Numbers 23:11

Num 23:11 And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed [them] altogether.

Ver. 11. What hast thou done unto me.] Hereby it appears that Balak, in serving of God by building altars and offering sacrifices, did but serve himself upon God; as Ephraim bore "fruit to himself"; {Hos 10:1} and "Did ye fast to me, even to me?" {Zec 7:5}

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.

F.—THE SECOND BLESSING

Num_23:11-24

11And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. 12And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? 13And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.

14And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah,3 and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. 15And he said unto 16Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the LORD yonder. And the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 17And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the Lord spoken?

18And he took up his parable, and said,

Rise up, Balak, and hear;

Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor;

19     God is not a man that he should lie;

Neither the son of man that he should repent;

Hath he said—and shall he not do it?

Or hath he spoken—and shall he not make it good?

20     Behold, I have received commandment to bless.

And he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.

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.

22     God brought them out of Egypt;

He hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

23     Surely there is no enchantment against4 Jacob,

Neither is there any divination against Israel:

According to this time it shall be said of Jacob

And of Israel, What hath God wrought!

24     Behold, the people shall rise Up as a great lion,

And lift up himself as a young lion:

He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey

And drink the blood of the slain.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

[Num_23:11. בֵּרַכתָּ בָרֵךְ Thou hast blessed to bless. Thou hast blessed only and continually.—A. G.]

[Num_23:13. אֶפֶם קָצֵתוּ—correctly rendered the utmost part—not as Including the whole, but, as the following clause shows, a small part, the mere stragglers of the camp, as it were.—A. G.]

[Num_23:14. Zophim, or watchers, or spies.—A. G.]

[Num_23:15. Here—yonder. כּהֹ, so—thus. The sense is not local. It is the manner.—A. G.]

[Num_23:19. Heb. cause it to stand.—A. G.]

[Num_23:20. Literally: I have taken, received to bless. How he had received it, the word does not explain. The word, however, was put in his mouth, and hence our version correctly supplies commandment.—A. G.]

[Num_23:21. Heb. trouble, sorrow, suffering, generally as the result of sin.—A. G.]

[Num_23:22. The participle מוֹצִיאָם designates the bringing out as still incomplete and going forward.—A. G.]

[Num_23:23. In both cases it is in, not against. Auguries and divinations are not practised in Israel. They had the immediate revelation.—A. G.]

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Balak’s dissatisfaction and his renewed attempt. He thinks already that in the words of Balaam he hears the utterance of the most definite and positive blessing. Balaam appeals to his absolute dependence. Jehovah put the words in his mouth. But now the blinded and superstitious king conceives the idea that he has made a mistake in the position to which he had led the prophet. He had placed him at first where he could see only a part of the camp. It now appears to him that even this was too much. Come thou with me to another place, the end of the end of them (only the extreme, meagre part of them) thou shalt see, and shalt not see them all. Keil takes just the opposite view. Balak, he says, “led the seer to the field of the watchers that he might now see the entire people.” He explains the words “thou shalt not see them all,” as referring to the view from Bamoth-Baal. But the changed position for the third saying, where he first overlooked the whole camp of Israel, lies against this view. The full description of the second position leads also to the rejection of Keil’s view. Kurtz’s theory also, that the utmost part denotes the whole, is to be rejected. The phrase “end of the end” is by no means an “intolerable tautology,” but a very expressive description. The field of the watchers is clearly an elevated plateau upon Pisgah from which watchers made their observations; but that does not determine whether the watchers were soldiers, bird-augurs, or astrologers; nor does it inform us whether this place was the peak Nebo upon Pisgah, or a field of Moab upon the heights of Pisgah. The near lying valley regions are often invisible from lofty summits concealed by wooded ridges and the lower peaks. In any case the design of Balak is clear, that Balaam should see as little as possible of the camp of Israel. Balak must bring again his great sacrifice. I will go to meet yonder, viz., the manifestation of God. [I will go and meet “is a technical term here for going out for auguries or for a divine revelation,” Keil. The term is not local, but expresses the purpose for which he went.—A. G.]. [Hirsch has an ingenious and striking explanation of the places chosen by Balak—Baal, Zophim, Peor—as indicating in his mind the three great potencies which decide the weal or woe of nations, through each of which he hopes to secure the curse of Balaam and the ruin of his foes. First Baal, the physical or material, then the field of seers and watchers, the intellectual, and then Peor, the moral. He would see how richly they were endowed, or through what avenues in these respects their ruin could be accomplished.—A. G.]

2. The blessing. Now he begins his blessing with an address to Balak. He must rise up as if to receive the command of a king; nor is it a mark of distinction directly, a term of majesty and glory when he addresses him as the Son of Zippor. With his first word he reproves the thought of Balak that God might perhaps take back His word. This lies entirely beyond the power of Balaam. So also with the declaration I have received to bless; he (God) hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.—Now also he speaks positively of blessing, and of the entire failure of the purpose to curse. The blessing branches into the following parts: 1. Israel’s blessed condition spiritually. No iniquity is discovered in Jacob, and (therefore) no trouble or affliction in Israel.—Hence there are no points to which the curse can attach itself. [This applies not to individuals in their moral character, as if they were faultless in the sight of God, but to the people in their calling and in their covenant relation to God.—A. G.]. 2. Israel is the people of God. Jehovah is with him as his God. He Himself is the King, whose trumpet note sounds among them. 3. Hence his way is one in which God leads him. God has brought him out of Egypt, and thus he goes forward rapidly and with the irresistible power of the buffalo. [The Reem was probably some species of the wild ox, of great fierceness and of indomitable strength. See Art. Unicorn, Smith’s Bib. Dict.—A. G.]. 4. Therefore also Israel is secure against the unclean spirits of soothsaying and divination. On the contrary it was guided by the pure spirit of prophecy. The words sound as if Balaam uttered judgment upon his own equivocal position. [“The augury and the divination were the two means employed by the heathen for looking into futurity.” There was no call or place for them in Israel. It was not only secure against their arts, but they had no basis, no legitimate existence. According to the time, i.e., at the right time, in due time, it shall be said, God will reveal His will and purposes.—A. G.]. 5. Hence the lion-like character of the people; its mighty, terrible, irresistible power; its certain triumph over its foes. [Bible Com. “Beyond the camp Balaam’s eye would pass on to the bed of the Jordan. It was perhaps a lion coming up in his strength from the swelling of that stream (Jer_49:19) that indicated to him this similitude.”—A. G.].

Num_23:19. We have already spoken of the apparent repenting of God as a confirmation of His unchangeableness.

Num_23:21. We prefer not to regard God as the subject of הִבִּיט and רָאָה, but to take them as an indefinite form of the third person. [But see Hengst., p. 112, and comp. Hab_1:3; Hab_1:13.—A. G.] The cause of this glory of Israel is found in the fact that God is their King. As the mighty God (El) He leads them (continuously) out of Egypt. Ought any one to make the sinlessness of Israel the cause? תֹּועֶפֹת may express the rhythmic motion in the alternate leaps and pauses of the buffalo in its progress. [It denotes rather the stirring, restless, unwearied efforts with which the animal forces his way upwards.—A. G.].

Num_23:23. Their progress will be sure and constant, because they do not waver here and there under the delusions of magic arts, but march forward with confidence, instructed by the word of God, which shall be given them from time to time. They shall then know what great things the mighty God will do for them.

Num_23:24. The words of Judah’s blessing (Gen_49:9) transferred to the whole people.

Footnotes:

[3]Marg. the hill.

[4]Marg. or in.

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(11) Thou hast blessed them altogether.—Hebrew, Thou hast blessed, to bless: an emphatic mode of stating that Balaam had continued to give utterance to nothing but blessings.

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

11–17. Balak was angry that Jehovah did not put a curse into Balaam’s mouth, and begged him to try again on another spot. The seven-fold sacrifice was again offered.

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 Balak said unto Balaam, what hast thou done unto me?.... Or "for me" (f); nothing at all, to answer his purpose, or his end in sending for him:

I took thee to curse mine enemies: so he calls the Israelites, though they had never done him any wrong; nor committed any acts of hostility against him, nor showed any intention to commit any; nay, were forbidden by the Lord their God to contend in battle with him and his people:

and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether; or, "in blessing blessed" (g), done nothing but bless them, and that with many blessings, or pronounced them blessed, and prophesied of their blessedness, for their number, their safety, and of their happiness, not only in life, but at and after death.

(f) "pro me". (g) "benedixisti benedicendo", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator.

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

Balak reproached Balaam for this utterance, which announced blessings to the Israelites instead of curses. But he met his reproaches with the remark, that he was bound by the command of Jehovah. The infinitive absolute, בּרך, after the finite verb, expresses the fact that Balaam had continued to give utterance to nothing but blessings. לדבּר שׁמר, to observe to speak; שׁמר, to notice carefully, as in Deu 5:1, Deu 5:29, etc. But Balak thought that the reason might be found in the unfavourable locality; he therefore led the seer to "the field of the watchers, upon the top of Pisgah," whence he could see the whole of the people of Israel. The words וגו תּראנּוּ אשׁר (Num 23:13) are to be rendered, "whence thou wilt see it (Israel); thou seest only the end of it, but not the whole of it" (sc., here upon Bamoth-baal). This is required by a comparison of the verse before us with Num 22:41, where it is most unquestionably stated, that upon the top of Bamoth-baal Balaam only saw "the end of the people." For this reason Balak regarded that place as unfavourable, and wished to lead the seer to a place from which he could see the people, without any limitation whatever. Consequently, notwithstanding the omission of כּי (for), the words קצהוּ אפס can only be intended to assign the reason why Balak supposed the first utterances of Balaam to have been unfavourable. קצהוּ = העם קצה, the end of the people (Num 22:41), cannot possibly signify the whole nation, or, as Marck, de Geer, Gesenius, and Kurtz suppose, "the people from one end to the other," in which case העם קצה (the end of the people) would signify the very opposite of קצהוּ (the end of it); for העם קצה is not interchangeable, or to be identified, with מקּצה כּל־העם (Gen 19:4), "the whole people, from the end or extremity of it," or from its last man; in other words, "to the very last man." Still less does העם קצה אפס signify "the uttermost end of the whole people, the end of the entire people," notwithstanding the fact that Kurtz regards the expression, "the end of the end of the people," as an intolerable tautology. קבנו, imperative with nun epenth., from קבב. The "field of the watchers," or "spies (zophim), upon the top of Pisgah," corresponds, no doubt, to "the field of Moab, upon the top of Pisgah," on the west of Heshbon (see at Num 21:20). Mount Nebo, from which Moses surveyed the land of Canaan in all its length and breadth, was one summit, and possibly the summit of Pisgah (see Deu 3:27; Deu 34:1). The field of the spies was very probably a tract of table-land upon Nebo; and so called either because watchers were stationed there in times of disturbance, to keep a look-out all round, or possibly because it was a place where augurs made their observations of the heavens and of birds (Knobel). The locality has not been thoroughly explored by travellers; but from the spot alluded to, it must have been possible to overlook a very large portion of the Arboth Moab. Still farther to the north, and nearer to the camp of the Israelites in these Arboth, was the summit of Peor, to which Balak afterwards conducted Balaam (Num 23:28), and where he not only saw the whole of the people, but could see distinctly the camps of the different tribes (Num 24:2).

Num 23:14-17

Upon Pisgah, Balak and Balaam made the same preparations for a fresh revelation from God as upon Bamoth-baal (Num 23:1-6). כּה in Num 23:15 does not mean "here" or "yonder," but "so" or "thus," as in every other case. The thought is this: "Do thou stay (sc., as thou art), and I will go and meet thus" (sc., in the manner required). אקּרה (I will go and meet) is a technical term here for going out for auguries (Num 24:1), or for a divine revelation.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Balak

This is the king of Moab. See how you translated this in Numbers 22:2.

What have you done to me?

Balak uses this question to scold Balaam. This rhetorical question can be translated as a statement. AT: "I cannot believe you did this to me!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

but look

This emphasizes the shocking action that follows.

Should I not be careful to say only what Yahweh puts in my mouth?

Balaam uses this rhetorical question to defend his actions. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "I must be very careful to say only what Yahweh tells me to say." (See: Rhetorical Question)

to say only what Yahweh puts in my mouth

The message is spoken of as if it is something that God put into his mouth. See how you translated a similar phrase in Numbers 22:38. AT: "to say only what Yahweh wants me to say" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

Balaam

curse

adversary

bless

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.