Numbers 24:2
Balaam gazed over the camp of Israel that stretched before him, and allowed the spectacle to work its own influence upon him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Balaam gazed over the camp of Israel that stretched before him, and allowed the spectacle to work its own influence upon him.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE EYES ARE OPEN - i. e., opened in inward vision, to discern things that were hidden from ordinary beholders.... [ Continue Reading ]
The “falling” of which Balaam speaks was the condition under which the inward opening of his eyes took place. It indicates the force of the divine inspiration overpowering the seer. The faithful prophets of the Lord do not appear to have been subject to these violent illapses Daniel 8:17; Revelation... [ Continue Reading ]
AS GARDENS BY THE RIVER’S SIDE - Balaam’s language reflects the famous artificial gardens along the banks of his own river, the Euphrates. AS THE TREES OF LIGN ALOES WHICH THE LORD HATH PLANTED - The latter words contain an apparent reference to Paradise (compare Genesis 2:8). The aloe, imported fr... [ Continue Reading ]
Balaam’s native soil was ordinarily irrigated by water fetched from the neighboring Euphrates, and carried in buckets suspended from the two ends of a pole. Thus the metaphor would import that Israel should have his own exuberant and unfailing channels of blessing and plenty. Some take the word to b... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL ADVERTISE THEE - i. e., “I will advise thee,” words which refer to the ensuing prophecy.... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
Render, I see him, though he be not now: I behold him, though he be not near. Balaam here describes what is actually before him in inward vision. HIM - i. e., the prince, represented in the succeeding words by the Star and Scepter. The star has among all nations served as a symbol of regal power and... [ Continue Reading ]
SEIR - The older name of the mountain-land, south of Moab, and east of the Arabah, which the Edomites inhabited Genesis 32:3; Genesis 36:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
DESTROY HIM THAT REMAINETH OF THE CITY - i. e., shall destroy those of every city that had previously escaped. The phrase tersely describes a conqueror who first defeats his enemies in battle, and then hunts out the fugitives until he has cut off all of every place (compare 1 Kings 11:16). The vict... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE LOOKED - i. e., in spirit, as he saw the Star Numbers 24:17. AMALEK WAS THE FIRST OF THE NATIONS - Rather, is pre-eminent among the neighboring nations: compare the same expression in Amos 6:1. Hence, the force of the words Numbers 24:7 “higher than Agag,” i. e., than the king of this power... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KENITES - First mentioned Genesis 15:19 as one of the tribes whose territory was promised to Abraham. In Judges 1:16, where we read of them as moving with the children of Judah, to establish themselves in the pastures south of Arad, Moses’ father-in-law is spoken of as a Kenite (compare Judges 4... [ Continue Reading ]
Render, For Kain shall surely not be destroyed (literally “be for destruction”) until Asshur, etc. The words are not, as they appear in the King James Version, a prediction of evil to the Kenites, but a promise, on the contrary, of safety to be long continued to them (compare Numbers 10:32; Jeremiah... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN GOD DOETH THIS - The eventual carrying away of the allies of Israel by Assyria presented itself to Balaam as the ruin of all peace and safety upon earth. One prediction was howerer, yet wanting, and is next given, namely, that the conquerors of the Kenites should fare no better than the Kenites... [ Continue Reading ]
CHITTIM - i. e., Cyprus, the nearest of the western islands, the only one visible from Palestine, and so the representative to Balsam and to Israel of all those unknown western regions across the Mediterranean Sea, from which were at length to come the conquerors of the mighty empires of the East. C... [ Continue Reading ]
RETURNED TO HIS OWN PLACE - i. e., among the Midianites to plot by new means against the people of God, and to perish in his sin Numbers 31:8, Numbers 31:16; Revelation 2:14.... [ Continue Reading ]