these altars were erected in honour of Baal, the patron deity
of his country. It is evident from Numbers 23:4 that the... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND BALAK DID AS BALAAM HAD SPOKEN; AND BALAK AND BALAAM OFFERED ON
EVERY ALTAR A BULLOCK AND A RAM._
No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND BALAAM SAID UNTO BALAK, STAND BY THY BURNT OFFERING, AND I WILL
GO: PERADVENTURE THE LORD WILL COME TO MEET ME: AND WHATSOEVER HE
SHEWETH ME I WILL TELL THEE. AND HE WENT TO AN HIGH PLACE._
Stand by thy burnt offering - as one in expectation of an important
favour.
SHOWETH ME - i:e., makes k... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND GOD MET BALAAM: AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, I HAVE PREPARED SEVEN
ALTARS, AND I HAVE OFFERED UPON EVERY ALTAR A BULLOCK AND A RAM._
God met Balaam - not in compliance with his incantations, but to
frustrate his wicked designs, and compel him, contrary to his desires
and interests, to pronounce the f... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND HE TOOK UP HIS PARABLE, AND SAID, BALAK THE KING OF MOAB HATH
BROUGHT ME FROM ARAM, OUT OF THE MOUNTAINS OF THE EAST, SAYING, COME,
CURSE ME JACOB, AND COME, DEFY ISRAEL._
Took up his parable, х_ MªSHAALOW_ (H4912)] - i:e., spoke under the
influence of inspiration, and in the highly poetical,... [ Continue Reading ]
_HOW SHALL I CURSE, WHOM GOD HATH NOT CURSED? OR HOW SHALL I DEFY,
WHOM THE LORD HATH NOT DEFIED?_
How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? A divine blessing has
been pronounced over the posterity of Jacob; and, therefore, whatever
prodigies can be achieved by my charms, all magical skill, all... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR FROM THE TOP OF THE ROCKS I SEE HIM, AND FROM THE HILLS I BEHOLD
HIM: LO, THE PEOPLE SHALL DWELL ALONE, AND SHALL NOT BE RECKONED AMONG
THE NATIONS._
From the top - literally 'a bare place' on the rocks, to which Balak
had taken him; because it was deemed necessary to see the people who
were t... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHO CAN COUNT THE DUST OF JACOB, AND THE NUMBER OF THE FOURTH PART OF
ISRAEL? LET ME DIE THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS, AND LET MY LAST END BE
LIKE HIS!_
Who can count the dust of Jacob ... ? х_ `ªPAR_ (H6083)] - dry dust.
An Oriental hyperbole for a very populous nation, as Jacob's posterity
was pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND BALAK SAID UNTO BALAAM, WHAT HAST THOU DONE UNTO ME? I TOOK THEE
TO CURSE MINE ENEMIES, AND, BEHOLD, THOU HAST BLESSED THEM
ALTOGETHER._
No JFB commentary on these verses.... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND BALAK SAID UNTO HIM, COME, I PRAY THEE, WITH ME UNTO ANOTHER
PLACE, FROM WHENCE THOU MAYEST SEE THEM: THOU SHALT SEE BUT THE UTMOST
PART OF THEM, AND SHALT NOT SEE THEM ALL: AND CURSE ME THEM FROM
THENCE._
Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place. Balak was surprised and
disappointed at t... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND THE LORD MET BALAAM, AND PUT A WORD IN HIS MOUTH, AND SAID, GO
AGAIN UNTO BALAK, AND SAY THUS._
No JFB commentary on these verses.... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 h... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND BALAK SAID UNTO BALAAM, NEITHER CURSE THEM AT ALL, NOR BLESS THEM
AT ALL._
Balak said ... Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
Balak, being deeply mortified at what he must have considered the
extraordinary treachery of Balaam, exclaimed, in the intensity of his
disappointment, 'I... [ Continue Reading ]
_BUT BALAAM ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO BALAK, TOLD NOT I THEE, SAYING, ALL
THAT THE LORD SPEAKETH, THAT I_ _ MUST DO?_
Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do?
This was a remarkable declaration of Balaam's, that he was divinely
constrained to give utterances different in wha... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND BALAK SAID UNTO BALAAM, COME, I PRAY THEE, I WILL BRING THEE UNTO
ANOTHER PLACE; PERADVENTURE IT WILL PLEASE GOD THAT THOU MAYEST CURSE
ME THEM FROM THENCE._
No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND BALAK BROUGHT BALAAM UNTO THE TOP OF PEOR, THAT LOOKETH TOWARD
JESHIMON._
Brought Balaam unto the top of Peor - the eminence on the Abarim range
which stood a little north of Nebo, and nearer the Israelite
encampment, commanding a view of the whole host.
THAT LOOKETH TOWARD JESHIMON - the wil... [ Continue Reading ]