Numbers 23:14
in Numbers 23So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.
KJV
And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
⋯
This verse in Numbers 23
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The field of Zophim - Or, “of watchers.” It lay upon the top of Pisgah, north of the former station, and nearer to the Israelite camp; the greater part of which was, however, probably concealed from it by an intervening spur of the hill. Beyond the camp Balaam’s eye would pass on to the bed of the Jordan. It was perhaps a lion coming up in his strength from the swelling of that stream (compare Jer 49:19) that furnished him with the augury he awaited, and so dictated the final similitude of his next parable.
This site's exposition
Please come with me to another place
on Numbers 23:13-15
Balak's remedy is a smaller view, the outskirts of their camp, on the theory that a smaller sight yields a smaller word. Albert Barnes renders the field of Zophim as the field of watchers, a lookout on Pisgah.
This site's exposition
to the field of Zophim
A second set of seven altars goes up. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown describe the field as flat cultivated land on the summit of the range. Matthew Henry asks readers to seek a blessing as earnestly as Balak sought a curse, and to grudge neither the charge nor the labour.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And he brought him into the field of Zophim,....
Were we thus earnest to obtain the blessing as Balak was to procure a curse (designedly upon Israel, but really upon himself and his people), we should not grudge the return both of the charge and of the labour of religious exercises.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Rise up--As Balak was already standing (Nu 23:17), this expression is equivalent to "now attend to me." The counsels and promises of God respecting Israel are unchangeable; and no attempt to prevail on Him to reverse them will succeed, as they may with a man.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּקָּחֵ֙הוּ֙ | vaiyikachehu | and he took him | H3947 → | 966 times |
| שְׂדֵ֣ה | sedeh | [the] field of | H7704 → | 334 times |
| צֹפִ֔ים | tzofim | Zophim | H6839 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| רֹ֖אשׁ | rosh | [the] top of | H7218 → | 599 times |
| הַפִּסְגָּ֑ה | hapisgah | <the> Pisgah | H6449 → | |
| וַיִּ֙בֶן֙ | vaiyiven | and he built | H1129 → | 376 times |
| שִׁבְעָ֣ה | shivah | seven | H7651 → | 394 times |
| מִזְבְּחֹ֔ת | mizbechot | altars | H4196 → | 401 times |
| וַיַּ֛עַל | vaiyaal | and he offered up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| פָּ֥ר | par | a young bull | H6499 → | 132 times |
| וָאַ֖יִל | vaayil | and a ram | H352 → | 187 times |
| בַּמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃ | bamizbeach | on the altar | H4196 → | 401 times |
וַיִּקָּחֵ֙הוּ֙and he took him
vaiyikachehuH3947 →966 times
שְׂדֵ֣ה[the] field of
sedehH7704 →334 times
צֹפִ֔יםZophim
tzofimH6839 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
רֹ֖אשׁ[the] top of
roshH7218 →599 times
הַפִּסְגָּ֑ה<the> Pisgah
hapisgahH6449 →
וַיִּ֙בֶן֙and he built
vaiyivenH1129 →376 times
שִׁבְעָ֣הseven
shivahH7651 →394 times
מִזְבְּחֹ֔תaltars
mizbechotH4196 →401 times
וַיַּ֛עַלand he offered up
vaiyaalH5927 →890 times
פָּ֥רa young bull
parH6499 →132 times
וָאַ֖יִלand a ram
vaayilH352 →187 times
בַּמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃on the altar
bamizbeachH4196 →401 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 3:27Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
it leads to
- Numbers 27:12
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range and see the land that I have given the Israelites.
- Deuteronomy 34:1–4
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho. And the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead as far as Dan,
- Numbers 27:12
Through
Hosea 12:11Is there iniquity in Gilead? They will surely come to nothing. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones in the furrows of the field.
it leads to
- Hosea 4:15
Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
- Hosea 6:8
Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with footprints of blood.
- Hosea 8:11
Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.
- Hosea 9:15
All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them from My house for the wickedness of their deeds. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are…
- Hosea 10:1
Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.
- Hosea 4:15
Through
Isaiah 46:6They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
it leads to
- Acts 17:29
Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.
- Acts 17:29
Where this verse is studied
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.