Numbers 23

The Pulpit Commentary - 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 and accidental, but the religious and moral separateness of Israel as the chosen people of God, which was the very secret of their national greatness. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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 older versions, followed by the Vulgate, render it "progeny,'" but this meaning is conjectural, and there seems no sufficient reason to depart from the common translation. Let me die the death of the righteous. The word "righteous" is in the plural ( יְשָׁרִים... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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 the nouns and the tense of the verb are disputed. By some "ephes katsehu" (the end of the last of them) is held equivalent to "the whole of them," which seems to contradict the next clause even if defensible in itself. The ordinary rendering is favoured by the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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 that he employed the language of soothsayers looking for auguries. He may have spoken vaguely on purpose, because he was in truth acting a part with Balak. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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 individuals, and for his own sake would not impute it to the chosen nation. If it be impersonal, according to the Septuagint and the Targums, "one does not behold iniquity," &c; then it means that the iniquity was not flagrant, was not left to gather head and volume until... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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 to it. Brought them, or, perhaps, "is leading them." So the Septuagint: θεὸς ὁ ἐξαγαγὼν αὐτόν . Unicorn. Hebrew, רְאֵם . It is uniformly rendered μονοκέρως by the Septuagint, under the mistaken notion that the rhinoceros was intended. It... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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 and the Targums, and is equally true and striking. It was the proud peculiarity of Israel that he trusted not to any magic arts or superstitious rites, uncertain in themselves, and always leading to imposture, but to the direction and favour of the Almighty. ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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. It is altogether fantastic to suppose that Balaam had just seen a lieu coming up from the ghor of Jordan, and that this "omen" inspired his " mashal ." The rising of a lion from its covert was one of the most common of the more striking phenomena of nature... read more

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