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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 22:41
EXPOSITION BALAAM'S PROPHECIES (Numbers 22:41).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 22:41
The high places of Baal, or "Bamoth-Baal." Perhaps the Bamoth mentioned in Numbers 21:19, Numbers 21:20. This is, however, by no means certain, because high places were no doubt numerous, and that Bamoth would seem to h…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:1
Build me here seven altars. According to the common opinion of the heathen, it was necessary to propitiate with sacrifices the God with whom they had to do, and if possible to secure his favourable consideration on thei…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:3
Peradventure the Lord will come to meet me. It might be concluded from Numbers 24:1 that Balaam went only to look for "auguries," i.e; for such natural signs in the flight of birds and the like as the heathen were wont…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:4
I have prepared seven altars. Balaam, acting for the king of Moab, his heathen patron, in this difficult business, points out to God that he had given him the full quota of sacrifices to begin with. It was implied in th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:7
Took up his parable. מָשָׁל (cf. Numbers 21:27). Balaam's utterances were in the highest degree poetical, according to the antithetic form of the poetry of that day, which delighted in sustained parallelisms, in lofty f…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:9
The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned. Rather, "It is a people that dwelleth apart, and is not numbered." It was not the outward isolation on which his eye was fixed, for that indeed was only temporary…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:10
The fourth part of Israel. אֶת־רבַע is so rendered by the Targums, as alluding to the four great camps into which the host was divided. The Septuagint has δήμους, apparently from an incorrect reading. The Samaritan and…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:13
Come … unto another place. Balak attributed the miscarriage of his enterprise thus far to something inauspicious in the locality. Thou shalt see but the utmost part of them. אֶפֶס קָצֶהוּ תִרְאֶה. Both the meaning of th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:14
The field of Zophim, i.e; of the watchers. Probably a well-known outlook. To the top of Pisgah. They followed apparently on the track of their enemies (see on Numbers 21:20).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:15
While I meet the Lord yonder. Rather, "and I will go and meet thus." וְאָנֹכִי אִקָּרֶה כֹּה. Balaam does not say whom or what he is going to meet, but from the use of the same term in Numbers 24:1-25. I it is evident t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:20
I have received commandment to bless. The word "commandment "is not wanted here. Balaam had received, not instructions, but an inward revelation of the Divine will which he could not contravene.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:21
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob. The subject of this and the parallel clause is left indefinite. If it is God, according to the A.V then it means that God in his mercy shut his eyes to the evil which did exist in i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:22
God. אֵל, and also at the end of the next verse, and four times in the next chapter (Numbers 23:4, Numbers 23:8, Numbers 23:16, Numbers 23:23). The use seems to be poetic, and no particular signification can be attached…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:23
Enchantment, נָחַשׁ. Rather, "augury." Septuagint, οἰωνισμός. See on Le 19:26, where the practice is forbidden to Israel. Against Jacob, or, "in Jacob," as the marginal reading, and this is favoured by the Septuagint…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:24
As a great lion. לָבִיא, generally translated "old lion," as in Genesis 49:9. By some it is rendered lioness (cf. Job 4:11; Nahum 2:12). As a young lion. אַרִי, the ordinary term for a lion without further distinction.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:27
I will bring thee unto another place. At first (Numbers 23:25) Balak had in his vexation desired to stop the mouth of Balaam, but afterwards he thought it wiser to make yet another attempt to change the mind of God; as…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 23:28
Unto the top of Peer. On the meaning of Peer see on Numbers 25:3. This Peer was a summit of the Abarim ranges northwards from Pisgah, and nearer to the Israelites. The adjacent village, Beth-Peer, was near the place of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 24:1-9
BALAAM-THE THIRD PARABLE This passage marks the period at which Balaam becomes finally convinced that it is vain for him to attempt to satisfy Balak, or to carry out the baser promptings of his own heart. He confesses h…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 24:2
The spirit of God came upon him. This seems to intimate a higher state of inspiration than the expression, "God put a word into his mouth" (Numbers 23:5, Numbers 23:16).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 24:3
Balaam … hath said. Rather, "the utterance of Balaam." נְאֻם is constantly used, as in Numbers 14:28, for a Divine utterance, effatum Dei, but it does not by itself, apart from the context, claim a superhuman origin. Th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 24:4
Falling into a trance. Rather, "falling down." Qui cadit, Vulgate. The case of Saul, who "fell down naked all that day" (1 Samuel 19:24), overcome by the illapse of the Spirit, affords the best comparison. Physically, i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 24:6
As the valleys, or, "as the torrents" ( נְחָלִים), which pour down in parallel courses from the upper slopes. As gardens by the river's side. The river ( נָהָר), as in Numbers 22:5) means the Euphrates. Balaam combines…