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Selected Verse: Numbers 23:18 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Nu 23:18	Strong Concordance	And he took up [05375] his parable [04912], and said [0559], Rise up [06965], Balak [01111], and hear [08085]; hearken [0238] unto me, thou son [01121] of Zippor [06834]:
	King James	And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Rise up--As Balak was already standing (Num 23:17), this expression is equivalent to "now attend to me." The counsels and promises of God respecting Israel are unchangeable; and no attempt to prevail on Him to reverse them will succeed, as they may with a man.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Rise up--As Balak was already standing (Num 23:17), this expression is equivalent to "now attend to me." The counsels and promises of God respecting Israel are unchangeable; and no attempt to prevail on Him to reverse them will succeed, as they may with a man.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The second saying. - "Up, Balak, and hear! Hearken to me, son of Zippor!" קוּם, "stand up," is a call to mental elevation, to the perception of the word of God; for Balak was standing by his sacrifice (Num 23:17). האזין with עד, as in Job 32:11, signifies a hearing which presses forward to the speaker, i.e., in keen and minute attention (Hengstenberg). בּנו, with the antiquated union vowel for בּן; see at Gen 1:24. Num 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie; nor a son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and should He not do it? and spoken, and should not carry it out?" Num 23:20 "Behold, I have received to bless: and He hath blessed; and I cannot turn it." Balaam meets Balak's expectation that he will take back the blessing that he has uttered, with the declaration, that God does not alter His purposes like changeable and fickle men, but keeps His word unalterably, and carries it into execution. The unchangeableness of the divine purposes is a necessary consequence of the unchangeableness of the divine nature. With regard to His own counsels, God repents of nothing; but this does not prevent the repentance of God, understood as an anthropopathic expression, denoting the pain experienced by the love of God, on account of the destruction of its creatures (see at Gen 6:6, and Exo 32:14). The ה before הוּא Num 23:19) is the interrogative ה (see Ges. 100, 4). The two clauses of Num 23:19, "Hath He spoken," etc., taken by themselves, are no doubt of universal application; but taken in connection with the context, they relate specially to what God had spoken through Balaam, in his first utterance with reference to Israel, as we may see from the more precise explanation in Num 23:20, "Behold, I have received to bless' (לקח, taken, accepted), etc. השׁיב, to lead back, to make a thing retrograde (Isa 43:13). Samuel afterwards refused Saul's request in these words of Balaam (Num 23:19), when he entreated him to revoke his rejection on the part of God (Sa1 15:29). Num 23:21 After this decided reversal of Balak's expectations, Balaam carried out still more fully the blessing which had been only briefly indicated in his first utterance. "He beholds not wickedness in Jacob, and sees not suffering in Israel: Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout (jubilation) of a king in the midst of him." The subject in the first sentence is God (see Hab 1:3, Hab 1:13). God sees not און, worthlessness, wickedness, and עמל, tribulation, misery, as the consequence of sin, and therefore discovers no reason for cursing the nation. That this applied to the people solely by virtue of their calling as the holy nation of Jehovah, and consequently that there is no denial of the sin of individuals, is evident from the second hemistich, which expresses the thought of the first in a positive form: so that the words, "Jehovah his God is with him," correspond to the words, "He beholds not wickedness;" and "the shout of a king in the midst of it," to His not seeing suffering. Israel therefore rejoiced in the blessing of God only so long as it remained faithful to the idea of its divine calling, and continued in covenant fellowship with the Lord. So long the power of the world could do it no harm. The "shout of a king" in Israel is the rejoicing of Israel at the fact that Jehovah dwells and rules as King in the midst of it (cf. Exo 15:18; Deu 33:5). Jehovah had manifested Himself as King, by leading them out of Egypt. Num 23:22 "God brings them out of Egypt; his strength is like that of a buffalo." אל is God as the strong, or mighty one. The participle מוציאם is not used for the preterite, but designates the leading out as still going on, and lasting till the introduction into Canaan. The plural suffix, ם-, is used ad sensum, with reference to Israel as a people. Because God leads them, they go forward with the strength of a buffalo. תּועפות, from יעף, to weary, signifies that which causes weariness, exertion, the putting forth of power; hence the fulness of strength, ability to make or bear exertions. ראם is the buffalo or wild ox, an indomitable animal, which is especially fearful on account of its horns (Job 39:9-11; Deu 33:17; Psa 22:22). Num 23:23 The fellowship of its God, in which Israel rejoiced, and to which it owed its strength, was an actual truth. "For there is no augury in Jacob, and no divination in Israel. At the time it is spoken to Jacob, and to Israel what God doeth." כּי does not mean, "so that, as an introduction to the sequel," as Knobel supposes, but "for," as a causal particle. The fact that Israel was not directed, like other nations, to the uncertain and deceitful instrumentality of augury and divination, but enjoyed in all its concerns the immediate revelation of its God, furnished the proof that it had its God in the midst of it, and was guided and endowed with power by God Himself. נחשׁ and קסם, οἰωνισμός and μαντεία, augurium et divinatio (lxx, Vulg.), were the two means employed by the heathen for looking into futurity. The former (see at Lev 19:26) was the unfolding of the future from signs in the phenomena of nature, and inexplicable occurrences in animal and human life; the latter, prophesying from a pretended or supposed revelation of the Deity within the human mind. כּעת, "according to the time," i.e., at the right time, God revealed His acts, His counsel, and His will to Israel in His word, which He had spoken at first to the patriarchs, and afterwards through Moses and the prophets. In this He revealed to His people in truth, and in a way that could not deceive, what the heathen attempted in vain to discover through augury and divination (cf. Deu 18:14-19). (Note: "What is here affirmed of Israel, applies to the Church of all ages, and also to every individual believer. The Church of God knows from His word what God does, and what it has to do in consequence. The wisdom of this world resembles augury and divination. The Church of God, which is in possession of His word, has no need of it, and it only leads its followers to destruction, from inability to discern the will of God. To discover this with certainty, is the great privilege of the Church of God" (Hengstenberg).) Num 23:24 Through the power of its God, Israel was invincible, and would crush all its foes. "Behold, it rises up, a people like the lioness, and lifts itself up like the lion. It lies not down till it eats dust, and drinks the blood of the slain." What the patriarch Jacob prophesied of Judah, the ruler among his brethren, in Gen 49:9, Balaam here transfers to the whole nation, to put to shame all the hopes indulged by the Moabitish king of the conquest and destruction of Israel.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

The second saying. - "Up, Balak, and hear! Hearken to me, son of Zippor!" קוּם, "stand up," is a call to mental elevation, to the perception of the word of God; for Balak was standing by his sacrifice (Num 23:17). האזין with עד, as in Job 32:11, signifies a hearing which presses forward to the speaker, i.e., in keen and minute attention (Hengstenberg). בּנו, with the antiquated union vowel for בּן; see at Gen 1:24.

Num 23:19

"God is not a man, that He should lie; nor a son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and should He not do it? and spoken, and should not carry it out?"

Num 23:20

"Behold, I have received to bless: and He hath blessed; and I cannot turn it." Balaam meets Balak's expectation that he will take back the blessing that he has uttered, with the declaration, that God does not alter His purposes like changeable and fickle men, but keeps His word unalterably, and carries it into execution. The unchangeableness of the divine purposes is a necessary consequence of the unchangeableness of the divine nature. With regard to His own counsels, God repents of nothing; but this does not prevent the repentance of God, understood as an anthropopathic expression, denoting the pain experienced by the love of God, on account of the destruction of its creatures (see at Gen 6:6, and Exo 32:14). The ה before הוּא Num 23:19) is the interrogative ה (see Ges. 100, 4). The two clauses of Num 23:19, "Hath He spoken," etc., taken by themselves, are no doubt of universal application; but taken in connection with the context, they relate specially to what God had spoken through Balaam, in his first utterance with reference to Israel, as we may see from the more precise explanation in Num 23:20, "Behold, I have received to bless' (לקח, taken, accepted), etc. השׁיב, to lead back, to make a thing retrograde (Isa 43:13). Samuel afterwards refused Saul's request in these words of Balaam (Num 23:19), when he entreated him to revoke his rejection on the part of God (Sa1 15:29).

Num 23:21

After this decided reversal of Balak's expectations, Balaam carried out still more fully the blessing which had been only briefly indicated in his first utterance. "He beholds not wickedness in Jacob, and sees not suffering in Israel: Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout (jubilation) of a king in the midst of him." The subject in the first sentence is God (see Hab 1:3, Hab 1:13). God sees not און, worthlessness, wickedness, and עמל, tribulation, misery, as the consequence of sin, and therefore discovers no reason for cursing the nation. That this applied to the people solely by virtue of their calling as the holy nation of Jehovah, and consequently that there is no denial of the sin of individuals, is evident from the second hemistich, which expresses the thought of the first in a positive form: so that the words, "Jehovah his God is with him," correspond to the words, "He beholds not wickedness;" and "the shout of a king in the midst of it," to His not seeing suffering. Israel therefore rejoiced in the blessing of God only so long as it remained faithful to the idea of its divine calling, and continued in covenant fellowship with the Lord. So long the power of the world could do it no harm. The "shout of a king" in Israel is the rejoicing of Israel at the fact that Jehovah dwells and rules as King in the midst of it (cf. Exo 15:18; Deu 33:5). Jehovah had manifested Himself as King, by leading them out of Egypt.

Num 23:22

"God brings them out of Egypt; his strength is like that of a buffalo." אל is God as the strong, or mighty one. The participle מוציאם is not used for the preterite, but designates the leading out as still going on, and lasting till the introduction into Canaan. The plural suffix, ם-, is used ad sensum, with reference to Israel as a people. Because God leads them, they go forward with the strength of a buffalo. תּועפות, from יעף, to weary, signifies that which causes weariness, exertion, the putting forth of power; hence the fulness of strength, ability to make or bear exertions. ראם is the buffalo or wild ox, an indomitable animal, which is especially fearful on account of its horns (Job 39:9-11; Deu 33:17; Psa 22:22).

Num 23:23

The fellowship of its God, in which Israel rejoiced, and to which it owed its strength, was an actual truth. "For there is no augury in Jacob, and no divination in Israel. At the time it is spoken to Jacob, and to Israel what God doeth." כּי does not mean, "so that, as an introduction to the sequel," as Knobel supposes, but "for," as a causal particle. The fact that Israel was not directed, like other nations, to the uncertain and deceitful instrumentality of augury and divination, but enjoyed in all its concerns the immediate revelation of its God, furnished the proof that it had its God in the midst of it, and was guided and endowed with power by God Himself. נחשׁ and קסם, οἰωνισμός and μαντεία, augurium et divinatio (lxx, Vulg.), were the two means employed by the heathen for looking into futurity. The former (see at Lev 19:26) was the unfolding of the future from signs in the phenomena of nature, and inexplicable occurrences in animal and human life; the latter, prophesying from a pretended or supposed revelation of the Deity within the human mind. כּעת, "according to the time," i.e., at the right time, God revealed His acts, His counsel, and His will to Israel in His word, which He had spoken at first to the patriarchs, and afterwards through Moses and the prophets. In this He revealed to His people in truth, and in a way that could not deceive, what the heathen attempted in vain to discover through augury and divination (cf. Deu 18:14-19).

(Note: "What is here affirmed of Israel, applies to the Church of all ages, and also to every individual believer. The Church of God knows from His word what God does, and what it has to do in consequence. The wisdom of this world resembles augury and divination. The Church of God, which is in possession of His word, has no need of it, and it only leads its followers to destruction, from inability to discern the will of God. To discover this with certainty, is the great privilege of the Church of God" (Hengstenberg).)

Num 23:24

Through the power of its God, Israel was invincible, and would crush all its foes. "Behold, it rises up, a people like the lioness, and lifts itself up like the lion. It lies not down till it eats dust, and drinks the blood of the slain." What the patriarch Jacob prophesied of Judah, the ruler among his brethren, in Gen 49:9, Balaam here transfers to the whole nation, to put to shame all the hopes indulged by the Moabitish king of the conquest and destruction of Israel.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Rise up - This word implies the diligent attention required; rouse up thyself and carefully mind what I say.

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¹⁷ And when he came [0935] to him, behold, he stood [05324] by his burnt offering [05930], and the princes [08269] of Moab [04124] with him. And Balak [01111] said [0559] unto him, What hath the LORD [03068] spoken [01696]?

⁹ Judah [03063] is a lion's [0738] whelp [01482]: from the prey [02964], my son [01121], thou art gone up [05927]: he stooped down [03766], he couched [07257] as a lion [0738], and as an old lion [03833]; who shall rouse him up [06965]?

²⁴ Behold, the people [05971] shall rise up [06965] as a great lion [03833], and lift up [05375] himself as a young lion [0738]: he shall not lie down [07901] until he eat [0398] of the prey [02964], and drink [08354] the blood [01818] of the slain [02491].

¹⁴ For these nations [01471], which thou shalt possess [03423], hearkened [08085] unto observers of times [06049], and unto diviners [07080]: but as for thee, the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] hath not suffered [05414] thee so to do.
¹⁵ The LORD [03068] thy God [0430] will raise up [06965] unto thee a Prophet [05030] from the midst [07130] of thee, of thy brethren [0251], like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken [08085];
¹⁶ According to all that thou desiredst [07592] of the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] in Horeb [02722] in the day [03117] of the assembly [06951], saying [0559], Let me not hear [08085] again [03254] the voice [06963] of the LORD [03068] my God [0430], neither let me see [07200] this great [01419] fire [0784] any more, that I die [04191] not.
¹⁷ And the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto me, They have well [03190] spoken that which they have spoken [01696].
¹⁸ I will raise them up [06965] a Prophet [05030] from among [07130] their brethren [0251], like unto thee, and will put [05414] my words [01697] in his mouth [06310]; and he shall speak [01696] unto them all that I shall command [06680] him.
¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, that whosoever [0376] will not hearken [08085] unto my words [01697] which he shall speak [01696] in my name [08034], I will require [01875] it of him.

²⁶ Ye shall not eat [0398] any thing with the blood [01818]: neither shall ye use enchantment [05172], nor observe times [06049].

²³ Surely there is no enchantment [05173] against Jacob [03290], neither is there any divination [07081] against Israel [03478]: according to this time [06256] it shall be said [0559] of Jacob [03290] and of Israel [03478], What hath God [0410] wrought [06466] !

²² I will declare [05608] thy name [08034] unto my brethren [0251]: in the midst [08432] of the congregation [06951] will I praise [01984] thee.

¹⁷ His glory [01926] is like the firstling [01060] of his bullock [07794], and his horns [07161] are like the horns [07161] of unicorns [07214]: with them he shall push [05055] the people [05971] together [03162] to the ends [0657] of the earth [0776]: and they are the ten thousands [07233] of Ephraim [0669], and they are the thousands [0505] of Manasseh [04519].

⁹ Will the unicorn [07214] be willing [014] to serve [05647] thee, or abide [03885] by thy crib [018]?
¹⁰ Canst thou bind [07194] the unicorn [07214] with his band [05688] in the furrow [08525]? or will he harrow [07702] the valleys [06010] after [0310] thee?
¹¹ Wilt thou trust [0982] him, because his strength [03581] is great [07227]? or wilt thou leave [05800] thy labour [03018] to him?

²² God [0410] brought them out [03318] of Egypt [04714]; he hath as it were the strength [08443] of an unicorn [07214].

⁵ And he was king [04428] in Jeshurun [03484], when the heads [07218] of the people [05971] and the tribes [07626] of Israel [03478] were gathered [0622] together [03162].

¹⁸ The LORD [03068] shall reign [04427] for ever [05769] and ever [05703].

¹³ Thou art of purer [02889] eyes [05869] than to behold [07200] evil [07451], and canst [03201] not look [05027] on iniquity [05999]: wherefore lookest [05027] thou upon them that deal treacherously [0898], and holdest thy tongue [02790] when the wicked [07563] devoureth [01104] the man that is more righteous [06662] than he?

³ Why dost thou shew [07200] me iniquity [0205], and cause me to behold [05027] grievance [05999]? for spoiling [07701] and violence [02555] are before me: and there are that raise up [05375] strife [07379] and contention [04066].

²¹ He hath not beheld [05027] iniquity [0205] in Jacob [03290], neither hath he seen [07200] perverseness [05999] in Israel [03478]: the LORD [03068] his God [0430] is with him, and the shout [08643] of a king [04428] is among them.

²⁹ And also the Strength [05331] of Israel [03478] will not lie [08266] nor repent [05162]: for he is not a man [0120], that he should repent [05162].

¹⁹ God [0410] is not a man [0376], that he should lie [03576]; neither the son [01121] of man [0120], that he should repent [05162]: hath he said [0559], and shall he not do [06213] it? or hath he spoken [01696], and shall he not make it good [06965]?

¹³ Yea, before the day [03117] was I am he; and there is none that can deliver [05337] out of my hand [03027]: I will work [06466], and who shall let [07725] it?

²⁰ Behold, I have received [03947] commandment to bless [01288]: and he hath blessed [01288]; and I cannot reverse [07725] it.

¹⁴ And the LORD [03068] repented [05162] of the evil [07451] which he thought [01696] to do [06213] unto his people [05971].

⁶ And it repented [05162] the LORD [03068] that he had made [06213] man [0120] on the earth [0776], and it grieved [06087] him at [0413] his heart [03820].

²⁰ Behold, I have received [03947] commandment to bless [01288]: and he hath blessed [01288]; and I cannot reverse [07725] it.

²⁴ And God [0430] said [0559], Let the earth [0776] bring forth [03318] the living [02416] creature [05315] after his kind [04327], cattle [0929], and creeping thing [07431], and beast [02416] of the earth [0776] after his kind [04327]: and it was so.

¹¹ Behold, I waited [03176] for your words [01697]; I gave ear [0238] to your reasons [08394], whilst ye searched out [02713] what to say [04405].