Numbers 24:17

I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh. Rather, "I see him, but not now: I behold him, but not near" ( אַשׁוּרֶנּוּ … אֶראֶנוּ exactly as in Numbers 23:9 ). Balaam does not mean to say that he expected himself to see at any future time the mysterious Being of whom he speaks, who is identical with the "Star" and the "Scepter" of the following clauses; he speaks wholly as a prophet, and means that his inner gaze is fixed upon such an one, with full assurance that he exists in the counsels of God, but with clear recognition of the fact that his actual coming is yet in the far future. There shall come a Star out of Jacob. Septuagint, ἀνατελεῖ ἀστρον . It may quite as well be rendered by the present; Balaam simply utters what passes before his inward vision. The star is a natural and common poetic symbol of an illustrious, or, as we say, "brilliant," personage, and as such recurs many times in Scripture (cf. Job 38:7 ; Isaiah 14:12 ; Daniel 8:10 ; Matthew 24:29 ; Philippians 2:15 ; Revelation 1:20 ; Revelation 2:28 ). The celebrated Jewish fanatic called himself Barcochab, "son of the Star," in allusion to this prophecy. A Scepter shall rise out of Israel. This further defines the "star ‘ as a ruler of men, for the scepter is Used in that sense in the dying prophecy of Jacob ( Genesis 49:10 ), with which Balaam was evidently acquainted. Accordingly the Septuagint has here ἀναστήσεται . Shall smite the corners of Moab. Rather, "the two corners" (dual), or "the two sides of Moab," i.e; shall crush Moab on either side. And destroy all the children of Sheth. In Jeremiah 48:45 , where this prophecy is in a manner quoted, the word קַרְקַר ( qarqar, destroy) is altered into קָדקֹר ( quadqod, crown of the head). This raises a very curious and interesting question as to the use made by the prophets of the earlier Scriptures, but it gives no authority for an alteration of the text. The expression בְּנֵי־שֵׁת has been variously rendered. The Jewish commentators, followed by the Septuagint ( πάντας υἱοὺς σήθ ) and the older versions, understand it to mean the sons of Seth, the son of Adam, i.e; all mankind. Many modern commentators, however, take שֵׁת as a contraction of שֵׁאת ( Lamentations 3:47 —"desolation''), and read "sons of confusion," as equivalent to the unruly neighbours and relations of Israel. This, however, is extremely dubious in itself, for שֵׁת nowhere occurs in this sense, and derives no sup. port from Jeremiah 48:45 . It is true that בְּנֵי שֵׁת is there replaced by בְּנֵי שָׁאוֹן , "sons of tumult," but then this very verse affords the clearest evidence that the prophet felt no hesitation in altering the text of Scripture to suit his own inspired purpose. If it be true that קַרְקַר will not bear the meaning given to it in the Targums of "reign over," still there is no insuperable difficulty in the common rendering. Jewish prophecy, from beginning to end, contemplated the Messiah as the Conqueror, the Subduer, and even the Destroyer of all the heathen, i.e; of all who were not Jews. It is only in the New Testament that the iron scepter with which he was to dash in pieces the heathen ( Psalms 2:9 ) becomes the pastoral staff wherewith he shepherds them. The prophecy was that Messiah should destroy the heathen; the fulfillment that he destroyed not them, but their heathenism (cf. e.g; Psalms 149:6-9 with James 5:20 ).