Bible Commentaries
Numbers 23

Verse 2

23:2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and

(a) Balak and Balaam offered on [every] altar a bullock and a ram.

(a) For among the Gentiles the kings often used to sacrifice, as did the priests.

Verse 4

23:4 And God {b} met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon [every] altar a bullock and a ram.

(b) Appeared to him.

Verse 5

23:5 And the LORD {c} put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

(c) Taught him what to say.

Verse 7

23:7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, [saying], Come, curse me Jacob, and come, {d} defy Israel.

(d) Cause everyone to hate and detest them.

Verse 9

23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the {e} nations.

(e) But shall have religion and laws apart.

Verse 10

23:10 Who can count the {f} dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth [part] of Israel? Let me {g} die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

(f) The infinite multitude, as the dust of the earth.

(g) The fear of God’s judgment caused him to wish to be joined to the household of Abraham: thus the wicked have their consciences wounded when they consider God’s judgments.

Verse 19

23:19 {h} God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

(h) God’s enemies are compelled to confess that his government is just, constant, and without change or repentance.

Verse 21

23:21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God [is] with him, and the {i} shout of a king [is] among them.

(i) They triumph as victorious kings over their enemies.

Verse 23

23:23 Surely [there is] no enchantment against Jacob, neither [is there] any divination against Israel: {k} according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

(k) Considering what God will work this time for the deliverance of his people, all the world will wonder.

Verse 27

23:27 And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another {l} place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.

(l) Thus the wicked imagine of God that what he will not grant in one place, he will do in another.