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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Numbers 23 Matthew Poole's Commentary</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/poole/numbers/231.htm" /><link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cardo&subset=greek-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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Balak is troubled: they go to another place to curse them: they sacrifice again: Balaam consults God, who meets him, and he again blesses Israel, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/context/numbers/23-11.htm" title="And Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have blessed them altogether....">Numbers 23:11-21</a></span>. They go to a third place, and sacrifice again, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/context/numbers/23-27.htm" title="And Balak said to Balaam, Come, I pray you, I will bring you to another place; peradventure it will please God that you may curse me them from there....">Numbers 23:27-30</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> The altars were either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. To Baal, in whose high places this was done and to whom alone Balak used to sacrifice. Or rather, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. To the true God, otherwise he would not have mentioned it to God as an argument why he should grant his requests, as he doth <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/23-4.htm" title="And God met Balaam: and he said to him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.">Numbers 23:4</a></span>. And though Balak was averse from God and his worship, yet he would be easily overruled by Balaam, who doubtless told him that it was in vain to make an address to any other than the God of Israel, who alone was able either to bless or curse them, as he pleased. And therefore when Balaam lost his design this way he tried it another way with greater success, but still used to the same method, in provoking their own God to destroy the Israelites, <span class="bld"> Num 25</span>. But though he direct his sacrifices to the right object, he chooseth a wrong place, and, to comply with Balak’s desire, makes use of the high places of Baal for this end, and mingles his own superstitions with the worship of God, in erecting divers altars, according to the manner of heathens and idolators, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/2_kings/18-22.htm" title="But if you say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?">2 Kings 18:22</a> <a href="/isaiah/17-8.htm" title="And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.">Isaiah 17:8</a> <a href="/jeremiah/11-13.htm" title="For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.">Jeremiah 11:13</a> <a href="/hosea/8-11.htm" title="Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars shall be to him to sin.">Hosea 8:11</a> 10:1 12:11</span>; whereas God appointed and holy men used but one altar, though many sacrifices were to be offered upon it, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/8-20.htm" title="And Noah built an altar to the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.">Genesis 8:20</a> <a href="/exodus/17-15.htm" title="And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:">Exodus 17:15</a> 24:4</span>. Seven was the solemn and usual number in sacrifices, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/1_chronicles/15-26.htm" title="And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams.">1 Chronicles 15:26</a> <a href="/2_chronicles/29-21.htm" title="And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.">2 Chronicles 29:21</a> <a href="/job/42-8.htm" title="Therefore take to you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that you have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.">Job 42:8</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-2.htm">Numbers 23:2</a></div><div class="verse">And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on <i>every</i> altar a bullock and a ram.</div> Balak by procuring them and Balaam by offering them; through in ancient times kings’ were priests also, and so might perform a priestly work, as this was. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-3.htm">Numbers 23:3</a></div><div class="verse">And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place.</div> <span class="bld">By thy burnt-offering; </span> as in God’s presence, as one that offers thyself its well as thy sacrifices to obtain his favour. <span class="ital">I will go</span> to some solitary and convenient place, where I may by my enchantments prevail with God to appear to me, and to answer thy and my desires in cursing this people. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Whatsoever he showeth me, </span> i.e. reveals to me, either by word or sign. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">To an high place; </span> or, <span class="ital">into the plain</span>, as that word properly signifies, for he was now in a high place, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/22-4.htm" title="And Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.">Numbers 22:4</a></span>. But this is not material, it was doubtless some solitary place, where he might use some gestures and ceremonies which he would not have others see, and where he might more reasonably expect to meet with God; for both good and evil spirits most commonly appeared to persons in such places. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-4.htm">Numbers 23:4</a></div><div class="verse">And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon <i>every</i> altar a bullock and a ram.</div> <span class="bld">God met Balaam, </span> not to comply with Balaam’s charms, nor to gratify, but to oppose, his wicked desires, and to fierce him against his own inclination and interest to utter the following words. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">A bullock and a ram, </span> which I pray thee accept, and give me leave to curse thy people, as their abundant wickedness deserves. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-5.htm">Numbers 23:5</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.</div> He suggested what he should say, even those words, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/context/numbers/23-8.htm" title="How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD has not defied?...">Numbers 23:8-10</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-6.htm">Numbers 23:6</a></div><div class="verse">And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-7.htm">Numbers 23:7</a></div><div class="verse">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, <i>saying</i>, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.</div> <span class="bld">He took up, </span> to wit, into his mouth; he expressed or spoke. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">His parable, </span> i.e. his oracular and prophetical speech; which he calls <span class="ital">a parable</span>, because of the weightiness of the matter, and the majesty and smartness of the expressions which is usual in parables. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">From Aram; </span> from <span class="ital">Aram</span>, Naharaim, or Mesopotamia, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/23-4.htm" title="Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.">Deu 23:4</a></span>. See <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/10-22.htm" title="The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.">Genesis 10:22</a></span>. Aram lay <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">towards the mountains of the east:</span> the east was infamous for charmers or soothsayers, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/isaiah/2-6.htm" title="Therefore you have forsaken your people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.">Isaiah 2:6</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Jacob; </span> the posterity of Jacob, i.e. Israel, as it here follows. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-8.htm">Numbers 23:8</a></div><div class="verse">How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, <i>whom</i> the LORD hath not defied?</div> God hath not cursed, but blessed Israel, and therefore it is a vain and ridiculous attempt for me to curse them in spite of God. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-9.htm">Numbers 23:9</a></div><div class="verse">For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.</div> <span class="bld">From the top of the rocks, </span> upon which I now stand, I see the people, according to thy desire, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/22-41.htm" title="And it came to pass on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal, that there he might see the utmost part of the people.">Numbers 22:41</a></span>, but cannot improve that sight to the end for which thou didst design it, to wit, to curse them. This people are of a distinct kind from others, God’s peculiar people, separated from all other nations, as in religion and laws, also in Divine protection; and therefore my enchantments cannot have that power against them which they have against other persons and people. See <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/19-5.htm" title="Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people: for all the earth is mine:">Exodus 19:5</a> <a href="/leviticus/20-21.htm" title="And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.">Leviticus 20:21</a>,26</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-10.htm">Numbers 23:10</a></div><div class="verse">Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth <i>part</i> of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!</div> <span class="bld">The dust of Jacob, </span> i.e. the numberless people of Jacob or Israel, who, according to God’s promise; <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/13-16.htm" title="And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered.">Genesis 13:16</a> 28:14</span>, are now become as the dust of the earth. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Of the fourth part of Israel, </span> i.e. of one of the camps of Israel; for they were divided into four camps, <span class="bld"> Num 2</span>, which Balaam from this height could easily discover; much less can any man number all their host. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Of the righteous, </span> i.e. of his righteous and holy people, the Israelites, called <span class="ital">Jehesurun</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/32-15.htm" title="But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: you are waxen fat, you are grown thick, you are covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.">Deu 32:15</a></span>, which word signifies <span class="ital">upright</span> or <span class="ital">righteous</span>. The sense is, they are not only happy above other nations in this life, as I have said, and therefore in vain should I curse them, but they have this peculiar privilege, that they are happy after death; their happiness begins where the happiness of other people ends; and therefore I heartily wish that my soul may have its portion with theirs when I die. But it was a vain wish; for as he would not live as God’s people did, so he died by the sword, as others of God’s enemies did, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/31-8.htm" title="And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.">Numbers 31:8</a> <a href="/joshua/13-22.htm" title="Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them.">Joshua 13:22</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">My last end, </span> i.e. my death, as the word is used. Or, <span class="ital">my posterity</span>, as this Hebrew word signifies, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/psalms/119-13.htm" title="With my lips have I declared all the judgments of your mouth.">Psalm 119:13</a> <a href="/daniel/11-4.htm" title="And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.">Daniel 11:4</a> <a href="/amos/4-2.htm" title="The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness, that, see, the days shall come on you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.">Amos 4:2</a></span>. And as the covenant and blessing of God given to Abraham did reach to his posterity, so this might not be unknown to Balaam, which might give him occasion for this wish. Or, <span class="ital">my reward</span>, as the word is taken, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/proverbs/23-18.htm" title="For surely there is an end; and your expectation shall not be cut off.">Proverbs 23:18</a> 24:20</span>. But the first sense seems the most true, because it agrees best with the usage of Scripture to repeat the same thing in other words, and this includes the third sense, to wit, the reward, which is here supposed to follow death; and for posterity, it doth not appear that he had any, or, if he had, that he was so very solicitous for them; or that he knew the tenor of God’s covenant with Abraham and his posterity. Nay, he rather seems to have had some hope of ruining Abraham’s posterity, which he attempted both here and afterwards. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-11.htm">Numbers 23:11</a></div><div class="verse">And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed <i>them</i> altogether.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-12.htm">Numbers 23:12</a></div><div class="verse">And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?</div> I speak not these words by my own choice, but by the constraint of a higher power, which I cannot resist. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-13.htm">Numbers 23:13</a></div><div class="verse">And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.</div> He thought the sight of the people necessary both to excite Balaam’s passions, and to strengthen and direct his conjurations; but he would now have him see but a part of the people, and not all, because the sight of all of them might dismay and discourage him, and, as it did before, raise his fancy to an admiration of the multitude and of the felicity of the people, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/23-9.htm" title="For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: see, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.">Numbers 23:9</a>,10</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-14.htm">Numbers 23:14</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>every</i> altar.</div> <span class="bld">Zophim, </span> a place so called from the spies and watches which were kept there. Pisgah, a high hill in the land of Moab, so called <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/3-27.htm" title="Get you up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with your eyes: for you shall not go over this Jordan.">Deu 3:27</a> 34:1</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="15"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-15.htm">Numbers 23:15</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet <i>the LORD</i> yonder.</div> To consult him, and to receive an answer from him, if peradventure those renewed sacrifices will melt him into some compliance with our desires. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="16"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-16.htm">Numbers 23:16</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.</div> <span class="bld">See Poole "<a href="/numbers/23-4.htm" title="And God met Balaam: and he said to him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.">Numbers 23:4</a>"</span>, and <span class="bld">See Poole on "<a href="/numbers/22-35.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.">Numbers 22:35</a>"</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="17"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-17.htm">Numbers 23:17</a></div><div class="verse">And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken?</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="18"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-18.htm">Numbers 23:18</a></div><div class="verse">And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:</div> <span class="bld">Rise up:</span> this word implies, either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. The reverence wherewith he should hear and receive God’s message, as Eglon did, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/judges/3-20.htm" title="And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting in a summer parlor, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God to you. And he arose out of his seat.">Judges 3:20</a></span>, which might have been probable, if Balak had been now sitting, as Ehud there was; but he was standing, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/23-15.htm" title="And he said to Balak, Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD yonder.">Numbers 23:15</a></span>: or rather, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. The diligent attention required; Rouse up thyself, and carefully mind what I say. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="19"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-19.htm">Numbers 23:19</a></div><div class="verse">God <i>is</i> not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do <i>it</i>? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?</div> <span class="bld">That he should lie, </span> i.e. break his faith and promises made to his people for their preservation and benediction. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">That he should repent, </span>. e. change his counsels or purposes; which men do, either because they are not able to execute them, or because they are better informed and their minds changed by some unexpected occurrent, or by their lusts and passions, none of which have place in God. And therefore I plainly see that all our endeavours and repeated sacrifices are to no purpose, and can make no impression in God, nor induce him to curse those whom he hath purposed, and solemnly and frequently promised, to bless. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Shall he not do it?</span> Is he like a man that oft speaks and promises what he either never intends, or cannot or will not perform? <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="20"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-20.htm">Numbers 23:20</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, I have received <i>commandment</i> to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.</div> Or, <span class="ital">I have received a blessing</span>, to wit, a sentence of blessing, which God hath put into my mind and mouth, and which I cannot forbear to utter. Heb. <span class="ital">I have received to bless</span>. The infinitive put for the noun, as is frequent. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="21"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-21.htm">Numbers 23:21</a></div><div class="verse">He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God <i>is</i> with him, and the shout of a king <i>is</i> among them.</div> <span class="bld">He, </span> i.e. God, understood <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/23-20.htm" title="Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he has blessed; and I cannot reverse it.">Numbers 23:20</a></span>, and expressed <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/23-19.htm" title="God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: has he said, and shall he not do it? or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good?">Numbers 23:19</a></span>, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">hath not</span> or doth not <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">behold</span> or <span class="ital">see iniquity</span> or <span class="ital">perverseness</span>, i.e. any sin, <span class="ital">in Jacob</span> or <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Israel; </span> which cannot be meant of a simple seeing or knowing of him, for so God did see and observe, yea, and chastise their sins, as is manifest, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/32-9.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff necked people:">Exodus 32:9</a> <a href="/deuteronomy/9-13.htm" title="Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff necked people:">Deu 9:13</a></span>; but of such a sight of their sins as should provoke God utterly to forsake and curse and destroy them, which was Balak’s desire, and Balaam’s hope and design. For as Balaam knew that none but Israel’s God could curse or destroy Israel, so he knew that nothing but their sin could move him so to do; and therefore he took a right, though wicked, course afterwards to tempt them to sin, and thereby to expose them to ruin, <span class="bld"> Num 25</span>. And Balaam had now hoped that God was incensed against Israel for their sins, and therefore would be prevailed with to give them up to the curse and spoil. But, saith he, I was mistaken, I see God hath a singular favour to this people, and though he sees and punisheth sin in other persons and people with utter destruction, as he hath now done in Sihon and Og and the Amorites, yet he will not do so with Israel; he winks at their sins, forgets and forgives them, and will not punish them as their iniquities deserve. In this sense God is said <span class="ital">not</span> to <span class="ital">see</span> sins, as elsewhere he is said to forget them, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/isaiah/43-25.htm" title="I, even I, am he that blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins.">Isaiah 43:25</a> <a href="/jeremiah/31-34.htm" title="And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, said the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.">Jeremiah 31:34</a></span>, and to cover them, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/psalms/32-1.htm" title="Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.">Psalm 32:1</a></span>, which keeps them out of sight, and so out of mind; and to blot them out, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/psalms/51-1.htm" title="Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness: according to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions.">Psalm 51:1</a>,9</span>, and <span class="ital">to cast them behind his back</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/isaiah/38-17.htm" title="Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for you have cast all my sins behind your back.">Isaiah 38:17</a></span>, or <span class="ital">into the depth of the sea</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/micah/7-19.htm" title="He will turn again, he will have compassion on us; he will subdue our iniquities; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.">Micah 7:19</a></span>, in which cases they cannot be seen nor read. And men are oft said <span class="ital">not to know</span> or see those sins in their children or others, which they do not take notice of so as to punish them. And this sense best agrees with the context; God hath decreed and promised to bless this people, and <span class="ital">he hath blessed</span> them, <span class="ital">and I cannot reverse it</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/23-20.htm" title="Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he has blessed; and I cannot reverse it.">Numbers 23:20</a></span>, and he will not reverse it, though provoked to do so by their sins, which he will take no notice of. Others thus, <span class="ital">He hath not beheld</span>, as hitherto he hath not, so for the future he will not behold, i.e. so as to approve it, as that word is oft used, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/7-1.htm" title="And the LORD said to Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark; for you have I seen righteous before me in this generation.">Genesis 7:1</a> <a href="/isaiah/66-2.htm" title="For all those things has my hand made, and all those things have been, said the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.">Isaiah 66:2</a> <a href="/habakkuk/1-13.htm" title="You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look on iniquity: why look you on them that deal treacherously, and hold your tongue when the wicked devours the man that is more righteous than he?">Habakkuk 1:13</a></span>, or so as to suffer it, <span class="ital">injury against Jacob</span>, &c. For <span class="ital">aven</span>, here rendered <span class="ital">iniquity</span>, is oft used in that sense, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/job/5-6.htm" title="Although affliction comes not forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;">Job 5:6</a>,7 Pr 12:21 22:8</span>. And the other word, <span class="ital">amal</span>, rendered <span class="ital">perverseness</span>, oft notes <span class="ital">vexation</span> and <span class="ital">trouble</span>, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/job/5-6.htm" title="Although affliction comes not forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;">Job 5:6</a>,7 Psa 25:17 36:4</span>; and the particle <span class="ital">beth</span>, rendered <span class="ital">in</span>, is oft used for <span class="ital">against</span>, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/14-25.htm" title="And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.">Exodus 14:25</a> 20:16 <a href="/numbers/12-1.htm" title="And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.">Numbers 12:1</a></span>. So the sense is, God will not see them wronged or ruined by any of their adversaries, whereof the following words may be a good reason, <span class="ital">for God is with him</span>, &c. <span class="ital">The Lord his God is with him</span>, i.e. he hath a favour for this people, and will defend and save them. So the phrase of God’s being with a person or people signifies, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/judges/6-13.htm" title="And Gideon said to him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.">Judges 6:13</a> <a href="/psalms/46-7.htm" title="The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.">Psalm 46:7</a> <a href="/isaiah/8-10.htm" title="Take counsel together, and it shall come to nothing; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.">Isaiah 8:10</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">The shout of a king is among them, </span> i.e. such joyful and triumphant shouts as those wherewith a people congratulate the approach and presence of their king when he appears among them upon some solemn occasion, or when he returns from battle with victory and spoils. The expression implies God’s being their King and Ruler, and their abundant security and just confidence in him as such. And here is an allusion to the silver trumpets which were made by God’s command, and used upon great solemnities, in which God their King was present in a special manner, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/10-9.htm" title="And if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and you shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.">Numbers 10:9</a> <a href="/joshua/6-16.htm" title="And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout; for the LORD has given you the city.">Joshua 6:16</a>,20 <a href="/1_samuel/4-5.htm" title="And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.">1 Samuel 4:5</a> <a href="/2_chronicles/13-12.htm" title="And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight you not against the LORD God of your fathers; for you shall not prosper.">2 Chronicles 13:12</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="22"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-22.htm">Numbers 23:22</a></div><div class="verse">God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.</div> <span class="bld">God brought them out of Egypt, </span> to wit, by a strong hand, and in spite of all their enemies, and therefore it is in vain to seek or hope to overcome them. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">He; </span> either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. God, last mentioned. But so the comparison is mean and unbecoming. Or rather, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Israel, whom God brought out of Egypt; such change of numbers being very common in the Hebrew language. The sense is, Israel is not now what he was in Egypt, a poor, weak, dispirited, unarmed people, but high, and strong, and invincible. The great strength and fierceness of a unicorn is celebrated in Scripture, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/24-8.htm" title="God brought him forth out of Egypt; he has as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.">Numbers 24:8</a> <a href="/deuteronomy/33-17.htm" title="His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.">Deu 33:17</a> <a href="/job/39-9.htm" title="Will the unicorn be willing to serve you, or abide by your crib?">Job 39:9</a> <a href="/psalms/22-21.htm" title="Save me from the lion's mouth: for you have heard me from the horns of the unicorns.">Psalm 22:21</a> 92:10</span>. But whether it be a unicorn, or a rhinoceros, or a strong and fierce kind of wild goat, which is here called <span class="ital">reem</span>, it is not needful here to determine. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="23"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-23.htm">Numbers 23:23</a></div><div class="verse">Surely <i>there is</i> no enchantment against Jacob, neither <i>is there</i> any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!</div> I find by experience and serious consideration that all mine and thine endeavours to enchant Israel are in vain, being frustrated by their omnipotent God. I can do thee no service by my art against them. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">According to this time; </span> not only in succeeding times and ages, of which he speaks, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/24-17.htm" title="I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.">Numbers 24:17</a></span>, &c., but even now, in this time and age, and so forward. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">What hath God wrought!, </span> i.e. how wonderful and glorious are those works which God is now about to do for Israel, by drying up Jordan, by subduing the Canaanites, &c.! These things will be matter of discourse and admiration to all ages. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="24"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-24.htm">Numbers 23:24</a></div><div class="verse">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 eat <i>of</i> the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.</div> As a lion rouseth up himself to fight, or to go out to the prey; so shall Israel stir up themselves to warlike attempts against all their enemies, as occasion shall offer itself. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">He shall not lie down, </span> i.e. not rest or cease from fighting and pursuing. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="25"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-25.htm">Numbers 23:25</a></div><div class="verse">And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="26"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-26.htm">Numbers 23:26</a></div><div class="verse">But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="27"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-27.htm">Numbers 23:27</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="28"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-28.htm">Numbers 23:28</a></div><div class="verse">And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.</div> <span class="bld">Peor, </span> a high place called <span class="ital">Beth-peor</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/3-29.htm" title="So we stayed in the valley over against Bethpeor.">Deu 3:29</a></span>, i.e. the house or temple of Peer, because there they worshipped <span class="ital">Baal-peor</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="29"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-29.htm">Numbers 23:29</a></div><div class="verse">And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="30"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/23-30.htm">Numbers 23:30</a></div><div class="verse">And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on <i>every</i> altar.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Matthew Poole's Commentary<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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