Numbers 23:21

He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel,.... Not that there was no sin in them, nor any observed by the Lord; yet not so as to mark it in strict justice, and

And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: `Rise up, Balak, and hear! Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippori!

He, i.e. God, understood , and expressed , hath not or doth not behold or see iniquity or perverseness, i.e. any sin, in Jacob or Israel; which cannot be meant of a simple seeing or knowing of him, for so God did see and observe, yea, and chastise their sins, as is manifest, ; but of such a sight of their sins as should provoke God utterly to forsake and curse and destroy them, which was Balak’ s desire, and Balaam’ s hope and design. For as Balaam knew that none but Israel’ s God could curse or destroy Israel, so he knew that nothing but their sin could move him so to do; and therefore he took a right, though wicked, course afterwards to tempt them to sin, and thereby to expose them to ruin, Numbers 25. And Balaam had now hoped that God was incensed against Israel for their sins, and therefore would be prevailed with to give them up to the curse and spoil. But, saith he, I was mistaken, I see God hath a singular favour to this people, and though he sees and punisheth sin in other persons and people with utter destruction, as he hath now done in Sihon and Og and the Amorites, yet he will not do so with Israel; he winks at their sins, forgets and forgives them, and will not punish them as their iniquities deserve. In this sense God is said not to see sins, as elsewhere he is said to forget them, , and to cover them, , which keeps them out of sight, and so out of mind; and to blot them out, ,9, and to cast them behind his back, , or into the depth of the sea, , in which cases they cannot be seen nor read. And men are oft said not to know or see those sins in their children or others, which they do not take notice of so as to punish them. And this sense best agrees with the context; God hath decreed and promised to bless this people, and he hath blessed them, and I cannot reverse it, , and he will not reverse it, though provoked to do so by their sins, which he will take no notice of. Others thus, He hath not beheld, as hitherto he hath not, so for the future he will not behold, i.e. so as to approve it, as that word is oft used, as , or so as to suffer it, injury against Jacob, &c. For aven, here rendered iniquity, is oft used in that sense, as ,7 Proverbs 12:21 22:8. And the other word, amal, rendered perverseness, oft notes vexation and trouble, as ,7 Psalms 25:17 36:4; and the particle beth, rendered in, is oft used for against, as 20:16 . So the sense is, God will not see them wronged or ruined by any of their adversaries, whereof the following words may be a good reason, for God is with him, &c. The Lord his God is with him, i.e.

Numbers 23:21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God [is] with him, and the shout of a king [is] among them.Ver. 21. He hath not beheld iniquity.] Of this place of Scripture we may say as we did of another, This verse had been easy, had not commentators made it so knotty. The sense I like best is, that at this time, when Balak hired Balaam, there was no peccatum flagrans, no foul sin of that people, flaming in the eyes of God, or stinking in his nostrils; and therefore there could be no enchantment against them. Whence that devilish counsel of his to Balak, to set fair women afore them, to entice them to adultery and idolatry, and so to put them under God’ s displeasure. But what strange inferences are those from this text, that God sees no sin in his elect, that the very being of their sins is abolished out of his sight; that God is never displeased with his people, though they fall into adultery or the like sin, no not with a fatherly displeasure! &c.

(21) He hath not beheld iniquity . . . —The same combination of the words aven (iniquity, or injustice) and amal (perverseness, or, rather, suffering or grievance) occurs in Habakkuk 1:3. The shout of a king.—The word which is rendered shout (teruah) is the same which occurs in Leviticus 23:24, and which is there rendered blowing of trumpets. (Comp. Joshua 6:5; Joshua 6:20, where the same word is rendered shout as here.)

Verse 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel] This is a difficult passage; for if we take the words as spoken of the people Israel, as their iniquity and their perverseness were almost unparalleled, such words cannot be spoken of them with strict truth. If we consider them as spoken of the patriarch Jacob and Israel, or of Jacob after he became Israel, they are most strictly true, as after that time a more unblemished and noble character (Abraham excepted) is not to be found in the page of history, whether sacred or profane; and for his sake, and for the sake of his father Isaac, and his grandfather Abraham, God is ever represented as favouring, blessing, and sparing a rebellious and undeserving people; See Clarke on Genesis 49:33. In this way, I think, this difficult text may be safely understood. There is another way in which the words may be interpreted, which will give a good sense. און aven not only signifies iniquity, but most frequently trouble, labour, distress, and affliction; and these indeed are its ideal meanings, and iniquity is only an accommodated or metaphorical one, because of the pain, distress, &c., produced by sin. עמל amal, translated here perverseness, occurs often in Scripture, but is never translated perverseness except in this place. It signifies simply labour, especially that which is of an afflictive or oppressive kind. The words may therefore be considered as implying that God will not suffer the people either to be exterminated by the sword, or to be brought under a yoke of slavery. Either of these methods of interpretation gives a good sense, but our common version gives none. Dr. Kennicott contends for the reading of the Samaritan, which, instead of לא הביט lo hibbit, he hath not seen, has לא אבט lo abbit, I do not see, I do not discover any thing among them on which I could ground my curse. But the sense above given is to be preferred.

21. He hath not beheld … Neither hath he seen &c.] The verbs are impersonal: ‘one hath not [i.e. no one hath] beheld …’ But in accordance with Numbers 23:9, it is better to read (with Pesh.) ‘I behold not … neither do I see.’ calamity in Jacob … trouble in Israel] This rendering is much more in harmony with the spirit of Balaam’s utterances than R.V. [Note: .V. Redactor.] ‘iniquity’ and ‘perverseness.’ See further in note on Numbers 23:23.

“Iniquity” and “perverseness” are found together again in the Hebrew of Psa 10:7; Psalms 90:10, and elsewhere; and import wickedness together with that tribulation which is its proper result.

21. Iniquity in Jacob — The Hebrew aven includes all kinds of sin, especially idolatry. 1 Samuel 15:23.