Balaam seeks no longer A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. An. Exod. Isr. 40. e A: M. 2553. hath as it were the strength of | Balak, Told not I thee, saying, 23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, f 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 cat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. 25 And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. 26 But Balaam answered and said unto Or, in. Psa. xxxi. -h Gen. xlix. 27. 40. 27 And Balak said unto Balaam, * Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. 28 And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon. 29 And Balaam said unto Balak, in Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. Verse 13. 30 ́And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. d Deut. xxxiii. 17; Job xxxix. 10, 11. Verse 12; chapter xxii. 38; 1 Kings xxii. 14.19; xliv. 1. - Gen. xlix. 9. 1 Chap. xxi. 20. Ver. 1. beast is intended by the original word. The Septua- should be read thus: "As at this time it shall be told gint translate the word μovokɛpws, the unicorn, or one- to Jacob and to Israel what God worketh;" i. e., this horned animal; the Vulgate, sometimes, unicornus; people shall always have prophetic information of what and in the text rhinocerotis, by which the rhinoceros, God is about to work. And indeed, they are the only a creature which has its name from the horn on its people under heaven who ever had this privilege. nose, is supposed to be meant. That no single-horned When God himself designed to punish them because animal can be intended by the reem of Moses, is suffi- of. their sins, he always forewarned them by the prociently evident from this, that Moses, speaking of Jophets; and also took care to apprise them of all the seph, says, "he has the HORNS of A unicorn," or reem, plots of their enemies against them. where the horns are spoken of in the plural, the animal in the singular. The creature referred to is either the rhinoceros, some varieties of which have two horns on the nose, or the wild bull,.urus, or buffalo; though some think the beast intended is a species of goat; but the rhinoceros seems the most likely. There is literally a monoceros, or unicorn, with one large curled ivory horn growing horizontally out of his snout; but this is not a land animal, it is the modiodan or nurwal, a marine animal of the whale kind, a horn of which is now before me, measuring seven feet four inches; but I believe the rhinoceros is that intended by the sacred writers. Verse 23. There is no enchantment, &c.] Because God has determined to save them, therefore, no enchantment can prevail against them. According to this time, &c.] I think this clause Verse 24. Behold, the people shall rise up as a great labi, the great, mighty, or old lion, the king lion] of the forest, who is feared and respected by all the other beasts of the field; so shall Israel be the subduer and possessor of the whole land of Canaan. And as a young lion, ari from arah, to tear off, the predatory lion, or the lion in the act of seizing and tearing his prey ;—the nations against whom the Israelites are now going shall be no more able to defend themselves against their attacks, than the feeblest beasts of the forest are against the attacks of the strong lion. Verse 28. Unto the top of Peor] Probably the place where the famous Baal-peor had his chief temple. He appears to have been the Priapus of the Moabites, and to have been worshipped with the same obscene and abominable rites. CHAPTER XXIV: The Spirit Balaam, finding that God was determined to bless Israel, seeks no longer for enchantments, 1. of God coming upon him, he delivers a most important prophetic parable, 2–9. Balak's anger is kindled against him, and he commands him to depart to his own country, 10, 11. Balaam vindicates his conduct, .12, 13; and delivers a prophecy relative to the future destruction of Moab by the Israelites, 14-17; also of Edom, 18, 19; of the Amalekites, 20; and of the Kenites, 21, 22., Predicts also the destruction `of Asshur and Eber, by the naval power of Chittim, which should afterwards be itself destroyed, 23, 24. Balaam and Balak separate, 25. A. M. 2553, An. Exod. Isr.40. A. M. 2553. AND when Balaam saw that it Israel, he went not, as at other a Chap. xxiii. 3, 15. Heb. to the meeting of enchantments. serve that the proper meaning of the word na nachash is not easily ascertained; see chap. xxi. 9, and see on Gen. iii. 1. Here the plural D'wŋɔ nechashim Balaam's prophetic parable of A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. but he set his face toward the | God, which saw the vision of An. Exod. Isr. Wilderness., 40. C 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. e 3 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man f whose eyes are open hath said : A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. An. Exod. Isr. 40. 5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! 6 As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as 4 He hath said, which heard the words of cedar trees beside the waters. is rendered enchantments; but it probably means no more than the knowledge of future events. When Balaam saw that it pleased God to bless Israel, he therefore thought it unnecessary to apply for any farther prophetic declarations of God's will as he had done before, for he could safely infer every good to this people, from the evident disposition of God towards them. 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. Verse 3. He took up his parable] His prophetic declaration couched in highly poetic terms, and in regular metre, as the preceding were, The man whose eyes are open] I believe the original shethum, should be translated shut, not open; for in the next verse, where the opening of his eyes is mentioned, a widely different word is used, a galah, which signifies to open or revcal. At first the eyes of Balaam were shut, and so closely too that he could not see the angel who withstood him, till God opened his eyes; nor could he see the gracious intentions of God towards Israel, till the eyes of his understanding were opened by the power of the Divine Spirit. This therefore he mentions, we may suppose, with humility and gratitude, and to the credit of the prophecy which he is now about to deliver, that the Moabites may receive it as the word of God, which must be fulfilled in due season. His words, in their meaning, are similar to those of the blind man in the Gospel: "Once I was blind, but now I see." Verse 4. Falling into a trance] There is no indication in the Hebrew that he fell into a trance; these words are added by our translators, but they are not in the original.nophel is the only word used, and simply signifies falling, or falling down, perhaps in this instance by way of religious prostration. Verse 6. Lign aloes which the Lord hath planted] Or, as the tents which the Lord hath pitched; for it is the same word, ' ohalim, which is used in the 5th verse. But from other parts of Scripture we find that the word also signifies a species of tree, called by some the sandal tree, and by others the lignum or wood aloes. This tree is described as being eight or ten feet high, with very large leaves growing at the top; and it is supposed that a forest of those at some distance must bear some resemblance to a numerous en 5 See 1 Sam. xix. 24; Ezek. i. 28; Dan. viii. 18; x. 15, 16; 2 Cor. xii. 2, 3, 4; Rev. i. 10, 17.- h Psalm i. 3; Jer. xvii. 8. i Psa. civ. 16. campment. As the word comes from the root ahat, which signifies to spread or branch out, and therefore is applied to tents, because of their being extended or spread out on the ground; so when it is applied to trees it must necessarily mean such as were remarkable for their widely-extended branches; but what the particular species is, cannot be satisfactorily ascertained. By the Lord's planting' are probably meant such trees as grow. independently of the cullivation of man.-Nullis hominum cogentibus; or, as Virgil expresses it,— Sponte sua quæ se tollunt in luminis oras. VIRG., Geor. ii., ver. 47. "Such as sprung up spontaneously into the regions of light." As cedar trees] Gabriel Sionita, a very learned Syrian Maronite, who assisted in editing the Paris Polyglot, a man worthy of all credit, thus describes the cedars of Mount Lebanon, which he had examined on the spot : "The cedar grows on the most elevated part of the mountain, is taller than the pine, and so thick that five men together could scarcely fathom one. It shoots out its branches at ten or twelve feet from the ground; they are large, and distant from each other, and are perpetually green. The cedar distils a kind of gum, to which different effects are attributed. The wood of it is of a brown colour, very solid, and incorruptible if preserved from wet. It bears a small apple, like to that of the pine.". i6 De la Roque relates some curious particulars concerning this tree, which he learned from the Maronites of Mount Libanus: The branches grow in parallel rows round the tree, but lessen gradually from the bottom to the top, shooting out parallel to the horizon, so that the tree is, in. appearance, similar to a cone. As the shows, which fall in vast quantities on this mountain, must necessarily, by their weight on such a vast surface, break down these branches, nature, or rather the God of nature, has so ordered it, that at the approach of winter, and during the snowy season, the branches erect themselves, and cling close to the body of the tree, and thus prevent any quantity of snow from lodging on them." Mr. Maundrell, who visited Mount Libanus ih 1697, gives the following description of the cedars still growing there : 7 He shall pour the water out An. Exod. Isr. of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. 1 8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn; he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. I mea "These noble trees grow among the snow, near the highest part of Lebanon, and are remarkable, as well for their own age and largeness as for those frequent allusions to them in the word of God. Some of them are very old, and of a prodigious bulk; others younger, and of a smaller size. Of the former. I could reckon only sixteen, but the latter are very numerous. sured one of the largest, and found it twelve yards and six inches in girt, and yet sound, and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its branches. At about five or six yards from the ground it was divided into five limbs, each of which was equal to a great tree."-Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p..142. he commands Balaam to depart A. M. 2553. I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the LORD An. Exod. Isr. hath kept thee back from honour. 40. 12 And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, 13 w If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the LORD saith, that will I speak? 14 And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. 15 And he took up his parable, and said, Baalam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: V 16 He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most W Gen. xii. 3; xxvii. 29. Ezek. xxi. 14, 17; xxii. 13. "Chap. xxiii. 11; Deut. xxiii. 4, 5; Josh. xxiv. 9, 10; Ñeh. xiii. 2. Chap. xxii. 17, 37. Chap. xxii. 18. Mic. vi. 5; Rer. ii. 14. Gen. xlix. 1; Dan. ü. 28; x. 14.—2 Ver. 3, 4. is supposed to have been as common to all the Amalekitish kings as Pharaoh was to those of Egypt. But several critics, with the Septuagint, suppose that a small change has taken place here in the original word, and that instead of 11 meagag, than Agag, we should read 11 miggog, than Gog. As Gog in Scripture seems to mean the enemies of God's people, then the promise here may imply that the true worshippers of the Most High shall ultimately have dominion over all their enemies: Verse 8. God brought him forth out of Egypt] They were neither expelled thence, nor came voluntarily away. God alone, with a high hand and uplifted arm, brought them forth. Concerning the unicorn, see on chap. xxiii. 22. Verse 9. He couched, he lay down as a lion, &c.] See the original terms explained chap. xxiii. 24. Verse 7. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, c.] Here is a very plain allusion to their method of raising water in different parts of the East. By the well a tall pole is erected, which serves as a fulcrum to a very long lever, to the smaller end of which a These oracles, delivered by Balaam, are evident probucket is appended. On the opposite end, which is phecies of the victories which the Israelites should much larger, are many notches cut in the wood, which gain over their enemies, and of their firm possession of serve as steps for a man, whose business it is to climb the promised land. They may also refer to the great up to the fulcrum, in order to lower the bucket into the victories to be obtained by the Lord Jesus Christ, that well, which, when filled, he raises by walking back on Lion of the tribe of Judah, over sin, death, and Satan, the opposite arm, till his weight brings the bucket above the grand enemies of the human race; and to that most the well's mouth: a person standing by the well emp-numerous posterity of spiritual children which should ties the bucket into a trench, which communicates with be begotten by the preaching of the Gospel. the ground intended to be watered. His seed shall be in many waters] Another simple allusion to the sowing of rice. The ground must not only be well watered, but flooded, in order to serve for the proper growth of this grain. The rice that was sown in many waters must be the most fruitful. By an elegant and chaste metaphor all this is applied to the procreation of a numerous posterity. Verse 11. Lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour.] A bitter and impious sarcasm. "Hadst thou cursed this people, I would have promoted thee to great honour; but thou hast chosen to follow the directions of Jehovah rather than mine, and what will he do for thee?" Verse 15. The man whose eyes are open] See on ver. 3. It seems strange that our version should have His king shall be higher than Agag] This name fallen into such a mistake as to render DN shethum, Balaam predicts the destruction A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. High, which saw the vision of |ners of Moab, and destroy all the An. Exod. Isr. the Almighty, falling into a children of Sheth. trance, but having his eyes 40. open: 17 I shall see him, but not now I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come ba Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the cora Rev. i. 7. Matt. ii. 2; Rev. xxii. 16.— Gen. xlix. 10; Psa. cx. 2.- _d Or, smite through the princes of Moab; 2 Sam. open, which it does not signify, when the very sound of the word expresses the sense. The Vulgate has very properly preserved the true meaning, by rendering the clause cujus obturatus est oculus, he whose eyes are shut. The Targum first paraphrased the passage falsely, and most of the versions followed it. Verse 17. I shall see him, but not now] Or, I shall see him, but he is not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh—I shall have a full view of him, but the time is yet distant. That is, The person of whom I am now prophesying does not at present exist among these Israelites, nor shall he appear in this generation. There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Seeptre shall rise out of Israel-a person eminent for wisdom, and formidable for strength and power, shall arise as king among this people. He shall smite the corners of Moab he shall bring the Moabites perfectly under subjection; (See 2 Sam. viii. 2;) and destroy all the children of Sheth. The original word pp karkar, from 7 karah, to meet, associate, join, blend, and the like, is variously translated: vastabit, he shall, waste, VULGATE.—πрOVOμεvoel, shall prey on, SEPT. yishlot, shall rule over,TARGUM.-Shall shake, ARABIC. barbend, shall put a yoke on, PERS.-Shall unwall, AINSWORTH, &c., &c. The Targum of Onkelos translates the whole passage thus: I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but he is not near. When a king shall arise from the house of Jacob, and the Messiah be anointed from the house of Israel, he shall slay the princes of Moab, and rule over all the children of men." The Jerusalem Targum is a little different: "A king shall arise from the house of Jacob, a redeemer and governor from the house of Israel, who shall slay the chiefs of the Moabites, and empty out and destroy all the children of the East." A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. An. Exod. Isr. 40. 18 And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. 19 f Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. viii. 2; Jer. xlviii. 45. 2 Sam. viii. 14; Psa. lx. 8, 9, 12. Gen. xlix. 10. Seir also shall be a possession] That is, unto the king MESSIAH; as it is said: " And saviours shall come upon Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's ;" Obad., ver. 21. See Ainsworth. Verse 19. Out of Jacob shall come, &c.] This is supposed to refer to Christ, because of what is said Gen. xlix. 10. It is exceedingly difficult to fix the true sense of this prophecy in all its particulars. Probably the star, ver. 17, is only an emblem of kingly power. Among the Egyptians a star is said to have been the symbol. of the Divine Being. The sceptre refers to the kingly power in exercise. The corners or outskirts may mean the petty Moabitish governments, as the Chaldee has understood the term. If karkar, which we translate utterly destroy, be not the name of a place here, as it is in Judg. viii. 10, (which is not very likely,) it may be taken in one of those senses assigned to it, (see on ver. 17,) and signify the blending together the children of Sheth, that is, all the inhabitants of the earth; for So the children of Sheth must necessarily be understood, unless we consider it here as meaning some king of the Moabites, according to Grotius, or a city on the borders of Moab, according to Rabbi Nathan. As neither Israel nor the Messiah ever destroyed all the children of men, we must (in order to leave the chil dren of Sheth what they are generally understood to be, all the inhabitants of the world) understand the whole as a prophecy of the final universal sway of the sceptre of Christ, when the middle wall of partition shall be broken down, and the Jews and Gentiles become one united, blended fold, under one shepherd and bishop of their souls. I cannot think that the meteoric star which guided the wise men of the east to Bethlehem can be intended Rabbi Moses ben Maimon has, in my opinion, per- here; nor do I think that Peter refers to this prophecy fectly hit the meaning of the prophecy in the follow-when he calls Christ the day star, 2 Epist. i. 19; nor ing paraphrase of the text: " I shall see him, but not now. This is DAVID.—I shall behold him, but not nigh. This is the king MESSIAH.-A Star shall come out of Jacob, This is DAVID.-And a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel. This is the king MESSIAH.-And shall smite the corners of Moab. This is DAVID, (as it is written, 2 Sam. viii. 2: And he smote Moab, casting them down to the ground.)—And shall destroy all the children of Sheth. This is the king MESSIAH, of whom it is written, (Psa. lxii. 8,) He shall have dominion from that Rev. ii. 28, where Christ is called the morning star, nor Rev. xxij. 16, where he is called the bright and morning star, refers at all to this prophecy of Balaam. Nor do I think that the false Christ who rose in the time of Adrian, and who called himself Barcochab, which literally signifies the son of a star, did refer to this prophecy. If he had, he must have defeated his own intention, because the son of the star is not THE STAR that should arise, but at the utmost a descendant; and then, to vindicate his right to the Jewish throne, he must show that the person who was called the star, and of whom he pretended to be the son or descendant, had actually reigned before him, As the sun, moon, stars, planets, light, splendour, efful Balaam ends his prediction, A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. An. Exod. Isr. 40. NUMBERS. 20 And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end h shall be that he perish for ever. 21 And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. 22 Nevertheless i the Kenite shall be wasted, * until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. B Or, the first of the nations that warred against Israel; Exod. xvii. 8. Ch Or, shall be even to destruction; Exod. xvii. 14; 1. Sam. xv. 3, 8. name was gence, day, &c., were always considered among the Asiatics as emblems of royally, government, &c., therefore many, both men and women, had these names given to them as titles,, surnames, &c. So the queen of Alexander the Great, called Roxana by the Greeks, was a Persian princess, and in her native tongue her Roushen, splendour. Hadassah, who became queen to Ahasuerus, in place of the repudiated Vashti, and is called Esther by Europeans in general, was called in the language of Persia & Sitareh; from whence by corruption came both Esther, the Persian queen, and our word star. And to waive all farther examples, a Mohammedan prince, at first named Eesouf or Joseph, was called Roushen Akhter when he was raised to the throne, which signifies a splendid or luminous star. This prince, by a joyful reverse of fortune, was brought from a gloomy prison and exalted to the throne of Hindostan; on which account the following couplet was made, in which there is a paronomasia or play on the name Roushen Akhter; and the last line alludes to the history of the patriarch Joseph, who was brought out of prison and exalted to the highest honours in Egypt. روشن اختر بود اکنون ماه شد یوسف از زندان برآمد شاه شد Roushen Akhter bood, aknoon mah shud: "He was a bright star, but is now become a moon. Joseph is brought out of prison, and is become a glorious king." Verse 20. Amalek was the first of the nations] The most ancient and most powerful of all the nations or states then within the view of Balaam; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever, or his posterity nacharitho, shall be destroyed, or shall utterly fail. This oracle began to be fulfilled by Saul, 1 Sam. xv. 7, 8, who overthrew the Amalekites, and took their king, Agag, prisoner. Afterwards they were nearly destroyed by David, 1 Sam. xxvii. 8, and they were finally exterminated by the sons of Simeon in the days of Hezekiah, 1 Chron. iv. 41-43; since that time they have ceased to exist as a people, and now no vestige of them remains on the face of the earth; so completely is their posterity cut off, according to this prophecy.. The marginal reading does not appear to give the proper sense. 698 and departs to his own place. 23 And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this! of 24 A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451.. An. Exod. Isr. 40. And ships shall come from the coast Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever. m 25 And Baalam rose up, and went and " returned to his place and Balak also went his way. Heb. Kain; Gen. xv. 19.- Or, how long shall it be ere Asshur carry thee away captive ?— Gen. x. 4; Dan. xi. 30. Gen, x. 21, 25. See chap. xxxi. 8. Verse 21. He looked on the Kenites] Commentators are not well agreed who the Kenites were. Dr. Dodd's opinion is, I think, nearest to the truth. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, is called a priest or prince of Midian, Exod. iii. 1, and in Judg. i. 16 he is called a Kenite; we may infer, therefore, says he, that the Kenites and the Midianites were the same. or at least that the Kenites and the Midianites were confederate tribes. Some of these we learn from Judg. i. followed the Israelites, others abode still among the latter, we find he had no commission against the the Midianites and Amalekites. When Saul destroyed Kenites, 1 Sam. xv. 6, for it appears that they were then a small and inconsiderable people; they had doubtless been wasted, as the text says, though by what means does not appear from history. On the other hand, it may be observed that the Midianites mentioned here lived close to the Dead Sea, at a great distance from the Midian where Jethro lived, which was near Horeb. Perhaps they were a colony or tribe that had migrated from the vicinity of Mount Sinai. It seems that at this time the Kenites occupied a very strong position: Strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock; where there is a play on the original word 'p, which signifies both a Kenite and a nest. High rocks in these countries were generally used as their strong places. Verse 22. Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.] The Assyrians and Babylonians who carried away captive the ten tribes, 2 Kings xvii. 6, and the Jews into Babylon, 2 Kings xxv., probably carried away the Kenites also. Indeed this seems pretty evident, as we find some Kenites mentioned among the Jews after their return from the Babylonish captivity, 1 Chron. ii. 55. Verse 23. Who shall live when God doeth this!] There are two senses in which these words may be taken;-1. That the event is so distant that none then alive.could possibly live to see it. 2. That the times would be so distressing and desolating that scarcely any should be able to escape. The words are very similar to those of our Lord, and probably are to be taken in the same sense: "Wo to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." Verse 24. Ships shall come from the coast of Chittim] Some think by Chittim the Romans, others the Macedonians under Alexander the Great, are meant. It is certain that the Romans did conquer the Assy |