Numbers 22:15

Balaam Accompanies the Moabite Princes

22:15 Balak again sent princes, ¹  more numerous and more distinguished than the first. ² 

Numbers 21:18

21:18 The well which the princes ³  dug,

which the leaders of the people opened

with their scepters and their staffs.”

And from the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;

[22:15]  ¹ tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys. It uses the Hiphil preterite of the verb “to add” followed by the Qal infinitive “to send.” The infinitive becomes the main verb, and the preterite an adverb: “he added to send” means “he sent again.”

[22:15]  ² tn Heb “than these.”

[21:18]  ³ sn The brief song is supposed to be an old workers’ song, and so the mention of leaders and princes is unusual. Some think they are given credit because they directed where the workers were to dig. The scepter and staff might have served some symbolic or divining custom.