Numbers 21:9

21:9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived. ¹ 

Numbers 22:29

22:29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “You have made me look stupid; I wish ²  there were a sword in my hand, for I would kill you right now.”

Numbers 22:38

22:38 Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you. Now, am I able ³  to speak ⁴  just anything? I must speak ⁵  only the word that God puts in my mouth.”

Numbers 32:14

32:14 Now look, you are standing in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinners, to increase still further the fierce wrath of the Lord against the Israelites.

[21:9]  ¹ sn The image of the snake was to be a symbol of the curse that the Israelites were experiencing; by lifting the snake up on a pole Moses was indicating that the curse would be drawn away from the people – if they looked to it, which was a sign of faith. This symbol was later stored in the temple, until it became an object of worship and had to be removed (2 Kgs 18:4). Jesus, of course, alluded to it and used it as an illustration of his own mission. He would become the curse, and be lifted up, so that people who looked by faith to him would live (John 3:14). For further material, see D. J. Wiseman, “Flying Serpents,” TynBul 23 (1972): 108-10; and K. R. Joines, “The Bronze Serpent in the Israelite Cult,” JBL 87 (1968): 245-56.

[22:29]  ² tn The optative clause is introduced with the particle לוּ (lu).

[22:38]  ³ tn The verb is אוּכַל (’ukhal) in a question – “am I able?” But emphasizing this is the infinitive absolute before it. So Balaam is saying something like, “Can I really say anything?”

[22:38]  ⁴ tn The Piel infinitive construct (without the preposition) serves as the object of the verb “to be able.” The whole question is rhetorical – he is saying that he will not be able to say anything God does not allow him to say.

[22:38]  ⁵ tn The imperfect tense is here taken as an obligatory imperfect.