Numbers 23:20-24

23:20 Indeed, I have received a command ¹  to bless;

he has blessed, ²  and I cannot reverse it. ³ 

23:21 He ⁴  has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, ⁵ 

nor has he seen trouble ⁶  in Israel.

The Lord their God is with them;

his acclamation ⁷  as king is among them.

23:22 God brought them ⁸  out of Egypt.

They have, as it were, the strength of a wild bull. ⁹ 

23:23 For there is no spell against ¹⁰  Jacob,

nor is there any divination against Israel.

At this time ¹¹  it must be said ¹²  of Jacob

and of Israel, ‘Look at ¹³  what God has done!’

23:24 Indeed, the people will rise up like a lioness,

and like a lion raises himself up;

they will not lie down until they eat their ¹⁴  prey,

and drink the blood of the slain.” ¹⁵ 

[23:20]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “I have received [to] bless.” The infinitive is the object of the verb, telling what he received. Balaam was not actually commanded to bless, but was given the word of blessing so that he was given a divine decree that would bless Israel.

[23:20]  ² sn The reference is probably to the first speech, where the Lord blessed Israel. Balaam knows that there is nothing he can do to reverse what God has said.

[23:20]  ³ tn The verb is the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “to cause to return.” He cannot return God’s word to him, for it has been given, and it will be fulfilled.

[23:21]  ⁴ tn These could be understood as impersonal and so rendered “no one has discovered.”

[23:21]  ⁵ sn The line could mean that God has regarded Israel as the ideal congregation without any blemish or flaw. But it could also mean that God has not looked on their iniquity, meaning, held it against them.

[23:21]  ⁶ tn The word means “wrong, misery, trouble.” It can mean the idea of “disaster” as well, for that too is trouble. Here it is parallel to “iniquity” and so has the connotation of something that would give God reason to curse them.

[23:21]  ⁷ tn The people are blessed because God is their king. In fact, the shout of acclamation is among them – they are proclaiming the Lord God as their king. The word is used normally for the sound of the trumpet, but also of battle shouts, and then here acclamation. This would represent their conviction that Yahweh is king. On the usage of this Hebrew word see further BDB 929-30 s.v. תְּרוּעָה; HALOT 1790-91 s.v.

[23:22]  ⁸ tn The form is the Hiphil participle from יָצַא (yatsa’) with the object suffix. He is the one who brought them out.

[23:22]  ⁹ sn The expression is “the horns of the wild ox” (KJV “unicorn”). The point of the image is strength or power. Horns are also used in the Bible to represent kingship (see Pss 89 and 132).

[23:23]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in Jacob.” But given the context the meaning “against” is preferable. The words describe two techniques of consulting God; the first has to do with observing omens in general (“enchantments”), and the second with casting lots or arrows of the like (“divinations” [Ezek 21:26]). See N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NCB), 295-96.

[23:23]  ¹¹ tn The form is the preposition “like, as” and the word for “time” – according to the time, about this time, now.

[23:23]  ¹² tn The Niphal imperfect here carries the nuance of obligation – one has to say in amazement that God has done something marvelous or “it must be said.”

[23:23]  ¹³ tn The words “look at” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[23:24]  ¹⁴ tn The pronoun “their” has been supplied for clarity; it is not present in the Hebrew text.

[23:24]  ¹⁵ sn The oracle compares Israel first to a lion, or better, lioness, because she does the tracking and hunting of food while the lion moves up and down roaring and distracting the prey. But the lion is also the traditional emblem of Judah, Dan and Gad, as well as the symbol of royalty. So this also supports the motif of royalty as well as power for Israel.