Numbers 23:10

10. The dust of Jacob Posterity so multiplied as to be countless as the dust. The hyperbole was a common rhetorical figure with Oriental writers, especially in indicating a great number. Genesis 13:16, note; Exodus 32:12.

The death of the righteous The qualities which in Balaam’s conception are implied in the term righteous are, “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.” Micah 6:8. He ascribes these qualities to Israel as a whole, because there were some among them of unquestioned rectitude, and others who evinced their rectitude of heart by prompt repentance after any temporary defection. There is no sufficient evidence that Balaam’s desire embraced blessedness beyond the grave. The whole prophecy has reference to unbroken prosperity up to a peaceful death. “How much soever men differ in the course of life they prefer, and in their ways of palliating and excusing their vices to themselves, yet all agree in one thing, desiring to die the death of the righteous. This surely is remarkable. The observation may be extended further, and put thus: There is no man but would choose, after having had the pleasure or advantage of a vicious action, to be free of the guilt of it to be in the state of an innocent man. This shows, at least, the disturbance and implicit dissatisfaction in vice arising partly from an immediate sense of having done evil, and partly from an apprehension that this inward sense shall, one time or another, be seconded by a higher judgment, upon which our whole being depends.” Bishop Butler.