Discovery BoxNumbers 24:7-17
Context24:7 He will pour the water out of his buckets, 1
and their descendants will be like abundant 2 water; 3
their king will be greater than Agag, 4
and their kingdom will be exalted.
24:8 God brought them out of Egypt.
They have, as it were, the strength of a young bull;
they will devour hostile people 5
and will break their bones
and will pierce them through with arrows.
24:9 They crouch and lie down like a lion,
and as a lioness, 6 who can stir him?
Blessed is the one who blesses you,
and cursed is the one who curses you!’”
24:10 Then Balak became very angry at Balaam, and he struck his hands together. 7 Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have done nothing but bless 8 them these three times! 24:11 So now, go back where you came from! 9 I said that I would greatly honor you; but now the Lord has stood in the way of your honor.”
24:12 Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond 10 the commandment 11 of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, 12 but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’? 24:14 And now, I am about to go 13 back to my own people. Come now, and I will advise you as to what this people will do to your people in the future.” 14
24:15 Then he uttered this oracle: 15
“The oracle of Balaam son of Beor;
the oracle of the man whose eyes are open;
24:16 the oracle of the one who hears the words of God,
and who knows the knowledge of the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
although falling flat on the ground with eyes open:
24:17 ‘I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not close at hand. 16
A star 17 will march forth 18 out of Jacob,
and a scepter 19 will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the skulls 20 of Moab,
[24:7] 1 tc For this colon the LXX has “a man shall come out of his seed.” Cf. the Syriac Peshitta and Targum.
[24:7] 3 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] 4 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.
[24:8] 5 tn Heb “they will devour nations,” their adversaries.
[24:9] 9 tn On the usage of this word see HALOT 517 s.v. לָבִיא.
[24:10] 13 sn This is apparently a sign of contempt or derision (see Job 27:23; and Lam 2:15).
[24:10] 14 tn The construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense for “bless.”
[24:11] 17 tn Heb “flee to your place.”
[24:13] 21 tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”
[24:13] 23 tn Heb “from my heart.”
[24:14] 25 tn The construction is the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) suffixed followed by the active participle. This is the futur instans use of the participle, to express something that is about to happen: “I am about to go.”
[24:14] 26 tn Heb “in the latter days.” For more on this expression, see E. Lipinski, “באחרית הימים dans les textes préexiliques,” VT 20 (1970): 445-50.
[24:15] 29 tn Heb “and he took up his oracle and said.”
[24:17] 34 sn This is a figure for a king (see also Isa 14:12) not only in the Bible but in the ancient Near Eastern literature as a whole. The immediate reference of the prophecy seems to be to David, but the eschatological theme goes beyond him. There is to be a connection made between this passage and the sighting of a star in its ascendancy by the magi, who then traveled to Bethlehem to see the one born King of the Jews (Matt 2:2). The expression “son of a star” (Aram Bar Kochba) became a title for a later claimant to kingship, but he was doomed by the Romans in
[24:17] 35 tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is equal to the imperfect expressing the future. The verb דָּרַךְ (darakh), related to the noun “way, road,” seems to mean something like tread on, walk, march.”
[24:17] 36 sn The “scepter” is metonymical for a king who will rise to power. NEB strangely rendered this as “comet” to make a parallel with “star.”
[24:17] 37 tn The word is literally “corners,” but may refer to the corners of the head, and so “skull.”
[24:17] 38 tc The MT reads “shatter, devastate.” Smr reads קֹדְקֹד (qodqod, “head; crown; pate”). Smr follows Jer 48:45 which appears to reflect Num 24:17.
[24:17] 39 sn The prophecy begins to be fulfilled when David defeated Moab and Edom and established an empire including them. But the Messianic promise extends far beyond that to the end of the age and the inclusion of these defeated people in the program of the coming King.
