Numbers 24:6-7

24:6 They are like ¹  valleys ²  stretched forth,

like gardens by the river’s side,

like aloes ³  that the Lord has planted,

and like cedar trees beside the waters.

24:7 He will pour the water out of his buckets, ⁴ 

and their descendants will be like abundant ⁵  water; ⁶ 

their king will be greater than Agag, ⁷ 

and their kingdom will be exalted.

Deuteronomy 8:7

8:7 For the Lord your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of brooks, ⁸  springs, and fountains flowing forth in valleys and hills,

Deuteronomy 8:9

8:9 a land where you may eat food ⁹  in plenty and find no lack of anything, a land whose stones are iron ¹⁰  and from whose hills you can mine copper.

Psalms 80:8-11

80:8 You uprooted a vine ¹¹  from Egypt;

you drove out nations and transplanted it.

80:9 You cleared the ground for it; ¹² 

it took root, ¹³ 

and filled the land.

80:10 The mountains were covered by its shadow,

the highest cedars ¹⁴  by its branches.

80:11 Its branches reached the Mediterranean Sea, ¹⁵ 

and its shoots the Euphrates River. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 89:25-29

89:25 I will place his hand over the sea,

his right hand over the rivers. ¹⁷ 

89:26 He will call out to me,

‘You are my father, ¹⁸  my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ ¹⁹ 

89:27 I will appoint him to be my firstborn son, ²⁰ 

the most exalted of the earth’s kings.

89:28 I will always extend my loyal love to him,

and my covenant with him is secure. ²¹ 

89:29 I will give him an eternal dynasty, ²² 

and make his throne as enduring as the skies above. ²³ 

[24:6]  ¹ tn Heb “as valleys they spread forth.”

[24:6]  ² tn Or “rows of palms.”

[24:6]  ³ sn The language seems to be more poetic than precise. N. H. Snaith notes that cedars do not grow beside water; he also connects “aloes” to the eaglewood that is more exotic, and capable of giving off an aroma (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 298).

[24:7]  ⁴ tc For this colon the LXX has “a man shall come out of his seed.” Cf. the Syriac Peshitta and Targum.

[24:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “many.”

[24:7]  ⁶ sn These two lines are difficult, but the general sense is that of irrigation buckets and a well-watered land. The point is that Israel will be prosperous and fruitful.

[24:7]  ⁷ sn Many commentators see this as a reference to Agag of 1 Sam 15:32-33, the Amalekite king slain by Samuel, for that is the one we know. But that is by no means clear, for this text does not identify this Agag. If it is that king, then this poem, or this line in this poem, would have to be later, unless one were to try to argue for a specific prophecy. Whoever this Agag is, he is a symbol of power.

[8:7]  ⁸ tn Or “wadis.”

[8:9]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. NASB, NCV, NLT) or “bread” in particular (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[8:9]  ¹⁰ sn A land whose stones are iron. Since iron deposits are few and far between in Palestine, the reference here is probably to iron ore found in mines as opposed to the meteorite iron more commonly known in that area.

[80:8]  ¹¹ sn The vine is here a metaphor for Israel (see Ezek 17:6-10; Hos 10:1).

[80:9]  ¹² tn Heb “you cleared away before it.”

[80:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “and it took root [with] its roots.”

[80:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “cedars of God.” The divine name אֵל (’al, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

[80:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to [the] sea.” The “sea” refers here to the Mediterranean Sea.

[80:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to [the] river.” The “river” is the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia. Israel expanded both to the west and to the east.

[89:25]  ¹⁷ tn Some identify “the sea” as the Mediterranean and “the rivers” as the Euphrates and its tributaries. However, it is more likely that “the sea” and “the rivers” are symbols for hostile powers that oppose God and the king (see v. 9, as well as Ps 93:3-4).

[89:26]  ¹⁸ sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[89:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”

[89:27]  ²⁰ sn The firstborn son typically had special status and received special privileges.

[89:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “forever I will keep for him my loyal love and will make my covenant secure for him.”

[89:29]  ²² tn Heb “and I will set in place forever his offspring.”

[89:29]  ²³ tn Heb “and his throne like the days of the heavens.”