Numbers 23:18

18–24. Balaam’s second prophetic message. This consists of eleven, or (see on Num_23:23) more probably ten, couplets. Balaam declares that God will never change His mind (as Balak had thought, Num_23:13), and that He had bidden him to bless and not curse (Num_23:18 b–20). Israel is without calamity, and is victorious (Num_23:21). God brings him triumphantly from Egypt, and all men must tell of His doings (Num_23:22 a, Num_23:23b). Israel is as strong as the wild ox, and as fierce as a lion (Num_23:22 b, Num_23:24).

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.

Num 23:18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:

Ver. 18. Rise up, Balak.] The greatest potentate must reverently attend to the word of God. Ehud, though a fat unwieldy man, stood up to hear a message from God. {Jdg 3:20} So did Constantine the Great, {a} and our Edward VI, hear sermons standing, and usually uncovered. {b}

{a} Euseb.

{b} Act. and Mon.

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 23:18. Rise up, Balak — In these words Balaam calls on the king to receive the message of the great God with reverence and diligent attention; as if he had said, Rouse up thyself and carefully mind what I say.

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

23:18-24 This oracle emphasizes God’s faithfulness to his people—he would stay with them and keep all of his promises.

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

Rise up--As Balak was already standing (Num 23:17), this expression is equivalent to "now attend to me." The counsels and promises of God respecting Israel are unchangeable; and no attempt to prevail on Him to reverse them will succeed, as they may with a man.

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

And he took up his parable,.... Pronounced the word put into his mouth:

and said, rise up Balak, and hear; not from his seat, as Eglon a successor of his did, Jdg 3:20 for he was now standing by his burnt offering; but the sense is, that he would raise his attention, and stir up himself with all diligence to hear what he was about to say:

hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor; or to his word, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, which follow.

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

Hear. Hebrew, "to me." Septuagint read had, instead of hadai, and translate, "Give ear, thou witness, (martus) son," &c. (Haydock)

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).

Rise up: this word implies, either,

1. The reverence wherewith he should hear and receive God’s message, as Eglon did, Jdg 3:20, which might have been probable, if Balak had been now sitting, as Ehud there was; but he was standing, Num 23:15; or rather,

2. The diligent attention required; Rouse up thyself, and carefully mind what I say.

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

18. Rise up, Balak, and hear — The king, who was already in an erect bodily attitude, is called to elevate his thoughts for the reception of the divine revelation. He is called to a hearing with an alert and minute attention.

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

Rise up - This word implies the diligent attention required; rouse up thyself and carefully mind what I say.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The second saying. - "Up, Balak, and hear! Hearken to me, son of Zippor!" קוּם, "stand up," is a call to mental elevation, to the perception of the word of God; for Balak was standing by his sacrifice (Num 23:17). האזין with עד, as in Job 32:11, signifies a hearing which presses forward to the speaker, i.e., in keen and minute attention (Hengstenberg). בּנו, with the antiquated union vowel for בּן; see at Gen 1:24.

Num 23:19

"God is not a man, that He should lie; nor a son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and should He not do it? and spoken, and should not carry it out?"

Num 23:20

"Behold, I have received to bless: and He hath blessed; and I cannot turn it." Balaam meets Balak's expectation that he will take back the blessing that he has uttered, with the declaration, that God does not alter His purposes like changeable and fickle men, but keeps His word unalterably, and carries it into execution. The unchangeableness of the divine purposes is a necessary consequence of the unchangeableness of the divine nature. With regard to His own counsels, God repents of nothing; but this does not prevent the repentance of God, understood as an anthropopathic expression, denoting the pain experienced by the love of God, on account of the destruction of its creatures (see at Gen 6:6, and Exo 32:14). The ה before הוּא Num 23:19) is the interrogative ה (see Ges. 100, 4). The two clauses of Num 23:19, "Hath He spoken," etc., taken by themselves, are no doubt of universal application; but taken in connection with the context, they relate specially to what God had spoken through Balaam, in his first utterance with reference to Israel, as we may see from the more precise explanation in Num 23:20, "Behold, I have received to bless' (לקח, taken, accepted), etc. השׁיב, to lead back, to make a thing retrograde (Isa 43:13). Samuel afterwards refused Saul's request in these words of Balaam (Num 23:19), when he entreated him to revoke his rejection on the part of God (Sa1 15:29).

Num 23:21

After this decided reversal of Balak's expectations, Balaam carried out still more fully the blessing which had been only briefly indicated in his first utterance. "He beholds not wickedness in Jacob, and sees not suffering in Israel: Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout (jubilation) of a king in the midst of him." The subject in the first sentence is God (see Hab 1:3, Hab 1:13). God sees not און, worthlessness, wickedness, and עמל, tribulation, misery, as the consequence of sin, and therefore discovers no reason for cursing the nation. That this applied to the people solely by virtue of their calling as the holy nation of Jehovah, and consequently that there is no denial of the sin of individuals, is evident from the second hemistich, which expresses the thought of the first in a positive form: so that the words, "Jehovah his God is with him," correspond to the words, "He beholds not wickedness;" and "the shout of a king in the midst of it," to His not seeing suffering. Israel therefore rejoiced in the blessing of God only so long as it remained faithful to the idea of its divine calling, and continued in covenant fellowship with the Lord. So long the power of the world could do it no harm. The "shout of a king" in Israel is the rejoicing of Israel at the fact that Jehovah dwells and rules as King in the midst of it (cf. Exo 15:18; Deu 33:5). Jehovah had manifested Himself as King, by leading them out of Egypt.

Num 23:22

"God brings them out of Egypt; his strength is like that of a buffalo." אל is God as the strong, or mighty one. The participle מוציאם is not used for the preterite, but designates the leading out as still going on, and lasting till the introduction into Canaan. The plural suffix, ם-, is used ad sensum, with reference to Israel as a people. Because God leads them, they go forward with the strength of a buffalo. תּועפות, from יעף, to weary, signifies that which causes weariness, exertion, the putting forth of power; hence the fulness of strength, ability to make or bear exertions. ראם is the buffalo or wild ox, an indomitable animal, which is especially fearful on account of its horns (Job 39:9-11; Deu 33:17; Psa 22:22).

Num 23:23

The fellowship of its God, in which Israel rejoiced, and to which it owed its strength, was an actual truth. "For there is no augury in Jacob, and no divination in Israel. At the time it is spoken to Jacob, and to Israel what God doeth." כּי does not mean, "so that, as an introduction to the sequel," as Knobel supposes, but "for," as a causal particle. The fact that Israel was not directed, like other nations, to the uncertain and deceitful instrumentality of augury and divination, but enjoyed in all its concerns the immediate revelation of its God, furnished the proof that it had its God in the midst of it, and was guided and endowed with power by God Himself. נחשׁ and קסם, οἰωνισμός and μαντεία, augurium et divinatio (lxx, Vulg.), were the two means employed by the heathen for looking into futurity. The former (see at Lev 19:26) was the unfolding of the future from signs in the phenomena of nature, and inexplicable occurrences in animal and human life; the latter, prophesying from a pretended or supposed revelation of the Deity within the human mind. כּעת, "according to the time," i.e., at the right time, God revealed His acts, His counsel, and His will to Israel in His word, which He had spoken at first to the patriarchs, and afterwards through Moses and the prophets. In this He revealed to His people in truth, and in a way that could not deceive, what the heathen attempted in vain to discover through augury and divination (cf. Deu 18:14-19).

(Note: "What is here affirmed of Israel, applies to the Church of all ages, and also to every individual believer. The Church of God knows from His word what God does, and what it has to do in consequence. The wisdom of this world resembles augury and divination. The Church of God, which is in possession of His word, has no need of it, and it only leads its followers to destruction, from inability to discern the will of God. To discover this with certainty, is the great privilege of the Church of God" (Hengstenberg).)

Num 23:24

Through the power of its God, Israel was invincible, and would crush all its foes. "Behold, it rises up, a people like the lioness, and lifts itself up like the lion. It lies not down till it eats dust, and drinks the blood of the slain." What the patriarch Jacob prophesied of Judah, the ruler among his brethren, in Gen 49:9, Balaam here transfers to the whole nation, to put to shame all the hopes indulged by the Moabitish king of the conquest and destruction of Israel.

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.)

קום בלק RISE UP, BALAK — When he perceived that he was mocking at him, he set himself to annoy him, saying, “Stand on your feet; you have no right to remain seated, seeing that I am sent to you on a mission by the Omnipresent” (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 13).

בנו צפור SON OF ZIPPOR — This (the suffix ו to mark the construct) is often found as a Biblical Hebrew form, as in (Psalms 50:10), “beast of (חיתו) the forest”; (Genesis 1:24) “beast of (חיתו) the earth”; (Psalms 114:8), “to a spring of (מעינו) water”.

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.