Numbers 24:2

Num 24:2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding [in his tents] according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him.

Ver. 2. And the spirit of God came upon him.] A common spirit, a spirit of prophecy: "Have not we prophesied in thy name?," {Mat 7:22} said those castaways. In impiis quandoque sunt dona Dei, sine Deo. God gives gifts to men, "yea to the rebellious," {Psa 68:18} for the use of his Church. A blind man may bear a torch in his hand, whereby others may receive benefit, though himself receive none; so here.

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 24:2-3. The Spirit of God came upon him — And is it likely that the Spirit of God would have come upon a sorcerer or enchanter? A prophetic influence from God came upon him, whereby he was enabled to foresee future events, and inspired to utter the following words: The man whose eyes are open — Some, confounding שׁתםshetum, with סתם, or שׂתםsetum, would translate the words, Whose eyes are or were shut, for which there does not seem to be sufficient authority. The Seventy render them, ο αληθινως ορων, seeing truly. His eyes indeed had been shut, and he had been blind and stupid, having eyes but not seeing, nor understanding; but God had opened them in a peculiar and prophetical manner. Hence the prophets were called seers, from God’s having opened their eyes.

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

he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes--that is, in the orderly distribution of the camp (Num. 2:1-34).

the spirit of God came upon him--Before the regular ministry of the prophets was instituted, God made use of various persons as the instruments through whom He revealed His will, and Balaam was one of these (Deu 23:5).

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 2. The Spirit of God came upon him.] This Divine afflatus he had not expected on the present occasion, but God had not yet declared the whole of his will.

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

(2) Abiding in his tents . . . —i.e., encamped according to the order prescribed for the respective tribes. The cognate noun is rendered tabernacles in Num_24:5.

And the spirit of God came upon him.—In regard to the two former utterances, it is said that Jehovah put a word in the mouth of Balaam (Num_23:5; Num_23:15). In the present case the Spirit of God came upon (or, over) him. The same expression is used of the messengers of Saul (1Sa_19:20), and of Saul himself (Ibid, Num_24:23). The prophecy of Caiaphas (Joh_11:15) affords another instance of the sovereign power of the Spirit as displayed through the medium of wicked men.

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

And Balaam lifted up his eyes,.... Being on Mount Peor:

and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; in that exact order in which they were directed to encamp under four standards, and so many tribes under each standard, Num 2:1.

and the Spirit of God came upon him; not in his grace but in his gifts; not as a spirit of sanctification, but as a spirit of prophecy, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it; and so sometimes the Spirit of God in this sense has come upon wicked men, as on Caiaphas and others, Joh 11:51.

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

Balaam gazed over the camp of Israel that stretched before him, and allowed the spectacle to work its own influence upon him.

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

According to their tribes; in the order appointed, Num 2.

Came upon him, i.e. inspired him to speak the following words, and so constrained him again to bless those whom he desired to curse.

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

2. The Spirit of God came upon him — The inlet of God into the soul is through the truth as a medium. The orderly aspect of the Hebrew camp encircling the tabernacle — the abode of Jehovah — signalized by the cloudy pillar, awakened faith in the mind of Balaam; not, indeed, a personal and saving trust in Jehovah, but a realization of the truth of his claims and of Israel’s election. This faith prepared Balaam for the incoming of the inspiring Spirit. This is not said of his two former speeches, which were put into his mouth without his being thrown into a state of ecstasy; but this utterance resembles the predictions of true prophets: the inner ear is opened to hear the voice of God, and the spiritual eye, purged by the Spirit of God, sees the substance of the revelation.

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

The spirit of God came upon him. This seems to intimate a higher state of inspiration than the expression, "God put a word into his mouth". (Num_23:5, Num_23:16)

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

Came upon him - Inspired him to speak the following words.

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

He raised his eyes

Here "raised his eyes" is an idiom that means to look up. AT: "He looked up" (See: Idiom)

Spirit of God came on him

This mean's God's Spirit took control of him to prophesy.

He received this prophecy

This can be stated in active form. AT: "God gave him this prophecy" (See: Active or Passive)

Balaam son of Beor

Beor was Balaam's father. See how you translated this in Numbers 22:5.

whose eyes are wide open

This idiom means he sees and understands clearly. (See: Idiom)

translationWords

tribe

Holy Spirit

receive

prophet

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

וישא בלעם את עיניו AND BALAAM LIFTED UP HIS EYES — he wished to cast the evil eye upon them. Thus you have his three characteristics — an evil eye mentioned here, and pride and greed which have been mentioned above (see Rashi on Numbers 22:13 and 18).

שכן לשבטיו DWELLING ACCORDING TO HIS TRIBES — He saw each tribe dwelling by itself not intermingled one with another; he saw that the entrances of their tents were not exactly facing each other so that one could not peer into the other's tent (Bava Batra 60a).

ותהי עליו רוח אלהים AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS UPON HIM — Then he made up his mind not to curse them (i.e. he decided to comply with the will of God, רוח אלהים).

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.