Numbers 22:19

Num 22:19 Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me more.

Ver. 19. Tarry also now this night, &c.] Very loath he was to forego so fat a morsel. His mouth even watered, his fingers itched to be dealing with Balak. He therefore detains the messengers, and will try again what may be done for them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 22:19. Tarry ye also this night — “Here,” says Bishop Butler, p. 123 of his Sermons at the Rolls, “the iniquity of his heart begins to disclose itself. An honest man would, without hesitation, have repeated his former answer, that he could not be guilty of so infamous a prostitution of the sacred character with which he was invested, as, in the name of a prophet, to curse those whom he knew to be blessed: but instead of this he desires the princes of Moab to tarry that night with him also; and, for the sake of the reward, deliberates whether, by some means or other, he might not be able to obtain leave to curse Israel.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22:19-20 Balaam agreed to inquire about the Lord’s wishes one more time. God allowed him to accompany Balak’s representatives but admonished him to do exactly what God commanded (cp. 22:35).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Because he tempted God to require him contrary to his commandment, his petition was granted, but it turned to his own condemnation.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more--The divine will, as formerly declared, not being according to his desires, he hoped by a second request to bend it, as he had already bent his own conscience, to his ruling passions of pride and covetousness. The permission granted to Balaam is in accordance with the ordinary procedure of Providence. God often gives up men to follow the impulse of their own lusts; but there is no approval in thus leaving them to act at the prompting of their own wicked hearts (Jos 13:27).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. What the Lord will say unto me more.] He did not know but God might make a farther discovery of his will to him, and therefore he might very innocently seek farther information.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) Tarry ye also here this night.—Balaam knew that God was “not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent” (Num_23:19); and yet he indulged the vain expectation that he might be allowed to curse those whom God had declared to be blessed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. Balaam had learnt (Num_22:12) that Israel was a people on whom God’s blessing rested. It was therefore impossible for him to go and curse them. But when Balak’s more splendid retinue of princes travelled all the way to Mesopotamia to beg him again to come, he asked God again whether he might go, not to curse but to deliver a divine message whatever it might prove to be. And on his arrival he immediately told Balak that this was the purpose for which he had come (Num_22:38).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And God's anger was kindled because he went,.... Though he had given him leave to go; but then it was upon condition that the princes called him to go with them, whereas he went without their call, and did not wait for it; and besides, he did not acquaint them, as he did not the messengers before, of what God had said, that he should not curse Israel, nor say anything contrary to this his will, which, had he told them, they would not have taken him with them; moreover, he went with an intention, with a good will to curse Israel, which must be displeasing to God, who knew his heart; so the Targum of Jonathan,"and the anger of the Lord was strong, because he went to curse them;''likewise, though he had a permission to go, it was in an angry manner, and was not agreeable to the Lord he should go, and therefore should not have gone notwithstanding; or, at least, he might expect some marks of the divine displeasure; so Jarchi observes, he saw that the thing was evil in the eyes of the Lord, or displeasing to him, and yet he desired it; just as the people of Israel, when the Lord bid them go up and possess the land, which case Aben Ezra instances in; they desired persons might be sent before hand to spy out the land, which, though permitted, they smarted for it: for not whatsoever God permits is well pleasing to him; besides, the words may be rendered (h), "when he went", or, "as he was going"; and so not a reason of the Lord's anger, but expresses when it was kindled or broke forth:

and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him; that this was not a created angel, one of the ministering spirits, but the eternal one, the angel of Jehovah's presence, appears from Num 22:35 that went before the people of Israel in the wilderness, not only to guide but to guard and protect them; and who was an adversary to their adversaries, and at all times stood up for their help and assistance against all those that hated and opposed them: Jarchi calls him an angel of mercy, who would have restrained Balaam from sinning, that he might not sin and perish, and so was rather a friend than an adversary, had he attended to him:

now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him; who, the Targum of Jonathan says, were Jannes and Jambres, the magicians of Egypt, of whom see Ti2 3:8 these only were with him, the princes of Midian on some account or another being separated from him.

(h) "quum iret", Noldius, p. 403.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ye also - i. e., as the other envoys before you. Had Balaam possessed a sincere spirit of obedience, he would have found in the first instructions Num 22:12 a final decision upon the matter. His hypocritical importunity with God when the fresh messengers came from Balak demonstrates his aversion to God’s declared will.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To stay. His desiring them to stay, after he had been fully informed already that it was not God’s will he should go, came from the inclination he had to gratify Balac for the sake of worldly gain. And this perverse disposition God punished by permitting him to go, (though not to curse the people, as he would willingly have done) and suffering him to fall still deeper and deeper into sin, till he came at last to give that abominable counsel against the people of God, which ended in his own destruction. So sad a thing it is to indulge a passion for money. (Challoner) (St. Augustine, q. 48.) --- Philo (de vita, Mos. i) thinks that Balaam feigned this leave of God, ver. 22. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Possibly he may change his mind, or yield to my renewed suit. Thus he sought to make God and his conscience stoop to the service of his pride and covetousness, which was abominable.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. What the Lord will say unto me more — The more desired by Balaam was evidently a different communication, permitting him to go. In this he shows that he rests not in God’s will plainly revealed before. His safety lay in a perfect conformity of his desires to that will by the entire consecration of his soul to Jehovah, so that he could have no joy but in pleasing him. Balaam tempted God by this second consultation, prompted by a dissatisfaction with the prohibition already uttered. Gal_1:8, note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

גם אתם [ABIDE] ALSO YE [HERE] — His mouth tripped him up (unwittingly he spoke the truth): you also in the end will go away disappointed as the former princes (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 6).

מה יסף WHAT MORE [THE LORD WILL SAY TO ME] — He certainly will not change His words from a blessing to a curse: I only hope that he will not add a further blessing. — He here prophesied that He would in the end give them a further blessing by his agency (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 6).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.