Numberschapter 24
25 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Numbers Overview.
This chapter holds the last of Balaam's great oracles and the longest run of poetry in Numbers. The seer sets aside the tools of his trade, and the Spirit of God comes upon him. The chapter was kept for Israel on the eve of entering the land, as a record of what was said over them while they camped below. Listen for the pictures of gardens, trees and water. Listen for the old promise to Abraham turned back on the king who paid for a curse. Listen most closely for the star and the scepter, which Jewish and Christian readers took as a word about a coming king.
Context
- Who
- A people about to be described from the outside, by an enemy, as an orchard
- What
- Poetry in which Balaam speaks a fourth oracle of blessing over Israel and four short oracles about the nations.
- Where
- The top of Peor in Moab, looking down on Israel encamped tribe by tribe on the plains.
- When
- The fortieth year after the exodus, while Israel camped on the plains of Moab, about 1406 BC by the count of 1 Kings 6:1, or near 1230 BC on a later dating of the exodus.
- Why
- To place a promise of a coming ruler from Jacob on record, spoken by an outsider who was paid to curse.
Historical context
The speaker is still Balaam, and in this chapter he stops being a diviner. He gives up looking for omens, turns toward the wilderness, and the Spirit of God comes on him.
Show the rest of the historical context, 6 more paragraphs
The time and the place are those of chapter 23, the fortieth year, on the hills above the plains of Moab.
What he can see from the height is the camp lying tribe by tribe in the order set at Numbers 2. What he describes is what he can see.
The occasion is the last attempt of a client to get the service he paid for, and the chapter ends with the two men parting.
A first hearer knew that star and sceptre were both standard royal images across the ancient Near East, so the oracle of verse 17 announced a king in the ordinary language of kingship. He also knew the horizon the oracle set for itself, since verse 14 says the latter days before the words are spoken.
He knew the names in the closing oracles. Agag was a king of Amalek and the name returns at 1 Samuel 15:8. Kittim is Cyprus and by extension the seafaring west, and Asshur is Assyria, and neither was yet threatening Israel when these words were spoken.
Keil and Delitzsch note that the aloes of verse 6 are an eastern tree that did not grow in Moab, so the image was fetched from beyond the speaker's own country.
Significance
For a nation that had spent forty years being told what it had done wrong, hearing itself described as gardens beside a river was a reversal. The man saying it had been paid to curse them.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The star oracle gave Israel something to watch for. A king was coming out of these tents, and the man who announced it was a foreigner on a hired errand.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
Rashi keeps the verdict on Balaam running through the fourth oracle. He has Balaam give up the divination because "it is evident that He does not wish to curse them" (Rashi on Numbers 24:1:1). When Balaam lifts his eyes, Rashi holds that he "wished to cast the evil eye upon them" (Rashi on Numbers 24:2:1). He counts that with the pride and the greed he had already marked in the last chapter. At the words about falling with open eyes he gives the plain sense from the Targum, that God revealed himself only at night while Balaam lay on his bed. He then reports a midrashic reading beside it, that Balaam had no strength to stand and fell on his face (Rashi on Numbers 24:4:1).
The praise of the tents is read as praise of privacy. Rashi holds that Balaam said it "because he saw that the entrances of their tents were not exactly facing each other" (Rashi on Numbers 24:5:1, citing Bava Batra 60a). On the brooks of the sixth verse he records a rule the Rabbis drew from the whole speech. From the blessings of a wicked man "we may learn what was in his heart as regards cursing them" (Rashi on Numbers 24:6:1). Each blessing answers the curse he had meant to pronounce, which Rashi cites to Sanhedrin 105b.
The parting words are read as a man who knows what he has lost. Rashi notices that Balaam no longer says the Lord my God, as he had at the first embassy. The reason is that "he had now become conscious that he was regarded by the Holy One, blessed be He, as something vile" (Rashi on Numbers 24:13:1). On the words about going to his people Rashi has him say, "From now on, behold, I am like the rest of my people", since God had departed from him (Rashi on Numbers 24:14:1). Sforno reads the dismissal in the same key. The word Balak uses means the leaving of a place "because of fear of what might happen there in the future" (Sforno on Numbers 24:11:1, the Munk translation, CC-BY). Sforno holds that it carries no sense of flight from a pursuer. He also has Balaam remind Balak that he had told the messengers the matter "was not within my power" (Sforno on Numbers 24:12:1).
Ramban weighs what the fourth oracle claims for itself. He notes that Balaam adds knowledge of the Most High to the hearing and the seeing he had claimed before. To know the knowledge of a person is to understand what is in his heart, even what he does not say aloud. So Balaam claims to say what God intends "to do in His world at the end of all days" (Ramban on Numbers 24:15:1, the Chavel translation, CC-BY). Ramban also holds that this oracle came by the spirit of God, as the third did, although Scripture does not say so here. Rashi takes the same phrase more narrowly. To know the mind of the Most High is to know the precise moment when God is angry (Rashi on Numbers 24:16:1, citing Sanhedrin 105b).
The star and the sceptre are read by Rashi as a greatness held back in time. He glosses the seeing of the seventeenth verse in Balaam's own words, "I see the preeminence of Jacob and his greatness" (Rashi on Numbers 24:17:1). Rashi adds that the greatness "will be after some time" rather than in Balaam's own day. He reads the last oracles as history still to come. Amalek is seen in the retribution owed to him (Rashi on Numbers 24:20:1). The Kenites are named next because they lived near Amalek, and Rashi reads the greatness of the sons of Jethro in them (Rashi on Numbers 24:21:1). The exile of the Ten Tribes is the removal in view at the twenty-second verse. Sennacherib of Assyria is the one who confuses the nations at the twenty-third. The ships of Chittim of the twenty-fourth are read as the Romans (Rashi on Numbers 24:22:1 to 24:24:1).
The corpus carries no linked commentary at all on this chapter. Every entry it holds is a kept text, and the commentators it carries here are Rashi, Sforno and Ramban.
A Christian reader should see where the readings part. Rashi keeps the star and the sceptre inside the history of Israel and its neighbours, and dates the greatness later than Balaam's own day without naming a person. This site carries a christIn entry titled "A Star out of Jacob" on Numbers 24:17, in src/components/book/dossier-content/numbers.ts, which reads the verse of Christ. The commentators here are reported in their own terms, and their reading of the last oracles as Assyria and Rome is theirs rather than a Christian one.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. Twenty-nine of them are midrashic and eleven are Talmudic. Bamidbar Rabbah stands at 2:4, 2:13, 12:14, 14:20, 20:6, 20:10 and 20:20. Midrash Aggadah stands at Numbers 24:1:1, 24:10:1, 24:18:1, 24:18:2, 24:20:1 and 24:23:1. Ein Yaakov in the Glick Edition stands at Sanhedrin 11:92 and 11:96, Berakhot 2:6, Nedarim 11:1 and Rosh Hashanah 1:3, and Ein Yaakov at Niddah 3:9, Nedarim 11:1 and Gittin 7:4.
The rest of the midrashic locators sit in five works. Aggadat Bereshit stands at 11:2, 20:2 and 82:2. Bereshit Rabbati stands at Parashat Vayechi 18 and Parashat Lech Lecha 22. Bereshit Rabbah stands at 66:4, Esther Rabbah at 7:9, and Midrash Lekach Tov at Numbers 24:24:1. The Talmudic locators follow the same verses. Avot DeRabbi Natan stands at 1:4, 2:5 and 29:4, with Recension B at 23:4 and 45:2. Avodah Zarah stands at 4b:1 and 4b:4, Berakhot at 12b:16 and 16a:1, and Gittin at 68b:14, with the Jerusalem Talmud at Beitzah 5:2:8. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text, because the corpus holds these locators without it.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Numbers 24:1:1 to 24:24:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary translated by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain; Ramban, Ramban on Numbers 24:15:1, the Commentary on the Torah translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel, New York, Shilo Publishing House, 1971 to 1976, CC-BY; Sforno, Sforno on Numbers 24:11:1 and 24:12:1, the HaChut Hameshulash translation by Eliyahu Munk, CC-BY; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/numbers/24.json, the 29 Midrash and 11 Talmud locators of this chapter, fetched 2026-09-19; MannaFest, src/components/book/dossier-content/numbers.ts, for the christIn entry on the star out of Jacob at Numbers 24:17.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob
Numbers 24:1-2
Twice before, Balaam went off to meet omens, at 23:3 and 23:15, but here he did not resort to sorcery as on previous occasions, since 23:23 had told him there is no spell against Jacob. He sees Israel encamped tribe by tribe, and the Spirit of God came upon him. Matthew Henry sets this beside 1 Samuel 19:23, where the same words fall on Saul.
Numbers 24:1
“He did not now retire into a solitary place as before, but set his face directly towards the wilderness where Israel lay encamped; and, since there is no remedy, but they must be blessed, he will design nothing else, but will submit by compulsion. Now the Spirit of God came upon him, that is, the Spirit of prophecy, as upon Saul to prevent him from taking David, 1 Sam. xix.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Numbers 24:1
“He went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments - We have already had occasion to observe that the proper meaning of the word נחש nachash is not easily ascertained; see Num 21:9 (note), and Gen 3:1 (note). Here the plural נחשים nechashim is rendered enchantments; but it probably means no more than the knowledge of future events.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the spirit of God came upon him: John Calvin holds that the Spirit turned Balaam's eyes toward the camp before he spoke, so that the prophecy would bear on a people actually before him. Calvin traces even the look to God. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that before the prophets held a settled office, God spoke through various men. Balaam was one of them.
Numbers 24:2
“It is said, then, that the Spirit of God was upon him, not as if it had begun to inspire him at that particular moment when he cast his eyes upon the camp of Israel; but because it prompted him to look in that direction, in order that the impulse of prophecy might be stronger in him, as respecting a thing actually before his eyes.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
Numbers 24:3-4
The oracle opens with a formula repeated at verse 15, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open. Verse 4 joins hearing the words of God with bowing down, and the King James supplies into a trance where the Hebrew leaves the state unnamed, over which Adam Clarke and Keil and Delitzsch differ. Yet 2 Peter 2:15 says this accurate reporter loved the wages of wickedness.
Numbers 24:3
“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 שתם 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, גלה galah, which signifies to open or reveal.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 24:3
“Whose eyes are open - Hebrew. Who had his eyes shut, but now open. The eyes of his mind, which God had opened in a peculiar and prophetical manner, whence prophets are called Seers, 1 Sam. ix, 9.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Albert Barnes reads the falling as the force of inspiration overpowering the seer. He compares Saul at 1 Samuel 19:24, where the word of God prevailed only by first subduing a resisting will. He falls, yet his eyes stay open. Matthew Henry adds that many have their eyes open whose hearts stay shut, enlightened without being sanctified.
Numbers 24:4
“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. נפל nophel is the only word used, and simply signifies falling, or falling down, perhaps in this instance by way of religious prostration.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 24:4
“The vision - So called properly, because he was awake when this was revealed to him: A trance - Or, extasy, fainting and falling upon the ground, as the prophets used to do.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 24:5-6
The man hired to curse supplies the opening of the Jewish morning prayer Mah Tovu: How lovely are your tents, O Jacob. The four pictures of verse 6 are all water and growth in dry country, and only aloes the LORD has planted names a planter. Keil and Delitzsch identify the aloes as an eastern tree that did not grow in Moab.
Numbers 24:5
“How goodly are thy tents, . . . O Israel!--a fine burst of admiration, expressed in highly poetical strains. All travellers describe the beauty which the circular area of Bedouin tents impart to the desert.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Adam Clarke notes that the Hebrew word for aloes is the word used for tents in verse 5, so the camp and the trees share a name. Albert Barnes hears Genesis 2:8 in the LORD has planted, where God planted the garden in Eden. The camp looks like a planted garden. Barnes sets the gardens beside a stream on Balaam's own Euphrates.
Numbers 24:6
“Lign aloes which the Lord hath planted - Or, as the tents which the Lord hath pitched; for it is the same word, אהלים 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 24:6
“As the valleys--Hebrew, "brooks," the watercourses of the mountains. lign aloes--an aromatic shrub on the banks of his native Euphrates, the conical form of which suggested an apt resemblance to a tent.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Israel has no king anywhere in Numbers, and this line gives him one greater than Agag, a name that returns at 1 Samuel 15:8. Whether Agag is one man's name or a title of Amalek's kings is disputed, and Adam Clarke sets out both readings, while the Septuagint reads Gog. Water from his buckets and seed with abundant water picture numerous offspring.
Numbers 24:7
“Balaam’s native soil was ordinarily irrigated by water fetched from the neighboring Euphrates, and carried in buckets suspended from the two ends of a pole. Thus the metaphor would import that Israel should have his own exuberant and unfailing channels of blessing and plenty. Some take the word to be predictive of the future benefits which, through the means of Israel, were to accrue to the rest of the world.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 24:7
“Than Agag - Than the King of the Amalekites, which King and people were famous and potent in that age, as may be guessed by their bold attempt upon so numerous a people as Israel. And it is probable, that Agag was the common name of the Amalekitish Kings, as Abimelech was of the Philistines, and Pharaoh of the Egyptians, and Caesar of the Romans.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 24:8-9
Verse 8 repeats 23:22 with one change, God brought him out, so the nation is spoken of as one man. He lies down like a lion echoes Jacob's word over Judah at Genesis 49:9. Verse 9 closes with the promise to Abram at Genesis 12:3, so the man Balak paid to curse pronounces cursed are those who curse you.
Numbers 24:8
The oracle in the previously quoted prophecy, in saying that the Lord would come into Egypt, foretold the journey of our Lord Jesus Christ when he went into Egypt with his parents. Here we have the prophecy of his return from Egypt in its natural order, when he came back with his parents into the land of Israel, in the words "God led him out of Egypt."
Eusebius of Caesarea · written before 339 · PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 8.3patristic
Matthew Henry cites Bishop Patrick's remark that a lion sleeps in the open, since no creature dares to disturb it. Henry applies it to Israel settled in Canaan, above all under David and Solomon. John Wesley reads the lying down as rest after conquest. The question who dares to rouse him is aimed at Balak himself.
Numbers 24:9
“He couched, he lay down as a lion, etc. - See the original terms explained Num 23:24 (note). These oracles, delivered by Balaam, are evident prophecies of the victories which the Israelites should gain over their enemies, and of their firm possession of the promised land. They may also refer to the great victories to be obtained by the Lord Jesus Christ, that Lion of the tribe of Judah, over sin, death, and Satan, the grand enemies of the human race; and to that most numerous posterity of spiritual children which should be begotten by the preaching of the Gospel.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Balak's anger and Balaam's warning
Numbers 24:10-11
Balak struck his hands together, a gesture of scorn at Job 27:23. His complaint counts three, the number the donkey had put to Balaam at 22:28. Then he says the LORD has denied your reward, which names the fee openly and lays its loss on God.
Flee at once is the language of dismissal. John Wesley paraphrases the taunt: Balaam had preferred the LORD's commands, so let him seek his pay from the LORD. Matthew Henry notes that people who lose by their duty are often mocked as fools. Had Balaam obeyed willingly, Henry says, God would have made up the loss.
Numbers 24:11
Lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honor - A bitter and impious sarcasm. “Hadst thou cursed this people, I would have promoted thee to great honor; but thou hast chosen to follow the directions of Jehovah rather than mine, and what will he do for thee?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 24:12-14
Balaam quotes himself from 22:18 closely but not exactly, now saying the command of the LORD and adding of my own accord. He kept that word, and 2 Peter 2:15 still says he loved the wages of wickedness. He offers to warn Balak what this people will do to your people in the days to come, and 31:16 reports the counsel he actually left behind.
his house full of silver and gold: Balaam's defence rests on his first answer. Matthew Henry reads the verse as a fair excuse, since Balaam had warned Balak of the check he was under, and the king could not say he had been cheated. Henry names the double pressure on him: God held back what Balaam wished to say and made him say what he did not wish.
Readers divide over one word here. Albert Barnes takes let me warn you as a pointer to the prophecy that follows. Matthew Henry reads it as counsel, the private advice that 31:16 later exposes. Henry also hears comfort offered to Balak, since what Israel would do to Moab lay in days to come, beyond his own lifetime.
Numbers 24:14
“What the counsel was is not set down here, because it was given privately, but we are told afterwards what it was, ch. xxxi. He counselled him to entice the Israelites to idolatry, Rev. ii. Since he could not have leave from God to curse them, he puts him in a way of getting help from the devil to tempt them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
A star shall come out of Jacob
Numbers 24:15-16
The fourth oracle repeats the opening of verse 3 and adds one line, who has knowledge from the Most High. Most High is El Elyon, the name Melchizedek used at Genesis 14:18-20 and Abram took up at 14:22. Calvin reads such a gift as given without sanctifying its bearer, and 31:8 bears him out.
Numbers 24:15
“The man whose eyes are open - See on Num 24:3 (note). It seems strange that our version should have fallen into such a mistake as to render שתם shethum, 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 24:15
“One day we had before us the book of Numbers written by Moses, and [Fabiola] modestly questioned me as to the meaning of the great mass of names there to be found. Why was it, she inquired, that single tribes were differently associated in this passage and in that, how came it to be that the soothsayer Balaam, in prophesying of the future mysteries of Christ, spoke more plainly of him than almost any other prophet? I replied as best I could and tried to satisfy her inquiries.”
Jerome · written before 420 · LETTER 77.7patristic
Albert Barnes notes that the one added line, knowledge from the Most High, marks what follows as weightier and more plainly predictive than the earlier oracles. Jerome records a student asking him why the soothsayer Balaam spoke of Christ more plainly than almost any other prophet. The preface prepares for the star of verse 17.
Numbers 24:16
“And knew, the knowledge of the Most High - With the addition of these words, which point to the greater importance and the more distinctly predictive character of what follows, the introduction to this last parable is the same as the introduction to the preceding parable.”
Balaam speaks of one man, I see him, but not now, and his scepter is the word of Genesis 49:10. Targum Onkelos reads a king from Jacob and the Messiah from Israel, as John Gill cites, and Rabbi Akiva named Simon bar Kosiba Bar Kokhba, son of the star. Revelation 22:16 calls Christ the bright Morning Star without quoting this verse.
Numbers 24:17
Although it was a gift of divine favor that the birth of the Savior should become recognizable to the nations, nevertheless, to understand the wonder of the sign, the wise men were also able to be reminded through the ancient pronouncements of Balaam, for they knew that it had at one time been spread abroad in a famous and memorable prediction: "A star will appear out of Jacob, and a man will rise up from Israel. He will rule over the nations."
Leo the Great · written before 461 · SERMON 34.2patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 24:17
“A star - A title often given to, princes and eminent persons, and particularly to the Messiah, Rev. ii, 28; xxii, 16. A scepter - That is, a scepter-bearer, a king or ruler, even that scepter mentioned Gen. xlix, 10. The corners - The borders, which are often used in scripture for the whole country to which they belong.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 24:17
“THIS prophecy may have some reference to David, but we feel persuaded that the true design of the Holy Spirit is to set forth an emblem of our Lord Jesus Christ. All Nature, above as well as around us, is laid under contribution to set forth our Lord. All the flowers of the field and many of the beasts of the plain—and now the very orbs of Heaven—are turned into metaphors and symbols by which the Glory of Jesus may be manifested to us! Where God takes such pains to teach, we ought to be at pains to learn.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3343: “'The Star Out of Jacob'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Connections2 Samuel 7:12, Genesis 49:10, Matthew 2:2, Revelation 22:16
Numbers 24:18-19
Edom and Seir are Esau's country, and 2 Samuel 8:14 records David placing garrisons throughout Edom. Verse 19 says A ruler will come from Jacob without naming him, and readers divide between David and a later figure, since verse 14 set the oracle in the days to come. Keil and Delitzsch hold both horizons together.
Numbers 24:18
“A possession - Which was also foretold, Gen. xxv, 23, and in part fulfilled, 2 Sam. viii, 14; 1 Chron. xviii, 13, but more fully by Christ, Amos ix, 12 Obad. i, 18, who shall subdue and possess all his enemies; here signified by the name of Edom, as Jacob or Israel, his brother, signifies all his church and people.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 24:18
“And Edom shall be a possession - That is, to David: as it is said: “And all they of Edom became David’s servants;” 2Sa 8:14. 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;” Oba 1:21. See Ainsworth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Albert Barnes takes the survivors of the city as the fugitives who escaped the battle and were then hunted down in every town. He compares 1 Kings 11:16, where Joab stayed in Edom until every male was killed. John Wesley reads the city as a singular standing for all the cities. The pursuit reaches the strongest places.
Numbers 24:19
“Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion,.... Meaning either David, or rather the Messiah; and so Jarchi interprets this of another ruler out of Jacob, even of the Messiah, of whom it is said, he shall have dominion from sea to sea; Psa 72:8, and shall destroy him, that remaineth of the city; chief city of Edom, or of any of the cities of it, signifying that there should be none left, see Oba 1:18, this is also applied to the days of the Messiah, in the ancient writings of the Jews (q). (q) Bemidbar Rabba, fol.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 24:19
“Destroy him that remaineth of the city - i. e., shall destroy those of every city that had previously escaped. The phrase tersely describes a conqueror who first defeats his enemies in battle, and then hunts out the fugitives until he has cut off all of every place (compare 1Ki 11:16). The victories of David were a partial accomplishment of the predictions Num 24:14, Num 24:18, but did not exhaust them.”
Amalek, the Kenite, and ships from Kittim
Numbers 24:20-22
Amalek was first among the nations, though Genesis 36:12 makes Amalek a grandson of Esau, so the older commentators read first in the attack of Exodus 17:8. At 1 Samuel 15:6 the Amalekites and Kenites meet on one day. Your nest is set in a cliff plays on the Kenites' name, and Asshur's captivity is the Assyrian deportation.
Numbers 24:20
“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 אחריתו acharitho, shall be destroyed, or shall utterly fail. This oracle began to be fulfilled by Saul, 1Sa 15:7, 1Sa 15:8, who overthrew the Amalekites, and took their king, Agag, prisoner.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 24:20
“In the book also, which is titled On Numbers, Scripture says: 'The beginning of the nations is Amalek, and his seed shall perish' (Num. XXIV, 20). And indeed, Amalek is not the first of all nations; but because by interpretation Amalek is taken to mean the king of the wicked, and the wicked are the nations: beware lest we should take the prince of this world, who commands the nations doing his will, whose seed shall perish.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · The Six Days of Creationpatristic
Numbers 24:20
“He looked on Amalek - From the top of Pisgah, which was exceeding high, and gave him the prospect of part of all these kingdoms. The first - Hebrew. the firstfruits; so called either, because they were the first of all the neighbouring nations which were embodied together in one government: or, because he was the first who fought against Israel and was vanquished by them.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Albert Barnes notes that the Kenites first appear at Genesis 15:19, among the peoples whose land was promised to Abraham. He argues that they were of Midianite descent, through Abraham's wife Keturah. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown place their rock dwelling in the high clefts of En-gedi. Few places were safer.
Numbers 24:21
“Thy nest - Thy dwelling-place, so called, either because it was in an high place, as nests commonly are: or in allusion to their name, for ken in Hebrew signifies a nest.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Albert Barnes reads the line as a promise of long safety, that the Kenites would not be destroyed until Asshur came. He points to Numbers 10:32 and Jeremiah 35:19 for their lasting place beside Israel. Adam Clarke notes that Kenites appear among the returned exiles at 1 Chronicles 2:55. They outlived the captivity.
Numbers 24:22
“Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive - The Assyrians and Babylonians who carried away captive the ten tribes, 2Ki 17:6, and the Jews into Babylon, 2 Kings 25, 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, 1Ch 2:55.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 24:23-25
The last oracle names nobody for the ships, only the coasts of Cyprus, which the Hebrew calls Kittim, as at Daniel 11:30. Who Eber stands for is disputed, the ancestor of the Hebrews at Genesis 10:21 or the land beyond the river, and Albert Barnes and Keil and Delitzsch differ. Balaam arose and returned to his homeland, and next appears at 31:8.
Numbers 24:23
“When God doeth this - The eventual carrying away of the allies of Israel by Assyria presented itself to Balaam as the ruin of all peace and safety upon earth. One prediction was howerer, yet wanting, and is next given, namely, that the conquerors of the Kenites should fare no better than the Kenites themselves.”
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the ships as the Greeks under Alexander and then the Romans. They take the last line of those conquerors themselves. John Wesley closes with a remark on the whole series: Balaam, hired to curse Israel, ends by cursing Amalek, its first enemy, and Rome, its last.
Numbers 24:24
“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 Assyrians, including all the people of Syria, Mesopotamia, etc., but Calmet strongly contends that by Chittim Macedonia is meant, and that the prophecy refers to the conquests of Alexander. Chittim was one of the sons of Javan, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah, Gen 10:4; and his posterity, according to Josephus, Antiq., 1. iii., c.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 24:24
“Eber - The posterity of Eber, the Hebrew, who were the chief and flower of Eber's children. He also - Not the Hebrew: they shall have a better end; all Israel shall be saved; but the afflicter or scourge of Ashur and Eber, namely, the Grecian and Roman empire.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 24:24
“The Assyrians were themselves to be overthrown--first, by the Greeks under Alexander the Great and his successors; secondly, by the Romans. Eber--the posterity of the Hebrews (Ge 10:24). he also shall perish--that is, the conqueror of Asher and Eber, namely, the Greek and Roman empires.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The commentators differ over where Balaam went. John Wesley says he set out for Mesopotamia and later came back to the Midianites with the counsel carried out in chapter 25. Albert Barnes takes his place to be among the Midianites, where he plotted by new means and died in his sin, as 31:8 and 31:16 record.
Numbers 24:25
“Returned to his own place - i. e., among the Midianites to plot by new means against the people of God, and to perish in his sin Num 31:8, Num 31:16; Rev 2:14.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 24:25
“To his place - To Mesopotamia; tho' afterwards he returned to the Midianites, and gave them that devilish counsel which was put in practice, chap. xxv, 16-18.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Oracle poetry, the fourth and last cycle with four short oracles appended, as Keil and Delitzsch classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The oracle of Balaam son of Beor | The preamble at verses 3 and 4 is repeated word for word at verses 15 and 16, with one line added the second time, that he knew the knowledge of the Most High. The formula names the speaker and calls him the man whose eyes are open. | Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:4, Numbers 24:15, Numbers 24:16 |
| The camp as an orchard | Verse 6 gives four pictures in a row and all four are of water and growth in dry country. Valleys stretched out, gardens beside a river, aloes planted by the LORD and cedars beside the waters. The one picture with a planter named in it is the trees, and Psalm 1:3 keeps the same figure. | Numbers 24:5, Numbers 24:6 |
| A star out of Jacob, a sceptre out of Israel | Verse 17 pairs two royal images that were both standard across the ancient Near East. The sceptre is the word of Genesis 49:10, where it does not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. The two lines say one thing twice. | Numbers 24:17 |
| The roll of the nations | Verses 18 to 24 sweep across Edom and Seir, Amalek, the Kenites, Asshur and ships from Kittim. Kittim is Cyprus and by extension the seafaring west, and Asshur is Assyria, powers that were not yet threatening Israel when the words were spoken. | Numbers 24:18, Numbers 24:20, Numbers 24:21, Numbers 24:24 |
The chapter turns on what Balaam stops doing. He had gone off to watch for omens twice, and the men who fetched him carried the fees for divination at 22:7. Here he turns his face toward the wilderness and the Spirit of God comes on him. Matthew Henry sets that beside 1 Samuel 19:23, where the same words fall on Saul while Saul is hunting David.
10 more paragraphs on the patterns
What he praises is what he can see, and the military formation of Numbers 2 seen from a hilltop looked like an orchard. Keil and Delitzsch identify the aloes of verse 6 as an eastern tree that did not grow in Moab, so the image is fetched from beyond the speaker's own country.
Verse 8 repeats the opening of the third oracle at 23:22 with one change. That God brought them out becomes that God brought him out, so the nation is spoken of as a single man. Couched as a lion is the word Jacob spoke over Judah at Genesis 49:9, and it arrives here from a seer fetched out of Aram.
The New Testament's use
Revelation 22:16 gives Christ the title of the bright morning star without quoting this verse. The reading of the star of Matthew 2 as the fulfilment of verse 17 is held by named writers, among them Matthew Henry and Adam Clarke. The New Testament itself does not state it, and this row keeps that distinction.
2 Peter 2:15 describes the man who speaks these words as one who loved the wages of unrighteousness, which is the New Testament's verdict on the speaker rather than on the oracle.
The debated point
Who the star and the sceptre are is the chapter's standing question, and the dossier for this book reads verse 17 as messianic. Targum Onkelos is the Aramaic rendering of the Torah read in the synagogue from the early centuries. It gives the line as a king arising out of Jacob and the Messiah anointed from Israel, which John Gill cites. In the second century Rabbi Akiva applied the verse to Simon bar Kosiba and named him Bar Kokhba, son of the star. The immediate horizon is a king who would crush Moab and Edom, which David did, and 2 Samuel 8:14 records him putting garrisons throughout Edom. Keil and Delitzsch hold that both horizons stand together in the same words, and the text supplies no date of its own.
Three smaller points stand beside it. Agag at verse 7 is read either as one man's name, which returns at 1 Samuel 15:8, or as a standing title carried by Amalek's kings, and Adam Clarke sets out both. The Septuagint has Gog in this verse where the Hebrew has Agag, and the older commentators divide over which stands behind the other. The children of Sheth at verse 17 are read either as the line of Seth in Genesis 4:25, which would make the phrase mean all mankind, or as the sons of tumult. The King James takes the second sense at the parallel line in Jeremiah 48:45.
Where to go deeper
Balaam is owed a feature page, and this row carries the full presentation until it stands. The camp he was describing is set out at the wilderness generation. The road that brought him is set out at Balaam's donkey.
Keep studying
Studies5
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on Numbers 24:14 and Keil and Delitzsch.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; Jerome, LETTER 77.7; John Calvin; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry.