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Selected Verse: Numbers 24:1 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Nu 24:1 |
Strong Concordance |
And when Balaam [01109] saw [07200] that it pleased [05869] [02895] the LORD [03068] to bless [01288] Israel [03478], he went [01980] not, as at other times [06471], to seek [07125] for enchantments [05173], but he set [07896] his face [06440] toward the wilderness [04057]. |
| |
King James |
And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
BALAAM FORETELLS ISRAEL'S HAPPINESS. (Num. 24:1-25)
to seek for--that is, to use enchantments. His experience on the two former occasions [Num 23:3, Num 23:15] had taught him that these superstitious accompaniments of his worship were useless, and therefore he now simply looked towards the camp of Israel, either with a secret design to curse them, or to await the divine afflatus. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| The third saying. - Num 24:1 and Num 24:2. From the two revelations which he had received before, Balaam, saw, i.e., perceived, that it pleased Jehovah to bless Israel. This induced him not to go out for auguries, as on the previous occasions. כּפעם־בּפעם, "as time after time," i.e., as at former times (Num 23:3 and Num 23:15). He therefore turned his face to the desert, i.e., to the steppes of Moab, where Israel was encamped (Num 22:1). And when he lifted up his eyes, "he saw Israel encamping according to its tribes; and the Spirit of God came over him." The impression made upon him by the sight of the tribes of Israel, served as the subjective preparation for the reception of the Spirit of God to inspire him. Of both the earlier utterances it is stated that "Jehovah put a word into his mouth" (Num 23:5 and Num 23:16); but of this third it is affirmed that "the Spirit of God came over him." The former were communicated to him, when he went out for a divine revelation, without his being thrown into an ecstatic state; he heard the voice of God within him telling him what he was to say. But this time, like the prophets in their prophesyings, he was placed by the Spirit of God in a state of ecstatic sight; so that, with his eyes closed as in clairvoyance, he saw the substance of the revelation from God with his inward mental eye, which had been opened by the Spirit of God. Thus not only does he himself describe his own condition in Num 24:3 and Num 24:4, but his description is in harmony with the announcement itself, which is manifestly the result both in form and substance of the intuition effected within him by the Spirit of God. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| At other times - In former times. Toward the wilderness - Where Israel lay encamped, expecting what God of his own accord would suggest to him concerning this matter. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| He went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments - We have already had occasion to observe that the proper meaning of the word נחש nachash is not easily ascertained; see Num 21:9 (note), and Gen 3:1 (note). Here the plural נחשים nechashim is rendered enchantments; but it probably means no more than the knowledge of future events. When Balaam saw that it pleased God to bless Israel, he therefore thought it unnecessary to apply for any farther prophetic declarations of God's will as he had done before, for he could safely infer every good to this people, from the evident disposition of God towards them. |
15 And he said [0559] unto Balak [01111], Stand [03320] here [03541] by thy burnt offering [05930], while I meet [07136] the LORD yonder [03541].
3 And Balaam [01109] said [0559] unto Balak [01111], Stand [03320] by thy burnt offering [05930], and I will go [03212]: peradventure the LORD [03068] will come [07136] to meet [07125] me: and whatsoever [01697] he sheweth [07200] me I will tell [05046] thee. And he went [03212] to an high place [08205].
4 He hath said [05002], which heard [08085] the words [0561] of God [0410], which saw [02372] the vision [04236] of the Almighty [07706], falling [05307] into a trance, but having his eyes [05869] open [01540]:
3 And he took up [05375] his parable [04912], and said [0559], Balaam [01109] the son [01121] of Beor [01160] hath said [05002], and the man [01397] whose eyes [05869] are open [08365] hath said [05002]:
16 And the LORD [03068] met [07136] Balaam [01109], and put [07760] a word [01697] in his mouth [06310], and said [0559], Go again [07725] unto Balak [01111], and say [01696] thus.
5 And the LORD [03068] put [07760] a word [01697] in Balaam's [01109] mouth [06310], and said [0559], Return [07725] unto Balak [01111], and thus thou shalt speak [01696].
1 And the children [01121] of Israel [03478] set forward [05265], and pitched [02583] in the plains [06160] of Moab [04124] on this side [05676] Jordan [03383] by Jericho [03405].
15 And he said [0559] unto Balak [01111], Stand [03320] here [03541] by thy burnt offering [05930], while I meet [07136] the LORD yonder [03541].
3 And Balaam [01109] said [0559] unto Balak [01111], Stand [03320] by thy burnt offering [05930], and I will go [03212]: peradventure the LORD [03068] will come [07136] to meet [07125] me: and whatsoever [01697] he sheweth [07200] me I will tell [05046] thee. And he went [03212] to an high place [08205].
2 And Balaam [01109] lifted up [05375] his eyes [05869], and he saw [07200] Israel [03478] abiding [07931] in his tents according to their tribes [07626]; and the spirit [07307] of God [0430] came upon him.
1 And when Balaam [01109] saw [07200] that it pleased [05869] [02895] the LORD [03068] to bless [01288] Israel [03478], he went [01980] not, as at other times [06471], to seek [07125] for enchantments [05173], but he set [07896] his face [06440] toward the wilderness [04057].
1 Now the serpent [05175] was [01961] more subtil [06175] than any beast [02416] of the field [07704] which the LORD [03068] God [0430] had made [06213]. And he said [0559] unto the woman [0802], Yea [0637], hath God [0430] said [0559], Ye shall not eat [0398] of every tree [06086] of the garden [01588]?
9 And Moses [04872] made [06213] a serpent [05175] of brass [05178], and put [07760] it upon a pole [05251], and it came to pass, that if a serpent [05175] had bitten [05391] any man [0376], when he beheld [05027] the serpent [05175] of brass [05178], he lived [02425].