With this chapter begins the fourth and last division of the Book of Numbers, comprising 14 chapters. In them are narrated the events which befell Israel while encamped in the plains of Moab, and certain instructions and arrangements are laid down by Moses with reference to their actual entry upon t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PLAINS - Hebrew ערבה _‛__ărābâh_; the word is the plural of that which is used to denote the whole depressed tract along the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and onward, where it is still called the Arabah (compare Numbers 21:4 note), to the Elanitic gulf. ON THIS SIDE JORDAN BY JERICHO - Rather, ac... [ Continue Reading ]
BALAK THE SON OF ZIPPOR - The comparison of Numbers 22:4 with Numbers 21:26 suggests that Balak was not the hereditary king but a Midianite, and that a change of dynasty had taken place. His father’s name, Zippor, “Bird,” reminds us of those of other Midianites, e. g., Oreb, “Crow,” Zeeb, “Wolf.” Po... [ Continue Reading ]
Balaam the son of Beor was from the first a worshipper in some sort of the true God; and had learned some elements of pure and true religion in his home in the far East, the cradle of the ancestors of Israel. But though prophesying, doubtless even before the ambassadors of Balak came to him, in the... [ Continue Reading ]
REWARDS OF DIVINATION - Rightly interpreted in 2 Peter 2:15 as “the wages of unrighteousness.”... [ Continue Reading ]
Balaam must surely have known that God’s blessing was on the people with whose marvelous march forth from Egypt he was acquainted Exodus 15:14; Exodus 18:1; Joshua 2:9, and from whom he had himself probably learned much (compare the language of Numbers 23:12 with Genesis 13:6, and that of Numbers 24... [ Continue Reading ]
Balak, like the ancient pagan world generally, not only believed in the efficacy of the curses and incantations of the soothsayers, but regarded their services as strictly venal. Hence, when his first offer was declined, he infers at once that he had not bid high enough.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE ALSO - i. e., as the other envoys before you. Had Balaam possessed a sincere spirit of obedience, he would have found in the first instructions Numbers 22:12 a final decision upon the matter. His hypocritical importunity with God when the fresh messengers came from Balak demonstrates his aversion... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ANGEL - i. e., the Angel that led the Israelites through the wilderness (compare Numbers 20:16 and references), and subsequently appeared as the Captain of the Lord’s host to Joshua Joshua 6:13. In desiring to curse Israel, Balaam was fighting against Israel’s Leader. The presence of the Angel i... [ Continue Reading ]
IN A PATH OF THE VINEYARDS - i. e., in a path shut in by vineyard-walls on each side. The progress from the road through the open field Numbers 22:23 to that walled in, and thence to the strait place, where there was no room to turn Numbers 22:26, shows that Balaam was approaching a city, no doubt t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD OPENED THE MOUTH OF THE ASS - The account was perhaps given by Balaam to the Israelites after his capture in the war against Midian. Compare Numbers 31:8. That which is here recorded was apparently perceived by him alone among human witnesses. God may have brought it about that sounds u... [ Continue Reading ]
IS PERVERSE - Rather, is headlong. Compare Peter’s words 2 Peter 2:16, “the madness of the prophet.”... [ Continue Reading ]
GO WITH THE MEN - A command, not a permission merely. Balaam, no longer a faithful servant of God, was henceforth overruled in all his acts so that he might subserve the divine purpose as an instrument. Numbers 22:26 A CITY OF MOAB - Or, Ir-Moab, probably the same with Ar-Moab Numbers 21:15. As Ba... [ Continue Reading ]
KIRJATH-BUZOTH - i. e., “city of streets,” within Balak’s dominions, south of the Arnon, and identified either with the ruins of Shihan, 4 miles west by south of the site assigned to Ar or Ir, or with Kirjathaim (Kureivat).... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THENCE HE MIGHT SEE - Rather, and thence he saw.... [ Continue Reading ]