Numbers 23
IrwinI seven. A sacred number.
7 parable. Or, “poetic prophecy.” The poetical structure of the first clause appears more clearly in the Hebrew, which stands nearly thus:
“From Aram, Balak hath brought me,
The king of Moab, from the mountains of the east.”
Aram. i.e., Aram-Naharaim, or Aram of the two rivers (viz., Tigris and Euphrates), called in Greek Mesopotamia, or region between the rivers.
9. From the top of the rocks I see him. To Balaam, gazing on Israel from the bright, the spirit of revelation and prophecy unfolded the future destinies of the chosen people. The description which follows of the blessedness of ancient Israel is still more applicable to the true spiritual Israel of which it was the representative. The Israelites are pronounced blessed (1) in their separation by God’s choicest covenant from other nations; (2) in their multiplied numbers; and (3) in their hopes for the future. The death of God’s people was cheered by the enjoyment of His favour, by satisfaction in reviewing the past, and by bright anticipation of the future destinies of their race, whilst their “last end” was believed to be supremely happy. But Balaam’s desire for this was vain, regarding only the end, without any care for the way of attaining it.
the people shall dwell alone. “It is a people that dwelled alone” (R.V.). In other passages (see Deut. xxxiii. 28; Jer. xlix. 31) this expression is used in connexion with “in safety.”
10. The death of the righteous. Of course every one wishes this, says Robertson. “But it is one thing to wish to be saved, another to wish God’s right to triumph; one thing to wish to die safe, another to wish to live holly.”
the righteous. Israel is here so called as being separated from all other nations to be a “holy people unto the Lord.”
13. Come, I pray thee. This proposal (like that in ver. 27) was no doubt suggested by the superstitious notion that one place was more favourable to magical rites than another.
14 field of Zophim. Rather, “to the field of the watchmen,” an elevated position used for watching against the approach of enemies.
21. He hath not beheld. The Samaritan, Syriac, and all the Targums read this, “I have not beheld.” The Targums, with the Septuagint and Vulgate, make the “iniquity” and “perverseness” to refer specifically to idolatry. Some scholars translate the words thus: “He will not see (i.e., permit) injury to Jacob, nor allow a plot against Israel.”
the shout of a king. “A shout of joy caused by the fact that The Eternal Himself was King in Israel”; “joy at the perpetual presence of this great King among the people.”
22 unicorn. Probably the urus, or wild ox. See the description of its indomitable strength and fierceness in Job xxxix 9-12; and allusions to it, Psa. xxii. 21; Isa. xxxiv. 7.
23 according to this time, etc. The most probable rendering of the verse seems to be, “For there is no soothsaying in Jacob, and no divination in Israel; [but] at the [proper] time it is told to Jacob and to Israel what God doeth”; Israel had no need to resort to the arts which Balak was employing in order to ascertain the Divine will, since at the proper time God’s purposes would be clearly made known.
23 top of Peor. A mountain, probably, like the “heights of Baal” (xxii. 41), where the Moabites sacrificed to Baal-Peor. The summit selected was one looking towards the wilderness, whence the Israelites had come (xxi. 20).