Números 24:1

La Biblia de las Americas

Cuando Balaam vio que agradaba al Señor bendecir a Israel, no fue como otras veces a buscar agüeros, sino que puso su rostro hacia el desierto.

Parallel Translations

La Biblia Reina-Valera
Y COMO vi� Balaam que parec�a bien � Jehov� que el bendijese � Israel, no fu�, como la primera y segunda vez, � encuentro de ag�eros, sino que puso su rostro hacia el desierto;

La Biblia Reina-Valera Gomez
Y cuando vio Balaam que agrad� a Jehov� el bendecir a Israel, no fue, como otras veces, la primera y segunda vez, en busca de ag�eros, sino que puso su rostro hacia el desierto;

Sagradas Escrituras (1569)
Y cuando vio Balaam que parec�a bien al SE�OR que �l bendijese a Israel, no fue, como la primera y segunda vez, a encuentro de los ag�eros, sino que puso su rostro hacia el desierto;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

saw: Numbers 22:13, Numbers 23:20, Numbers 31:16, 1 Samuel 24:20, 1 Samuel 26:2, 1 Samuel 26:25, Revelation 2:14

at other times: Numbers 23:3, Numbers 23:15

to seek for enchantments: Heb. to the meeting of enchantments, Numbers 23:23

Reciprocal: Genesis 19:37 - Moabites Genesis 31:21 - set his Numbers 3:17 - Gershon Numbers 23:16 - General Joshua 13:22 - Balaam Isaiah 19:25 - the Lord

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when Balsam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel,.... That it was good in his sight, what he approved of, and was well-pleasing to him, and that it was his determined mind that Israel should be blessed, and not cursed, from which there was no turning him, by offering sacrifices to him, and much less by his sorceries and divinations:

he went not as at other times; or, "as at a time in a time" q, at two times, of which see Numbers 23:3, he abode in the place where the sacrifices were offered, and did not depart to another at some distance, as he had twice before done:

to seek for enchantments; which it seems he used before, for he not only offered sacrifices to the true God, which yet were attended with superstitious rites, but he made use of his divining art also; and not only went to meet with God, and hear what he would say to him, but consulted the devil also, being willing to have two strings to his bow, and that, if possible, he might carry his point, and get what his covetous and ambitious mind was desirous of: the words may be literally rendered, "to meet enchantments" r; but what should be meant by the phrase is not easy to say; I should rather choose to render them, "to meet serpents", and make use of them in his divinations, make observations on them, and predictions from them: one sort of divination is called "ophiomancy", or divining by serpents; so Calchas, on seeing a serpent devour eight sparrows with their dam, foretold the duration of the siege of Troy s:

but he set his face towards the wilderness: where the people of Israel lay encamped, not with an intention to bless them, though he saw it pleased the Lord, but to take an opportunity, if he could, without his leave, to curse them; and therefore he did not go out as he did before, to know his will, but stood by the sacrifice, with his face to the wilderness, where the people were, to take any advantage that offered.

q כפעם בפעם "sicut vice in vice", Montanus, Vatablus. r לקראת נחשים "in occursum auguriorum", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus. s Homer. Iliad. 2. see more instances in Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 1. c. 3. col. 21, 22.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XXIV

Balaam, finding that God was determined to bless Israel, seeks

no longer for enchantments, 1.

The Spirit of God coming upon him, he delivers a most important

prophetic parable, 2-9.

Balak's anger is kindled against him, and he commands him to

depart to his own country, 10,11.

Balaam vindicates his conduct, 12, 13;

and delivers a prophecy relative to the future destruction of

Moab by the Israelites, 14-17;

also of Edom, 18, 19;

of the Amalekites, 20;

and of the Kenites, 21, 22.

Predicts also the destruction of Asshur and Eber, by the naval

power of Chittim, which should afterwards be itself destroyed,

23, 24.

Balaam and Balak separate, 25.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIV

Verse Numbers 24:1. 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 Numbers 21:9, and see on Genesis 3:1. 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.