Numbers 23:21

21. Iniquity in Jacob The Hebrew aven includes all kinds of sin, especially idolatry. 1 Samuel 15:23. Hence the Chaldee Paraphrase and Targum of Jonathan here read, “No servers of idols in the house of Jacob;” and the Vulgate, Non est idolum in Jacob, nec videtur simulacrum: “There is no idol in Jacob, nor does an image appear in Israel.” The Seventy render it thus: “No misery in Jacob, no molestation or pain in Israel.” But even in the sense of guilt-entailing sin, new Israel, after old rebellious Israel had perished in the wilderness, may have been so diligent in the observance of the altar ritual, especially the day of atonement, (which may have been only the day before,) that the nation was kept in a state of pardon through the blood of sprinkling, God hiding his face from their sins and blotting out their iniquities (Psalms 51:9) instead of setting them in the light of his countenance. Psalms 90:8; Psalms 109:14-15. Says Bishop Butler: “They were a people of virtue, so far as not to have drawn down, by their iniquity, that curse which Balaam was soliciting leave to pronounce upon them.” A shocking perversion of this text is made by those antinomians who quote it as a proof that God does not regard the iniquities of those who are “in Christ,” and that only imputed, and not inwrought, holiness is required. Shocking, indeed, is the antinomianism of McIntosh’s comment: “Beholders many faults may find; but as regards our standing, our God sees us (the elect) only in the comeliness of Christ; we are perfect in him.”

The shout of a king The acclamations which attend the presence of a great and victorious King (Jehovah) are among them, hence they could not be effectually cursed, since his presence was a proof of his favour and protection. This passage is quoted against the Mosaic authorship of the episode of Balaam as implying that the Israelites were governed by a king at the time of its composition. But was not Jehovah, their King, abiding in the very centre of the camp? Israel was surrounded by kingdoms, which might suggest this language respecting the theocracy.