Numbers 23:7

7. he took up his parable] i.e. he took up upon his lips, he uttered; Num_23:18, Num_24:3; Num_24:15; Num_24:20 f., Num_24:23. Cf. Job_27:1; Job_29:1, Amo_5:1 and frequently. On the Heb. mâshâl (‘parable’), a didactic or artistic utterance, see Num_21:27.

Aram] i.e. Aram-naharaim. See on Num_22:5. The short form Aram (cf. Hos_12:12, where the meaning is the same as here) usually denotes the more westerly regions of which Damascus was the capital.

the mountains of the East] The high ranges of the Syrian desert, the country of the nomad ‘children of the east’ (Jer_49:28, Eze_25:4; Eze_25:10), who wandered E . of Ammon, Moab, and Edom.

7–10. Balaam’s first prophetic message. This consists of seven short couplets. Balaam declares the uselessness of Balak’s action in fetching him for the purpose of cursing (Num_23:7 f.); the security of Israel, their separateness from other nations, and their great numbers (Num_23:9-10 a); and he prays that his end may be like theirs (Num_23:10 b).

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 23:7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, [saying], Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.

Ver. 7. And he took up his parable.] Or, Pithy and powerful speech, uttered in numerous and sententious terms, and taken among the heathen for prophecies or oracles: poemata pro vaticiniis, &c. Poets were taken for prophets, {Tit 1:12} and poems for prophecies. Hence their στοιχομαντεια, wherein opening a book of Homer, Hesiod, &c., they took upon them, by the first verse they lighted upon, to divine. Tragedians also, for their parables, or master sentences, were highly esteemed of old, insomuch as, after the discomfit of the Athenians in Sicily, they were relieved who could repeat somewhat of Euripides.

Out of Aram.] Aram Naharim, or Mesopotamia, so called, because it is situated between those two rivers of Paradise, Tigris and Euphrates. This was Abraham’s country, where, while he was in it, he "served strange gods." {Jos 24:2}

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 23:7. His parable — That is, his oracular and prophetical speech; which he calls a parable, because of the weightiness of the matter, and the liveliness of the expressions which is usual in parables. Jacob — The posterity of Jacob.

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

BALAAM’S FIRST PROPHECY, Num_23:7-12.

7. Parable — Hebrew mashal, a simile. Hengstenberg makes the use of this word in reference to the prophecies of Balaam an indication of the difference between them and real prophecy. All these oracular speeches of Balaam are, in the Hebrew, in a highly poetic form. They are dignified and sublime productions immediately caused by the Spirit of God. The mental eye of the speaker was fixed only upon what he saw, and this he uttered without the least regard to the expectations and desires of his hearers. The very first utterance must have extinguished all hope in the mind of the Moabite king. Aram literally signifies the high land. The Seventy render it Mesopotamia. See Num_22:5, note; Deu_23:4; Gen_29:1, note. When Aram is used alone it generally denotes Western Syria, and when Mesopotamia is designated the word naharayim, of the two rivers, is added. This high land swarmed with soothsayers.

Of the east — The exact direction was northeast. The Hebrews were accustomed to specify only the four principal points of the compass.

Defy — Rather detest, with angry threats and fierce indignation. See Dan_11:30.

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

Balaam's first saying. - Having come back to the burnt-offering, Balaam commenced his utterance before the king and the assembled princes. משׁל, lit., a simile, then a proverb, because the latter consists of comparisons and figures, and lastly a sentence or saying. The application of this term to the announcements made by Balaam (Num 23:7, Num 23:18, Num 24:3, Num 24:15, Num 24:20), whereas it is never used of the prophecies of the true prophets of Jehovah, but only of certain songs and similes inserted in them (cf. Isa 14:4; Eze 17:2; Eze 24:3; Mic 2:4), is to be accounted for not merely from the poetic form of Balaam's utterances, the predominance of poetical imagery, the sustained parallelism, the construction of the whole discourse in brief pointed sentences, and other peculiarities of poetic language (e.g., בּנו, Num 24:3, Num 24:15), but it points at the same time to the difference which actually exists between these utterances and the predictions of the true prophets. The latter are orations addressed to the congregation, which deduce from the general and peculiar relation of Israel to the Lord and to His law, the conduct of the Lord towards His people either in their own or in future times, proclaiming judgment upon the ungodly and salvation to the righteous. "Balaam's mental eye," on the contrary, as Hengstenberg correctly observes, "was simply fixed upon what he saw; and this he reproduced without any regard to the impression that it was intended to make upon those who heard it." But the very first utterance was of such a character as to deprive Balak of all hope that his wishes would be fulfilled.

Num 23:7

"Balak, the king of Moab, fetches me from Aram, from the mountains of the East," i.e., of Mesopotamia, which was described, as far back as Gen 29:1, as the land of the sons of the East (cf. Num 22:5). Balaam mentions the mountains of his home in contradistinction to the mountains of the land of the Moabites upon which he was then standing. "Come, curse me Jacob, and come threaten Israel." Balak had sent for him for this purpose (see Num 22:11, Num 22:17). זעמה, for זעמה, imperative (see Ewald, 228, b.). זעם, to be angry, here to give utterance to the wrath of God, synonymous with נקב or קבב, to curse. Jacob: a poetical name for the nation, equivalent to Israel.

Num 23:8-10

"How shall I curse whom God does not curse, and how threaten whom Jehovah does not threaten?" Balak imagined, like all the heathen, that Balaam, as a goetes and magician, could distribute blessings and curses according to his own will, and put such constraint upon his God as to make Him subservient to his own will (see at Num 22:6). The seer opposes this delusion: The God of Israel does not curse His people, and therefore His servant cannot curse them. The following verses (Num 23:9 and Num 23:10) give the reason why: "For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. Lo, it is a people that dwelleth apart, and is not numbered among the heathen. Who determines the dust of Jacob, and in number the fourth part of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and my end be like his?" There were two reasons which rendered it impossible for Balaam to curse Israel: (1) Because they were a people both outwardly and inwardly different from other nations, and (2) because they were a people richly blessed and highly favoured by God. From the top of the mountains Balaam looked down upon the people of Israel. The outward and earthly height upon which he stood was the substratum of the spiritual height upon which the Spirit of God had placed him, and had so enlightened his mental sight, that he was able to discern all the peculiarities and the true nature of Israel. In this respect the first thing that met his view was the fact that this people dwelt alone. Dwelling alone does not denote a quiet and safe retirement, as many commentators have inferred from Deu 33:28; Jer 49:31, and Mic 7:14; but, according to the parallel clause, "it is not reckoned among the nations," it expresses the separation of Israel from the rest of the nations. This separation was manifested outwardly to the seer's eye in the fact that "the host of Israel dwelt by itself in a separate encampment upon the plain. In this his spirit discerned the inward and essential separation of Israel from all the heathen" (Baumgarten). This outward "dwelling alone" was a symbol of their inward separation from the heathen world, by virtue of which Israel was not only saved from the fate of the heathen world, but could not be overcome by the heathen; of course only so long as they themselves should inwardly maintain this separation from the heathen, and faithfully continue in covenant with the Lord their God, who had separated them from among the nations to be His own possession. As soon as Israel lost itself in heathen ways, it also lost its own external independence. This rule applies to the Israel of the New Testament as well as the Israel of the Old, to the congregation or Church of God of all ages. יתחשּׁב לע, "it does not reckon itself among the heathen nations," i.e., it does not share the lot of the other nations, because it has a different God and protector from the heathen (cf. Deu 4:8; Deu 33:29). The truth of this has been so marvellously realized in the history of the Israelites, notwithstanding their falling short of the idea of their divine calling, "that whereas all the mightier kingdoms of the ancient world, Egypt, Assyria, Babel, etc., have perished without a trace, Israel, after being rescued from so many dangers which threatened utter destruction under the Old Testament, still flourishes in the Church of the New Testament, and continues also to exist in that part which, though rejected now, is destined one day to be restored" (Hengstenberg).

In this state of separation from the other nations, Israel rejoiced in the blessing of its God, which was already visible in the innumerable multitude into which it had grown. "Who has ever determined the dust of Jacob?" As the dust cannot be numbered, so is the multitude of Israel innumerable. These words point back to the promise in Gen 13:16, and applied quite as much to the existing state as to the future of Israel. The beginning of the miraculous fulfilment of the promise given to the patriarchs of an innumerable posterity, was already before their eyes (cf. Deu 10:22). Even now the fourth part of Israel is not to be reckoned. Balaam speaks of the fourth part with reference to the division of the nation into four camps (ch. 2), of which he could see only one from his point of view (Num 22:41), and therefore only the fourth part of the nation. מספּר is an accusative of definition, and the subject and verb are to be repeated from the first clause; so that there is no necessity to alter מספּר into ספר מי. - But Israel was not only visibly blessed by God with an innumerable increase; it was also inwardly exalted into a people of ישׁרים, righteous or honourable men. The predicate ישׁרים is applied to Israel on account of its divine calling, because it had a God who was just and right, a God of truth and without iniquity (Deu 32:4), or because the God of Israel was holy, and sanctified His people (Lev 20:7-8; Exo 31:13) and made them into a Jeshurun (Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5, Deu 33:26). Righteousness, probity, is the idea and destination of this people, which has never entirely lost it, though it has never fully realized it. Even in times of general apostasy from the Lord, there was always an ἐκλογή in the nation, of which probity and righteousness could truly be predicated (cf. Kg1 19:18). The righteousness of the Israelites was "a product of the institutions which God had established among them, of the revelation of His holy will which He had given them in His law, of the forgiveness of sins which He had linked on to the offering of sacrifices, and of the communication of His Spirit, which was ever living and at work in His Church, and in it alone" (Hengstenberg). Such a people Balaam could not curse; he could only wish that the end of his own life might resemble the end of these righteous men. Death is introduced here as the end and completion of life. "Balaam desires for himself the entire, full, indestructible, and inalienable blessedness of the Israelite, of which death is both the close and completion, and also the seal and attestation" (Kurtz). This desire did not involve the certain hope of a blessed life beyond the grave, which the Israelites themselves did not then possess; it simply expressed the thought that the death of a pious Israelite was a desirable good. And this it was, whether viewed in the light of the past, the present, or the future. In the hour of death the pious Israelite could look back with blessed satisfaction to a long life, rich "in traces of the beneficent, forgiving, delivering, and saving grace of God;" he could comfort himself with the delightful hope of living on in his children and his children's children, and in them of participating in the future fulfilment of the divine promises of grace; and lastly, when dying in possession of the love and grace of God, he could depart hence with the joyful confidence of being gathered to his fathers in Sheol (Gen 25:8).

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.)

23:7-10 In his first oracle from God (23:5, 16), Balaam rehearsed the circumstances that brought him to Moab, emphasized God’s special relation with Israel, and declared his intention of protecting them from harm. • These poetic oracles illustrate the parallelism of Hebrew poetry. Parallel lines reinforce the content by repeating important concepts in a highly structured pattern. • Aram: Aram-naharaim (Gen 24:10) is another name for North Mesopotamia, where Balaam’s home of Pethor was located (Num 22:5). • The eastern hills are a line of mountains in North Syria.

23:7-8 Instead of cursing Israel, the seer noted their special status (cp. Exod 19:5-6; Deut 7:6-9) and observed that God’s blessing had turned a humble people into a great nation (cp. Gen 12:2-3; 13:16; 28:14). Balaam wished for similar good fortune to come his way (Num 23:10).

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

Cause that all may hate and detest them.

Or, Syria.

Or, prophecy.

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

took up his parable--that is, spoke under the influence of inspiration, and in the highly poetical, figurative, and oracular style of a prophet.

brought me from Aram--This word joined with "the mountains of the East," denotes the upper portion of Mesopotamia, lying on the east of Moab. The East enjoyed an infamous notoriety for magicians and soothsayers (Isa 2:6).

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 7. And he took up his parable] משלו meshalo, see on Nu 21:27. All these oracular speeches of Balaam are in hemistich metre in the original. They are highly dignified, and may be considered as immediate poetic productions of the Spirit of God; for it is expressly said, Nu 23:5, that God put the word in Balaam's mouth, and that the Spirit of God came upon him, Nu 24:2.

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

And he took up his parable, and said,.... Pronounced the word, the prophetic word, which God had put into his mouth; so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it, the parable of his prophecy; so called, because, in prophecies, often figurative and enigmatical expressions are used, and also sententious and weighty ones, either of which are sometimes called parables; see Psa 78:2,

Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram; or Syria, that is, from Mesopotamia, as the Septuagint translate it; and so the Targum of Jonathan, from Aram or Syria, which is by Euphrates:

out of the mountains of the east: it being the mountainous part of Mesopotamia or Chaldea, where Balaam dwelt, which lay to the east of the land of Moab:

saying, come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel; he owns that this was Balak's view in sending for him; nor does he deny that be himself came with such an intention, could he be able to execute it; even curse the people of Israel, with the utmost abhorrence and detestation of them, and in the most furious and wrathful manner, as the last word used signifies.

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

Aram - Or, “highland.” This term denotes the whole elevated region, from the northeastern frontier of Palestine to the Euphrates and the Tigris. The country between these streams was especially designated “Aram-naharaim,” or “Aram of the two rivers:” the Greeks called it Mesopotamia; and here, according to Deu 23:4, was Balaam’s home. Compare Num 22:5 note.

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

Parable. Beginning to speak in a beautiful and poetic style, like a man inspired. (Calmet) --- Mashal, denotes a striking and elegant prophecy. (Menochius) --- Aram, when placed alone, properly means Syria; but when Padan or Naharaim are added, Mesopotamia is meant, whence Balaam came, Deuteronomy xxii. 5. --- East of Moab, though lying to the north, or higher part of Mesopotamia. (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).

He took up, to wit, into his mouth; he expressed or spoke.

His parable, i.e. his oracular and prophetical speech; which he calls a parable, because of the weightiness of the matter, and the majesty and smartness of the expressions which is usual in parables.

From Aram; from Aram, Naharaim, or Mesopotamia, Deu 23:4. See Gen 10:22. Aram lay

towards the mountains of the east: the east was infamous for charmers or soothsayers, Isa 2:6.

Jacob; the posterity of Jacob, i.e. Israel, as it here follows.

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

Took up his parable. lvm. (cf. Num_21:27) Balaam"s utterances were in the highest degree poetical, according to the antithetic form of the poetry of that day, which delighted in sustained parallelisms, in lofty figures, and in abrupt turns. The "mashal of Balaam resembled the "burden" of the later prophets in this, that it was not a discourse uttered to men, but a thing revealed in him of which he had to deliver himself as best he might in such words as came to him. His inward eye was fixed on this revelation, and he gave utterance to it without consideration of those who heard. Aram, i.e., Aram-Naharaim, or Mesopotamia. (cf. Gen_29:1 Deu_23:4) Defy, or "threaten," i.e., with the wrath of Heaven. Jacob. The use of this name as the poetical equivalent of Israel shows that Balaam was familiar with the story of the patriarch, and understood his relation to the people before him.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His parable - That is, his oracular and prophetical speech; which he calls a parable, because of the weightiness of the matter, and the liveliness of the expressions which is usual in parables. Jacob - The posterity of Jacob.

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

and said

In the prophecies of Balaam God testifies on behalf of His people rather than (as usual) to them. It is the divine testimony to their standing as a redeemed people in view of the serpent "lifted up," and of the water from the smitten rock. Num 21:5-9; Num 20:11. Their state was morally bad, but this was a matter concerning the discipline of God, not His judgment. The interpretation of the prophecies is literal as to Israel, typical as to Christians. Through Christ "lifted up" Joh 3:14 our standing is eternally secure and perfect, though our state may require the Father’s discipline; 1Co 11:30-32; 2Co 1:4-9; 2Co 1:10-13 meantime, against all enemies, God is "for us." Rom 8:31.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Balak has brought me from Aram ... the king of Moab from the eastern mountains

These phrases mean the same thing. (See: Parallelism)

'Come, curse Jacob for me,' ... 'Come, defy Israel.'

Both of these statements mean the same thing. They emphasize that Balak wants Balaam to curse the people of Israel. (See: Parallelism)

How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I oppose those whom Yahweh does not oppose?

These rhetorical questions emphasize Balaam's refusal to disobey God. They can be translated as statements. AT: "But I cannot curse those whom God has not cursed. I cannot fight against those whom Yahweh does not fight!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

prophet

Aram

king

curse

Jacob

Israel

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

ארה לי יעקב ולכה זעמה ישראל CURSE JACOB FOR ME AND COME EXECRATE ISRAEL — by their two names did he bid him curse them, for perhaps one of them was not distinctive enough to point them out beyond all doubt as being the people against whom the curse was directed.

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.