^^,vM 'I E59 
 
 BSi 
 
BIBLE STUDIES 
 
 M. M. KALISCH, Ph.D., M.A. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE PEOPHECIES OF BALAAM: 
 
 (numbers XXII. TO XXIV.) 
 
 OR 
 
 THE HEBREW AND THE HEATHEN. 
 
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BIBLE STUDIES 
 
 PART I, 
 
r\^ — * '( 
 
 ^ APR 8 1886 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Almost immediately after tlie completion of the fourth 
 volume of his Commentary on the Old Testament, in 
 1872, the author was seized with a severe and lingering 
 illness. The keen pain he felt at the compulsory interrup- 
 tion of his work was solely relieved by the undiminished 
 interest with which he was able to follow the widely rami- 
 fied literature connected with his favourite studies. At 
 length, after weary years of patience and 'hope deferred,' a 
 moderate measure of strength seemed to return, inadequate 
 indeed to a resumption of his principal task in its full ex- 
 tent, yet sufficient, it appeared, to warrant an attempt at 
 elucidating some of those numerous problems of Biblical 
 criticism and religious history, which are still awaiting a 
 final solution. Acting, therefore, on the maxim, ' Est 
 quadam prodire tenus, si iion datuv ultra' and stimu- 
 lated by the desire of contributing his humble share to 
 the great intellectual labour of our age, he selected, as a 
 first effort after his partial recovery, the interpretation of 
 that ex(|uisite episode in the Book of Numbers which 
 contains an account of Balaam and his prophecies. This 
 section, complete in itself, discloses a deep insight into 
 the nature and course of prophetic influence ; implies 
 most instructive hints for the knowledge of Hebrew 
 doctrine ; and is one of the choicest master-pieces of 
 universal literature. Love of such a subject could not 
 fail to uphold even a wavering strength, and to revive an 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 often drooping courage. The authoi- is indebted to these 
 pursuits for many hours of the higliest enjoyment, and 
 he feels compelled to express his profound gratitude for 
 having been permitted to accomplish even this modest 
 enterprise. If strength be granted to him, he is anxious, 
 in continuation of the same important enquiry, still 
 further to elucidate the mutual relation, according to the 
 Scriptures and the Jewish writings, between the Hebrew 
 and the Heathen, by connnenting on the Book of Jonah, 
 of which he proposes to treat in a Second Part of these 
 Bible Studies. 
 
 The author would fain hope that the main portions of 
 the work may be found of some interest not only to 
 theologians and Biblical students, but to a wider circle 
 of readers, since the possibility of a general diffusion of 
 critical or historical results is the only decisive test of 
 their value. 
 
 In the Translation and the Commentary he has ad- 
 hered to the same principles which guided him in his 
 previous volumes, and for the convenience of Hebrew 
 scholars he has here also inserted the original Text. 
 
 Although he has neglected no available source of in- 
 formation, and has endeavoured to utilise, for the illustra- 
 tion of his subject, both the most ancient traditions and 
 the most recent discoveries and researches, he is well 
 aware how much his effort stands in need of indulgence ; 
 but he believes that he will not appeal in vain to the 
 forbearance of those who realise the impediments and 
 difficulties under which he has laboured. 
 
 M. KALISCH. 
 
 Londo)i, Aurjml, 1877- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I.— THE PROPHET AND HIS PROPHECIES 
 Treatise .... 
 
 1. Summary .... 
 
 2. Uncertain Traditions . 
 
 3. The Character of Balaam . 
 
 4. Balaam's Religion 
 
 5. The God of Balak 
 
 6. Balaam the Prophet . 
 
 7. Misrepresentations 
 
 The New Testament and Balaam 
 
 Josephus and Balaam 
 
 Philo and Balaam 
 
 Jewish Tradition and Balaam 
 
 8. Deterioration 
 
 9. Conclusions .... 
 
 10. The Original Book of Balaam 
 
 11. The Date of the Composition 
 Vyl2. The Author. 
 
 13. Balaam's Identity 
 
 14. Israel and the Book of Balaam 
 
 15. Analogy of the Book of Ruth 
 
 16. Fame and Character of the Book 
 
 17. Limits. .... 
 ^ 18. Israel and Moab . 
 
 II.— TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY 
 XXIV 
 
 1. Introdiiction. xxii. 1 
 
 2. Councils, xxii. 2-4 . 
 
 3. First Message, xxii. .5-14 
 
 4. Second Message, xxii. lo-21 
 0. The Journey, xxii. 22-o.j. 
 
 -Pkelimixary 
 
 UMBERS XXII.- 
 
 73 
 73 
 
 83 
 96 
 116 
 124 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 6. Arrival and Reception, xxii. 36-40. 
 
 7. Preparations, xxii. 41-xxiii. 6 . . . 
 
 8. Balaam's First Speech, xxiii. 7-10 
 
 9. Eemonstrances and New Preparations, xxiii. 11-1 
 
 10. Balaam's Second Speech, xxiii. 18-24 . 
 
 11. Again Eemonstrances and Preparations, xxiii. 2o-xxiv. 
 
 12. Balaam's Third Speech, xxiv. 3-9 
 
 13. Balak's Anger and Balaam's Eeply. xxiv. 10-14 
 
 14. Balaam's Prophecy on Moab. xxiv, 15-17 
 
 15. Supplements, xxiv. 18-24 
 
 16. Prophecy on Edom. xxiv. 18, 19. . 
 
 17. Prophecy on the Amalekites. xxiv. 20 
 
 18. Prophecy on the Kenites. xxiv. 21, 22 
 
 19. Prophecy on Assyria, xxiv. 23, 24 
 
 20. Conclusion, xxiv. 25 . . . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 152 
 159 
 171 
 185 
 191 
 211 
 220 
 242 
 248 ■ 
 
 263 
 268 
 277 
 282 
 291 
 
 304 
 
 III.^ — APPENDIX. — The Okiginal Foem of the Book of Balaam 308 
 HEBREW TEXT.— NuMBEiis XXII. to XXIV. 
 
I -THE PROPHET AND HIS PEOPHECIES. 
 
 1. SUMMARY. 
 
 The contents of that portion of the Book of Numbers 
 which we propose to examine, may be thus briefly sum- 
 marised. 
 
 On their way from Egypt into Canaan, in the 
 fortieth year of their wanderings, the Hebrews had ad- 
 vanced to the plains of Moab, on the east of the Jordan.** 
 Ahxrmed by the proximity of such large hosts, which liad 
 just discomfited powerful opponents in the same districts, 
 Balak, the king of Moab, after deliberating with the 
 chiefs of Midian, resolved to summon, from Pethor on 
 the Euphrates, the far-famed Balaam, the son of Beor, 
 and to request him to pi-onounce upon the Israelites 
 a curse, by virtue of which he hoped to vanquish them 
 in the expected conflict.'' When the elders of Moab and 
 Midian, who were selected as envoys, had arrived at 
 Pethor and delivered their errand, Balaam bid them stay, 
 till ho had ascertained the will of God; and when he learnt, 
 through a vision, that God disapproved of the journey 
 and the curse, since the Israelites were a blessed nation, 
 he declined, to accompany the messengers.^ On hearing 
 their reply, Balak sent a second and still more weighty 
 embassy, promising Balaam the highest distinctions 
 and rewards, if he yielded to his wishes. But Balaam 
 declared to the nobles, that no treasures or honours, 
 
 " Num. xxii. 1. ^ Vers. 2-6. ° Vers. 7-13. 
 
 B 
 
2 SUMMARY. 
 
 liowever splendid, could induce him to act against the 
 command of God, whom, therefore, he would again con- 
 sult. This time he received permission to proceed to 
 Moab, on condition, however, that he should strictly 
 adhere to God's suggestions; after which he entered 
 upon the journey together with the ambassadors.'^ 
 
 Yet when he had set out, God was greatly displeased, 
 and sent His angel with a drawn sword to oppose him. 
 The pro])het's ass, but not the prophet himself, beheld 
 the Divine apparition. The terrified animal first retreated 
 from the road into the field ; next pressed, in anguish and 
 perplexity, against a vineyard wall in a narrow path ; 
 and at last, unalile to withdraw either to the right or 
 the left, fell down on the ground, all this time angrily 
 beaten by the vexed rider. ' Then the Lord opened the 
 mouth of the ass,' who complained to Balaam of his 
 harshness, and reminded him that she had never before 
 behaved so strangely. ' Then the Lord opened the eyes 
 of Balaam,' and the angel, now perceived by the seer, 
 rel )uked him for his cruel treatment of the faithful beast, 
 and declared that he had come to resist the journey, since 
 he deemed it pernicious. Balaam, mortified and penitent, 
 readily offered to return, but the angel commanded him 
 to go with the ambassadors, yet scrupulously to abstain 
 from saying anything l;)ut what the Lord should promj^t.'' 
 
 On the frontier of Moab, Balaam was met by Balak, 
 to whom he announced at once that he could speak 
 nothing of his own mind, but was bound to obey the 
 voice of God alone.*^ Hospitable entertainments followed ; 
 preparations were made for the prophecies ; and then, 
 standing on an elevation, from where a part of the 
 Hebrew people could be sm-veyed, Balaam, in the pre- 
 
 a xxii. 14-21. b Vers. 22-35. c Yem. 36-38, 
 
UNCERTAIN TRADITIONS. 3 
 
 sence of Balak and his chiefs, uttered a S2)eech, inspired 
 by God, in which he extolled Israel as a nation beloved 
 and specially elected by the Eternal, exceedingly nume- 
 rous, and happy through righteousness.'' The annoyed 
 king took Balaam to another place where, after due 
 preliminaries, the prophet pronounced a second Divine 
 oracle, affirming that the blessing once bestowed on Israel 
 was irrevocable, since they were a pious people guided 
 by the Lord, victorious by their prowess, and inapproach- 
 able in their strength.^ Balak, troubled and amazed, 
 once more made a determined attempt, but again Balaam 
 proclaimed the praises of Israel, glorifying the beauty, ex- 
 tent, and fertility of their land, the prosperity and splen- 
 dour of their empire, and the terrible disasters they in- 
 flicted upon their enemies/' In ])ain and rage, Balak now 
 commanded the seer forthwith to flee to his own country. 
 But before departing, Balaam spontaneously added a 
 prophecy foreshadowing the subjugation of Moab herself 
 by an illustrious king of the Israelites ; '' and to this he 
 joined, moreover, oracles on the future destinies of the 
 Hebrews in connection with Edom and Amalek, the 
 Kenites and the Assyrians.'' Then Balaam and Balak 
 separated, each returning to his honie.^ 
 
 2. UNCERTAIN TRADITIONS. 
 
 It is necessary for our pui'pose to notice the other Biljlical 
 accounts with respect to Balaam, and, first of all, to 
 consider the following j^assage of Deuteronomy : ^ ' An 
 Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter into the con- 
 gregation of the Lord . . . because they did not meet 
 
 a xxii. 39-xxiii. 10. J Vers. 10-17. ' Ver. 25. 
 
 •> Vers. 11-21. « Vers. 18-24. s Deut. xxiii. 4-G. 
 
 " xxiii. 25-xxiv. 9. 
 
4 UNCERTAIN TRADITIONS. 
 
 you witli bread and with water on the way, when you 
 came forth out of Egypt, and because he (the Moabite) 
 hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beor, of Pothor in 
 Mesopotamia, to curse thee. But the Lord thy God 
 would not listen to Balaam, and turned the curse into a 
 blessing- for thee, Ijecause He loves thee.'''' Hence the 
 Deuteronomist evidently followed a tradition very differ- 
 ent from that emliodied in tlie narrative of Numbers. 
 According to the former, Balaam, when ' hired ' to eurso 
 Israel, really pronounced cur.ses which, however, God, in 
 His merciful love of Israel, disregarded, and, annulling 
 their intended effect, transformed into benedictions; in 
 correspondence with wliich, Nehemiah, quoting and 
 epitomising Deuteronomy, records that 'The Moabite 
 hired Balaam against Israel, to curse them, but our God 
 turned the curse into a blessing.''' A process so indirect 
 and artificial is wholly at variance with the plain sim- 
 plicity of the story before us. Here Balaam never 
 evinced the least disposition or made the .slightest 
 attempt to hazard execrations which, levelled against 
 the elect of God, would have been hardly less than 
 blasphemous. Nor did he allow himself to be ' hired ' in 
 the sense in which Balak wished to engage him; but he 
 submitted unconditionally to the direction of the Lord, 
 who would not permit an alien to call down upon His 
 people imprecations, however empty and transitory. 
 Micah, living in the eighth century B.C., alludes to the 
 tradition concerning Balaam in a context, which leaves 
 no doubt as to its spirit and tendency. For among the 
 
 » The change irom the plural 
 (lOnp) to the singular (IStr), with- 
 out the introduction of a new sub- 
 ject, is indeed strange and incon- 
 gruous, but hardly a sufficient reason 
 
 for regarding, with some critics, the 
 second part of verse 5, like the 
 following verse, as a fragmentary 
 addition. 
 
 b Neh. xiii. 2, 
 
UNCERTAIN TRADITIONS. 5 
 
 signal favours bestowed bj^ God upon His people, as their 
 deliverance from Egyj)tiau slavery and their safe guidance 
 under leaders like Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, the prophet 
 mentions this also : ' my people, remember now, what 
 Balak, king of Moab, schemed, and what Balaam, the son 
 of Beor, answered him ... in order that you may know 
 the kindness of the Lord.''' Balaam's 'answers' manifestly 
 did not satisfy the king ; they were blessings and praises 
 of the Hebrews; and Micah is, therefore, in harmony 
 with Numbers, not with Deuteronomy. 
 
 We come to another point, in which tradition wavered. 
 The Book of Joshua, closely connected with Deuteronomy, 
 states that Balak actually ' waged war against Israel.''' 
 But the Book of Judges writes distinctly, 'Did Balak, 
 the son of Zippor, king of Moab, strive against Israel ? 
 did he figlit against them ? ° And so, according to Num- 
 bers likewise, Balak 's sole enterprise against Israel was 
 his employment of Balaam. For, however eager he might 
 have been to expel the dangerous invaders by resolute 
 combat,'^ he desisted from the hopeless struggle when Ba- 
 laam's co-operation had proved fallacious. Our account 
 concludes with the words, 'And Balaam rose and Avent 
 away and returned to his place, and Balak also went his 
 way;'° and soon afterwards we find the Hebrews and 
 Moabites not merely living in peace but in friendship. 
 
 ■^ Mic. vi. 0. Bj' a strange mis- 
 conception, many (as Bishop Butler, 
 Lowth, and others) iir.derstood this 
 passage in Micah (vi. 5-8) as ' a 
 dialogue between Balaam and Balak.' 
 
 I' Josh. xxiv. 9, '?xi::'^n Dvb'), 
 
 which cannot mean, ' he intended to 
 ■wage war, the intention being deemed 
 equivalent to the deed ' {KimcJi i) ; 
 or, 'he fought by counsels and stra- 
 tagems' [Kethcr Torah of Rabbi 
 
 Aaron) ; ' or, ' not with the sword, 
 but by imprecations' {Kci/), which 
 ' the writer calls war ' [Itoseiunncllcr) ; 
 or, ' he showed a hostile feeling ' 
 {Biiir and others) ; and it is gra- 
 tuitous to assume ' small attacks ' 
 {luwbel), of which no mention is 
 made in the Old Testament. 
 
 = Judg. si. 2o. 
 
 J Num. xxii. G, II. 
 
 " xxiv. 26 ; see notes in loc. 
 
UNCERTAIN TRADITIONS. 
 
 and readily exchanging- their religious views and prac- 
 tices/"^ 
 
 But the most important fluctuation is the follow- 
 ing. The Book of Joshua^ clearly describes Balaam as a 
 ' soothsayer ' (^pip)^ and adds, moreover, that he was, 
 among other enemies, slain by the Hebrews in their war 
 against the Midianites, on whose side he fought. A sub- 
 sequent portion of the Book of Numbers not only repeats 
 this latter statement, but charges Balaam, besides, with 
 the heinous crime of having, by infamous counsels, 
 enticed the Israelites to the grossly licentious worship of 
 Baal-Peor, and of having thus caused a fearful plague, 
 which fell upon the people as a Divine chastisement." It 
 was naturally, and perhaps excusably, supposed that, in 
 the section under consideration, Balaam is regarded in the 
 same light — namely, as a common magician and a fiendish 
 tempter; and starting from this view, theologians and 
 interpreters, in ancient and modern times, have drawn a 
 picture of Balaam's character which is truly awful. 
 There is hardly a vice which they did not think themselves 
 justified in attributing to him. They uniformly dis- 
 covered that our author represented the foreign seer, above 
 all, as swayed by the two master passions of ambition and 
 avarice to a degree almost amounting to actual madness.*^ 
 But in delineating his other numerous blemishes, they 
 difiered very considerably. They variously described 
 
 => XXV. 1-4. The words in the 
 Book of Joshua, which follow upon 
 those ahove referred to, although pro- 
 bably coinciding with the conception 
 of Deuteronomy, yiDc'? ^n^2X x'pi 
 
 D3nx inn -]•^2>^ uvhzb (Josh. 
 
 xxiv. 10), may yet be considered as 
 forming a transition to that of Num- 
 bers with respect to the first discre- 
 pancy pointed out; for they may 
 
 either mean that the curses pro- 
 nounced by Balaam were turned 
 into blessings, or that he indeed pro- 
 nounced curses, but was also com- 
 pelled to utter blessings. 
 
 ^ xiii. 22. 
 
 "^ xxxi. 8, 16; comp. xxv. 1-9. 
 
 '' Freely applying to him the line 
 of Sophocles : To fxavriKov yap irav 
 (ptXdpyvpov ysj'oe (Ant. 1055). 
 
THE CHARA(.'TER OF JiALAAM. 7 
 
 liiin as proud, insolent, and inflated, and yet cunning 
 and hypocritical ; as false and ungrateful ; mendacious 
 and treacherous ; wavering, yet obstinate ; diabolically 
 wicked and mischievous ; the primary type of all artful 
 seducers of God's people ; cruel and passionate ; a sordid 
 trader in prophecy and a mercenary impostor — the Simon 
 Magus of the Old Testament; a sacrilegious trickster 
 and blasphemous dissembler; an unhallowed idolater 
 and a lying sorcerer ; a profane reviler and sanctimonious 
 scoffer.^ Indeed not a few writers have produced veri- 
 table masterpieces of exegetical ingenuity.^ 
 
 Justice, however, requires that, before expressing a 
 decisive opinion, we should at least endeavour to under- 
 stand this narrative by itself and apart from other 
 Biblical notices. This ' Book of Balaam ' — as we shall 
 henceforth briefly call it — is in every Avay complete. It 
 is pervaded by religious and historical conceptions pre- 
 senting the most perfect unity. We shall, therefore, try 
 to reproduce the figure of Balaam from this portion with 
 all possible fidelity. 
 
 o. THE CHARACTER OF BALAAM. 
 
 The key to Balaam's whole conduct lies in the words, 
 ' I cannot go against the command of the Loixl to do 
 either good or bad of my own mind.' ^ The same signi- 
 ficant term ' of my own mind,' is, in the Pentateuch, 
 employed on another and no less remarkable occasion. 
 When Moses announced the miraculous punishment to 
 
 * This JiorUiij'uim — which is only 
 a short specimen — has not been com- 
 piled at random, but we could quote 
 authorities of repute for each indivi- 
 dual epithet, and shall hereafter have 
 occasion to do so to some extent. 
 
 ^ As Calvin, Michaelis, Hengsten- 
 berg, Baumgarten, Kuiiz, Keil, 
 lleinke, Lange, Koehler, and others 
 who have influenced the intei-preta- 
 tion of these chapters. 
 
 <= '3'?D xxiv. 13. 
 
8 THE CHARACTER OE BALAAM. 
 
 be inflicted upon Korah and his associates, he said : 
 ' Hereby you shall know, that the Lord has sent me to 
 do all these works, and that I have not done them of my 
 own mind.''' As Moses is the mouthpiece of God's behests 
 and His instrument, so is Balaam. The greatest of the 
 Hebrew prophets and the heathen seer here introduced 
 are equals in this cardinal point, that all they say and do 
 is not ordinary human speech and deed, but the expres- 
 sion of the Divine will, which, renouncing their own 
 volition, they are ready or compelled to obey.'' Can a 
 stronger proof than this parallel be conceived of the high 
 position and dignity which the author assigns to Balaam ? 
 From this central view everything else is easily surveyed 
 and illustrated. Never, under any circumstances, does 
 Balaam forget that he has no independent power, but 
 that he is the servant of God, whose visions he beholds 
 and whose spirit comes upon him, whose direction he seeks 
 and whose revelations he utters.'' 
 
 Balak's messengers arrive, and, in accordance with 
 custom, bring him rewards for his expected services as 
 an enchanter. But neither does the royal embassy, con- 
 sisting of the chiefs of two nations, flatter his ambition, 
 nor do the presents, no doubt considerable, tempt him 
 into covetousness. When he hears the king's request, he 
 represses both his inclination and his judgment. Not 
 even by the slightest allusion are we informed to which 
 side that personal disposition was leaning, since it is of 
 no consequence or im]jortance whatever. Declining to 
 return an answer on his own account, lie asks the 
 messengers to wait till he has ascertained the Divine 
 will, and when God commands him not to go to Moab to 
 
 i^'nn A^nm vv,- OS. nr^r„r, ^^ xxli. 1 8, 19, 38 ; xxiii. 3-0, i: 
 
 * ''|l??Pj Num. xvi. 28; comp. 
 Jude 11. 
 '' See Comm. on Lev. voL i. p. 70G. 
 
 15, 16, 26 ; xsiv. 4, 13, IC : which 
 passages are distinct and emphatic. 
 
THE CHARACTER OF BALAAM. 
 
 curse the Hebrews, he simply communicates to the 
 envoys this injunction, which to him is final." 
 
 Ere long, he is visited by a second and still more 
 brilliant embassy, empowered to make, in the king's 
 name, the most alluring- offers : ' I will honour thee 
 greatly, and whatever thou sayest to me that I will do "' 
 — offers of a kind which it is almost beyond human 
 nature to regard with indifference, and which only the 
 rarest force of character can succeed in resisting. But 
 Balaam remains unshaken. He ma}^, indeed, for a 
 moment, have been agitated by an inward struggle, 
 which the author, with the subtlest psychological art, 
 intimates by Balaam's hyperbolical declaration, that not 
 even the king's ' house full of gold and silver ' could alter 
 his resolution. But the temptation is no sooner felt than 
 it is warded off, and for ever banished from his heart. 
 He protests with greater decision than before, that he 
 ' cannot go against the commandment of the Lord to do a 
 small or great thing,' "^ and only after having received 
 God's distinct permission, does he consent to acconqiany 
 the princes to Moab.'^ 
 
 Balak, ready to prove that he had not spoken empty 
 words when he promised to Balaam the highest honoui's, 
 goes out to meet him at the frontier of his kingdom.'' 
 But undazzled by this distinction, most flattering ac- 
 cording to Eastern notions,' the prophet courageously 
 and almost bluntly warns the anxiously expectant king 
 against too confident hopes. For, without speculating 
 whether God's repeal of the previous prohibition of the 
 journey involved or foreshadowed also a repeal of the 
 l)rohil;)ition of the curse, he tells Balak : ' Behold, I am 
 
 " xxii. 8, 12, 13. ^ Yer. 17. I wiil soon be apparent ; see mfra, 
 
 "^ Ver. 18. 'i Ver. 20. sect. ' Original Form.' 
 
 ^ Ver. 36. In this survey, we pass I •" Comp. Gen. xxix. 13; xlvi. 29; 
 
 over xxii. 22-35, for reasons which | Exod. xviii. 7, etc. 
 
10 THE CHARACTER OF BALAAM. 
 
 come to thee; have I now any power at all to say 
 anything ? the word that God puts in my mouth, that I 
 shall speak. '="■ The next day, after having duly prepared 
 himself, he awaits the Divine inspiration,'' and having 
 obtained it, he joins Balak, who, surrounded by his 
 nobles, was standing at the altar and his sacrifices ; and 
 here he announces, in enthusiastic speech and without fear 
 or hesitation, the direct opjDosite of what the king, as he 
 well knew, expected of him and longed to hear." He 
 meets Balak's indignant remonstrances again merely by 
 affirming that he dare not contravene the commands of 
 God."^ A new appeal for Divine direction results in similar 
 utterances, followed by the same reproofs and the same 
 unflinching confessions.^ A third attempt differs from 
 the former transactions only in this point, that Balaam no 
 more goes out to secure a special revelation. For he is 
 now certain that ' it pleases God to bless Israel.' He is 
 convinced that he may safely surrender himself to the 
 impulse of the moment. Indeed, when he beholds the 
 vast camp of the Israelites sti'etched out before his view, 
 he exalts their prosperity and power, their fame and 
 triumphs, with a solemnity and fervour he had not even 
 attained before ; and he concludes with declaring, that if 
 anyone should presume to curse Isi'ael, it is on himself 
 that the curse would recoil.'' The king, struck by the 
 pointed and ominous allusion, listens to those bursts of 
 prophetic fire with increasing rage and consternation ; 
 but Balaam remains calm and una wed. He is now a 
 hateful guest in Moab, and is bidden to 'escape;' but, 
 regardless of the danger to which he exposes himself, he 
 not onl}^, wit]\ imperturbable tranquillity, reminds the 
 
 " xxii. 38. c Vers. 7-10. « Vers. 15, 16, 25, 26. 
 
 ^ xxiii. 3. d Ver. 12. f xxiv. 1-9. 
 
Balaam's religion. 11 
 
 monarch of his former assurance, that not even all the 
 golden treasures of a palace could move him to utter 
 oracles ' of his own mind,'" but, rising to new enthusiasm, 
 he announces to Balak, unrequested, the future fate of 
 his own land, proclaiming that, like many other kingdoms, 
 it was doomed to be subdued and crushed by the very 
 people which, at that moment, was causing him dread and 
 horror,'' And then the author concludes his account of 
 the seer, simply and quietly, ' And Balaam rose and went 
 away and returned to his place.' "^ 
 
 It would not be easy to find, in the epic compositions 
 of any country, a delineation of character more clear or 
 more consistent than that of Balaam in this incomparable 
 section. Firm and inexorable like eternal Fate, he regards 
 himself solely as an instrument of that Omnipotence, 
 which guides the destinies of nations by its unerring 
 wisdom. Free from all human passion and almost from 
 all human emotion, he is like a mysterious spirit from a 
 higher and nobler world, which looks upon the fortunes 
 of the children of men with an immovable and sublime 
 repose. 
 
 4. BALAAM'S RELIGION. 
 
 To test and to conhrm this view, it will be desirable to 
 enquire whether Balaam is, in this portion, portrayed 
 as a true Hebrew prophet, or whether and in what re- 
 spects he is marked as a heathen. 
 
 First, it is important to notice, that the God of Balaam 
 is undoubtedly the God of the Hebrews. He is intro- 
 duced with nearly all His Biblical names — Jahveh, 
 Elohlm, El, Shaddai, Ebjon — and no other deity is nien- 
 
 » xxiv. 12, 13. I = Ver. 25. —The passage xxiv. 
 
 "> Vers. 14-17. 18-24 must here also be excluded. 
 
12 
 
 BALAAM S RELIGION. 
 
 tioneJ throughout the entire Book. The most frequent 
 by far is the ajopellation of Jakvek {T^^T^'^), and it is not a 
 little significant, that Balaam uses predominantly that 
 holy and specifically Hebrew name of Revelation and the 
 Covenant, both in the narrative and in prophetic speech ; ^ 
 a few times only he employs El p^),'' and once, respec- 
 tively, ^Zo/i/r/i (Q^nbs), Shaddai (^^W), and El i/on O'^'bv).'' 
 Wherever the author relates in his own name, Jahveh 
 and Elohim are introduced promiscuously ; '^ but it would 
 not be possible, without resorting to artificial expedients, 
 to establish a principle and design in this change or 
 alternation. For as JaJivch puts the words into the 
 seer's mouth and grants him revelations,^ so does Elohim/ 
 whose 'spirit comes upon Balaam.' ^ It is true that, in 
 the account of the first embassy, Eloltjni is, with remark- 
 able uniformity, used by the author, and Jahveh by 
 Balaam ; ^ but this affords only a new and striking proof 
 of the writer's art and care, who desired to impart to 
 the prophet's speech the most solemn emphasis possible. 
 
 "■ sxii. 8, 13, 18, 19; xxiii. o, 8, 
 12, 21, 26; xsiv. 6, 13. 
 
 ^ xxiii. 8, 19, 23; xxiv. 4, 8, 16, 
 24. 
 
 <^ xxii. 38; xxiv. 8, 16; comp. 
 '?]??P^xxiii.21. HoV can we suppress 
 a feeling of astonishment at finding, 
 that this very circumstance — the 
 constant use hy Balaam of the name 
 of Jahveh — has been urged as a con- 
 clusive proof of Balaam's sanctimoDV 
 and arrogance, of his frauds and 
 selfish wiles? {Eciiffsfi'iikri/, Aiitheti- 
 tie dcs Pentateuchs, i. 407( 411; 
 similarly Baumr/arten, Eeinkc, Bei- 
 traege, iv. 227; comp., however, 
 Stachclin, Kritischc Vntersuchun- 
 gen, pp. 36, 37.) 
 
 '' The former in xxiii, 5, 16 : 
 
 xxiv. 1 ; the latter in xxii. 9, 20 ; 
 xxiii. 4; xxiv. 3. 
 
 <■ xxiii. 5, 16. 
 
 ' xxii. 9, 20, 38 ; xxiii. 4. 
 
 s xxiv. 3. — Particularly instruc- 
 tive is xxiii. 3-5 : Balaam expects, 
 that nin* will meet him (ver. 3), in 
 reality he is met by D^n?N (ver. 4), 
 and mn'' suggests to him the pro* 
 phecy (ver. 5). The distinctions 
 that have been attemjited [Hcur/- 
 stcnb. 1. c. pp. 409-411 ; Baur, 
 Alttestamehtliche Weissagung, etc., 
 i. 334 ; EtcaUl, Jahrbuecher, viii. p. 
 18; KcU, Commentar zu Numeri, p. 
 297, etc.) are not satisfactory or con- 
 vincing. 
 
 '' xxii. 9, 10, 12, 20 ; and vers. 8, 
 13, 18, 19. 
 
THE GOD OF BALAK. 
 
 13 
 
 while preserving the greatest simplicity in his own 
 words.'"- But we are not left to deduce, from uncertain 
 inference, that the Ood of Balaam is no other than the 
 God of Israel, the Eternal, the Unchangeable. This is 
 unmistakeahly expressed. Balaam speaks of Jahveh as 
 'my God,"' just as he says with reference to Israel, that 
 Jahveh is ' his God ; '"' and that term ' Jahveh my God ' '^ 
 is not ' merely the Hebrew designation of Balaam's 
 monotheism,'" but involves and demonstrates the absolute 
 identity of Balaam's monotheism and that of Israel,'' 
 
 5. THE GOD OF BALAK. 
 
 A CLEAR light is thrown upon the subject by considering 
 it in conjunction with Balah's religious notions. 
 
 The king sends messengers to the seer with the gene- 
 ral charge to come and curse the Hebrews.^ He does not 
 specify the deity in whose name he desires the curse to 
 
 * By what perversion of j udgment, 
 was it possible to discover in this 
 circumstance also ' a silent accusation 
 of hypocrisy against Balaam, who so 
 boastfully spoke of his Jehovah (der 
 sich mit seinem Jehova so breit 
 machte}, constantly crviiig Kvpit 
 Kvpie, although in reality he was 
 only in connection with Elohim.' ! 
 {Ih'inislcHh. 1. c. pp.409, 411 ; Lange, 
 Bibelwerk, ii. 308, 311, 'an ostenta- 
 tiously displayed belief in Jehova... 
 ...as if he knew the God of salva- 
 tion.' In the passage xxii. 22-35 
 also, the name Hin* prevails, whether 
 Jahveh Himself (vers. 28, 31) or, 
 more frequently, the ' angel of 
 Jahveh' (vers. 22-27, 31, 32, 34, 
 3o), while D*n?N occurs but once 
 (ver. 22). 
 
 b '•n'^X xxii. 18. 
 
 <: Vn'^N, xxiii. 21; comp. 1 Ki. 
 xviii. 39,' Wrh^ SIH HIH^ Ps. 
 vii. 2, 4 ; xviii. 7, 29 ; Hos. ii. 2-5 ; 
 viii. 2 ; Zechar. xiii. 9, etc. 
 
 " Kiiohcl, Iswmm erkliirt, p. 131. 
 
 f It is, therefore, not suflBcient to 
 say, that ' Balaam's religion was 
 probably such as would be the na- 
 tural result of a general acquaint- 
 ance Avith God not confirmed by any 
 covenant' {Smit]i, Dictionary of the 
 Bible, i. 163): Balaam's acquaintance 
 with God was precisely that pos- 
 sessed by the highest minds among 
 the Hebrews in the author's time. — 
 About the question, how the Meso- 
 potamian Balaam obtained a know- 
 ledge of Jahveh as the God of the 
 Hebrews, see notes on xxii. <j-14. 
 
 e xxii. 5, G. 
 
14 THE GOD OF BALAK. 
 
 be pronounced. It is enough for him to know that 
 Balaam's l)lessing and curse are potent and irresistible. 
 Does he, in the author's view, mean the God of the 
 Hebrews and Him alone ? This cannot be assumed ; for 
 if he had deemed this point essential, he would not have 
 failed to insist upon it in his explicit message. He 
 evidently knew nothing of Jahveh, or he did not heed Him. 
 He had heard of the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, 
 but he speaks of their deliverance as of an ordinary 
 event, without alluding to Jahveh's assistance or inter- 
 vention'' — in striking contrast to Balaam, who repeatedly 
 attriljutes it to the power and mercy of Israel's God.'' 
 How should he indeed expect an efficient execration from 
 a soothsayer inspired by a strange god against his own 
 chosen people ? When Balaam, following the Divine 
 directions, announced to the elders of Moab, ' The Lord 
 (mn'') refuses to give me leave to go with you ; ' " in what 
 form did the elders bring back this answer to Balak ? 
 They simply said, ' Balaam refuses to come with us.' '' 
 They omitted to mention Jahveh, obviously because to 
 them and to the king He was an unfamiliar god. If 
 Balak had specially desired that the Hebrews should be 
 cursed in the name of Jahveh, it would have been of the 
 utmost importance to him to learn that it was Jahveh 
 Himself who forbade Balaam to journey forth. But the 
 envoys and the monarch alike were concerned about 
 nothing except the bare fact of Balaam's non-compliance. 
 
 The second embassy was despatched with the same 
 indefinite message, no particular god being named.® 
 However, when Balaam at last arrived in Moab, he said 
 to the king, 'I will go; perhaps the Lord (n'\n^) will 
 
 » xxii. 5. 
 
 
 
 '-■ xxii. 
 
 13. 
 
 b xxiii. 22 ; 
 
 xxiv. 8; 
 
 see notes on 
 
 ^1 Ver. 
 
 14. 
 
 xxii. 5-14. 
 
 
 
 ^ xxii. 
 
 15-17. 
 
THE GOD OF BALAK. 
 
 15 
 
 come to meet mu ; and whatsoever He will show me, I 
 will tell tliee.''* Then was Balak, for the first time, made 
 clearly aware that Balaam was in the service of Jahveh, 
 and then he might easily have informed liimself about 
 His nature and His relation to Israel. Again and again, 
 he thenceforth heard the same name from Balaam's 
 uiouth, both in the interviews and the prophetic speeches;'' 
 and when he, therefore, saw Balaam the second time re- 
 turn, prepared for uttering an oracle, he asked, in anxious 
 suspense, ' What has the Lord (mrr^) spoken? '"' He had 
 learnt, that it was from Jahveh, the God of the terrible 
 Hebrews, that he must expect his safety or destruction. 
 But he had also learnt, that this Jahveh is tlie God or 
 Eloh im ; "^ and, consequently, when he requested Balaam 
 to make a new attempt in another place, he added, ' Per- 
 haps it will please Ha-Elohim, that thou mayest curse 
 me them from there.'" Yet when, this time also, Balaam 
 pronounced a blessing and not a curse, the frenzied king, 
 dismissing the prophet from his presence, exclaimed, ' I 
 thought to honour thee, but, behold, the Lord (mn"^) has 
 kept thee back from honour '—thus mingling with 
 his rage a derisive sarcasm, taunting Balaam's God as 
 delighting to deprive of honours and rewards His most 
 scrupulous worshippers ; and with those defiant words, 
 Balak, the type of blind and woildly paganism, so skil- 
 fully placed in juxtaposition to Balaam, for ever discards 
 that Jahveh, to whom he had turned for a moment 
 throuo'h fear and selfishness.^ 
 
 a xxiii. 3. 
 
 b Vers. 8, 12. 
 
 •^ Yer. 17. 
 
 '^ xxii. 38; comp. xxiii. 21. 
 
 « xxiii. 27. 
 
 f xxiv. 11. 
 
 s Balak' s disposition and views 
 
 will be more fully unfolded in the 
 Commentary. Even Jewish tradition 
 admits, that Balak was a more su- 
 perstitious idolater than Balaam ; 
 Midrash Bahh. Num. xx. 7, HVT p'?3 
 
 o'pyno "inr L*m: ^yai d^»dp bv^ 
 XD1D3 vnnx It^'DJ T\'n\l\ 
 
10 
 
 0. ]LVLAAM THK PROniET. 
 
 We shall approach still nearer to a right estimate of 
 Balaam's character l^y enquiring how he received 
 Jahveli's revelations— -whether in the manner of Hebrew 
 prophecy or in connection with heathen rites ? 
 
 When Balaam hears, from the first amlmssadors, the 
 king's demand, he desires them to remain till the next 
 morning, and promises a reply in accordance with God's 
 injunction.^ He is, therefore, sure of a Divine communi- 
 cation. How is it conveyed ? Certainly in the night — as 
 is not only clear from the context, l^ut is expressed in dis- 
 tinct terms;'' and evidently in sleep, for God orders Balaam, 
 ' Rise and go Avith the men,' after which the author adds, 
 ' And Balaam rose in the morning . . . and went with the 
 princes of Moab.'*^ He received, therefore, his communi- 
 cations in dream visions, and these were deemed by the 
 Hebrews one of the legitimate and valued modes of 
 Divine revelation.'' Again, God speaks to Balaam, and 
 Balaam speaks to God ; '^ He ' shows him ' words,*^ ' puts 
 words into his mouth,'^ or gives him ' connnands ; ' '' in 
 fact ' the spirit of God comes upon Balaam ; ' ' jihrases 
 which we find constantly applied in the Old Testament to 
 the true seers of Israel.'' Balaam's speech or address is 
 indeed, on account of its poetical character, generally 
 
 ^ xxii. 8. 
 
 » Ver. 20. 
 
 c Vers. 20, 21. 
 
 '' Xum. xii. 6; Gen. xx. 3; xxxi. 
 1!, 24; xlvi. 2 ; Job iv. 13-lG, 
 etc. ; see Commentary on Genesis, 
 pp. 608, G40. 
 
 « xxii. 8-12, 19, 20 ; xxiii. 2G. 
 
 f xxiii. 3. 
 
 e xxii. .38; xxiii. 5, 12, IG. 
 
 '' xxii. 18; xxiv. 13. 
 
 ' xxiv. 2 ; see notes in loc. 
 
 ^ Comp. Deut. xviii. 18; 2 Sam. 
 xxiii. 2 ; Isai. li. IG ; lix. 21 ; Jer. 
 i. 9 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 7, etc. Balaam, 
 says Lange (Bibelwerk, ii. 309), 
 with a refinement we are unable to 
 realise, had ' Yerkehr' with God, but 
 not ' Umgang : ' the distinction is 
 certainly not essential. 
 
BALAAM THE PROPHET. 17 
 
 designated as ' parable,' '^ but also as 'Words of God,''' or 
 sim})ly ' utterance '"' of Balaam, Avhich is the specific term 
 for prophetic communication.'' 
 
 However, some circumstances are mentioned which 
 seem at least doubtful. We may here brieHy pass over 
 the fact that the kino- sent Balaam ' wages ' or ' rewards of 
 divination.'*^ Supposing even that Balaam accepted them, 
 he deserves no censure. For according to the notions of 
 those times, no one ever consulted a seer without offering 
 him a present, either in money or provisions, although 
 the most trifling gift contented the simplicity of Hebrew 
 prophets,' and the assertion'^ that the 'men of God' did 
 not receive or take such presents is unfounded, though 
 in some cases they may have had special reasons for re- 
 fusing them.'' — But preparations, apparently considered 
 indispensable, are made for the predictions — altars are 
 erected and sacrifices offered, at which the king is bound 
 to stay.' As these arrangements proceed from Balaam, we 
 are justified in presuming that the sacrifices are presented 
 to none else but Jahveh ; at the time when this section 
 was composed,'' altars and sacrifices, not jQt restricted to 
 one central sanctuary, were lawful at any place ; ^ and 
 although prophecies were generally pronounced without 
 
 « "ptTD^ xsiii. 7, 18 ; xxiv. 3, 
 15 ; see notes on xxiii. 7-10. 
 ^ hVf npX, x.xiv. 4, IG. 
 
 'I xxiv. ;j, 1, 15, 16 ; comp.lVV^S, 
 xxiv. 14 ; see notes in loec. 
 
 <^ xxii. 7, D^DDip, see notes on 
 xxii. 5-14. 
 
 f Comp. 1 Sam. ix. 7, 8 ; 1 Ki. 
 xiii. 7; xiv. o; 2 Ki. viii. 8, 'J; 
 see Mic. iii. 5. 
 
 e Joseph. Ant. VI. iv. 1; X. xi. 3. 
 
 '' 2 Ki. V. 15, 16,26 ; comp. Gen. 
 xiv. 22, 23. 
 
 * xxiii. 1,4, 6, 14, 15, 17,29,30. 
 
 ^ See infra, ' Date.' 
 
 ' See Comm. on Levit. i. 17-19. 
 The ' MoaLite Stone' (lino 18) men- 
 tions ' vessels of Jaliveh' (Hin* v3) 
 taken from the Hebrews, at Xebo, 
 by Mesha, king of Moab, and pre- 
 sented to his god Chemosh. There 
 were, therefore, evidently in his time 
 still (about B.C. 890) legitimate sanc- 
 tuaries of God in the east-Jordanic 
 districts (comp., on the other hand, 
 the very different spirit in the long 
 account of Josh. xxii. 10-34). 
 
18 BALAAM THE PROPHET. 
 
 such expedients, various analogies are not wanting* 
 music especially being used as a favourite auxiliary to 
 prophetic inspiration.'' — The spot from which the oracles 
 are delivered is repeatedly altered.^ These changes are 
 indeed suggested by Balak, who shrinks from new dis- 
 closures at a locality which had once proved inauspicious ; 
 but as traces of similar views were entertained by pious 
 Hebrews also,'' Balaam's compliance cannot be interpreted 
 to his disparagement. — In order to secure the efficacy of 
 his utterances, Balaam must actually see at least a part of 
 those who formed the subject of his speeches. The king, 
 therefore, chooses the places accordingly, and Balaam is 
 invested with the Divine spirit only when beholding the 
 Israelites in their camps.® But this circumstance also 
 involves nothing which would appear strange in a true 
 Hebrew prophet, as is proved by the close parallels which 
 may be adduced ; *" , and it is certainly not surprising 
 in the comparatively early age to which this Book of 
 Balaam belongs. 
 
 But, lastly, we have to mention a point which is not 
 without difficulty, and must be considered decisive on 
 the present enquiry. How are we to understand the 
 repeated statement, that Balaam went out ' to meet God,'*'' 
 which seems to have been a current technical term, and 
 was intelligible even in the still briefer form 'to meet?''' 
 Whenever Balaam thus goes out, he makes it essential to 
 go alone; and it would almost seem that his main object 
 
 « Comp. 1 Ki. xviii. 23, 24, 30- 
 33, etc. 
 
 '' 1 Sam. X. .5; 2 Ki. iii. 15, Eli- 
 sha requested, ' Bring me a minsti el 
 (iiljp^j and it came to pass, when 
 the minstrel played, that the hand of 
 the Lord came upon him ' ; 1 Chr. 
 XXV. 1, 3, where the sons of Asaph, 
 Heman, and Jeduthun, are said to 
 
 'prophesy with harps, with psalteries, 
 and with cymhals'(nni)33 □'N33n). 
 
 ■■ xxii. 41 ; xxiii. 13, 27. 
 
 '' See notes on xxiii. 11-17. 
 
 ® xxii. 41; xxiii. 13; xxiv. 2. 
 
 f See notes on xxii. 41-xxiii. 6. 
 
 B xxiii, 3, TiHipb nin^ n^i'Ti^, 
 
 '' xxiii. 15, mpX. 
 
BALAAM THE PROPHET. 
 
 19 
 
 in occupying Balak with his sacrifices was to prevent 
 the king- from following hini.''^ This might seem sus- 
 picious. But in wliatever manner the author may have 
 represented to himself the process of Divine inspiration, 
 he naturally, in connection with it, regarded solitude as 
 pre-eminently apj)ropriate, because most favourable to con- 
 centrated thought and the undisturbed communion with 
 the source of revelation. Love of retirement is a common 
 and conspicuous trait in genuine Hebrew propliets. They 
 like to dwell in caverns and on summits of mountains.'' 
 They seek above all the desert which, in its aw^ful 
 grandeur, its vastness, and silence, seems particularly 
 calculated to elevate and inspire the Eastern mind ; '' and 
 Moses himself received his first Divine manifestation in 
 the burning bush of the wilderness.'' There is, therefore, 
 nothing questionable in the circumstance that Balaam 
 ' went to a solitude.'*^ Now wdiy did Balaam withdraAv into 
 the lonely desert ? If we follow an apparently unequivocal 
 statement of the text, he Avent, the first and second time, 
 'to seek enchantments.'^ Here w^e seem suddenly to be 
 transferred from the sphere of a pure religion to the 
 darkest paganism ; for the necJiashim (D^'trn?), wherever 
 mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, are supposed to 
 refer to obnoxious artifices of fraud and jugglery, and 
 are forbidden in the Law among the most detestable of 
 criminal practices.'-' So, then, Balaam would really be 
 
 " xxiii. 3, lo : in the latter pas- 
 sage the distinction between Balaam 
 and Balak is expressed in the pro- 
 noun ^3iX with some emphasis; the 
 third time, when Balaam refrained 
 from going apart, he did not, as on 
 the two previous occasions, request 
 Balak to 'remain by his burnt-offer- 
 ing' (cocip. xxiii. 29; xxiv. 2). 
 
 '• 1 Ki. xix. 9; 2 Ivi. i. 9; ii. 16, 
 25 ; couip. Jer. xv. 17. 
 
 •^ 1 Ki. xix. 8 ; Matth. xi. 7, 9. 
 
 '' Exod. iii. 1 nqq. 
 
 " xxiii. 3, ''St^ "T]?.*l ; see notes in 
 loc. ; comp. nb, ver. 1-5. 
 
 f D-L^m r.a.'^ih^ xxiv. i . 
 
 e See Commentary on Levitic. i. 
 pp. 375, 401. 
 
20 
 
 BALAAM THE PROPHET. 
 
 nothing else but an idolatrous deceiver, and the author 
 would have erected a laborious structure with inhnite 
 art, in order to overthrow it with a single blow ? But 
 some considerations rise at once to warn us at least 
 against rashness in our judgment. In his second speech, 
 Balaam himself described it as one of the greatest 
 glories of Israel, that ' there is no enchantment in Jacob, 
 nor divination in Israel,''"^ and represented this absence of 
 superstitious rites as one of the chief sources of their 
 prosperity and hajjpiness. Should he, at that very time, be 
 himself guilty of such devices, and thus, double-tongued, 
 palpably falsify his own prophecies ? Again, we read 
 that the third time ' he did not go out as the first and 
 second time.' Now, what was his object in going out ? 
 Let us only recollect that the narrative observes, in the 
 first instance, 'I will go, perhaps the Lord (mn"^) will come 
 to meet me;''^ and in the second, 'I will go to meet,'*^ 
 after which ' the Lord (mn*') met Balaam.''' It is, there- 
 fore, Jahveh, the holy God of Israel, whom he goes out to 
 seek, and not ' enchantments.' We may, with the utmost 
 confidence, balance those repeated statements against 
 a single and isolated expression strikingly at variance 
 with the tenor and spirit of the entire composition ; and 
 if we cannot prove that the term nechashiin was, in 
 earlier times, employed in a less ofiensive sense,® we are 
 justified and even compelled to consider that word in the 
 passage under discussion *" as a corruption of the original 
 text, whether it crept in accidentally or was ventured by 
 one of Balaam's ancient detractors, and to alter it either 
 into mn"^ or, what is easier, from the greater similarity 
 
 " x.\iii. 23, L"n3 ami Dpi"?. 
 '' n-\i^\ x.xiii, 3. 
 
 '^ xxiii. 15, 16. 
 
 ' Comp. notes on xxiii. 2o-xxiv, 
 2 ; also on xxii. 5-14. 
 ' xxiv. 1. 
 
BALAAM THE PROPHET. 
 
 21 
 
 of the letters, into cnbs, from wlioiii, no less than 
 from mn\ Balaam expected revelations."' If it had 
 been 'enchantments' or 'auguries,' for which Balaam 
 went out, he would have adhered to them the third time 
 as scrupulously as he had done before, because, according 
 to heathen conceptions, they were the most important 
 element of the procedure ; whereas the circumstance that, 
 previous to his final and most solemn speech, he abstained 
 from going to meet God, is a necessary feature in the 
 author's skilful design.^ If, on the other hand, Balaam 
 really received revelations from Jahveh by virtue of those 
 enchantments, no reproach would fall upon Balaam, but 
 it would argue so rude a conception of the Deity as no 
 enlightened Hebrew entertained at the time when this 
 remarkable Book was written.'' 
 
 We may, therefore, state, as a safe and well-founded 
 result, that the Hebrew author represents Balaam, the 
 heathen, in every respect as a true and noble prophet of 
 Jahveh, and thus inakes him participate in the highest 
 and holiest privileges of the elect of the elected people.'' 
 
 * xxii. 38. Considering the gra- 
 phic completeness of the narrative, 
 it is a gratuitous assumption that in 
 xxiii. 3, 4, and 15, 16, 'the inter- 
 mediate link of looking out for 
 auguries ' is, for hrevity's sake, not 
 mentioned {Ewald, Jahrb. x. 47). 
 
 '' See st/jn-a, p. 10. 
 
 '■ As regards the view of Balaam's 
 gradual development from a heathen 
 seer into a prophet of Jahveh, see 
 notes on xxiii. 25-xxiv. ?. 
 
 '' It can, therefore, not be allowed, 
 Ihat Balaam is meant to personify 
 ' the ideal wisdom of the world, or 
 secular prophecy and poetry, in their 
 antagonism to the theocratic people' 
 [L(i»(/c, Genes, p.lxxviii.) : Ba^iam's 
 
 prophecy is not described as simply 
 human, and his position to Israel is 
 not hostile. Nor can it even be ad- 
 mitted, that ' the obnoxious traits of 
 Balaam's character arc, in these 
 chapters, but slightly touched upon, 
 because the author did not wish to 
 weaken the force and impression of 
 the prophecies' {Rerzorj, Real-En- 
 cycl. ii. 237) : a fair construction of 
 the author's words will never dis- 
 cover the slightest allusion to an 
 obnoxious trait. Compare, on the 
 other hand, the admirable remark of 
 a living English theologian : ' It is 
 one of the striking proofs of the 
 Divine universality of the Old Tes- 
 tament, that the veil is, fiom time 
 
22 
 
 7. MISREPRESENTATIONS. 
 
 We feel a great reluctance to disturb the contemplation 
 of so exquisite a production by any expressions of regret. 
 Yet it will not be unprofitable to point out the tra- 
 ditional and still too common views of Balaam's character 
 and life as an instance of the deplorable confusion which 
 is possible in Biblical interpretation. It is not, indeed, 
 our intention to attempt a complete history of those 
 misconceptions. The endless task would be without a 
 corresponding advantage. We must be content with 
 introducing — instar omnium — some ancient specimens : 
 from these, as from a common parentage, all subsequent 
 errors have sprung, which, though infinite in number, bear 
 all a striking resemblance — qualem decet esse sororiun. 
 
 Continuing in the path of the later Books of the 
 Hebrew Scriptures,"* the Jews developed the character 
 of Balaam more and more in a spirit of depreciation, and 
 we consequently find it, in the Neiv Testament, drawn in 
 no attractive colours. Those ' that cannot cease from sin, 
 whose heart is exercised in covetous practices, cursed 
 children,' these are the people 'who follow the way of 
 Balaam, the son of Bosor (Beor), who loved the wages of 
 unrighteousness,^ but was rebuked for his iniquity.'*' 
 The wicked ' run greedily after the error of Balaam for 
 reward,''^ and he is placed on the same level of iniquity 
 with Cain, Korah, and Jezebel.'^ Very remarkable are 
 the allusions made to this subject in the Revelation of 
 
 to time, drawn aside, and other cha- 
 racters than those which helonged 
 to the chosen People appear in the 
 distance, fraught with an instruction 
 which ... far outruns the teaching 
 of any peculiar age or nation' [SUin- 
 liij, Jewish Church, i. 187). 
 
 ^ See supra, p. 6. 
 
 ^ "Of [iiaQbv aOiKing iiyuirr}(ytv. 
 
 <^ 2 Pet. ii. 14-16. 
 
 '' 'Ty irXuvy rov BaXaci/x fitaOuv 
 
 ' Jude 11 ; Rev. ii. 20, which 
 reference will soon he explained. 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND BALAAM. 
 
 23 
 
 St. John. Under the peculiar name of 'Nicolaitans,'" a 
 sect or class of peo])le is inti'oducecl, whose teaching- is de- 
 nounced as utterly pernicious and fatal to salvation.'' It 
 cannot be doubted that the term ' Nicolaitans ' is meant to 
 be identical with ' Balaamites ; ' for Nicolaus in Greek, as 
 Balaam in Hebrew, was understood to signify ' destroyer 
 of the people.''' Whether this term ' Nicolaitans,' as is not 
 improbable, points, with designed obscurity, to Paul and 
 his followers, who by their bold rejection of the cere- 
 monial law, had drawn upon themselves the bitter 
 animosity of Peter and his party,'" or whether the Nico- 
 laitans formed some other objectionable community, this 
 much is certain, that they were held in deep avei'sion and 
 hatred, which their enemies intended to signify, in the 
 strongest and most intelligible manner, by associating 
 them with the detested seer Balaam." 
 
 Similar is the account of JosepJius, which bears the 
 usual character of his Biblical paraphrase, being legendaiy 
 yet frigid, minute yet inaccurate, and revealing little of 
 the spirit and beauty of the original. Josephus regards 
 Balaam, indeed, as a 'prophet' (yuavxi?),' evidently even 
 
 " NtKoXaVra). 
 
 " Eev. ii. 6, 14, 1.5, 20-24. 
 
 = See notes on xxii. 2—1. 
 
 •^ St. Paul's abrogation of the 
 dietary and the exclusive marriage 
 laws of the Pentateuch seems, by 
 his Christian opponents, to have 
 been considered equivalent to Ba- 
 laam's alleged seduction of the 
 Hebrews to idolatry and incest (««- 
 p7-a, p. G) ; hence the two chief 
 ' stumbling-blocks ' in the ' doctrine 
 of Balaam ' are described by St. 
 John to have been ' eating the flesh 
 sacrificed to idols, and committing 
 fornication ' (Ilev. ii. 14, (payuv 
 ticui\vOvT(t KOI -Tvopi'iiaai.) 
 
 <^ Comp. Comm. on Lev. ii. 114 ; 
 7/(>??//A'r«i.,Gesch.BiIeam's, pp. 22- 
 25 ; lic'iHin, Saint Paul, pp. 268 sqq.; 
 ritringa, Obs. Sacr. lY. ix. 25-34, 
 pp. 934-938, where Balaam, like 
 the Nicolaitans, is described as 
 'doctor vagaium libidinum carna- 
 lium ;' Witsii, Miscell. i. 690, ' Ba- 
 laam itas et Nicolaitas vel eosdem 
 vol consimiles certe haereticos,' etc; 
 Iliiddciis, Miscell. i. 220, 221, class- 
 ing Biilaam among the ' typici pcc- 
 catores,' etc.; Ilcrzog, Eeal-Encycl.x. 
 338-340; /. R. Ocrtel, Paulus in der 
 Apostelgtschithte, 1868; J.W. Laic, 
 Paul, the Disowned Apostle, 1876, 
 
 ' Antiq. lY. vi. 4. 
 
24 
 
 JOSEPHUS AND BALAAM. 
 
 as a prophet of the God of Israel, ' who had raised him to 
 great reputation on account of the trutli of his predic- 
 tions,'* and his speeches are referred to 'Divine inspira- 
 tion.'" But he is, in the first place, at least inexact, 
 when he calls liini also ' the greatest of the prophets 
 at that time ; '*= for he certainly did not mean to rank 
 him above Moses. It can, therefore, hardly be doubted 
 that he assigned to him some intermediate position 
 between the Hebrew prophets and the common heathen 
 diviners. This is confirmed by the circumstance that 
 Balaam's sympathies are represented as being strongly 
 on the side of Moab and Midian. He declares to their 
 messengers, again and again, that he eagerly desired to 
 comply with their request;'^ and, after his first speech, 
 he assures the king himself that it had been his earnest 
 prayer that he might not disappoint him in his wishes 
 by being compelled to invoke blessings upon his enemies. 
 He ofiers the sacrifices in the hope that ' he might observe 
 some sign of the flight of the Hebrews ; '*^ and then from 
 him, and not from Balak, proceeds the proposal of another 
 attempt at execrating Israel — ' that I may see,' he says, 
 ' whether I can persuade God to permit me to bind these 
 men with curses.'' Thus Josephus destroys the wonderful 
 impartiality and repose of the original, which attributes 
 to the seer absolutely no other will than that of the God 
 of Israel. Balaam is indeed made to say that he is not 
 ' in his own power,' - but ' is moved to speak by the 
 Divine spirit,' which does not allow him to be silent, and 
 'puts into his mouth such speeches as he is not even 
 conscious of' But all this is merely intended to enhance 
 
 a Antiq. IV. vi. § 2. 
 
 *> 'EiTLOtaZeiv. 
 
 c Antiq. IV. vi. 2, fiiivng dpioTog 
 
 TUtV TUTS. 
 
 't Ibid. ^ 2, 3. 
 
 ^ Ibid, § 4, MQ rponyv ISuv aij- 
 fiaivoii'tvi]v. 
 
 f Ibid. ^ .-). 
 ^ 'Ev tavTip. 
 
 1' Ibid. sSS 2, 5, 
 
PHILO AND BALAAM. 
 
 25 
 
 the glorification of Israel, and thns to strengthen the 
 barrier between Heljrew and non-Hebrew, contrary to 
 the spirit of the Book of Balaam. To complete his 
 misapprehension, Josephns connects this narrative with 
 the iniquitous advice which a different tradition imputes 
 to Balaam, and on which he dwells with elaborate fulness 
 and many fanciful adornments ; and, advancing to the 
 very opposite of the Biblical story, he lets Balaam say to 
 the king and the princes, ' I must gratify you even with- 
 out the 'will of God .''•' A conception of clear and noble 
 outlines has thus been confused and almost effaced.'' 
 
 A still more decided step in the same direction was 
 made by Philo, who could touch no subject without en- 
 larging and deepening it Ijy imagination and enthusiasm. 
 He bestows upon Balaam a variety of appellations 
 applicable only to a heathen soothsayer — ' diviner by the 
 flight of birds,' or ' an observer of birds,' ' a searcher for 
 prodigies,' and 'a wily magician.''' In all these arts, 
 Balaam was a consummate master. He foresaw the most 
 incredible events, as heavy rain in the height of summer 
 and burning heat in the midst of winter. He predicted 
 plenty and famine, inundations and pestilence, and also 
 foretold their cessation. But he was dishonest, avaricious, 
 and blasphemous. Pretending to have communion with 
 God, he mendaciously told the first envoys that it was 
 the Lord who forbade him the journey ; and as falsely he 
 assured the second ambassadors, by whose costly presents 
 
 * Xpi) yap lit Kai irapa fSovXijaiv 
 Tov 0soD ^([apiffrtCT^ai vp.lv, §§ 6, 13. 
 
 '' Various other discrepancies be- 
 tween the account of Josephus and 
 that of our section will be pointed 
 out in the Commentary. 
 
 ' Besides pdvriQ and pavTtia (Vit. 
 Mos. i. IS), Balaiim and his avoca- 
 
 tion are called oliovopavTig (De Con- 
 fiis. Ling., chap. 31), otojvoffKoirot: 
 and oluJvoGKOTria (Yit. Mos., loc. cit., 
 De Mutat. Xom., chap. 37), riparo- 
 VKuiroQ (De Confus. Ling., 1. c); 
 ao^iuTEta fiai'TiKi'i (De Mut. Xom., 
 1. r. ; Yit. Mos. i. iiO) and payiKt) 
 [Ibid.). 
 
26 PHILO AND BALAAM. 
 
 he was allured, that he went with them impelled by Divine 
 dreams. For this base deceit and presumption he was 
 punished by not being allowed, for some time, to see the 
 angel on the road, which ' was a proof of his obtuseness ; 
 for he was thus made aware that he was inferior to a brute, 
 at a time when he was boasting that he could see, not only 
 the whole world, but also the Creator of the world.' It 
 is true that he enquired of the angel whether he was to 
 return home, but this was mere hypocrisy, justly calling 
 forth the angel's wrath, ' for there was no need to ask 
 questions in a matter so self-evident.' In delivering his 
 speeches before the king of Moab, his soul was indeed 
 free from cunning and artful divination, but this was 
 not his merit, ' for God did not allow holy inspiration to 
 dwell in the same abode with magic' Balaam ' was like 
 the interpreter of some other being, wdio prompted his 
 words,' and he derived no real benefit from the inspira- 
 tion thus exceptionall}^ imparted to him.^ Unable to 
 take a warning from the first two prophecies which had 
 been put by God into his mouth, Balaam, ' more wicked 
 than the king,' still ' most eagerly desired in his heart to 
 curse the Israelites.' A third time baffled in his nefarious 
 intentions, since God's invincible power 'changed his 
 base into good coin,'^ and violently upbraided by the 
 king, he offered him ' suggestions of his own mind,' 
 recommending that he should ensnare the Hebrews by 
 the beauty of the Midianite women, and thus adopt the 
 only possible means of success ; and this scheme is set 
 forth wnth embellishments similar to those devised by 
 Josephus." Therefore, whenever Philo has occasion to 
 mention Balaam — and he employs him frequently as a 
 
 * De Mut. Norn., chap. 37. 
 '^ De Confiis. Ling., chap, 
 comp. De Mut. Xom. 1. c. 
 
 <= Comp. Fhilo, De Vit. Mos. i. 48- 
 53, 0pp. ii. 122 sqq. ; see also Targ. 
 Jonath. on xxiv. 2.'), and notes in loc. 
 
JEWISH TRADITION AND P.ALAAM. 27 
 
 convenient illustration — ho alludes to him in no terms of 
 sympathy or regard. He calls him ' the symbol of vain 
 people ; ' a 'runaway and deserter ; ''^ a ' child of the earth 
 and not an off-shoot of heaven;''' a man 'misled by a mighty 
 torrent of falsehood;''' 'an empty mass of contrary and 
 conflicting doctrines,''' since the very name Balaam means 
 emptiness ;'' in a word, a creature finally overthrown and 
 swallowed up by his ' insane iniquity,' because ' he meant 
 to stamp the Divinely inspired prophecies with his 
 deceitful jugglery.''' 
 
 Thus a complex and unreal character was constructed, 
 in which neither the human nor the Divine elements 
 have form or distinctness — a chaotic incongruity, half 
 man, half demon. 
 
 The same features were worked out by Jewish Tra- 
 dition with its own tenacious ingenuity. A glimmer of 
 the truth lingered long in isolated sajdngs of liberal 
 teachers. The words of Deuteronomy,^ 'There arose 
 thenceforth no prophet in Israel like Moses,' were thus 
 commented upon : ' Not in Israel it is true, but there 
 arose one among the otlier nations of the world, namely 
 Balaam.' Nay, several and not unessential points were 
 enumerated, in which Balaam's prophetic endowment 
 was held to be superior to that of Moses himself, since 
 the former, but not the latter, was described as ' knowing 
 the knowledge of the Most High.''' This remarkable 
 pre-eminence of a heathen is explained and justified by 
 
 * De Cherub, chap. 10, fidraiov 
 \a6v ovra, and darpUTtvTov Kai 
 
 XlnrOTc'lKTTIV. 
 
 ^ rTiQ Opfj-ifxa, ovK oi'pai'ov (3\u- 
 (TTi][ia. 
 
 •^ Quod. Deus Inimutab. claap. 37, 
 0pp. i. 299, 7roX\(;> r(,u rJ/c; (i<ppoav- 
 
 '' Quod Deter. Potior. Insid.,chap. 
 20, 0pp. i. 20.3. 
 
 " De Confus. Ling., chap. 31, 
 Ojip. i. 429, Kai yap fxi'iTaioQ ippi]- 
 vivirut BaXaitfi. 
 
 f De Milt. Norn., chap. 37. 
 
 g xxxiv. 10. 
 
 vi]Q xP'/'^"/'f"Of pivf^tciTi ktX. ! '' xxiv. 1(5, pvi? Fiyi yi 
 
28 
 
 JEWISH TRADITION AND BALAAM. 
 
 ui'ging that God desired to de[)rive the pagan nations of 
 every possible excuse, lest they should say : ' God has kept 
 us at a distance from Himself;' and if He had given us a 
 prophet like Moses, we should readily have served Him.' 
 For a similar i-eason, God granted them also great kings 
 and sages, though all these, unlike the Hebrew prophets, 
 kings, and sages, brought to their peoples no blessings, 
 but destruction; on which account, after the time of 
 Balaam, the Divine spirit was for ever withdrawn from 
 the Gentiles.'' And again. Rabbi Abba bar Cahana, a 
 scholar of the third Christian century, is reported to have 
 said : ' There never were such philosophers in the world 
 as Balaam, the son of Beor, and Eunomos, the weaver." 
 The former proved the dei)th of his wisdom by the 
 answer he gave to ' all the nations of the earth,' when 
 they came to him enquiring, whether it was possible for 
 them to rival the Hebrews, upon which he replied : 
 ' Never, as long as you hear the lisping of their young 
 children in the schools and the houses of prayer.''* 
 
 But already in the Mishnah, Balaam, ' the wicked,' is 
 very distinctly contrasted with the pious Abraham ; his 
 disciples are described as notorious for the signal vices 
 of 'envy, haughtiness, and arrogance ;''' and, like their 
 master, they inherit hell, and are hurled into the pit of 
 
 ^ i:npn-i nnx. 
 
 ^ Midrash Rabbali, Num. Sect. 
 xiv. ^^^ 25, 26 ; xx. init.; Yallcut 
 Shimeoni, §§ 765, 771 ; Sifrc, last 
 Sect..s«i_/?«.,fol. 150, eel. Friedmann; 
 Midra.sh Ta/ic/itima, Sect. Balak ^^ 1, 
 etc. 
 
 •<; niJn Din'-JnX. Xeitber the 
 name nor tlie surname of this philo- 
 sopher is certain, and he has been 
 variously identified with Oinomaos 
 of Gadara, Numenios the Xeo-Plato- 
 niciaji of Apamea, and others. He 
 
 was a contemporary and friend of 
 llahbi Mair, and lived, therefore, 
 about the middle of the second cen- 
 tury, A.C. Comp. Jlifh: Ealh. 
 Exod. xiii. , init., and on Iluth i. 8, 
 p. 60 Edit. Stett. 
 
 '1 2Iidr. liahh. Genes. Ixv. 10, and 
 
 Lam. init., ps^*2vn nipimn DS 
 Dn^ D'^n^ nnx \s I'pipn. 
 « ny-i j^y, nin: nn, and c'33 
 
 n^m, strangely deduced, respec- 
 tively, from Num. xxiv. 2 ; xxii. 13 
 
 'D1 ;X?:D "'3 ; and xxii. 18. 
 
JEWISH TRADITION AND BALAAM. 1^0 
 
 destruction.-'^ This text is, in the Tahnud, the Tar- 
 gumim, and Midrashim, worked out with the utmost zest 
 and relish. Balaam, accordingly, is not only ' the wicked ' 
 j9rt?- excellence^ but he is stamped as the permanent type 
 both of human depravity and of the enmit}^ of the im- 
 pious against Israel as a nation. He is, therefore, either 
 identified, or in some manner connected, with many of 
 the most hateful })ersonages of the Old Testament. His 
 very name is supposed to testify to his pernicious nature ; 
 for he was truly a ' devourer ' or ' destroyer of the people,' '^ 
 not only because ' he devised means to swallow up the 
 people of Israel,' and, by this abominable scheme, actually 
 occasioned themassacre of twenty-four thousand Hebrews,*^ 
 but because his despicable jugglery, and the evil example 
 of his life, drew the people, far and wide, into an abyss 
 of moral and spiritual perdition.'' His father — so assert 
 the Rabbins, with that supreme disregard of chronological 
 probability, which makes their treatment of history an 
 engaging play of kaleidoscopic combinations — his father 
 Beor was the Mesopotamian oppressor of the Israelites, 
 Cushan Bishathaim,' who, again, was the same person as 
 the Aramiean Lal:)an.^' Yet Balaam himself was identified 
 with Laban,'^ whom old Jewish writers credit with every 
 vice of cunning and fraud.* He was detestable like Cain 
 and Doeg, Ahitophel, Gehazi, and Haman.'^ He was 
 anions those counsellors of Pharaoh who advised the 
 
 » Muhn. Avolh v. 10 ; compare 
 Midr, Rabbah^ Num. xx. 4 ; Yalk, 
 Shim. § 76.); Bichui, Comment, on 
 x.^ii. lo, etc. 
 
 '• yj^'in, 2)af;xttii ; comp. Tm-ri. 
 
 ^' Num. XXV. 9. 
 
 ^' See notes on xxii. 2-4. 
 
 '■ Judg. iii. 7-10. 
 
 t Tahii. Sanbedr. lO.oa. 
 
 '' Tdyg. Jon. xxii. o. 
 
 Jon. Num. xxiii. 1), 10, 21, NVJ^'"). ' Sec Comm. on Genes., pp. 46.5, 
 
 "^ Talm. Sanhedr. 10o«, 0^72 — \ 460; comp. Maimon. M.oi\ Nevoch. 
 
 DV y'?3 , Tioy. Jon. xxii. .5 ; Aruch ii. 41, etc. 
 
 S.V., bxTJ'^ Dy lihlh niVy yV'^', ^ Talm. Sanh. lOoff ; Midr. liahb. 
 
 and various other expositions. Num. xx. \fii. 
 
30 
 
 JEWISH TRADITION AND BALAAM. 
 
 murder of every new-born male child of the Hebrews, in 
 order thus to destroy their expected deliverer, and he 
 stimulated the Egyptian people to cruel resistance against 
 the oppressed strangers." He was the instructor of those 
 impious ' chiefs of sorcery,' Jannes and Jambres, who in- 
 cited the Egyptian king to the same ruthless measure, 
 who tried to imitate the miracles of Moses by their secret 
 arts,'' and who, at the head of forty thousand of the 
 foreign rabble,° induced Aaron to make the golden calf** 
 These two disciples accompanied him on his journey to 
 Moab.'' For his trade was witchcraft and interpretation 
 of dreams, and after having once temporarily enjoyed the 
 gifts of true prophecy, he immediately returned to that 
 trade for ever afterwards.*^ All the circumstances of his 
 life were inquired into. Thus we read in the Talmud, 
 that a certain Sadducee- asked E.abbi Chanina, whether 
 
 a Talm. Sanh. 106fl ; Sot. 11« ; 
 Targ. Jon. Exod. ix. 21. 
 
 ^ Tar(j, Jon. Exod. vii. 11. 
 
 <^ Exod. xii. 38. 
 
 <i Tar(j. Jon. Exod. i. 1.5, ^C'n 
 X'^nn, vii. 11; Mich: Tanch., Sect. 
 iST'n ''3, § 19, p. 316, Ed. Stettin ; 
 comp. 2 Tim. iii. 8 ; see Coram, on 
 Exod., p. 114. It has been conjec- 
 tured that Jannes and Jambres co- 
 incide with the two men, J^JPII'' 
 Xn?:iJD1 (in Talm. Menachoth Sort), 
 who reproached Moses with having 
 brought new kinds of enchantment 
 into Egypt, a country itself rich 
 enough in magical superstitions ; 
 and that the first — N^nV — is no 
 other than John ('Iw«w/jc, D"'3^) 
 the Baptist, and the second Jesus 
 (since N"ID?D means apostate, Tahn. 
 Iloray. 4rt), who is also said to have 
 introduced Egyptian arts {Talm. 
 Shabb. 104i, where the son of Sat- 
 da— N1L3D, or Mary— is supposed 
 
 to be again Jesus; comp. Levy, Chal- 
 daeisches Woerterbuch, i. 31, 337). 
 Whatever foundation there may be 
 for these conjectures, there is no 
 doubt that Jesus and Balaam were, 
 ia Talmudical and Eabbinical writ- 
 ings, often brought into mutual rela- 
 tion, although some, probably, go 
 too far in their surmises (as Gciger, 
 Jiid. Zeitschr. vi. 34-36, 30.5, re- 
 ferring to Christ also Minhn. Avoth 
 v. 19 ; Sauhed. x. 2 ; Mich: Rahhah, 
 Num. xiv. 25, 26, where, however, 
 ' Balaam ' is described as a non-Is- 
 raelite, etc.; comp. Tahn. Gittin hi a, 
 where Balaam and Christ are clear- 
 ly distinguished.) 
 
 ^ Targ. Jon. Num. xxii. 22. 
 
 f Tahn., Sanhedr. 106fl! ; Muh: 
 llahh. Num. xx. 2, 9, ; Yalkut Shim. 
 § 76.5; Ilidr. Tanch. Balak, § 4. 
 
 6 ■'pnV, that is, probably, a Jew- 
 ish convert to Christianity (comp. 
 Avoth It. Nath. chap. 5). 
 
JEWISH TRADITION AND BALAAM. 
 
 81 
 
 he know how okl Balaam was at the time of his death. 
 The Rablji replied, there was nothing written on the 
 suljject, but lie believed he was justified in concluding* 
 that Balaam reached an age of thirty-three or thirty-four 
 years, upon which the Sadducee exclaimed, ' Thou hast 
 spoken rightly, for I have myself seen the chronicle of 
 Balaam,'' in which it is recorded that Balaam, the lame, 
 was thirty-three years old, Vvdien he was killed by 
 Phinehas, tlie robber. '*-' So much is certain, that Jewish 
 tradition draws Balaam as disfigured by every conceivable 
 physical and moral defect. He was lame on one foot and 
 l_)lind on one eye.'^ He was a pitiless knave, who, without 
 provocation, burnt to exterminate millions of souls, and 
 a fiendish tempter, who strove to overwhelm a pious 
 people by sin and crime ; a base hypocrite, who simulated 
 repentance, when he was trembling in dastardly fear,*' 
 and a cunning deceiver, who, under the guise of fervent 
 blessings, artfully veiled the bitterest curse and hatred ; 
 an incarnation of evil, endeavouring, by insincere and 
 excessive praise, to hurl the Hebrews into moral ruin, 
 whereas Moses, and all the other true prophets, earnestly 
 dwelt on their trespasses, and compassionately exhorted 
 even the heathen to righteousness ; a hollow boaster, 
 who promised much and performed little ; an impostor, 
 whose 'knowledge of the Most High ' chiefly consisted in 
 being able to discover the seasons when God is disposed 
 
 «■ With reference to Ts. Iv. 24. 
 
 •^ nxnO'''?, Talin. Sanhcdr. 106/;. 
 This passage also has been supp ,'sed 
 to imply a hidden allusion to Jesus, 
 who, according to Jewish legends, 
 was lamed by falling from an eleva- 
 tion (comp. Taliu. Sotah lOZi), ' the 
 chronicle of Balaam ' being taken 
 as one of the gospels, and ' Phine- 
 
 has, the robber,' as Pontius Pilate, 
 (nSDDvD ; comp. Perlcs, in Fran- 
 kel's Monatsschrift, 1872, pp. 2G6, 
 
 2(;7). 
 
 '^ Talm. Sanhodr. 10.')«, \ma; the 
 one is deduced from ''DL^* (xxiii. 3), 
 the other from yV^^ DnCT (xxiv. 3, 
 lo), in the well-known manner of 
 allegorical exegesis ; see notes in locc. 
 
 ^ Comp. xxii. 24. 
 
3^ 
 
 Misrepresentations. 
 
 to wrath and judgment ; a man puffed up by silly conceit, 
 though, with all his pagan wisdom, unable to rebut the 
 censure of his ass ; insatiable in greed of honour and 
 riches ; unnaturally immoral even in his sorceries ; an 
 implacable foe, who betrayed the malignant joy of his 
 heart at the expected execration of the Hebrews by the 
 impatient eagerness with which he hastened the j^repara- 
 tions for the journey;^ refractory against God, who was 
 compelled to force him to his duty, as a man forces an 
 animal by bit and bridle ; and so reckless in his con- 
 tumacy, that he defied Heaven itself and its innuutable 
 decrees.'' 
 
 NoAv if we consider this terrible array of accusations, 
 which, as we have observed, have been repeated in 
 numberless modifications by patristic and scholastic 
 writers, by commentators in the middle ages and even in 
 our own time f and if we enquire after the sources from 
 which all these reproaches are derived, we reasonably 
 expect that they are founded on reliable authorities. But 
 wo may well be astonished to find that they are simply 
 inferred from the few and scanty allusions in the last two 
 
 " Comp. xxii. 21. 
 
 '' Comp. Ta/m. Sanhedr. 105; Be- 
 raoh. 7a; Mid), llabb. Genes, xtili. 
 11; Num. xs. init., 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 
 10 ; Yalhit Shim. ^ 76o-771 ; 
 Midrash Tanchiim. Balak, 1-15 ; 
 Targ. Jonath. Gen, xii. 3, xxvii. 29 ; 
 Num. sxii.-xxiv., jw«5*7';^/; Ebn Ezra 
 oa Num. xxii. 28 : as is his wont 
 in difficult questions, he speaks of a 
 'deep mystery' (IID), which he 
 cannot reveal ; ' the part cannot 
 change the part, hut the destination 
 of the whole changes the destina- 
 tion of the part,' etc. ; lia!s?ii on xxii. 
 S; Bcc/ial on xxiii. 4, 'God came 
 to Balaam in tJtc irifflit~as lie did 
 
 to other wicked men, like Pharaoh, 
 I.ahan, Nebuchadnezzar — DIXD 
 N3nnn 1tr:^S "PVX I'pin'; also on 
 xxiv. 3, Balaam is called "135, that 
 
 is '?i::"in cock, because biJiinn 
 
 niDiyn b^l^ FINIJ, and for other 
 similar reasons ; and on xxiv. 4, Ba- 
 laam's gift of prophecy by no means 
 eqtuiUed that of the patriarchs, and 
 certainly not that of Moses — thus 
 contesting the more liberal view of 
 earlier Rabbins ; etc. 
 
 I Comp. Calinct, Dictionnaire dc 
 la Bible, vol. I., pp. 718, 719; and 
 about the fables of the Mohamme- 
 dans, B'Hcrhlof, Biblioth. Orient., 
 pp. 180, 181. 
 
MISREPRESENTATIONS. 33 
 
 Books of the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua." It is 
 entirely out of the question to assume the support of 
 other and independent traditions. For the original and 
 primitive accounts, after having been fluctuating and 
 even contradictory at least down to the seventh century, 
 cannot, after the lapse of protracted periods, suddenly 
 have received trustworthy additions all tending in one 
 direction. The more actively the subject occupied and 
 interested the popular mind, the more surely it was 
 liable to modification and distortion. But what Hebrew 
 prophet would have ventured to make such impure lips 
 pronounce the most solemn oracles in the name of 
 Jahveh, the Holy One ? How should the Hebrew reader 
 have expected benefit and advantage from the blessings 
 of so depraved a heathen ? 
 
 Even this, however, is not the most important point to 
 which we would advert. How can it be imagined or justi- 
 fied, that all those hateful inventions have been considered 
 and employed as a natural illustration of this ' Book of 
 Balaam,' to which, in spirit and in every detail, they 
 are diametrically opposed ? How can it be explained, that 
 so many thousands have, from this section, constructed, 
 in the person of Balaam, the vilest and meanest caricature 
 of human nature ? Is it possible to repress a feeling of 
 deep pain at finding that the Book which should be ' a 
 lamp to our foot and a light to our path,' the Book which 
 should ' make wise the simple,' and ' illumine the eyes,' 
 has been doomed to promote the most perplexing con- 
 fusion in the minds of even pious men who prize the 
 truth ? Is there any other work, in connection with 
 which such deplorable perversion of judgment, if at all 
 conceivable, w^ould be so long and so persistently upheld ? 
 
 * S^ee supra, pp. 3-7. 
 
34 
 
 8. DETERIORATION. 
 
 For the progress of our enquiry, it is essential to a.scertain 
 which of the two divergent views taken in the Hebrew 
 Scriptures of Balaam's life and mission is the older one, 
 and how the change of tradition arose. We have, indeed, 
 but slight materials available for guiding us in this 
 investigation, but they are sufficient to lead at least to 
 an approximate result. 
 
 In the words of Micah, above referred to,"* ' Remember 
 now what Balak, king of Moab, schemed,^ and what 
 Balaam, the son of Beor, ansAvered him,''^ the ' scheme ' of 
 King Balak is placed in clear juxtaposition to the answer 
 of Balaam ; but as there can be no possible doubt about 
 Balak's intention, there can be none about Balaam's reply. 
 The latter opposed the heathen king and was on the side 
 of Israel. He did not curse but he blessed, and this was 
 brought about, as the prophet adds, that the Hebrews 
 'might know the kindness of the Lord.' Balaam, there- 
 fore, felt himself guided by Jahveh, the God of Israel. 
 He recognised His power and uttered praises in His name. 
 Since Micah is thus in complete accordance with this por- 
 tion of the Pentateuch, we are justified in concluding that, 
 in his time still, or in the eighth century B.C., the seer 
 Balaam was not only held in honour, but was remembered 
 with proud gratification as one who had so splendidly 
 testifiedto Israel's greatness and their privileged position. 
 In our ' Book of Balaam,' stress is indeed laid on the 
 fact of his being a Gentile, but none on his being a 
 heathen. From the lips of the stranger, Israel's glorifica- 
 tion was to come with greater force and significance ; 
 but the author of this beautiful narrative knew, with 
 
 » Page 5. " |*y\ c Micah vi. 5. 
 
DETERIORATION. 
 
 'M 
 
 respect to religion, no hard line of demarcation between 
 Israelite and pagan. He considered both alike capable 
 of knowing Jahveh, of receiving His revelations, and of 
 delivering His oracles. It is true, the principle of Israel's 
 election is the leading idea of Hebrew prophecy, the 
 watchword of which may be described to be : ' Jahveh, 
 the holy — the God of Israel ; Israel, the righteous — the 
 people of Jahveh.' But, for many ages, the higher minds 
 among the Hebrews were by this abstract idea never 
 prevented from breaking through the narrow barriers. 
 Mindful of the primeval traditions of a common origin of 
 mankind, they were eager to enlarge the kingdom of 
 God by including within its pale the noble spirits of all 
 nations. Melchizedek, the Canaanite, was priest of the 
 'Most high God.' Jethro acknowledged the omnipotence 
 of the God of Israel. Jonah exhorted the proud people 
 of Nineveh in the name of Jahveh, and found among 
 them a more ready obedience than any prophet ever 
 found in Judah or Israel. Isaiah hoped that the three 
 great hostile empires of his time, after having effected 
 a political union, would also adopt a common religion, 
 when ' the Lord of hosts would bless them, saying, 
 Blessed be Egypt, My people, and Assyria, the work of 
 My hands, and Israel, My inheritance. '"* Nay, the pro- 
 phet desires to see the time, when all nations shall con- 
 gregate together on the mountain of the Lord's house.'' 
 Zephaniah beholds in his mind that happy future, when 
 God will pour out over every people a pure tongue, and 
 His worshippers beyond the rivers of Ethiopia will bring 
 gifts to Jerusalem." A Psalmist praises in lofty strains 
 
 * I?a. xix. 25; corap. vers. 18- 
 24, 'there shall be an altar to the 
 IjOiiI in the land of Egypt," etc. 
 
 t" Isa. ii. 2, 3 ; Mic. 
 coiiip. Isa. Ixvi. 23. 
 '^ Zeph. iii. 9, 10. 
 
 iv. 1, 
 
8G 
 
 DETERIORATION. 
 
 the glorious promises vouchsafed to Zion, God's beloved 
 abode : ' I call Egypt and Babylon My adorers ; Philistia 
 and Tyre with Ethiopia are born there' — all nations, 
 marked and numbered by God, have in His city their 
 home, their peace and salvation.^ The great prophet who 
 wrote towards the end of the exile, is inexhaustible in 
 developing these magnificent hopes. God does not confine, 
 he teaches, His truth and protection to Israel ; but Israel, 
 His servant, is to be ' the light of the nations to the end of 
 the earth ; ' for he is ap])ointed as nrediator of a universal 
 covenant with God, as the deliverer of all those who are 
 in the bonds of darkness and error. Even ' the sons of 
 the stranger that join themselves to the Lord ' in love 
 and obedience, shall be reckoned among His people, and 
 their saciifices on the holy mountain shall be graciously 
 accepted ; ' for My house,' says God, ' shall be called a 
 house of prayer for all nations.''' And as the same pro- 
 phet clearly says of Cyrus, the Persian, that he invoked 
 the name of Jahveh, and traced to Him every success and 
 triumph,'^^ so our author represents Balaam, the Aramaean, 
 as enjoying a communion with Jahveh more constant 
 and more familiar than any Hebrew prophet enjoyed, 
 with the exception of Moses alone. Though this beauti- 
 ful and enlightened toleration may, in a great measure, 
 be attributable to the highmindedness of the author 
 himself, it prevailed, as a mattei- of history, only in those 
 older and happier times, when the free and pure spirit of 
 prophecy, unfettered by fixed codes of ceremonial laws, 
 was still breathing in the land, and when Micah was 
 
 » Ps. Ixxxvii. 2-6. 
 
 ^ Isa. xlii. 6, 7 ; slix. 6 ; Ivi. 1 - 
 8 ; Ix. 3 ; Ixvi. 18- 23 ; comp. Am. 
 ix. 11. 12; Joel iii. 1. 2 ; Zcch. 
 viii. 20-23: xiv. Itj ; :Mal. i. II. 
 
 = Isa. xli. 25, ' I have raised him 
 up and he came, . . . him who calls 
 upon My name ; eomp. Ezra i. 2 ; 
 see al-io Isa. xliv. 28 : xlv. 1 ; xlvi. 
 11; xlviii. 14. 
 
DETERIORATION. ot 
 
 permitted to convey the whole sum of human duties in 
 those simple words, which may well be regarded as the 
 most important of all prophetic utterances : ' The Lord 
 hath shown thee, O man, what is good ; and what doth 
 the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, and to love 
 mercy, and to walk humbly with tliy God ? '* 
 
 But that free spirit disappeared too soon, and Deutero- 
 nomy was compiled, which, though still pervaded by 
 something like the old prophetic buoyancy and freshness," 
 insists upon the fatal injunction, 'You shall not add to 
 the word which I command you, nor shall you take away 
 from it,''= and enforces the severest measures with respect 
 to heathen tribes and their extirpation.*^" Though this 
 rigour, in the progress of time, effectually shielded the bulk 
 of the people against the powerful allurements of idolatry, 
 it pi-oved, for the nobler minds, a check and a restraint, 
 which, by inflexibly maintaining a uniform level, could 
 not fail gradually to stifle all lofty and original aspira- 
 tions. The promulgation of the Book of Deuteronomy 
 was the first heavy blow dealt to the work of Hebrew 
 prophets. That Book, accordingly, alludes to Balaam in 
 a context and a spirit betraying a strong contrast, if not 
 a deep-seated enmity, between Israel and the stranger, 
 culminating in the harsh command respecting the 
 Ammonite and Moabite, ' Thou shalt not ask their peace 
 nor their welfare all thy days for ever.'° The kindred 
 Book of Joshua stamps the seer distinctly as a kosem, or 
 a false and fraudulent soothsayer, who, for sordid reward, 
 pronounces against Israel malignant, though impotent, 
 
 » Mic. vi. 8, see supra, pp. 4, 5. 
 
 b Comp. Deut. x. 12, 13 ; v. 26; 
 vi. 4, 5; XXX. 6, 11-14, 20. 
 
 «= Dent. iv. 2, 5-8; xiii. 1 ; coinp. 
 Jo6h. i. 7, 8 ; Prov. xxx. 6. 
 
 d Deut. vii. 1-5, 22-26; xx. 16 
 
 -18, ^D:^•: b:: n^nn ah; xsiii, 
 
 3, 4 ; XXV. 19 ; comp. Josh. x. 28. 
 30-40; xi. 8, 14, lo, etc. 
 *■ I»eiit. xxiii. 4-7. 
 
38 t'()^x'LUSIONs. 
 
 imprecations ;" till liually, the latest portions of the Pen- 
 tateuch could venture to charge him with the blackest 
 crimes, finding a just retribution in the wicked seducer's 
 ignominious death. "^ 
 
 9. CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 It is, therefore, most natural to suppose, that the portion 
 before us originated at a comparatively early date ; that, 
 complete in itself, it was pi-eserved as a small book or 
 scroll from generation to generation, till it was ultimately 
 embodied in the great national work, the Pentateuch, as 
 one of its most precious ornaments. How the last 
 redactor of that complex Book could, side by side, incor- 
 porate two entirely contradictory versions, and how he 
 considered they might be reconciled, these are no easy 
 questions, the solution of which has exercised, and is still 
 exercising, the zeal and sagacity of hundreds of interpre- 
 ters, which, however, like the efibrts of hannonising the 
 double accounts of the Creation and the Flood, of Korah's 
 rebellion and other events, and of many laws, must, 
 perhaps, always remain open problems. It is enough to 
 know that the compiler deemed an agreement possible, 
 and it will not be without interest, in the exposition of 
 the text itself, to search for his probable view. Nor shall 
 we, in this place, do more than mention a few devices, by 
 which the rest may be estimated. ' It is indeed certain,' 
 observes a great critic, ' that an intrinsic identity of 
 history or form is out of the question ; but in a higher 
 sense, such wavering and contradiction are quite possible 
 in a heathen, that is a lower, prophet, who momentarily 
 may be fiUed with a pui-er spirit, and may, at such a 
 time, speak and prophesy beyond the capacity of his 
 
 » Josh. xiii. 22 ; xxiv. 0, 10. ^ Num. xxsi. 8-16 ; comp. xxv. 1-18. 
 
CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 31) 
 
 nature, but who, being in his own mind veiy far behind 
 the Divine spirit, may easily, when those transitory 
 moments have passed, yield to very different impulses.'"* 
 That a man like Ewald should have rested satisfied with 
 so equivocal an explanation, is hardly less astonishing 
 than the difficulty which the explanation is meant to 
 remove. Acumen and truthfulness led Lessing to recog- 
 nise in Balaam ' acts of the strictest honesty, and even of 
 an heroic submission to God,' and yet Balaam's character 
 was to him a riddle — 'a curious mixture,' in which 
 * many excellent qualities ' were allied with ' the utmost 
 baseness and iniquity.' Balaam must indeed appear an 
 inexplicable mystery to all who fail to separate the two 
 antagonistic traditions. Had this been carefully done, 
 earlier and recent writers would not, in troubled em- 
 barrassment, ' have wondered at the strange inconsistency 
 and complexity ' supposed to mark the seer's character ; 
 at ' the subtle phases of his greatness and of his fall ; ' at 
 ' the self-deception which persuaded him that the sin 
 which he committed might be brought within the rules 
 of conscience and revelation ;' at 'a noble course' degra- 
 ded by ' a worldly ambition never satisfied ; ' or at ' the 
 combination of the purest form of religious belief with 
 a standard of action immeasurably below it.'"^ Had the 
 sources been examined, we should not find Balaam des- 
 cribed 'as a prophet of the true God, and a most detestable 
 type of unredeemed wickedness ;"' as ' an extraordinary 
 nondescript between the Divine messenger and a sooth- 
 sayer operating with the arts of heathen sorcery;'*^ nor 
 
 " Ewald, Jahrbuecher, viii. 39. 
 
 '' Butler, Sermons, vii.; Neivman, 
 Sermons, iv. ; Arnold, Sermons, 
 vi.; summarised by Stanley, Jewish 
 Church, i. 188. 
 
 " Michaelis, Anmerk., pp. 51, 52. 
 
 <• Riehm, Handwoert., i. 19U, 'uls 
 merkwUrdige Zwitiergestult zwi- 
 schea dem echten Jehovapropheten ' 
 etc.; Lergerke, Kenaan, i. 585, 594. 
 
40 
 
 THE ORIGINAL BOOK OF BAALAM. 
 
 as any other of those impossible beings, which the fancy 
 of able and learned men has so abundantly conceived." 
 
 We have shown that the ' Book of Balaam ' is in com- 
 plete accordance with the earlier phases of Hebrew 
 prophecy. But we believe it is possible to establish the 
 date of the composition with much greater accuracy. 
 
 With this view it will be necessary, first to consider 
 whether the three chapters, as we read them in the 
 traditional text, really represent the form in which 
 they were oiiginally written. 
 
 10. THE ORIGINAL BOOK OF BALAAM. 
 
 An attentive and impartial analysis incontestably proves 
 that this portion includes several important interpola- 
 tions, of which it is for our present purpose sufficient to 
 point out the following two : — 
 
 1. When Balaam, after the arrival of the second em- 
 
 " Comp. Beyling, Observatt., iii. 
 102-117 ; Clarke, Coram., p. 714 
 (although, on the whole, judging of 
 Balaam with remarkable moderation 
 and justice, and even defending the 
 evil counsel he is said to have given 
 by supposing that 'he desired to 
 form alliances with the Moabites or 
 Midianites through the medium of 
 matrimonial connections ') j Beard, 
 Diet, of the Bible, i. 123; Smith, 
 Diet., i. 162; Davidson, Introd. to 
 the Old Test., i. 331, 332; Herzor/, 
 Real-Encycl., ii. 237; H. Schuliz, 
 Alttestam. Theol., ii. 35 ; Bcinke, 
 Beitraege, iv. 215, 232 ; Lange, Bibel- 
 werk, ii. 307-309 ('the dogmatic 
 Balaam ' must be taken in connec- 
 tion with 'the worldly politician and 
 tempter Balaam ; ' we have before 
 HE not ' a settled character, but one 
 
 still changing and struggling'); etc. 
 Corrertly, however, two different 
 and irreconcilable traditions are ad- 
 mitted by Be Wette, Kritik der Is- 
 raelii. Geschichte, i. 362; rater, 
 Pentat., iii. 118-120, 457; A. G. 
 Hoffmann, in Ersch and Gruber's 
 Encycl., x. 184 ; Gramberg, Reli- 
 gions-Ideen, ii. 349 ; Lergerke, Ken. 
 i. 582; Oort, Disputatio de Pericope 
 Num. XX. 2-xxiv., p. 124 ; Bun- 
 sen, Bibelwerk, v. 599, 600 ; Noel- 
 deke, Untersuchungen, pp. 87, 90 ; 
 Colenso, Pentat. and Book of Joshua, 
 Parts v., vi. ; Fuerst, Gesch. der 
 Bibl. Liter., ii. 228, 230; Krenkel, in 
 Schenkel's Bibel Lex., i. 456 ; Riehm, 
 1. c. ; etc. But many of these writers 
 either do not attempt at all to fix 
 the mutual relation of the two ver- 
 sions, or fix it hazardously. 
 
THE ORIGINAL BOOK OF BALAAM. 
 
 41 
 
 consulted God again, he received tlie answer : 
 'Rise, and go with the men.''' Yet when, following this 
 distinct direction, he had entered upon the journey, we 
 read that ' God's anger was kindled because he went, and 
 the angel of the Lord placed himself in the way to 
 oppose him,' for ' the journey was pernicious in his eyes.''' 
 No ingenuity, no dialectic skill, will ever succeed in 
 harmonising these two statements. They are simply 
 antagonistic. Therefore, the whole passage in which this 
 contradiction occurs*^ must be considered as interpolated ; 
 the more so, as that passage interrupts the thread of the 
 narrative, destroys the unity and S3anmetry of the con- 
 ception, and is, in spirit and in form, as a whole and in 
 its details, strikingl}^ different from the main portion.'^ 
 
 2. Balaam was called by Balak, that he might by im- 
 precatory utterances assist him in the anticipated struggle 
 between Israel and Moab. Therefore, both the glorifica- 
 tion of Israel, and the prediction of Moab's future subdual," 
 fall fitly within the author's plan. But everything else*" 
 must be regarded as inappropriate, and would, from this 
 consideration alone, be marked as unwarranted addition. 
 But other arguments lead to the same ccmclusion. After 
 having finished his oracles on Israel, Balaam says to 
 Balak, ' Come, 1 will tell thee what this people is 
 destined to do to thy people in later days." After this 
 clear introduction, we have merely to expect a prophecy 
 
 " xxii. 20, see sKpra, p. 2. 
 
 b Vers. 22, 32. 
 
 ' xxii. 2'2-35. 
 
 <> See notes on xxii. 22-35. 
 Some modern writers have justly 
 perceived the incongruous character 
 of these verses ; as Gramberg, 1. c, 
 ii. 348; Oort, I.e., p. 120; Beard, 
 Diet, of the Bible, i. 123; Krenkel, 
 
 in Schenkel's Bibel-Lexic, i. 457 ; 
 and others ; comp. also Hoffmann, 
 in Ersch and Grub. Encycl. x. 184, 
 who considers that this passage is 
 'not indeed an interpolation, but 
 borrowed from a diflferent source." 
 
 « xxiv. 14-17. 
 
 f xxiv. 18-24. 
 
 e xxiv. 14, y2)h r^'^T\ Dyn. 
 
42 
 
 THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITIOX. 
 
 un Moab. But besides this, we find vaticinations, peculiar 
 in language and rhythm, in tone and tendency, on Edoni 
 and Amalek, on the Kenites, the Cyprians, and Assyrians.* 
 Again, throughout the portions we have before discussed, 
 the principle is maintained that the prophet must see 
 those on whom he pronounces prophecies ;^ for the 
 Moabites also he beholds in their chief representatives, 
 the king and the princes. But that characteristic prin- 
 ciple is disregarded, at least with respect to some of the 
 nations just mentioned, if not to all. Thus the firm 
 framework of the narrative is loosened, and the ad- 
 mirable completeness of the picture destroyed." 
 
 Now if we consider the section before us wdth the 
 exclusion of these two passages,'' we may arrive at a 
 safe result as to 
 
 11. THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION. 
 
 The following points seem evident : — 
 
 1. All the tribes of Israel are described as inhabiting 
 the land in security and prosperity.^ The date of the 
 Book is, therefore, neither before Joshua, nor after the 
 reign of the kings of Israel, Menahem and Pekah 
 (B.C. 770 — 740), when the first Assyrian deportations 
 took place under Pul or Tiglath-pileser,*^ 
 
 2. The people are constituted as a monarchy.^ The 
 
 " Vers. 18-24. 
 
 *" See supra, p. IS. 
 
 «= See notes on xxiv. 18-24. 
 Some other passages, apparent, in 
 our opinion, as interpolations or 
 corruptions, bnt without importance 
 for establishing the date of the 
 Book, will be pointed out in their 
 due places ; as xxii. 3, 4 (see notes 
 
 in loc); the word □''L'TIJ, xxiv. 1, 
 probably for D^"I?N or nirT" (see 
 supra, pp. 19-21). 
 
 ■J Viz., xxii. 22-35, and xxiv. 
 18-24 ; see Appendix. 
 
 « xxiii. 9, 24 ; xxiv. 2, 5. 
 
 f 2 Ki. XV. 19, 20, 29 ; 1 Chr. 
 V. 26. 
 
 e xxiv. 7, 17, '?N-lE^"•» t33K' Dpi. 
 
THE DATK OF THK ( 'OMPOSlTloX. 
 
 43 
 
 section belongs, therefore, to a time not anterior to 
 Samuel. 
 
 3. One king rules the country, and Jacob and Israel 
 are identical.'' There is no trace of an allusion to the 
 disruption of the kingdom, the whole people forming 
 one commonwealth, irresistible through their unity. The 
 piece can, therefore, have only been written in the time of 
 the undivided kingdom, under Saul, David, or Solomon. 
 
 4. The Moabites are mentioned as utterly vanquished 
 and humbled.^ They were, indeed, defeated by Saul, 
 but his success was neither brilliant nor decisive, and is, 
 in the Hebrew records, but cursorily stated, together with 
 other military advantages.*^ Moreover, the power of the 
 Hebrews and their position among the nations were, in 
 Saul's time, not of that eminence upon which these 
 chapters dwell so emphatically. There remains, there- 
 fore, only the alternative between the reign of David 
 and that of Solomon. But 
 
 5. This section breathes, on the whole, a warlike spirit. 
 The country is still compelled to remain fully prepared 
 against watchful adversaries : ' Behold, it is a people 
 that riseth up as a lioness, and lifteth himself up like a 
 lion ; he doth not lie down till he eateth his prey, and 
 drinketh the blood of the slain 'j*^ or Israel ' devoureth 
 the nations, his enemies, and crusheth their bones and 
 pierceth with his arrows.' "^ Such descriptions do not 
 harmonise with the peaceful times of king Solomon. 
 
 The Book of Balaam was, therefore, most probably writ- 
 ten in the latter part of David's reign (about B.C. 1030), 
 
 » xxiv. 5, 7, 17. 
 
 b xxiv. 17, 2N1D TIXD ;'n?D1. 
 
 « 'So Saul fought against all his 
 enemies on every side, against Moab, 
 and against the children of Ammon, 
 
 and against Edora, and against the 
 kings of Zobah, and against the 
 Philistines,' 1 Sam. xiv. 47, 48. 
 
 •^ xxiii. 24. 
 
 <■ xxiv. 8; coDip. 9^, 17. 
 
44 
 
 THE DATE OE THE COMPOSITION. 
 
 when it was inspired by those glorious triumphs over 
 the Moabites and other rebellious foes, which the last 
 prophecy introduces with such peculiar power and pride.'* 
 Although we possess no details of David's wars against 
 Moab, we know thus much, that they were carried on with 
 the bitterest animosity and left a deep impression behind.*" 
 
 Of which of David's great contemporaries would this 
 exquisite masterpiece of epic and lyrical composition be 
 imworthy ? Indeed, in some passages, it recalls the 
 energetic sweetness of the Davidic Psalms, while, in others, 
 it breathes their heroic force." However, it would be 
 A^ain to fix, by conjecture, upon a name which men would 
 have delighted to hold in immortal honour. 
 
 There is nothing in the genuine parts of the section 
 which points to a time later than David. For what does 
 the author know of the Hebrews and their history ? 
 They are a blessed and a pious people, worshipping 
 Jahveh, and protected by His love.'* They have come 
 out of Egypt.*' On their way from this country into 
 Canaan, they encamp near the territory of the Moabites, 
 who consider them as hostile and dread them.*^ They 
 have acquired beautiful and extensive abodes, which 
 they enjoy in comfort and abundance, and where they 
 form a very populous kingdom.^ But they keep apart 
 from other nations, since God has assigned to them a 
 peculiar position and vocation.^ They are divided in 
 tribes, all of which are mutually at peace.* Their 
 monarchy has already distinguished itself by many feats 
 of arms,'' and they have thus obtained very considerable 
 
 » xxiv. 17, n^' ':2 '?D -ip-ipv 
 
 •> 2 Sam. viii. 2 ; see notes o 
 xxiv. 3-9, 15-17. 
 
 "^ Comp xxiv. 8 and Ps. xvii 
 38-43. 
 
 •• See infra, Sect. 14. 
 
 « xxii. 5 ; xxiii. 22 ; xxiv. 8. 
 
 f xxii. 3-6, 11. 
 
 s xxiii. 10 ; xxiv. 5-7. 
 
 h x.xiii. 9, pij"' pa'? ny in. 
 ' xxiv. 2, v^2^b PL" ha-^z" 
 
 " xxiv. lb, iriD'PD NE^'Jni. 
 
THE DATE OF THE < OMPOSITIOV. 
 
 power, which they exercise with stern deterinination and 
 inibending energy.* They are particularl}'^ ilhistrious 
 through an exalted and far-famed king, who, besides 
 discomfiting other contumacious foes, has humbled and 
 crushed the Moabites.'' 
 
 There is, therefore, in this portion, no feature which 
 leads beyond the rule of David, and which would not 
 even accord with the time of Saul, if this king could be 
 deemed sufficiently distinguished to be compared to a 
 'star.' If the words, 'A people that dwelleth apart, and 
 is not reckoned among the nations,''' imply an allusion 
 to Israel's theocratic constitution, the result is not 
 altered. For that idea was familiar to the people even 
 in the period of the Judges. It was clearly conveyed 
 in Gideon's answer, when he refused the offered crown f 
 and it was by Samuel insisted upon even with a certain 
 vehemence,^ although after the actual establishment of 
 the monarchy, it naturally suffered various and essential 
 modifications.*^ 
 
 Those who fail to separate the later additions from the 
 original Book, are naturally unable to arrive at a well- 
 established conclusion. This fundamental neglect alone 
 could have misled one of the most keen-sighted and 
 appreciative scholars so far as to find in our section ' a 
 spirit bent down by the people's misery,' and 'the picture 
 of an empire grievously harassed and impeiilled by 
 enemies near and distant,' and, for this reason, to place 
 the Book in the eighth century.*'' Where, throughout 
 the whole of the Old Testament, is there a spirit so 
 joyous and hopeful, so confident and resolute 1^ It could 
 
 xxiii. 24 ; xxiv. 8, 9. 
 sxiv. 17. 
 
 xxiii. 9, ntj'nn* n"? D^i3ai. 
 
 Judg. viii. 22, 23. 
 
 1 Sam. viii. 6, 7 ; x. 18, 19. 
 
 f See notes on xxiii. 7-10; comp. 
 Comm. on Exod., p. 330. 
 
 g FaluIcI, Jahrbuecher, viii. 21, 
 22, 24, 28. 
 
 '' See infra, Sect. 14. 
 
4G THE DATE OF THE COIMPOSITIOX. 
 
 not escape that scholar's fine literary taste, how materially 
 .the terse and almost epigrammatic precision of Balaam's 
 'utterances differs from the flowing fulness of prophetic 
 speech in the time of Isaiah ; but drawn by that original 
 error into the most singular assumptions, he ventures 
 the opinion that the author designedly imitated that 
 older manner of ' brief, abrupt, sharply defined words : ' 
 as if Balaam's prophecies were ' imitations ' in any sense, 
 and not rather among the freest and purest creations ever 
 produced by an original mind. Nor is there, in the 
 authentic parts of the piece, any indication that Balaam 
 ' announces Israel's military achievements from David to 
 Hezekiah ;'^ for it would be strange indeed if the author 
 had treated, with copiousness and ardour, the time of 
 the early monarchy, which for him would have been in 
 the remote past, while alluding to his own age in an 
 appendix, and with a few obscure if not incoherent 
 words, little worthy of the momentous events of the 
 Assyrian period. And yet it is the Assyrian period to 
 •which, for the untenable reason stated,'' most critics have 
 assigned the Book of Balaam, as if that age alone could 
 have pi'oduced a work of art so perfect in form and matter. "^ 
 
 » Enobel., Xumeri, 121, 127. 
 
 " Comp. xxiv. 22, 24. 
 
 ' So Gramberg, Religions-Id., ii. 
 348-356 (in 'the reign of Heze- 
 kiah') ; Bohlen, Gen., p. cxxxv. ; 
 Lengerke, Kenaan, i. 582 (about B.C. 
 720) ; Vaihinger, in Herzog's Eeal- 
 Enc, ii. 238 ; Schults, Alttestam. 
 Theol., ii. 3 ; comp. i. 472, 473 ; 
 Hiizig, Gesch. d. Volkes Isr., i. 226; 
 Fuerst, Bibl. Liter., ii. 227, 230 ('in 
 the early part of Uzziah's reign,' 
 even naming as the author that 
 king's counsellor, Zeihariah ; comp. 
 2 Chron. xxvi. 5, where, however, 
 
 DTlbN L*'"n, which is the explana- 
 tion of '^N nX"l2 pan, is, in the 
 Chronicler's view, a priestly and not 
 a prophetic function ; moreover, Uz- 
 ziah cannot be the 'star' of xxiv. 
 17, see notes in loc.) ; Davidson, In- 
 trod. to the Old Test., i. 337, 338 
 (in 'the first half of the eighth cen- 
 tury,' when 'traditional matter had 
 become incorporated with the his- 
 torical groundwork'); Kuenen, Re- 
 ligion of Israel, i. 102, 181, 208, etc.; 
 but according to Oort, 1. c, pp. 81- 
 118, on uncertain conjectures, under 
 Jeroboam II. 
 
THK DATE OK THK COMIV iSITloX. 4/ 
 
 No less open to objections is the view which places 
 the Book in a time anterior to David ; those who try to 
 ujjhoid this opinion are compelled not only to disregard 
 all intrinsic evidences above pointed out,** but to have 
 recourse to the most strained interpretations, contrary 
 alike to language and history.'' But least of all is it 
 possible to maintain that this section was written in the 
 age of Moses.^ For if so, how shall we understand the 
 mode of its composition ? A.ssuming an historical founda- 
 tion of the narrative, however slight, that is, assuming 
 that a heathen seer, at the express request of a heathen 
 king, pronounced some such blessings and prophecies as 
 we read in the Book ; how did those utterances find 
 their way into a national work of the Hebrews ? It 
 has been seriously asserted that the whole of this ac- 
 count ^ was written by Balaam himself with a view of 
 setting forth his claims upon Israel's gratitude, or by 
 his immediate disciples, whom he instructed in magic, 
 and that it was by Moses, or the compiler of the Penta- 
 teuch embodied in his work just as he had received it.® 
 Certainly, unless, as ancient interpreters did not hesitate 
 to do, refuge be taken to a direct and literal inspii-ation, 
 this portion, as it now lies before us, cannot possibly have 
 been composed without the co-operation of Balaam. 
 
 Pp. 42, 43. j 10-17 is placed by Bunsen in the 
 
 F. i., Bunsen, Bibelwerk, v. i lime of David, and xxiv. 20-24 in 
 -609: 'the kernel of the epic' I that of Sennacherib and King Heze- 
 kiah, B.C. 701). 
 
 •-• Coinp. Oort, 1. c., pp. 48-81. 
 
 ^ Num. xxii.-xxiv. 
 
 * So Steti'Jel ; .see Bengstenberg, 
 
 Geschichte Bileam's nnd seine Weis- 
 
 sagungen, pp. 18, 214 ; Fabricii 
 
 Pseudepigraph. Yeter. Testament., 
 
 (xxii. 2-xxiv. 9) was compiled in 
 Shilo, in the time of Joshua or a 
 little later, prompted by the first en- 
 thusiasm and popiilar elevation of 
 the young republic ; which conjec- 
 ture the author supports by an im- 
 pos.'iible conception of the words 
 1370 J2N?3 DTI (xxiv. 7 ; see notes ' ii. 105; and similarly Jusli, Heztl, 
 in loc. However, the passage xxiv. and others 
 
48 THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITIOX. 
 
 Oniittii-fg, for the present, the incident on the road,'' in 
 which, besides the angel, no one was concerned except 
 Balaam and his beast, since his servants and the ambas- 
 sadors are not noticed in the transaction ; there remain 
 the questions to be answered : Did Balaam write down 
 the speeches after their delivery, since they were not 
 prepared by him, but are represented as Divine sugges- 
 tions of the moment, almost independent of the prophet's 
 spontaneity ? Or were they transcribed by some Moabite 
 or Midianite present, having retained them in his memory 
 with all but miraculous fidelity ? Again, in which 
 language were they delivered ? In the classical Hebrew 
 in which we possess them, or in some Mesopotamian or 
 Aramaic dialect ? And how did one who was not a 
 Hebrew attempt and contrive to write in a spirit so 
 thoroughly and so distinctively Hebrew ? 
 
 Some of these questions engaged even Jewish writers in 
 early times, without, however, being by them advanced 
 towards an acceptable conclusion. Thus Josephus charac- 
 teristically praises Moses for his impartiality and truth- 
 fulness in not appropriating to himself this beautiful 
 composition, as he might easily have done without fear 
 of detection, but setting it down in the name of Israel's 
 enemy, and thus securing for Balaam eternal fame. But 
 then the historian dismisses the matter with the wavering 
 remark : ' Let everyone think of these points as he 
 pleases.'*' Philo, likewise touching hardly more than 
 the outskirts of the subject, evidently supposes that 
 Balaam pronounced his speeches in Hebrew, for he 
 believes — and this view has been gravely repeated by 
 later writers in a hundred forms — that ' Balaam, without 
 at all uruh'rHta'ndhig the words which he uttered — spoke 
 
 » xxii. 22-35. ^ Josephus, Antiq., IV. vi. 13. 
 
THE DATE OF THE (Jo.MPOSrTIOX. 49 
 
 everything that was put into his mouth ; ' for ' God 
 throughout guided his speech and governed his tongue, 
 so that his own words were unintelligible to him.'* This 
 expedient is still more clearly insisted upon in the 
 Talmud and the Midrashim by maintaining that God 
 directed Balaam's language ' as a man directs animals by 
 attaching an iron bit to the bridle, and forces them to 
 go wherever he pleases ; '" it has been repeated by many 
 modern writers, who pointedly observe that ' God con- 
 trolled Balaam's articulation of speech not otherwise than 
 He managed those of his ass ; ''^ and it has been eloquently 
 developed by high-minded critics and scholars into such 
 doctrines as these : ' The prophet, even if humanly intent 
 upon a perversity, is compelled by God to say the very 
 opposite, so that God, after His own will, turns the word 
 in his mouth -/^ or expressed with more subtle delicacy : 
 ' The Divine message, irresistibly overpowering Balaam's 
 baser spirit, and struggling within him, was delivered in 
 spite of his own sordid resistance.'*^ Leaving this matter to 
 the verdict of reason and common sense, we must further 
 ask : Who, in the time of Moses, furnished a copy of 
 Balaam's speeches to the Hebrews, from whom, it might 
 be supposed, thej^ would have been kept with the most 
 scrupulous care, as nothing could so powerfully stimulate 
 their courage in the warfare supposed to be imminent ? 
 The same dilSiculty applies to the suggestion, that Moses 
 borrowed the w^hole piece from the 'Annals of the 
 Moabites.'*" How were these documents accessible to 
 
 " Fhilo, Vit. Mos., ii. 49, 51, 
 0pp. ii., pp. 123, 125. 
 
 b Talm., Sanhedr. 105b ; Midr. 
 Rabb., Num. xx. 8, 10, VD DP'V 
 
 '31 "iDp^si, or D)yb2 ]r\\:i:f disd 
 
 '31 nCnan '•an ; comp. also Talk. 
 S/iim., J 767; Maslii on Num. xxiii. 
 
 16/31 riNTn no*L"n N*n noi, etc. 
 
 "^ With reference to Ps. xxxii. 9. 
 
 ^ EKald, Jahrbuecher, viii. 16, 
 ' so dass Gott ihm wie im Munde 
 noch das Wort umdrehe.' 
 
 « Stanley, Jewish Church, i. 193. 
 
 f Jerusalem, Betrachtungen iiber 
 die vornehmsten Wahrheiten der Re- 
 ligion,iv. 1, pp. 382,.'!'/i^.,and others. 
 
 il> 
 
50 THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION. 
 
 Moses ? and were they written in Hebrew ? for no one 
 will seriously contend that Balaam's oracles, in which 
 every shade of expression is important, are translations. 
 A great divine'^ has endeavoured to answer the question, 
 ' How did Israel hear of the prophecy ? ' by the counter- 
 questions, ' Was it not heard in Moab, and was not Israel 
 encamped before Moab ? Did not Balaam live in the 
 eastern mountain ? And did he not perish by the hands 
 of Israel ? ' But all this does not touch the difficulty. 
 'No Moabite would have communicated those oracles to 
 the Hebrews, and these had no intercourse with Balaam. 
 Yet even this has been confidently asserted and speciously 
 supported, and conjecture has reared the following struc- 
 ture. When Balaam, it is urged, found his ambition 
 and avarice unsatisfied among the Moabites, he tried 
 his chances Avith the Hebrews, to whose gratitude he 
 believed he had acquired a right. He made his way into 
 their camp, but was coldly received by Moses, who 
 thoroughly understood his impiousness. He gave, how- 
 ever, to the elders of the Hebrews, every information 
 necessary for the composition of the whole of this section. 
 Or combining several anterior hints, some surmise, as 
 an alternative, that Balaam, filled with intense hatred 
 against the Hebrews, who had caused him to lose signal 
 honours and rewards, repaired at once into the camp of 
 their enemies, the Midianites, and fell fighting on their 
 side : thus his prophecies came into the possession of the 
 Israelites, and were, from the foreign tongue in which 
 they were written, rendered by Moses into Hebrew. It 
 is indeed admitted that these circumstances are nowhere 
 alluded to in the Bible, but they are maintained to 
 possess 'the highest moral or psychological probability,' 
 since Balaam would surely not have allowed an oppor- 
 
 " Herder, Geist der Ebraischen I'oesie, ii. 184. 
 
THE AT'THOR. 
 
 51 
 
 tunity, apparently so promising, to pass without profit to 
 his selfishness.* Is it necessary to assail aerial fabrics, 
 which a breath suffices to demolish ? It is enough to 
 point out, that they rest upon the imaginary foundation 
 of Balaam's wicked ambition and avarice. Why should 
 Moses have coldly received a man who had spoken of 
 Israel with such sincere enthusiasm, had, for their sake, 
 renounced rewards and distinctions, and had braved the 
 fretful king's vexation and anger ? And would not the 
 Hebrews, in acknowledgment of his services, have taken 
 every care to shield him from injury ? 
 
 12. THE AUTHOR. 
 The only possible conclusion is, therefore, that the Book 
 of Balaam is the production of some gifted Hebrew, who, 
 availing himself of popular traditions, employed them as 
 a basis for conveying his views regarding Israel's great- 
 ness and mission by means of prophecies skilfully inter- 
 woven with the story transmitted from earlier ages. 
 
 It is not unlikely that these chapters were composed as 
 part of some larger conception. Like many other prophets, 
 the author may have devoted himself to historiography, 
 and his work may, with the exception of this precious 
 fragment, have been lost like the histories of the prophets 
 Nathan, Gad, and Isaiah, and the prophecies of Ahijah the 
 Shilonite and Iddo the seer,'' and many other books.^ 
 
 But the author is not the Jahvist, nor the Elohist, nor 
 the ' theocratic ' writer, and certainly not the final com- 
 piler or redactor of the Book of Numbers, who blended 
 
 =» Hengst., Bil., 217 sqq. ; Batim- 
 gart.^VentaX.,!!. 378; Kurtz, Gesch. 
 des Alt. Bund., ii. 503; Vaihinger 
 in Herzog's Real-Enc, ii. 237 ; 
 Jieinke, Beitraege, iv. 218, 219 ; 
 l0.'>ge, Bibelwerk, ii. .308, 310, 317; 
 
 Can. Cook's Holy Bible, on xxii. 28 ; 
 Koehler, Lehrbuch der Bibl. Gesch. 
 des Alt. Test., i. 326; etc. 
 
 " 1 Chron. xxix. 29; 2 Chron. ix. 
 29; xii. 15; xxvi. 22. 
 
 ' See Comm. on Gen., p. 85. 
 
52 BALAAMS IDENTITY. 
 
 and harmonised the Levitical narrative with the Levitical 
 legislation.*^ All the ordinary criteria fail in the present 
 instance, and if mechanically applied, lead inevitably to 
 erroneous inferences.'' This portion, which is sui generis, 
 was by the compiler of the Book found in circulation ; 
 he saw that it admirably illustrated his own ideas con- 
 cerning Israel's election and glorious destiny ; and he had 
 no difficulty in assigning to it a place in the great work 
 of Hebrew antiquities.'' For as true art, free from conven- 
 tional restrictions and narrow tendencies, and rising into 
 the sphere of a common humanity, finds everywhere a 
 ready welcome, and is enjoyed by all pure minds alike, 
 the story of Balaam and Balak is not strange or incon- 
 gruous even as a part of the specifically national and 
 priestly Book of Numbers. 
 
 13. Balaam's identity. 
 
 We may pause for a moment to refer to a subject, to 
 which some have, perhaps, attaclied too much importance. 
 
 » Even Knobel (1. c. p. 127) ad- 
 mits that, though many arguments 
 point to the Jahvist, the latter can- 
 not be considered as the author, 
 since the piece ' abounds in peculi- 
 arities both of matter and style.' 
 
 '' Thus they have given rise to 
 the almost paradoxical opinion that 
 the tradition concerning Balaam, up- 
 on which this section is founded, 
 was the later one, while the more 
 unfavourable accounts given in sub- 
 sequent portions of Numbers are of 
 earlier date (so K/iobe!, 1. c, pp. 
 125-127, and many others) : we 
 have tried to prove the contrary 
 from the natural laws of historic.il 
 development (see supra, pp. 34-38). 
 If, indeed, the statements in Num. 
 xxxi. 8, 16, are from the Eloliist, this 
 \pould, according to the most rectnt 
 
 results, only be an additional proof of 
 their later date. Some (as Schultz, 
 Alttestamentliche Theologie, i. 88, 
 89), seem disponed to attribute both 
 accounts indiscriminately to the 
 Elohist — that is, to Ewald's 'Author 
 of the Book of Origins,' the alleged 
 , foundation of the present Penta- 
 teuch and of the Book of Joshua — 
 which is an abandoned view ; while 
 Ewald himself traces this section to 
 'the fifth narrator of the XJrgeschich- 
 tcn,' the author of Isaac's blessing 
 (Gesch. des Volk. Isr., ii. 219, sqq.\ 
 Jabrbuecher, viii. 3, sqq.; see notes 
 on xxii. 5-14 ; comp. also Schrader 
 in Schenkel's Bibel-Lexic, ii. 455 ; 
 Kuenen, Relig. of Isr. ii. 158, 182- 
 200; etc.). 
 
 ^ See, however, notes on xxii. 2 
 -4, Phil. Rem. 
 
BALAAMS IDENTITY, 53 
 
 Whether the Biblical Balaam is an historical personage or 
 not, appeal's to be of very subordinate moment. Apart 
 from the literary and historical value of his prophecies, 
 our interest centres chiefly in the fact that, inspired by 
 Israel's God and pronounced in His name, those speeches 
 are put into the mouih of a pagan seer. The identity of 
 this favoured man does not concern the essence of the 
 Book of Balaam, although we are justified in supposing 
 that the author's genius, which is throughout so wonder- 
 fully manifest, doubtless chose a tit character for his 
 oracular utterances. Unless a free and absolute fiction is 
 assumed, such a character could only be considered suit- 
 able, if his name and life, familiar to the people through 
 old tradition, were in their minds associated with famous 
 displays of pi'ophetic oratory going back to remote ages. 
 That the seer was a contemporary of the author cannot be 
 allowed, as in this case the unhistorical character of the 
 story would at once have been betrayed. But this objection 
 applies to the hypothesis which has repeatedly been pro- 
 posed of late, that Balaam is identical with the well-known 
 Arabic fabulist Lokman, of whom the Koran remarks, 
 that ' God bestowed wisdom ' on him, and whom it credits 
 with the purest form of monotheism ;** who is said to have 
 written ten thousand maxims and parables, ' each of which 
 is more precious than the whole world;' and in reference to 
 whom the Arabic adage is still current, 'Nobody shoula 
 presume to teach anything to Lokman.' ** This writer is 
 considered to have lived in David's time, and was, there- 
 fore, coeval with our author; for all that is related of 
 another and much earlier Lokman, an Arabic diviner of 
 the tribe of Ad, who is supposed to have reached an age 
 of seven times eighty years, and to have been a nephew 
 
 » Koran, xxxi. 11, 12, 'Give not i •> Comp. Freitagii Proverbia, i. 
 a partner unto God,' etc. | 235, 250, 401 ; ii. 698, 
 
o4 BALAAMS IDENTITY. 
 
 or cousin of Job, or a great-nephew of Abraham, is 
 nothing but idle legend. It cannot be denied that 
 several plausible coincidences seem to lend some support 
 to the conjecture of Balaam's identity with the younger 
 Lokman. The name^ signifies in Arabic ' the devourer,' 
 as Balaam does in Hebrew ;^ for it is narrated that the 
 former was not more conspicuous for wisdom than 
 voracity.*^ Lokman's father was Bdura,^ as Balaam's 
 father was Beor.'^ Lokman is by Arabic writers counted 
 among the descendants of Nahor, Abraham's brother, 
 who lived in Mesopotamia, as Balaam did ; although he 
 is more generally described as an Abyssinian slave who, 
 sold into Canaan during David's reign, was in personal 
 intercourse with this king, adopted the religion of the 
 Hebrews, and was buried in Ramlah or Ramah, amidst 
 seventy prophets of Israel. In a Hebrew Book of Enoch ,^ 
 the statement is found that, in the language of the Arabs, 
 Balaam was called Lokman.^ However, all these analo- 
 gies are not conclusive. The basis on which the conjec- 
 ture mainly rests, is the assumption that, as the Koran 
 mentions ' nearly all ' the persons named in the Penta- 
 teuch, it is not likely to have omitted Balaam, and that, 
 as Balaam and Lokman have etymologically the same 
 meaning, they are really the same person.'^ It is needless 
 
 '' See p. 29. 
 
 •^ According to Wahl (Koran, 
 p. 385), however, .,1,^1 means 
 ' shrewd observer and counsellor.' 
 
 ' "liyn. 
 
 ' "]13n "ISD ; comp. Sengelmann, 
 Mischle Sandabar, 1842. 
 
 e For the word pjplb, which oc- 
 curs in that Book, is supposed to 
 
 be a corruption of |0p7. Comp. 
 I)' Uerbelot, Biblioth. Oriental., pp. 
 516-518 ; Roediger, Hall. Liter. 
 Zeit., 1843, No. 95, pp. 151, sqq. ; 
 Berenbourg, Fables de Loqman le 
 Sage, pp. 5-10, and Journ. Asiat., 
 xi., 1867, pp. 91-94; Wahl, Koran, 
 pp. 385, 692 ; Knobel, Numeri, p. 
 126; etc. 
 
 h Comp. Z)«re«5., Fables de L., pp. 
 6, 7: Bal. is 'la sagesse huniaine qui 
 voudrait renier larevelation Divine.' 
 
BALAAMS IDENTITY. 55 
 
 to point out the precarious nature of the inference drawn 
 from the silence of the Koran ;* and as to the etymology, 
 it is difficult to see an affinity between a great seer and 
 ' a voracious eater.''' The same traditions which make 
 Lokman a contemporary of David, represent him also as 
 a contemporary of Pythagoras and the teacher of 
 Empedocles, and even make him identical with ^Esop.^ 
 They record, moreover, expressly and all but unanimously, 
 that he is to be regarded as a sage (hahwi), but not as a 
 prophet (nahi) -j^ and yet, if any point of comparison 
 between the Hebrew and the Arab is at all to be insisted 
 upon, it is the reputation of prophet enjoyed by Balaam 
 — of a prophet so eminently endowed with supernatural 
 gifts, that the king of Moab could say : ' I know that he 
 whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest 
 is cursed;'^ and that a great Hebrew writer could 
 attribute to him sublime utterances describing events 
 of a distant future.*^ 
 
 " However, Mohammedan doctors 
 generally refer to Balaam that much 
 discussed passage in the Koran (vii. 
 174, 175), 'Relate to them also the 
 history of him to whom we gave 
 our signs, but who dejiarted from 
 them, wherefore Satan followed and 
 seduced him ... he inclined to the 
 earth and obeyed his own desires : 
 he was like a dog who always puts 
 out his tongue, whether you drive 
 him away or let him alone' (comp. 
 Sale, Koran, p. 135). These remarks 
 would certainly not apply to Lok- 
 man, but agree fully with the spirit 
 of the later views concerning Balaam. 
 
 •> About the probable meaning of 
 the name 0^73 see notes on xxii. 2 
 -4. Hitzig (Gesch. des Volk. Isr., 
 i. 226), with his usual delight in 
 uncommon combination, considers 
 
 Lokman — or Balaam — an Jiidian, 
 identifying the name with the Etrus- 
 can Lucumo, which is the Sanscrit 
 Lokamana, the seer. 
 
 ^ Comp. Maxim. Planudes, iEsop. 
 
 ^ Comp. Beidhaici, Comm. on 
 Koran, 1. c. 
 
 ^ Num. xxii. 6. 
 
 ^ If we may estimate Lokman's 
 abilities from the little collection of 
 Arabic fables which bear his name, 
 and which, doubtful in origin and 
 date, are indifferent and compara- 
 tively late imitations of ^sop and 
 Syntipas, ho little deserves the dis- 
 tinction, so eagerly claimed for him, 
 of being considered capable of com- 
 posing prophecies like those of Ba- 
 laam. It is enough to mention two 
 curious suggestions — one very old, 
 that Balaam is the Elihu of the 
 
56 
 
 14. ISRAEL AND THE BOOK OF BALAAM. 
 
 \ It is true, no other Hebrew prophet ever spoke of Israel 
 in terms of such unalloyed approval and enthusiasm. 
 All public teachers, from the earliest down to the latest, 
 inveighed bitterly against Israel's vices and misdeeds, 
 their idolatry and constant rebellion.'* Is there among 
 them one who calls the Hebrews, without reserve 
 and without qualification, a people all of whom are 
 ' righteous V^ Is there one who declares, without ming- 
 ling with his praise a shade of reproach, ' God beholdeth 
 not iniquity in Jacob ? '** The Hebrew nation is, in this 
 Book of Balaam, indeed idealised. It is so beloved by God, 
 that it resists all imprecations, which recoil upon those 
 who dare to utter them ;** while blessings once pronounced 
 are unchangeably beneficent, and bless those also by whom 
 they are invoked.^ The Hebrews require no arts of sooth- 
 saying and magic, since they receive from God Himself 
 all needful revelations.^ Thus placed under His watch- 
 ful protection, they are without an equal upon the earth, 
 and to be compared to no other nation.^ They enjoy 
 peace and comfort and abundance.'' Undaunted and 
 unconquerable,^ t-hey form a well-established kingdom, 
 ruled by glorious sovereigns, triumphing over mighty 
 
 Book of Job; and the other recently 
 proposed, that he is the first king of 
 Edom, Bela the son of Beor (Gen. 
 xxxvi. 32 ; so Noeldehe, Unter- 
 suchungen, p. 87, who has ' not the 
 slightest doubt' as to the correctness 
 of his conjecture, because Jerome 
 mentions, in Moab, two towns Ban- 
 naba, supposed to correspond with 
 n^nj"'), the residence of Bela: but 
 the Balaam of our Book is a Meso- 
 potamian or Aramaean, and neither 
 an Edomite, nor a Moabite, nor a 
 
 Midianite, as has been variously 
 assumed to support some pre-con- 
 ceived theory. 
 
 » See notes on xxiii. 7-10, 18- 
 24. 
 
 ^ xxiii. 10, Dni";. 
 
 ■^ xxiii. 21. 
 
 ^ xxiii. 8 ; xxiv. 9J. 
 
 e xxiii. 19, 20. 
 
 f xxiii. 23. 
 
 p xxiii. 9, 21; xxiv. 1, 19. 
 
 '■ xxiv. 5-7. 
 
 ' xxiii. 24 ; xxiv. 9. 
 
ISRAEL AND THE BOOK OF BALAAM. 
 
 o7 
 
 foes, and rising through their fall.* In a word, no stranger 
 can wish for himself a more enviable lot than to share 
 that of Israel.'* 
 
 There are, indeed, in othei" proi)hetic works also, glow- 
 ing descriptions of a time when the Hebrews ' shall not 
 do evil nor act perversely/ and when they shall live in 
 undisturbed prosperity and the full knowledge of God 
 under a wise and powerful monarch.'' But all those 
 descriptions refer to a future more or less remote, or 
 are presented as ' Messianic ' hopes, with which faithful 
 patriots desired to comfort their contemporaries in times 
 of despondency and oppression. The_ Book of Balaam, 
 on the contrary, portrays a happy present. God's love 
 and the people's piety, the power of the nation and the 
 happiness of individuals, are realities ; they are not 
 objects of sanguine expectation, but of secure possession ; 
 and no shadow of grief or lament darkens the joyous 
 serenity and brightness in the picture of Israel's privi- 
 leged destiny. Not merely does the Hebrew writer, with 
 ])eculiar fitness, put into the foreign seer's mouth only 
 praises of the Hebrews, to show that, however grave and 
 numerous the failings may be which their own leaders 
 are compelled to reprove, they are spotless in the 
 stranger's eye ; but they are indeed spotless, because 
 they are God's chosen people, and deserve their election 
 by their virtue and righteousness. Our author is not 
 singular in distinguishing between the real and the ideal 
 Israel. Another and much later prophet exalts in the 
 ' servant of God ' that nobler portion of the people, which 
 proves worthy of its great mission.*^ But drawn in a time 
 
 * xxiv. lb, Sb, 17. ^ xxiii. 10. 
 
 <: Comp. Isa. ix. 5, 6, 9 ; xi. 1- 
 10; Jer. xxiii. .5, 6: IIos. ii. 20- 
 25: Ze-h. iii. 8-10; etc. 
 
 ■^ Isaiah xli. 8-20 ; xlii. 1-4 
 xlix. 1-4 ; Iii. 13-liii. 12, etc. 
 comp. Gesenhts and Knobel in loc. 
 see Comm. on Levit. i. pp. 296, 297 
 
58 ANALOGY OF THE BOOK OF RUTH. 
 
 of political misfortune, this servant of God, persecuted and 
 sufiering, bears the guilt of many ; whereas in this Book, 
 the whole of Israel participates alike in the fear of God 
 and in worldly happiness.* How great and remarkable 
 must have been the age which could produce such a 
 work ! The proud consciousness of a special mission was 
 possible without engendering a baneful exclusiveness. 
 The guides and teachers, while cherishing the hope that 
 a pure worship of Jahveh was taking root in the people's 
 hearts, considered that other nations also knew and 
 revered Israel's God. Secure in His grace and direction, 
 they were certain that He did not confine His revelation 
 to them alone, but readily granted it to the pure and 
 noble of all races. And in addition to this freedom and 
 largeness of mind, they enjoyed a political existence well- 
 guarded and honoured, and an intellectual culture which 
 had almost attained that highest standard which blends 
 simplicity and elevation. 
 
 15. ANALOGY OF THE BOOK OF RUTH. 
 
 Considerable light is thrown upon this story of Balaam 
 by an analogous and hardly less remarkable Avork of the 
 Old Testament — the Book of Ruth. In literary excel- 
 lence, both may, on the whole, be regarded as equal. 
 The Book of Ruth is perhaps as decidedly the most 
 perfect idyl of antiquity, as the Book of Balaam is the 
 most skilful combination of epic composition and pro- 
 phecy ever achieved. Both in the one and the other, the 
 scene is partially laid in Moab, and some of the principal 
 figures are Moabites. And lastly, both works originated 
 about the same time, and, what is more important still, 
 both breathe the same spirit. Is this indeed the case, it 
 
 » See notes on xxiii. 7-10 ; 18-24. 
 
ANALOGY OF THE BOOK OF RUTH. 
 
 59 
 
 might be asked in surprise ? Does not the tendency of 
 both appear wholly antagonistic in the cardinal point ? Are 
 not, in this section, Israel and Moab arrayed against each 
 other in strong hostility,'' whereas the Book of Ruth ex- 
 hibits them in completest harmony ? The reply is, how- 
 ever, obvious: that circumstance is not the cardinal point; 
 for that concerns the two countries merely in their ex- 
 ternal and ever changing political relations, which de- 
 pended on multifarious accidents in the distribution of 
 power and the personal disposition of rulers. The most 
 prominent feature is that spirit of liberty and equality 
 which pervades the Book of Ruth as it pervades the Book 
 of Balaam. The distinction between Hebrew and Gentile 
 is, in both, all but effaced. In the one, a pious and affec- 
 tionate Moabite woman is delineated with the same im- 
 partial love and truth, as, in the other, a highly -gifted and 
 God-inspired Mesopotamian prophet. It is the object of 
 the Book of Ruth to trace the origin of Israel's most 
 glorious king from the devoted Moabitess, of whom the 
 Hebrew women in Bethlehem said, that she was better to 
 her bereaved Hebrew mother-in-law than seven sons.^ 
 The author lived at a time when marriages with foreigners 
 were not yet considered an abomination,'^ and when surely 
 it would have been impossible to frame or to enforce the 
 rigorous command : ' An Ammonite and a Moabite shall 
 not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to their 
 tenth generation shall they not enter for ever ; ''^ for King 
 David was the third in descent from Ruth.*" We are 
 
 •'' xxii. 3, 6, xxiv. 14-17- 
 
 ^ Euth iv. 15. 
 
 "■ See Comment, on Levit. ii. 
 pp. 354 sqq. 
 
 '' Deut. xxiii. 4. 
 
 » iv. 17, 21, 22. Jewish tradition 
 makes Balak the ancestor of lluth 
 
 through Eglon, the Judge, Mhom it 
 regards as the grandson of that king 
 [Talm. Sanh. lOoi), so that, accord- 
 ing to that conception, David would 
 still more fully and more strikingly 
 represent the union of the Moabite 
 and the Hebrew. 
 
60 ANALOGY OF THE BOOK OF RUTH. 
 
 inclined to conclude that the Book of Ruth was written 
 before David's terrible war against the Moabites. These 
 had been subdued by Saul,*' and appear, after that time, 
 to have long lived with the Hebrews in amicable inter- 
 course. Their king certainly was well-disposed towards 
 David, who, when compelled to flee before Saul, entrusted 
 to him his parents for protection.^ Besides Moab, Beth- 
 lehem is exclusively the scene of the Book, which neither 
 mentions nor alludes to Jerusalem. The descendants of 
 Ruth and Boaz, on the other hand, are not enumerated 
 beyond David, since the list does not include even his 
 illustrious son Solomon. The Book may, therefore, have 
 been composed at the period when David was still dwell- 
 ing in Hebron as the king of Judah, and yet was already 
 sufficiently famous and conspicuous to call forth such a 
 genealogical narrative. But even after his sanguinary 
 victories over the Moabites, a work like that would by 
 no means have been impossible. Conquered tribes in 
 those times recovered their strength with incredible 
 rapidity, and political feuds were often forgotten within 
 the same generation. Indeed we And among the later 
 military chiefs of David, besides other foreigners, also 
 ' Jithmah the Moabite.'" 
 
 We are thus justified in considering the Book of Ruth, 
 like the Book of Balaam, as a testimony to that lofty 
 spirit of toleration and common brotherhood which, in 
 the youthful and vigorous times of David, animated 
 Israel, and which, supported and nourished by that 
 literary genius and refinement manifest in both works, 
 might have led to the fairest fruits of a universal 
 humanity, had not, too soon afterwards, national com- 
 
 1 Sam. xiv. 47. 1 ^ "^NISH HOn;-, 1 Chron. xi. 46 ; 
 
 1 Sam. xxii. 3, 4. j comp. Noeldeke, Die Amalek., p. 20. 
 
FAME AND CHARACTER OF THE B(»()K. 
 
 r,i 
 
 plications and calamities tempted and led the minds of 
 the people into a different and more solitary path." 
 
 16. FAME AND CHARACTER OF THE BOOK. 
 
 It is not surprising to find that the Book of Balaam 
 soon attained a great celebrity, and was ever respected 
 as a high authority. In the last address of Jacob, 
 
 " It is difficult to understand how 
 the conjecture could gain ground 
 that the Book of Euth was written 
 at a very late peiiod, at a time 
 ' when the national life of Israel had 
 already ceased,' during the exile, 
 or even in the age of Nehemiah (so 
 Ewald, Bertheau, Geiger, Ursclirift, 
 pp. 49-52, 299, Meier, Schrader, 
 and others). The principal argument 
 adduced by the advocates of this 
 view is derived from the words in 
 
 Ruth iv. 7, 'pKT^^a D'':s'? nXTI, 
 
 which they translate, ' and this was 
 formerly the custom in Israel.' But 
 even if this version should be correct, 
 and if the term D''3D7 does here not 
 rather mean 'already in' or 'from 
 olden times,' so that the custom still 
 e-xisted in the author's age, as seems 
 to be confirmed by the addition im- 
 mediately following, miynn nxn 
 
 ^Nlti^'S, 'and this is the custom in 
 Israel ;' we might justly object that 
 in the three or four generations 
 which elapsed between the time of 
 Ruth and the reign of David, cus- 
 toms may have considerably changed. 
 However, even if the Book inclu- 
 ded many other obscure or am- 
 biguous phrases besides this one, 
 they would have no weight whatever 
 in the face of that tone and spirit of 
 antiquity which characterise every 
 
 single trait and incident of the story. 
 It is enough to urge again the fact 
 that marriages with foreigners are 
 not held to be reproachful, and that 
 there is, in the whole narrative, no 
 vestige of an attempt at palliating 
 such an alliance in the case of David's 
 ancestors ; in addition to which we 
 may point to the markedly archaic 
 character of the language {e.g., 
 D*")y3j in ii. 21, used instead of 
 niiyj, comp. vers. 8, 22, 23; the 
 anomalous combination Dn'^ri'J' (i. 
 1.'), applying to Naomi and Ruth 
 (see Grammar, § xxii. 1. 3, 6) ; 
 though we would lay no stress on 
 such forms as "•Fiob' and ^ri"!"]', iii- 
 3, 4, instead of T\t2^ and mn\ as 
 they occur in later compositions also 
 (comp. Gram., § xxviii. I.a). Bleek, 
 (Einleitung, p. 354) admits at least 
 that the Book was written before 
 the legislation of Deuteronomy, and 
 Noeldeke (Altte?tam. Liter., p. 45) 
 that it was composed during the 
 rule of the house of David ; while 
 Keil (Einleitung, p. 437) places it in 
 the reign of this king or shortly 
 after it. [We may here remind the 
 reader that, in references to our 
 Hebrew Grammar, the common or 
 Arabic numbers of sections point to 
 the First Part, the Roman numbers 
 to the Second Part of that work.] 
 
62 
 
 FAME AND niARACTER OF THE BOOK. 
 
 written in the time of the divided kingdom,'' some pas- 
 sages are imitated, and some ahnost verbally incorporated ; 
 they are those which describe the people's strength and 
 majesty, and are, in the later production, applied to 
 Judah, then the most powerful tribe.^ Isaac's blessing,*' 
 composed in the ninth century, seems altogether to have 
 been constructed on the model of these prophecies, with 
 which it coincides in the main idea of Israel's inalien- 
 able election, shielded by God's blessing for ever, and 
 touched by no curse. "^ In reference to Balaam's speeches, 
 the prophet Micah is in full agreement with our author.® 
 Other prophets afford proofs how much their views on 
 human life and happiness were moulded on utterances of 
 Balaam.*' It is not improbable that the important and 
 significant words in the Jahvistic records of the Pen- 
 tateuch, 'I will bless those that bless thee, and curse 
 him that curses thee,'^ are borrowed from this section.'' 
 Jeremiah, in his oracle on Moab, reproduces Balaam's 
 chief prediction with respect to the same people.' And 
 lastly, considering the force and sublimity of these 
 prophecies, ' the star ' which ' cometh out of Jacob,' 
 could not fail to be raised into a Messianic type.'' 
 
 And, indeed, this Book of Balaam is invested with an 
 
 * See Comm. on Gen., pp. 722- 
 724. 
 
 '' Comp. Num. xxiii. 24, xxiv. 9, 
 and Gen. xlix. 9; Num. xxiv. 17, 
 and Gen. xlix. 10. 
 
 <^ Gen. xxvii. 
 
 <* See notes on xxii. 5-14. 
 
 " Mic. vi. ; see supra, pp. 4, 34 ; 
 comp. also Mic. vii. 14, and notes 
 on xxiii. 7-10. 
 
 f Hab. i. 3, 13 ; see notes on 
 xxiii. 18-24. 
 
 K Gen. xii. 3. 
 
 •> xxiv. 9. 
 
 ' Comp. xxiv. 17, and Jer. xlviii. 
 45, 47 ; see notes on xxiv. 15-17. 
 
 ^ xxiv. 17 ; see notes on xxiv. 14 
 -17; comp. also xxiv. 3, and 2 Sam. 
 xxiii. 1, see notes on xxiv. 3-9 ; 
 xxiv. 10-14, and Amos vii. 10-17, 
 see notes on xxiv. 10-14; xxiv. 
 18, 19, and Obad. 17-19 ; xxiv. 
 21, and Obad. 3, 4, Jer. xlix. 16. 
 It would, therefore, be hardly cor- 
 rect to maintain that Balaam — that 
 is, the author of these prophecies — 
 'left no enduring mark on the his- 
 tory of the Jewish Church.' 
 
FAME AND CHARACTER OF THE P.OOK. OH 
 
 uncommon originality, which takes a powerful hold upon 
 all readers, and for which there is no exact parallel in the 
 whole of the Old Testament. The functions of Hebrew 
 prophets were sufficiently multifarious, but no seer of 
 Israel was ever employed for such an office as Balaam. We 
 have instances of prophets being consulted with regard 
 to the issue of military expeditions,^ and we have many 
 instances of pious men interceding for others b}^ prayer, 
 or pronouncing blessings and curses, the effects of which 
 were considered infallible.'' But there is no other 
 example of a prophet who, requested to pronounce a 
 definite and prescribed speech, is forced, 'heav'n controll'd,' 
 to express the very opposite again and again. There is, 
 in the whole tenor of the Book, something peculiarly 
 mysterious, which may perhaps be best described by the 
 Greek term Bulhoviov. That singular impression is 
 strengthened, if it is not partly created, by the disposition 
 and conduct of Balak. To him the Pharaoh of the 
 Exodus, among all the Old Testament characters, bears 
 the greatest resemblance. The king of Eg^q^t rises 
 against the God of Israel, the king of Moab against 
 Israel, God's people. Both employ magicians; the former, 
 to prove his own gods of equal power with the God of 
 the Hebrews; the latter, to overcome the Hebrews by 
 any god the enchanter might choose to invoke. The one 
 asks, at the beginning of the struggle, ' Who is the Lord 
 whose voice I should obey to let Israel go?'° and 
 is finally annihilated by His power ; the other, imagining 
 that he can vanquish God's elected people by sorcery, is 
 fated to hear, from the lips of his own chosen instrument, 
 
 * See 1 Ki. xxii. 5-28 ; 2 Chron. I ^ See notes on xxii. 5-14; Comm. 
 
 xviii. 5-27; 2 Ki. iii. 11; comp. on Gen., pp. 720-722; on Ltvit. 
 
 1 Sam. xxiii. 2, 4, 10, 11 ; xxx. 8 ; i, p. 301. 
 
 etc. <= Exod. V. 2. 
 
04 LIMITS. 
 
 that they are invincible through their extraordinarj'^ rela- 
 tion to that omnipotent God. In either case there are 
 arrayed, on the one side, defiance and despair, and on the 
 other, an awful power which shatters all resistance. But 
 while Pharaoh's contest is accompanied by terrible trials 
 and catastrophes, a grand repose is spread over this 
 Book, in which even the subjugation of Moab is seen as 
 an event of ' the distant future.'* The one is intended 
 as an historical picture, to represent a single though 
 momentous episode ; the other is designed to shadow 
 forth, as it were typically, how God's love constantly 
 watches over His people, demolishes the malignant 
 schemes of their enemies, and by His immediate inter- 
 position even converts contemplated imprecations into 
 unalterable blessings. It comprises the whole mission 
 of Israel as the author had conceived it, and the whole 
 career of Israel as far as he was able to survey it- in 
 his time. It is not history, but a wonderful amalgama- 
 tion of poetical grace and prophetic fire. 
 
 17. LIMITS. 
 But firj^ev ayav. We would fain preserve calmness of 
 judgment, even in the fervour of admiration ; lest we 
 resemble that Roman historian, who felt that, while 
 relating ancient events, ' somehow his mind became 
 antique,'^ so that he was inclined to accept reports 
 simply because they were old." In our opinion, the 
 main charm of the Book of Balaam lies, apart from the 
 beauty of form, in that sincere universality, which, not 
 satisfied with teaching the unity of all races theoretical- 
 ly, as it is taught often enough, makes it a living reality. 
 
 • xxiv. 14, 17, D"'OM n^inXD, I ^ Antiquus fit animus, 
 see on this term notes in loc, | ' Liv. xliii. 13. 
 
LTMITS. 65 
 
 But wliat is till' / lilfinsir chdrncter o{' the religious notions 
 pervading this section :' How tar do they stand the test 
 of philosophic examination ? In a word, how far have 
 they permanent and absolute truth ? We shall try to 
 answer these questions plainly and impartially. 
 
 The Hebrew mind, however richly endowed, had its 
 limits. Hebrew literature, however remarkable, is not 
 free from grave deficiencies. The Hebrew mind was 
 wanting in that 'dry light' of reason, which, undimmed 
 by fancy or enthusiasm, penetrates into the depth and 
 nature of things with sober discernment. The Hebrews, 
 therefore, never advanced beyond the first rudiments in 
 any science. They did not even produce a truly prag- 
 matic history patiently tracing eifect to cause. Unable 
 to emancipate themselves from the charmed circle of 
 theocratic conceptions, they knew no other standard of 
 historical probability than the mechanical principle of 
 retribution.* The work which approaches nearest to 
 philosophical speculation — the Book of Job — concludes 
 with the negative result that man can fathom nothing;'' 
 and the work which displays the gTeatest independence 
 of thought — the Book of Ecclesiastes — moves in a scep- 
 ticism so empty and incoherent that a later time deemed 
 it necessary to supplement its teaching by some positive 
 ideas, though these again remain within the old and 
 narrow boundaries.'^ The prophetic writings, which ex- 
 liil)it the Hebrew intellect in its brightest glory, reveal 
 no less prominently its shades and failings. They are 
 indeed unequalled for ardour and sublimity, noble aspira- 
 tion and single-minded patiiotism. But all these beautiful 
 
 '^ See Comm. on Levit. ii. pp. 609, evil, that is understanding;' Job 
 
 010. .^xviii. 28. 
 
 ^ 'Behold, the fear of the Lord. c Eecles. xi. 95; xii. 7, 13, 14, have 
 
 that is wisdom, and to depart from been proved to be such additions. 
 
()0 
 
 LIMITS. 
 
 qualities are blended with an alloy of self-illusion which, 
 in a great measure, neutralises their value. The prophets 
 did not hesitate to come forward as workers of miracles." 
 Instead of ofiering their counsels and exhortations on 
 their own authority, they represented them — not figura- 
 tively but literally — as the direct emanations of God, 
 with whom they believed they had personal communion. 
 They, consequently, described visions, to which it is im- 
 possible to attribute any reality.^ They had too much 
 earnestness to introduce merely as an artistic creation 
 what to them appeared objective truth, and they were not 
 sufficiently prepared to appreciate the eternal reality of 
 j)oetic truth. In their grandest vaticinations they indeed 
 applied the teleological law, which, with far-reaching- 
 sagacity, connects means and end, and beholds in each 
 epoch of history an organic link in the great chain of 
 human development. They composed, therefore, predic- 
 tions reflecting their ideal of the ultimate happiness of 
 their own people and of mankind. But these prophecies 
 were, for the most part, no more than soaring hopes and 
 anticipations, magnificent and incomparable if presented 
 as poetical pictures, but questionable and misleading when 
 set forth as Divine utterances, and, severed from the safe 
 ground of experience and reflection, involving a reversion 
 
 ■^ 2 Ki. ii. 19-22 ; iii. 17; iv. 
 32-35, 42-44 ; v. 10 ; vi. 6 ; etc. 
 
 '' See Comm. on Lev. i. pp. 439, 
 455. Not even the cautious theory of 
 a recent critic {Kuenen, Eelig. of Isr., 
 i. pp. 203-207), who grants that ' the 
 conviction of being interpreters of 
 Jahveh forced itself upon the ]}xo- 
 phets in a moment of ecstasy,' but 
 supposes that their ecstasy was, as 
 a rule, confined to that one occasion 
 of installation, can materially alter 
 the view above taken ; for if the 
 
 effects of one moment of visionary 
 enthusiasm remained at work for 
 years, (he result is practically the 
 same as if that state of transport 
 had been permanent! j' continued or 
 constantly renewed. The visions, 
 however, are distinct from sym- 
 bolical acts, some of which were 
 actually carried out (as Jer. xix. 1 
 -13, etc.), while others were meant 
 and understood as fictitious (as Hos. 
 i. 2-9; Jer. xiii. 1-7; xxv. 15- 
 29 ; j:zpk. iv. v., etc. 
 
LIMITS. G7 
 
 of the order of nature. The liazy halo in which they are 
 enveloped is rendered more perplexing and dangerous by 
 their very grandeur and elevation ; and if we survey the 
 history of the last three thousand years, as far as it was 
 influenced by prophetic and Messianic writings, we are, 
 in candour and truthfulness, compelled to admit that the 
 dim indistinctness, which speaks as with a higher sanction, 
 has cast many a gloomy shadow on the path of mankind 
 — steep and rugged at best— and has, perhaps more than 
 any other obstacle, contributed to delay that universal 
 peace, goodwill, and brotherhood, which formed the noblest 
 hopes of those noble minds. 
 
 Applying these tests to the Book of Balaam, we shall 
 find that, as it is distinguished by all the admirable 
 characteristics of prophetic literature, so it shares nearly 
 all its doubtful features. The narrative professes to be 
 simple history, and yet is charged throughout with 
 superhuman elements ; and it describes, with infinite 
 skill, the time of David, and yet takes every possible 
 care to make the reader believe that it is describing the 
 time of Moses. The author is evidently a man of the 
 most earnest piety, and yet he does not scruple to make 
 Balaam utter words which he contends were put into the 
 seer's mouth by God. Balaam has constant intercourse 
 with God as with a familiar, though superior. Being ; fov 
 ' God comes to Balaam ' in dreams, and Balaam ' goes to 
 meet God ' by day in solitude ; God asks Balaam, in 
 distinct words, special questions, and Balaam receives 
 from God directitms in terms equally explicit.* It is 
 difficult to see how a pure conception of the spiritual 
 nature of the Deity can thus be maintained. And, 
 lastly, a prophet who, in the time of Moses, was able to 
 
 ^ .\.\ii. 9-12, 20 ; xxiii. 3, 4, 15, 16 ; xxiv. 1. 
 
 ^ 
 
(;» 
 
 ISRAEL AND MuAB. 
 
 predict a king to be born four centuries later, might as well 
 be considered capable of predicting a teacher to be born 
 after fourteen or fifteen centuries ; and hence the ' star ' 
 that was to come out of Jacob, and the ' sceptre ' that 
 was to rise out of Israel in the distant future,-'^ were 
 interpreted in the Messianic sense, and applied to one 
 who surely did not ' smite the sides of Moab,' nor 
 'destroy all the children of tumult.' We need not, in 
 this place, point out the strange devices which were 
 rendered necessary to bring those terms of actual warfare 
 and bloodshed into harmony with the most peaceful life 
 and career;" yet they are only a very small portion of 
 the injur}^ that has been wrought by the studied ob- 
 scurity and deceptive form of these and other projjhecies. 
 The highest boon of mankind is the calm balance of 
 reason — the holy Sco(f)poauur} — and no performance, how- 
 ever skilful, no genius, however dazzling, can counter- 
 balance the fatal mischief Avhich ma}' Ije inflicted by 
 straying from that Divine light. 
 
 18. ISRAEL ANT) MOAB. 
 
 In conclusion we shall l)riefly sketch the relations 
 between Israel and Moab down to David's time. 
 
 When the Hebrews, entering upon their expedition of 
 ccjnquest, advanced from the desert northward and west- 
 ward, they doubtless intended to settle exclusively in 
 Canaan propei', in the west of the Jordan." They 
 desired to pass through the territory of the Amorites 
 ' on the royal road,' in order to reach that point of the 
 river Avhere they meant to cross it. King Sihon's un- 
 
 » XXIV. 1 / . 
 
 *> See notes on xxiv. L5-17. 
 
 *^ Coiiip. Joseph. Antiq. IV. vi. 
 
 Kai 7«p ovh' i:Tv'i-v(jTo{^<'ikaKOQ^r^i]v 
 c'iWiji' TToXvTrpayfiovtlv Tovg "E/ipai- 
 
 OVC, itTTIiyOIJlVKOTOC TO? OtOV K.T.\. 
 
ISRAEL AND MOAT,. 
 
 GO 
 
 friendly refusal forced tlieiii to resistance ; in the war 
 that ensued they were victorious, and obtained large 
 districts, to which, ere long, the land of the king of 
 Bashan was added ; and then all these provinces, abound- 
 ing in excellent pastures, were assigned to the cattle- 
 breeding tribes of Reuben and Gad as their permanent 
 abodes,^ although it is very probable that, in the east of 
 the Jordan as well as in the west, the heathen popula- 
 tion was never expelled completely or from every part of 
 the country.'' But the Hebrews neither made any acquisi- 
 tion in the territory of the Moabites, nor in that of the 
 Ammonhes_and_Edoniites. On this point tradition was 
 unwavering and uniform,'^ although it fluctuated in 
 some subordinate details.*^ However, the proximity of 
 the Israelites was by the Moabite king regarded Avith 
 such terror,*" that he requested a strange seer to curse 
 them/ A hostile encounter was avoided," and the con- 
 tact between the tw^o nations seems to have been most 
 fatal to the Hebrews themselves who, too easily tempted 
 into the licentious habits and degrading worship of the 
 Moabites, thenceforth tenaciously clung to the iniquities 
 of Baal-Peor and Chemosh.'^ 
 
 Not long after the occupation of Canaan, the Hebrews — 
 or at least the southern and trans-Jordanic tribes — were 
 
 ■^ Num. xxi. 21-3o; xxxii. 1- 
 3o ; Deut. ii. 2G-37 ; iii. 1-20; 
 Josh. xiii. 7-31. 
 
 •> Comp. Eitzig, Die Inschrift des 
 Mescha, p. 6. Gesenius (Commentar 
 iiber den Jesaia, i. 503) calls the dis- 
 tribution of the east-Jordanie coun- 
 try among the Hebrew tribes, ' to 
 some extent, a dominion in partihus 
 injiddium.' 
 
 '= Judg. xi. 15, 18; Deut. ii. 5, 9, 
 10, 37; comp. 2 Chron. xx. 10. 
 
 '' Comp. Deut. ii. 20 with xxiii. 5 
 
 and Judg. xi. 17, 18: according to 
 the iirst passage, the Moabites al- 
 lowed the Hebrews to pass through 
 their land, and readily sold them 
 provisions ; according to the last 
 two, they denied them both the one 
 and the other. 
 
 « Comp. Exod. XV. 15; Xum. xxii. 
 3, 4 ; Deut. ii. 25. 
 
 '' Xum. xxii. 5, 6, etc. 
 
 s See supra, p. 5. 
 
 *> Xum. XXV. 1, 2 ; Judg. x. G ; 1 
 Ki. xi. 5, 8. 
 
10 
 
 ISRAEL AND MOAB. 
 
 attacked by Egloii, king of Moab, in conjunction with the 
 
 Ammonites and the Amalekites. Overcome and made 
 
 tributary, they bore the yoke for eighteen years, but 
 
 were then delivered by the stratagem and valour of 
 
 Ehud.''^ Almost during the entire period of the Judges, 
 
 the intercourse between Israel and Moab seems to have 
 
 been both active and amicable, and frequently resulted in 
 
 matrimonial alliances, as is sufficiently evident from the 
 
 Book of Ruth. At the end of that period, however, the 
 
 Moabites seem to have incurred the enmity of the 
 
 Hebrews, for we learn that Saul attacked and defeated 
 
 them.'' Nevertheless the king of Moab, not long af ter- 
 es ' o 
 
 wards, accoided to David's parents a secure asylum, 
 since he favoured David either as the descendant of 
 a Moabitess or as the rival of his adversary Saul.*' But 
 this friendship was not of long duration. David, when 
 king of Israel, found it necessary or advisable — the 
 historical records are silent as to the cause — to under- 
 take against the Moabites a military expedition, after 
 the successful termination of which he treated them 
 with excessive rigour, and imjaosed upon their country a 
 heavy tribute.*^ It is at this time that the Book of 
 Balaam was probably composed.*^ Up to that epoch 
 nothing had happened to call forth a feeling of excep- 
 tional bitterness between the two nations. The Book, 
 accordingly, although introducing Israel and Moab as 
 foes, is free from that virulent hatred which suggested 
 the repulsive legend of the origin of the Moabitish race, 
 found in the Jahvistic narrative of Genesis f and it is 
 
 " Judg. iii. 11-30; comp. 1 Sam. 
 xii. 9. 
 
 •> 1 Sam. xiv. 47. 
 
 <: 1 Sam. xxii. 3, 4, ''3X Xl^N'V' 
 
 01 Dsnx ''OX1 
 
 <• 2 Sam. viii. 2, 12 ; comp. xxiii. 
 20 ; 2 Ki. iii. 4; Isai. xvi. 1; 1 Chr. 
 xviii. 2. 
 
 •" See si(j?ra, p. 43. 
 
 f Gen. xix. 37 ; comp. ix. 22. 
 
ISRAEL AND MOAB. 
 
 71 
 
 equally free from that national aversion which is re- 
 vealed in the injunctions of Deuteronomy, that not even 
 in the tenth generation should Moabites be admitted in- 
 to the Hebrew community." 
 
 It is beyond our present purpose to pursue the history 
 of the Moabites further, and to show how, after having 
 endured their dependence for more than a century, they 
 rose against the increased oppression and new encroach- 
 ments of Israel's kings Omri and Ahab, and at the 
 death of the latter monarch (B.C. 897), revolted under 
 their own ruler Mesha — to whom the inscription on 
 the 'Moabite Stone' probably refers'' — and how, though 
 not only maintaining their liberty against the united 
 efforts of the Kings Jehoram and Jehoshaphat by a 
 remarkable expedient, but wresting from the Israelites 
 many towns,° they were again reduced to subjection 
 by Jeroboam II. (about B.C. 800), who restored the 
 old boundaries of the kingdom ; till, in the confusion of 
 the Assyrian period, they completely re-established their 
 freedom, as they were left unmolested by the eastern 
 conquerors.'^ Indeed the mutual animosity between Israel 
 
 " Deut. xxiii. 4-7. 
 
 ^ We say probably; for the differ- 
 ences between the account of the 
 Inscription and that of the Bible are 
 so great and striking, and the har- 
 monising explanations that have 
 been attempted are so little convin- 
 cing, that a decided and final opinion 
 can hardly yet be proi ounced. The 
 oppression and encroachments of 
 Omri and his son are inferied from 
 the Inscription, lines 4-6 : """ipy 
 
 d: -iox''1 r]ii hd^hm •••• jai 
 >-\t::iV c^'T•) • • • ■ ns?3 ns layt* sn 
 '131 na ak^""l N2"ino nx. This 
 
 state of tyranny, cannot, however, 
 have lasted ' forty years,' since the 
 period from the beginning of Orari's 
 reign to the death of Ahab comprised 
 hard! J' more than thirty years 
 (B.C. 928—897) ; if the reading be 
 correct, ' forty ' must be taken as a 
 round number, for * many,' as is not 
 imusual in Eastern literature (see 
 Comnr. on Gen. p. 185). 
 
 ^ Moabite Inscription, lines 8- 
 20. 
 
 d 2 Ki. i. 1 ; iii. 4-27 ; xiv. 2.5 ; 
 comp. 2 Chr. xx. 1-30 ; see Comm. 
 on Lev. i. pp. 393, 394 ; comp. also 
 Gesen. Comm. liber den Jesa. 1. c. 
 
72 ISRAEL AND AIOAH. 
 
 and Moab, which Avas exhibited in attack, insinuation, 
 and invective, outlasted even the existence of the king- 
 dom of Judah.** Is it necessary to I'ecall tlie severe 
 menaces and judgments incessantly pi-onounced against 
 Moab by the prophets fi'oin the ninth down to the sixth 
 century, by Amos and Isaiah, Zephaniah and Jeremiah, 
 Ezekiel and other seers in the time of the exile,^ and 
 to prove that the subjection of Israel's enemies was never 
 considered complete unless it included the humiliation 
 of Moab 1" When the Hebrew tribes in the east of the 
 Jordan w^ere led away by Assyrian conquerors, the terri- 
 tory which they had inhabited between the rivers Anion 
 and Jabbok was eagerly seized by the exulting Moabites;** 
 and yet we find, after the return of the Jews from exile, 
 that the two nations not only renewed their intercourse, 
 but, more frequently than ever, concluded matrimonial 
 alliances, which such earnest reformers as Ezia and 
 Nehemiah found it necessary to check by the severest 
 and most peremptory measures.^ Such were the difli- 
 culties of the attempt to separate the Hebrews, by 
 distinctions of religion and law, from the neighbouring- 
 tribes, to which they were closely akin in race and 
 languao-e/ 
 
 " See 2 Ki. xiii. 20 ; xxiv. 2 ; 
 Isai. xvi. 6; xxv. 11 ; Ztphaii. ii. 
 8, 10 ; Jerem. xlviii. 29, 30 ; Ps. 
 Ixxxiii. 7, etc. Comp. 2 Ki. xii. 21, 
 and 2 Chr. xxiv. 26 (see Geic/er, Ur- 
 schrift, pp. J8, 49). See, however, 
 Jer. xxvii. 3. 
 
 •> Amos ii. 1-3 ; Isai. xv., xvi. ; 
 Zephan. ii. 8-11; Jerem. ix. 26; 
 xxv. 21 ; xlviii.; Ezek. xxv. 8-11; 
 Isai. xi. 14; xxv. lO-i: 
 Ps. Ix. 10: Dau. xi. 41. 
 
 •^ Comp. Ps. Ix. 6 ; Ixxxi 
 Isai. xi. 14 ; xxv. 6-12. 
 
 com^i, 
 
 <■ Isai. XV., xvi. ; comp. Jerem. 
 .xlix. 1-5. 
 
 " Ezra Lx. 1 nqq. ; x. 1 sqq. ; Neh. 
 xiii. 1-3, 23. Comp. Comm. on Ge- 
 nes, pp. 424, 425 ; see also infra, 
 notes on xxiv. 15-17. 
 
 f Indeed, the Moabite dialect bore 
 even a greater resemblance to Hebrew 
 than the Phoenician, as is proved 
 by King Mesha's Inscription, which, 
 moreover, reveals many striking and 
 surprising analogies of thought and 
 conception common to the Moabites 
 and the early Hebrews. 
 
IL-TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY. 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. —XXIV. 
 
 1. INTKODUCTION. XXII. 1. 
 
 1. And the cliildren of Israel removed, and en- 
 camped in the plains of Moab, on tlic otlier side 
 of the Jordan, opposite Jericho. 
 
 Let us suppose that the Hebrews, continuing the course 
 of their circuitous wanderings, had, in the fortieth year 
 after their dejjarture from Egypt, safely reached the 
 region of Mount Hor on the eastern side of the mountain- 
 chain of Seir, at last determined resolutely to advance 
 to their final goal of Canaan proper from the east of the 
 Jordan, by the only route tliat was open to them. In 
 this district, where Aai'on died, tliey were not separated 
 by many stations from the highland of Mount Nebo, 
 where Moses found his gi'ave, and whence they hoped to 
 reach the southern parts of the Promised Land without 
 (Ufficidty. Although tlie names of many of their resting 
 places have disappeared, not a few have been preserved, 
 which enable us to follow the track of the advancing 
 people, in this, last section of their journeys, with some 
 accurac}^ 
 
 Travelling froni a point opposite Mount Kchl Hdrun, 
 the Biblical Hor, northward, so as always to leave 
 to the west the ridges of Seir, and consequently also 
 the wonderful remains of Wody Musa, or Petra, the 
 once renowned city of rocky caverns and tombs,"* we 
 
 * Comp. Commentary on Gcnesi.*, pji. 478—181. 
 
74 NUMBERS XXII. 1. 
 
 reach, in six or seven hours, the principal town of the 
 district of EsJi-Sltem — Shdhek — whicli is situated on a hill 
 presenting an extensive prospect, and doubly valued as 
 a place of encampment on account of the abundant 
 springs that rise at its base. Moving on in the same 
 direction, and keeping by the old Roman road regularly 
 paved with black stones and still in tolerable preserva- 
 tion, while in the east the pilgrims' way to Mecca (the 
 derh el-hadj) is visible, we come, in another seven hours, 
 to the ruins of Ghurundel, conspicuous by three volcanic 
 peaks, and then, in about three hours more, to the village 
 oi Btisevra, the Bozrah of the Bible, once an important 
 Edomite settlement, now hardly comprising fifty wretched 
 huts. After not much more than two hours, we reach, in 
 a neighbourhood well watered and exceedingly fertile, the 
 large hamlet of Tafile, probably the Hebrew Tophel, so 
 eminent in early times that it was employed as a geo- 
 graphical landmark,^ and even at present distinguished 
 as the residence of the chief of the district. Travelling 
 from Tafile for four or five hours northward, past several 
 villages and rocky heights, we come to the deejD bed of 
 the Wady Slddiyeh or Gerald, where begins the district 
 of Kerah, or the territory of ancient Moab ; and another 
 journey of rather more than seven hours in the same 
 direction leads us, through regions rich in springs and 
 marked by picturesque variety, to the capital Kerak itself 
 This is the celebrated Kir-Moah^ or lur-Hareseth of the 
 Bible,*^ both in earlier and in later ages the chief centre 
 of the caravan traffic between Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, 
 and, therefore, at all times an eagerlj- contested strong- 
 hold, as it was especially in the wars of the Crusaders, 
 who occupied and fiercely defended it as the key of that 
 country, till Saladdin brought it into his power after 
 terrible sieges and assaults (a.c. 1188). ' From Kerak, the 
 
 » Comp. Deut. i. 1. I <= 2 Ki. iii. 2-5 ; Isai. xvi. 7 ; also 
 
 *> Isai. XV. 1. I A'(>-/tt7rs, Isa..xvi. 11; xlviii. 31, 36. 
 
INTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 northern path continues through a more open plain clotted 
 by many ruins of old villages and towns, and after a four 
 hours' stage, carries us to Rahha, the ancient liahhath 
 Jloah, which, confounded with Ar Moah, was later called 
 Areopolis. Always pursuing the Roman road, the mile- 
 stones of which are, for the greatest part, still extant, and 
 l)roceeding through a fertile country for about two hours 
 northward, we behold, on our left hand, the isolated 
 summit of Djabel SJdli<rii and the village of SIdhdn, in 
 which name it is easy to recognise that of the Amorite 
 king >SUion, and in two hours more, passing through a 
 highly luxuriant vegetation, we reach the rugged and most 
 precipitous ravines of the Wady Mojih, the Biblical river 
 Arnon, where the present district of El-Belha commences, 
 and beyond which, up to the Wady Zerka, the ancient 
 river Jabhok, the early abodes of the Moabites had ex- 
 tended, before these districts were occupied by the Amorites. 
 Advancing, for about one hour, in the north of Wady 
 31(11 ib, <^i^ ^ rough and difficult road, we arrive into a 
 plain covered by piles of ruins which bear the name of 
 Arair, the Scriptural Aroer, and then, in scarcely half 
 an hour, we aj)proach the northern extremity of the plain 
 at DlithJidn, the Hebrew Blhon, which was successively 
 inhabited by Gadites and Reubenites, and which, of 
 late, has again become famous by the discovery, Avithin its 
 old precincts, of king Mesha's ' Moabite Stone,' on which 
 distinct mention is made of a considerable number of 
 familiar Biblical towns.'' 
 
 Throughout the entire distance which we have just 
 traversed from Mount Hor northward, Dibon is the first 
 place which, in the completest Biblical account, is also 
 introduced as an encamping station of the Hebrews, the 
 interval between Hor and Dibon being filled up by the 
 
 " See the numerous interpreta- 
 tions of the Inscription by Ganneau, 
 De Vogiie, Ginsburg, Noldeke, 
 Hitzig, etc. ; comp. also Zeitsehr. d. 
 
 D. M. G., xxiv., 1870, pp. 212 u^q., 
 433 sqq. ; XXV., 1871, pp. 149 sqq., 
 463 sqq., etc.; Colcnso, Lectures on 
 the Pentateuch, pp. 349-363, etc. 
 
7fi 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 1. 
 
 names of Zalmonah, Pwnon, OhotJi, and Ije-Aharhn, 
 which is described as lying in ' the desert that is in the 
 east of Moab,' or ' at the boundary of Moab,' and therefore 
 near the Arnon.'' Although these resting-places cannot 
 be identical with the Edomite or Moabite localities noticed 
 in this sketch, as the Hebrews did not touch the territory 
 of Edom and Moab, some of them were doubtless situated 
 in a line parallel with, though more easterly than, those 
 well authenticated localities.'' 
 
 A few additional stages within the mountain range of 
 Abarim, which we have reached, will bring us to the 
 point where the scene of Balaam's prophecies is laid. If, 
 travelling from DMhdn in a north-westerly direction, we 
 cross first the Roman road and then the small river Hei- 
 (hhi, a tributary of the Arnon, we come, in rather more 
 than two hours, to very considerable heaps of ruins, called 
 by the natives Kareiydt, and corresponding to the ancient 
 Kirjathaim, or Kirjath-hiizotli,'^ and next, after about 
 an hour's journey, we reach the ruins oi Attavus, the old 
 AtnrotJt,, where the country, on the western side, can be 
 surveyed beyond the Dead Sea as far as Bethlehem, Je- 
 rusalem, and Mount Gerizim. In this region must have 
 been the next station of the Hebrews specified in the 
 Biblical list, viz., Almon-D'iblathavin ; and hence passing 
 northwaid, paiiially through very grand and surprisingly 
 wild scenery, over Wady Zerka Main and its deep valley, 
 where the flora is almost tropical, and, leaving the far- 
 famed hot mineral springs of Calirrhoe to the left, and 
 the vast tracts of ruins at Main and Jladiyaheh, the 
 Hebrew Baal Meon and MedebaJ/, to the rio-ht, a lono-er 
 
 " (iorap. Num. xxxiii. 37—15. 
 
 •^ As the Hebre^TS marched from 
 Hor first southward down to the 
 Gulf of Akabah and then only, after 
 having reached the eastern side of 
 the mountain, proceeded northward 
 (Num. xxi. 4), they must have 
 
 several times encamped iccst of 
 Mount Seir. But the small number 
 of stations given for those long routes 
 is surjirising. On conjectiiral iden- 
 tifications see Falmer, The Desert 
 of the Exodus, ii., ch. 11. 
 <= Num. xxii. 39, JllVn Dnp. 
 
INTRoDUr'TIUN. 
 
 march brought the Israelites to the ' mountains of Abarini 
 before JS^eho,' a commanding peak in the ridges of Mount 
 Pisgah, in ' the wilderness of Kedemoth.* From hence 
 they desired to proceed at once to the Jordan by 
 turning to the north-west, and to cross that river near 
 its influx into the Dead Sea. To accomplish this object, 
 they required the permission of the Amorite king Sihon, 
 who, not long before, had come into possession of these 
 provinces, and who resided in Heshhon (the present Hes- 
 hiln), only a little distance from Pisgah. Sihon, however, 
 rejecting and resenting their request, marched against 
 them with his whole army. The Hebrews, without break- 
 ing up their encampments before Nebo, went out to meet 
 him, routed his troops, and conquered the land between 
 the rivers Arnon and Jabbok. Never losing sight of the 
 main end of the people's wanderings, and anxious not to 
 leave in their rear powerful enemies who might check 
 their progress unawares, Moses sent from Nebo military 
 detachments to the northern and north-western parts of 
 the country for exploration and conquest, and particularly 
 despatched a large force to oppose Og, the formidable 
 king of Bashan, who, after a vain resistance, shared the 
 fate of the other Amorite ruler. After having successfully 
 carried out the task entrusted to them, the armed bands 
 returned to the principal encampment in Nebo. Hence 
 the entire host and all Israel next removed north-west- 
 ward to ' the plains of Moab ; ' spread in a long line over 
 that depressed tract of land'' which, partly well-watered 
 and luxuriant in vegetation, extends along both sides of 
 the Jordan and is, on its eastern bank, about four or five 
 miles broad ; and thus pitched their tents from Beth- 
 jesimoth, near the Dead Sea, northward to Abel-shittim, 
 so that the chief or central part of the camp might well 
 be described to have been ' opposite Jericho.'*^ 
 
 Comp. Deut. ii. 26. 
 Arabah, El-lcora. 
 Comp. Xum. xx. 22-29; 
 
 10-13, 18-31 ; xxxiii. 37-49 ; Deut. 
 i. 4 ; ii. 2, 3, 8, 9, 13, 18, 19, 24, 26, 
 30-36; iii. 27, 29; xxxiv. 1. 
 
78 NUMBERS XXII. 1. 
 
 PHILOLOGICAL EEMAEKS. 
 Chapter XXIL L 
 Regarding the events in this light, we are able to explain 
 several difficulties. We can understand the statement that 
 'Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites ' (xxi. 31, comp. 
 Deut. iii. 29), while they were actually carrying on war even 
 with distant tribes; and we can account for the fact that the list 
 of stations in Chap, xxxiii., immediately after * the moun- 
 tains of Abarim before Nebo,' records the encampment 'in 
 the plains of Moab opposite Jericho ' (vers. 48, 49) ; for as 
 the people, and probably a part of the army, remained 
 behind in Nebo, no general stage between this place and the 
 province of Bashan was to be entered. Thus, or similarly, 
 the compiler of the Book of Numbers seems to have viewed 
 the matter, or else he could not have incorporated, side by 
 side with the narrative of Chap, xxi., the list of Chap, 
 xxxiii., in which the absence of any station within the 
 whole distance between Nebo and Edrei would be the more 
 surprising, as the Hebrews did not even reach Edrei by the 
 direct or shortest but b}^ a tortuous route, as they first 
 advanced northward to Jazer and then ' turned ('1JD''1) and 
 went up by the way of Bashan ' (xxi. 32, 33 ; comp. Deut. 
 iii. 1, ISJl). But it is a very different question, which we 
 cannot here discuss, whether that list and this narrative are 
 really in harmony, or whether, if both imply different ver- 
 sions, the author of the list considered the conquest of the 
 north-eastern part of Gilead to have been achieved in post- 
 Mosaic times, and, for this reason, is silent about this dis- 
 trict. The uncertain dimness of those early traditions is 
 strikingly manifest in the conflicting accounts given of the 
 Hebrew journeys even in the comparatively small distance 
 between Hor and Beth-jesimoth near the Jordan — accounts 
 which research will hardlj^ ever succeed in harmonising, 
 even if we could hope to identify all stations (comp. Num. 
 xxi. 10-13, 18-20; xxxiii. 41-49; Deut. ii. 3, 8, 13, 14, 18, 
 19, 24). For the illustration of this narrative it is sufficient 
 to follow, in the main, the eompletest and most careful list 
 in Num. xxxiii. — There are several clear instances of partial 
 
INTUODUCTIOX. t\) 
 
 and separate campaigns analogous to those above conjec- 
 tured. A selected force was sent by Moses against the 
 Midianites, and after having executed their sanguinary com- 
 mission, returned with the booty and tlie prisoners ' into the 
 camp, to the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite 
 Jericho' (xxxi. 3-12). Again, 'the children of Machir, the 
 son of Manasseh, went to Gilead and took it, and dispos- 
 sessed the Amorite who was in it ' (xxxii. 39) ; which terms 
 evidently involve an independent expedition of a part of 
 one tribe (comp. Deut. iii. 15). Nor is it unlikely that the 
 conquests in the north-eastern tracts were made under the 
 leadership of Jair, another Manassite, to whose kinsmen 
 those provinces were then assigned (xxxii. 41 ; Deut. iii. 4) ; 
 for it is not clear from the narrative (xxi. 32-35) whether 
 Moses accompanied the expedition or not (comp. ver. 32, 
 ' And Moses sent men '). 
 
 "With regard to the term n.T.f "i?^^, we may here add a 
 few remarks to those made in another place (Comment, on 
 Genes, p. 776). Though "i^y, in connection with a river, 
 originally means merely its bank (for the primary sense of 
 the word is side or surface, comp. Exod. xxxii. 15), and 
 though, therefore, if one of the banks is specially meant, 
 15V. must be furnished with some distinctive qualification, 
 such as npj westward or ^n'^TP eastward, unless the connection 
 excludes all doubt (as in Josh. ix. 1 ; 1 Sam. xxxi. 7) ; it is 
 yet certain that the phrase I'^IT.l' "i^^, in the course of time, 
 became, among the Hebrews, a fixed geographical term, 
 meaning the other side or the east of the Jordan, since they 
 considered the land west of that river as Canaan proper, and 
 as their country Kctr' k^oxw, so much so that the two tribes and 
 a half, which took up their abodes in the east, deemed it 
 necessary to mark, in the most solemn manner, their connec- 
 tion with the other or western tribes (comp. Num. xxxii. 16- 
 32 ; Josh. xxii. 9-34). Except, therefore, in the few pas- 
 sages where the context proves that the author is clearly 
 conscious of speaking from the east-Jordanic point of view 
 (as in Deut. iii. 20, 25), the words \l'\''T\ iny, if left without 
 any qualification, must undoubtedly be understood to refer 
 to the eastern territory (Deut. iii. 8; Josh. ii. 10 ; vii. 7; ix. 
 
so NUMBEliS XXII. I. 
 
 10 ; xiv. 3 ; xvii. 5 ; xxii. 4 ; xxiv. 8 ; Judg. v. 17 ; vii. 25 ; 
 X. 8 ; xi. 18 ; 1 SauT. xxxi. 7 ; 1 Chrou. xii. 37 ; comp. also 
 DM "i3y in 2 Chron. xx. 2, the eastern side of the Dead Sea) ; 
 and so familiar did this usage become to the Hebrews, that 
 we find those words occasionally employed with respect to the 
 east-Jordanic land, even under the exceptional condition 
 alluded to, viz., where the speakers distinctly imply that 
 they are in the east of the Jordan (comp. Num. xxxii, 32, 
 where the men of Eeuben and Gad say in Gilead, ' We will 
 pass over armed into the land of Canaan, but the possession 
 of our inheritance shall be (IT'? "l2yD,' that is, in the east of the 
 Jordan ; Num. xxxv. 10, 14, where Moses says in the plains 
 of Moab, ' When you come over the Jordan into the land of 
 Canaan ' . . . you shall appoint three cities of refuge ' in the 
 land of Canaan ' and ' three plv ")3yD,' that is, in the east of 
 the Jordan). At what period this usage established itself, 
 cannot easily be determined ; it is constant in the Books 
 of Judges and Samuel ; it was certainly common at 
 the time when the people had developed their earliest 
 traditions with some degree of consistency, and when 
 they believed they had a double right to call themselves 
 ' people of the other side ' (D^lliy), because Abraham, the 
 founder of their race, had emigrated from the other side 
 of the Euphrates, and because their ancestors under Joshua 
 had conquered Canaan by advancing from the other side of 
 the Jordan ; and after the deportation of the east-Jordanic 
 tribes by the Assyrians, in the eighth century, Gilead was to 
 the Hebrews, of course, a land ' on the other side of tlie 
 Jordan.' Naturally, however, all this did not prevent liis- 
 torians from continuing to add, in political and geographical 
 records, explicit designations of east and west, and such terms 
 we find subjoined even in the latest Books, not only in Deutero- 
 nomy and Joshua, but also in the Chronicles (comp. 1 Chron. 
 yi. 63, for the east pT'n niTo"? inT ]1'\'h inyD ; 1 Chron. 
 xxvi. 30, for the west naiJ/D jn^? ~\2]}D). So much remains 
 certain that, in the age oj Moses, no Hebrew could employ the 
 expression ITTT! "iny, without some precise qualification, for the 
 land east of the Jordan, as it is employed in our passage and 
 elsewhere (for the words p")'''? "l^VD are an explanation of 
 
INTRODTJCTION'. 81 
 
 3X1D nmyn, and not conversely) ; it could be so used only at 
 a time when it might be supposed to be, in itself, intelligible 
 to the reader (comj:). the general phrase p~r'' 7V 3X1tD nuiya 
 im'', Num. XXXV. 1). Analogous to JTIM "iny is tlu^ tonu 
 "inun lay or X"jn3 "I3y, which is either the land west or east of 
 the Euphrates, according as the standpoint is taken in Meso- 
 potamia and Persia or in Canaan (Josh. xxii. 4, 7, 10, 11; 
 xxiv. 3 ; 2 Sam. x. 16 ; 1 Ki. xiv. 15 ; Isa. vii. 20 ; Ezra iv. 
 10, 11, 20; V. 3, 6; vi. 6, 8, 13; Neh. ii. 7; 1 Chron. xix. 16). 
 
 The designation ' plains of Moab ' (3S1D niliy) points 
 either to a very early or to a very late period. Eor according 
 to Numbers and Deuteronomy, the Moabites had, before the 
 arrival of the Hebrews in those countries, been deprived by 
 the Aniorites of all lands north of the Arnon (Num. xxi 13, 
 26 ; Deut. iii. 8 ; Judg. xi. 18, etc.) ; with what right, there- 
 fore, could the tracts along the Jordan opposite Jericho be 
 called 'plains of Moab' ? The surprise is enhanced by the 
 fact that this territory is, in some passages of Deuteronomy, 
 even distinctly called * the land of Moab ' (3N1» yiH, Deut. i. 
 5 ; xxviii. 69 ; xxxii. 49 ; xxxiv. 5), and in Numbers (xxi. 
 20) ' Field of Moab ' (nXVO niZ'. ; comp. Gen. xxxvi. 35 ; 
 1 Chron. i. 46 ; E,uth i. 6 ; iv. 3). Now the same districts, 
 Tip to the Jabbok, were soon afterwards conquered by the 
 Hebrews, but were, after the deportation of the east-Jordanic 
 tribes, re-occupied by the Moabites (see supra, p. 69), and 
 could then ac/ain justly be called ' the plains of Moab ' or 
 ' the land of Moab.' It is certainly not impossible that 
 these appellations lingered in the popular language even 
 after they had ceased to be strictly applicable ; but, con- 
 sidering the date and character of the different Books of the 
 Pentateuch, we are inclined to consider the suggested view 
 as more probable. This may also explain the singular fact 
 that the situation of a place of encampment to the east of 
 the Jordan should be described by a town to the west of that 
 river : at the time of the composition of Deuteronomy and 
 Numbers the land east of the Jordan was less familiar to 
 the Hebrews, if it had not, in a great measure, ceased to 
 interest them. — The combination "IHT ]'^y_^ found almost ex- 
 'lusively in the latest portions of Numbers (xxvi. 3, 63 ; 
 G 
 
82 NUMBERS XXII. 1. 
 
 xxxi. 12; xxxiii. 48, 50; xxxiv. 15; xxxv. 1 ; xxxvi. 13; 
 and besides only in Josh. xiii. 32 ; xvi. 1 ; xx. 8 ; 1 Chron. 
 vi. 63), implies a pregnant use of the construct state — the 
 ' Jordan of Jericho ' being not that bank of the Jordan 
 where Jericho lies, but that which is opposite this town. 
 The novel conjecture that 'the Jordan of Jericho' denotes 
 that part of the river which is near the Sea of Tiberias — 
 this lake, seen from the east, having the appearance of the 
 crescent of the moon (D?.*) — can only be upheld by a forced 
 disarrangement of many geographical statements of the 
 Bible (so L. Noack, Von Eden nach Golgotha, ii. pp. 236, 
 241, ' der Jordan sein Mond;' comp. ihid., Erlauteruugen, 
 pp. 254, sqq.). — The two forms irri^ and ii^ 1^, for the town of 
 Jericho, seem indeed to have been current at all times, 
 although, apparently, the same authors did not use them 
 promiscuously, but alwaj's the one or the other form. For we 
 find 'in'l''_ constantly both in Deuteronomy and in Numbers, 
 and in the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles; and 
 inn* as constantly in Joshua, and generally likewise in the 
 Books of Kings (written nnn'; in \ Ki. xvi. 34 ; comp., how- 
 ever, 2 Ki. XXV. 5, inn^ ; and thus also 2 Sam. x. 5 ; Jer. 
 xxxix. 5 ; lii. 8). But, on the whole, it may be observed 
 that in^^, is the later form, and may, by the revisers of the 
 Pentateuch, have been adopted, in the fewinstances of Deutero- 
 nomy (xxxii. 49; xxxiv. 1, 3), for the sake of uniformity. On 
 no account is it possible to found, on the relative use of '\^y. 
 and inn^j an argument in favour of the Mosaic authorship of the 
 Pentateuch (as has been endeavoured hy Bengstenberg, Bileam, 
 pp. 256, 257). — The time spent by the Hebrews in their 
 journeys from Mount Hor to the plains of Moab cannot 
 have been very long ; for in the beginning of the fifth 
 month they were in Her (xxxiii. 38), and in the beginning 
 of the eleventh month, in the same year, Moses is said to 
 have delivered or begun his exhortations (Deut. i. 3), and 
 within these six months fall all the wars in the eastern 
 districts, the sojourn before Nebo, and the encampment 
 opposite Jericho. From the outlines above attempted it will 
 be seen that the distance from the east of Mount Hor to the 
 plains of Moab may be accomplished in fifty-five to sixty hours. 
 
83 
 
 2. COUNCILS. XXII, 2-4. 
 
 2. And Balak, the son of Zippor, saw all that 
 Israel had done to the Amorites. 3. And Moab 
 was very much afraid of the people, because 
 they icere many, and Moab had a horror of the 
 children of Israel. 4. And Moab said to the 
 elders of Midian, Now will this host devour all 
 that is round about us, as the ox devours the 
 grass of the field. And Balak, the son of Zip- 
 por, iras king of Moab at that time. 
 
 The Hebrews had no more hostile intentions against 
 the land of Moab and Amnion, than they had previously 
 sliown against that of Edom, because all those districts 
 were inhabited b}^ tribes closely kindred to themselves. 
 But it seems that the Moabites attached no faith to the 
 invaders' friendly assurances, and perhaps even refused 
 to sell to them provisions.'^ They had indeed every reason 
 for desiring a peaceful arrangement, since but shortly 
 before, during the preceding reign, they had been materi- 
 ally weakened by Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had 
 taken from them their most populous and most fertile 
 provinces.'' For some time they might have fostered 
 the hope, that the strange immigrants would be crushed 
 b}' the same powerful monarch, to whom the presence 
 of such large hosts of armed men could also not be 
 indifferent. What must have been their consternation, 
 when they saw that these warlike foreigners, as if 
 ulged on and supported by some hidden power, not only 
 vanquished that very king Sihon, their own formidable 
 conqueror, and wrested from him a large part of his terri- 
 tory, but rapidly subdued other and hardly less powerful 
 princes.*^ No wonder, then, that they ' dreaded,' nay, 
 
 •'' See .w(;);y/ p. ()<». !• xxi. 26-30. '' xxi. 21-'2-i, 33 -3.3. 
 
84 NUMBERS XXII. 2-4. 
 
 ' loathed '-' such enemies, and that they abhorred them like 
 devastating swarms of locirsts 'covering the face of the 
 land/ or like herds of hungry oxen devouring every green 
 blade within wide areas.'' In this distress they seem first 
 to have endeavoured to secure allies. They certainly 
 took counsel with the elders of the neighbouring Midian- 
 ites. But when these could afford no efiectual help, the 
 king of Moab, unable to oppose to the invaders a suffi- 
 cient material resistance, knew no other expedient than 
 to take refuge to spiritual powers and to attempt by 
 supernatural agencies what he despaired of achieving by 
 human means. For he feared the Israelites simply ' be- 
 cause they were numerous ' or ' mightier ' than himself,*^ 
 and had in recent campaigns shown undaunted valour. 
 It did not enter into his considerations, that they might 
 stand under the protection of an all-powerful Deity. He 
 relied on miraculous intercession for himself in a manner 
 which proved the perverseness of his notions regarding the 
 Divine conduct of human affairs ; and he was certainly 
 incapable of understanding the destinies of Israel and the 
 guiding Providence of their God.*^ 
 
 The casual allusion to 'the elders of Midian'*^ may be 
 considered as the sad germ, out of which nearly all the 
 confusing misconceptions of this narrative have grown. 
 For it caused readers from the oldest times to associate 
 Balaam's prophecies with the Midianite war, and Avith 
 the infamous share he is alleged to have borne in its 
 origin / and it thus materially helped to destroy that un- 
 mingied enjoyment which all should derive from so 
 perfect a work. Josephus, in his elaborate paraphrase, 
 strangely places the Moabites almost entirely in the 
 background." The Chaldee translation of Jonathan thus 
 expands the allusion: 'The people of Moab and Midian 
 
 '^ "IJM and |'p''1, ver. 2. 
 " Comp. 2 Ki. iii. 4. 
 e Veis. 2, 6. 
 ■* See supra, pp. 13-15. 
 
 " In vers, 4, 7. 
 
 ^ Num. xxxi. 8, 16; Josh. xiii. 
 21, 22. 
 
 e Jos. Ant. IV. vi. 2-lo. 
 
rorxcTLS. 8.> 
 
 had Ijeen one and tlic kingdom one up to that day . . . 
 and Balak, the son of Zippor, the Midianite, was tlie king 
 of Moab at that time , . . for so was the convention 
 among them, to have alternately kings from the one 
 peojtle and fi'om the other.' And it is a favourite as- 
 sumption of many modern interpreters, that Balaam was 
 recommended to Balak by the Midianites, who are sup- 
 posed to have heard of the soothsayer's skill on their 
 extensive caravan journeys f while others assert that 
 Balaam himself was a Midianite, and is represented as 
 such in the second or diverging account.*^ But supposing 
 even that Balaam's fame reached Moab through some 
 Midianite traders, does it necessarily follow that there 
 existed between Balaam and the Midianites a close and 
 permanent connection ? Though a portion of the latter 
 people spread, no doubt, eastward as far as the Euphrates, 
 they can, on no account, be called inhabitants of 'Aram,' 
 Balaam's native country, which the writer clearly dis- 
 tinguishes from Moab and Midian.° And what is more 
 natural than that the Moabites were considered to have 
 sought the advice and assistance of an adjoining and 
 friendly trilje { There is certainly no reason to feel sur- 
 prise at finding Midian associated with Moab in schemes 
 of attack against the Hebrews. For on the one hand, 
 one chief branch of the Midianites dwelt in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the Moabite territory, spreading 
 eastward and northward— the other and less warlike 
 portion, with which Moses came into contact after his 
 flight from Egypt, extending southward to the Gulf of 
 Akabah and far into the peninsula of Sinai — and on the 
 othei- hand, there prevailed, between them and the 
 Israelites, an ancient enmity, although both nations 
 traced their origin to the common ancestry of Abraham. 
 Nor did the Midianites, from a feeling of gratitude, relax 
 
 =' fomp. Gen. xxxvii. 28 ; Isai. I ^ Ewald, Geschicbte, ii. 220. 
 Ix. 6. <■ xxii. 5 : xxiii. 7. 
 
86 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 2-4. 
 
 their animosity when they regained complete independence 
 through the victor}^ of the Hebrews over king Sihon, by 
 whom they had been subdued.^ At tlie time of the 
 exodus, they are said to have shared the hostile feelings 
 of the Egyptians against Israel,^ and tradition made 
 them and their moral degeneracy the causes of a fearful 
 calamity which befell the Hebrews, which, however, did 
 not remain without terrible consequences for themselves.^ 
 But the mutual hatred reached the highest pitch through 
 the cruel and wanton oppression, which the Midianites, 
 in the period of the Judges, exercised against Israel for 
 seven years, till they were, by Gideon's heroism and 
 shrewdness, so effectually crushed, that, from that time, 
 they cease to appear in history as a separate }>eople, 
 although their caravan trade may long have survived.*^ 
 We cannot v/onder that deeds so glorious and so remark- 
 able in their results, deeply impressed themselves upon 
 the popular mind, and were preserved among the nation's 
 proudest memories. A Psalmist, who probably Avrote in 
 the reign of king Jehoshaphat (about B.C. 900), could 
 frame no stronger prayer against Israel's enemies than, 
 ' Do to them, O God, as Thou didst to Midian ;''' and 
 Isaiah still speaks of ' the day of Midian ' and ' the 
 slaughter of Midian ' with an emphatic brevity which 
 proves how generally even then, after an interval of so 
 many centuries, the remembrance of those rictories was 
 cherished.*" It must, therefore, have been fresh and 
 vivid in David's time, the date of this narrative ; and 
 hence it is natural to see the Midianites, who seem to 
 have been accustomed to join other tribes for attack or 
 defence,^ participating in the plans of Balak, who, be- 
 sides, may have easily persuaded them that, from the 
 nearness of their abodes, their interests also were 
 
 « Gen. XXV. 2 ; 1 Chr. i. 32 ; Josh, 
 xiii. 21. 
 
 '' Habak. iii. 7. 
 
 "= Num. XXV. 6 sqq. ; xxxi. 2 sqq. 
 
 ^ Judg. vi.-viii. ; conip. Isai. Ix. 6. 
 ^ Ps. Ixxxiii. 10. 
 f Isai. ix. 4 ; x. 26. 
 g Judg. vi. 3, 33. 
 
COUNCILS. 
 
 87 
 
 threatened by the Hebrews — ' Now will this host devour 
 all that is round about us.'^ The commonwealth of 
 Midian appears to have been a patriarchal organisation, 
 headed by ' kings ' or ' chiefs,' •^ of whom at one time two, 
 at another five, are mentioned,'^ and who were assisted 
 in the government by 'princes' and 'elders.''* With some 
 of the latter Balak took counsel, and they then accom- 
 panied the Moabite elders as messengers to Balaam." 
 
 Philological Remarks. — Among the many proofs of the 
 isolation of the ' Book of Balaam ' within the Book of Num- 
 bers, are the place it occupies and the manner in which it is 
 introduced. According to the preceding accounts, the Israelites 
 had not only crossed the river Arnon, then the boundary of 
 Moab, but had advanced very considerably beyond it, steadily 
 increasing the distance in five or six northward journeys. 
 How, therefore, should it occur to the king of Moab, at that 
 juncture, to take measures of precaution ? If operations 
 were at all necessaiy, they should have been devised when 
 the Hebrews, on passing the [Vady el-Asha, had reached the 
 eastern confines of the territory of Moab. Balak might well 
 have inferred from their latest movements and actions that 
 it was not their intention to retrace their steps southward, 
 but to press in a westerly direction, and to cross the Jordan 
 with the least possible delay {supra, p. 68). Some such con- 
 siderations appear to have suggested themselves to later 
 readers, or to the final reviser of these chapters. For a care- 
 ful examination shows that the narrative originally ran thus : 
 ' When Balak, the son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had_done 
 to the Amorites, he sent messengers to Balaam, the son of 
 Beor, to Pethor, which is by the river Euphrates' (vers. 2, 5). 
 In order to connect this general statement, consistent in 
 itself, with the tenor of the Book of Numbers, it was later 
 
 ^ Ver. 4. Comp. Comm. on Gen. 
 p. 475 ; on £xod. p. 33 ; Noldeke, 
 Die Amalekiter, pp. 7-10. 
 
 " □^d'?d or D\N'::':. 
 
 ■= Judg. viii. 6 ; Xum. xxxi. 8 ; 
 .Josh. xiii. 21. 
 
 d Dnt^' and D'jpT ; Judg. vii. 25. 
 •^ Vers. 4, 7 ; comp. Ps. Ixxxiii. 12, 
 
88 NUMBERS XXII. 2-4. 
 
 deemed advisable to insert the third and fourth verses, 
 which specially refer to the people of Moab and their 
 alliance with the Midianites, and particularly dwell on the 
 terror inspired by the Hebrew hosts. But it cannot escape 
 our attention that those verses are indeed an interpolation. 
 For, first, vers. 2 and 5 fit admirably together ; next, Moab 
 is mentioned in vers. 3 and 4 only, whereas the narrative 
 everywhere else speaks oi Balak; and lastly, an author of such 
 ability would not write thus incoherently : * And Balak, the 
 son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites ' 
 (ver. 1), and then, ' And Balak, the son of Zippor, was king 
 of Moab at that time ' (ver. 4). These last words, moreover, 
 thoughtlessly destroy that historical probability so admirably 
 maintained througout the section ; for how could a contem- 
 porary of Balak, writing in the fortieth year of the Hebrew 
 wanderings — the very year in which the related incident is 
 recorded to have happened — say, ' And Balak was king of 
 Moab at that time,' unless it be gratuitously assumed that 
 Balak died within the few months that intervened between 
 Balaam's prophecies and Moses' death ? The following 
 justification has indeed been proposed: 'The author had 
 first spoken of Balaam, the son of Zij^por (ver. 1), and then 
 of Moab, without describing the relation in which the one 
 stood to the other ; with respect to his contemporaries, whom 
 the author had in his mind when beginning the account, an 
 explicit remark setting forth that relation was unnecessary ; 
 but he added it afterwards, because he remembered that 
 he was writing for posterity also ' {Hengstenberg, Gesch. 
 Bileams, p. 34"). However, it is difficult to see why a 
 writer who proves himself able to grasp and to combine the 
 events of centuries, could not make so obvious a reflection 
 from the outset, and say simply, ' And Balak, the son of 
 Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, saw,' etc. ; though 
 even this form would have involved a forgetful disregard of 
 the age of Moses, and have betrayed the hand of a later 
 compiler. A recent scholar joins vers. 2 to 5 in one period, in 
 Order to maintain Balak throughout as the subject ('When 
 Balak saw all that Israel had done .... and that the 
 Moabites were afraid . . . and that the Moabites said to the 
 
COUNCILS. 89 
 
 elders of Midian, . . , Balak . . . being king of Moab at tliat 
 time, lie sent messengers,' etc.; so Luzzatto), a most involved 
 construction opposed to the simple pa7'ataxis of Hebrevr, 
 and yet not removing the chief difficulties. A more critical 
 explanation has been attemjDted by the remark, ' As the 
 older source introduces Balak only in ver. 4, the second verse 
 is probably a statement of the Jehovist, added for the pur- 
 pose of connecting this narrative with the preceding account 
 of the wars' {Knobel, Numeri, p. 128). But if ver. 2 did 
 not originally form part of the composition, there was 
 harcily any reason why it should have been added, as the 
 tale is complete and intelligible without it. Besides, accord- 
 ing to the present state of Pentateuch criticism, the relation 
 between the ' older source ' and ' the Jehovist ' is almost 
 the reverse of what it was considered to be at the time when 
 that conjecture was proposed (in 1861). And lastly, none 
 of the main documents or writers of the Pentateuch concern 
 us in the consideration of this section (see supra, pp. 51, 52 ; 
 comp. also Nachmanides, Bechai, and Abarbanel in loc, who felt 
 the manifest irregularity of style, without being able to account 
 for it satisfactorily) The suggestion made in the Midrash 
 and elsewhere, ' that Balak was not the hereditary king, and 
 that a change of dynasty had taken place' {Canon Cook, Holy 
 Bible, in loc), could hardly tend to lessen the incongruity, 
 even if it rested on a stronger support than the expression 
 ' former king of Moab ' (in xsi. 26). — In order to establish 
 in the verbs of the third verse the gradation evidently in- 
 tended by the author, we must render 3N10 X\>1'\, iiot and 
 Moab dreaded or was distressed, but and Moab loathed or had 
 a horror of the children of Isi'ael, physical disgust (which is no 
 doubt the primary meaning of flp — Gen. xlvii. 46 ; Num. 
 xxi. 5 — as of the kindred root Olp) and moral aversion, 
 which may show itself either in fear (Isa. vii. 11) or hatred 
 (1 Ki. xi. 25), contempt (Prov. iii. 11) or anger (Lev. xx, 
 23, comp. Greek koteIv), being in some languages correlative 
 notions (comp. D3p Chald. to loathe, Syr. to be afraid; Arab. 
 L,^ in both meanings; Sept. Trpoo-w^fltfre ; Vulg., quite indis- 
 tinctly, et impetum ejus ferre non posseut). That loathing 
 
90 NUMBERS XXII. 2 4-. 
 
 or horror on the part of the Moabites was caused by Israel's 
 irresistible progress and power, which had for them something 
 extraordinary and incomprehensible, and which they were 
 therefore anxious to opj^ose and to break by supernatural 
 forces. The case is similar with the Egyptians who ' loathed ' 
 or ' had a horror of the children of Israel ' ("iVpM, Exod. i. 12), 
 because it was to them an unaccountable fact that ' the more 
 they afflicted the Hebrews, the more these multiplied and 
 grew.' Only in this passage aud in ours, f)p is followed by 
 *JSD, this verb being everywhere else construed with 2 ; it 
 must, therefore, here and in Exodus, be taken absolutely, so 
 that ^JDD means * on account of/ as is clear from Gren. xxvii. 46, 
 where both particles occur together, OH nm \2?p ""n^ *nvp, 
 'I loathe my life on account of the daughters of Heth' (comp. 
 I31p in the various figurative meanings of despising, hating, 
 or being angry, in Ezek. vi. 9; xvi. 47; xx. 43 ; xxxvi. 31 ; 
 Ps. xcv. 10 ; cxix. 158). — The graphic simile, peculiarly ap- 
 propriate in connection with pastoral nations, ' now will this 
 host devour all that is round about us, as the ox devours the 
 grass of the field,' is on Assyrian inscriptions varied by the 
 metaphor, ' with the main body of my servants I threshed 
 the enemy's country like a threshing ox ' (Monolith Inscrip- 
 tion of Shalmaneser II., col. ii. § 52 ; comp. Records of the 
 Past, iii. 94); and it has not unnaturally tempted many to 
 allegorical interpretations (e.g., Origen, In Num. Homil. xii., 
 ' Quia vitulus ore abrumpit herbam de campo et lingua tan- 
 quam falce qusecunque invenerit secat, ita et populus hie ore 
 et labiis pugnat et arma habet in verbis ac precibus,' etc.). 
 
 It seems desirable here to take a comprehensive view of the 
 proper nouns occurring in these and the following verses. 
 First, they are all of Shemitic etymology, as might be ex- 
 pected, since Balak was a Moabite and Balaam an Aramaean 
 (xxii. 5; xxiii. 7; Deut. xxiii. 5); and this circumstance 
 should facilitate the enquiry by following intelligible prin- 
 ciples. A few illustrations will suffice. Nearly all authorities 
 in ancient and modern times have interpreted the name C)y^3 
 as ' devourer, ' or ' destroyer of the people ' (for DV y?3, see 
 supra, p. 29), and have taken both the person and the name 
 as historical. How is this to be understood ? Who gave to 
 
COUNCILS 91 
 
 tlie celebrated seer that odious uame '? His jjareuts ? Or his 
 countrymen, by whom he was so higlily honoured ? Surely 
 not. Therefore, none else but his personal or national ene- 
 mies. But, if so, ^V'72 is not a real or strictly historical name. 
 The case is similar with P/?- The most obvious meaning of 
 the root would lead to the sense 'the empty' or 'idle one' 
 (eomp. Isa. xxiv. 1; Nah. ii. 11) ; can this be the name by 
 which the king of Moab was known to his people or his con- 
 temporaries ? It seems that the matter may be thus explained. 
 If the names are indeed in any way historical (and it is on 
 this supposition only that the subject deserves minute investi- 
 gation), they had doujatless, when first bestowed, an import 
 involving something characteristic or conspicuous, and cer- 
 tainly not anything abusive or disgraceful (comp. Comm. on 
 Genes, p. 540). By slight modifications, to which both the 
 Oriental mind and the Oriental languages are eminently 
 adapted, the original name might afterwards be so changed by 
 adversaries and opponents, that it was little altered in sound, 
 but very materially in meaning. Strictly adhering to this 
 consideration, we shall at least be guarded against grave 
 mistakes in the explanation of proper nouns, even should we 
 not always arrive at safe and positive results. If p'p^ is in- 
 deed referable to the root p73, in the sense of makiiit/ etnpty 
 or layi)ig icastr,, the original name was probably Pr2, the devas- 
 tator, the great cong^neror, which an Eastern ruler would na- 
 turally bear with particular pride ; and as no vowels and, of 
 course, no quiescent letters as matres lectionis were written, 
 p.?3 was without difiiculty converted into p^3, which would be 
 interpreted either as ' the man of idle endeavours, who vainly 
 hoped to crush Israel by curses ' (Philo takes both p72 and 
 DJ?*72 as ^a-aiog, and the former, besides, as avovQ, 0pp. ii. 
 423, see supra, p. 27), or, since emptiness and poverty were 
 deemed analogous notions and Nnip1?a is in Syria.G poverty, as 
 the imjjoverished king, because he received Irom his prede- 
 cessor the land greatly diminished in extent and power 
 (xxi. 26). — Similarly ^i'f?, if from the first so vocalised, 
 means, no doubt, properly destruction or destroyer (from vhl 
 with the affoimative D7, as in many other proper names — 
 nm, Dn3^5, dlw, on^pj;, etc., or with I7, as i^is, pcT, inn, |"jr:n, 
 
92 NUMBERS XXII. 2-4. 
 
 etc.— ), a name which the father might fitly have given to his 
 son whom he hoped and wished to be able, by his execrations, 
 lo terrify and to destroy his enemies and the foes of his friends 
 and employers (comp. xxii. 6); though we are rather inclined 
 to consider that proper noun to have originally been vocalised 
 
 Oy'?? (fco Sept., Ba\aa/i ; Joseph.., BaXa^toe ; Saad., /»^Aj) and 
 to be a contraction for cy"'?!?? lord of the people (the V being 
 elided as in /? for /i??, whence the Syr. has Qi??2 ; comj) ri-li, 
 Chald. '^•■'i'")) ; but in either case the Hebrews might easily 
 understand that name in a sense which was certainly attri- 
 buted to it at a very early date, as corrvption or perdition of 
 the people (Dyy?^, Talm. Sanh. 105a, "etc., see svpra, p. 29); 
 though the elision of V at the end of the word is question- 
 able, and is only supported by such apparent analogies as 
 D?E^'1~l'' for vb"^ t^'IT' (comp. Engl, transcribe for trans-scribe, 
 etc.). — Not much different in meaning is the name of Balaam's 
 father "lU'?, which, in the intention of those who first gave 
 it, no doubt also signified destroyer ("lyn) in the sense above 
 indicated, as Beor was probably likewise an enchanter and 
 diviner, whereas that word readily suggested to the Hebrews 
 the similar meaning of the people's debaser or destroyer, if not, 
 at the same time, that of voracious hrute {~^^V^, Exod. 
 xxii. 4 ; Num. xx. 4, etc.), or of the abominable idol "I'i^?, to 
 whom the soothsayer's family might well have been deemed 
 devoted. A conclusive analogy is near at hand. The Greek 
 proper noun Nicolaus (Nt/coXaor), and its synonyms, as Nico- 
 demus, Andronicus, and others, are by no means vitupera- 
 tive but unquestionably honourable in import, denoting 
 great heroes and successful warriors ; and yet the New 
 Testament, as we have shown (p. 23), renders the name 
 Balaam by Nikolaos, and assigns to the latter, as it does to 
 the former, the worst significations of depraver and spiritual 
 ravager of the people. Thus, both in Greek and in Hebrew, 
 etymologies, elastic enough in any case, were conveniently 
 employed for turning a meaning into its very opposite. In 
 the second Epistle of Peter (ii. 15), 1U'? is rendered Boaop ; 
 this is perhaps merely a copyist's error, instead of Beujp or 
 liui'op ; or it may have arisen out of the difiiculty of accurately 
 
COITXCILS. 9^ 
 
 ropresentiug the Hebron' lutter V, for which there is no 
 proper equivalent in Greek (comp. Heb. Gram. ii. pp. 54, 
 55), and which, therefore, as the strongest aspirate, was, in 
 that instance, represented by the sibilant s (comp. tirra and 
 septem, ciXe and sal, etc.) ; if it is not a peculiarity of the 
 Galilean dialect, by the use of which Peter the Galilean was 
 markedly distinguished (Matt. xxvi. 73 ; Mark xiv. 70), and 
 in which, to the great displeasure of southern purists, the y 
 was pronounced more softly, almost like S (comp. Tabu. 
 EruY. 53; Buxt , Lesic. Talm., pp. 434-436), though some 
 consider it to be a Chaldaism, because they suppose that the 
 Apostle was then a resident at Babylon. But lest any oppor- 
 tunity, however trivial, be neglected for casting discredit on 
 Balaam, a very learned divine of the seventeenth century, 
 with the ap2-)roval of many later writers, threw out the sur- 
 mise, that the Apostle designedly used the form Boo-op, in 
 order to recall the sound of l'^3 flesh, ' thus elegantly inti- 
 mating that Balaam, the false prophet, by inciting men to 
 carnal pleasures, was justly called the son of flesh' {Fdi-itif/a, 
 Obss. Sacr., IV. ix. 31, p. 937). — It is hardly likely that Boo-op 
 is intended for linB^ so that BaXna/x 6 Boaup would mean 
 ' Balaam, a native of Pethor,' as Grotius and others believe. — 
 It is remarkable that the first king of Edom is called ' y?3 the 
 son of liy? ' (Gen. xxxvi. 32 ; 1 Chron. i. 43) ; this coincidence, 
 if it does not prove that these two names were, at that time, 
 great favourites in families proud of ' producing manslayers, 
 whether in the bodily or spiritual sphere' (IJetigstenb., Bileam, 
 p. 22), teaches, at least, that QV?3 was meant as identical with 
 y'?3, and that it was not taken as a compound of DV, neither 
 as equivalent to ^V Vc^ (see supra) ; nor much less to D]} roi 
 (Aruch, sub voc), denoting one 'who confounded (72^2'^'} 
 Israel by his advice' (Eash) ; nor to D^ N''?2j meaning 'one 
 who has no community whatever with the pious people of 
 Israel ' or ' a leader or teacher with but a scanty number 
 of followers' [Talm. Sanh. 105a, etc.); nor to DV ''3 *■ non- 
 populns, pei'egrmus^ (Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 210 ; comjiare 
 Arnch, I.e., inX DJ?"? -|Vni loyoi IDipDO N^-^t;' Dy N^3); 
 which, irrespective of the vowel in the first syllable, wuuld 
 be almost unintelligible as elliptical expressions. Mure- 
 
94 NUMBERS XXII. 2-4. 
 
 over, the town 2^??, in the eastern province of Manasseh 
 (1 Chron. vi. 55), bore also the name ^Vr'?^- (Josh. xvii. 11 ; 
 Judges i. 27 ; 2 Kings ix. 27), from which it is evident that 
 Dy'^3 was traced to vhl, not to 72 or 7V2 ; this being one of 
 many instances of double proper nouns, one containing the 
 past, the other the future of the verb (comp. n^^3? and ^l}^"., 
 '^^l^l^ and -inv"^^^, etc.). — One additional remark we would, 
 in this place, make on Hebrew proper nouns. Some names 
 were so generally current and po familiar that it would have 
 been impossible to alter their form without causing material 
 confusion. In such cases, endeavours were made, etymologi- 
 cally or otherwise, to interpret the word in the desired sense. 
 To this category belongs the name ^^l'^, which means properly 
 ' seed of the father ' (for v:) is a poetical term for water, Job 
 ix. 30, which is used for seed, Isa. xlviii. 1), that is, simply 
 the descendants of some great ancestor, who was car' tt,o-)^i]v 
 called ' father ; ' but Hebrew historians of later times, ex- 
 plaining 2^'0 by 3XP (tk: rov Trarfioo), attributed to that name, 
 literally, the sense of ' offsj)ring of the father,' and embodied 
 this view in a detailed story (Gen. xix. 32, 34; comp. Comm. 
 on Gen. p. 426). — Jewish authorities elucidate P7? by ^5^ and 
 P!?, or h^y^^ h^ \01 pl"?^ ^;n 'he came to lap (or suck) the 
 blood of the Israelites ;' and the very same sense is attributed 
 to the name p.?^^ contended to be equivalent to D^ and P? and 
 to mean bxi::''' b^ im [h^ (see Baal Hathirim in loc). This 
 one instance out of very many will illustrate that wonderful 
 flexibility of etymological explanation, to which we have 
 above referred ; and we will only add that Patristic writers, 
 asserting Balaam to mean 'vain people,' and Balak ' devourer,' 
 consider the one as the type of the Jewish scribes and Phari- 
 sees, and the other as the emblem of the implacable enemies of 
 the spiritual Israel (comp. Origen, In Num. Hom. xiv. 4, etc.). — 
 It seems natural to understand liria (comp. Deut. xxiii. 5), 
 Balaam's home, as the town of ' interpretation of dreams ' 
 (liDS), Gen. xl. 8, 16; xli. 8, etc.; Sam. Vers., mV^D; Syr., 
 t?"l1tJ'D), in which art the seer, like perhaps some of his fellow- 
 citizens, may have been a great adept (comp. xxii. 8-12, 19, 
 20 ; Talm. Sanh. 106a ; Yalkut, Balak, § 771 ; Targ. Jon., etc.); 
 but this opinion has, of course, no claim to certainty; for the 
 
COUNCILS. 1 .1 
 
 primary meaning of "ina is to open or to divide, which may 
 be very multifariously applied to a town {e.g., Gesen., Thes., 
 p. 1141, after Midr. Tanchuma, ' fortasse id quod Chakl. 
 snins, mensa,' etc.). Some ancient versions (as Samar., Syr., 
 Vulij.) take "iins not as a town, but as interpreter or sooth- 
 sayer, (see supra; Ahu Said j^^i^lO, against the context and 
 against Deut. I.e. — "liSV is undoubtedly bird, like the feminine 
 iT^^V, the Midianite wife of Moses (Exod. ii. 21, etc. ; comp. 
 the Midianite chief 3!?^, Raven, Judg. vii. 25, etc.). — The 
 Targum of Jonathan thus paraphrases the fifth verse : ' And 
 Balak sent messengers to Laban the Aramsean, that is 
 Balaam, the son of Beor, who was eager to destroy the 
 people (xsy n_^ yi'Pnpp), the house of Israel ; for he was 
 insane from the vastness of his knowledge, and had no com- 
 passion with Israel . . . and the place of his abode was in 
 Padan, that is Pethor (I'lnS), meaning interpreter of dreams 
 ('^*Pf D l^r'?), and it was built in Aram, on the river Euphrates, 
 where the people of his country worshipped him.' This 
 specimen sufficiently exemplifies both the bias and the con- 
 fusion of traditional explanation throughout this section 
 (see s?//j?'a,pp. 29, 30). — As regards the position of Pethor {Sept. 
 ^adoupa), we must be content with the statement of the text, 
 that the town was situated on the Euphrates (ver. 5). More 
 than this we do not even learn from the Monolith Inscription 
 of Shalmaneser II. (b.c. 858-823), and from the remarkable 
 black Obelisk of the same king, both which monuments men- 
 tion, in the immediate vicinity of the Euphrates and the 
 river Irgamri or Sagnri, which has not been identified, a town 
 ' which the men of the Hittites ' (/. e. the Syrians) ' have 
 called the city of Pi-it-ru or Pethor,' although from the 
 latter record the town appears to have been in the highlands 
 of Mesopotamia (see Inscription of Shalm., col, ii. §§ 85, 86 ; 
 Black Obel., face C, lines 38-40, ' at my return into the low- 
 lands,' etc.; see Schrader, Keilinschriften und dasA.T., p. r.5; 
 Eecords of the Past, iii. 99; v. SI) Everything else is un- 
 certain tradition or conjecture ; but the identity of that town 
 is, for the main object of our narrative, of little importance — 
 whether Pethor is traceable to ^aQovaai, a place south of 
 
06 NUMBERS XXII. 5-14. 
 
 Circesiuni (Zosimus iii. 4 ; Knob.), or to TielioLotli Ir (Gen. 
 X. 11; xxxvi. 37), or, after the Oseian petora (four), means 
 a town built in the form of an oblong {Ritzig, Sprache . . . der 
 Assyrier, p. 11). It seems, however, probable that Pethor was 
 one of the cities or districts which, according to an old Baby- 
 lonian custom similar to the appointment of priestly and leviti- 
 cal towns among the Hebrews, were set apart for the various 
 classes of philosophers, astronomers, and soothsayers, and 
 Avhich formed the principal centres of their work and reputa- 
 tion (comp. Straho, XVI. i. 6, p. 739 ; Plin. Nat. Hist. vi. 26 
 or 30, Hipparenum, Chaldaeorum doctrina et hoc sicut 
 Babylon ; see also Cicer. De Divinat. i. 41, Telmessus in Caria 
 est, qua in urbe excellit haruspicum disciplina). 
 
 3. FIRST MESSAGE. XXII. 5-14. 
 
 5. And he sent messengers to Balaam, the 
 son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the river 
 (P^uphrates), to the land of the children of his 
 people, to call him, saving, Behold, there is a 
 people come out from Egypt ; behold, they cover 
 the face of the earth, and they abide over against 
 me. 6. Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse 
 me this people, for they are too mighty for me ; 
 perhaps I shall prevail, that we may smite them, 
 and that I may drive them out of the land : for 
 I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, 
 and he whom thou cursest is cursed. 7. And 
 the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian 
 departed with the rewards of divination in their 
 hand ; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to 
 him the words of Balak. 8. And he said to 
 them, Stay liere this night, and I will bring you 
 word, as the Lord shall speak to me. And the 
 princes of Moab renudiicd with Balaam. 9. And 
 
FIRST MESSAGE. 97 
 
 God came to Balaam, and said, Who are these 
 men that are with thee ? 10. And Bakiam said 
 to God, Bakik, the son of Zippor, king- of Moab, 
 has sent to me, saying^ 11. Behold, the people 
 that is come out of Egypt, it covers the face of 
 the earth ; come now, curse me them ; per- 
 liaps I shall then be able to fight against them, 
 and drive them out. 12. And God said to 
 Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them, thou 
 slialt not curse the people ; for they are blessed. 
 13. And Balaam rose in the morning, and said 
 to the princes of Balak, Go to your country, for 
 the Lord refuses to give me leave to go with 
 you. 14. And the princes of Moab rose, and 
 they went to Balak, and said, Balaam refuses to 
 come with us. 
 
 The result of Moab's and Midian's common delibera- 
 tions was that, under the critical circumstances, nothing 
 better could be undertaken than to send a legation to the 
 famous diviner Balaam and to claim his powerful aid, 
 since even both nations united felt diffident in opposing 
 the large and victorious armies of the Hebrews. In 
 order to invest the embassy with a national character 
 and dignity, they dispatched, as official representatives, 
 the elders of both communities. Their utter helplessness 
 and perplexity are admirably conveyed in Balak's un- 
 certain and wavering message. He vaguely speaks of 
 ' a people that is come out of Egypt.'"- More than this he 
 fancies does not concern Balaam. He engages and pays 
 a soothsayer, and therefore thinks he may dispose of his 
 services at pleasure. To him the enchanter's will and 
 art alone have reality. Those against whom that art is 
 
 » Sy^^ cy, ver. 5. 
 II 
 
98 NUMBERS XXII. 5-14. 
 
 to be employed, have no share in his considerations. It 
 is enough that he desires to have them cursed ; whether 
 they deserve to be cursed or not, appears to him in- 
 different. It would have been impossible to pourtray 
 more aptl}^ paganism and its obtuse blindness. How 
 infinitely superior to such a state of mind is even the 
 rigid doctrine of retribution, which caused the Hebrews 
 to see so deep and intrinsic a connection between man's 
 deeds and his fate, that they were certain that the 
 Canaanites, though destined to destruction, could not be 
 exterminated until the measure of their sins was full.* 
 Balak might well have assumed that so well-informed a 
 man as Balaam had heard of the Hebrews and their long- 
 wanderings in the desert, if not of their memorable 
 delivei-ance from foreign bondage. That Balaam was 
 really acquainted with these events, is clear from his own 
 words. For in repeating to God the commission he had 
 received, he said, ' Behold the people that is come out of 
 Egypt.'" To Balak the Hebrews were merely hostile 
 hordes dangerous to himself; but to Balaam they were 
 the one renowned people of Jahveh, who had singled 
 them out for His special protection and had hitherto led 
 them so miraculously.'^ By the slightest modifications, 
 the author's skill fixed the strongest contrasts. — Almost 
 incoherently, the king further sends word to the seer that 
 the Hebrews were filling the whole land ; that they were 
 encamped in his close proximity; Balaam was to come 
 and curse the swarming multitudes; 'perhaps,' he con- 
 tinues, ' I shall prevail that we may smite them, and that 
 I may drive them out of the land ; for I knoiv that he 
 whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest 
 is cursed.'*^ Hesitation and assurance, despondency and 
 reckless courage, struggle in his uneasy and foreboding 
 mind. He is conscious of taking refuge in an uncommon 
 
 " Gen. XV. 16, and Conim. in loc. I '^ Comp. xxiii. 22 ; xxiv. 8 ; see 
 b S^*.! nyn^ ver. 11. supra, p. 1.4. ■^ Ver. 6. 
 
FIRST MESSAfJE. 9!) 
 
 and desperate device, and liis words cling to hopes in 
 which his heart scarcely believes. But the sootlisayer 
 must come to Moab ; it would be of no avail if he pro- 
 nounced the curse in his Mesopotamian home ; he must 
 behold those whom he attempts to annihilate l)y the 
 power of his incantations ; and Balak is eager to hear 
 himself those welcome words which are to inspire him 
 and his people with new strength. Does Balaam attach 
 the same weight to his personal presence ? Does he also 
 believe that the eye, whether it be the good or the evil 
 eye, must be fixed upon those who are effectually to be 
 blessed or cursed ? This the nari-ative leaves in uncer- 
 tainty, because it represents Balaam in perfect and 
 almost passive repose. But so much is undoubted, that 
 all arrangements and directions referring to that point 
 do not proceed from him, but from the king of Moab, 
 who, in his restless anxiety, is unwilling to neglect any 
 form or ceremony deemed desirable by the most scrupu- 
 lous belief of his nation and his time. 
 
 Is it necessary to accumulate proofs of the faith of the 
 ancient world in the real power of blessings and curses ? 
 The whole Bible, all classical and non-classical literature, 
 proclaim it. Extraordinary men, such as prophets, and 
 ordinary men in uncommon moments, such as the ap- 
 proach of death, were supposed to be seized by the 
 divine spirit, and so far uplifted beyond the usual measure 
 of human power and intelligence, that, consciously or 
 unconsciously, they reveal the decrees of Providence, 
 nay, are able to direct and change them, and, by the 
 force of their holy zeal and fervour, to transform the 
 word into an unerring deed. When little children, fail- 
 ing to honour the prophet in the ' bald head,' mocked 
 Elisha, ' he cursed them in the name of the Lord,' and 
 forthwith two bears came out of the wood and tore 
 forty-two of the children ;" and when Theseus believed 
 
 "■ 2 Ki. ii. ^3, 24. 
 
100 
 
 NUMBERS xxn. 5-14. 
 
 he had reason for well-founded suspicion against his son, 
 and wrathful ly cursed him in the name of domestic 
 honour and purity, the curse was fulfilled even upon the 
 innocent youth, and no prayer and no repentance of the 
 agonised father were able to avert or undo if Such an 
 ardent conviction of the participation of human enthu- 
 siasm in the counsels of heaven, is well compatible even 
 with a high degree of truly religious feeling ; but of such 
 a depth of conviction Balak was wholly incapable. He 
 believed he could 'hire' a prophet and bid him speak, 
 not as his god suggested, but as he, the terror-stricken 
 king, desired. Therefore, he did not omit to send to 
 Balaam 'rewards of divination,'^ probably rich and ample 
 wages, as he considered that the more liberally he paid, 
 the more powerful was the curse he could command.*^ 
 
 It may be allowable to dwell one moment longer on 
 this point. How superficially the effect of cursing was 
 viewed by the Hebrews, even in later times, is indeed 
 sufficiently clear from their belief in ' day-cursers,' en- 
 dowed with the gift of blotting out, or devoting to eternal 
 oblivion, certain days or seasons of disaster and mourning f 
 but it is most strikingly apparent from the remarkable 
 ritual of the ' Offering of Jealousy:' the curse was written 
 on a scroll, which was then dipped in the 'bitter water;' 
 this water, bodily saturated, as it were, with the words of 
 the curse, was drunk by the suspected woman, and it was 
 firmly expected that if she was guilty, the water ' would 
 make her womb to swell and her thigh to rot.'*" Can it, 
 therefore, be surprising that heathen nations hardly set 
 bounds to the possible effects of spells and charms ? 
 
 ^ Compare Hor. Od. IV. vii. 25, 
 Infernis neque enim tenebris Diana 
 pudieum Liberat Hippolytum, etc. 
 
 b Dnppp, ver. 7. 
 
 '■ See infra. 
 
 >! DT' n-lN, Job iii. 8. 
 
 « Num. V. 11-29, and Comm. on 
 
 Lev. i. pp. 282-289; ii. p. 596; comp. 
 Gen. ix. 25-27; xxvii. 4, 12, 27-29, 
 39, 40; xlviii. 9, 15, 16, 20; xlix. 
 2-27; Num. vi. 24-27; Deut. xi. 
 29 ; xxvii. 12-26 ; xsxiii. 1-25 ; 
 Josh. vi. 26 and 1 Ki. xvi. 34 ; 
 Matth. xxi. 19. 
 
FIRST MESSAGE. 
 
 101 
 
 Plato speaks of certain itinerant priests and prophets' 
 frequenting the houses of the rich, and persuading them 
 that they possess a power granted by the gods of 
 expiating by incantations^ all sins and crimes committed 
 by any living person or by his forefathers, and of blasting 
 any foe, whether he was guilty or not, by blandishments 
 and magic ties.° When Alcibiades, after profaning the 
 Eleusinian mysteries, had been condemned in his absence 
 and punished with the confiscation of his property, the 
 people ordered him, besides, ' to be execrated by all priests 
 and priestesses,' which occasion was rendered still more 
 memorable by the priestess Theano, who refused to com- 
 ply with the command, contending that she was 'a 
 priestess of blessings, not of curses.'*^ 
 
 In the Roman twelve tables penalties are enacted 
 against any one ' who shall have enchanted the harvest,' 
 or ' shall have used evil incantations ' generally f for 
 ' there was no one who did not dread being spell-bound 
 by means of malignant imprecations.'^ The Romans 
 preserved some old and secret forms of execration, the 
 awful power of which was believed to destroy not only 
 those against whom, but even those by whom they were 
 pronounced, and which, therefore, were only employed 
 in the most uncommon emergencies. Such an occasion 
 was the contemplated departure of M. Crassus to Syria 
 (B.C. 55), with the intention of waging war against the 
 Parthians ; the tribunes of the people strongly dis- 
 approved of the plan, and when Crassus still insisted 
 upon its execution, they 'uttered against him public 
 imprecations,' using fearful and terrible spells and menaces 
 — after which the historians record, without surprise and 
 
 * 'Ayvprai and fiavretg. 
 
 '^ 'ETraywyale Kai KaTaSka/JLOig ; 
 Flat. Republ. ii. 7, p. 364. 
 
 ^ EiixtSi/, ou KarapiHv 'dptiav ys- 
 ■yov'ivai, Flut. Alcib. c. 22 ; coinp. 
 
 51; Xen. 
 
 Lysias, Adv. Andocid 
 Mem. II. vi. 10. 
 
 " Qui fruges excantassit ; 
 malum carmen incantassit. 
 
 ' Defigi quidem diris precationi 
 bus nemo non metuit. 
 
 qui 
 
102 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 5-14. 
 
 as a natural result, that Crassus perished in Parthia with 
 his son and nearly the whole of his army. Indeed it 
 was firmly believed, as Pliny attests, that 'words can 
 change ' the destinies of great empires. But their 
 remarkable efficacy was considered to appear in various 
 other ways. Imprecations pronounced during a sacrifice 
 'have caused the victim's liver or heart suddenly to 
 vanish or to be doubled.' By the incantations of Vestal 
 virgins the flight of runaway slaves, who had not passed 
 beyond the precincts of the town, was supposed to be 
 arrested. Spells were held to control and rule the very 
 elements and all nature, to induce rain and to repel it, to 
 draw down the moon and the stars from the skies and to 
 direct the winds, to check the movements of serpents 
 and to make them burst asunder, to avert hail-showers 
 and to conjure up thunderstorms. This is reported to 
 have been achieved by Lars Porsena and other Etruscans, 
 but by no one more frequently and successfully than by 
 King Numa ; while Tullus Hostilius, imitating him, but 
 not performing the ceremonies in due form, was killed 
 by the lightning. From Jihat belief Jupiter bore the 
 standing epithet of Elicius.^ But it is right to add, on 
 the authority of Pliny, that ' the wisest persons ' rejected 
 all such beliefs ; that every one was permitted to look 
 upon these matters in whatever light he pleased ; and, 
 what is of greater importance, that ' it was an accepted 
 maxim in the doctrines of divination, that neither curses 
 nor any other auspices had the least effect upon those 
 who, before entering upon an enterprise, declared that 
 they paid no attention to them.'^ 
 
 =* I. e. precationibus ccelo elicien- 
 dus. 
 
 •> Comp. Flin. Natiir. Hist. II. 53 
 or 54 ; xxviii. 2 or 3-5 ; Tacit. Ann. 
 xiv. 30, Druidasque circum, preces 
 diras sublatis ad caelum manibus 
 fundentes, etc.; Mavrob. iii. (al- 
 
 though the elaborate and remarkable 
 formula there i^reserved contains 
 prayers, rather than curses) ; Flu(. 
 Crass, c. 16 ; Appian, Bell. Civ. ii. 
 18 ; Seneca, Nat. Quacst. iv. 7; Toy. 
 Eel. viii. 69-71, Carmina vel ca-lo 
 possunt deducere Lunam... Frigidus 
 
KlUST MESSAGE. 
 
 ]();3 
 
 Tlio anibassadoi's arrive in Pcthor and deliver tlicir 
 message to Balaam. Do we see him share or drawn 
 into the eagerness and unrest of the troubled monarch ? 
 From the moment that the narrative reaches Balaam, it 
 seems to breathe a more serene tranquillity and a higher 
 purity. In the first place, never again is any mention 
 made of 'wages of divination.' Gold and worldly 
 honours are of no account in the eyes of the prophet, 
 who serves his god alone. And who is this god ? Is he 
 one of the many idols of Balak ? He is the one and sole 
 God of the Hebrews, Jahveh the Unchangeable, the 
 Eternal. It is vain to ask how Balaam gained the 
 knowledge of this God. The strange answers which 
 this question has called forth ought alone to have sufficed 
 to show the impropriety of the question. In order to 
 attain, it is asserted, gTeater proficiency in soothsaying, 
 which he practised as a trade or profession for the grati- 
 fication of his chief passions of ambition and avarice, he 
 carefully enquired into the traditions and the history of 
 other nations besides his own. In this manner he heard 
 some faint echoes of the convictions left from ' the primi- 
 tive age of monotheism;' he also heard some .distinct 
 whispers of the patriarchal revelations that lingered in 
 Mesopotamia through Abraham and through Jacob's long 
 sojourn with Laban ; and, what was of the greatest 
 moment to him, he listened to the reports of the recent 
 miracles of Egypt and the manifestations on Sinai, since 
 the lands of the Euphrates and the Nile were, from 
 
 in pratis eantando rumpitur anguis ; 
 Orid, Metam. tu. 201-209, Stantia 
 concutio cantu freta, nubila pello... 
 ventos abigoque vocoque, Vipereas 
 rumpo verbis et carmine fauces, etc. ; 
 Fast. iii. 327, 328, Eliciunt ca;lo te, 
 Jiippiter, iinde minores Nunc quo- 
 que te celebrant Eliciiimque vocant ; 
 Ilor. Epod. V. 45, Quto sidera ex- 
 cantata voce Thessala Lunamque 
 
 cailo deripit; xvii. 4, 77, 7^ ; Frop. 
 I. i. 19, At vos, deductoe quibus est 
 fallacia Lunae, etc. ; Tibull. I. viii. 
 17-22, Cantus vicinis fruges tradu- 
 cit ab agris, Cantus et iratsD detinet 
 anguis iter, etc. ; Val. Place. Argon, 
 viii. 351, 352, Fallor, an hos nobis 
 magico nunc carmine ventos Ipsa 
 movet, diraque levat maria ardua 
 lingua? etc. 
 
104 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 5-14. 
 
 early times, closely joined by commercial intercourse. 
 Thus, for his own interest and advantage, and 'in the 
 hope that he might by these means be able to par- 
 ticipate in the new powers granted to the human race,' 
 he was induced to devote himself to the service of 
 Jahveh, 'to call Him his god and to prophesy in His 
 name,' without, however, fully comprehending or honestly 
 following Him — similar to the Jewish exorcists, who, in 
 later times, drove out demons in Christ's name without 
 believing in him f and similar especially to Simon the 
 sorcerer, ' Balaam's New Testament anti-type,' who, dis- 
 satisfied with the previous emoluments of his art, and 
 attracted by the signs and miracles of his time, from 
 which he hoped to derive greater profit, believed and 
 was baptised, though his heart had no share in his faith.'' 
 With what semblance of historical accuracy does preju- 
 dice often clothe the most unhistorical fancies ! Balaam 
 knows and worships Jahveh, simply because the high- 
 minded author of this wonderful narrative attributes to 
 him that knowledge and worship. Balaam is a prophet 
 of the true God because the historian is a prophet of the 
 true God, and considers Hebrew and Gentile worthy of 
 the same privilege. It is only in the light of free and con- 
 summate art that this portion can be duly appreciated. 
 It has the highest probability — not that of fact and 
 history, but of poetry ; it does not reveal to us the 
 Mesopotamian Balaam, but, what is of much deeper 
 interest to us, one of the greatest seers of Israel in the 
 fresh and vigorous time of David. Instances are quoted 
 from patristic writers, ascribing to certain Magi and 
 Chaldeans 'the knowledge of God and His angels ;'° but 
 they form no parallels to our narrative. It is one thing 
 to regard pagans capable of single glimpses and isolated 
 
 a Mark ix. 38, 39 ; Acts xix. 13. 
 
 ^ Acts viii. 9-13, 18-24. 
 
 '-' Cijprlnn, De A'anit. Idol. 4 ; 
 
 Micnuc. Felix, Octav. 
 Cohort, ad Gent. xi. 24 
 Numeri, p. 131. 
 
 Justin. 
 Knohcl, 
 
FIRST MESSAGE. 
 
 105 
 
 rays of truth ; and anotlier to identify them entirely 
 and cheerfully with the holy proclaimers of the Divine 
 word. 
 
 Balaam is in familiar intercourse with God. He asks 
 for His directions and is sur6 of His reply, whether by 
 night in dreams, or by day in clear visions. He has 
 wholly merged his own will in that of his heavenly 
 Master. He enquires without eagerness and listens 
 without anxiety, because he trusts in His wisdom with 
 luiquestioning devotion. Thus he invites Balak's mes- 
 sengers to stay over night, and promises to communicate 
 to them, the next morning, the Lord's decision, which in- 
 volves his own. This does not refer, as has been supposed, 
 to the heathen custom of incuhatio or sleeping in temples,'' 
 but to a revelation in dream, such as the favoui-ed men 
 among the Hebrews likewise expected and prized.'' God 
 appears, as Balaam had foreseen. With epical breadth and 
 calmness He is made to ask the prophet, ' Who are these 
 men that are with thee ?''^ although He, the Omniscient, 
 had no need to ask. For the narrative proceeds in that 
 even flow which, in the midst of motion, preserves 
 repose, and in repose presses onward, and which, like 
 the verse of Homer, never hurries yet never pauses. 
 Balaam's answer is clear and explicit. It is designedly 
 an almost literal reproduction of Balak's request, but 
 with two significant modifications. One, already alluded 
 to above, concerns the ivell-knoiun people that has come 
 out of Egypt ; '^ the other is the omission of the king's 
 declaration with respect to Balaam, ' for I know that he 
 whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest 
 is cursed.' ° These words would, in Balaam's mouth, not 
 only sound like self-praise, but would be particularly 
 
 ^ The sy/coijKjjTic of the Greeks ; 
 comp. Herod, viii. 134 ; Plut. Arist. 
 c. 19; Strab., pp. 508, 761; Biod. 
 6lc. i. 53 ; I'ausan. I. xxxiv. 5, 
 Kpibv 6vaavTt(^ . . . KaQtiicovuiv ava- 
 
 IxivovTtQ ci]\w(siv oviiparoc. 
 ^ See supra, p. 16. 
 <= Yer. 9. 
 
 ^ nyn, \er. ii, pp. 97, os, 
 
 ^ Yer. 6. 
 
106 NUMBERS XXII. 5-14. 
 
 unsuitable on account of his profound consciousness that 
 it is not he who blesses or curses, but God through him, 
 and that he is nothing but His human instrument. Most 
 frequently has the reproach of vain arrogance been 
 raised against Balaam ; but in the simplest and most 
 efficient manner the author would seem to have rendered 
 the reproach impossible. Three times has Balaam to 
 deliver Divine oracles, in reference to which the follow- 
 ing gradation may be observed. The first time he says 
 to Balak, 'I will go, perhaps the Lord will come to meet 
 me:''' free from giddy confidence or self-assurance, he, 
 who had already been favoured with many revelations,^ 
 is represented as the wise man ' that feareth always,' and 
 who is doubtful whether the Divine communication will 
 be granted to him in the desired form and at the ex- 
 pected moment. The second time he says, more decided- 
 ly, 'I go to meet the Lord;'" while the third time only 
 he deems it unnecessary to solicit special suggestions.** 
 Even in the most subordinate points, the author's skill 
 and thoughtfulness are manifest. 
 
 God's answer to Balaam, short and simple as it is, 
 leads us with a single step to the very kernel and 
 marrow of the composition. Balaam was not to go with 
 the messengers to curse the people of Israel, ' because they 
 are blessed.'*^ Thus the aged Isaac, even after having 
 learnt the cunning and fraud by which Jacob had 
 obtained the blessing, still exclaims, ' He shall certainly 
 be blessed ;'^ but he does so in excitement and agitation, 
 uttering the words almost unconsciously, and impelled 
 by God's secret power ; while here God Himself speaks, 
 with quiet emphasis, as the Lord of all nations and their 
 destinies. There, a blessing that had been pronounced 
 is to be sealed as irrevocable ; here, an eagerly desired 
 
 •'_b-1X, xxiii. 
 xxii. 9, 20. 
 xxiii. 15. 
 
 '• xxiv. 1. 
 
 ■^ Ver. 1-2, N-n Tj-inn ^3. 
 
 ' ^ir}l "^ll? Q^, ^^^- -^-^vii. 33. 
 
FIRST MESSAGE. 107 
 
 curse is to be averted. And yet the chief and inner- 
 most idea of both narratives is precisely the same. 
 Israel is blessed by God, whatever men may intend 
 against them. All are compelled to bestow upon the 
 chosen nation their most fervent benedictions, and are 
 supernaturally restrained from uttering imprecations ; if, 
 in reckless defiance, anyone dares to execrate, the curse, 
 clianged into a blessing for Israel, falls destructively 
 u})on himself.^ Will, in this instance, Israel's enemies, 
 once warned, desist from such defiance ? Will they 
 })ersevere in it ? The stirring plot is laid for a grand 
 drama, in which royal contumacy is opposed to Divine 
 wisdom and power : how will the design be developed ? 
 No worthier or more suitable link between the two 
 chief actors — God and Balak — could be conceived than 
 Balaam, who, whatever might have been his human 
 sympathies, absolutely suppressed them in order to 
 remain absolutely and impartially ' the mouth ' of God. 
 Thus he declared to the messengers, with resolute calm- 
 ness, that he would not accompany them to Moab ; nor 
 did he conceal from them that he was solely bound by 
 the commands of Jahveh, the God of the very people 
 he was summoned to imprecate.'' But why did he not 
 connnunicate to the envoys God's whole reply ? He in- 
 deed hinted that he could not curse Israel, for the refusal 
 of the journey involved the refusal of the curse. But 
 why did he suppress the reason which God assigned for 
 that refusal, 'for they are blessed'? He suppressed it 
 because the messengers and their master would not have 
 iniderstood the depth of its import, but would have 
 taken it merely as an irritating aggravation of the 
 denial. This is proved by the conduct of the messengers 
 themselves ; for these, evidently unable to comprehend 
 the terrible scope of the new complication, or, in their 
 dark foreboding's, purposely ignoring it, brought back to 
 
 ? xxiv. 9 ; Gen. xxvii. 29. ^ Vers. 8, 13. 
 
108 NUMBERS XXII. 5-14. 
 
 the king not even Balaam's curtailed answer in his 
 proper words, ' the Lord refuses to give me leave to go 
 with you ;' but, as if it were simply a human and j^ersonal 
 resolve, which a caprice had prompted and a caprice 
 might change, they gave the reply in the bare terms, 
 ' Balaam refuses to come with us.''' 
 
 Philological Remarks. — It is incredible how many 
 strange and fanciful interpretations have been forced even 
 upon these verses of plain narrative. As might be expected, 
 the largest conclusions in disparagement of Balaam have 
 been drawn from the word Q^pDp (ver. 7), which indeed re- 
 quires some illustration. It would be erroneous to infer from 
 its use in this place, that the author shared the view of Deu- 
 teronomy and the Book of Joshua with respect to Balaam as 
 sorcerer (see supra, pp. 6, 7). It is true that the verb 2Pi^ and 
 its derivative nouns {p^?., ^PPP) are frequently, perhaps 
 chiefly, used in a bad sense. But an accurate comparison of 
 all passages teaches, first, that they are not unfrequently em- 
 ployed in reference to true prophecy also ; and, secondly, 
 that this good meaning is the older, the bad meaning the 
 later one. For in an evil sense they are unquestionably 
 used in the following passages: Deut. xvii. 10, 14 (□''ODp DDIp, 
 prohibited as a heathen abomination together with \^'\V'0, 
 :;'n3D and vpno ; comp. Jer. xxvii. 9) ; 1 Sam. vi. 2 (the 
 D''DD1p of the Philistines, mentioned by the side of their 
 priests) ; xv. 23 (DDp nNDH) ; xxviii. 8 (Saul, after having 
 consulted God in vain, requests the witch of Endor v S<3 ''PPi^); 
 2 Ki. xvii. 17 (where DDp is included in the heavy sins, on 
 account of which Israel was punished with exile) ; Isa. xliv. 
 25 (C'ppip, coupled with O'l?, lying prophets); Jer. xiv. 14 
 ('^Pi'?, in conjunction with "lpt>', 7'hi^, and JT'Din) ; Ezek. xiii. 
 6, 7 ; xxii. 28 (pregnant phrases 313 Dpi"?, 2T3 DDp, 3T3 Dppp); 
 xiii. 23 (DDp in parallelism with XIL'') ; xxi. 26 (DDp DP|7 in- 
 cluded in the various forms of magic customary in Babylon, 
 as divining by shaking arrows, inspecting the liver, etc.). It 
 will be observed, that none of these passages reach back 
 
 » Vers. 13, 14. About the situation of Tethor, see sii2)ya, p. 95. 
 
FIRST MESSAGE. 101) 
 
 fartliev than tlie seventh century. On the other liand, DDp is 
 used in a good sense by the first Zechariah (the author of 
 Chap, ix.-xi., about B.C. 750, who, in x. 2, names D'lDDIp, to- 
 gether with D''D"in and niD/n, as legitimate counsellors), by 
 Isaiah (iii. 2, where the DDip is, besides pTI N^231 DDVl:', a 
 principal and valued sujDport of the land; that it is meant as 
 a contrast to the latter terms, as has been asserted, is in no 
 way intimated), by Micah (iii. 6, 7, 11, where Qbp is clearly 
 parallel with |1Tn, and Dpip with ntn, through whom ' an 
 answer of Grod,' DTlbx njyo, may be expected, and where it is 
 said of the prophets of Judah, that they lODp'' in reliance 
 upon Jahveh), and in one of the eailier Proverbs (x\d, 1 0, 
 which enjoins, ' DDp shall be on the lips of the king, and his 
 mouth shall not do wrong in judgment '). This use of the 
 w^ord in a favourable meaning was maintained, in later limes, 
 even after the reproachful sense had gained ground ; it is thus 
 found in Jeremiah (xxix. 8, D"'DD1p, by the side of niD^n and 
 of D*X"'33, who prophesy in Jahveh's name, though falsely and 
 without a mission), and especially in Ezekiel (xii. 24; xiii. 9 ; 
 xxi. 34). Therefore, whatever date may be attributed to this 
 section, the word D^fppp does not necessarily imply anything 
 derogatory to Balaam ; it might have such a signification, if 
 the tenour of the narrative favoured it ; but, as we have shown, 
 the very opposite is the case (see supra, pp. 17-21). More- 
 over, it is Balak who forwards, not Balaam who demands, the 
 D''DDp, which are never again mentioned in the whole account. 
 The most probable meaning of the term is here ' rewards ' or 
 * wages of divination,' after the analogy of ^V's and i^,?J(?, 
 signifying work and also ihe ivages of the work (Job vii. 2 ; 
 Lev. xix. 13), or of iT^tJ*?, properly glad tidings, and then 
 reward of the message (2 Sam. iv. 10 ; comp. V_'''y\ toil and loealth 
 acquired by toil, etc.); it is no doubt referred to in 2 Pet. 
 ii. 15 by ^iKjdoq adidac, ; Targ. Jon. has ' precious gifts ' (piJ^D) 
 in return for the divination; Vtdg., divinationis pretium; Lutli., 
 Lohn des AVahrsagens ; Kimchi, following Samuel Hannagid, 
 D"'?ODp *D1, although he wavers between this sense and 'p ^J''D, 
 after ii«/r. Rabb. Num. xx. 6, or 'p '•^jyo v'pK |''Dnv ^'' HD; and 
 so Sept. TCI fjayrtla, Origen divinacula, Koster Wahrsagungs- 
 Apparat; while 2'arg. Jer. has, inaccurately, sealed letters, etc. 
 
110 NUMBERS XXII. 5-14. 
 
 But in whatever intention tlie present may have been sent, it 
 was not accepted by Balaam as a bribe rendering him partial 
 to the king's cause ; he did not belong to ' the prophets who 
 prophesied for money' (Mic. iii. 5, 11 ; Jer. vi. 13; viii. 10, etc.); 
 he was no 'pseudo-prophet corruptible by gifts,' ( Winer, Eeal- 
 Wort. i. 182). The Sept. renders Dp'p, DDp, etc., all but uni- 
 formly, by jim'TiQ, jiavTELa, navTtinv, /xarTeveadcu, and once only 
 Dpi? by the more general term cnrocpdiyyi^rdaL (Ezek. xiii. 9), 
 DDD, in a bad sense, by oiwrjo-jua (1 Sam. xv. 23), and DDp by 
 the definite oroxaorZ/c (Isa. iii. 2) ; the Vulgate, as a rule, has 
 divinatio, divinus, and divinare, though occasionally ariolus and 
 ariolari (Jos. xiii. 22; 1 Sam. xv. 23; Isa. iii. 2; xliv. 25), 
 and once for Dpi^ oraculmn consulere ; and Luther almost con- 
 stantly IVahrsagen or Weissagen, etc., translating on one occa- 
 sion only DDi^ by Zauherei (1 Sam. xv. 23). The etymological 
 meaning of the word is uncertain ; but whether DDp be 
 kindred with DT3, in the sense of cutting or deciding (Aram. 
 D^p, Arab. 4,^\ so that DDp would be decision or oracle, or 
 in the sense of dividing, so that DDp would properly be discri- 
 minating counsel or conjecture ; and whatever specific form of 
 divination may originally have been denoted by QDP, since a 
 more distinct statement is made only in the one passage, 
 where Saul requests the witch, ' divine (^J2Dp) me by the 
 soothsaying spirit (31N2), and bring me him up whom I shall 
 name to thee' (I. Sam. xxviii. 8) ; it is not improbable that 
 in the history of the word DDp, a portion of the history of 
 Israel's religion is interestingly and significantly reflected. 
 For a long time, DDp was considered by them as perfectly 
 legitimate and was, therefore, placed in parallelism with 
 'prophecy,' 'vision,' and 'instruction.' But when their religi- 
 ous notions were more clearly defined and worked out with 
 greater severity and purity, that form of oracle was denounced 
 and rejected, and was then coupled with ' sorcery ' and 
 ' magic,' ' falsehood ' and ' iniquity.' Other words and 
 notions also, as D^Qin and "ti^^?, passed through similar 
 stages, and this historical examination enables us to under- 
 stand many Scriptural passages which would otherwise be in 
 irreconcilable contradiction (comp. Comm. on Levit. i. pp. 351- 
 356). — By that systematic misconception to which we have 
 
FIRST MESSAOK. Ill 
 
 alluded, Balaam's request to the messengers that they should 
 remain over night till he had ascertained. Grod's will (ver. 8), 
 is interpreted to involve 'a show of sanctity,' which iu 
 reality was ' impiety,' or a cunning device to enhance his im- 
 portance in the eyes of the strangers, as he would have 
 known God's will without enquiring, if his wicked inclination, 
 which was ready to assist the Moabites, had not obscured his 
 mind : an unbiased construction will see in that request 
 nothing but the most pei'fect self-denial. Again, Grod's inter- 
 rogation, 'AVho are these men that are with thee?' (ver. 9) 
 is asserted to imply a severe reproof to Balaam, meant to 
 break the stubbornness of his sinful disposition, because, 'led 
 astray by greed and vanity,' he had not at once sent back 
 the messengers with an unqualified refusal, since he knew 
 that Israel was the blessed people of God : but such an intro- 
 ductory question is in admirable harmony with a narrative 
 so calm and so gradually advancing (comp. Gen. iii. 9; iv. 9; 
 xvi. 8; Exod. iv. 2 ; Job i. 7; ii. 2 ; Ebn Ezra, n'pnm iinnQ 
 im; Mendelssohn, Dnai2 V2V DIJ^"?; so Reidenheim, n3^3^ yilD, 
 in loc.) ; in a similar manner — and this should be conclusive 
 — God says to Balaam after the arrival of the second em- 
 bassy, 'If (DS) the men are come to call thee' (ver. 20), 
 although God cannot be uncertain on the subject. But it 
 may be instructive to quote, in addition, the outlines of an 
 elaborate theory of fraud and astuteness attributed to Balaam 
 by one of the most honest and most simple-minded of theolo- 
 gians — as another j^i-oof of the sad infatuation of prejudice. 
 Balaam had no doubt heard, says Eosenmiiller (Scholia ad 
 vers. 8, 23 ; xxiii. 7), that the Israelites were both most 
 numerous and most warlike ; he concluded, therefore, that 
 they would surely defeat the Moabites. But the cunning 
 man felt, that if he cursed the Hebrews and they were, 
 nevertheless, victorious, he and his magical arts would fall 
 into disrepute. On the other hand, he would not flatly decline 
 the messengers' request, as he was unwilling to lose the large 
 gifts which the king had promised. In this dilemma, he 
 determined, indeed, not to curse the Israelites, but to act so, 
 that the Moabites and their allies might consider him as a 
 favoured friend of God. With this view he feigned to hold 
 
112 NUMBERS XXII. 5-14. 
 
 consultations with God and to receive His replies, invented 
 the whole story about the ass and the angel, and compiled 
 out of his fancy prophecies so vague and obscure, that any 
 impostor might safely have hazarded them. And this is 
 alleged to be the spirit and meaning of the narrative ! (Comp. 
 also Lange, Bibelwerk, ii. 311, who sees in vers. 9-14 a deli- 
 neation of * Bileam's formheiligen aber herzlosen Wider- 
 stand'). — Numerous formulas of imprecatory charms or curses 
 and exorcisms have been deciphered on ancient Babylonian 
 and Ass^^rian tablets, some of which date back at least to 
 the 16th century B.C. (see Records of the Past, i. 131-135; 
 iii, 138-154, etc. ; ' The curse like an evil demon acts against 
 the man,' etc., ibid. p. 147 ; comp, also the powerful impre- 
 cations levelled by Tiglath-pileser I., Sargon, Assur-nasir- 
 pal, and other Assyrian kings against those who should 
 neglect or injure their commemorative tablets, cylinders, or 
 buildings, ihid.\. 26; vii. 19, 20, 56, etc.). — "We have above 
 pointed out some analogies between this section and the 
 blessing of Isaac (in Gen. xxvii.), and shall, in the course of 
 these notes, have occasion to refer to the parallel again ; but 
 this very repetition seems to militate against assigning both 
 compositions to the same author. That Genesis xxvii. is an 
 adaptation on the model of these chapters, is rendered probable 
 by the time, the conception, the language, and the tendency; 
 for the date of Isaac's blessing is later (viz., the ninth centurj^, 
 as the deliverance of the Edomites in Jehoram's reign is 
 alluded to, Gen. xxvii. 40) ; the conception is less simj^le ; 
 the language less concise and pithy, and the tendency more 
 mythical, since it attributes to one early ancestor, what here, 
 in a more historical spirit, is referred to the whole nation (see 
 supra, p. 62). — The phrase i?3y ^32 I'lX (ver. 5) 'his native 
 country ' (that of Balaam, not of Balak) may be unusual in- 
 stead of the simple 1V"lX (ver. 13 ; Gen. xii. 1; xxiv. 4, etc.), 
 but it is intelligible and idiomatic (comp. Gen. xxiii. 11; Lev. 
 XX. 17; Judg. xiv. 16), and should certainly not been aban- 
 doned in favour of ji^y '32 fis^ found in the Samaritan text, 
 the Samaritan and Syriae versions, the Vulgate, and some 
 manuscripts (see De-Rossi, Var, Lect. ii. 15 ; Kennicott, Dis- 
 sertat. General, pp. 77, 369; Corn, a Lapide, Houbigant, Geddes, 
 
FIRST MESSAGE. 113 
 
 Clarke, and others); foi' the Ammonites, though inhabiting 
 some of the eastern districts of Grilead, and perhaps, at times, 
 even advancing as far as the Euphrates, never spread beyond 
 this river ; yet Balaam is called an Aramcean (xxiii. 7; Deut. 
 xxiii. 5). — n^ may be taken in apposition to "iins or to 7V "IK'N 
 "in^H; either construction implies a free, but not uncommon use 
 of the absolute case (see Gram. § 86.4.^.). — The abruptness and 
 incoherency produced by the asyndentic HSn the second time, 
 are in excellent keeping with the character of the king's 
 charge; we would, therefore, not read nsni with the Samar. 
 Text and Vers., Sept., and a considerable number of manuscripts 
 (see De-Rossi, I.e.). — The phrase ' covering the face (Ty) of the 
 Land,' is properly employed of swarms of locusts settling on 
 the ground (Exod. x. 5; see Comm. on Exodus, p. 164), and 
 these again are used to describe large numbers of men, and 
 especially great and ravaging armies of invaders (Judg. vi. 
 5 ; vii. 12). The same terms and images are used in the 
 Assyrian inscription on the ' Taylor Cylinder ' (col. v., lines 
 42-45): 'They united their armies, and as a mighty swarm 
 of locusts covers the face of the earth, they rushed against 
 me in destroying multitudes.' — n"lX (ver. 6) cw'se, the imperat. 
 Kal of "lis with n paragog., the vowel a being irregularly 
 substituted for 0, as in nj3 (Ps. Ixxx. 16) protect, and other 
 imperatives and infinitives of verbs ]}"]} ; while the imperat. 
 n^D (ko-vah, in vers. 11, 17), of 33p to execrate, is shortened 
 instead of n3|'5; see Gram. § Ixii. 3.a, p. 209. Throughout 
 this section the root n2p is used (vers. 11, 17; xxiii. 8, 11, 
 13, 25, 27; xxiv. 10), and not np3, on which see Comm. on 
 Lev. ii. p. 529.— It may deserve to be noticed that Balak 
 does not, like God and Balaam, simply speak of cursing the 
 Hebrews (xxii. 12; xxiii. 8), but invariably and scrupulously 
 puts the request, 'curse this people for me' ("'^, xxii. 6, II, 
 17 ; xxiii. 7, 13, 27) ; he demands a specific curse of the Is- 
 raelites in direct and express reference to himself, which will 
 be intelligible by remembering the minute exactness with 
 which Eastern imprecations, charms, and exorcisms mention 
 the names and describe the identity of the respective persons 
 — ^in order to prevent the gods from making a mistake. — The 
 combination i3"n33 ?Dlj{ exemplifies the formal — not the 
 I 
 
114 NUMBERS xxir. 5-14. 
 
 logical — looseness of Hebrew syntax in a double way : first, 
 two verbs, of which one is properly subordinate to the other, 
 are co-ordinated (comp. Esth. viii. 6, •n'''!?"!"! ^?''^ I shall he able 
 to see), since n33 is the future Hiphil (comp. Josh. x. 4), not — 
 as Ebn Ezra, Kimchi, Zunz, and others suppose— the infinitive 
 of Pi el, for although nD3 is in one passage found in Pual 
 (Exod. ix. 31, 32), it never occurs in Piel ; and then the 
 first person singular is, with a frequent anallage, followed by 
 the first person plural, ' I shall be able, we shall smite them,' 
 for 'I shall be able to smite them' (see Gram. §§ 104. i ; 
 Ixxvii. 21. 4; comp. ver. 11, 13 Dn?n? 731X). The change in the 
 numbers is easily explained by understanding 'I and my 
 people' {Rashi, Saadiah, and others), or by remembering that 
 Balak intended fighting against the Hebrews in conjunction 
 with his allies, the Midianites; while some (as Aharhan., Sal. b,- 
 Melech, and others) explain 'I — Balak — by war, and thou — 
 Balaam — by curses or stratagems,' which seems artificial. — 
 How did JBalak know that Balaam's blessing and curse were 
 so efficacious ? "Jewish tradition answers : The Amorite king 
 8ihon, before beginning his expedition against the Moabites, 
 hired Balaam to curse the latter, who consequently suffered a 
 most disastrous defeat (xxi. 26; see Ifidr. Rahb. Num. xx. 2). 
 Some (as Origen, In Num. Horn. xiii. 4-6) allowed, indeed, 
 that Balaam was skilled in imprecations, but denied that, as 
 an instrument of evil demons, he had any power to bles.=, 
 which Balak attributed to him only ' to flatter him and to 
 render him compliant with his wishes : ' but if this were the 
 author's meaning, what would be the value of the following 
 elaborate benedictions, which prove that Balaam was at least 
 not uniformly in the service of the powers of mischief? 
 Balak entreats Balaam emphatically, ' Neither shalt thou 
 curse them, nor shalt thou bless them' (xxiii. 25), thus 
 placing curse and blessing on the same level of potenc}-. 
 Some Jewish authorities (as Bechai on ver. 20, and others) go 
 farther and maintain that neither Balaam's blessing nor his 
 curse had, in the writer's opinion, any real efficacy; for he 
 blessed himself, ' Let me die the death of the righteous ' 
 (xxiii. 10), and yet he died a premature and disgraceful 
 death in battle (xxxi. 8) ; and he was prevented by God 
 
FIRST MESSAGE. 115 
 
 from cursing the Israelites, not because his curse would 
 have had any significance, but lest people should attribute to 
 it the pestilence which, as God foresaw, would soon befall the 
 Hebrews (xxv. 9) ; by his astrological knowledge he learnt 
 the seasons when God meant to inflict misfortunes ; at such 
 times he uttered imprecations, and thus he acquired his 
 fame. The radical defect in explanations like these lies 
 in mixing up this section with other and quite heterogeneous 
 portions of the Book of Numbers (see pp. 3-6) ; neither 
 Balaam's ignominious death nor his infamous counsels, 
 which are supposed to have caused the plague, can be 
 brought into connection with these chapters, in which the 
 utterances of Balaam are represented as no less powerful 
 for good or evil than those of any other prophet or ' man of 
 God.' — In ver. 8 the princes of Moab only are mentioned, 
 and not 'the elders of Midian' (ver. 7) also, simply because 
 the former were no doubt the spokesmen of the embassy, 
 and the latter were likewise sent by the king of Moab 
 (comp. vers. 13, 14) : other explanations of the omission, 
 which have been proposed in great variety, seem unneces- 
 sary. — 'God came (N2''l) to Balaam' (ver. 9) in the night 
 (comp. ver. 20, n7w), in dream vision (see sujjra, p. 16, note 
 d). Before Assur-bani-pal marched out against the revolted 
 provinces of Babylon, we are told in his deciphered 'Annals' 
 (col. 4, lines 48-55) that ' a seer in the beginning of the 
 night slept and dreamed a dream,' in which the god Sin 
 revealed to him the successful issue of the campaign, upon 
 which the king adds, 'This I heard, and trusted to the will 
 of Sin, my lord' (Records of the Past, I. 74, 75 ; comp. pp. 
 83, 89, 90). The dream of a seer, to whom the goddess Ishtar 
 appeared, re-assured the same king at his impending war 
 against the Elamites (1. c. vii. 68). — 2yn is rendered inaccu- 
 rately by the Sept. (\ade) and others in disregarding the article, 
 which is here essential (see supra). — The command, ' Thou 
 slialt not go with them' (ver. 12), is, without a conjunction, 
 followed by 'Thou shalt not curse the people,' for the one 
 includes the other, since Balaam can pronounce the curse 
 only in Moab ; the two verbs do not convey two distinct pro- 
 hibitioTiP, and several times 'going' is alone employed to 
 
IIG NUMBERS XXII. 15-21. 
 
 express all that is required of Balaam (vers. 13, 14, 16) ; the 
 Sept., Vulg., and others, incorrectly join both verbs by ov'U, 
 neque, etc., and similarly the Sam. Text and Vers., and others. 
 — "'Jiin^ (ver. 13) to alloiv me, for ''JRH? ; as, conversely, '^?-1^ 
 (Ezek. xlvii. 7) my returning, for ''3VJ' ; see Grram. § liv. 1. c. — 
 "Vil (vers. 13, 14), a rare form of the infinitive, instead of 
 ri3'p (comp. Exod. iii. 19 ; Job xxxiv. 23 ; Eccl. vi. 8, 9) ; and 
 similarly the future "Pl}^., "^i}^-, etc., and the imperative -l^pn 
 (Jer. li. 50) ; see Gram. § Ixiv. 12. — Origen (1. c.) argues : 
 God does not, as a rule, apjiear to magicians; why, then, 
 did He appear to Balaam ? From the love He bore to His 
 people, lest Balaam, as was his wont, should curse them by 
 the aid of evil demons ('Venit ergo Deus ad Balaam, non 
 quod dignus esset, ad quern veniret, sed ut fugarenter illi 
 qui ei ad maledicendum et malefaciendum adesse consueve- 
 rant ; ' comp. also Corn, a Lapide on ver. 8, Deus pro dtemone 
 ei se obtulit, idque non ejus sed Hebraeorum gratia, etc.). 
 
 4. SECOND MESSAGE. XXII. 15-21. 
 
 15. And Balak sent yet a^^ain princes, more 
 numerous and more distinguished than those. 
 
 16. And they came to Balaam, and said to him, 
 Thus says Balak, the son of Zippor, Do not, I 
 pray thee, withhold thyself from coming to me ; 
 
 17. For I will honour thee greatly, and will do 
 whatsoever thou sayest to me : come, therefore, 
 I pray thee, curse me this people. 18. And 
 Balaam answered and said to the servants of 
 Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of 
 silver and gold, I cannot go against the command 
 of the Lord ni}^ God, to do a small or a great 
 tlihuj. 19. Now, therefore, I pray you, remain 
 you also here this night, that I may know what 
 the Lord will say to me more. 20. And God 
 
SECOND MESSAGE. 117 
 
 came to Balaam at night, and said to him, If 
 the men are come to call tlieo, rise and go with 
 tlicm ; but only that which I shall tell thee, that 
 slialt thou do. 21. And Balaam rose in the 
 morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the 
 i:)rinces of Moab. 
 
 The king of Moab was not warned by Balaam's first 
 refusal. If anything can serve him as an excuse, it is 
 the obtuseness of the messengers, who reported to him 
 Balaam's answer so imperfectly in the one main point. 
 But he increases his guilt by striving to subvert Heaven's 
 decrees with more determined obstinacy than ever. He 
 despatches to the seer a second message, in which, com- 
 pared to the first, everything is enlarged and intensified. 
 On both sides greater vigour and energy are displayed in 
 the awful struggle. The embassy is more numerous, and 
 composed of men of higher eminence. The king's request 
 is more urgent and decided. His promises to Balaam, 
 more splendid and more tempting, hold out to him 
 honours, power, treasures, in fact all that can move and 
 influence human ambition. But more decided also, on 
 the other hand, is Balaam's refusal, more forcible his 
 declaration of absolute submission under the will of 
 God, whom he now distinctly calls Ms God. So clear 
 and well-balanced a mind is indeed incapable of exaggera- 
 tion, but he uses solemn protests which almost pass to 
 the extreme boundary of emphatic earnestness : ' If Balak 
 would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot 
 go against the command of the Lord my God, to do a 
 small or a great thing ' (ver. 18). As all else in this 
 narrative is marked by the most delicate j)sychological 
 truth, so especially Balaam's unusually strong reply, for 
 it reflects both the temptation that may have assailed 
 him, and the heroic resolve with which he casts it aside. 
 
 Balaam again delays his answer to the envoys till 
 
118 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 15-21. 
 
 the next morning ; lie tells them that he is awaiting 
 Divine counsel in the night, and that he will act as he 
 may be directed. So far, there is no difference, except in 
 degree, between the incidents of the first and the second 
 embassy, and the one may, with that single qualification, 
 be regarded as a repetition of the other. Will now the 
 command of God also be the same as before ? Those 
 familiar with the spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures will 
 hardly expect it. As God revokes the decree of destruc- 
 tion announced against the people of Nineveh, because 
 they abandon their evil ways ; but as, on the other hand, 
 He draws Pharaoh deeper and deeper into disaster and 
 perdition, because that monarch, in spite of all warnings, 
 hardens his heart and perseveres in the impious contest ; 
 so must Balak, king of Moab, bear the fatal consequences 
 of his blindness and obduracy. Once he had received 
 from God an unmistakeable admonition, which ought to 
 have induced him to earnest reflection. But instead of 
 retreating, he sets his own resolution against that of Pro- 
 vidence with even greater refractoriness, and he hastens 
 into ruin. The Biblical doctrine of free will is, with 
 sufticient correctness, expressed in the Talmudical adages, 
 ' If a man is disposed to sin, the door is opened for him; 
 if he is disposed to do right, he is assisted;'^ ' Every thing- 
 is a gift, of God, except the fear of God,' which must be 
 man's own choice ; '^ and ' Man is conducted in the path 
 on which he is desirous to walk.'° These maxims are 
 certainly much nearer the truth than the teaching of 
 Maimonides, who, although ^' indicating to man free will 
 as an intrinsic attribute of his nature, yet holds that 
 God — the God of justice and mercy — inflicts upon great 
 sinners 'hardening of the heart' as a punishment, 
 
 ^ Talm. Shabb. 104a; Yoma 385; 
 
 inus cy-'Dro. 
 
 1^ Talm. Beracb. 33i, '•T'2 ^^il 
 D^Ot^ riNTD Vin DnX' ; .see 
 Rashi ia loe. 
 
 <= Talm. Mace. \Qb; Midr. Tanch. 
 Balak, § 8;. -|'?"'t' HVn DINC^ "yni 
 
 ims ps'-'piD nn. Comp. Mish.i. 
 Avoth, iii. 15, niE'im ■'ID:; Sdh 
 
 '31 nJinj ; Saadiah, Emun. Ved., 
 iv. 10. 
 
SECOND i-SIKSSAGE. 119 
 
 (lei)rives them of the liberty of repentance, and makes 
 them sink fixmi iniquity to iniquity.'* After his first 
 repulse, Balak was free to withdraw from his rebellious 
 design without injur}^ and without chastisement. But 
 he persisted in that design ; he himself — not God — 
 hardened his heart ; and now God's inevitable retribution 
 must take its inexorable course. It is for this reason 
 that Balaam receives the permission, denied before, of 
 repairing with the messengers to Moab. There can be 
 no question of arbitrariness or fickleness on the part of 
 God, nor of a i-eproachful action on the part of Balaam. 
 The chief actors in this solemn drama are not God and 
 Balaam, hut God and Balak. If this point, which seems 
 so clear and obvious, is kept in view, the narrative readily 
 reveals its lucid plan, its compact unity, and its majestic 
 progress. Balak has not rested till he has brought his 
 ( ) ver-powerful opponent — for God speaks and acts through 
 Balaam — face to face with himself. He is soon to learn 
 the terrible danger he has conjured up for himself and 
 his country. 
 
 Philological Eemarks.— The one error just alhided to has 
 been the fruitful root of a hundred strange and almost in- 
 conceivable perversions. It has misled even those who, closely 
 approaching to a true appreciation of this section, justly des- 
 cribed it as ' a grand creation of the Hebrew mind,' and yet 
 found in it * the real expression of the forced acknowledg- 
 ment of Israel's high destinies on the part of the hostile men 
 of intellect among the heathens' {Biinsen, Bibelwerk, v. 599): 
 those who were to be forced to such an acknowledgment, 
 were not the men of intellect like Balaam, who are considered 
 as no enemies to Israel, but the selfish and blind idolaters 
 like Balak, who were hostile to the people of Israel, becavise 
 they had no capacity for understanding its aims and aspira- 
 tions. Balaam has almost uniformly been drawn into the fore- 
 
 * Comp. Maim. Yad Chazak., Hikh. Teshiiv. V. 1 sqq.,\i. 3 ; Shcmonah 
 reiakim, chap. viii. 
 
120 NUMBERS XXII. 15-21. 
 
 ground, whereas the text assigns to him an absolutely passive 
 part, to which he remains faithful with unvarying modesty 
 (see notes on xxii. 4l-xxiii. 6). — The first messengers, it is 
 asserted, had well perceived how reluctantly Balaam dis- 
 missed them; guided by their report, Balaknow endeavoured 
 to gratify the chief passions of the seer, whose refusal, he 
 was convinced, had only been an artifice for obtaining better 
 terms {Hengstenb. Bil., p. 41). If, as is not impossible, the 
 author attributes to the heathen messengers and the heathen 
 king of Moab such unworthy views, this ought to be no 
 reason for a man like Calvin and his many followers to think 
 as meanly of Balaam ('flexiloqua sua excusatione visus est 
 accendere desiderium stulti regis, quo pluris suam maledic- 
 tionem venderet '; Michaelis: 'Balaam had feigned Grod's pro- 
 hibition in order to extort more favourable conditions ' ; Oort, 
 1. c, p. 7; Lange, Bibelwerk, ii. 311, and others); and the 
 author could not foresee that those who are privileged to 
 survey the whole of Balaam's proceedings from the high 
 vantage-ground of Hebrew prophecy, would fall into the 
 same gross errors as those who beheld but single and frag- 
 mentary facts through the distorting mirror of fear and su- 
 perstition. — ' If Balaam,' it is further contended, ' had not at 
 heart remained, as he had been before, a pagan prophet in- 
 clined to untruth and worldly baseness, he would, after God's 
 first and distinct prohibition, at once have rejected the king's 
 second invitation ; but human honour and greed of money, 
 which he loved so much from the beginning, still lingered in 
 the profoundest depths of his heart' (Sivald, Jahrbiicher, viii. 
 p. 19; and similarly a liost of other writers ; eomp. Joseph. Ant. 
 IV. vi. 3 ; Dealing, Observationes iii. p. 204 ; Canon Coolc's 
 Holy Bible, on ver. 20, etc.). But Balaam — that is, the author, 
 who makes Balaam act — discerned the ways of Grod more 
 clearly than his critics. He knew that there are cases when 
 God annuls His first decree. He had not the presumption to 
 decide whether this was such a case or not, but, as a faithful 
 servant of God, referred it to Him, his Master. Is there, in 
 all this, any ' untruth ' or ' baseness ' ? No prophet of Israel 
 ever acted more truthfully or more nobly. And if the author 
 lets Balaam say, with uncommon force, and as distinctly as 
 
SECOND MESSAGE. 121 
 
 human language can express it, that all the gold and silver 
 of a royal palace are to bim as nothing in relation to God's 
 command, who will venture to insist, with pertinacious in- 
 genuity, that Balaam was unable to bridle his secret passion 
 for sordid gain, and that, notwithstanding the truth, which 
 ought at last to have been clear to him, he clung, in the 
 recesses of his heart, too fondly to all that is false and wicfeed ? 
 It was not Balaam who had arrived at a dangerous and 'critical 
 juncture,' but the king of Moab, who continued to use the seer 
 in his unholy warfare against Destiny. But as some found 
 those words of Balaam (ver. 18) too clear even for the subtlest 
 casuistry, they endeavoured to obscure their sense by joining 
 them with the prophet's succeeding invitation to the ambas- 
 sadors to remain till he had learnt Grod's pleasure (ver. 19), 
 in which request they discovered a most horrible crime — a 
 ' plus quam sacrilega impietas,' since Balaam's schemes were 
 bent upon nothing less than upon * inducing God, by the 
 repeal of the prohibition, even to abnegate Himself,' to change 
 His will and, consequently, His very nature' {Ilengstenh. Bil., 
 p. 42). Into what fearful abysses of moral and spiritual cor- 
 ruption are glimpses opened to us by pious expositors ! We 
 may well shudder at the possible effects of such merciless 
 dialectics, and we almost cease to wonder ho w the great reformer 
 Calvin, who is foremost among the misinterpreters of this 
 section, by his keen- edged and impetuous rhetoric, brought 
 a Servetus to the stake. Abraham, Moses, and many other 
 God-fearing men, endeavoured to change, by supplication, the 
 Divine will and decree, and God Himself requested Abraham 
 and Job to pray for those by whom they had been wronged, 
 in order to avei't their punishment (Gen. xx. 7 ; Job xlii. 8 ; 
 see Comm. on Lev., i. p. 301). But it is neither stated nor 
 hinted at that Balaam ever made such an attempt, which 
 would be repugnant to the spirit of the portion. We 
 confess, it seems to us indeed ' plus quam sacrilega impietas ' 
 on the part of theologians of whatever creed, to sully so 
 sublime a composition, merely because they cannot prevail 
 upon their narrowness to allow to a heathen the gift of true 
 prophecy, which was cheerfully accorded to him by a Hebrew 
 writer nearly three thousand years ago. — Moreover, a variety 
 
122 NUMBERS XXII. 15-21. 
 
 of vague surmises and fancies have Leen thrown out, of wliich 
 no sound interpretation can approve. Balaam, it is said, 
 asked God to be permitted to comply with Balak's wish, and 
 God yielded to his 'hypocritical importunity.' (Origen, In 
 Num. Hom. xiii. 8, Molestus est Balaam Deo, et extorquet 
 propemodum permitti sibi ut eat, etc. ; xiv. 1, and others) : 
 the words 'Rise and go with them' (ver. 20), did not convey 
 a command or charge, but merely consent and permission, 
 since God, seeing Balaam insolently persist in his wicked 
 scheme, did not desire to interfere with his liberty of action, 
 and Balaam availed himself of that permission with a cul- 
 pable eagerness, which he proved by rising early the next 
 morning and saddling his ass with his own hand : had he 
 received the least intimation that he was to bless the Israelites 
 in Moab,he would surely have refused to go, wherefore he was 
 left in uncertainty on that point ; and guided by the secret 
 wish of his heart, he assumed that God, in retracting the 
 prohibition of the journey, retracted also the prohibition of the 
 curse (so Knobel, Num., pp. 122, 132, and many others), 
 "With a slight modification, even Maimonides' idea, above 
 alluded to, has been repeated by recent writers : when Ba- 
 laam's impious design of using God for his selfish purposes 
 became apparent, the journey, ' which was to result in his 
 destruction,' was permitted to him as a punishment {Heng- 
 stenb. Bil., pp. 44, 45, and others). What is there in the 
 Biblical text that can countenance any of these conceptions ? 
 The Hebrew language would really be that obscure and per- 
 plexing hieroglyphic, which some contend it to be, if such 
 a sense could be deciphered from these verses. Understood 
 in their natural context, they mean just the reverse. Balaam 
 has no personal desire whatever. There is not even a trace 
 of an anxiety, perhaps legitimate on his part, to assist natives 
 and friends against invaders. He puts to God no request ; 
 he merely consults Him ; and he is expressly commanded to 
 go to Moab, because he has been appointed as an instrument 
 in the execution of that Divine judgment which had been 
 called forth by Balak's conduct. But in what sense Balaam's 
 journey 'resulted in his destruction,' it is indeed difficult to 
 see (comp. also Ebn Ezra on ver. 19, who tries to establish 
 
SECOND MESSAGE. 12'S 
 
 an artificial parallel with Num. xiii. 2 sq(/., but is refuted by 
 JVaclnnanides iu loe.). The following view may illustrate how 
 little the depth of this remarkable composition has been 
 fathomed even by candid critics. As God — it is observed — 
 did not require the foreign prophet's blessing for Israel's 
 welfare, He, at first, forbade tlie journey, but then allowed it, 
 ' because, after all, the benedictions of the famous seer might 
 be useful to Him as a means of encouraging Israel and dis- 
 heartening their enemies, although He did not exactly want 
 them' {Knobtl, Num., p. 132, comp. p. 122). On so weak and 
 tottering a foundation, it would never have been possible to 
 raise so exalted and so powerful a creation. This must relate 
 to something more than a few speeches of praise, supposed to 
 be of so little consequence that they might as well have been 
 dispensed with. The Book of Balaam enforces momentousprin- 
 ciples, bearing not only on the election of Israel, but on eter- 
 nal and universal Providence. — n'?^ ^10*1 (ver. 15), he sentafjahi 
 ov once more (comp. ver. 19); see Gram, §103. i. — -'131 P^IX N'?, 
 / am. finable to go against the command of the Lord (ver. 18; 
 comp. 1 Sam. XV. 24), denoting a moral impossibility (comp ver. 
 38; xxiii. 12, 26; xxiv. 13), and not — who would believe that 
 it has ever been contended ! — a physical one, as if God moved, 
 and directed Balaam's mouth and organs of speech mechani- 
 cally (see snpra, p. 49). Nor do those words imply 'fear 
 of Divine punishment,' for Balaam is so completely devoted 
 to God's service, that he follows His guidance from internal 
 necessity, yet with such spontaneous readiness, that he knows 
 of no conflict, much less of fear. It is true that, in this case, 
 Balaam's deed is mainly his word; but as the injunctions he 
 receives from God include other, though more subordinate* 
 points besides, as, for instance, his travelling to Moab, the 
 text fitlj' alternates doing and speaking [the former in vers. 18, 
 20; the latter in ver. 38 ; xxiii. 12; xxiv. 13). However evident 
 this may seem, we are induced to notice it exjjlicitly, because 
 this matter also has been most strangely misunderstood. — 'A 
 small or a great thing' (ver. 18) is, of course, like 'a good 
 or a bad thing' (in xxiv. 13), merely an emphatic periphrasis 
 for 'anything,' and does not allude to Balaam's 'going' and 
 'cursing' resiiectively (so Abarban. and others).- ^TS (ver. 19), 
 
124 NUMBERS XXII. 22-35. 
 
 Aere, corresponding to ^^, in ver. 8; comp. Gen. xxxviii. 21. — 
 The conditional clause, ' If the men are come to call thee ' 
 (ver. 20), is analogous to the former question, ' Who are these 
 men that are with thee ' ? (ver. 9), and serves, therefore, like 
 the latter, to continue the calm flow of the narrative ; but 
 even in this fact a warning and a reproach against Balaam 
 have been discovered, as if God, ' granting a forced and 
 reluctant permission,' had said, 'If, in spite of previous ad- 
 monitions, you will follow the men at any price, go ! ' — a bold 
 ellipsis suggested by fancy. — The text does not mention the 
 terms in which Balaam imparted to the messengers God's 
 second reply, nor was this necessary, since Balaam's 
 preparations for the journey, coupled with his previous an- 
 nouncement to the ambassadors concerning his absolute 
 dependence on God (ver. 18), conveyed the whole sum of 
 God's answer. With little justice, therefore, has that cir- 
 cumstance been held to point to a sinister reservation on 
 Balaam's part, as if in the depth of his heart all his evil pas- 
 sions were silently brooding over Israel's destruction. On 
 the other hand, it has been interpreted as culpable duplicity; 
 for Balaam, it is urged, ought plainly to have told the en- 
 voys that he knew he could, on no account, curse Israel, and 
 that, therefore, his journey would bring no gain to the king 
 of Moab (so Abarban. in loc, fol. 54«, and others). But the 
 journey was, in the author's large conception, necessary, not 
 to bring profit to the king of Moab, but retribution. 
 
 5. THE JOURNEY. XXII. 22-35. 
 
 22. And Grocl's anger was kindled because lie 
 went, and the angel of the Lord placed himself 
 in the way to withstand him ; and he was riding 
 on his ass, and his two servants luere with him. 
 23. And the ass saw the angel of the Lord 
 standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his 
 hand ] and the ass turned aside out of the way. 
 
THE JOURNEY. 125 
 
 and went into the field ; and Balaam smote the 
 ass, to turn her into the way. 24. Then the 
 angel of the Lord stood in a hollow path of the 
 vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on 
 that side. 25. And the ass saw the angel of the 
 Lord, and she pressed herself against the wall, 
 and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall ; and 
 he smote her again. 26. And the angel of the 
 Lord went farther again, and stood in a narrow 
 place, where there ivas no way to turn eithei^ to 
 the right hand or to the left. 27. And the ass 
 saw the angel of the Lord, and she fell down 
 under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was kindled, 
 and he smote the ass with the staff. 28. Then 
 the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she 
 said to Balaam, What have I done to thee, that 
 thou hast smitten me these three times ? 29. 
 And Balaam said to the ass, Because thou hast 
 mocked me ; if there were a sword in my hand, 
 surely I should now have killed thee. '60. And 
 the ass said to Balaam, Am I not thine ass, upon 
 which thou hast ridden from thy earliest years to 
 this day ? was I ever wont to do so to thee ? 
 And he said, No. 31. Then the Lord opened 
 the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the 
 Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn 
 in his hand ; and he bowed down and fell on his 
 face. 32. And the angel of the Lord said to 
 him. Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these 
 three times? Behold, I went out to withstand 
 ihee, because thy way is pernicious before me. 
 b3. And the ass saw me, and turned from me these 
 
12G NUMBERS XXII. 22 35. 
 
 three times ; unless she had turned from me, 
 surely I should now have killed thee and saved 
 her alive. 34. And Balaam said to the angel of 
 the Lord, I have sinned, because I knew not that 
 tliou wast standing in the way against me ; now, 
 therefore, if it displease thee, I will return. 35. 
 And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, Go 
 with the men, but only tlie word that I shall 
 speak to thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam 
 went with the princes of Balak. 
 
 It would be a vain effort were we to try, by joining 
 these verses to the preceding portion, to carry on the story 
 in even continuity. Everything, from the first to the 
 last word, indicates that we have before us a distinct 
 composition written by a different and a later hand. 
 We have just read how Balaam was commanded by 
 God to go with the ambassadors, under the condition, 
 of course, that he should only speak what God would 
 suggest. But scarcely had he set out when ' God's anger 
 was kindled that he went.' Very peremptory measures 
 were required to bring him to a sense of his guilt, and 
 when he at last perceived and acknowledged it, the former 
 order to travel to Moab was repeated* — the narrative 
 returns to the abandoned groove, and the episode is 
 rendered purposeless and superfluous. Does a writer of 
 genius relate with such confusion and self-contradiction ? 
 And in what light does God appear ? We have shown 
 that, under certain circumstances, He indeed alters His 
 resolves and injunctions. But He does so only if men 
 occasion and justify the change by their conduct. In 
 the present instance nothing whatever has happened in 
 the intervaJ between God's permission and His wrath to 
 account for the transition of the one into the other. 
 
 » Vers. 20, 22, 34, 35. 
 
THE JOURNFA'. 127 
 
 His change of mind seems purely capricious. He does 
 not appear as the wise Ruler governing the world by a 
 fixed design, but as an arbitrary Eastern despot knowing 
 no other law but his fickle humour. Such considerations 
 alone are sufficient to mark these verses as an interpola- 
 tion ; but we may add another reason even more im- 
 portant and decisive. The kernel of the whole section, 
 as we have repeatedly pointed out, is Balak's contention 
 against God and His decrees ; but in these verses that 
 deliberate plan is abandoned and altered into a struggle 
 between God and Balaam. Every thoughtful reader 
 must be struck by this remarkable shifting of the 
 main interest. How was it that Balaam, who till 
 then had lived in undisturbed tranquillity of mind 
 and perfect submission to God, and who, in the 
 M'hole of the subsequent narrative, is seen in the same 
 hai'mony of character, was suddenly and transitorily 
 drawn into this grave conflict ? Was it necessary that a 
 seer, who again and again had declared his unconditional 
 devotion to God, and had invariably obeyed God's 
 gentlest hints, should be terrified and admonished by an 
 angel appearing with drawn sword and threatening him 
 with death ? And lastly, how different is the spirit of 
 the episode from that of the bulk of the composition ! 
 The latter includes supernatiiroi elements- — revelations 
 by vision and dream and prophetic utterances — all of 
 which involve the ideal truth of a close relation of 
 the spirit of man, in its highest moments of fervent 
 transport, with the Divine spirit to which it is akin. 
 But the episode includes the unnatural element of a 
 distinctly articulating animal — of an ass, which sees an 
 angel of God, and, in its fright, turns away from him ; 
 which complains of unjust treatment in pathetic words, 
 and with which its master, by no means surprised at the 
 animal's address, enters into dialogue. And, to complete 
 the marvel, Balaam himself, whom we have seen to enjoy 
 
128 
 
 NUMBERS XXll. 22-3.= 
 
 a constant and familiar intercourse with God, does not, 
 for a considerable time, behold a Divine apparition at 
 once beheld by his beast. Here, as few have hesitated 
 to acknowledge, the eternal boundaries fixed by nature 
 between man and animal are heedlessly overthrown.* 
 Analogous stories of speaking beasts are indeed suffi- 
 ciently numerous, but they belong without exception 
 to the darkest periods or meanest phases of heathen 
 superstition. They are monstrous procUgia invented, 
 in extraordinary times, by wonder-loving credulity, 
 and they refuse to be allied with any higher idea. 
 For such remarks as, ' Surely an animal is often more 
 intelligent and foreboding than a foolish man,'*" or, 
 * The irrational beast has a finer instinctive pre- 
 sentiment of many natural phenomena than man 
 with the five senses of his mind;'*^ these and simi- 
 lar suggestions are hardly more than phrases devoid 
 of definite meaning.*^ But even more questionable is 
 the categorical declaration that 'parallels taken from 
 paganism lose all importance by the very fact that they 
 are borrowed from paganism:'''^ they lose their impor- 
 tance for those only who, wilfully discarding all historical 
 exposition of the Scriptures, are determined to isolate 
 
 " Though some have found it pos- 
 sible to doubt even this point. ' La 
 chose est miraculeuse,' says Calmet 
 (Dietionn. I. 720), ' et au-dessus de 
 la faculte ordinaire de cet animal ; 
 mais elle n'est pas contre les his de 
 la nature.' 
 
 » Ewald, Knobel. 
 
 <= Keil and others. 
 
 <i Comp. also Lange, Genesis, p. 
 Ixxix., ' horses and donkeys . . . have 
 a wonderful disposition to recognise 
 spiritual operations or, in their man- 
 ner, to see spirits ' ; E'dhler, Eibl. 
 Gesch. i. 325, ' The ass perceived, 
 by a natural impression, that she 
 
 was opposed by a higher power,' etc. 
 Similarly Nachnianidcs, Bechai, and 
 other Jewish interpreters : ' The ass 
 did not really see the angel, but was 
 darkly aware of the presence of some- 
 thing unusual or preternatural, which 
 frightened her,' etc. ; comp. Dan. x. 
 7: Daniel's companions, though not 
 seeing the vision, were seized with 
 great terror, so that they fled in con- 
 sternation to hide themselves ; Acts 
 ix. 7, 'The men who journeyed with 
 him— Said — stood speechless, hear- 
 ing a voice, but seeing no man ' ; 
 see infra, 
 
 " Hengstenberg. 
 
THF] JOURNEY. 129 
 
 thoin from all the principal spheres of human and intel- 
 lectual interest. There is a poetical beauty, there may 
 be a poetical truth, in Homer's ' immortal horse ' Xanthus, 
 the offspring of Zephyros and the Harpy Podarge, 
 which, after having been familiarly addressed by its 
 master Achilles, prophesies his impending death in 
 mournfal words; on which occasion, as is expressly stated, 
 ' lily-armed Here endowed with speech ' the wonderfully 
 descended hoi-se, while after it had finished, ' the 
 Erinnyes checked its voice.''' We can understand that 
 Virgil, to express his sense of the unnatural enormity of 
 Ciesar's assassination, poetically describes the utter 
 reversion of the order of nature, so that not only rivers 
 stopped their courses and ivory images wept in the 
 temples, but 'cattle spoke.'"' But if we read that, in 
 the reign of the Egyptian king Bocchoris, a lamb with 
 double head and double limbs ' spoke in articulated 
 sounds ;''^ or that the golden-fleeced ram of Phrixus 
 ' gave forth human speech,' that he might be a cause of 
 misery to many ;'' or if we are assured that ' in ancient 
 times it was a common prodigy that an ox spoke,' "^ and 
 consequently Roman historians and poets record such a 
 wonder in nearly every period — in the early struggles 
 with neighbouring tribes, in the Punic wars, dm-ing 
 the civil dissensions, and especially at C?esar's hostile 
 approach to Rome — and couple it with other portenta 
 hardly less extraordinary :' if we read of these and 
 
 => Horn. 11. xvi. 150, 154 ; xix. 
 404-42.3. 
 
 ^ Peciidesque locutse — infandum ! 
 rirg. Georg. i. 466-488. For 
 the speaking of animals seems ge- 
 nerally to have been considered an 
 ominous event (comp. Ltician, Gal- 
 liis s. Somnium, ^ 2, w Tiiv Tipd<STU 
 
 . . . TL TO KUKOV TOVr tOTlV j dvOpOJITl- 
 
 Kwg t\aX//(T£v dXiKTpvwv). 
 
 '■ T/)$ai (pwvt'ii', jEI. Nat. An. xii. 3. 
 
 <* Apoll. Rhod. i. 257, 258, ahht)v 
 avlp'(.t]v irpoeriKC. 
 
 " J'llii. Nat. Hist. viii. 45 or 70. 
 
 f Cnmp. Zivi/, iii. 10; xxiv. 10; 
 xxvii. 11 ; XXXV. 21, bovem lociitum, 
 'Koma cave tibi' ; xliii. lo, bovem 
 feiiiinam locutam publiceali; Luicai, 
 Phars. i. 524-583, Tunc pecudum 
 faciles humana ad murmura lingua; ; 
 Val. Max. I. vi. 5, bos niugitu suo 
 in sermonem humanum converso. 
 
130 NUMBERS XXI 1. 22-35. 
 
 many similar fables that might easily be added, we are 
 justified in asking what tlicy have in common with the 
 dignity, the grandeur, and elevated truth of Balaam's 
 conduct and prophecies, and we feel an involuntary 
 repugnance to identify the author of these vaticinations 
 with the author of the episode of the menacing angel 
 and the speaking ass. To the latter writer we must, 
 indeed, do the justice to admit that he faithfully pre- 
 served the spirit of the main narrative at least in the 
 one chief point of representing Balaam as a sincere 
 worshipper of Jahveh, ready to obey His directions as 
 soon as he had comprehended them.^ But, whether the 
 episode was written in connection with the narrative or 
 independently of it, he considered it impossible that 
 Balaam should have entered upon the expedition with 
 pure intentions, and should not, allured by Balak's pro- 
 mised treasures and honours, have fostered the secret 
 design of malignantly cursing Israel. He, therefore, 
 introduced a Divine messenger angrily opposing Balaam^ 
 and distinctly declaring that he regarded his journey as 
 'pernicious.''^ But in pursuing this course, the inter- 
 polator was naturally comj^elled to take all the preceding 
 and subsequent parts of the composition in the same hos- 
 tile sense, and he may possibly have understood them 
 not very differently from those later interpreters who 
 imputed to Balaam every vice and baseness. Nor is it 
 improbable that, like these, he was led into his miscon- 
 ceptions by those diverging and detracting traditions 
 concerning Balaam which made him meet his death 
 among Israel's arch-enemies and vilest seducers.'' Such 
 is the inevitable confusion caused by blind attempts at 
 welding together incongruities ; and so rapidly waned in 
 Israel the free and large-minded spirit of prophecy — yet. 
 
 Vers. 31-34. I <■ 01^ ver. 32. 
 
 ILb?, ver.. 22, 32. , ^^^^^ g^ ^g. 
 
lorRXKv. 
 
 ^:U 
 
 fortunately, ' like the terebinth and the oak which, when 
 cut down, leave their stem, a holy seed.' 
 
 What pains, what displays of acumen and erudition 
 have been lavished in justifying or explaining the speak- 
 ing of the ass ! For not many had the courage and 
 candour to construe, in its obvious sense, the unequivocal 
 statement, ' The Lord opened the mouth of the ass and 
 she said to Balaam. '"^ So it is, indeed, correctly construed 
 in the New Testament which affirms that ' the dumb ass 
 speaking with man's voice '•^ was a rebuke of Balaam's 
 iniquity and a check to his madness,'' and by most of 
 the Christian Fathers ; ^ so also by Josephus,*^ who, 
 though representing Balaam as embarrassed and 'per- 
 plexed ' at the ass's human voice, lets her even speak of 
 'a Divine Providence'^ that hindered her from moving 
 onward ; and similarly by some ancient and modern 
 writers who deemed it a duty plainly to interpret plain 
 words of the Bible." Not so those who endeavoured to 
 come to its rescue with a false philosophy or a false 
 piety. Philo, evidently unable to find an explanation 
 satisfactory to his ideal spiritualism, dw^ells indeed on the 
 appearance of the angel, and fully describes the uneasiness 
 and fright which it caused to the ass, but he makes no 
 allusion whatever to the animal's speaking.'^ Some con- 
 tended 'that not the ass spoke but an angel in her stead,' 
 
 " Ver. 2S. 
 
 '' 'Ev dv9pu.>—ov fuiin] <p9ty^afj.i- 
 vov. ■= 2 Pet. ii. 10. 
 
 '' See Augiistiti, Quaest. 48 and .50 
 in Genes., and others; comp. Calmet, 
 Diction. I. 719. 
 
 •■ Ant. IV. vi. 3, Kara (iov\i](nv 
 Qtou (puii'ijf di'dpujirii/iiv XajSoixja. 
 
 f Qtoii TTpoalptrng. 
 
 8 As Augustin, Origen, Theodoref, 
 Ambrosius, etc. ; Cornel, a Lapide, 
 ' Movit angelus linguam asinas, ut 
 loqueretur, sicut daemon moverat os 
 
 scrpentis, et sicut angelus movit 03 
 hippocentauri et satyri, ut loqueren- 
 tur S. Antonio, eique in eiemo viain 
 ostenderent ad S. Pauliun Eiemi- 
 tani ; ' Clericas., Calmet, De Gcer, 
 Baiimgarten, Gerlach, Kurtz, Krum- 
 macher, Clarke, ' If the ass had 
 opened her own mouth and reproved 
 the prophet, we might well be as- 
 tonished ; but when God opens the 
 mouth, an ass can speak as well as 
 a man,' and others ; see injru. 
 h lhUo,\'i\. Mos. i. 49. 
 
132 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 22-35. 
 
 as an angel spoke in Paradise instead of the serpent.* 
 Maimonides, always eager to systematise, went so far as 
 to propound the principle that, wherever the Bible 
 S2)eaks of the apparition or address of an angel, ' a pro- 
 phetic vision ' or ' prophetic dream ' is meant ; and he 
 asserted that ' everything Avhich happened to Balaam on 
 the road, including the speaking of his ass, took place in 
 a prophetic vision ' — exactly as the visit of ' the three 
 angels' to Abraham in the grove of Mamre,^ Jacob's 
 wrestling with the angel at Peniel,*^ and the appearance 
 of the angel whom Joshua saw at Jericho,'^ happened 
 solely in Abraham's, Jacob's, and Joshua's imagination 
 as prophetic visions ; while the voice of the angel heard 
 by Hagar and by Manoah and his wife, who were in no 
 manner qualified or prepared for prophetic communica- 
 tions, was nothing else but that ' sound ' or ' echo of a 
 voice,' '^ which plays so great a part in Talmudical 
 writings,*^ and which, like the apparition of angels itself, 
 is merely the hallucination of an overwrought fancy.° 
 It must be deemed a very questionable process on the 
 part of interpreters to confound their own views with 
 those of the Bible, and, grafting the former on the latter, to 
 assume that, if they hold angelophanies or the speaking of 
 animals to be impossible, the Biblical writers necessarily 
 considered these matters in the same light. The belief 
 that animals have their own language was far-spread in 
 the ancient world. Porphyry, among others, devotes to 
 this subject an elaborate argument. Though their lan- 
 guage, he observes, is not generally understood by men, 
 it was always intelligible to some favoured persons ; as, 
 in earlier ages, to Tiresias and to Melampus,who obtained 
 
 " Saad., Corn, a Lap. (Balaam 'ab 
 angelo, per os asinsc loquente, corri- 
 pitur'), and others. 
 
 ^ Gen. xviii. 
 
 '■ Gen. xxxii. '2o-31. 
 
 '' Josh. V. i:!, 14. 
 
 f Comp. Matth. iii. 17; xvii. 5; 
 John xii. 28. 
 
 p Maimon. Mor. Nevoch. ii. 42 ; 
 and simihuly Ralbar/, and many 
 others. 
 
THE JOURNEY. 
 
 133 
 
 that faculty after 'dragons had licked his ears;' and, in 
 later times, to that mysterious sage, Apollonius of Tj'ana, 
 to whom swallows made familiar communications, even 
 when he was in the company of friends. He derived this 
 wonderful skill from the Arabians. For ' the Arabians,' 
 says Porphyry, ' understand the ravens, the Tyrrhenians 
 the eagles;' while Philostratus maintains, more generally, 
 that the Arabs and Indians can interpret the voices of 
 all birds, which prophesy to them like oracles. But, 
 apart from the aptitude shown by ravens, jackdaws, and 
 parrots of repeating words they have frequently heard, 
 and apart from the accounts concerning the ' leucrocotta,' 
 a wild beast of extraordinary swiftness, in many respects 
 resembling the lion, and which ' is said to imitate the 
 human voice,' ^ it is stated, as a positive and notorious 
 fact, that ' the Indian hyena, called by the natives caro- 
 kotta, speaks, even without any previous instruction, so 
 humanly,^ that it is wont to go to inhabited houses and 
 to call out any one whom it thinks it may be able to 
 overcome ; ' it imitates, therefore, the voice of that per- 
 son's dearest friend, at whose call he would most readily 
 come out — by which adroit deception many persons have 
 lost their lives !° Various isolated instances of a kindred 
 nature are recorded by classical writers. It may not be 
 surprising to read of the speaking bull Jupiter*^ and the 
 speaking cock Pythagoras,^ but we are also told that an 
 elephant advised the Indian king Porus, ' with human 
 speech,' to submit to Alexander •/ and human words are 
 attributed even to the sacred oak at Dodona and the keel 
 of the ship Argo;^ while sacred trees in India were believed 
 
 "■ Plin. N. H. viii. 21 or 30, banc 
 perniuissimam leram . . collo, cauda, 
 pectore leonis, capite melium . . hu- 
 manas voces tradunt imitari. 
 
 •> 'AvOpUflTllcioQ. 
 
 <= Porphyr. De Abstin. iii. 3-5 ; 
 Fhilostrat. Vit. Apollon. i. 20; iii. 
 
 9; comp. Cic. De Divin. i. 41 or 
 92 ; Plin. Nat. Hist. x. 49 or 70. 
 
 ^ Mosch. Idyll, ii. 149 sqq. 
 
 ^ Lucian, Gallus s. Somnium, 
 \k 1 sqq. 
 
 f Plutarch, De Fluviis, i. 6. 
 
 g Lucian, 1. c. § 2. 
 
134 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 
 
 -35. 
 
 to have predicted Alexander's fate and that of his nearest 
 relations.'^ In the Egyptian ' Tale of the Two Brothers,' 
 which, to a certain extent, forms a remarkable parallel to 
 the Biblical episode of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, it is 
 related : ' The first cow entered into the stable and said to 
 the keeper (the innocent and calumniated brother), 
 " Verily, thy elder brother is standing bef<ore thee with 
 his dagger to slay thee." He heard the speech of the 
 first ox ; the next one entered and spoke in the same 
 way.''' There can be no doubt that the Jews, in later 
 times, entertained similar views. Josephus observes 
 that, at first, all animals spoke as well as man,'^ and the 
 Babbins declare that Solomon not only 'spoke of pv) 
 beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of 
 fishes,'"^ but ivith them, and that, like other wise men, 
 he understood their language.*^ But there are sufiicient 
 proofs even with respect to the Biblical period. We have 
 not only the clear instance of the serpent in Paradise, 
 at the speaking of which Eve showed as little surprise 
 as Balaam did at that of the ass ■/ but there is the well- 
 known maxim of Ecclesiastes,^ 'Even in thy thought 
 curse not the king . . . for the birds of the air will carry 
 the voice and the winged creatures will tell'^ the matter :' 
 though these words may, in the writer's age, have been 
 understood as a metaphor, expressing that nothing on 
 earth remains unknown and unpunished, they had 
 originally, like every other metaphor, a literal meaning. 
 
 = Comp. Com. a Lapide, on ver. 
 27. 
 
 >> Coiup. Rec. of the Pa.st, ii. 142 ; 
 see also Willi. Wackcrnagel, Uispiung 
 und Eutwiekelung der Sprache, p. 
 6, M'here ' the colloquies ' are re- 
 ferred to which, according to German 
 and Celtic legends, ' the animals of 
 the stable hold in the night of 
 Christmas.' 
 
 •= Ant. I. i. 4, 'OfiotpujvovvTiiJv ck 
 Kar iKili'o Kaipov twv ^muiv cnrciv- 
 
 TMV K.T.X. 
 
 d 1 Ki. V. 13. 
 '^ Comp. JTorflW, xxvii. 15,16, 'And 
 Solomon said, men, we have been 
 taught the speech of birds,' etc. 
 
 f Gen. iii. 1, 2. . 
 
 K X. 20. 
 
 h ^^y 
 
 V 
 
THE JOirHXKY. 
 
 185 
 
 and impl}^ that animals were once believed to speak and 
 to ' tell ' secrets. 
 
 The view of Maimonides was vehemently combated 
 even by Jewish authorities of the Middle Ages." But 
 it was too alluring not to be reproduced in that age, 
 whichattempted anotherunsuccessful compromise between 
 tradition and reason, and it occurs again in the writings of 
 Herder and his school with still greater distinctness and 
 explicitness. That great and noble-minded divine who, 
 in his enthusiastic appreciation of poetical beauties, often 
 neglected, if he did not disdain, a critical analysis, sup- 
 posed that Balaam, though at once inclined to accompany 
 the first messengers, desisted in consequence of terrifying 
 dreams sent by Israel's tutelary Deity ; when the second 
 embassy arrived, he w^as no longer able to master his 
 worldly desires, and received permission for the journey ; 
 however, in order to inspire him with new" alarm, he is 
 on the road attacked by a fearful vision, and when the 
 ass, in her anguish, fell down, ' the vision begins in the 
 prophet's soul ; he hears the ass speak, he sees the mes- 
 senger of Jehovah with the glittering sword — presumably 
 a brilliant flame blazing up before his eyes ; he hears at 
 last the Divine messenger's rebuke, that he, more sense- 
 less than his ass, had not listened to the earlier and 
 gentler forebodings ' ; and then Herder concludes, that 
 he can find in this incident nothing that w^ould not be 
 possible to any one of those Shamans, who are capable of 
 the most violent workings of fancy, ' compared to which 
 this vision of Balaam is as child's play.' ^ Therefore, the 
 whole is 'a waking vision,' and the delicately intuitive 
 
 * Comp. Nachman. on Geu. xviii. 
 init., and others. 
 
 ^ Herder, Geist der Ebiaisch. 
 Poes. ii. 177-179; comp. also his 
 * Briefe das Studium der '1 heologie 
 betrefFend,' II., Works, xi. 284-28^, 
 where a heightened eloquence in- 
 
 tensifies the error (it is sadly in- 
 structive to find even a Herder speak 
 of Balaam in such terms as ' ein ab- 
 gfittischer Schadenbereiter, ein avg- 
 listiger Lohnprophet,' whose ' lohn- 
 liisternes Herz Golt zu bctriigen 
 derikt,' etc.). 
 
ISfi 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 22-35. 
 
 theologian knows precisely where it begins — namely, just 
 at the point where, in his opinion, the incomprehensible 
 features commence, at the animal's speaking. But by 
 what criterion is he, or the host of his followers, guided?* 
 The text affords absolutely no hint, and the supernatural 
 incidents begin undoubtedly before the point fixed upon. 
 For hardly less astounding than the ass's speaking is her 
 ' seeing the angel of the Lord ' whom Balaam does not 
 see. Indeed, it is impossible to conceive a more amazing 
 wonder than that Balaam who, as Herder himself — per- 
 haps with some exaggeration — observes, delivered oracles, 
 ' with which in the later prophets little, in the speeches 
 of Moses nothing, can be compared ' — that such a man 
 should be ' more senseless than his ass,' and that he should 
 act like a common Shaman intoxicated by raving frenzy, 
 or like one ' labouring under derangement induced by 
 indulgence of avarice and ambition and aggravated at 
 the moment by furious anger.'*' Preferable by far to such 
 an hypothesis is even the mythical story of the text 
 literally taken. It has at least the recommendation of 
 being intelligible and consistent, and it does not, with 
 fainthearted half-belief, set arbitrary barriers to an Om- 
 nipotence which might as easily open the ass's mouth 
 as it closes the prophet's eye. Nor does the plain 
 traditional interpretation affect to save the aj^pearance 
 of philosophic freedom amidst a complete atmosphere 
 of supernaturalism ; it is not afraid to ask, 'what manner 
 of organs God gave the ass,' nay, it is not afraid to ask, 
 in what language she spoke ; and it haa encouiaged the 
 Rabbins to extend the chain of miracles, and confidently to 
 maintain that, among the ten special or memorable things 
 which God created towards the end of the sixth day, was 
 also 'the mouth of Balaam's ass,' that she spoke an 
 Aram^an dialect, whether Chaldee or Syriac, and that 
 
 » As Michaelis, Jahn, Dathe, 
 Steudel, Tlioluck, Hengstenberg, 
 and others. 
 
 *> Canon Cook's Holy Bible, on ver. 
 28; and similarly earlier and modern 
 writers in various modifications. 
 
THE JOURNEY 
 
 137 
 
 she died immediately after she had spoken and liad thus 
 accomplished her appointed work, lest she became an 
 object of idolatrous worshij), or remained as a permanent 
 reproach to a human being." 
 
 Modern apologists have tried to remove the difficulty 
 with greater ingenuity. Whether the ass actually spoke, 
 or whether the words existed only for Balaam's inward 
 sense as a part of the vision, that is, 'whether God formed 
 the sound in the ass's mouth or in Balaam's ear,' — these 
 two views, it is asserted, are in reality not very different, 
 since, in either case, it was God who bestowed upon the 
 animal the power of reproving Balaam ; nor does it mat- 
 ter much whether that remonstrance was administered 
 by her appearance and conduct or by her words, ' for in 
 the latter eventuality also, the speech merely seemed to 
 
 proceed from her the difference in the one supposition 
 
 and the other is purely formal' ^ Can earnest scholars 
 indeed mean to solve a serious problem by such subtleties ? 
 There are two definite questions to be answered : — Does ■ 
 the text describe a vision ? and does it state that the ass 
 really spoke ? We have pointed out before, that the for- 
 mer is not the case, being nowhere intimated by the 
 slightest allusion. But as regards the second question, 
 the fact of the ass's speaking is stated by the author in 
 the most explicit terms, which no dialectics on the part 
 of reluctant readers can obscure, or reduce to the meaning 
 of a donkey's ordinary and indistinct cries. And should 
 there be no substantial difference between the mental 
 process in the vision of a prophet and the articulated 
 
 » See Mishn. Avoth, v. 6, ''D1 
 priNn ; Tarfj. Jon. on ver. 28> 
 N:riX h'yq'O ms-l ; Miclr. Enbb. 
 Num. XX., etc. ; comp. Beehai on 
 -ver. 28 : ' The speaking of the ass 
 was a great miracle against the course 
 of nature, and it was performed for 
 the glorification of Israel,' etc. 
 
 ^ Hengstoiberg, Bil., p. 49, Mi- 
 chaclis, Kurtz, Eeil, and others ; 
 comp. also Canon Cook's Holy Bible 
 1. c, ' God may have brought it 
 about that sounds uttered by the 
 creature after its kind, became to 
 the prophet's intelligence as though 
 it addressed him in rational speech.' 
 
138 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 
 
 sounds of an animal ? It is scarcely possible to argue with 
 those, who have neither the faith to acknowledge a super- 
 natural intervention, nor the courage to follow the guid- 
 ance of reason. What weapons have been seized, what 
 allies have been welcomed to support the assumption of 
 a vision ! The operation of the nerves passing beyond the 
 usual limits, and magnetic action, clairvoyance and second 
 sight, even ' the mysterious and involuntary shudder 
 experienced by animals in the Divine presence ' — all this 
 has been eagerly proposed and accepted, till at last the 
 whole story of Balaam's journey was declared to be 
 nothing but a dream. 
 
 The wonder of the speaking ass is hardly lessened by 
 insisting that all she spoke required no human intelligence, 
 but ' kept entirely within the psychical sphere of animal 
 life.' The words of the ass, carefully analysed, will be 
 found to include some of the most important forms of 
 inductive reasoning and logical generalisation, and a 
 French writer's sarcasm, ' On fait parler I'ane pour dire 
 si i)eu de chose,' is scarcely applicable. However, the 
 author did not concern himself at all with the distinction 
 between man and animal. He could not have made an 
 ill-treated servant speak more appropriately ; and in con- 
 junction with the gift of speech he attributed to the beast 
 sufficient capacity to remonstrate with fitness and force. 
 Moreover, speech itself forms hardly a less marked crite- 
 rion between man and animal — some schools of science 
 Avill say, a more marked one — than reason.*^ 
 
 All natural explanations of the incident, such as were 
 in favour during the last century in the time of Reima- 
 rus, and are not even now extinct, are necessarily more 
 artificial than an uncompromising miracle. From poetical 
 and rhetorical passages like these : ' The ox knoweth his 
 
 » Comp. Wilk. Waclernagel, Ur- 
 sprung und Entwickelung der Spra- 
 che, pp. 4-7. Man, in German and 
 
 English 'the thinking,' is in Greek 
 /ikpoip 'the articulating' creature; 
 comp. Aesch. Coeph. 1018, etc. 
 
THE jui:rney. 
 
 139 
 
 oAvner, and the ass liis master's crib, but Israel doth not 
 know, My people doth not consider ' ; "■ or, ' The stork in 
 the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle 
 and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their 
 coming, but My people know not the judgment of the 
 Lord ; ' ^ from such terms, which relate to the simplest 
 effects of animal instincts, it cannot be inferred that the 
 Hebrews believed ' the animals often to be more sensible 
 than man.'"^ But what curious and complicated an hypo- 
 thesis has been worked out on that basis ! The ass, it is 
 maintained, was recalcitrant. Tradition contended, that 
 God made her so, in order to impress upon Balaam that 
 He disapproved of the journey undertaken for the pur- 
 pose of. cursing Israel, and He sent an angel to resist the 
 prophet. It might, therefore, fitly be said, that the angel 
 was seen by the ass sooner than by her infatuated mas- 
 ter. Again, the ass was beaten and she brayed^ — this was 
 her complaint, which Balaam, as soothsayer, readily un- 
 derstood. Her braying led Balaam to reflection; these 
 thoughts, which brought him to his senses, are his dialogue 
 with the ass."^ The defenders of the authenticity of the 
 episode can hardly be said to have gained much by re- 
 ducing its historical kernel to the refractoriness of an 
 animal, in which refractoriness is by no means uncommon. 
 The object of the angel's apparition, as is evident, was 
 to convince Balaam how seiiously God was displeased 
 with his enterprise.® How was this object carried out by 
 the author ? Following the later and invidious tradition, 
 he started from the idea that Balaam, a wicked heathen, 
 was a secret enemy to Israel, whom, from the meanest 
 motives, he burned to execrate. He made, therefore^ an 
 
 « Isa. 1. 3. 
 
 •> Jer. viii. 7. 
 
 <= Comp. Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 28 
 or 42, ruinis immincntibus musculi 
 praemigrant, aranei cum telis primi 
 cadunt, etc. 
 
 ^ Comp. Knobel, Num. pp. 133, 
 1 34 ; similarly, among earlier writers, 
 Lessing, Justi, Hezel, and others ; 
 see also Voter, Penlat. iii. 124, 125 ; 
 Bmisen, Bibelwerk, v. 600, 601, and 
 others. <= Yer. 32. 
 
140 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. 22-3." 
 
 angel fiighten Balaam on the road, and believed he could 
 not show the diviner's moral obduracy more plainly than 
 in typifying it, as it were, by his 'physical blindness. 
 Thus Elisha's servant did not see the fiery horses and 
 chariots, which the holy prophet beheld, till God 'opened 
 his eyes.' Elisha's Syrian persecutors, who searched for 
 him with impious eagerness, were through his prayer ac- 
 tually smitten with blindness, so that he could resistlessly 
 deliver them up to their enemies. And Daniel, perceiving 
 an extraordinary vision — a human form with ' a body 
 like the beryl, and a face as the appearance of lightning ' 
 — relates : ' I Daniel alone saw the vision, for the men 
 that were with me saw not the vision.' ^ But then the 
 author found himself in a perplexing dilemma. Eegarding 
 the foreign soothsayer with hatred and contempt, he ex- 
 posed him to the reproof of the angel and of his own 
 animal, and made him appear not only dimsighted, but 
 also irrational, obstinate, and cruel. But how would such 
 a character harmonise with the whole narrative ? And 
 how would the benedictions of Jahveh sound from such 
 unworthy lips? The writer was, therefore, to some extent 
 compelled to turn and yield. He was obliged to check 
 his bitterness and prejudice, and to represent Balaam as 
 capable of devotion and repentance. Therefore Balaam 
 ' bowed down and fell on his face ;' and therefore he said 
 what would almost have befitted the older Balaam, ' I 
 have sinned .... and now, if it displeases thee, I will 
 return.' ^ And what was his ' sin ' ? In the first place. 
 
 » 2 Ki. vi. 17-20 ; Dan. x. 7 ; 
 comp. Gen. xxi. 19 ; Acts ix. 3-7 ; 
 Jos. Ant. IX. iv. 3 ; see also Abar- 
 han. in loc, 'Angels in their glory 
 are only perceived by the perfect, who 
 are prepared for such distinction ' ; 
 Corn, a Lapid. on ver. 22, ' Sic Beati 
 in corpora glorioso apparent cui vo- 
 lunt, et abscondunt se cui volunt,' 
 
 etc. ; Horn. II. v. 127, " k^^vv S'av 
 Toi air' 6<pQa\{iwv 'iKov ; Od. xvi. 
 160, 161, 0('5' dpa Tt]\ifiaxog 'iSsv 
 dvriov ovS'' ivoijmi', Ov ycip tzui 
 TrdvTi'yai diol (paivovrai ivapytlg ; 
 Viiff. ^n. ii. 604-606, namque om- 
 nem, quae nunc . . . mortales hebetat 
 visus tibi, . . . nubem eiipiam, etc. 
 b Vers. 31, 34. 
 
THE JOURXEY. 
 
 141 
 
 certainly his ill-treatment of the ass.* But this was only 
 a consequence of his ' not knowing, that the angel was 
 standing in the way against him ; ' ^ and this ' not know- 
 ing ' was a guilt, for it was partly a result and partly a 
 punishment of his base passions, which had estranged 
 him from all Divine intercourse and aspirations.*^ But, 
 in her kind, the ass was perfect, because she had remained 
 true to her nature. She had ever served her master with 
 fidelity, and had thus duly fulfilled the ordained purpose 
 of her existence.'* She could, therefore, see ' the angel of 
 the Lord,' who remained concealed from the man formed, 
 indeed, after the Divine image, but corrupted by sin. 
 
 It is well known, and we have before dwelt on the 
 fact, that, in the East, the ass, far from being a de- 
 spised animal, as in western countries, is so highly prized 
 and valued, that the comparison with 'a bony ass'*^ could 
 be regarded as an honourable distinction ; ^ that down to 
 David's time, it was among the Hebrews the animal com- 
 monly used for riding by the most wealthy and powerful ; 
 and that even now, apart from the fine varieties of Cyprus 
 and Egypt, the splendid white ass, reared in the region 
 of Bagdad, 'commands as high a price as 800 or 1,000 
 dollars ' ; ^ while Pliny relates, that the senator Q. Axius 
 paid for a donkey the fabulous sum of 400,000 sesterces, 
 or about £3,200 sterling.'' Although, therefore, it is not 
 impossible, that to some modern readers the episode may 
 have an additional strangeness, because it is a donkey 
 that complains and expostulates, it bore, in the author's 
 
 » Ver. 32. 
 
 b Yer. 34. 
 
 <= This sense results from the lite- 
 ral translation of the text : ' I have 
 tinned, because I knew not that 
 thou wast standing in the way 
 against me.' Zunz, ' Ich hahe ge- 
 fehlt, dass ich nicht merkte.' 
 
 d Yers. 28, 30. 
 
 « Gen. xlix. 14. 
 
 f See Comni. on Gen. p. 748; on 
 Exod. p. 76. 
 
 B Van-Lennep, Bible Lands, i. 232; 
 Faul Lenoir, Le Fayoum etc. p. 17 ; 
 comp. Jiidg. V. 10; x. 4; xii. 13, etc. 
 
 h J'/i>i. Xat. Hist. viii. 43 or 68, 
 asinum cccc milibus nummum emp- 
 tum, etc. 
 
142 
 
 NUMHKRS XXII. 
 
 time, exactly the same character as if, instead of an ass, 
 he had introduced the most sagacious horse of the rarest 
 Arab breed. It behoves us, of course, faithfully to enter 
 into those old conceptions ; but whether an ass or any 
 other animal is speaking, the fabulous colouring is not 
 materially different. 
 
 Balaam was on his journey accompanied by the Moabite 
 ambassadors and his own two servants :^ in what light did 
 the author view their relation to the incident ? The most 
 probable supposition is that he considered them neither to 
 have seen the angel, nor to have heard the voice of the 
 ass, since the servants had no direct interest in the matter, 
 and the ambassadors could not be made to witness the 
 scene without imminent peril to the whole object of the 
 journey. This is indeed wonderful, but not more so than 
 that Balaam himself did not see the angel for a long 
 time ; it has clear analogies in the Scriptures, as above 
 pointed out ; and the episode moves, from beginning to 
 end, on miraculous ground. It is, however, also possible 
 that the author regarded th(jse persons as astonished 
 spectators of the event.^ In no case would it be justifi- 
 able to conclude from their presence that he intended to 
 describe a vision, and not a real occurrence. 
 
 If, in our remarks on these verses, the reader should 
 notice a want of systematic connection, let him consider 
 that it merely mirrors the want of clearness and con- 
 sistency imparted to the story by an ill-devised interpo- 
 lation. For the principal narrative and the episode belong 
 to two entirely different classes of literary composition. 
 The former is a profound myth, the latter a fanciful legend. 
 The one embodies the great idea of Israel's election and 
 their special guidance ; the other would have no more 
 
 ■■' Vers. 21, 22, 35. 
 
 ^ It has even been conjectured, 
 that we owe the whole of this ac- 
 count to Balaam's servants, who 
 
 were privileged to witness the pro- 
 ceduie for the humiliation of his 
 overweening pride {Baunigarten, 
 Pentateuch, ii. 361). 
 
THE JO URN FY. 148 
 
 thau a subordinate value, even if it rested on an lus- 
 torical foundation. Both are fictions : but the one is a 
 poetical fiction of intrinsic and philosophical possibility; 
 the other an arbitrary fiction suggested by misconception. 
 Whatever the latter possesses of dignity and truth, it 
 possesses only as a reflection falling upon it from the 
 former. As the Greek myth of Poseidon and Athene 
 contending for the privilege of giving the name to the 
 chief town of Greece, is meant to teach that the 
 Athenians were prouder of their achievements in the 
 arts of peace than of their feats of war ; as the Biblical 
 myfJt of the creation of Eve conveys the Hebrew 
 writer's conviction of the equality of the sexes and the 
 sacredness of matrimony ; and as no one will or should, in 
 the one case, speculate how it was possible for Poseidon 
 to produce 'the neighing steed by striking the earth 
 with his mighty trident ;''' or, in the other case, how a 
 woma,n could be formed out of a man's rib — because the 
 ideas embodied are alone essential, while the form is 
 absolutely of no account ; so the enquiry how Balaam, 
 ostensibly a contemporary of Moses, could foresee events 
 of the time of David, would be wholly irrelevant, be- 
 cause, in this composition, the matter and tendency of 
 the prophecies are the only objects of importance. It is 
 entirely difierent with the episode : its sole right of 
 existence is in the reality of the facts, and the only 
 standard by which it must be tested is that of historical 
 probability. 
 
 So admirable and organic is the unity of the main 
 narrative, that any foreign or disturbing element is at 
 once revealed and expelled. 
 
 PuiLOLOGiCAL Eemarks. — The following is the most usual 
 attempt at reconciling the episode with the bulk of the story. 
 
 " Comp. Virff. Georg. i. 12, 13, I equiim magno tellus peicussa tii- 
 Tut^ue 0, cui prima frementem Fudit j deute, Neptune, etc. 
 
144 NUMBERS XXIT. 22-35. 
 
 At first God forbade the journey absolutely (ver. 12), but 
 He afterwards allowed it in order to gratify Balaam's eager 
 desire (ver. 20). When, however, the seer, after having set 
 out with the intention of cursing Israel, and having incurred 
 God's anger on account of his determined self-will, found 
 that an angel opposed him, he then, at last cured of his 
 blindness and malice, resolved strictly to adhere to the 
 Divine communications that were to be made to him in 
 Moab (vers. 34, 38) ; and after having thus changed his 
 disposition, he received God's revelations and was endowed 
 with the Divine spirit (so Knobel, Numeri, p. 122; Ewald, 
 Geschichte und Jahrbiicher 11. cc. ; Smith, Diet, of the Bible, 
 i. 162, etc.; comp. Bechai in loc, hh\)'^ nji:3 "I^IH *3, and 
 many others). How inadmissible it is to speak of an ' eager 
 desire ' or a ' determined self-will ' on the part of Balaam, 
 has been pointed out above (p. 11); but equally groundless 
 is the assumption of a ' change of disposition.' Balaam 
 gave neither to the first nor the second messengers the 
 slightest hope that he would prophesy as Balak desired and 
 expected, and the same resignation under God's guidance he 
 showed in his meeting with the angel. ' The change ' is not 
 in Balaam, but in the authors who desci-ihe his conduct. — 
 Another expedient is the supposition that the angel did not 
 appear with the view of preventing Balaam's journey, but 
 of warning him of the destruction into which he was hasten- 
 ing [Keil, Num. p. 303). What could the ' destruction ' be 
 that awaited one who had pledged himself only to proclaim 
 the words of God, and who, by all his actions, proved his 
 sincerity ? But we may allude to another device, not on 
 account of its intrinsic value, but from the respect due to the 
 scholar who proposed it. ' The author,' observes Winer 
 (Eeal-Wcirterb. i. 182, 183), 'desired, perhaps, merely to con- 
 vey that, after Balaam had been told by God that he should 
 scrupulously follow the Divine suggestions (ver. 20), he 
 might and should have desisted from his plan; and as he did 
 not desist, he received a second and sterner admonition, in 
 which the previous order of not deviating from the Divine direc- 
 tions was again enjoined upon him' (ver. 35). It is confidently 
 maintained that this explanation removes all want of harmony, 
 
THE JOURNEY. 145 
 
 not only within this narrative itself, but in its relation to 
 subsequent accounts (xxxi. IG; Deut. xxiii. 5). Why, it will 
 be asked in astonishment, ought Balaam to have abandoned 
 his enterprise, when he received from God the distinct com- 
 mand: 'Eise and go with the men' ? (ver. 20). Where does 
 the narrative; up to that point, intimate the least displeasure 
 with Balaam's conduct ? Such an intimation can surely not 
 be found in the fact that Balah sends him presents (vei\ 7), 
 nor in the circumstance that he does not at once refuse to 
 listen to the second envoys (ver. 19). He had entirely and 
 unconditionally surrendered his will to that of Grod ; can he 
 be covered with reproach, or could Grod be wroth against 
 him, because he remained strictly faithful to that resolve ? 
 The difficulty does not ' lie merely in the form of the story ; ' 
 it is discordant in its very essence, if read as one continuous 
 whole. — The interpolation may best be considered to comprise 
 verses 22 to 35, as vers. 21 and 36 are closely connected in 
 import; it is, however, not impossible that, originally, ver. 20 
 concluded with the words pbn nc' DJ? oy'pn l'?'''! (ver. 35), so that 
 ver. 21 also has been added, for the purpose of introducing the 
 ass of Balaam. — It will be sufficient to mention the hypothesis, 
 that the verses under consideration (22-35) formed the first 
 groundwork of the story, all that precedes being ' a com- 
 position of the Jehovist' {liaur, Alttestamentl. Weissagung, 
 i. 333) : these verses, incomplete in themselves, cannot be the 
 foundation of the following prophecies, while the anterior 
 narrative has nothing in common with the Jahvistic style. — ■ 
 The natural impression is, that the incident here related 
 happened soon after Balaam's departure : ' God's anger was 
 kindled, NIH 17in iD, that he was going' (ver. 22). But some 
 place it near the land of Moab, and why? Because, they 
 allege, it is psychologically probable that the passions of 
 evil corrupted Balaam's heart by degrees, so that, prompted 
 as he was by a 'furious determination to advance,' the 
 nearer he approached his destination, the more keenly he 
 felt the attractive power of the honours and treasures which 
 awaited him ; wherefore, in the proximity of the temptation, 
 he stood in need of a special exhortation, without which he 
 would surely have pronounced curses upon Israel {Rengstenh. 
 
 L 
 
146 NUMBERS XXIT. 22-35. 
 
 Bil., pp. 45, 46). It would, forsooth, be unjust to deny to 
 such interpretations the praise of ' method.' And with what 
 relish did Fathers of the Church and Reformers, at this 
 juncture, hurl their strictures against the prophet {e.g., 
 Origen, Magus deemones videt, angelum non videt; asina tam 
 videt . . . . ut confutaretur Balaam ; Augnstin, Qufest. 50 in 
 Num. ; Calvin, Visiones extraordinarias ante jactabat, nunc 
 quod bestiaj oculis expositum est eum fugit ; unde heec tanta 
 cfeeitas nisi ex avaritia ? etc. ; Cornel, a Lapid., Usus est Deus 
 voce asinse, tum quia congrue bruta mens per brutum doce- 
 tur, etc. ; Vitringa, Obss. Sacr. IV. ix. 28, Bileamus suas 
 agendi rationes ita instituit, ut asina, qua veetus est, ejus 
 TTcipacppoveiai' insaniam inhibuerit, etc.) ; though not a few 
 expositors of recent times may vie with them for the palm 
 of abuse {e.g., Baumgarten, Pentat. ii. 357, 'the donkey 
 recognising the angel is a palpable manifestation of the in- 
 human and more than brutish obtuseness of its master ; Lange, 
 Bibelwerk, i. p. Ixxix ; ii. p. 312 : ' The ass takes Balaam's 
 character, to prove that he has taken her character . . . 
 The prophet riding an ass is changed into an ass riding a 
 prophet,' which is, surely, the acme of epigrammatic neat- 
 ness). — The following plea has, from various sides, been put 
 forward : ' The miracle was by no means superfluous ; it was 
 to convince Balaam that the mouth and tongue were under 
 God's direction, and that the same Divine power which 
 caused the dumb ass to speak, contrary to its nature, could 
 make him, in like manner, utter blessings contrary to his 
 inclination ;' so Aharhan., Bp. Newton, and similarly HerdeVy 
 Werke, xi. 287, and others. This explanation would, in its 
 own sphere of thought, be conclusive, if Balaam's inclination 
 had really been such as is assumed. — After the words ' God's 
 anger was kindled because he went ' (ver. 22), the Arabic 
 version of Saadiah adds, ' impelled by greed of gain,' that is, 
 because ' the wages of unrighteousness ' made him but too 
 willing to go (2 Pet. ii. 15) — to the great delight of many 
 modern expositors happy to boast of so old an authority for 
 their errors. But they may claim a much older one still — the 
 author of the episode himself Others, indeed, declare, that 
 the addition is superfluous; for it is quite plain that, if 
 
thf: journky. 147 
 
 Balaam had not been prompted hy sinister motives, he would 
 never have gone, and he thought, ' If I only have the per- 
 mission, all the rest will follow of itself {Ilengstenb. Bil., 
 p. 44). Would Balaam so faithfully have obeyed God's 
 directions in regard to the journey, if it was his intention to 
 defy them in the much more important point of the curse? — 
 As the mn'' "1S?0 proves to be identical with Grod Himself 
 (ver. 35, comp. ver. 18), it appears preferable to translate 
 ' the (not an) angel of the Lord' (comp. Glen, xlviii. 16 ; Ex. 
 xxiii. 20). — y> i9^^ ' as an adversary to him,' to oppose or 
 resist him ; in ver. 32 simply l^^'r', where, however, the 
 Sii7}iar. Cod. and Vers., the Sept. and Vulg. have also the per- 
 sonal pronoun ■]3LDiJ'? and "imEi'S?, eiQ diaftoXijv aov and ut 
 adversarer tibi. — The 'drawn sword' in the angel's hand 
 (ver. 23) is the symbol of God's displeasure and wrath (comp. 
 Gen. iii. 24). According to the Midrash, it indicates that 
 it would be less criminal to attack Israel with a sword in the 
 hand than a curse in the heart. — ?iy^'P (ver. 24), literally, 
 ' a hollow way ' (the other derivatives of ^V^ also implying 
 hollo wness, as ^^'^ the hollow of the hand, Isa. xliv. 12; 1 Ki. 
 XX. 10), formed by high rocks or, as in this instance, by 
 vineyard walls (111, Isa. v. 5 ; comp. Ezek. xiii. 5) on either 
 side; Sept., kv toIq avXa'^i, (in the furrows) ', Vulg., in angus- 
 tiis ; and so Targ. Jon., ^^i^H"'"'?, etc. — The angel's meeting 
 with Balaam and his beast is so clearly described in the 
 text, that it requires no explanation. With remarkable re- 
 gularity, the number three prevails in this episode : the angel 
 stands in the way three times and is three times seen by the 
 ass ; the ass turns aside three times and is three times beaten 
 by her master ; and in each instance we may notice a per- 
 ceptible gradation. The angel, at first, opposes himself sim- 
 ply 'in the road' ("jma) ; next, in *a hollow path' enclosed 
 by vineyards ; and lastly, ' in a narrow place where there 
 was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left ' 
 (vers. 22, 23, 26). The ass's fright at the apparition grows 
 step by step, till she finally falls down in helpless anguish 
 (vers. 23, 25, 27). She first turns aside into the field, then 
 moves back again into the road, and, at last, arriving in the 
 hollow path, presses herself in terror against the wall, un- 
 
14-8 NUMBERS XXII. 22-35. 
 
 mindful of thus crushing Balaam's foot (vers. 23, 25). More- 
 over, she is, the first two times, probably only beaten with 
 the hand or a slight whip, but the third time with the stick 
 (?pD2) which Balaam carried according to custom (vers. 23, 
 25, 27; comp, Gen, xxxviii. 18). The text expressly points 
 to the threefold repetition of all these actions (vers. 28, 32, 
 33) ; but the ass speaks only twice ; the third time the angel 
 himself speaks and reproves in her stead (vers. 28, 30, 31). 
 Such calculating exactness in numbers is common in later 
 symbolism, and, if carried out in detail, easily becomes arti- 
 ficial and playful. Nor have Eabbinical and scholastic 
 writers allowed this occasion for allegorising to j)ass unim- 
 proved : three times, the Midrash observes, the ass turned 
 aside, in order to remind Balaam of the three patriarchs, 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Israel's spiritual protectors ; or 
 it was intended to impress Grod's great compassion with man, 
 since it manifested itself so signally even towards an irra- 
 tional animal {Midr. Rahh., Num. 11. cc, etc.). — Jewish tradi- 
 tion contends that the ' hollow path ' was * in the place 
 where Jacob and Laban raised the mound and the pillar on 
 this side, and the observatory on that side, which they raised 
 that neither should pass beyond it to do evil to the other ' 
 (Targ, Jon. on ver. 24; comp. Gen. xxxi. 51, 52); which is 
 the more curious as, according to the same tradition, Balaam 
 and Laban are identical (see sxqira, p. 29). — We have above 
 remarked, that, in these occurrences, the author in no way 
 concerns himself about the Moabite ambassadors and 
 Balaam's servants, as they were probably meant to see and 
 hear nothing of the wonderful phenomena. Certainly such 
 explanations as, ' the author very likely thought that the am- 
 bassadors went before and the servants followed behind,' or, 
 more singularly still, 'that they looked in another direction, 
 if they were not dimsighted ' — such superficial explanations 
 are out of the question (comp. also Nachman. on ver. 33). — In 
 this episode, Cl''/'J'], times, is employed (vers. 28, 32, 33 ; comp. 
 Exod. xxiii. 14) for the more usual □''cys (xxiv. 10 ; see De- 
 Rossi, Var. Lect. in loc), which circumstance probably proves 
 more than ' that King Balak did not form his language on 
 the model of that of the ass' {Keil), considering that the 
 
THE JOURNEV. 14-9 
 
 word is twice used Ly tlio an(jel. — St. Augustin (1. c.) and 
 many others, both in earlier and recent times, blame Balaam 
 severely for not having felt surprise and terror at the ass's 
 speech (iste tanta cupiditate ferebatur, ut nee tanti monstri 
 miraculo terreretur et responderct quasi ad hominem loquens, 
 etc. ; Bechai, Comm. in loc. 'Dl iy2D yni inVITr^N' "lin?0 "pnX, 
 etc.) ; others consider that circumstance most cogently to prove 
 that the whole transaction occurred in a dream or vision, as 
 any person to whom such a thing really happened, ' would 
 1 e half dead of fright and would fall from the animal ' 
 (Michaelis on vers. 28-30, and others) ; while one commentator 
 excuses Balaam by supposing that he was probably a be- 
 liever in the doctrine of transmigration of souls, and hence 
 regarded the speaking of animals quite natural (Clericuo, 
 Paraph, of ver. 29, Comm. on ver. 28, fortasse transmigra- 
 tionem mentium humanarum in brutorum corpora fieri cre- 
 debat, etc.). — The meaning of ^^V^i} (ver. 29), apparent from 
 the context, is to mock, insult, or abuse (so in Judg. xix. 25 ; 
 1 Sam. xxxi. 4; Jer. xxxviii. 19; 1 Chr. x. 4; Sept., e^TrtTrcd- 
 X<(C /uoi ; Viilff., commeruisti et illusisti mihi ; Targ. Jon., 
 ^~py^ ; Rashi, pTHI ''NDJ pL"7 ; Luth., dass du mich hcihuest, 
 etc.) : 7?V is perhaps kindred to TVV, and is, therefore, in 
 Hithpael, to lift oneself up against another, which may either, 
 as here and in the passages quoted, be done from insolence, 
 or for derision, or for the display of power (as in Exod. x. 2 ; 
 
 1 Sam. vi. 6). Others connect T>V Avith the Arabic U to 
 
 drink again, hence to quench thirst and, in Hithpael, ' to 
 satisfy the mind in vexing any one' [Gesen. Thesaurus, p, 
 lOoo), which seems less simjile and probable. — '31 Tliyo (ver, 
 oO), lit. ' from thy being ' or ' thy existing to this day,' that is, 
 proj^ei'ly, from thy birth or all thy life (comp. Gren. xlviii. 15; 
 Comm. on Genes, p. 719), a natural hyperbole forcibly ex- 
 pressing many years of service {Sept., airo veuTi^roc aov ; Vulg., 
 semper ; Onk., "^FI'S'IP ; Saniar. Vers., "|"11C^D, from thy be- 
 ginning; Mendelss., Dl^l^ DVD, etc.) The ass, which grows 
 up to the fourth year, reaches an age of about thirty years, in 
 both respects resembling the horse; the female is rather more 
 long-lived than the male (comp. P////. Nat. Hist. viii. 43 or 68). — 
 
150 NUMBERS XXII. 22-35. 
 
 The Targiim of Jonathan, very free and copious in render- 
 ing the following verses, embodies several peculiar features 
 of Hebrew tradition. 'Ten things were created after the com- 
 pletion of the world on the sixth day towards the evening (see 
 supra, p. 136) : the manna . . . and the speaking mouth of the 
 ass (x:nx ???0O DID) . . . And the ass said to Balaam, Woe to 
 thee, thou wanting in mind, when thou art unable to curse 
 me, an unclean beast, who am to die in this world, and not 
 to enter the world to come, bow much less canst thou injure 
 the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on account of 
 whom the world has been created, but whom thou art going 
 to curse!' and so on in the same legendary style.— The verb 
 13T, in the phrase nji"? l-nn Dl^ ^ (ver. 32), probably akin 
 to "I"^^, means, no doubt, to be precipitous or destnictive, after 
 
 the analogy of Arabic ( ^U precipice, destruction, l? .^ 
 
 precipice; comp. £^"31^, Isa. xviii. 2; Saad, i,.:;^^ »'j) though 
 the verb occurs also in transitive signification, to throiv into a 
 precipice (Job xvi. 11, ''5P7''- with metheg, for '"^tD"!''*, the future 
 of Kal, not the past of Piel, which would not correspond 
 with the preceding *^T^P!!, and would require pathach as bind- 
 ing vowel, '''^'^y.) ; and the sense of the phrase is : ' for thy 
 journey is pernicious in my eyes,' which, though somewhat 
 obscure and ambiguous, was no doubt intended by the 
 author of the episode to imply a severe censure and menace 
 of Balaam, in antagonism to the spirit of the main narra- 
 tive, which excludes Balaam entirely from the conflict and 
 would, therefore, not threaten him with disasters. The 
 ancient translations of tD"]^ are remarkably vague ; the Samar. 
 Vers, has the easier equivalent n^i'^a ; Sp\, 'because thou 
 hast directed (n^"im) thy way against me ; ' Onk. and Jon. 
 paraphrase, ' because it is certain before me that thou 
 desirest to go in a way contrary to me ; ' and ' it is known 
 before me, that thou seekest to go to curse the people, which, 
 is displeasing to me;' and similarly all the rest {Sept., ovk 
 affreia >/ odog aov, which means probably even or proper, and 
 is, therefore, not very different from evdeTa ; Vulg., quia per- 
 versa est via tua mihique contraria, etc. ; comp, Kimchi, 'thy 
 way deviates — ~9t" — or is not straight before me, for it was 
 
THE JOURNEY. 151 
 
 in Balaam's heart to curse the Hebrews ;' Joseph., Aut. IV. 
 vi. 3, Tijv !)hbv avTou Trapa yvw^Jjv rov Qenv yfyofieprjv). It is at 
 least not impossible to connect DT", as Rashi does, with I3t3"i to 
 fear (comp. t:^ v ierivr, Jer. xlix. 24), so that the phrase would 
 mean, 'thy journey is terrible or awful in my eyes;' but 
 DT is hardly equivalent to ^ll, so that the sense would be, 
 'the journey was rashly undertaken' (Mendelss., die mir ver- 
 liasste Reise war zu schleunig beschlossen ; and others). 
 Clericus, following a doubtful authority, has, 'via coram me 
 c/ausa est.' — '''^.^t? is simply 'before me' or 'in my eyes,' not 
 'in opposition to me' {Onkel.- Luzzatto, deve ben essere disas- 
 troso un viaggio fatto a mio dispetto— which would pre-sup- 
 pose a strained ellipsis). — ''?>>1''^1 (ver. 33) for ''^N'^Fll (comp. 
 Ex. xxxiii. 21 ; see Gram., § liii. 2. c).— None of the devices 
 are tenable that have been proposed to uphold, in ver. 33, 
 the reading ^'piX perhaps, which it is evidently a corruption 
 of v-l'? unless (comp. Gen. xxxi. 42; xliii. 10; where i<>l'' 
 . . . nny '•3 is used exactly as in this passage nny ''3 . . . "'!?-1^ ; 
 the Samar. Vers, renders h'h^, Onk. and Jonath. x'? pSI^X, Sept. 
 £1 pi, Vulg. nisi, etc.). Thus Eashbam assumes a distinction 
 between ^Jd"? and ''JQO in the same verse : 'if she had turned 
 from me so as to pass me on the road, I should have killed 
 thee;' Koster arbitrarily explains: 'if she had turned 
 away from me a fowth time, instead of falling on her knees, 
 I should have killed thee;' and Hengstenberg (Bil., p. 64) 
 supposes a very remarkable aposiopesis to this effect : 
 'perhaps she turned away from me, induced by love of her 
 master, and impelled by an instinctive feeling of the danger 
 threatening his safety;' which gentle hint was meant as a 
 greater humiliation to Balaam and a stronger rebuke of his 
 ingratitude than any distinct words on the part of the angel 
 could have conveyed ! (comp. also Nachman., Abarban., and 
 others, in loe. ; Luzzatto : 'Potevi pensare che forse declinava 
 per paura di me,' where 'potevi pensare' is a free addition, 
 etc.). But ''r'-"'^* never occurs in the sense of unless, as some 
 have maintained (so Rashi, Ebn Ezra, Nachmanides, De Geer, 
 Gesenius, Maurer, who considers vIX to be identical with 
 D^ and ''}. for N?, and others). — D5 (ver. 33) corresponds to \ 
 in nnits^, on the one hand . . . un the other hand (Sept. at fxey . . . 
 
152 NUMBERS XXII. 8G-40. 
 
 Ueh'-qv Zi) ; more frequent is tlie use of D5 . . . D| (comp. 
 xxiii. 25), wUcli was not applicable in this place on account 
 of the double contrast, that of the persons and the actions. 
 Some Jewish commentators, assuming a transposition of 
 words, explain, with little probability : ' I should also have 
 slain ("iniX TlJin D:), and not merely opposed and frightened 
 thee; ' so Rashi, Abarban., Mendelss., and others. — DDX1. (ver. 
 35) is analogous to "^^?1, in ver. 20, but only ; comp. xxiii. 13 
 {Ebn Ezra, p"l 1DD DDX, and others). — The command, 'Gro with 
 the men' (ver. 35), means, says the Midrash, 'Go, for thy 
 portion is with them, and fearfully wilt thou, like them, be 
 exterminated from the world ; ' while modern expositors 
 assert that the permission implied in those words is not 
 contradictory to the previous prohibition, for, coupled with 
 the simultaneous restriction, it could not confirm Balaam in 
 his designs against Israel, but rather tended to make him 
 desist from his wickedness. Although a certain meed of 
 respect cannot be withheld from such tenacious consistency, 
 we confess we are heartily glad to have finished our remarks 
 on that portion of the text which has yielded the most 
 abundant crop of perversion and confusion. 
 
 6. AERIVAL AND RECEPTION. XXII. 36-40. 
 
 36. And when Balak lieard that Balaam had 
 come, he went out to meet him to the city of 
 Moab, which is at the border of the Anion, 
 which is at the utmost boundary. 37. And 
 Balak said to Balaam, Did I not indeed send to 
 thee to call thee ? wherefore didst thou not come 
 to me ? am I not forsooth able to honour thee ? 
 38. And Balaam said to Balak, Behold, I am 
 come to thee ; have I now any power at all to 
 say anything ? the word that God shall j^ut in my 
 mouth, that shall I speak. 39. And Balaam 
 went with Balak, and they came to Kiijatli- 
 huzoth, 40. And Balak killed oxen and sheep. 
 
ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION. 153 
 
 and sent thereof to Balaam and to the princes 
 that luere with him. 
 
 It may be presuiiicd that Balak awaited the return of 
 his second embassy with intense anxiety, and it appears 
 tliat messengers hastened in advance, south-westward, to 
 his capital, then Rabbath-Moab (Rabbah), to report to 
 him Balaam's approach. On receiving this welcome 
 news, he forthwith set out to meet the seer. He was 
 prompted to do so by a double motive. First, he desired 
 to otter to Balaam a signal mark of attention and esteem,** 
 to which he imparted the utmost possible grace by join- 
 ing him at the very threshold and entrance of his king- 
 dom, on its extreme north-eastern boundary, which the 
 travellers coming from Mesopotamia were obliged to 
 touch. But Balak's second and more pressing object was 
 to prevent a single moment's unnecessary delay in the 
 execution of his cherished scheme, which, by Balaam's 
 first refusal, had already been deferred far too long for 
 his impatience. For it was indispensable that the ex- 
 pected curse should be pronounced at a place where the 
 prophet could see the Israelites. But these had already 
 advanced a considerable distance in a north-westerly 
 direction, and had encamped, beyond the northern border 
 of the Dead Sea, along the eastern side of the Jordan.'^ 
 Had Balaam first continued his way to Rabbath-Moab, 
 and thence repaired to the scene of action with Balak, 
 who, of course, desired to be present at the momentous 
 proceedings, much precious time would have been lost 
 by these circuitous journeys, and might not any hour 
 bring attack and disaster ? 
 
 One of the most recent travellers among the Kabyles 
 observes : 'As soon as the approach of the caravan of an 
 honoured guest is announced in an oasis, the sheikh of 
 the place, clad in his red cloak, proceeds to meet it, ac- 
 
 '■> See supra, p. 9. ^ Siqjra, p. 77. 
 
154 ■ NUMBERS XXII. 36-40. 
 
 coinpanied by the kadi. Both are mounted on fine and 
 i-ichly caparisoned steeds. First they ride at a slow pace, 
 but as soon as they come in sight of the expected cara- 
 van, they advance in full gallop to the distance prescribed 
 by the conventional rules. There they suddenly halt, 
 descend from their high saddles, and allow the reins to fall 
 to the ground. The horses, trained for such purposes, 
 stop motionless on the spot, while the riders hasten 
 towards the caravan. Here the usual civilities are 
 exchanged, while the crowd brandish the palm branches 
 which they carry, to evince their joy and satisfaction.' * 
 Might we not imagine a similar scene to have occurred on 
 the banks of the Arnon nearly three thousand years ago? 
 And now the two antagonists stand face to face — the 
 king of Moab and Balaam : the incarnation of paganism 
 and the representative of the God of Israel ; two powers 
 opposed as Chance and Providence ; two systems hostile 
 as Worldliness and Idealism. And this contrast, which 
 extends to the hidden depth of all thoughts and the secret 
 springs of all deeds, which tinges every emotion of the 
 mind and prompts every impulse of energy — this all- 
 pervading contrast is, with a master's hand, delineated 
 in Balak's simple question and Balaam's simple reply at 
 their first encounter. The king of Moab knows no other 
 laws of human action than ambition, and wealth, and 
 power. He finds it incomprehensible, that Balaam did 
 not at once comply with his royal summons. His words 
 express no less wonder and astonishment than dissatis- 
 faction and reproach : ' Wherefore didst thou not come to 
 me ? am I not forsooth able to honour thee ' ? ^ Balaam, 
 unmoved by the agitated tone of this address of wel- 
 come, points again, with imperturbable calmness, to that 
 one great principle which forms the guiding rule of his 
 life, which he is never weary to proclaim, but which, far 
 from being weakened by repetition, gains in weight and 
 
 => £. Beaor, Der Mensch der Wiiste, p. 25. ^ Yer. 37. 
 
ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION. 155 
 
 emphatic force, because each reiteration manifests, under 
 new circumstances, the truth and earnestness with which 
 that great idea has seized and penetrated his whole 
 nature : ' Have I now any power at all to say anything ? 
 the word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I 
 speak.'" Not ambition, wealth, and power are his care, 
 but the will of his God in which he merges his own, 
 and that absolute obedience which curbs all pride and 
 conceit. With sufficient clearness he makes Balak feel 
 even at this early stage of their intercourse, that the 
 destinies of nations do not depend on human arts and 
 passions, but on a higher and inscrutable Power which 
 reveals its decrees as irrevocable ; and a foreboding 
 doubt might pass through the heathen monarch's mind 
 whether the enterprise would issue as he desired. Who 
 can deny the loftiness of a character like that of Balaam ? 
 It is the very type of a noble Hebrew prophet — of the 
 Hebrew prophet with all his glorious attributes and all 
 his dangerous elements. 
 
 From the town of meeting on the Ai"non, Balak and 
 Balaam Avent forth with their followers to advance as 
 close to the Hebrew camp as was deemed necessary, and 
 they proceeded to Klrjath-huzoth (Street-fort or Strass- 
 burg), that is, probably, to that place of the present 
 Kureiydt on the southern declivities of the mountain 
 i-ange of Attarus, which the Hebrews, journeying from 
 Dibon, reached by crossing the river Heidan.'' It was 
 one of those numerous towns which, not long before, 
 the king of the Amorites had taken from Moab and 
 destroyed, but which the Israelites, after the conquest of 
 this district, rebuilt and allotted to the tribes of Reuben 
 and Gad.'' Under various fortunes Kiriathaim main- 
 tained itself down to the sixth century, when it was 
 plundered and laid waste by the Babylonians.'' 
 
 » Ver. 38. 1 i^^ Num. xxxii. 37; Josh. xiii. 19. 
 
 b Supra, p. 76. | ^ Jer. xlviii. 1, 23; Ezek. xxv. 9. 
 
156 NUMBERS XXII. 30-40. 
 
 Thus Balak and his companions had reached the track 
 of those who were to be supernaturally assailed; and 
 Kiriathaim seemed to the king the fittest place for more 
 formally solemnising the seer's arrival by common re- 
 pasts of slaughtered animals ; he probably assigned to 
 Balaam the largest and choicest portions, by means of 
 which it was customary to show respect or affection 
 to honoured guests.'^ These feasts did not bear the 
 character of sacrifices, and certainly did not constitute 
 'sb great offering of consecration.' Before entering upon 
 the solemn rites of religion and prophecy, the king 
 very properly discharged the ordinary obligations of 
 hospitality. 
 
 Philological Remarks. — The 36th verse is the immediate 
 continuation of the 21st.— ' The town of Moab (3Niro "1% ver. 
 36), where Balak joined Balaam, is not the capital [Midr. 
 Tancli., Raslii, etc.), supposed to be Ar pV, Isa. xv. 1, 'Apeo- 
 TToXtc ; so Gesen. Thes., pp. 1004, 1005; Hengstenb. Bil., pp. 
 234-237, and many others) ; for this was situated north of 
 the river Arnon (xsi. 15, 28), then the boundary of Balak's 
 kingdom (xxi. 13; Deut. iii. 16; Judg. xi, 18; p. 69), which 
 he is not likely to have crossed, as he, no doubt, wished to 
 welcome Balaam within his own territory (the Targumim 
 simply 3N1?:DT N'mp^). If the meeting could be assumed to 
 have taken place in the north of the Arnon, the town Aroer 
 py'iy) would be suitable (p. 75), the position of which is 
 repeatedly described in a similar manner as that of this 
 ' town of Moab ' (Deut. ii. 36 ; Josh. xii. 2 ; xiii. 9, 16). Por 
 it was situated ' on the border ('?133) of the Arnon,' which 
 river formed ' the extreme boundary ' (PU^n nvp) of the land. 
 This is the sense of the words '31 2X1D "l*J)"?N, which is not 
 materially obscured by the somewhat indistinct application 
 of the second ■1E^'N.— Balak lays stress on the very act of 
 sending (hence the finite verb preceded by the absolute infi- 
 nitive, '•JIlDr'^' D''^, ver. 37, which is not, ' have I not sent to 
 thee repeatedly?^ since on the second summons Balaam really 
 " Gen. xliii. 34 ; 1 Sum. ix. 23, 24, etc. 
 
ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION. 157 
 
 came)— lie lays stress on the distance, and the number and 
 dignity of the envoys; being sent for in this express manner, 
 Balaam ought, independently of any other motive, to have 
 obeyed with alacrity (comp. ver. 17, where, for still greater 
 emphasis, the finite verb is followed by li^P; see Heb. Gram., 
 § 97, 6). Different and more significant is the phrase '?b^n 
 31 ?5-1X (ver. 38), 'have I any power at all to say anything?' 
 Either woi'd has its own force ; the one — the infinitive — em- 
 phasizes the action, the other the person : Balaam declares, that 
 he is itowerless to speak, and that it is God alone who has that 
 power ; he advances, with increasing clearness, to the absolute 
 abnegation of his own self (xxiv. 13). How it was possible 
 to discover in those words the fact that Balaam joined Balak 
 with a broken or 'lacerated heart' {Bunsen, Bibelwerk, v. 
 601), will, alas! be sufficiently intelligible from preceding 
 remarks. — Besides D^^^^P^ and distinct from it, we find ni*"ip 
 mentioned as a town of Moab (Jer. xlviii. 23, 24, 41; Am. ii. 
 2) ; this is not surprising, considering the vagueness in the 
 meaning of those names; and within those districts several 
 ruins have recently been found which are similarly called by 
 the natives. In all such eases, which fortunately concern but 
 minor points, we must content ourselves with probability, 
 which, in this instance, is decidedly in favour of the above 
 conjecture. vS'in r\\~\p_ is rendered by Oiik. ' the town of his 
 market-places' (MITino), in the Samar. Text and Version by ' the 
 city of his visions,' or 'of his mysteries' (VT"l n^HO), but in 
 the Sept. by TroXete i-TravXtuji', as if based on the reading nn^in 
 instead of nivn (comp. Sept. Gen. xxv. 16; Josh. xiii. 23, 
 etc.), and in the Vulgate by ' urbs qua) in extremis regni ejus 
 finibus erat,' as if deriving rii^*n from n^"n to divide. Some 
 have identified Kirjath-huzoth with the town Huzoth read 
 on an Egyptian papyrus (Anastasi iii.), and others with the 
 conspicuous ruins of Shihdn, four nailes west by south of the 
 site usually assigned to Ar or Ir [Canon CooVs Holy Bible, 
 on ver. 39), which lies, however, south of the Arnon, whereas 
 Balak's destination was northward and north-westward. 
 Targ. Jon. calls the place ' the city of Sihon, which is XL"il'3.' 
 — npt^M (ver. 40) \iz. of the flesli , not messengers {\er. 10).— -We 
 have observed before how little Balak's fear and precautions 
 
158 NUMBERS XXII. 36-40. 
 
 were justified by the circumstances, since the Hebrews had 
 proceeded considerably beyoud his territory (p. 87). This 
 remark may now be extended. We see the king of Moab, 
 accompanied by a brilliant retinue, pass free and unmolested 
 through districts which, according to the preceding accounts 
 of the Book of Numbers, were in the possession of the 
 Hebrews, his enemies (comp. xxiii. 14, 28 ; comp. Hitzig, 
 Inschrift des Mescha, p. 5). What inferences are hence to be 
 drawn ? Either the Hebrews had but partially conquered the 
 land north of the Arnon, or the narrative of Balaam and 
 Balak is an isolated episode unconnected with the events in 
 the midst of which we find it. As a matter of fact, the for- 
 mer may have been the case (p. 69), but it is not so repre- 
 sented in the Book of Numbers, whatever efforts have been 
 made to prove the contrary (for instance by Hengstenb., Bil., 
 p. 251). The second alternative must, therefore, be adopted, 
 and it confirms a view of the nature and composition of the 
 Book of Balaam, which is forced upon us by many other 
 considerations besides. Let us here allude to one point more. 
 While in this narrative the unity of action is admirably pre- 
 served, the unities of time and place are questionable. For 
 the reader's impression is that the whole of the proceedings, 
 beginning with Balak's and Balaam's departure from Kirjath- 
 huzoth (xxii. 41) and ending with Balaam's last prophecy, 
 followed each other in rapid succession and in the course 
 of the same day. But while the action unfolds itself with 
 unbroken interest and intrinsic probability, it is more than, 
 doubtful whether the long journeys fi-om Kirjath-huzoth to 
 Bamoth-Baal, thence to Pisgah, and thence to Peor (pp. 76, 
 77), the threefold erection of altars and the threefold sacrifices, 
 Balaam's solitary meditations and his speeches, can all be 
 compressed into the space of one day. But who will lay 
 much stress upon this circumstance, except as an additional 
 proof that we have before us a free creation of art? (see also 
 Oort, Disputatio, pp. 68, 69). — Considering the character of 
 the feaat (ver. 40), as pointed out above, passages like Gen. 
 xxxi. 54, or Neh. viii. 10-12, are not parallel with this. The 
 verb n3T was used, not only with respect to sacrifices, but 
 also to killing for food (1 Sam. xxviii. 24 ; 1 Ki. xix. 21, etc.; 
 
PREPARATIONS. 159 
 
 see Comm. on Lev. i. pp. 72, 74). Josephus states correctly: 
 ' when the king had entertained (^e^a/itVou) Balaam in a 
 magnificent manner'; and similarly Pl\ilo (Vit. Mos. i. 50, 
 Kcii ^j£ra ravra eww^mi I'ltrav Kal TroXvreXeTc £(TTiaaetc kch vrrn «\\a 
 Trpoc i;7ro?o^/)j' E.ii'wu tdog evrpaTrl^eaSai k.t.X.; comp. Gen. xliii. 
 16). If the author had meant to describe a sacrifice essential 
 to Balak's main purpose, he would not have so generally 
 spoken of 'oxen and sheep' (fSVl Ip^), but would have more 
 accurately specified the kinds and numbers of victims, as he 
 is very careful to do at the fitting occasion (comp. xxiii. 
 1, 4, 14, 29). Quite unjustified, therefore, is the censure cast 
 upon Balaam by many in various forms that * he accepted 
 from Balak as an honorary gift the flesh of idolatrous sacri- 
 fices ' {Cleric, Michaelis, Hiehm, and others); it would, accord- 
 ing to eastern notions, still more decidedly than our own, 
 have been the utmost insult to his royal host to refuse the 
 profi'ered present. 
 
 7. PREPARATIONS. XXII. 41-XXIII. 6. 
 
 41. And on the next morning, Balak took 
 Balaam, and brought him up to Bamoth-Baal, and 
 thence he saw the extreme part of the jDeople. 
 
 XXIII. 1. And Bahaain said to Balak, Build 
 for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here 
 seven bullocks and seven rams. 2. And Balak 
 did as Balaam had spoken ; and Balak and Balaam 
 offered on evenj altar a bullock and a ram. 3. And 
 Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offer- 
 ing, and I will go, perhaps the Lord will come 
 to meet me; and the word that He will show 
 me, I shall tell thee. And he w^ent to a solitude. 
 
 4. And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, I 
 have prepared the seven altars, and I have 
 offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. 
 
 5. And the Lord put words in Balaam's mouth, 
 
IGO NUMBERS XXTI. 41-xxin. G. 
 
 and siiicl, Return to Balak, and tlius tlioii slialt 
 speak. 6. And he returned to him, and, behold, 
 lie was standing by his burnt-offering, he and all 
 the princes of Moab. 
 
 At last the long-desired day arrived which was to 
 witness the realisation of Balak's ardent hopes. He 
 had considered everything with anxious calculation. 
 He well knew that the prophet, to curse effectually, 
 must have those before his eyes whom he desired to 
 curse : but how, if the imposing aspect of the Hebrew 
 hosts, swelled by numberless foreign followers, and but 
 recently enriched by magnificent booty of every kind, 
 carried away the seer to enthusiastic admiration, and 
 prompted him not to utter execrations but praises and 
 benedictions ? In this dilemma Balak prudently selected 
 a place from where Balaam might see a portion of the 
 Hebrews, large enough to represent the whole nation, 
 but not so large as to impress the beholder with the 
 conviction of formidable sti-ength and power. Balaam 
 showed ready obedience in this point also : 'And on the 
 next morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up 
 to Bamoth-Baal.' The revelations which he expected — 
 of this he was sure — did not depend on the spot in 
 which they were repeated. To him one point only was 
 impoi'tant — to listen to those revelations with all the 
 energies of his soul. He saw, therefore, likewise with 
 indifference, that it was 'heights of Baal' to which he 
 was conducted. Balak natui'ally regarded a place dedi- 
 cated to one of his chief idols as most appropriate for 
 his object ; for as yet he was totally ignorant of the 
 deity in whose name the prophecies were to be uttered ; 
 he simply relied upon Balaam's art and skill, and no 
 doubt believed he was materially assisting him by the 
 choice of a locality pre-eminently sacred and revered."^ 
 
 " C'omp. xxi. 28. 
 
PREPARATIONS. 1()1 
 
 From the tenour of the text, Bamoth-Baal seems to have 
 been in the immediate neighbourhood of Kirjath-huzoth, 
 where, the day before, the social feasts had been cele- 
 brated. It was probably one of the many elevations of 
 the chain of Attarus, from some of which it must have 
 been possible to see the extreme divisions of the Hebrew 
 army spreading from Abel-Shittim to Beth-jeshimoth, 
 almost to the point where the Jordan enters the Dead 
 Sea.* The 'evil eye' in itself was considered to possess 
 terrible force, but in conjunction with imprecating 
 speech, it was deemed irresistible.^ When Elisha heard 
 the children mocking him, ' he turned back and looked 
 on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord.''^ 
 Democritus contended that 'from the eyes issue images 
 {elSoiXa), which are neither without sensation nor with- 
 out volition, and are filled with the wickedness and 
 malice of those from whom they proceed ; imprinting 
 themselves firmly upon the person to be enchanted, they 
 become a part of him, and disturb and injure both his 
 body and mind.''^ It would be needless to dwell on the 
 great importance of the eye in all systems and doctrines 
 of emanation. From the eye of Brahman, the supreme 
 god, the sun was, by the Hindoos, supposed to have 
 sprung. That from the eyes of Ra or Horus, the good 
 things, from the eyes of Set or Typhon the noxious 
 things are produced, was a common Egyptian belief fre- 
 quently alluded to in the papyri ; and we read not only 
 that 'from the eyes of Ra mankind proceeded,' or that 
 
 " Supra, p. 77; comp. xxi. 19, 
 20. 
 
 b Comp. P/iti. Nat. Hist, xxviii. 2. 
 
 -= DXT1, 2 Ki. ii. 2-i. 
 
 ■* ^vvotKovvra toIq (iactKaivoii'i- 
 j/otc, fTTtraparrftv Kai kukovv uu- 
 raiv TO TS (Twfia Kai Tqv Sidvoiav ; 
 riutarch, Sympos. Y. vii. 6; comp. 
 •^^ 3, at uiptig . . . oicnrtp Trfcpapfiay- 
 
 fiiva ^fXi] TTpoTrlTTTOjaiv K.r.X.; simi- 
 larly Hcliodor iii. 7 ; iv. 5 ; comp. 
 Tirg. Eel. iii. 103, Nescio quia 
 teneros occulus mihi fascinat agnos ; 
 Pers. ii. 33, 34, urentes oculos inhi- 
 bere perita; Plin. Nat. Hist. vii. 
 2, esse, qui visu quoque efFascinent 
 interimantque . . . iratis praecipue 
 oculis etc. ; GcU. ix. 4, etc. 
 
162 NUMBERS XXII. 41-XXIII. 6. 
 
 'the eye of Ra subdues the wicked,' but the powerful 
 king Ramses II. is, on the Luxor obelisk, glorified as 
 'the precious egg of the sacred Eye, emanation of the 
 king of the gods.'^ 
 
 It is remarkable that when the direct execution of Balak's 
 scheme is finally approached, Balaam's passive conduct 
 suddenly ceases. He acts as vigorously and resolutely 
 as is at all compatible with his mission. He makes 
 every necessary arrangement with precise determination. 
 He is now the prophet of Jahveh and directs in His 
 name. He is not Balak's servant, but his master and 
 guide. With great decision he requests the king, 'Build 
 for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven 
 bullocks and seven rams.' With conscious distinctness 
 he separates himself from the heathen king. The altars 
 and the sacrifices are not meant for Balak's idols, but for 
 Balaam's God. Moreover, both altars and sacrifices are 
 to be signalised by that holy number which is to the 
 Hebrews the emblem of oath a^d covenant ; which, like 
 a golden thread, runs through all their sacred insti- 
 tutions and festivals, from the weekly Sabbath to the 
 Year of Jubilee ; which pervades and rules all their 
 laws of purity and atonement ; and which, divested 
 from its merely cosmical character, soon obtained a pro- 
 foundly religious significance.*^ Not easily, therefore, 
 could a better means have been devised for carrying us 
 directly into the very centre of Hebrew conceptions, 
 than the systematic introduction of seven altars and 
 seven animals. When David brought the Ark of the 
 Covenant to Je]-usalem with all possible solemnity and 
 rejoicing, the Levites 'offered seven bullocks and seven 
 rams.''' When the pious king Hezekiah purified the 
 Temple and its vessels, he presented a sacrifice consist- 
 
 * Comp. Com. on Gen. p. 58 ; | ^ See Comm. on Exod. p. 44& ; 
 Rec. of the I'ast, ii. 131, 132; iv. on Lev. ii. pp. 207, 534, etc. 
 23, etc. I c 1 Chron. xv. 26. 
 
PREPARATIONS 
 
 163 
 
 ing of 'seven bullocks and seven rams, and seven lambs 
 and seven he-goats.'" And in one of the ripest works of 
 Hebrew literature, God Himself ordered the friends of 
 Job to offer 'seven bullocks and seven rams,' in expiation 
 of the sin they had committed by their unjust accusa- 
 tions of the sufferer.'' As the desired prophecies relate 
 to the destinies of Moab, the king must indeed have a 
 share in the preparatory sacrifices ;'' but that share is 
 altogether subordinate. Everything that is essential pro- 
 ceeds from Balaam. He gives all instructions ; he says to 
 God, 'I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered 
 upon every altar a bullock and a ram ;''^ he exercises the 
 sacerdotal functions — he is both priest and prophet. 
 
 The animals chosen testify to the importance of the 
 occasion. The bullock was the victima maxima em- 
 ployed for the most solemn purposes, such as the expia- 
 tion of the anointed High-priest or the community of 
 Israel; and next to it the ram was the most valued 
 victim appointed for the holocaust or thank-offering of 
 the whole people and its chiefs.^ 
 
 The simple and faithful narrative implies collaterally 
 the most interesting hints and inferences. The author 
 describes sacrifices presented to Jahveh, the God of 
 Israel. Who presents them ? where are they offered ? 
 and with what rites ? They evidently bear, in every 
 respect, the character of patriarchal sacrifices, which were 
 performed by any person at any place, such as were per- 
 formed by Samuel and David and Solomon, and many 
 others before and after them, unrestrained by levitical or- 
 dinances enjoining a single central sanctuary and hallow- 
 ing a single priestly family with exclusive privileges. 
 
 » 2 Chron. xxix. 21. 
 
 *> Job xlii. 7. In an Accadian 
 Psalm, which must have been writ- 
 ten prior to the 17th century B.C., 
 we read: '0 my God, seven times 
 seven are my transgressions ; ' comp. 
 
 Matt, xviii. 22 ; Records of the 
 Past, vii. 155. « Ver. 2. 
 
 d Ver. 4. 
 
 « Comp. Comm. on Lev. i. pp. 
 82, 83. 
 
 f See Coram, on Lev. i. pp. 14 .i/jg. 
 
KU ' NUMBERS XXII. 41 XXIII. G. 
 
 Let it not be argued that it is the Mesopotamian 
 Balaam Avho directs and carries rmt the rites ; for tlie 
 author makes Balaam throughout speak and act like a 
 Hebrew, like a most pious, a most gifted and most 
 favoured Hebrew. He would have shrunk from letting 
 him offer, on the 'heights of Baal,' sacrifices to Jahveh, 
 if, at his time, the rigid injunctions of the levitical 
 legislation had existed."' Every single feature of the 
 narrative points to the fresh and vigorous time of 
 David's reign. 
 
 However, Balaam's independent proceedings are strictly 
 confined to his intercourse with Balak. In his relations 
 to God he remains, as he was before, submissive and self- 
 denjdng ; he is the master of Balak, only because he is 
 the servant of God. After the almost imperious com- 
 mands given to the king, he dwells again on those rela- 
 tions with a decision deriving a new grace from the 
 meekness with which it is blended. For although he 
 had frequently before received Divine communications, 
 he is far from the pride of expecting them again with 
 certainty. He is aware that he must entirely rely on a 
 higher mercy and wisdom : 'I will go,' he said, 'perhaps 
 the Lord may come to meet nie.'^ He has at once the 
 firmness inspired by the consciousness of great and 
 unselfish aims, and the modesty arising from the know- 
 ledge of human dependence and weakness. The ' ele- 
 ments are so mixed in him,' as they are only in the 
 greatest and rarest characters. 
 
 And how does he await his inspiration ? Not amidst 
 the excitement of din and tumult, not in impetuous 
 phrenzy sure to be followed by exhaustion, nor by in- 
 toxication of the senses paralysing clearness of mind ; 
 but 'he went to a solitude,' into silent nature, to be 
 uplifted by her grandeur and infinitude, and in quiet 
 concentration to commune with his God, who is not in 
 
 * See supm, p. 17. '' Ver. 3; p. 106. 
 
['1{K1'.\1!ATI()XS. !().') 
 
 the roaring 'tempest rending mountains and shattering 
 rocks,' but in the 'still small voice,' that speaks and is 
 intelligible to none but the pure-minded.'' 'And God 
 met Balaam.''' How did He meet him ^ This is the 
 secret of the prophetic writer to whom we owe this 
 precious composition. It is the secret of all those great 
 men who came forward and were acknowledged as pro- 
 phets. It is the one questionable problem, the solution 
 of which concerns alike the depths of psychology and 
 the history of religion, and which can never be solved 
 without due regard to the character of eastern nations 
 and of those remote ages. But so much is certain, that 
 'God met Balaam' precisely as He met a Gad or Nathan, 
 an Elijah or Eli.sha, an Isaiah or Jeiemiah — not enticed 
 by spells and enchantments and magic arts, but appear- 
 ing spontaneously and graciously, in order to reveal to 
 His elected organ utterances concerning His elected 
 people. Calm even in this solemn moment, Balaam 
 simply stated the facts, not as if he desired to make to 
 God new communications, for he referred to 'ihe seven 
 altars' as well known to God, but in order to express 
 that he had done all that devolved upon himself He 
 had offered, he said, the sacrifices most acceptable to 
 God by their character and number : they were holo- 
 causts,^ typifying God's absolute sovereignty as Ruler 
 of nations and individuals ; and they consisted of twice 
 seven of the most valued animals presented on seven 
 altars, by which Balaam meant to intimate — for this is 
 the symbolical meaning of seven as theocratic number — 
 that, as far as lay in himself, he had earnestly striven to 
 rise up to God in thought and feeling. But he does not 
 even now prefer a request. He goes to meet God, God 
 meets him, and he declares what he has done : whether 
 he is to receive a prophetic insj^iration, this he leaves, 
 without eagerness or solicitude, to God's wise decision, 
 
 » See p. 19. " Ver. 4. <= nVV vers. 3, G. 
 
166 NUMBERS XXII. 41 -XXIII. 6. 
 
 As a free act of mercy God puts words into his mouth, 
 and bids him announce them to Balak, who is to hear 
 the Divine message to his dismay and punishment. The 
 king awaits the prophet's return, standing by his sac- 
 rifices, in order that their connection with Balaam's 
 speeches may remain manifest; and he waits 'with all the 
 princes of Moab,' because those speeches do not concern 
 him alone, but his whole land and people. 
 
 Philological Eemahks. — We are unable more accurately 
 to ascertain the position of Bamoth-Eaal (comp. Hengstenb. 
 Bil., pp. 238-243): the statement of Josephus (Ant. IV. vi. 
 4) that the height ' was distant sixty stadia from the Hebrew 
 camp,' is, of course, mere conjecture ; but it suffices to un- 
 derstand some elevation north of Kureydt, from which it was 
 possible to survey the land up to the southern extremity of the 
 Jordan. — In accordance with the explanations above given 
 is the remark of Philo (Vit. Mos. i. 50), that on that hill ' a 
 pillar had been erected to some deity, which the natives of 
 the country were accustomed to worship ' ; comp. Sept. avefti- 
 (iaaiv avTov lirl rrji' aTi]Xqv tov BaaX, — Cyn nVp 'a part of the 
 people,' in contradistinction to the * whole people' (xxiii. 13; 
 Sept., ixlpoc Ti rod Xaov ; Vulg., extremam partem, etc. ; but 
 incorrectly Litth., De Geer, Gesen., Kurtz, Baumgart., and 
 others, ' universum populum usque ad extreraitates ejus,' ' bis 
 zu Ende des Volkes,' or, ' das Volk von einem Ende bis zum 
 andern, das ganze Yolk ;' comp. Gen. xix. 4 ; xlvii. 2, and 
 Comm. in locc. ; see Jer. xii. 12). — Jewish tradition considers 
 that the seven altars of Balaam were intended to recall the 
 altars previously erected by seven pious men : by Adam, 
 Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses {Midr. Rabb. 
 Num. XX. 8 ; comp. Jiasin in loc.) ; but the number seven 
 has, in this passage, a much deeper import than that of an 
 historical analogy, and it is not confined to the altars, but 
 extends to the sacrificial animals. Some modern expositors, 
 on the other hand, Argus-eyed in their suspicions, find that 
 ' Balaam's directions with reference to the mystical nimiber 
 seven, savour strongly of the tricks of magic and incanta- 
 
PRKPARATFONS. 167 
 
 tion ' (conip. Kdher Toruh, D^nTJ-Dn ny^'J-'p nir'p ; Deyling, 
 Obss. iii. 112; Dathe, Kit to, Beard, Lanje, who calls the 
 sacrifice 'a sordid union between paganism and monotheism, 
 between yes and no,' and others). Yet those expositors 
 would be the last to declare the Hebrew laws and writings 
 as mystical or as savouring of magical tricks on account of 
 their being saturated with the same number (comp. Virg. 
 -S]n. vi. 38, 39, 'Nunc grege de intacto septem mactare 
 juvencos Prsestiterit, totidem lectas de more bidentes.' On 
 Assj'rian monuments the sacrifice of seven animals is not 
 rarely mentioned ; comp. Records of the Past, i. 99 ; iii. 136, 
 143, etc.). Ebn Ezra, on the other hand, finds here again 
 ' deep mysteries, which but few are able to fathom ' ; and 
 Maimonides believes that the number seven prevails because 
 it is the intermediate cycle between the solar day and the 
 lunar month (comp. Bechai on xxiii. 4; see also Aharban. in 
 loc). — Even Balaam's most inveterate detractors, with few 
 exceptions, do him the justice to admit that the offerings 
 were presented to the Grod of Israel and ' not to the Moabite 
 idols, which, in the whole of this matter, are out of the 
 question ' {Hengsiienherg, Bil., p. 69, and others ; comp., how- 
 ever, Origen, In Num. Homil. xv. 1 ; xvii. 1, culpabilis est 
 Balaam, cum sedificat aras et victimas imponit daemoniis et 
 aparatu magico poscit divina consulta ; Corn, a Lnpid. on 
 ver. 5, septem aras exstruxit ij)si Baal, eique victimas immo- 
 lavit, and others). But the fact itself of offering sacrifices 
 as a preliminary to the anticipated revelations, should not 
 be made a subject of reproach to the seer, as if ' the lower 
 the grade of prophetism is, the more it stands in need of 
 extraneous aids and auxiliaries.' To the ancient world sacri- 
 fice was the chief form and element of divine worship, and 
 was deemed indispensable in all solemn or important emer- 
 gencies of life ; among the Hebrews, in particular^ it re- 
 placed, rather than accompanied, prayer and praise ; it was, 
 down to the latest periods, recommended by their noblest 
 and most enlightened teachers, provided it was rendered 
 acceptable by purity of heart and life ; and it is by the pro- 
 phets retained even in their pictures of the future golden or 
 Messianic times (comp. Isa. Ivi. 7 ; Zechar. xiv. 20, 21, etc. 
 
108 NUMBERS XXII. 41 -XXIII. 0. 
 
 and so Maimcmides, Hilch. Melacli. xi., '31 m23"lp p3"'")pD; see 
 svpra,Y>.\l] Comm. on Levit. i. pp. 14 s^f/., 50s^g.). Balaam's 
 sacrifices had no other object than to prove and to enhance 
 that purity ; they were neither meant ' to change the mind 
 of the Almighty,' nor to serve as an assistance to his prophe- 
 cies ; if this had been his intention, he would have awaited 
 the inspiration at the altars, and would not have sought 
 it in a solitude. The analogies, therefore, which have 
 been adduced, especially from Hindoo visages, though in- 
 teresting, are not applicable to Balaam's proceedings. We 
 learn that before a king goes forth to battle, seven altars are 
 placed in front of the temple "devoted to the goddess of the 
 royal family (Veerma-kali) ; seven, fourteen, or twenty-one 
 victims (buffaloes, rams, or cocks) are killed, and their car- 
 cases thrown into burning pits, near to the altars, with 
 prayers and incantations ; and then the priest, after having 
 burnt incense in the temple, ' takes a portion of the ashes 
 from each hole, and throwing them in the direction of the 
 enemy, pronounces upon them the most terrible impreca- 
 tions ' (Paxton, Illustrations, ii. 299; JZitto on ver. 1, etc.). 
 Of the whole of this ceremony the sprinkling of the ashes is 
 evidently the most essential part ; but it is in our narrative 
 never hinted at, which is the more decisive against the ana- 
 logy, as the imprecation of enemies was Balak's only object 
 in employing Balaam's services. It is, therefore, surely un- 
 just to mix up the king and the prophet in suggestions like 
 this : ' sometimes the one only, sometimes both together, are 
 seen striving to overpower the voice of conscience and of 
 God with the fumes of sacrifice ' {Stanley, Jewish Church, i. 
 190). Neither in religion nor in morals Balaam had any- 
 thing in common with the heathen and obdurate monarch. 
 But what did Balaam do in the solitude ? This question has 
 engaged the zeal of a hundred writers, and as it is not an- 
 swered in the text, it has afforded to many another welcome 
 opportunity of accusing Balaam of the darkest paganism and 
 the basest juggleries. They described him as the type of 
 a lying augur, and ransacked classical and unclassical anti- 
 quities to paint the hideovisness of the contemptible tribe of 
 soothsayers, among whom they assigned to Balaam a fore- 
 
PREPARATIONS. 169 
 
 most rank. How greatly tliey thus wronged the author, we 
 have shown above. Can he be supposed to represent the God 
 of Israel as inspiring exalted and far-reaching prophecies in 
 connection with, nay, as the result of, the meanest of heathen 
 sorceries and imijositions ? (About 2^tJ'n3, xxiv. 1, see pp. 
 19-21, and notes on xxiii. 25-xxiv. 2). — The article implied in 
 naTJSZl (vers. 2, 4) has distributive meaning, on each altar (and 
 BO in vers. 4, 14, 30 ; see Gram. § 83. 6 ; Onlel, ^^'^'^P ^"^'^V ; 
 Luth., je auf einem Altar, etc. ; but Sept., inaccurately, kni 
 TOP j3iofi(jv ; Vulg., super aram, though in xxiii. 30 per singu- 
 las aras, etc.). — n^i^ in Niphal (vers. 3, 4, 15, 16) is to meet, 
 as in Exod. iii. 18 ; v. 3, where the same verb is employed 
 ■with reference to God ' meeting' Moses and Aaron ; nor does 
 it here imply the notion of chance, as if * God's revelation 
 came to Balaam, who was no true prophet, merely by acci- 
 dent' (mpD "l"n, Nachman., Aharban., Mendelss., and others). — ■ 
 n^, used as a relative pronoun, is like TJ'S occasionally pre- 
 ceded by the construct state (1?"^; see Gram. §§lxxx. 11 ; 87.8./.). 
 "•pV' signifies, etymologically, a bare or waste sj)ot, from i^?^*, 
 kindred to Hli:', to be equal or even (comp. Isa. xiii. 2, "in 
 nStJO, a hare mountain, covered with no trees or shrubs ; Job 
 xxxiii. 21 l-eri): Balaam went to a solitary place that he 
 might not be disturbed in his attention nor miss the Divine 
 voice when it came. It may be that ''S^ is more frequently 
 a bare height or hill (Isa. xli. 18; Jer. iii. 2, 21; vii. 29; 
 xii. 12 ; xiv. 6), though this is by no means uniformly the 
 case (Isa. xlix 9; Jer. iv. 11); but supposing even that ^S?-' 
 implies such a notion in this passage (so R. Jonah b. Gannach, 
 Hbn Ezra, Kimchi, Abarban., Mendelss., and many others), 
 although then the verb would hardly be j?^) but bv) (comp. 
 xxii. 41), that would be no cogent reason for assuming that 
 Balaam, as heathen augurs did, went out to watch for 
 'remarkable phenomena of nature ' or 'important signs,' as 
 thunder, lightning, or the rainbow ; for applying to him the 
 whole vocabulary of Greek and Eoman divination, of rEpara 
 and (T)]/.iaTa, ouoyoTroXot; and f.iai'TiQ, of auguria and auspicia, 
 lituus, auguraculum and tesca ; and for insisting that, veiling 
 his head and turning to the east, he practised all the arts 
 and tricks usually performed on elevations. The Temple of 
 
170 NUMBERS XXII. 41-xxni. 6. 
 
 Jenisalem, no less than the most famous heatlien temples, 
 stood on a hill; and so constantly did the Hebrews worship 
 on heights, that among neighbouring nations it was currently 
 said, ' A God of mountains is Jahveh and not a God of valleys' 
 (1 Ki. XX. 23, 28; see Comm. on Lev. i. pp. 372, 373). If 
 the narrative shows Indeed a ' significant mixture of Hebrew 
 and heathen notions of religion' {Keil), that mixture is signi- 
 ficant not in reference to Balaam, but the Hebrews. The 
 older translations of ^3K' are extremely divergent and very 
 few rest on a safe foundation. Closest to the correct meaning 
 is Onkelos, who has ''IT^], alone or loneI>/, though "'Dl^ is a noun 
 (so Abarban., IDIDJO ; Zum, einsam ; Bunsen, allein): Ewald 
 (Jahrbiich. x. pp. 46-49, 178), after having defended this inter- 
 pretation with the utmost earnestness, finally abandons it in 
 favour of the casual conjecture 'he went out to espy' viz., 
 auguries, tracing nSL*' to nsv, for which connection, he ad- 
 mits, there is no foundation in Hebrew and no analogy in 
 the kindred dialects. Rashi adds the secondary notion of 
 quietness or silence (npTlC^' N?X IDi? pXC' ; compare Syr. n''X''£E^, 
 Saad., and others), probably following the Targ. Jerus., which 
 here, as in Gen. xxii. 8, renders ''^^ 3^^ 'with tranquil 
 mind,' which translation, resulting from repeated metaphors, 
 swerves considerably from the right path, yet not so much as 
 the interpretation ' with contrite or humbled heart ' (niia 
 mac's. Rabbi Jehudah quoted by Kimchi, ^?^' being associated 
 with the Chaldee i^?'f, to crush or icear aivay; similarly Dathe, 
 anxious, etc.). The Midrash also attributes to the word 
 the sense of calmness, and explains : ' Balaam intended 
 cursing Israel ; therefore, he lost that tranquillity of mind 
 which he had till then enjoyed, and was thenceforth uneasy 
 and troubled' (Ti03 ; Midr. Rabb. Num. xx. 8). But the 
 usual Talmudical exposition is lame (iJH) ; for Balaam is 
 asserted to have become so by the ass pressing his leg 
 against the vineyard wall (xxii. 25; Talm. Sanhedr. lOSa ,- 
 Rashbam, and others) ; he was, however, lame in one foot 
 only, while Samson, who in Jacob's last Address is compared 
 to a pS^?^, viper (Gen. xlix. 17), was lame in both feet 
 (Talm. Sot. \0a ; Sanh. 105a). Guided by this conceit, Targ. 
 Jonath. actually renders, 'And Balaam bent or crept like a 
 
Balaam's first speech. 171 
 
 serpent ' (N"'"l''nD pnj) ; and hardly less hazardous are some 
 other translations, as Sept. evOe'tav, the straight road ; Samar. 
 Vers. ID3D, * lurking ' (with which word it also expi-esses 
 |13*Dty in Gen. xlix. 17), i.e.., furtively going out after signs; 
 Vulg., velociter; Luth., eilend, etc. — The phrase, 'The Lord 
 put words into Balaam's mouth' (ver. 5), which, of course, 
 refers to the ordinary inspiration of prophets, has been 
 explained to mean that the words were put into Balaam's 
 mouth, not into his heart, so that he neither understood them 
 nor sympathised with their spirit (comp. Origen, In. Num. 
 Horn. xiv. 3, nunc autem, quoniam in corde ejus desiderium 
 mercedis erat et cupiditas pecuniae, etc. ; xv. 2, etc.). 
 
 8. Balaam's first speech, xxiii. 7 — 10. 
 
 7. And he took up his parable and said, 
 
 From Aram hath Balak brought me, 
 The king of Moab from the mountains 
 
 of tlie east : 
 Come, curse me Jacob, 
 And come, execrate Israel ! 
 8. How shall I curse, wJwm God doth not 
 
 curse 
 
 And how shall I execrate, ivhom the 
 Lord doth not execrate ? 
 9. For from the summit of the rocks I see 
 them, 
 
 And from the hills I behold them : 
 
 Lo, a people that dwelleth apart, 
 
 And is not reckoned among the nations. 
 10. Who counteth the dust of Jacob, 
 
 And by number the fourth part of 
 Israel ? 
 
 Let me die the death of the- righteous, 
 
 And be my end like them ! 
 
172 NUMBERS XXII I. 7-10. 
 
 Repose characterises Balaam's lofty oracles, as it dis- 
 tinguishes the plain narrative of the Book. But those 
 oracles are invested with the choicest attributes of ]ioetry, 
 and the sublime is genially blended with the beautiful. 
 They are, therefore, by the author designedly called 
 ' parables.' ** They have not the usual vehemence of 
 prophetic utterance ; they are not the oftspring of fervid 
 passion, but of lucid thought ; they are not spoken plena 
 ore but ore rotunda; they do not rush along in torrent- 
 like eloquence, but move with a quiet dignity, upheld by 
 their own inherent strength. The first speech in particu- 
 lar bears a character almost epic and idyllic. It seems 
 hardly to do more than describe, in the simplest form, 
 the actual facts and circumstances : but not less power- 
 ful than the impression produced by Judah's wonderful 
 address to Joseph, apparently likewise a mere recapitula- 
 tion, is the effect wrought by these measured words of 
 Balaam. Proceeding in unrestrained and natural grace, 
 they yet do not, for a moment, lose sight of their high 
 object ; and breathing the most peaceful harmony, they 
 yet point with irresistible weight to the grand struggle 
 that is being fought and decided. With magic force 
 they demolish the bulwarks of pride and stubbornness, 
 which Balak deemed invincible. The king of Moab is 
 compelled to learn that all his treasures are unavailing 
 even to make a friendly seer speak as he desires or 
 commands. He must hear, with growing distinctness, 
 that blessing and cUrse are in the hands of no prophet, 
 however famous and privileged, but in the power of 
 Jahveh alone — the God of his dreaded foes; and he must 
 be taught, and through him every heathen, that the 
 world is not a play of human caprice or selfishness, but 
 is governed by the uneiring laws of a Wisdom, wdiich is 
 iiideed abundant in mercy, but pours out this goodness 
 upon those oply who deserve it by their deeds and aims. 
 
 " 7L*'D vors. 7, 18, etc. 
 
BAI.AAM's T'IRST SPEEf'K. 17*5 
 
 I'ut Israel is worthy of tliis glorious (.listinction. They 
 are a righteous people (□""ittJ";) ; and as they excel all 
 other nations of the earth in virtue and piety, so they 
 are singular in the safe protection of their God. By His 
 grace they have become numerous as the dust of the 
 earth, of which no one would attempt to count even a 
 small portion. Through Him they enjoy the most pre- 
 cious prerogatives of spiritual enlightenment. All these 
 gifts and boons are b}^ Balaam but slightly touched 
 u])()n ; yet their mere remembrance moves him so sud- 
 denly, seizes him so powerfully, that he exclaims 
 Avith an abruptness that may seem surprising, ' Let me 
 die the death of the righteous, and be my end like 
 them ' ! — and thus concludes. A twofold lesson was to 
 be impressed upon the king of Moab : that it was a fatal 
 error to declare to Balaam, ' I know that he whom thou 
 cursest is cursed ' ; and that Israel cannot and must 
 not be cursed, because 'they are blessed.''' The prophet 
 summoned to execrate Israel wishes for himself no higher 
 felicity than to share the lot of that very nation. Shall 
 we more admire the consummate art which produces 
 such effects with the simplest means, or the wealth of 
 thought condensed in so small a compass ? For what is 
 it that Balaam's wish implies ? Nothing less than Israel's 
 entire theocratic and spiritual history. ' The people that 
 dwelleth apart ("T^^i^) and is not reckoned among the 
 nations,' is God's first-born son and His treasure. His 
 chosen and peculiar people, His turtle-dove and the flock 
 which He leads, the great, the wise, and the humble 
 nation, the beloved bride whom He has betrothed to 
 Himself for ever in mercy and faithfulness,^ and lastl}^, 
 as the culmination of all, ' the kingdom of priests and the 
 holy nation.' And the people of Israel are wise and 
 holy, because they have received God's laws and obey 
 them; they are great and powerful, living 'in safetj', 
 
 "■ 5XU. G, 12. ^ Hos. ii. 21, 22. 
 
17-t NUMBERS XXIII. 7-10. 
 
 alone/ because He is the shield of their help, and because 
 He 'pastures with His own staff the flock of His in- 
 heritance that dwelleth alone' in His favoured land.* 
 When, therefore, Balaam prays that his end may be like 
 that of the Israelites, he wishes that, similar to the 
 members of their great community — like Abraham, their 
 own chosen type and model — 'the rock whence they 
 were hewn ' — he may die ' in peace ' and ' full of years,''' 
 that, in the hour of death, he may look back upon an 
 existence blessed by security and rich in pious works, a 
 life ennobled by the knowledge of God and His protecting 
 love; and that he may leave behind a numerous and 
 happy posterity. 
 
 But if we enquire in history after 'the people that 
 dwelleth apart,' where is it to be found ? Perhaps no 
 people, certainly no Eastern people, kept itself so little 
 separate as the ancient Hebrews. From the earliest 
 times of their independence to the latest, they practised 
 all the superstitions and idolatries of the heathen. 
 From the earliest times to the latest, down to those of 
 Ezra and Nehemiah, they mixed by intermarriages with 
 every surrounding tribe, and so thoroughly did they 
 abandon their identity, that a part of them ceased to 
 understand the Hebrew tongue,*^ till at last the whole 
 nation spoke a foreign language, or adopted a mixed 
 dialect, in which a corrupted Hebrew formed a subordi- 
 nate element. 'The children of Israel,' we read in one 
 of the earliest Books, 'dwelt among the Canaanites, the 
 Hittites, and Amorites, the Perizzites, and Hivites, and 
 Jebusites, and they took theii" daughters to be their 
 wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served 
 other Gods.''^ And again, 'The people of Israel,' we read 
 
 " Deut. iv. 1-8 ; xxxiii. 28, 29 ; 
 Mif. vii. 14; see Comm. on Exod. 
 pp. 332, 333; on Lev. i. p. 398; on 
 Lev. ii. p. 184; etc. 
 
 '' Gen. XV. 15; xxv. 8; Isa. Ivii. 
 2; etc. 
 
 ■= Neh. xiii. 24. 
 ^ Judg. iii. 5, 6. 
 
Balaam's first speech. 175 
 
 in one of their latest records, 'and the priests and th« 
 Levites have not separated themselves from the (heathen) 
 people of the lands . . . for they have taken of their 
 daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the 
 holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of 
 those lands.'''' The picture drawn by the author of 
 Balaam's speeches is not the picture of the real but the 
 ideal Israel, and a prophet had a right to draw it. The 
 aspiration to be a 'special' and a holy people never died 
 or waned in Israel. At all times there were found 
 among them ardent men wdio fanned and fed the sacred 
 flame. However often the people sank, and however 
 deep, they were constantly regenerated by guides and 
 monitors rising from their own midst. The great goal, 
 though distant, never vanished from their eyes. It was 
 the Divine beacon brightly visible even in the most 
 intricate and most tortuous paths.'' 
 
 At last the time came when the Israelites really 
 'dwelt apart and were not reckoned among the nations;' 
 but it came in a manner which those great and God- 
 inspired men could neither foresee nor desire. Their 
 free and noble teaching was set aside to give way to 
 statutes which indeed separated the Hebrews from all 
 other nations like a brazen wall, but which separated 
 them also from their own glorious past and its spiritual 
 liberty, which replaced a living individuality, rich and 
 varied, by the lifeless monotony of an unchangeable 
 code ; and who can say how much this matchless pro- 
 phecy, misunderstood and narrowed, contributed to that 
 long and fatal isolation ? But how many and how great 
 revolutions must have preceded before a Persian magnate 
 could say of the Hebrews, 'There is a certain people 
 scattered abroad and dispersed among the nations . . . and 
 their laws are different from every people !'*" They had 
 
 " Ezra ix. 1, 2 ; see Comment, on I '' See supra, p. 36. 
 Lev. i. p. 367 ; ii- pp. 3.J-1-356. | "^ Esth. iii. 8. 
 
17G NUMBERS XXIII. 7-10, 
 
 ceased to 'dwell apart' in theii' own land, but so strange 
 were their ordinances and habits, their forms and cere- 
 monies, that the bond of sympath}'' between them and 
 the other nations was rent asunder, and that in a sense 
 very different from that intended by the author of these 
 prophecies — they 'were not reckoned among the nations.' 
 Nor will that bond be fully restored until they return — 
 and by the nobleness of their lives induce others to turn 
 — to the light and truth of their great prophets with an 
 unswerving devotion. 
 
 But in other points besides, the ideal character of this 
 speech is manifest. ' Who counteth the dust of Jacob, 
 and by number the fourth part of Israel ? ' — thus an 
 earnest patriot might proudly speak in the time of David, 
 when the Hebrew monarchy fairly promised to become 
 one of the powerful eastern empires, when, by that 
 king's brilliant conquests, it extended almost from the 
 Nile to the Euphrates,^ and when this large territory was 
 occupied by teeming and flourishing populations. But 
 soon came disruption, decline, and civil dissension, the 
 loss of subjected provinces, and at last the abduction of 
 ten tribes to Assyria— and then the Deuteronomist no 
 more compared the Hebrews so confidently with the dust 
 of the earth or the stars of heaven, but he declared 
 impressively, ' The Lord did not choose you, because you 
 are more numerous than any people, for you are the 
 fewest of all people, but because the Lord loved you.''' — 
 And again, in David's time, the religious leaders might still 
 cherish the hope that Israel would live as a ' righteous ' 
 people, rejoicing in justice and piety, and united in the 
 adoration of one incorporeal and all-pervading God. But 
 when generation after generation passed away, without 
 the incessant admonitions of zealous men bearing any 
 fruit; when, as Jeremiah again and again laments, the 
 
 " Conip. Gen. xv. IS; Ex. xxiii. I •> Deut. vii. 7; comp. i. 10; x. 
 31; Dent. xi. 24; 1 Ki. v. 1. | 22 ; xxviii. 62. 
 
BALAAMS FIRST SPEl'XJJf. 177 
 
 prophets, whom 'God sent from early morning-,''^ were 
 disregarded, shghted, and cruelly persecuted ; and an 
 ardent lover of his country was forced to exclaim, ' Who 
 is blind like My servant, and deaf as My messenger 
 (Israel) whom I have sent ?'** — then the same high-minded 
 writer of the seventh century felt bound to point, with 
 the utmost decision, to God's all-embracing scheme of 
 universal government as the inscrutable cause of Israel's 
 election, and to warn the people, ' Not on account of thy 
 piety and the righteousness of thy heart dost thou go to 
 possess the land of the Canaanites ; but on account of the 
 wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God drives 
 them out before thee.' For the Hebrew^s, he insists, are 
 a ' perverse and crooked,' a ' foolish and unwise ' people, 
 who 'waxed fat and rebelled, and forsook God who made 
 them.''^ Thus thoughtful men among the Hebrews con- 
 stantly laboured to explain and to justify the course of 
 history anew, when the old ideas and expectations proved 
 unsafe or fallacious. 
 
 Philological Remarks. — The whole of this composition, 
 as we need not prove again, is so peculiar, that analogies 
 should be applied with the greatest caution. No other pro- 
 phecj^ in the Old Testament is caEed 7?f'9> which word, 
 properly 'simile,' is exclusively used of the metaphorical 
 diction of poetry or of proverbial wisdom (Ps. xlix. 5 ; Ixxviii. 
 2; Isa. xiv. 4; Ezek. xvii. 2; Mic. ii. 4; Job xxvii. 1; Prov. 
 i. 1, etc.; comp. Num. xxi. 27, i^Yp'9> etc.; Luzzatto, proferi 
 la sua poesia). Yet Balaam's speeches are none the less true 
 prophecy because they are at the same time the finest 
 poetry. Their difference, in form, from all other prophetic 
 oi-ations is sufficiently accounted for by the circumstance that 
 no other prophet had to accomplish so peculiar a task as 
 Balaam (see p. 63) ; and it seems almost to pass beyond the 
 boundaries of fair interpretation, to explain that difference 
 by the assumption that ' Balaam had only the donum, not the 
 
 ' m'Pw'l DZ'Cn '• Isai. xlii. 18. <= Dent. ix. 5, 6; xxxii. o, fi, lo. 
 
L7>S NUMBERS XXIII. 7-10. 
 
 ■iminus propheticuia, and that he had around him no congrega- 
 tion which he could have improved, even if he had desired 
 it' {Hengstenb., Bil., p. 79; Keil, Num., p. 310). For whom 
 ax^e all these beautiful utterances intended ? Were they not 
 meant for the instruction and elevation of the great and 
 living community of Israel, which in the author's time acted 
 and advanced with unprecedented vigour ? — Bishop Lowth 
 (Saor. Poes., Pj'sel, xx.) thus characterises the arrangement of 
 Balaam's prophecies : ' Eleganti inchoantur exordio, rerum con- 
 tinuatione et serie decurrunt, et perfecta demum conclusione 
 plene absolvuntur.' Our preceding observations will prove that 
 we agree as fully with this remai'k as with the same divine's 
 general estimate of the poetical value of these compositions, of 
 which he says : ' Nihil habet Poesis Hebrtea in ullo genere 
 limatius aut exquisitius ' {ihid. ; comp. Prtiel. iv., xviii). We 
 are not aware that bias, through so many centuries, misled 
 any interpreter so far as to disparage the peerless beauty of 
 Balaam's speeches ; this was reserved — it might appear in- 
 credible — to an expositor of our own time, who considers 
 that those oracles ' are more rich in pathetic forms than in 
 matter, and that the images are crowded, sometimes obscure, 
 and redundant' (so Lange, Bibelwerk, ii. 315). — It is evident 
 that P^|l (in ver. 7) should be provided with a distinctive ac- 
 cent, which, as our translation shows, establishes a good 
 parallelism (comp. xxiii. 18; Gren. iv. 23, etc.); the order of 
 the words in both hemistichs is then ' chiastic,' and the verb 
 ^?D^! is in the second part to be supplied again from the 
 first. For the utterances of Balaam are remarkable for an 
 exemplary parallelism. This consists all but uniformly of 
 two members mostly synonymous, more rarely antithetical 
 (xxiv. 9i, 20), and occasionally synthetic, whether in two 
 parts (xxiii. 20, 22, 236; xxiv. 8a, l7c, 19, 23), or three, or 
 even four (xxiv. 4, 24) ; while, in one instance, it is thrice 
 synonymous (xxiv. 8J). — As the words mp mnio correspond 
 to D"iX"|?3^ tliey do not mean ' from the primeval mountains ' 
 (as in Deut. xxxiii. 15; comp. Gen. xlix. 26; Hab. iii. 6), 
 but 'from the mountains of the east' {Sept., kl opicor ('nr' 
 arnroXuii' ; VuJg., de montibus orientis, etc. ; comp. Dip )'*"IX 
 or mp 'J3, Gen. XXV. 6; xxix. 1; Judg. vii. 12; also Isa. 
 
Balaam's first speech. 179 
 
 ii. G), as Mesopotamia (2"!^ or ^IID,^, ^1^, Dent, xxiii. o ; 
 comp. Num. xxii. 5), lying east of Moab, although, on the 
 ■whole flat and abounding in vast plains, is not without con- 
 siderable mountain elevations, especially in the northern 
 districts, into which the extensive ranges of Armenia reach 
 (comp. Ainsworth, Researches in Assyria, pj). 79 sqq. ; Ritter, 
 Erdkunde, xi., pp. 438, 585, 726, 957, etc.). It is, moreover, 
 interesting to notice that the Assyrian Inscription of Eim- 
 mon-Nirari, found on a pavement slab from Nimroud, men- 
 tions 'the Temple of Kharsak-Kurra,' -which signifies 'the 
 mountains of the east,' supposed to denote the highlands of 
 Elam, the original abodes of the Aecadai or Babylonians 
 (comp. Records of the Past, i. p. 4 ; see also the ' Annals of 
 Assur-Nasir-pal,' I.e. iii. 66, ' at the mountains over against 
 the Euphrates I halted,' etc. ; the Black Obelisk Inscription, 
 B., line 29, ' To mount Amanus I went up,' etc). That ' the 
 mountains of the east ' are meant as a contrast to ' the summit 
 of the rocks ' and the ' hills ' of Moab, on which Balaam was 
 then standing (ver. 9), is as little probable as the idea that 
 those words emphasize the great distance from which Balak 
 had called the seer, and yet to no purjjose. The transparency 
 and calmness of Balaam's words do not favour the search for 
 such hidden and artificial allusions, and ' the mountains of 
 the east' are simply a poetical description or periphrasis of 
 ' Aram.'— -About nnx see on xxii. 6.— nroyj, for nrpn or noV'T 
 (fut. cytN*, ver. 9), as n^i;n (Judg. vi. 28) for nbyri; see 
 Gram. §§ xvi. A.h; xxxix. 4. a. — The poetical verb DVT, whatever 
 its primary meaning (probably, to foam at the mouth ; comp. 
 Engl, scam, Germ. Schaum, etc.), has commonly the sense of 
 speaking attgrihj (Zech. i. 12; Isa. Ixvi. 14; Prov. xxii. 14; xxv, 
 23; Dan. xi. 30), and then, with an easy transition (comp. Mai. 
 i. 4), that of cursing (used parallel with "IIX and a2p, vers. 7, 
 8; Prov. xxiv. 24; Mic. vi. 10; Sept., iiriKarupaaui; Vulg., 
 detestare; Luth.,xiioYQ weakly 'schilt,' and &im.\\div\y Hengstenb., 
 ' bedraue,' etc. ; Turg. Jon., "T'l^T, make small or diminish ; 
 Targ. Onk., '^''']^, expel or remove). It is, as in this passage, 
 mostly construed with the accusative (hence also the passive 
 forms Qi^p and 2-iyT, angered, cursed; Prov. xxii. 14 ; xxv. 23; 
 Mic. vi. 10), rarely \\i(\i % (Deut. xi. 30). — -3;^ (ver. 8), for 
 
180 XTTMBERS xxni. 7-10. 
 
 ')2p_ (comp. Gramm. § xxx. 1), tlie relative Ti'X being omitted 
 in both parts of the verse, and in the second part the 
 suffix of the personal pronoun also (Q^t). — Balaam's excla- 
 mation, 'How shall I curse, whom God doth not curse,' etc. 
 (ver. 8), refers indeed, in the first instance, to the Hebrews, 
 whom, as being blessed by God, he must not execrate ; yet 
 it bears a general application, and Balaam does not hint that, 
 in other cases, he is well able to pronounce an effectual 
 curse, even against the will of God (comp. xxii. 18; xxiii. 
 12; xxiv. 13): the poet chooses individual and concrete 
 illustrations, even if he means to convey a general idea ; it 
 would be strange if he were to make a vague and comjjre- 
 liensive declaration when he has one particular instance in 
 view. How unjust, therefore, is Calvin's assertion: ' Interea 
 se potentia ilia abdicat, qua ipsum excellere persuasus fuerat 
 Balaam ! ' Where does Balaam express or insinuate this 
 conviction? — '3 (ver. 9) must be understood in its ordinary 
 causal meaning (not as indeed or tvhen). Balaam says, he 
 cannot curse Israel, for they are a remarkable people, dwel- 
 ling apart, etc. ; the words 'D1 D''"i:; D'SID are inserted for the 
 poetical description of the scene and the Hebrew hosts, and the 
 sense is : for the people I see from these heights is one that 
 dwelleth apart, etc. — From our general comments it will be 
 clear, that the remark, ' non de virtute populi, sed tantum de 
 benedictione Dei agitur ' [Calvin and others), is but partially 
 correct : the au.thor means indeed to intimate that the He- 
 brews have been elected by the grace and favour of God, but 
 he also says distinctly that they are a people of D''Tr"''. (ver. 
 10; comp. ver. 21), which term ought not, for the sake of a 
 deep-rooted prejudice, to be strained to signify 'recti vocan- 
 tur Israelitoe non propria rectitudine, sed Dei beneplacito, qui 
 eos dignatus fuerat segregare ab immundis gentibus.' - And 
 again, the words that the Hebrews 'dwell apart' (Tl??), etc., 
 have indeed the immediate or literal sense that they are 
 living in safe and retired seclusion, exempt from violent 
 changes and foreign interference (comp. Judg. xviii. 7, 10, 
 27 ; Hos. viii. 9 ; Jer. xlix. 31 ; Ps. iv. 9 and Hupfeld in 
 loc.) ; but they have, besides, the figurative and deeper im- 
 port, that the Hebrews are a ' special ' or ' peculiar ' people 
 
]5ALAAMS FIRST SPEECH. 181 
 
 (npJD) among all the nations of tlio eartli, wliom God bore on 
 eagles' wings and brought to Himself (Exod. xix. 4, 5 ; Deut. 
 vii. 6; xiv. 2; xxvi. 18; Ps. cxxxv. 4; Isa. xli. 8; xliii. 1, 
 etc.). However, it would hardly bo correct to combine both 
 meanings in this way, that the Hebrews ' delighting only in 
 the knowledge and worslup of their God, prefer separating 
 themselves from all nations, in order to serve Him un- 
 disturbed,' and then to contend that 'this retirement of the 
 people, and this desire of securing above all their religion, 
 did not prevail before the ninth or eighth century, when the 
 political power of the kingdom declined in every way ' 
 {Ewald, Jahrb. viii. 25). Where does Isaiah, the great re- 
 presentative of that period, evince a desire of keeping the 
 Hebrews apart from all nations in the matter of religion ? 
 Does he not rather long for the time when Egypt and Assyria 
 will worship God in common with Israel, and will, like them, 
 be acknowledged as His inheritance ? (p. 35). Moreover, it 
 would be difficult to find, in the genuine parts of this section, 
 the slightest trace of a decline of political power ; it speaks, 
 on the contrary, throughout of strength and power and victory 
 (p. 56). And lastly, although the Hebrews are described as 
 the chosen and the pious peo^^le, they are yet as free from 
 tendencies of particularism as of hierarchy. — ^.^'[Tl? (ver. 9) 
 he is reckoned, the meaning of the Hithjiael being occasion- 
 ally that of the passive of Piel (Lev. xxv. 27, 50, 52), as 
 "issrin (1 Sam. ii. 14) to be expiated (see Gram. § xxxvii. 2. d; 
 Sept., XoyiadijcTETai ; Vidg., reputabitur ; Rashi, p^^^, etc.). — 
 The phrase, 'Who counteth the dust of Jacob?' ("iDy n3D"''D 
 3py% ver. 10) is a pregnant expression by no means sur- 
 prising in poetry, and means, 'Who can count (Onkel., ^'^''.^ 
 ^•19^?) the Israelites, who are like the dust that cannot be 
 counted?' It is indeed so natural that it certainly need not 
 be regarded as a reminiscence or intentional reproduction of 
 such prose passages as Gen. xiii. 16 or xxviii. 14, to which 
 the author is supposed to refer, and without which, it is 
 asserted, he could not have written this verse {Hengstenb., 
 Ewald, and others) : the dust of the earth and the sand on the 
 sea-shore (Gen. xxii. 17 ; xxxii. 13 ; Josh. xi. 4 ; Judg. vii. 12, 
 etc.), no less than the stars of heaven (Gen. xv. 5 ; xxii. 17 ; 
 
182 NUMBERS XXTII. 7-10. 
 
 Deut. X. 22, etc.), are common and obvious similes, denoting 
 a vast or infinite multitude. 'The enemy advanced with 
 men and horses numerous as sand,' we read on a papyrus 
 relating the war of Eamses II. with the Khitoi ; or, ' the 
 herds multiplied like the sands on the shore,' on the ' Great 
 Harris Papyrus' of Eamses III. ; and again, 'the worship- 
 pers in the temple' were 'numerous as the stars of heaven,' 
 on the Inscription of Tiglath-pileser I. (see Eec. of the 
 Past, ii. 68 ; v. 24 ; vi. 26. 33 ; viii. 9, etc.).— If ISppi is the 
 correct reading, and not "i?p ^J^-l (so Seiit., koX Hq apidfaiuErai ; 
 Samar. Vers., "'^no ^O) ; Saadiah ; Venema, and others), it may 
 either be taken absolutely as an adverbial accusative, acccrd- 
 ing to the number, y^lTIX being governed by ^JP, 'Who 
 counteth the dust . . . and by number the fourth part' ? (comp. 
 Gram. § 86. 4) ; or it may be considered to govern the accu- 
 sative S?2"TriN, as a nomen verbale preserving the force of the 
 verb from which it is derived, tlie numhering or the mmher of 
 the fourth part (comp. "in^^'p-JlX J?E^'."'.p, Habak. iii. 13, to the 
 help of thy anointed; see Gram. § Ixxxvii. 15; Luther, die 
 Zahl des vrerten Theils ; Mendelss., U^ o'psn "ilpn, etc.) : as 
 nJI.: has the more comprehensive meaning of preparing or 
 arranging (Isa. Ixv. 12 ; Sept., -Ic i^riKpif^uxTaTo), "I2DD, in con- 
 nection with it, is no tautology ; and we find, in fact, the 
 phrase "i?PP -^J? (Ps. cxlvii. 4). By vocalising "iSp'fl the 
 sense would grammatically be plain, but the diction would 
 not be poetical. Some old manuscripts omit riX and read 
 ")Sp?0 (see De-Rossi, Var. Lect. ii. 16), 'the number of the 
 fourth part,' which is evidently another attempt at rendering 
 the construction easier. — 'The fourth part (V?"!) of Israel' 
 means, doubtless, a small portion : who can count even a 
 fraction of Israel's hosts? though the number four does 
 not elsewhere occur with a similar force. Jewish tradition 
 found in that word an allusion to the four divisions in 
 which the encampment of the Hebrews was distributed, 
 during their journeys through the desert (Num. ii., x.), and 
 of which Balaam, from his position, saw only one, that of 
 Dan, which was hindmost (so lar-g. OnJcel. and Jonath. on 
 xxii. 41 and xxiii. 10, 13; Ebn Ezra, Bechai, Abarhan., and 
 others'", and this view has been adopted by nut a few 
 
p.alaam's first si'KKcir. 183 
 
 modern interpreters (as MichwL, Ji'osenm.., IIe)igstenb., Baum- 
 ffart., Keil, and others) ; but it has no better support than 
 another opinion of some Jewish scliolars who, tracing y?"i to 
 J?3"i in the meaning of begetting, render it by seed or /)0,<terifi/ 
 (Talm.mdd. 31a; RasJn, ^phl^ L•^^»L^•n^ 'p X^'VH yiT ; Saad., 
 and others), or identifying y?~i witli V?"!) in the sense of lying 
 down (Ps. cxxsix. 3), translate the camp (comp. Ebn JEzra in 
 loc. ; Zutiz, die Lagerstiitte), or than the conjecture that 
 instead of y?1"riX we should read ninTriX or n3"i the myriads 
 (Knobel), which plural occurs only in the latest Books, for 
 the earlier form is always riU2~l. — The word Q^l^"; righteous, 
 has liere almost the force and nature of a proper noun, and 
 thus coincides with ^'l"^t^'.'' (Deut. xxxii. 15 ; xxxiii. 26 ; comp. 
 jVDT), a poetical appellation of Israel, who are or should be 
 the L}>-}U'] or D'P'"=1V, KttT kloxnv (Ps. xiv. 5 ; Isa. xxvi. 2 ; 
 Ix. 21, etc.), as God Himself is 1?','1 P''=JV (Deut. xxxii. 4), 
 and who possess or should possess those qualities as inherent 
 characteristics. Thus, perhaps, the singidar of the suffix in 
 •inb3j though referring to '^"'")^':, may be accounted for, since 
 that suffix is hardly meant to point to ri'lD ; so that -inbl) 
 would stand pregnantly for in"'"insi3. There is no reason for 
 abandoning the usual and peculiarly appropriate meaning of 
 the term, and to explain D''1kJ''' as the happy, or the bmvc, like 
 the Greek ayadoQ, so that the 1k^V''^ -iQp (Josh. x. 13 ; 2 Sam. 
 i. 18) would be 'the Book of Heroes,' or of 'Songs of 
 Heroes' [Heider, Geist der ebr. Poes., ii. 180, 186) ; nor is it 
 possible to refer D''X'^ to 'the ancestors of Israel,' to whom 
 certainly the singular inD3 could not be applied (ver. 22 is 
 not analogous), or to restrict the sense to 'the righteous men 
 in Israel,' as in that term the whole people as a unity is 
 idealised. — Tl''"?ni!?, as the parallelism shows, is my end or 
 death {Vnlg., novissima mea, and others), not my jwsterity 
 (comp. Ps. xxxvii. 37, 38 ; cix. 13, etc.; Sept., to airipua fiov, 
 and others). — We have above described the probable scope 
 of Balaam's emj)hatic wish, * Let me die the death of the 
 righteous,' etc. It does not hint at the immortality of the 
 soul and a future life, which Balaam desires to share 
 [Cuzaii, i. 115; Bechai, Abarban., Michael., Mendelss., and 
 others), for all tiie blessings in these prophecies have refer- 
 
184 NUMBERS XXIII. 7-10. 
 
 ence solely to temporal happiness secured by piety and 
 God's favour (comp. H. Schultz, Alttest. Theol., ii. 399-401). 
 Nor does that exclamation point to 'the immortality of 
 Israel, founded on the eternal hopes that pervaded the 
 people' {Furst, Bibl. Liter., ii. 228), which idea is too 
 abstract for the time and the context. But how utterly 
 unwarranted it is to connect Balaam's allusion to his own 
 death with his inglorious destruction in the Midianite war 
 (xxxi. 8), and to regard it as a dark foreboding prompted by 
 a guilt-laden conscience {Targ. Jon. and Jerus., Cleric, Heng- 
 stenh., and others), it would be unnecessary to explain again 
 in this place (see pp. 4-7). — In conclusion, it may be instruc- 
 tive briefly to glance at the manner in which this speech of 
 Balaam is rendered by Josephus (Ant. IV. vi. 4). Though 
 professing to furnish a literal reproduction of the prophecies, 
 he offers a copious paraphrase differing from the original in 
 every detail. Balaam speaks of ' the best institutions,' which 
 the Hebrews * leave to their better children,' of their perma- 
 nent possession of the land of Canaan, and of their great fame 
 filling earth and sea. He expresses wonder and admiration 
 that from one common ancestor should be descended such 
 large hosts, sufficiently numerous to people every j)art of tho 
 world, as they are destined to do. He praises their pros- 
 perity in peace and their glory in war, and expresses a wish 
 that their enemies may be infatuated enough to attack them 
 for their own unfailing annihilation. And then Josephus 
 continues : ' Thus Balaam spoke by inspiration .... moved 
 by the Divine spirit ' (o fxtv roiavra iTZiQda'Cev . . . . rw Qei(o 
 TvvevfiaTL TrpoQ aura KtKivriixivoQ). What were his sources? And 
 were they more authentic than the Hebrew Scriptures ? His 
 paraphrase is as much the product of fancy as the address 
 he puts in Balaam's mouth for causing the corruption of 
 the Hebrews (p. 25) ; and he consistently concludes this 
 section : ' These events have come to pass among the several 
 nations concerned, both in former ages and in this, until within 
 my own memory, both by sea and by land ' (I.e., § 5). For the 
 apiilication of prophecies invariably extends up to the inter- 
 preter's time. Analogous in character is Philo's account (Vit. 
 Mos. i. 50). 
 
185 
 
 9. EEMONSTEANCES AND NEW PREPARATIONS. 
 XXIII. 11 — 17. 
 
 11. And Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou 
 done to me ? I took thee to curse my enemies, 
 and beliold, thou hast blessed them indeed. 
 12. And he answered and said, Must I not take 
 heed to speak that which the Lord puts in my 
 mouth? 18. And Balak said to him. Come, I 
 pray thee, with me to another place, whence 
 thou mayest see them — only the extreme part of 
 them shait thou see, but shalt not see them all — 
 and curse me them from there. — 14. And he 
 brought him to the Field of Seers, to the toj) of 
 Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a 
 bullock and a ram on every altar. 15. And he 
 said to Balak, Stand as before by thy burnt- 
 offering, while I go to meet the Lord as before. 
 16. And the Lord met Balaam, and put words 
 in his mouth, and said. Go back to Balak, and 
 speak thus. 17. And when he came to him, 
 behold, he was standing by his burnt- offering, 
 and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak 
 said to him, What has the Lord spoken ? 
 
 Balak, hearing the prophet's words in amazement, con- 
 sidered them as nothing else but base treachery, as a 
 breach of that pledge which, in spite of repeated pro- 
 testations to the contrary, he thought was plainly in- 
 volved in Balaam's journey to Moab. As if he had been 
 grievously wronged and deceived, he exclaimed, ' I have 
 taken ' — that is, I have hired — ' thee to curse my enemies, 
 and behold, thou hast blessed them indeed 1 ' So bitter and 
 so violent is his vexation that, at the moment, he does not 
 
18G NUMBERS XXIII. 11-17. 
 
 even listen to Balaam's renewed declaration of absolute 
 dependence on God. He certainly does not deem it worth 
 a rejoinder. He is solely engrossed by his ardently 
 cherished plan. The first failure has not conquered but 
 stimulated his contumacy. ' Who is the Lord, that I 
 should listen to His voice ? ' Pharaoh stubbornly exclaimed. 
 Should a Balak, having once undertaken the daring 
 warfare against the God of Israel and His decrees, hope- 
 lessly abandon it without a further attempt >■. And yet, 
 in the midst of restless excitement, he seems to be seized 
 by doubt and apprehension. Balaam's words have pro- 
 duced a powerful effect upon his mind, however reluctant 
 he is to avow it. He indeed carries out every arrange- 
 ment for a second prophecy exactly as before. He 
 again — and now of his own accord — builds seven altars, 
 and presents on them twice seven victims like the first 
 time. He takes the same anxious precaution that Balaam 
 should on no account see the whole, but only a part of 
 Israel. He even chooses another place for the rites, and 
 fixes upon a locality which he hopes will prove more 
 auspicious. And yet, wdien he beholds Balaam returning 
 from his solitary contemplations, how does he receive the 
 prophet ? Not as the first time, silent and passive, but 
 with the impatient question, ' What has the Lord (mn'') 
 spoken ? ' Against his Avill the confession is wrung from 
 his lips, that he must expect his fate from the hand of 
 the God of the Hebrews, and that this God is not only 
 the Lord of His own chosen people, but of all the nations 
 of the earth. However, although he was impressed with 
 a sense of the 'power of this God, could he be expected 
 to understand His nature? Is it surprising that he 
 measured that nature by the standard of his own idols ? 
 He believed that, like these, Jahveh could, by new sacri- 
 fices, by reiterated ceremonies, and impetuous solicita- 
 tions, be moved to revoke His councils. ' Cry aloud,' 
 said Elijah to the priests of Baal, ' for he is a god, per- 
 
REMONSTRANCES AND NEW PREPARATIONS. 187 
 
 haps he is meditating or is engaged, or he is in a journey 
 or is asleep — that he may awake.'""^ Therefore Balak 
 courted the favour of the Hebrew God anew. His heart 
 and his thoughts had remained unchanged, yet he expected 
 that his destinies would be changed. But the author 
 skilfully uses the same means for two very different ends. 
 Balaam's second prophecy is intended to show at once 
 the tenaciousness of the desperate king, and the absolute 
 certainty of Israel's greatness. Pharaoh dieaming twice 
 a dream of the same import, is assured that it will 
 unfailingly and speedily be realised ;^ the same promises 
 are given to the patriarchs again and again, to prove that 
 they will be fulfilled under whatever conditions and 
 circumstances ; and thus our author unfolds his benedic- 
 tions of Israel in repeated strains, both to represent them 
 as irrevocable, and to enlarge by perceptible degrees 
 their depth and meaning. In equal proportions Balak's 
 <lefiance is broken and Israel's fortune glorified. 
 
 The notion that some localities are more favourable 
 for certain purposes than others is the natural correla- 
 tive of the habit of placing every object and event 
 under the influence of some special deity, spirit, or con- 
 stellation. The same idea was of course extended to 
 seasons, and even to names. When Abraham was to 
 begin a new^ life as the guardian and propagator of 
 Divine truth, he was bidden to leave Mesopotamia and 
 to settle in Canaan, surely not because the population of 
 this country was more accessible to the teachings of a 
 monotheistic creed, but because the country or the place 
 itself was, according to God's council, more adapted to 
 the end. Nearly all the laws of festivals in the Penta- 
 teuch are l)ased on the particular sanctity of certain 
 seasons — of the new and the full moons, of the seventh 
 days, weeks, and years. On the Assyrian monuments 
 we find constantly momentous enterprises recorded to 
 
 •' 1 Ki. xviii. 27. '' Gen. xli. 32; comp. Acts .\i. 10. 
 
188 
 
 NUMBERS XXIII. ll-T 
 
 have been carried out ' in a good month and a fortunate 
 day.''"^ Even the early history of the patriarchs ofiers 
 the most striking instances of change of names resorted 
 to at important epochs of life ; and in the Talmudical 
 times, when Babylonian and Persian influences prevailed 
 among the Jews more strongly than ever, it was still a 
 generally received principle that man's decreed destiny 
 is annulled not only by 'change of conduct,'*' but also 
 by change of name and even of place.'^ 
 
 In selecting the new spot for the sacrifices, the king 
 of Moab was guided by the same considerations as 
 before. He took Balaam to 'the Field of Seers''' — a 
 plain on one of the summits of Pisgah, which, as the 
 name indicates, was a well-known station used by the 
 prophets and diviners of the country for the exercise of 
 their avocations ; for Balak deemed his own holy places 
 particularly suitable for Balaam's speeches — so little had 
 he fathomed the God whose name he had learned, and 
 whose might he began to dread. The general position 
 of that 'Field' cannot be doubtful. The ridge of Pisgah, 
 a part of the mountain-chain of Abarim, stretches to 
 the north and east of Mount Attarus, on which was 
 Bamoth-Baal, the scene of the first prophecy.® The 
 'Field of Seers' must, therefore, have been in close 
 vicinity to Mount Nebo, which is likewise described as 
 'a summit of Pisgah,' and is only a short distance south- 
 
 ^ E.g., Annals of Assiir-bani-pal, 
 col. i., line 12; col. x., lines 60, 61; 
 Inscription of Esar-haddon, col. v., 
 line 27; Annals of Sargon sub fn.\ 
 Birs-Nimroud Inscription of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, col. ii., line 8 ; in fact, 
 in Accadian, ' festival ' is properly 
 ' blessed ' or ' fortunate day ; ' comp. 
 Records of the Past, i. 57, 101; iii. 
 120; vii. 55, 77, 159; also ii. 15; 
 see Ovid's Fasti passim. 
 
 <' Tabu. Rosh. Hash. 16 b, HplV 
 
 HL'-yrj 'irc'i D'^'n ''^t'C' n\>v^ 
 
 □ IPD nrc* ?liS DnniN li'M ; see 
 Conim. on Genes, pp. 384, 394, etc. 
 ' May mi/ fortunate name Nebuchad- 
 nezzar,' we read in the Birs-Nim- 
 roud Inscription, ' or the Heaven- 
 adoring king, dwell constantly in 
 thy mouth' (col. ii., lines 28-31; 
 Rec. vii. 78). 
 
 •■ Siqmi, p. 'l60. 
 
REMONSTRANCES AND NEW PREPARATIONS. ISO 
 
 ■west of the ancient town Heshbon (now Ilesbdn or 
 Huzhhdn) ; and though Mount Nebo is probably the 
 higher of the two, and offers the widest prospect in all 
 directions,^ the entire range of Pisgah rises and 'looks 
 out over the wilderness' in which the Hebrews were 
 encamped.*' On the whole, therefore, the locality of the 
 second speech was doubtless at a similar distance from 
 the camp as that of the first ; but in each case Balaam 
 surveyed a different part of the Hebrew multitudes. 
 
 Philological Eejiarks. — To express the contrast between 
 the expected curse (^P?, ver. 11) and the actual blessing with 
 greater force, the finite verb is supported by the followinp^ 
 infinitive "=17.3, which, besides, intensifies the notion of blessing 
 — 'thou hast blessed indeed' (comp. xxiv. 10). In ver. 25, 
 where merely the juxtaposition is intended and nothing 
 more, the infinitive precedes the finite verb (comp. xxiv. 
 II ; see Grammar § 97. 6-8), while in ver. 20 — a poetical 
 passage— the stress is conveyed by the mere position of ^l^, 
 which precedes the principal verb (Gram. § 74. 5). — The 
 construction of the words ~i3"!^ "i^^v'^* l^^^ (ver. 12) is clear 
 from the analogous phrase D^b^yb QFl'ipy'-l, you shall take heed 
 to do them (Deut. v. 1 ; comp. vi. 25, etc.) ; iri'S is, therefore, 
 governed by "i?"]^, not by IJ^V*'^ ; and as this verb has here 
 not the meaning of the simple future, but implies moral 
 necessity (comp. xxii. 38, 73-1X ^bvq), those words are to be 
 rendered, 'I must take heed to speak that.' — "^^ (ver. 12, as 
 in Judg. xix. 13), for HD?, go (xxii. 6, 17, etc.), the quiescent 
 letter being elided on account of the close connection of the 
 word with the following N*J, which for the same reason is 
 provided with dngesh forte covjunctivum (comp. Grammar, 
 §xxxix. 4.C.). — ■in>*i^ (ver. 13) corresj)onds exactly to D^n nvp 
 (in xxii. 41) and signifies, like the latter, the extreme part of the 
 people. It is difficult to see why T\':i\? must, in this passage, 
 be taken ' in a more comprehensive sense ' {Hengstenh., Kurtz, 
 and others). On the contrary, Balak seems the second time 
 to have taken even greater care than before not to let 
 
 " Dent. iii. 27; xxxiv. 1 ; eonip. xxxii.49. '' .\xi.20; comp. xxiii. 47. 
 
190 NUMBERS XXIII. 11-17. 
 
 Balaam see too much of the Hebrew army and people. The 
 difference was not in the extent but in the division of the camp 
 which the prophet beheld. The limitation by '31 DDX follows 
 so directly after •13S'iri, 'thou shalt see the people,' that a 
 mistake is impossible. The Sept., to make the sense perfectly 
 clear, even adds in the first part the negation unnecessarily, 
 tE, ov ovi: uxpri avruv tKeidtv, and then continues distinctly, d\\' 
 i} jjLtpoQ Tt avTov oipei, -KavTaq cs oh ju// lcdjq ; the T^nlg., briefly, 
 undo partem Israel videas, et totum videre non possis, etc. 
 It is, therefore, sufficient to quote the singular translation 
 which, strange to say, has been adopted by more than one 
 interpreter, ' from where thou shalt see them ' (viz., the 
 whole of Israel) — 'only their extreme part thou seest, but 
 not all' (viz, here on Bamoth-Baal), which, in Balak's 
 opinion, had caused the unfavourable result of the first 
 prophecy (so Calmet, Dictionnaire, i. 715, d'ou vous le verrez 
 entier, car vous n'en avez vu qu'une partie; Keil, Num., p. 
 313, and others). Can HNin in the same breath be under- 
 stood so differently in a plain narrative ?-The form iJ?i^, cwse 
 them, instead of 13|"3 or 13p, starts from the irregular impe- 
 rative nni^ (xxii. 11, p. 113), the n paragogicum being omitted, 
 but the 3 epentheticum not assimilated with the suffix (as in 
 •"inpS"!!",, Ps. Ixxii. 15, etc. ; see Grram, §§ liii. 2 ; Ixii. 3. a. It 
 is certainly unnecessary to assume a root ]^P (of which there 
 is no trace in the Old Test.) supposed to have arisen from 
 3p3 by way of metathesis (so Judah Chajjug, Heidenheim, and 
 others): as has been observed above (p. 113), 23p, not 3pJ, is 
 the verb employed in this portion. — Considering the analogy 
 of the ' heights of Baal' and the ' summit of Peor,' to which 
 Balak took Balaam the first and third times (xxii. 41; xxiii. 
 28), it is more than probable that the DiD^ mv, the locality 
 of the second prophecy, was likewise connected with Balak's 
 religious worship and practices, to which the literal meaning 
 of the name obviously points; for HD^i is a synonym of nfn 
 or HNI, seer or p'rophet (Isa. Ivi. 10; Ezek iii. 17; xxxiii. 6, 
 7 ; comp. Isa. Hi. 8 ; Mic. vii. 4), and auguries of the most 
 varied kind were usually awaited and taken on elevations 
 (p. 169). The sense of ' field of watchmen,' as a place where 
 s:uards were stationed to look out in times of war and 
 
Balaam's skcond si»eech. 191 
 
 danger (Raslii, Aharb., and otliers), is indeed not inappx'opiato 
 (comp. the names nay'^, D^DI^* °!D?;^, etc., Isa. lii. 8), but it 
 has no direct relation to the deeper tendency of the narrative. 
 Some consider, with little probability, D^QS m'y the same 
 place with IxVo nsyp (1 Sam. xxii. 3; comp. Jlitzig, Inschrih 
 des Mescha, p. 6). The identification of Mount Nebo with 
 Mount Attarus has now, we believe, been generally abandoned 
 (comp. Hengstenb., Bil., pp. 244-248). — nb^ in ver. 15, has 
 both times its usual meaning of thus, viz., as the first time ; 
 Balaam requested Balak to remain with his sacrifices as 
 before, while he would go to meet God, as before, in the 
 solitude (ver. 3). It is doubtful whether '13 ever has the 
 meaning of Jiere ; that particle is omitted both times by the 
 Sept., the second time by the Sam. Text and Vers., evidently 
 on account of its supposed inappropriateness. — To *^~!:p^, I 
 shall meet or go to meet, we must supply n'ln''"?^ (vers. 3, 4, 
 16); it may be a terminus technicus, but it can certainly not 
 coincide with n-trm nxip'? I'pn (xxiv. 1), for mn^-'ps is not 
 identical with W^m nxip'?. 
 
 10. Balaam's second speech, xxiil 18-24. 
 
 18. And he took up liis parable and said, 
 Rise, Balak, and hear. 
 Hearken unto me, son of Zippor ! 
 
 19. God is not a man, that He should lie, 
 Nor the son of man, that He should 
 
 repent : 
 Hath He said and shall He not do it, 
 And spoken and shall He not fulfil it ? 
 
 20. Behold, I have received comiaaiid to 
 
 bless. 
 And He hath blessed, and I cannot 
 reverse it. 
 
 21. He beholdeth no iniquity in Jacob, 
 Nor scetli distress in Israel ; 
 
192 NUMBERS XXIII. 18-24. 
 
 The Lord their God is with them, 
 And the trumpet-call of the King is 
 among- them. 
 
 22. God brought them out of Egypt — 
 They have the lleetness of the buffalo. 
 
 23. For there is no enchantment in Jacob, 
 Nor divination in Israel : 
 
 In due time it is told to Jacob 
 And to Israel, what God doeth. 
 
 24. Behold, ihei/ are a people that rise as the 
 
 lioness, 
 And lift themselves up like the lion : 
 They do not lie down till they eat ihei?' 
 
 prey, 
 And drink the blood of the slain. 
 
 More weighty in matter and more elevated in tone, 
 the -second prophecy forms a decided contrast to the 
 first. For the first breathes peace, the second war. 
 The one describes tranquil possession, the other severe 
 struggle. The one sketches briefly the results, the other 
 draws strongly the means and efforts. The former inti- 
 mates to Balak, distantly and lightly, that he is intent 
 on a hopeless contest against overwhelming numbers ; 
 the latter impresses upon him, with crushing force, 
 the indomitable heroism of his foes. Therefore the 
 first speech begins calmly and without any introduc- 
 tion, 'From Aram hath Balak brought me;' but the 
 second challenges the principal listener's rapt attention 
 at the very outset ; it bids him collect and rouse himself, 
 shake off frivolous curiosity, and penetrate into the 
 depth of the decrees about to be announced to him : 
 'Rise, Balak, and hear, hearken unto me, son of Zippor'! 
 And now Balaam refers first to the king's renewed and 
 impetuous desire of hearing the Israelites cursed. He 
 
Balaam's second sPEEfH. 193 
 
 gives unfaltering expression to the great principle, which 
 in the author's time no doubt had taken deep root in the 
 Hebrew people, that God's promises are unalterable, and 
 His wise determinations irrevocable ; that, as He is Jahveh, 
 the Eternal and Unchangeable, so His love does not de- 
 cline or swerve from the people He has chosen. 'The 
 mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My 
 kindness shall not depart from thee, nor shall the cove- 
 nant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord;''' and 
 more clearly still : 'I, the Eternal, change not, therefore 
 ye sons of Jacob do not perish.''' The blessing once 
 pronounced on Israel by God's behest, remains unshaken 
 for all times. ' Behold, I have received command to 
 bless,' exclaims Balaam ; ' He hath blessed and I cannot 
 reverse it.' 
 
 So far his address is no more than a rebuke of Balak's 
 heedless pertinacity. But then the prophet, taking a 
 loftier aim, turns away from the heathen king and is 
 wholly absorbed by the life and destiny of the Hebrews. 
 He has before called them a ' righteous ' peojDle," and has 
 hinted that they owe their election and their happiness 
 to this piety. But desirous to point out, with the utmost 
 force, God's justice in the government of mankind, 
 he now declares more fully and more clearly how pre- 
 cisely and how strikingly the fortunes of the Hebrews 
 correspond to their virtues. He insists that they are free 
 from all misery, because they keep aloof from all wicked- 
 ness so carefully, that even God, the Searcher of hearts, 
 can discover none : ' God beholdeth no iniquity in Jacob, 
 nor seeth distress in Israel.' Therefore they deserve the 
 high prerogative that ' God is with them ' ; that He has 
 appointed them as ' His portion ' ; that, when ' He found 
 them in a desert land, in the waste and howling wilderness, 
 He encompassed and shielded and guarded them as the 
 apple of His eye,' after He had led them from Egyptian 
 
 a Isa. liv. 10. ^ Mai. iii. G. <^ Dn:;''^ ver. 10. 
 
 O 
 
194 NUMBERS XXIII. 18-24. 
 
 slavery into unrestricted freedom — He, in His mercy, not 
 through any power of their own ; and that, in all later ages 
 ' he that toucheth them toucheth the pupil of His eye.'"' He 
 is their King, to whom they readily do homage when the 
 blasts of the trumpet summon them to worship or to the 
 celebration of the holy festivals, and whose guidance 
 they follow in the perj^lexity of danger and the tempta- 
 tions of prosperity. Therefore, their vigour is like that 
 of the huge and formidable buffalo (DW"l), which is the 
 slave of no one and bends under no burden, is chained to 
 no cril3 and forced to toil at no plough in the furrows of 
 the field, and which, by its fleetness and the fearful 
 power of its horns, is able to withstand the fiercest 
 attack.'' But more than this : Israel is not merely like 
 the bufialo w^hich, by its enormous strength, is able to 
 maintain its liberty, but like the lion, the king of beasts, 
 which inspires all others with terror, and forces them 
 under subjection ; which takes sanguinary revenge upon 
 his assailants, and does not rest till he has crushed and 
 annihilated them. Balak is doomed to listen and to be- 
 hold in this alarming picture the mournful fate of his 
 people as in a magic mirror. But he is, moreover, to 
 receive a lesson and a humiliating reproof. How do the 
 Hebrews enquire into their destinies and prepare them- 
 selves for the future ? Not as he does, who fancies that 
 a conjuror's word can overthrow Heaven's fixed decision: 
 ' There is no enchantment in Jacob, nor divination in 
 Israel. ' God shows His special favour to His elected 
 people in this point also, that He makes them inde- 
 pendent of the fallaciousness of divination and the fraud 
 of diviners ; for He announces to them His resolves, in- 
 variably and in due time, through His holy messengers, 
 the prophets and pious priests, and thus unmistakably 
 teaches them how to await and understand impending- 
 events — as in this very instance He did through Balaam. 
 
 ^ Zcch. ii. 12. h Job xxxLx. 9-12; see infra. 
 
Balaam's second speech. 195 
 
 ' The nations which thou cxpellust,' He impresses on 
 them through Moses, ' listen to sorcerers and diviners ; 
 but as for thee, the Lord thy God has not suffered thee 
 to do so : the Lord thy God will raise up to thee a 
 prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like me, 
 to him you shall listen.''' 
 
 Even more decidedl}" than in the first speech, the 
 author refers in these utterances to the ideal Israel ; since, 
 forsooth ! there was in the real Israel enough of 'iniquity' 
 and ' distress,' too much of ' enchantment ' and ' divina- 
 tion.' There was not a single form of heathen soothsay- 
 ing which did not flourish in Israel to kindle the wrath 
 of the men of God^prediction by rods and auguries, 
 l)y muttering spells, witchcraft and magic, incantation 
 and necromancy. And Baal the sun, worshipped by 
 ' putting the holy branch to the nose,' and Ashtarte 
 with her beloved Tammuz- Adonis ; the detestable and 
 insatiable Moloch and his Moabite counterpart Chemosh; 
 the Assyrian war-god Nergal and the evil demon of 
 darkness Nibhaz ; Gad and Meni, the fancied bestowers 
 of all boons and blessings, honoured with lectisternia ; 
 the bull Apis and he-goats ; the serpent and the sea- 
 monster Dagon — these were but a small portion of the 
 all-embracing Hebrew pantheon. And injustice and op- 
 pression, violence and every nefariousness often prevailed 
 to such an extent, that the chiefs were called ' chiefs of 
 Sodom,' and the people ' people of Gomorrah,' a seed of 
 bloodstained blasphemers, plundering the widow and the 
 orphan. Yet at no time were men wanting who, with a 
 power surpassed by no human tongue, with a singleness 
 of purpose rivalled by no human heart, reproved and 
 exhorted in the name of God : ' Wash yourselves, make 
 yourselves clean, put away your evil doing from before 
 My eye, cease to do evil'! In the time when these pro- 
 phecies of Balaam were written, when David was in the 
 
 " Deut. xviii. 14, 15. 
 
196 NUMBERS XXIII. 18-24. 
 
 height and majesty of his power and liad committed that 
 Clime which is the blot of his life, there came to him the 
 prophet Nathan who caused him to see his misdeed in a 
 touching parable — and the king in his pride humbled him- 
 self before the prophet and the God who had sent him, 
 and exclaimed : ' I have sinned to the Lord '! When, in 
 the evil days of Jezebel, the worship of the Phoenician 
 Baal was rampant in Israel, and the whole land seemed 
 a prey to the grossest paganism, there were left in the 
 nation 'seven thousand, all the knees which did not bow 
 to Baal, and every mouth that did not kiss him,' and 
 there was also left the prophet Elijah, who took care to 
 'anoint Elisha in his place.''' The fervent and fearless 
 men like Nathan and Elijah, at times numerous, at times 
 but few, who made their voice heard in palace and 
 cottage alike, were the true Israel, the holy connnunity, 
 with whom all the great hopes were associated, who in 
 constant succession and renewal guarded and perpetuated 
 the treasures of truth and rectitude. They were the 
 ' i-emnant of Israel ' which, meek and lowly, disdains 
 falsehood and deceit, and leans not on the vain help of 
 mortals, but relies 'in truth on the Holy One of Israel.'^ 
 And therefore, a deep and far-seeing patriot might justly 
 say, 'God beholdeth no iniquity in Jacob'; he might justly 
 affirm, ' There is no divination in Israel.' 
 
 There exists between several parts of this second pro- 
 phecy and other passages of the Hebrew Scriptures a 
 clea?- and remarkable affinity, which Avell deserves a brief 
 illustration. 
 
 When Samuel, after the Amalekite war, had an- 
 nounced to Saul the loss of royalty by Divine decree, 
 he replied to Saul's entreaties praying for a reversal of 
 that decree, ' The eternal God of Israel does not lie 
 piiJtp^) nor repent (cna^) ; for He is not a man that He 
 
 a 1 Ki. xix. 16, IS ; comp. IIos. I •> Comp. Zeph. iii. 12, 13; Isa. vi. 
 xili. 2, i-ip'f; Wyy^- I 13; X. 20, 21, etc. 
 
BALAAM S SECOND SrEECH. 
 
 197 
 
 should repent.' '"^ It is hardly conceivable that there 
 should be no relation between these words and the very 
 similar terms of our text, 'God is not a man that He 
 should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent ; ' 
 and it is probable that Samuel's utterance, which is less 
 polished and symmetrical, is the older and original 
 maxim. Samuel habitually introduces general sentences 
 of a religious or moral import, and at that very inter- 
 view with Saul he expresses and develops the momentous 
 idea, 'Has the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings 
 and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?'*^ 
 Poetical composition formed no doubt a part of the 
 training in the schools of prophets, and our author must 
 have been familiar with the best productions of litera- 
 ture, if he was not himself educated in one of those 
 numerous institutions, which flourished in all parts of 
 the land, in Bethel and Jericho, in Gilgal and other 
 towns." And yet what a contrast between the wild 
 phrenzy of the 'sons of prophets,' who in a good and a 
 bad sense were called 'maniacs' (D'^37|tt7p), like the Greek 
 /Ltavrei?,'^ who in Samuel's time Avent out in large bands 
 or companies to the sound of psaltery and tabret, pipe 
 and harp, and 'prophesied,' who 'took off their garments 
 and lay naked on the ground' in a trance, often during 
 whole days and nights, and whom anyone might join 
 without the slightest preparation, provided only that he 
 felt himself seized by a holy fury :® what a contrast 
 between such a condition and the thoughtful terseness 
 and almost epigrammatic precision which pervade all 
 parts of Balaam's prophecies in such a manner, that 
 hardly a word, nay, hardly the position of a Avord, can 
 
 " nmrt>, l Sam. xv. 29; comp. 
 JEsch. Prom. 1032, 1033, ^fwojjyo- 
 ptlv yap ovK siriaTarai (rrofxa To 
 Aiov, dXXa TTav tnog TeXn. 
 
 " Vers. 22, 23. 
 
 •^ 1 Sam. X. .5; 2 Ki. ii. 3, -5; iv. 
 
 38; vi. I; ix. 1. 
 
 <! Jer. xxix. 26; 2 Kings ix. 11; 
 comi). IIos. ix. 7; Homer, Odj-ssey, 
 XX. 360, etc. 
 
 <= Comp. 1 Sam. x. 5, 6, 10-12: 
 xix. 20-24. 
 
198 NUMBERS XXIII. 18 24. 
 
 be changed without disturbing the wonderful beauty and 
 harmony of the conception ! Such was the rapid progress 
 which, after once the impulse had been given in the right 
 direction, was made in a few generations by men whose 
 earnestness was equalled by their ability, and as whose 
 types, besides our author, we may take his great 
 contemporaries Nathan and Gad, who were fitted to 
 promote alike the practical and the higher requirements 
 of their community. 
 
 Balaam's speeches were preserved by the nation as a 
 precious heirloom. They were studied and often imitated. 
 None of their weighty words was lost. When a great 
 writer, in the time of the divided kingdom, put into the 
 mouth of the dying patriarch Jacob prophecies respect- 
 ing the fortunes of the Hebrew people, he believed that 
 the warlike valour of that tribe which, in his age, was 
 the most powerful, and represented Israel most })erfectl3^, 
 could be described in no more suitable terms than those 
 used by Balaam in regard of the whole nation : ' Judah 
 is a lion's whelp ; from the prey, my son, thou risest ; 
 he stoopeth down, he couchethj like a lion and like a 
 lioness ; who will make him stand up V'^ And when, in 
 the period of the Chaldean invasion, that prophet who, in 
 pointed elegance and artistic delicacy, perhaps resembles 
 our author most closely, was standing before the confusion 
 of his time as before an unsolvable riddle, when he beheld 
 danger without and fearful de])ravity within, he strove 
 to fortify and to comfort himself by the Divine utter- 
 ances of a happier past. He weighed the terms, 'God 
 beholdeth no iniquity in Jacob, nor seeth distress in 
 Israel.' But it was in vain that he endeavoured to apply 
 them to the dark and almost hopeless reality. In the 
 despondency and bitterness of his heart he exclaimed : 
 'Why dost Thou let me behold iniquity, and cause me to 
 see distress ? for plunder and violence are before me, and 
 
 " Gen. xlix. 9; conip. Num. .xxiii. 24 : xxiv. 9; sec Conim. on Gen. p. 748. 
 
BALAAM S SECOND SPEECH. 
 
 199 
 
 there are many that raise strife and contention.' And 
 yet so deep was his confidence in the holy Rock of 
 Israel, so firmly were the old prophet's words rooted in 
 his mind, that, repeating and enlarging them for his own 
 consolation, he addressed God : 'Thou art too pure to 
 behold evil, and canst not look on distress ; ' and like an 
 immovable anchor he grasped triumphantly the truth : 
 'The just shall live b}- his uprightness,' a maxim the 
 depth and scope of which Jews, in later times, estimated 
 so justly that they considered it equivalent to the whole 
 sum of Divine laws and precepts." 
 
 In what sense God was understood to 'repent,' has 
 partly been explained above.'^ He does not change His 
 promises or menaces arbitrarily without adequate cause 
 or motive. ' God is not a man that He should lie.' 
 ' Repentance,' He declares therefore, ' is hidden fiom My 
 eyes.'*" But men are not unchangeable. By virtue of 
 their free will, they fluctuate between good and evil ; 
 and exactly in accordance with their conduct, God, by 
 the law of retributive justice, and as the Holy One who 
 loves piety and abhors iniquity, is induced, nay compelled, 
 to alter His decrees. When He saw the early genera- 
 tions sink by sin from their high destinies, ' He repented 
 that He had created man upon the earth, and He was 
 grieved in His heart.' '^ After Saul's disobedience, God 
 said to Samuel, ' I repent that I have appointed Saul to 
 be king, for he has not performed My commandments.'® 
 And, on the other hand, God was ready to retract the 
 threatened destruction of the ' cities of the plain,' if He 
 found in them a certain number of virtuous persons ; ^ 
 and when He saw the people of Nineveh abandon their 
 wicked ways, 'He repented of the evil that He had 
 
 » IlaL. i. 3, 13; ii. 4; see Comm. 
 on Lev. ii. p. 117. 
 ^ Tp. 118, 119. 
 <: Lini). Uos. xiii. 14. 
 
 <i Uny), Gen. vi. 6, 7. 
 " 1 Sam. XV. 11. 
 
 f Gen. xviii. 20-32: see Comm. 
 on Genes, pp. 40G-408. 
 
200 
 
 NUMBERS xxiir. 18-24. 
 
 resolved to do to them, and He did it not.'* For a long 
 time, the same intelligible principle was maintained in 
 reference to Israel's election also. Their eminent privi- 
 leges were made dependent on their merits and actions. 
 They were to remain the people of God as long as they 
 were a 'righteous' people. But in the course of time, 
 that election was developed into a dogma not free from 
 mystery and mysticism. Israel remains the chosen people 
 in spite of sin and rebellion ; not on account of their 
 own merit, but because ' God loves them/ and ' they are 
 precious in His eyes and well-honoured.'^ They might 
 suffer oppression, yet they are a noble vine, which men are 
 bidden to spare, ' because a blessing is in it.' They might 
 be ' sifted among all nations as corn is sifted in a sieve, 
 yet no grain shall fall upon the earth.' It is true their 
 very prerogatives impose upon them severer responsibili- 
 ties : ' You only have I loved of all the families of the 
 earth,' says God, ' therefore will I visit upon you all your 
 iniquities.'*^ But if He punishes them. He acts like the 
 husbandman, who does not crush cummin with a cart- 
 wheel, but gently uses the rod. He chastens them, but 
 ' with measure,' and ' with justice,' not for destruction 
 like other nations, not in wrath like Adamah and 
 Zeboim, because His heart burns in compassion for His 
 people, which is imperishable like the new heaven and 
 the new earth ; for ' thus saith the Lord who giveth the 
 svin for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon 
 and of the stars for a light by night ... If those ordi- 
 nances depart from before Me, then the seed of Israel 
 also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.'*^ 
 Even when, in His just anger at their ingratitude and 
 
 " DriJ^I, Jon. iii. 10; iv. 2 ; comp. 
 Orirjen, In Num. Horn. xvi. 4. 
 
 ^ Isa. xlii. 18; xliii. 4; compare 
 Amos iii. 2; Deut. iv. 37; vii. 13 ; 
 X. 15 ; xxiii. 6, etc. ; Minhn. Avoth 
 iii. 14. 
 
 " Amos iii. 2; compare Lev. x. 3, 
 Cni5X ''31ip3, and Comm. in loc. 
 
 <• Compare Isa. xxvii. 8 ; xxviii. 
 24-28; xli. 8-20; Ixvi. 22; Jer. 
 XXX. 11; xxxi. 3o-37; xxxiii. 25, 
 26 ; Hos xi. 8, 9 ; Amos ix. 9, 15. 
 
BALAAM S SECOND SPEECH. 
 
 201 
 
 revolt, He had determined their extiipation, He soon 
 ' repented,' not because they evinced contrition and had 
 reformed their lives, but on account of the prayer and 
 intercession of a faithful servant, who reminded God 
 of the inviolable covenant He had concluded with the 
 patriarchs.^ How far into ancient times the beginnings 
 of this proud dogma reach, is difficult to ascertain ; it was 
 by writers of the eighth century traced to the period of 
 the redemption from Egypt,^ nay to the primeval days of 
 Abraham ;° and it is certainly expressed with sufficient 
 clearness in this speech of Balaam. For although the 
 words, ' Hath He said and shall He not do it, and spoken 
 and shall He not fulfil it ? ' refer, in the first instance, to 
 Balaam's previous prophecy, they doubtless apply to all 
 the Divine promises made to Israel and their peculiar 
 relations to God. It is unnecessary to point out the 
 fruits which that dogma has borne for good and for evil, 
 and to show how, on the one hand, it fostered lofty 
 aspirations, and, on the other hand, promoted national 
 conceit and exclusiveness ; but the powerful hold which 
 it acquired over the Hebrew mind is apparent from the 
 circumstance, that it was, almost without modification, 
 extended to the royal house of David, and nothing need 
 be added in explanation of the following words of a Psalm 
 written shortlybefore the exile : 'I will make him (David),' 
 says God, ' My firstborn . . . My mercy will I keep for him 
 for evermore, and My covenant shall stand firm with him 
 ... If his children forsake My law and break My statutes, 
 then I will visit their transgression with the rod . . . never- 
 theless I will not take My loving-kindness from him, nor 
 be untrue ("ii??P^^) to My faithfulness ; My covenant will I 
 not break, nor alter the promise that is gone out of My 
 lil)s ; once have I sworn by My holiness, that I will not 
 
 ■•> Ex. xxxii. 14 ; comp. Deut. ix. 
 13-20, 2.5-20; X. 10; xxxii. 20sij/j.; 
 Am. viii. 3, 6. 
 
 Hos. xii. 10 ; Amos ii. 10 ; Mic. 
 
 « Mic. vii. 20 ; Isa. 
 
202 NUMBERS XXIII. 18-24. 
 
 lie (3:T?.^') unto David ; his seed shall endure for ever, and 
 his throne shall be as the sun before Me.'"^ A fuller and 
 more emphatic commentary on our passage is hardly 
 possible.'^ 
 
 Philological Ee^harks. — Balalc was standint^ (-^V-) ^t his 
 Bacrifice (ver. 17); when, therefore, Balaam bid liim 'rise' 
 (Dip, ver. 18), he invited him to listen attentively and dismiss 
 all other thoughts (comp. Neh. ix. 5 ; Isa. xxxii. 9). — V\^'^'.'], 
 imper. Kal for i^pV"'!, non-gutturals being occasionallj pro- 
 vided with chateph-pathach if the preceding letter had ori- 
 ginally a sh''va mobile (yp^'-t for ^'P^'"!) ; see Gramm. § iv. 4. a. 
 — Vl^.]},, to listen, followed by "l^ (comp. Job xxxii. 11), like 
 the synonymous verb iP.iSOn, to pai/ attention (Job xxxii. 12; 
 xxxviii. 18), is hardly more emphatical than if followed, as 
 is more usual, by ?, ^^, or ^V (comp. Mic. iv. 8 ; Ps. Ixv. 3). 
 But some ancient authorities seem to have read iy or "'"ly, for 
 the Sept. translates eywriaai iiaprvg v'wq StTr^wp; and the Syriac 
 like the Samaritan interpreter, * listen to my testimony ' 
 (^nnno and *nnyD) ; and so a few modern expositors (as 
 Michael., ' sei aufmerksam und sei mein Zeuge,' and others). 
 — 1^3, a rarer form of the construct state for "|3 ; comp. in^n 
 (Gen. i. 24; Isa. Ivi. 9), etc. ; see Gramm. § xxvi. l.b. — 
 ^J}}jy. (ver. 19) in paiisa, for Qn:^^_ or Qn^I?* (see Gramm. §§ 
 xvi. 9.a. ; lix. 7). The Sept., to avoid anthropopathic ex- 
 pressions, renders nT3M and DPian' (ver. 19-) by giapr?y0/7)'ot and 
 ('nreiXijdfii'ai. — Ta7'g. Jon. paraphrases the second part of the 
 19th verse thus : ' But when the Lord of all the worlds has 
 said, I will multiply this people as the stars of heaven, and 
 will give them to possess the land of the Canaanites, is He 
 not able to perform what He has spoken ? ' That translator, 
 therefore, like many others, considers the words 'D1 IDX Ninn 
 to refer to the patriarchal promises alone, whereas, consider- 
 ing the completeness and unity of this comjiosition. they 
 point, in the first place, to Balaam's former speech (comp. 
 ver. 20 ; xxii. 12), though the wider application is not ex- 
 cluded as an ' under- sense.' The Assyrian king Assur-Nasir- 
 
 •-' Ps. Ixxxix. 28-37. '' Comp. 2 Sum. vii. M-IC ; Isa. ix. 6, etc. 
 
nALAAM's SECOND SPEECH. 203 
 
 pal, like most eastern monarchs, claiming almost divine 
 attributes, calls himself 'he who changes not his purposes ' 
 (Inscript., col. i. line 7 ; comp. Records of the Past, iii. 40 ; 
 77-79 ; V. 8, 1 13, etc.)— 'Oni^ ^l.? (ver. 20), lit., / have taken to 
 bless, i.e., I have received from God the commission to bless ; 
 Targ. Jon., I have been charged with the benediction from the 
 mouth of the Holy One ; the Sept. renders the priucij)al verb 
 incorrectly in the passive 7rap£('\/7/^//.(ai ; and so Vidg., adductus 
 sum; Lath., bin ich hergebracht ; while Luzzatto has, ecco 
 ' benedici ' ! ho recevuto — taking, with less probability, "^l^ 
 as the imperative. — An ancient reading, instead of "1"121, 
 seems to have been TlD^QI, which some early translators 
 took as 'i71?l?-1, / shall bless {Sept., evXo-yijaoj ; Saina?\ Cod. and 
 Vers., nnnX; Onk., n>J3n2^N1 ; Tary. Jer., N3X IIjD ; and so 
 Luth., ich segne), others as ^n?']?''', and mij blessing, scil. I 
 shall not reverse {Syr., Kn3"l131 ; Vulg., benedictionem etc. ; 
 Onk., concluding the verse i^\3p "Tl?"!? ^''D^ ^^1 ; and so some 
 modern interpreters) : but considering that the blessing is 
 throughout traced to Grod and not to Balaam, the received 
 reading seems prefei-able. — ^^"'[7, tc reverse, to annul (as in 
 Am. i. 3, 6, 9, etc ; Isa. xliii. 13); not quite accurately 
 Sept., c'nrodTpexl^w ; Vnlg., prohibero non valeo. Balaam de- 
 clares that he cannot prevent the blessing once pronounced 
 from taking effect, much less change it into a curse. — The 
 subject to C2n and ns~l (ver. 21) is evidently God (comj). 
 *l"l31, ver. 20) ; it is both less simple and less suitable to take 
 those verbs impersonally {Sept. ovk iaTi...ovlt ocpdiia-erai, Vnlg., 
 Ltdh., Herd., Mendelss., Ewald, and others) : the reading of 
 the Saviar. Cod. D^2N', which is exjiressed by the Samar. Vers. 
 ("panOwX), the Syr., Onk. and Jon. ("p^nDO x:n), and has been 
 adopted by some modern scholars {Dathe non video, Houhigant 
 non videbo, Geddes), whether in the corresponding member 
 the third person — HN")— be read {Sam. Vers., ""jn) or also the 
 first person {Si/r. and others), is less adapted to the context. 
 -^-The nouns n.5;? and ?9^ are here most appropriately under- 
 stood in their common significations of iniquity and toil, which 
 impart to the verse the comprehensive sense we have above 
 indicated, namely, that God finds in Israel no impiety, and 
 therefore visits them with no sufi'orins:s : the former is a fuller 
 
204 NUMBERS XXIII. 18-24. 
 
 explanation of D'T^"^. (ver. 10), the latter is akin to "Tinns "Tin 
 inD3 (comp. Hab. i. 3, 13; Job iv. 8 ; v. 6; Ps. vii. 15; 
 X. 7; Iv. ] 1 ; xc. 10; Isa. x. 1; lix. 4; in wbicli passages 
 |1K and 7J2V are in a similar relation). The sense is not, 
 'Unbearable to God is the malice j)ractised against the 
 Israelites by their enemies, and the misery they suffer, so 
 that He forthwith removes both malice and misery' {Rosenm. 
 in loc; Hengstb., Bil , pp. 112, 113; De Geer, Mmirer, Luz- 
 zatto, egli non tollera di veder fatta ingiustizia a Giacobbe, 
 and others) ; it is only by a strained construction that it is 
 possible to give to ^''nn N? the meaning, 'He cannot bear to 
 see,' or to IpV^Z px that of ' iniquity committed against 
 Jacob.' Still less tenable are the numerous other inter- 
 pretations that have been proposed, as, 'God takes no 
 notice {PDnOD 13''S) of Israel's transgressions, but only of 
 their good deeds' (il/zV/r. Rabb., Num. xxiv. 14; comp. Jer. 
 1. 20); or, 'There are no idols (or idolaters) in Jacob, nor 
 false gods in IsraeV {Onkel, '31 \'7^b'i 'rh^ n\V ; Vulg., non est 
 idolum in Jacob, nee videtur simulacrum in Israel ; Ewald, 
 Jahrbiicher, viii. 27, 28, Gotzen and Ungcitter : though |'l^< 
 may be 'idols,' Isa. Ixvi. 3 ; 1 Sam. xv. 23 ; 70y is certainly 
 never 'false gods'); or, 'There shall be no toil . . . nor shall 
 there be seen trouble . . . ' {Sept., fJioyQoc and -kovoq ; Luther, 
 Miihe and Arbeit ; Herder, TJngliick and Missgeschick ; 
 Michaelis, Leid and Ungliick : although pN has no doubt oc- 
 casionally the sense of misfortune, as in Gen. xxxv. 18 ; Hab. 
 iii. 7 ; the notion of guilt, which more commonly attaches to 
 the word, is essential to the context) ; or, 'There shall be no 
 wrong . . . nor injustice . . .' {Be Wette, Bcises and Unrecht; 
 Maurer, culpa and peccatum : but ?Dy has nowhere clearly 
 the meaning of injustice, though perhaps in Isa. x. 1) ; 
 while some leave the right path entirely. Misunderstanding 
 the ideal character of the j)rophecy, many have referred the 
 description to the happiness of a future life (comp. Origen, 
 In Num. Homil. xvi. 5, aperte in istis sermonibus futiirai 
 vitaj denunciat statum . . . quia non erat secundum spiritum 
 Israel, ideo venit super ilium labor et dolor; and others). 
 —The words, 'the Lord their God is with them' (vn^X Hln^ 
 V2iV, comp. Gen. xxxix. 2), supplement the preceding half- 
 
BALAAM'S SECOND SrEFX'H. 205 
 
 vei'se with peculiar aptness and precision. Thoy explain the 
 immunity both from px and 7J2V ; the Israelites are with God 
 — hence there is among them no }1N ; and God is with the 
 Israelites — therefore they are free from bw (comp. xiv. 14) ; 
 and in order to express the former idea as unequivocally as 
 the second, the poet adds, 'and the trumpet-call (nyiin) of 
 the King is with them,' that is, the Hebrews are constantly 
 reminded of the dominion of their God, and summoned to 
 His worship, by the solemn sound of the trumpet 0?1'^'), 
 which they obey with a joyful readiness proving the sin- 
 cerity of their faith and devotion. As "170 is in parallelism 
 with nin*, it means undoubtedly here, as elsewhere, God as 
 the King and E,uler of the Hebrews (Deut. xxxiii. 5 ; Zeeh. 
 ix. 9 ; comp. 1 Sam. viii. 7 ; Isa. xxxiii. 22; xliii. 15 ; xliv. 
 (); Jer. x. 7, 10; xlvi. 18; Zech. xiv. 9, 16, 17); the intro- 
 duction of the earthly king in a passage which treats exclu- 
 sively of Israel's relations to God would impair its admirable 
 consistency (Se2)t., apxovTwv ; Orig., principum ; Vulg , regis; 
 Luth., Herd., JEwahl, Oort, Fiirst, and others). The expres- 
 sive appropriateness of the term nj?1~in in this connection will 
 be understood by remembering that not only were all holy 
 seasons announced, and all public sacrifices accompanied by 
 the 'blast of the trumpet' (nj;i~)ri), but that one of the most 
 important and most sacred festivals appointed in later times 
 was called nynn UV, or, still more significantly, nyiin JIIST, 
 'a Memorial' of blowing the Trumpet' (Lev. xxiii. 24 ; Num. 
 xxix. 1), intended to bring the Hebrews to God's merciful 
 remembrance, as we have explained elsewhere (see Comm. 
 on Levit. ii. pp. 489, 505). 'The trumpet-call of the King' 
 reminded them of the 'holy convocations' (C^'^p '•N"lpl3), which 
 were the chief bond between them and their God. 'Blessed 
 is the people,' says the Psalmist, 'that know the trumpet- 
 call (nynn) ; they shall walk, Lord, in the light of Thy 
 countenance.' Such a people, says our author, are the 
 Israelites; 'the trumpet-call of their King is among them,' 
 and 'they walk in His light.' Allusions to 'war-cries,' or 
 'the alarm sounded with the trumpet,' or to 'the joyful 
 acclamations ' with which the people receive their king or 
 accompany royal processions, or 'rejoicing at the presence of 
 
206 NUMBERS XXIII. 18-24. 
 
 so glorious a King, who is at the saiiie time God,' though 
 admitted by the term nynn (comp. Num. x. 9; Jer. iv. 19; 
 xlix. 2; Amos i. 14; Josh. vi. 5, 20; 1 Sam. iv. 5; x. 24; 
 2 Sam. vi. 15 ; xv. 10 ; 1 Ki. i. 40 ; Ezra iii. 11 ; Job. viii. 
 20; 2 Chron. xiii. 12), are less adapted to the context 
 (Aquil., nXaXayfiof; ; Theodot., (TctKincrfioQ ; Fw/^., clangor vic- 
 torire ; Herd., Triumphgesang ; Vater, Feldposaune ; Ewald, 
 Schlachtruf, etc.; but OnkeL, linnVo riJ^SCf, and similarly Syr., 
 nD7CT Nnnn'-^n ; Origen, prceclara principum, i.e., potestas 
 et regnum ; Saad., alliance or friendship; and so Rashi, nan 
 niyil, and others ; while the Sept. renders ra h'doEa, perhaps 
 reading mt<"nJ). — Not. like Balak does Balaam say, 'the 
 people went out of Egypt' (xxii. 5, 11), but 'God brought 
 them out of Egypt' (ver. 22, p. 98): the most striking 
 proof showing how manifestly God is with Israel, is their 
 deliverance from Egypt, which has inspired them with con- 
 fidence, and given them the power for further enterprises 
 and triumphs. This being the logical relation between vers. 
 21-24, it is neither requisite to consider ver. 22 as an inter- 
 polation, nor to place it after ver. 23 (see, however, on xxiv. 
 8). The participle DX"'V'ip does not necessarily imply that, 
 since the Hebrews are represented as not yet having reached, 
 the land of Canaan, the act of their redemption is still con- 
 sidered in the course of accomplishment ; in reality forty 
 years had, at the time of ' Balaam's speeches,' passed since 
 the Hebrews left Egypt ; and the participle htis not rarely 
 the meaning of a preterite (Gram. § 100. 8 ; Sept., t^ayaywj/; 
 Vulg., eduxit, etc.). An anullage in the numbers of the 
 suffixes, as in DX''V1D and r?, both referring to the Israelites, 
 is too common to call for an emendation of the text (Gram. 
 § Ixxvii. 21. 4) ; comp. xxiv. 8, iS''^"ltD, from which parallel it 
 is also evident that '))> does not refer to God (so Tcn^g. Jon. 
 and Jcrxts., and others ; see also De-Rossi on xxiv. 8). — ^That 
 the DS"i (or L3''i?n, Q'"'] or Q"!) is not the nnkorji, as many 
 earlier interpreters translate on the authority of the Sept. 
 {fiopoKepwQ ; Ephr. Syr., Lvfh., Engl. Fe/'S., etc.; Vnlg., rhino- 
 ceros, which was frequently confounded with the unicorn), is 
 at present almost generally acknowledged, since the Bible 
 rej)eatedly mentions 'the horns' {''P?,) of the C^"] (Dent. 
 
Balaam's secoxd speech. 207 
 
 xxxii. 17; Ps. xxii. 2'2); altlioiigli tlie unicorn is not, as has 
 long been believed, a fabulous animal, but is found in 
 Ethiopia and Abyssinia, and in the deserts of Thibet (see 
 Rosenm., Morgenland, ii. 269-279 ; comp. Aelinn, Nat. An. 
 xvi, 20, ^ovoKipu^Q fiiyeQoQ ^itv e'xf"' 'Ittttov tov teXeIov kciI \v<]>ou 
 . . . Tro^CJt' ^e apitrra el\r}yivai koX tlrai Cokkttov k.t.X.', Caes. B.Gr. 
 vi. 26 ; Plin. N. H. \dii. 21 or 31, asperrimam feram monocero- 
 tem, reliquo corpore equo similem, capite cervo, pedibus 
 elephanto . . . uno cornu gravi media fronte cubitoriim duo erai- 
 nente ; hanc feram vivara negant capi). The short but graphic 
 description in the Book of Job (xxxix. 9-12), to which we 
 have above alluded, in conjunction with the fact that the 
 0^1 is employed in parallelism with, the strongest animals, 
 such, as the lion, the wild ox, and the bull (Ps. xxii. 22 ; Deut, 
 xxxiii. 17 ; Isa. xxxiv. 7), hardly leaves a doubt that the 
 wild buffalo is meant, which, of Indian origin and still found 
 (under the name of arna) in the swampy jungles of Hindo- 
 stan, is 'fierce and untamable, in size one-third larger than 
 the domestic species, and of such power and vigor as by his 
 charge to prostrate a well-sized elephant' {Van-Lenncp, Bible 
 Lands, i. 176-178). It is, of course, not impossible that a 
 kindred genus, such as tlie wild ox (bos sylhetanus) or the 
 U7'us of Pliny (Nat. Hist. viii. 15 ; xi. 37 or 45 ; xviii. 1) is 
 intended, which rival the wild buffalo in size and strength., 
 and surpass it in fierceness (see Brehm, Illustrirtes Thier- 
 leben, ii. 625, sqq.) ; but, considering the Scriptural parallels 
 with the lion and other powerful beasts, it is certainly not 
 probable that the Ciii~\_ is the 07yx, a species of antelope 
 (Boch., Rosenm., Winer, and others), since the circumstance 
 that this animal has in Arabic the same name (aj .) is 
 by no means decisive (comp. Gesen. Lex. and Thes. 6\ v.) ; 
 or that it is a kind of gazelle (X?T"11X, Talm. Zevach. 113. h; 
 Bav. Batlir. 73. h; comp. Lewysohn, Zool. d. Talm., pp. 149- 
 151), or the reindeer {DarzHai, II Eenne, etc. 1870), which 
 cannot be proved to have existed in Western Asia within the 
 historic time, and can hardly be described as an animal of 
 gigantic strength. — The royal reoox'ds on Assyrian monuments 
 do not fail to mention the hunting of bufftiloes ; ' in those 
 days,' we read in the Inscription of Assur-nasir-pal, 'I slow 
 
208 NUMBERS XXIII. 18-24. 
 
 fifty buffaloes in the neiglabourlioocl of tlie nearer (eastern) 
 side of the Euphrates, and eight huflfaloes I caught alive ; ' 
 and among the tribute paid to that king by Tangara, king of 
 Syria, were 'horns of buffaloes ' (Inscript., col. iii. §§ 48, 68; 
 comp. also Inscript. of Tiglath-pileser i. § 35; the Statistical 
 Tablet of the Egyptian king Thotmes III. ; the ' Great 
 Harris' Papyrus of Ramses III., Plate 20. a, § 9, etc.; see 
 Ptec. of the Past, ii. 24; iii. 69; v. 21 ; vi. 47, etc.).— More un- 
 certain is the quality nisyiri associated with the DX"l ; it seems 
 simplest to connect the root ^V\ with ^1'''^' to fy (Arab, li, to move 
 rapidly), and to take that word in the sense oijleetness, which 
 attribute is elsewhere also ascribed to the QSl (Ps. xxix, 6), 
 esj)ecially as the noun ^V\ is found in the meaning of swift 
 course (Dan. ix. 21; Michael, celeritas ; Herd., Vater, starker 
 Lauf ; Rosermi. Behendigkeit; Le Wette, Schnelligkeit; Hengsth. 
 Piistigkeit, etc. ; but, following uncertain etymologies, Sept. 
 lol,a\ Vulg. fortitude; Luth. Preudigkeit; Onkel., Syr., JEbn 
 Ezra, Kimclii, Evgl. Vers, strength ; Roseinn. elatio — ' capite 
 sursum elato erectisque auribus adstare,' Germ. ' froblich um- 
 herschauen ; ' similarly Lowth — Sacr. Poes., Prael. xx. — qualis 
 remotis liber in jugis oryx fert celsa coelo cornua; Eivald, 
 hehrer Glanz, etc. ; though some of these qualities are indeed 
 collaterally included in the ' fleetness ' of the buffalo). — In Ps. 
 XCV.4 and Job xxii. 25, nisyin is treasures, from ^IV), that which 
 is acquired by fatiguing labour, as P^^'. from V^), p. 109. The 
 plm-al niayin is, of course, poetically used instead of the 
 singular, and the word is never found in prose. — The Hebrews 
 are so successful in all their undertakings, because they do 
 not and need not rely on enchantment and auguries, but 
 enjoy God's constant communications, which He reveals to 
 them in His own manner and in the right time. This is the 
 tenor of the last verses (22-24). The reason introduced by 
 "•^ (ver. 23) explains, in the first instance, the words nii'yin 
 1? DN"), which are easily understood as a metaphor for victory, 
 prosperity, and success ; all this the Hebrews owe to the 
 circumstance that they do not require t^'HJ and QDj^, and, 
 therefore, do not practise such obnoxious arts— which is 
 another mark of their piety (comp. Philo, Yit. Mos. i. 51, 
 oiojyu)}' a\o-yov(7i Kui Tvarrujy rHiy Kara iiavriKiji'). The clause 
 
1}A1>AAM S SECOND SPEEC'IL 209 
 
 01 wn: iih ^D cannot be intended as the reason of Israel's 
 deliverance from ligyi^t {Ileiif/sienb., Bil.,. pp. lOG, 127); nor 
 does ''? signify so that, introducing' a consequence (Knob., 
 Num., p. 141 ; the passages adduced in support of that 
 meaning are not conclusive, as Isa. v. 10; xxix. IG; Job x. 
 6, etc.). About t:'n3 see Comni. on Lev. i. 375 ; about Qpi;) 
 svpra p. 108 ; in this context ^Vl has indeed, like ^P?, the 
 sense of augury or divination ; but teclmieal exactness cannot 
 be expected in poetry. 20]}'''? and ?i<TtJ'^3 are, therefore, ' m 
 Jacob' and 'm Israel' (in ver. 23 as in ver. 21); and so explains 
 also Jewish tradition. But not even in the comments on this 
 sublime and lucid speech has the usual distortion of Balaam's 
 conduct been abandoned, and surprising is the insinuation of 
 modern theologians, that the best proof of the Divine power 
 with which Balaam had been moved, is the manner in whicli 
 he disparages those means of ascertaining the future, which 
 he himself was habitually employing' {Ileiigslenh., Bil., j:). 
 125, and others). Thus misinterpreted, this section, instead 
 of testifying to the large-minded liberality and enlightenment 
 of the Hebrew writer, would most painfully reveal narrow- 
 ness, pride, and superstition ; and if Hebrew prophecy were 
 so mechanical a process as tliat assumption implies, it would 
 hardly possess any real or human interest. The author so 
 entirely identifies himself with Balaam, that the ordinary 
 views of both concerning divination must be considered to 
 coincide, and the words 'There is no enchantment in Jacob,' 
 etc., are meant to rebuke Balah's paganism, not that of Ba- 
 laam, of which there is no trace whatever. The explanation 
 frequently adopted, ' No enchantment prevails against Jacob, 
 nor any divination against Israel' {Calv., Herd., Mendelss., 
 ITouhigant, Michael., Dathe, Vat., Rosemn., De Wette, Grainh., 
 Afani\, Steudel, De Geer, Ewald, Luzzatto, and others), though 
 perhaps philologically unobjectionable, yields no clear and 
 satisfactory connection either with the preceding or the fol- 
 lowing verses. — The incredible number and variety of super- 
 stitious omens which prevailed in Middle Asia and were 
 worked out into elaborate systems, are being more and more 
 brought to light by excavations and decipherments, and they 
 may be gathered from the very curious Babylonian Tablets 
 p 
 
210 NUMBERS XXIII. 18-24. 
 
 -\vliicli have recently been translated; for instance: 'If a 
 yellow dog enters into a palace, exit from that palace will be 
 baleful'; 'if a spotted dog enters into the palace, that palace 
 gives its peace to the enemy ' ; ' if a black dog enters into a 
 temple, the foundation of that temple is not stable'; or 
 ' when a woman bears a child and its right ear is wanting, 
 the days of the prince are long ' ; ' when a woman bears a 
 child and the upper lip overhangs the lower, there is pros- 
 perity to the multitude,' etc. (see Eecords of the Past, v. 
 169-176) ; such auguries would probably fall under the 
 category of ^V^, at least according to later conceptions of the 
 Jews. — ny2j at the time, or in the right time (Sept., caret icaipoi' ; 
 Vulg., temporibus suis ; Origen, in tempore, i.e., cum oportet 
 et cum expedit ; Rashi, '31 1''"l(Vt^' ny 732 ; Luth., V(tt., zu seiner 
 Zeit ; Held., nach Zeitumstanden, etc.); not as at present 
 (referring to Balaam's own oracles, comp. Judg. xiii. 23) ; 
 much less next year at this time (comp. Gen. xviii. 10), when 
 the Hebrews shall have crossed the Jordan ; nor soon (Maiirer), 
 or u-hen (Lengerke, comp. Job xxxix. 18, likely?, Job vi. 17). 
 . — .-V^'^t^, ivhat Me doeth, or what lie hath resolved to do, the 
 preterite denoting the unfailing certainty or the immediate 
 execution of an action (so that it is unnecessary to read ^V'^), 
 while the future ~lP^,^ describes the customary performance 
 (comp. ^^\>l, etc., in ver. 24 ; see Gram. §§ 93.4; 94.7) : against 
 the context is the reference to ih.e- future or Messianic Israel ; 
 so Origen, In Num. Homil. xvi. 8, ' de illo populo dicit de quo 
 in j)salmis (xxii. 32) scriptum est, " et annuntiabunt cceli 
 justitiam ejus populo, qui nascetur, quern fecit Dominus," ' 
 and some others. The words '31 ^pvh lOX'', taken literally, 
 give a most suitable sense (so Sept., prjdiifferai rw 'lapaijX ri 
 tTTiTtXiaei V Qt(')Q\ liushi, Ehn Ezra, Rashbain, and others); but 
 they are rendered by many : ' It shall be said of Jacob and 
 of Israel, What hath God wrought' ! {Eng. Vers.) and simi- 
 larly Turg. Jon. and Jervs.; Lulh., Zur Zeit wird man von 
 Jacob sagen : welche Wunder Gott thut ! Calv., Deum 
 proeclara oj era exinde editurum pro defensione populi sui, 
 quje cum admiratione narrentur ; Eosenm., Mavr., quanta 
 fecit Deus ! Euald, so lange es heissen wird in Jacob .... 
 'was thut Gott' ! i. e., so lange man die Grossthaten Israels 
 
AGAIN IIKMOXSTRANCES AXD PREPARATIONS. '2\ i 
 
 hewuudern iind riihmen w evde, and others. Curious is Luz- 
 zatto's explanation: Jacob, also called Israel, deserves a third 
 iMi\\\e,\\z,M<th-pa(il-El, i.e., 'destined by God for great things.' 
 About the comparison of heroes and conquerors with the 
 lion and other animals, see Comm. on Genes, p. 748. In the 
 Annals of the Egyptian king Thotmes III. (line 19) it is pro- 
 mised : 'I let thy enemies see thy majesty like a raging lion ;' 
 and the king is described (line 20) as a ' swooping liawk which 
 takes at his glance what he chooses' ; on the Luxor Obelisk 
 (Paris) Ramses II. is called ' ma,<;nanimous lion, golden 
 hawk' ; 'powerful Bull is the name of the Egyptian mou- 
 arclis in their diviue character;' and the god Ha himself, 'the 
 chief of the great cycle of gods, the one alone without 
 equal,' bears the names of 'beautiful Bull' and 'great Hawk' 
 (comp. Eeeords of the Past, ii. 34, 154, 135; iv. II, 20 24, 
 56 ; vi. 73, etc.). 
 
 11. AGAIN REMONSTRANCES AND PREPARATIONS. 
 XXIII. 25 — XXIV. 2. 
 
 25. And Balak said to Balaam, Neither shalt 
 tliou curse them, nor shalt thou bless them. 
 26. And Balaam answered and said to Bahik, 
 Have I not told thee, saying, All that the Lord 
 speaks, that I must do ? 27. And Balak said to 
 Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will take thee to 
 another place ; perhaps it will i)lease God that 
 thou mayest curse me them from thence. 28. And 
 Balak took Balaam to the summit of Peor, that 
 looks over the plain of the wilderness. 29. And 
 Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven 
 altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and 
 seven rams. 30. And Balak did as Balaam had 
 said, and he offered a bullock and a ram on erery 
 altar. 
 
212 NUMBERS XXIII. 25 — XXIV. 2. 
 
 XXIV. — 1. And when Balaam saw that it 
 pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as 
 tlie first and second time, to seek for inspirations, 
 and lie turned his face towards the wilderness. 
 2. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw 
 Israel encamped according to their tribes ; and 
 the .spirit of God came upon him. 
 
 Is Balak's obduracy vanquished at last ? Will he at 
 last desist from his audacious scheme ? His defiance is 
 not conquered, but it is curbed and checked. He still 
 clinches the old design with a convulsive grasp, but vt'ith 
 a faint-heartedness which involves the germ and fore- 
 boding of failure. No more does he now, as he did after 
 the first speech, say determinedly and energetically, 
 ' Come with me to another place . . . and curse me them 
 from thence,'^ but he exclaims almost plaintively, 
 ' Neither shalt thou curse them nor shalt thou bless 
 them.'^ Writhing under the stinging impression of the 
 words still filling his ears, that the Hebrews ' do not lie 
 down till they eat their prey and drink the blood of the 
 slain,' he abandons the hope of a curse, and is content if 
 the prophet withholds his blessing from the terrible and 
 wonderful people. However, this frame of mind lasts 
 but a short moment. The king has imbued his heart too 
 strongly with an infatuated desire, not to cleave to 
 it even against hope; and wdien, accordingly, Balaam 
 reminds him again that, as he had from the beginning- 
 declared himself in absolute dependence and subjection 
 of Jahveh,'^ he cannot fairly be reproached with a breach 
 of faith, the monarch, as before, utterly disregards this 
 emphatic protest and, apparently both unwilling and 
 unable to realise its full scope, invites the seer to make 
 a third attempt at prostrating Israel by imprecations. 
 But in what form does he make the request ? He says 
 
 " Ver. 13. b Yer. 25. '^ xxii. 38. 
 
AGAIN REMONSTRANCES AND PREPARATIONS. 
 
 213 
 
 not to Balaam now, ' I know that he whom thou blcssest 
 is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed;''^ even 
 after the first prophecy, he was impressed with a feeling, 
 however vague and dim, that it was not Balaam, but 
 Jahveh, the God of the Hebrews, from whom proceed 
 blessing and curse ;^ but now, after the second oracle, he 
 is shaken by doubt and hesitation ; the old obstinacy is 
 mingled with an unwonted weakness, and there is almost 
 the tone of a suppliant in the words, ' Come, I pray thee, 
 1 will take thee to another place, perhaps it will please 
 God, that thou may est curse me them from thence. '° But, 
 though his pride has been forced to bend, his mind re- 
 mains unenlightened, his heart remains unreformecl. Still, 
 as previously, he means by extraneous artifices to rule 
 the Ruler of destinies. Twice he had vainly endeavoured 
 to attain his object in places whence only a portion of 
 the Israelites could be beheld ; he now determines to 
 resort to the opposite experiment, and takes Balaam to a 
 spot where he can survey the entire host and crowd of 
 the people ' encamped according to their tribes.' At first 
 he had apprehended that the inspiring asi)ect of the 
 whole nation would paralyse the efiicacy of the evil eye ; 
 but now he is anxious to try whether that evil eye has 
 not the potency of blasting and overwhelming his enemies, 
 if it strikes them with one comprehensive and withering 
 glance. And still, as before, he believes he may the more 
 surely count upon success, if he chooses a locality con- 
 secrated to one of his deities — and he now selects a place 
 dedicated to Peor ("Ti275), whose worship was stained by 
 the most detestable and most repulsive licentiousness, 
 and perhaps more than any other form of Moabitish 
 idolatry, contributed to the people's fearful debasement.'^ 
 
 •■" xxii. 6. 
 
 b xxiii. 17. 
 
 «= Ver. 27, '31 "I'J"''' "''?1S*. 
 
 '' See XXV. 3, 5 ; xxxi. 16 ; Josh. 
 xxii 17; conip. Uri;/c)i, In Num. 
 Horn. xvii. 1, ' Balach putau'^, (juod 
 
 Balaam divino ad malediceudiim loci 
 oppoitunitas magis defuerit qiiam 
 voluntas, etc. Fogor (Peor) autem 
 interpretatur delectatio : in verticem 
 ergo delectationis et libidinis impo- 
 uil homines iste BaldL-h.' 
 
214 NUMBERS XXIII. 25-XXIV. 2. 
 
 So little does the king fathom what Balaam has just 
 repeated to him again, ' Have I not told thee saying, All 
 that the Lord speaks, that I must do ? ' With the keenest 
 penetration, the author delineates, step by stej), the 
 eternal waifare of the spirit against the vaiied delusions 
 of paganism, which yields no farther than it is pressed 
 by fear, the kernel of its creed and the motive power of 
 its life. 
 
 The 'summit of Peor' belongs to the same ridge of 
 Pisgah as the ' Field of Seers,' the scene of the second 
 I)rophecy f for elsewhere the whole of the Pisgah is 
 described with the exact terms here applied to the 
 summit of Peor, namely, that ' it looks out over the 
 plain of the wilderness.''' It may have a somewhat 
 more northern and western position than the ' Field of 
 Seers,' and may rival in eminence the peak of Nebo, 
 from which tlie eye surveyed 'all the land of Gilead 
 unto Dan, and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim, 
 and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the 
 western sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley 
 of Jericho . . . unto Zoar;'"^ and it was, therefore, cer- 
 tainly possible to see from the top of Peor 'the wilder- 
 ness' or 'desert,''' that is, 'the jilains of Moab,' in wliich 
 the Hebrews were encamped, 'in the valley over against 
 Beth-Peor.'« 
 
 And how does Balaam act at this juncture ? Here, 
 above all, must yxa look for the crucial test of his 
 conduct, his cliaracter, and his religion. Readily he 
 responds this tinje also to Balak's request. He is dis- 
 posed to a third prophecy — for 'a threefold cord is not 
 quicklj^ broken,' thinks the author, who has another and 
 yet higher blessing in store for Israel. He makes the 
 arrangements with respect to altars and saciilices as 
 
 " Yer. 14. i <' pD'CM, ■ian?::n, x.xiii. 28; 
 
 ^ Ver. 28; comp. xxi. 20. I xxiv. 1. 
 
 <: Dent, xxxiv. 1-3, 'I'-lwSrr'r^-nX I <■ xxii. l; Deiit. iii. 27, 29; iv. 
 
 '21 JT-ty 1J?'?jn-nN | 46; .Tosh. xiii. 20; see pp. 77, 188. 
 
AGAIN REMONSTRANCES AND PREPARATIONS. 215 
 
 before. But he believes that he no longer needs any 
 special spiritual preparations, and therefore does not 
 require the aid of solitude to commune with the source 
 of revelation. Quite confident, after his twofold ex- 
 perience, that, contrary to Balak's wish and expectation, 
 'it pleases the Lord (mrr^) to bless Israel,' he awaits the 
 Divine communication at the place to which he has 
 happened to be conducted, and in the company of the 
 heathen king and his nobles. He is not deceived — he 
 casts a glance upon the Hebrew multitudes established 
 in regular divisions along an extensive tract of the 
 desert, 'and the spirit of God came upon him,' as it 
 came upon, or 'clothed,' other Divine messengers and 
 servants, and as it came, among others, upon Othniel 
 the Kenizzite, when he was appointed deliverer and 
 Judge of Israel.'^ Who can fail to see that thus the 
 most admirable harmony prevails throughout the whole 
 account and all its parts ? But no ! The text includes 
 one term which, if it must be retained or be taken in its 
 current sense, suddenly and completely converts that 
 harmony into the most painful discord. For we read 
 that Balaam did not go, like the first and second time, 
 'to meet nechashim (Q'^tt^n?), that is, according to the 
 usual meaning of the word, 'to meet enchantments' or 
 'auguries.' Did, then, really Balaam the first and second 
 time practise those contemptible frauds, the absence of 
 which among the Israelites he praises as their particular 
 glor}^ and describes as one of the chief causes of their 
 power and greatness ? " 
 
 Whoever has read the previous narrative in unbiassed 
 fairness, must surely be surprised and perplexed b}^ those 
 ' enchantments ' which appear abruptly and unawares, 
 like a true deus ex machind, and he will seriously ask 
 himself, whether he is to trust to this single and casual 
 
 » Jiulg. iii. 10, nn V^Py "'nni l Eible studies, Part. ii.,ricliminary 
 nin^ ; see iuj»ri, pp. 16, 35 ; corup. | Essay, § 1. ^ x.xiii. 23. 
 
216 NUiMBERS XXIII. 25 -XXIV. 2. 
 
 introduction of a contradictory term, in preference not 
 merely to the repeated and unequivocal statements that 
 Balaam went ' to meet God ' (n"^nbw) or ' to meet the 
 Lord ' (mrf)/ but to the unmistakable spirit which per- 
 vades this composition in every feature alike, and stamps 
 it as one of the priceless pearls of Hebrew literature ? 
 There remain but two expedients — either to take D'^trnp 
 as a corruption instead of D^ribw or nin"|, or to attribute 
 to that expression a less offensive signification. That this 
 section has suffered various glosses and interpolations, 
 we have alread}^ attempted to show, and we shall have 
 further occasion to point out ; and that the meaning of 
 such terms as nachash (ti7n3) underwent, in the language 
 of the Hebrews, frequent modifications, generally changing 
 from the legitimate to the unlawful, in accordance with 
 the progress made in religious purity and strictness, this 
 is, among many other instances, apparent from the word 
 kesem (DP^), which Balaam mentions in conjunction with 
 'nachash,^ and in reference to which such a fluctuation 
 has above been proved.*^ We confess that we find the 
 former alternative more congenial, for not without the 
 deepest regret and reluctance would we see the bright- 
 ness of this noble work tarnished by rude and lying 
 superstitions. 
 
 Philological Eemakks. — 05 ... 05 (ver. 25) is both . . . and ; 
 therefore, in connection with i<?, it is neither . . . nor [Sept., 
 vvTE . . . ovTE ; Viihj., nee , . . nee; comp. Isa. xlviii. 8 :not 
 051 . , . C|, as in Sam. Text and Version, and some MSS.) ; 
 and the synonym ^X is used in a similar manner (Isa. xl. 24; 
 comp. supra on xxii. 33). — 3p, a contracted form of the abso- 
 lute infin. of Kal, instead of 3i3|5, as ^'^ (Ruth ii. 16) instead 
 of ^1^^ (see Gram. § Ixii. 2. c).— The chateph-kamets in -ISaf^n, 
 in pavsa, under the non-guttnral p, which was originally 
 provided with a cJiolem, is not without a considerable number 
 of analogies (as -ISnnpX, Jer. xxxi. 33, etc.) ; see Gram. §§ iv. 
 
 ■■^ xxiii. .'5, i, l.-), IG. 1' xxiii. 23. -^ P. 110. 
 
AGAIN REMONSTRANCES AND PREPARATIONS. 217 
 
 4. h ; xl. 4. c. — I'l'^"'!"^ (ver. 28), from D'r^ to be laid waste, is no 
 proper noun, but a wilderness (Sept., eprjfiot; ; Vtdg., solitudo, 
 etc.), and tlierofore used in parallelism with "I3"!P (Ps. 
 Ixxviii. 4(1 ; cvi. 14), with which it is synonjmous in our 
 passage also (xxiv. 1). — The king of Moab took Balaam to 
 the 'summit of Peor,' because this 'looks over the plain of the 
 wilderness,' so that the whole of the Hebrew camp could be 
 seen. Eusebius (sub ^oyiop kui Bijdcjjoyiop and 'Apapwd Mwa/3) 
 fixes the position of Peor more precisely close to the 
 'plains of Moab,' opposite Jericho on the way from the 
 town Livias to Heshbon, and at a distance of about seven 
 Roman miles from the latter place (u7rep«trai rrji; vvv At/3ia2o(; 
 KoXovfiirriQ, and vpoc ^oyojp, o TrapitKeirai cwioptujv cWo Aiftia^og 
 tirl 'Eaaeftoui' tTjq ' Apaj^iuQ avTiKpv 'Itpiyb) ; compare Hengstb., 
 Bil, pp. 248-250).— The term □j;D3-DyD? (xxiv. 1), literally 
 like one time with or and another time, that is, like before, is 
 neither necessarily restricted to two times, as in this passage 
 (xxiii. 3, 15; comp. Judg. xvi. 20; 1 Sam. iii. 10; Judg. xx. 
 30, 31), nor does it always mean as usual (1 Sam. xx. 25; 
 Sept., K-ara to eliodug; Engl. Vers., as at other times), in which 
 sense that phrase is analogous to r\yc'2 njtJ' even/ year, or 
 Ji'nna C^'^^ every month (1 Sam. i. 7 ; 1 Chron. xxvii. 1, etc.). 
 
 — D^L"n3 nxip'? is, of course, rendered by the interpreters in 
 a literal sense (Sept., eIq avvavTr](7iv toIq o'iuh'oIq; Vulg., lit 
 augurium qusereret ; Philo, Vita. Mos. i. 52, ovdn kutu to 
 f(\oe £7rt KXrjhopag Koi olwi'ovg 'Ieto ; Zutb., nach den Zaubertrn ; 
 Uengstb., Zeichen ; De Wette, Zeichendeutereien, etc.) ; but 
 even the obvious and striking incongruity in this verse alone 
 
 — 'When Balaam saw that it pleased Jahveh (niiT') to bless 
 Israel, he did not go out for enchantments'' — might have 
 pointed the way to a juster conception. — There are still a 
 few traces left- — slight we admit, but still not indistinct — of 
 the Hebrew verb t'nj used in a more general or extended 
 sense for divining, considering, or interpreting (comp. Gen. 
 XXX. 27; 1 Ki. xx. 33). 'We may well suppose,' says 
 Lange (Bibelwerk, ii. 309), with a noteworthy glimpse of 
 the truth, 'that the obscure appellation kosem had originally 
 a better meaning than in later times, similar to the worship 
 on heights, which, at first patriarchal, became afterwards 
 
218 NUMBERS xxiri. 25 -XXIV. 2. 
 
 heretical' (eomp. also Abarhanel'm loc, who thinks it possible 
 tliat the phrase 'he did not go D'>ii'n3 nxipV means simply 
 'he did not go into the solitude,' like ""Qt^ ']?'') in xxiii. 3, 
 serpents living iu solitary places; Chtrlce in loc, who surmises 
 that D''ki^n3 'probably means no more than the knowledge of 
 future events' or 'prophetic declarations'). It is mainly the 
 employment of the word D^IJ'nj in this place which has 
 suggested the view that Balaam gradually rose from the 
 character of a heathen seer and sorcerer to that of a true 
 Hebrew prophet, and that, after having twice relied upon 
 superstitious auguries and enchantments, and having twice 
 blessed Israel against his will, he then, before the third pro- 
 phecy, gained the higher stage, when the spirit of God came 
 tipon him ' for the purpose of uttering a full prediction 
 respecting the Israelite people,' and when he blessed them 
 with a willing heart (so Bunsen, Bibelwerk, v. 605, 606 ; 
 Oort, Disputatio, pp. 116-118, 127, 128, 'Spiritus divinus 
 vincit peccatum ; Bileam remanet eadem persona, vir Jahvi 
 reluctans sed magis magisque a Numiue afflatus, etc.; Kuenen, 
 Eelig. of Israel, i. 208; Knobel, Numer., p. 123; Davidson, 
 Introd. to the Old Test., ii. 441, 442, and others; and simi- 
 larly already, Naclrnvniides, Aburbanel, and others). But this 
 compromise is not borne out by the tenor of the narrative. 
 Even before setting out on his journey to Moab, Balaam gives 
 expression to exactly the same principle of action as after the 
 utterance of the third prophecy — that not the whole of the 
 king's treasures could prevail upon him to say anything but 
 the words prompted by Jahveh, and it is on the earJitr occa- 
 Bion that he calls Jahveh distinctly 'my God' C^!''?;?, xxii. 18 ; 
 xxiv, 13). Does a heathen seer consult Jahveh ? Does 
 Jahveh reveal Himself so constantly and so readily to a 
 heathen seer, as He did to Balaam from the very beginning ? 
 The first and second prophecies are at least as distinctly 
 spiritual in tone and tendency as the third and fourth, which 
 lay great stress on worldly prosperity and conquest ; and a 
 man who utters the wish, 'Let me die the death of the 
 righteous' (DniJ'^), and affirms that ' God beholdeth no iniquity 
 in Jacob . . . and the trumpet-call of the King is among 
 them,' can hardly rise higher in knowledge and purity, 
 
AGAIN REMONSTRANCES AND PREPARATIONS. 219 
 
 although his prophetic gifts may increase in extent and 
 intensity (see notes on vers. 3-9). Our narrative shows no 
 trace either of a combination of paganism and Hebraism, or 
 of a development of tlie one into the otlier. It displays the 
 most perfect unity of conception. The difficulty of a single 
 word cannot outbalance the numerous arguments on the 
 opposite side. The author meant to delineate Balaam like a 
 true prophet of his own people ; if he did not, the chief 
 interest of the composition is destroyed. — The 'desert' to 
 which Balaam turned his face was, of course, the desert of 
 Moab {Eba Ezra, 3N10 nmyn ^NX*'^ DC'C), not as the Tar- 
 gumim and other Jewish versions render, that of Arabia, to 
 which the prophet is supposed to have looked in order to 
 recall to memory the guilt of the golden calf, which the 
 Hebrews had there committed, and through which, he 
 thought, they might be assailable with imprecations. — The 
 Israelites were 'encamped (I?^*) according to their tribes,' as 
 is fully described in another part of the Book of Numbers 
 (chaps, ii., x.; Sept., etTTpnToireceviTcu; Vnlg., in tentoriis com- 
 morantem, etc.) ; but Ta?^g. Jon. has, 'he beheld Israel dwel- 
 ling together by their tribes in their schools (}n''ki'"nD T\2), 
 and saw that their doors were arranged so as not to overlook 
 the doors of their neighbours.' — The 'spirit of God' that 
 came upon Balaam is not in 'pointed contrast' to his own 
 spirit (ver. 13), as if he had still wished and intended to 
 pronounce a curse upon Israel instead of a blessing {ITengstb., 
 Authent., i. 409), which is in opposition to the clear words of 
 the preceding verse; nor is it that wild trance which fell 
 upon Saul and his servants, and by which they were 'turned 
 into other men' (1 Sam. x. 6, 10 ; xi. 6 ; xix. 20, 23, 24 ; see 
 notes on vers. 3-9); nor merely 'something like a Divine 
 afflatus, which, in deference to current phraseology, is termed 
 the spirit of God' {Roseum., afflatu quodam tamquam divino 
 correptus, etc.) ; but it is that heavenly inspiration by which 
 Balaam, like other true prophets, was enabled or empowered 
 to pronounce that which lies beyond the ordinary' scope of 
 human intelligence (comp. Judg. iii. 10; vi. 34; Isa. xlviii. 
 16; lix. 21; Ixi. 1; Ezek. xi. 5; 2 Chron. xxiv. 20 ; also 
 Hos. ix. 7, where the prophet is simply called 'a man of the 
 
220 NUMBERS XXIV. 3-9. 
 
 Spirit,' nnn 2""^). — The following sketch has been offered as 
 'coming naturally out of the Scriptural narratives:' 'The 
 priest of Baal — Balaam — now turns his face towards the 
 east, where his sun-god is wont to make his daily rise, and 
 where is his ethereal palace. With a hand outstretched, and 
 eyes looking intently towards his own home and the home of 
 Baal, the seer strains his faculties to find the wished-for im- 
 precation ; but the spirit of God comes upon him, and he 
 can utter no words but those of blessing and gratulation' 
 {Beard, Diet, of the Bible, i. 122). This picturesque de- 
 scription is, by the simple fact that Balaam is distinctly 
 stated to have looked westward and not eastward (vers. 1, 2, 
 see supra), marked as the offspring of imagination, and not 
 of Biblical exegesis. 
 
 12. BALAAM'S THIRD SPEECH. XXIV. 3-9. 
 
 3. And lie took up his parable and said, 
 
 So speaketli Balaam, the son of Beor, 
 And so speaketli the man of unclosed 
 eye; 
 
 4. So speaketli he who heareth the words 
 
 of God, 
 
 He who seetli the vision of the Al- 
 mighty, 
 
 Prostrate and with opened eyes : 
 
 5. How goodly are thy tents, Jacob, 
 Thy tabernacles, Israel ! 
 
 6. As valleys that are spread out, 
 As gardens by the river's side ; 
 
 As aloe trees which tlie Lord hath 
 
 planted. 
 As cedars beside the water. 
 
 7. Water floweth from his buckets, 
 And his seed is by many waters ; 
 
BALAAM'S THIRD SPEECH. 221 
 
 And liis king- is liigher tlian Agag-, 
 And his kingdom is exalted. 
 
 8. God brought luni forth out of Egypt — ■ 
 He hath the fleetness of the buffalo. 
 He devoureth nations, his enemies, 
 And crusheth their bones, 
 
 And pierceth with his arrows, 
 
 9. He couchetli, he lieth down like a lion 
 And like a lioness, who shall stir 
 
 him up ? 
 Blessed are those that bless thee. 
 And cursed those that curse thee. 
 
 Twice has God, descending to Balaam, ' put words in 
 his mouth ' ; ^ but now, when another utterance is de- 
 manded, Balaam strives to rise up to God, In dehvering 
 the two former prophecies, therefore, he was no more 
 than a favoured instrument, but in giving forth the third, 
 he is invested with all the attributes of an insjDired inter- 
 preter of Divine decrees, which he unravels by the light 
 of a more than ordinary discernment. As the import of 
 Balaam's speeches advances from stage to stage, so also 
 his own gifts and privileges ; and he is now seized by 
 the true power of prophecy so perfectly and so completely, 
 that, while he seems to speak in strains of unfettered 
 independence, he yet says nothing 'of his own mind,'*" 
 and that his human powers are not merely merged in his 
 office, but have become one with the Divine spirit. 
 Therefore, he may now introduce himself with all the 
 usual designations of a chosen messenger of God, who 
 fully compasses the depth of the words he pronounces, be- 
 cause he reads the Divine revelations with his own 'opened 
 eyes,' and expounds them with his own 'unclosed vision'; 
 who, when he receives celestial manifestations, is able to 
 
 » xxiii. 0, 16. •• Yer. 13. 
 
"ITl NUMBERS XXIV. o-D. 
 
 fathom them with certainty and to explain theni without 
 diffidence, because the humility with which he bows^ be- 
 fore God, lifts him up to His knowledge and wisdom. 
 Therefore, in the poet's intention — for it is his concep- 
 tions into which we are endeavouring to enter, in order 
 to illustrate the consummate art and unity of his compo- 
 sition — it is no pride, no ' boastful vanity,' which prompts 
 him to begin his prophecy, 'So speaketh (2^3) Balaam, 
 the son of Beor,' and to make this equivalent to ' So 
 speaketh the Lord,' whose spirit is in him. Such terms 
 could no more strike Hebrew readers as conceited gran- 
 diloquence than the words of king David, which, written 
 probably not long after these prophecies, seem to be an 
 imitation of this passage, ' So speaketh (CS3) David, the 
 son of Jesse, and so speaketh the man who was raised up 
 on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet 
 minstrel of Israel ; the spirit of the Lord speaketh 
 through me, and His word is on ni}^ tongue ' ;^ and at no 
 time did the men of God hesitate to set forth their un- 
 common endowments and superior enlightenment with the 
 most emphatic assurance.*^ Appropriate, indeed, is such 
 higher tone in this speech, the last that is directly de- 
 voted to Israel and their destinies, for it may fairly be 
 called the combination and the seal of the two previous 
 oracles. It blends the idyllic peace of the first with the 
 martial challenge of the second ; it extends the one, 
 strengthens the other, and then hastens to that utterance 
 with regard to Israel, which sounds like an immutable 
 principle of Divine government, and to which the whole 
 narrative gravitates as to its centre, ' Blessed are those 
 that bless thee, and cursed are those that curse thee.'^ 
 
 As if carried away by the imposing aspect of Israel's 
 spreading hosts, the prophet addresses them, exclaiming : 
 
 bsi), vers. 1, 16. 
 2 Sum. .\xiii. 1, 2. 
 Coiup. Deiit. xxxii. 1, 
 
 Isa. 
 
 xlix. 1, 2 ; 1.4; Ps. xlix. 2-5 (see 
 Rupfeld, in loc.) ; Gal. i. 11 ; 2 Cor- 
 xi. 1 &qq., etc. ^ Ver. 9. 
 
Balaam's tried speech. 223 
 
 ' How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, thy tabernacles, O 
 Israel ! ' These words, in the first instance, describe in- 
 deed the scene which, on the eminence of Peor, met 
 Balaam's gaze glancing over the wide plains of Moab, 
 but, at the same time, they bring before our mind, by 
 poetical imagery, the exquisite abodes of the Hebrews in 
 the land of Canaan, both their rural settlements and 
 their populous towns. Balaam, however, soon remembers 
 that his speech is not meant for Israel, but for the king 
 of Moab, who is riveted to his li])S with breathless 
 anxiety. Therefore, changing the form, though not the 
 tenour of his words, he passes to a calmer description, in 
 which Balak, if he has at length learnt wisdom, is to 
 read his fate. He first pictures the Hebrews in peace — 
 the large extent of their territory, ' as valleys that are 
 spread out ' ; their fiourishing and well-established pros- 
 perity, ' as gardens by the river's side ' ; their happy and 
 cheerful enjoyment of life, 'as aloe trees which the Lord 
 hath planted ' ; and their enduring and indestructible 
 strength, ' as cedars beside the water ' ; in a word, the 
 high tide of their blessings which stream freely in all 
 directions— 'water floweth from his buckets'; and which 
 are shared by an equally successful and favoured posterity 
 — ' his seed is by many waters.' 
 
 Nothing could impress the idea of felicity and welfare 
 upon the king of Moab more effectually, or upon the 
 Israelites more gratefully, than this constant allusion to 
 water. Both the one and the others understood well what it 
 means, ' I will give you rain in due season,' and what, on 
 the other hand, ' I will make your heaven as iron and 
 your earth as brass.' '^ They knew" that when Canaan 
 was called ' a land of delight,' or ' a land of glorious 
 beauty' and 'the choicest of all countries,' it was espe- 
 cially because Canaan is ' a land of brooks of water, of 
 fountains and lakes that spring out of valleys and hills ' ; 
 
 " Lev. xxvi. 4, 19 ; comp. Jer. xiv. 1-6 ; Joel i. 18-20. 
 
224 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. 8-0. 
 
 a land that ' diinks water of the rain of heaven.' ^ And 
 when a later prophet addressed Israel, ' I will pour water 
 upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground 
 . . . and thy descendants shall spring up as among the 
 grass, as willows by the water courses;''' or when a 
 gifted Psalmist described the wealth and glory of Jeru- 
 salem in the emphatic words, 'All My springs are in 
 thee;'*= they intimated to their hearers and readers the 
 inexhaustible abundance of boons allotted to them, no 
 more forcibly or more intelligibly than Balaam did with 
 the words, ' Water floweth from his buckets, and his 
 seed is by many waters.'"^ They are all familiar and 
 pleasing images vividly calling forth the ideas of ease 
 and comfort, of wealth and plenty; but while the sombre 
 and majestic cedar, with its far-extending, broad, and 
 roof-like branches, conveys the notions of dignity and 
 protection, of unshaken security and permanence ; the 
 bright and delicate blossoms and the fragrant resin of 
 the aloe plant conjure up the graces and amenities of 
 life, which, as 'God has planted them,' are no less lasting 
 than lovely. 
 
 But all this individual and social prosperity is not to 
 be purchased by an inglorious obscurity. It is coupled 
 with the highest political power and splendour. It is 
 the fruit of famous wars and brilliant victories. It does 
 
 =* Deut. viii. 7; xi. 11,14; xx.xiii. 
 13; E7ek. xx. 6; Jer. iii. 19 ; Joel 
 ii. 21-24 ; iv. 18 ; Dan. viii. 9 ; xi. 
 16; Ps. Ixv. 10, 11 ; comp, Ezek. 
 xlvii. 1-12 ; Zech. .\iv. 8. 
 
 ^ Isa. xliv. 3, 4. 
 
 <: Ps. Ixxxvii. 7. 
 
 •* Comp. Ps. lx.\iii. 10; Ixxxiv. 7. 
 On Assyrian inscriptions, rain, most 
 devoutly prayed for, is called ' the 
 joy of the year,' and the god Rim- 
 mon bears the name of ' Lord of 
 Canals ' ; comp. Inscripr. of Tigl.- 
 pil. i. ^^ 49 ; Black Obelisk Inscript. 
 
 A, line 7, etc. ; see Records of the Pa!-t, 
 V. 25, 29, 54, 73, 70 (' flowing waters 
 giving pkasure to the people, 'etc.). In 
 the * Great Harris Papyrus' (Plate 3, 
 § 6) we find the expressive prayer of 
 king Eamses III. : ' Give breath to 
 my nostril, water to my soul ' (Rec. 
 vi. 26) ; and the Egyptian writings 
 abound with praises of the Nile, 
 which they describe as ' giving life 
 to Egypt, subsistence to all animals, 
 light to every home, the creator of 
 all good things' {Ibid. iv. 107-114 ; 
 vi. 51). 
 
Balaam's third speech. 225 
 
 not engender effeminacy, but affords the means for the in- 
 domitable defence of possessions acquired by sanguinary 
 struggles, and thus renders the Israelites unapproach- 
 al)le. A kingdom has been established mightier than 
 that of the proud and hated Amaiekites who, alone of 
 all nations, ventured to attack the Hebrews in their toil- 
 some wanderings through the wilderness, but who more 
 than once succumbed to their valiant arms.^ That king- 
 dom has not 'come up in a night/ but is the sure growth 
 of centuries. It has its strong roots in those early con- 
 quests and successes to which the miraculous deliverance 
 from Egypt, accomplished by Divine assistance, gave the 
 impulse and the confidence, the courage and the vigour. 
 As it has been founded, so it can only maintain itself, by 
 l)itter and implacable severity against its enemies, whom 
 it has striven and has proved able to hurl down, to 
 crush, or to exterminate. Therefore, Israel is now like 
 the lion, whom, couching with his prey, no one dares to 
 assail or to provoke. 
 
 To what time does this description apply so well as to 
 that of David ? Indeed, it hardly suits any other. It was 
 only towards the end of David's reign, that there prevailed 
 in Israel such watchful and lion-like boldness of resist- 
 ance, inspired by the apprehension of losing, through the 
 animosity and revenge of keen-eyed foes, the precious 
 boons obtained with unspeakable labour and danger. And 
 to David himself applies almost literally what is here said 
 of Israel : ' He devoureth the nations, his enemies, and 
 crusheth their bones, and pierceth with his arrows.' 
 The Biblical accounts do not conceal the great rigour, 
 nay the fearful cruelty, with which David, in accordance 
 with the barbarous usages of his age or of Eastern 
 conquerors genei-ally, treated his vanquished opponents.'' 
 
 " See notes on ver. 20. 
 
 ^ Comp. Xum. xvi. 14; Judg. xvi. 
 21 ; 2 Ki. viii. 12 ; xxv. 7 ; Isa. 
 xiv. 17; Ara. i. 3, 13; ii. 1 ; Ps. 
 cxxxvii. 9, etf. ; see siiprrr, p. 37, 
 
 note (/; although the kings ot Israel 
 bore in this respect a favourable re- 
 putation : ' We have heard that the 
 kings of the house of Israel iirenitrc;- 
 ful kings' ("ipn '3'?0), 1 Ki. xx. 31. 
 
226 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. 8-9. 
 
 More unpitying he appears from those records than 
 Gideon in the savage period of the Judges, who threatened 
 the princes and elders of Succoth, that ' he would thresh 
 their flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with 
 briers,' and carried out the threat ;** and more inexorable 
 than Samuel, Avho ' hewed Agag in pieces before the 
 Lord in Gilgal.'^ For however strong and painful our 
 repugnance, a sound interj)retation cannot avoid under- 
 standing in a literal sense the following words, which 
 conclude the account of David's capture of Kabbah in 
 Ammon : ' And he brought forth the people that were 
 therein, and put them under saws, and under threshing 
 wains of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them 
 pass through the brick-kiln,' after which the text adds, 
 ' And thus did he to all the cities of the children of Am- 
 mon.'*^ As if to render doubt impossible, the Chronicler, 
 generally so eager to palliate the offences of his favourites, 
 makes indeed no reference to the brick-kilns, because he 
 seems unwilling to challenge a comparison between 
 David, the anointed, and a later king of Moab himself, 
 who 'burnt the bones of the king of Edom into lime,' 
 and Avas, for this inhuman ferocity, menaced by the 
 prophet Amos with God's direst anger and punishment ■,^ 
 but he, the Chronicler, observes distinctly, that David 
 ' cut the Ammonite captives asunder with saws® and with 
 threshing wains of iron and with axes,'' deeds that are 
 also imputed to a merciless king of Syria, to Caligula, 
 and the frenzied Jewish soldiers in the rcA'olt under 
 Trajan.^ But we have David's own testimony partially 
 coinciding with our text even in words. For in a Psalm 
 to which no careful critic has yet denied the authorship, 
 
 p Amos i. 3, nivinn □cm-'py 
 nj;?:n-nx h^-^iri ; s>wfo>i. Caiigui. 
 
 c. 27, ' multos honesti ordinis . . . 
 medios serra dissecuit' ; lJio)t Cass., 
 Ixviii. 32, TToXXoi'c ^« «•«' nsrrovc 
 dirb Kopvtpijg SaTrptov; see Comm. 
 on Lev. i. p. 411. 
 
 « Judg. viii. 7, 16. 
 b 1 Sam. XV. 33. 
 <: 2 Sara. xii. 31 
 1 Chr. xviii. 4. 
 d Am. ii. 1-3. 
 
 1 Chr. XX. S. 
 
 comp. viii. 2, 4 ; 
 
Balaam's third speech. 227 
 
 or at least the spirit, of David, he says, ' I have pursued 
 my enemies and overtaken them, nor did I turn again 
 till they were consumed.; I pierced them (C^ncb;?) so 
 that they were not able to rise . . . and I crushed them 
 (□n'^tt^S) that hated me ... I pounded them small 
 (□pn^'SI) as the dust before the wind, I cast them out as 
 the dirt in the streets.''' Thus Balaam's words stand 
 forth in all their terrible significance : ' He devoureth 
 the nations, his enemies, and crusheth their bones, and 
 ])ierceth with his arrows.' '^ 
 
 Is such unrelenting fierceness compatible with that 
 extreme refinement otherwise so prominent in this com- 
 position ? Both qualities are here as surprisingly united 
 as they were in the character of David himself, who is 
 justly called ' the sweet minstrel of Israel ; ' or as they are 
 joined in the wonderful Song of Deborah, which strangely 
 couples wild exultation at the murder of a sleeping 
 guest with the most exquisite tenderness in the descrip- 
 tion of an anxious and trembling mother — a significant 
 warning that aesthetic culture alone is insufiicient, and 
 that art must be supplemented by moral elements to 
 shield it alike against callousness and effeminacy. 
 
 The monumental records of Eastern monarchs are, for 
 the most part, catalogues of campaigns, in which we 
 again and again meet the phrases, ' I threw down the 
 cities ' — the numbers added are often prodigious, two 
 hundred or five hundred, and even one thousand two 
 hundred being mentioned on single occasions — or ' I dug 
 them up, ravaged, destroyed, and consumed them with 
 fire,' so that ' the smoke of their burning like a mighty 
 cloud obscured the face of high heaven ; ' or ' I reduced 
 them to heaps of rubbish and left them in ruins,' and ' in 
 every direction I made the land a wilderness,' *= which 
 
 " Ps. xviii. 38-43, comp. Ilitzig, 
 Delitzsch, and Hiipfeld in loc. 
 *> Comp. xxiii. 24; xxiv. 17. 
 
 <= Comp. Isa. xiv. 17, wlioo it is 
 said of the king of Buliylon : CC' 
 
 '2\ -i3i?33 'pan. 
 
228 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. 8-9. 
 
 may well be understood, when we learn that corn fields 
 were sown with thistles and made the abode of serpents 
 and wild beasts from the desert,*" that the wells of drink- 
 ing water were dried up/' and fruit and forest trees cut 
 down or burnt." As regards their enemies, the conquerors 
 constantly boast that they ' scattered their cor[)ses like 
 rubbish,' or ' clay,' or ' water,' or ' chati',' ' threw them 
 down in the dust,' or ' cut them down like grass.' They 
 punished captives of war by tearing out their tongues, 
 lips, noses, or eyes, or cutting off their hands and feet. 
 They chained them up together with dogs and other 
 ferocious animals,*^ or threw them alive into pits ' among 
 stone lions and bulls;'® flayed,*" crucified,^ impaled,'* 
 burned,' or starved them to death;'' and they not only 
 ' erected pyramids of heads ' and ' built up their corpses 
 into piles,'^ but also built up in this manner ' the bodies 
 while yet alive.'" Sometimes fuller descriptions ai'e given, 
 of which the following specimen will suffice, forming the 
 conclusion of a very spirited account of Sennacherib's 
 great battle of Khaluli, recorded on the 'Taylor Cylinder :' 
 ' My faultless horses, yoked to my chariot, stepped slowly 
 through the deep pools of blood ; the wheels of my 
 
 » Records of the Past, i. 28, 88. 
 
 b Ibid. i. 86, etc. 
 
 <= Ibid. iii. 40, 62, 76, 96, etc. ; 
 comp. Isa. X. 34 ; xxxvii. 24. One 
 of the titles of king Asrui-uasii-pal 
 is 'destroyer of lorests and cities' 
 (Rec. iii. 79), and Tiglath-pileser II. 
 glories, ' 'J'he groves of palm-trees 
 
 1 cut down, I did not leave one' 
 {Ibid. V. 104) ; see, on the other 
 hand, the considerate command in 
 Deut. XX. 19, 20). 
 
 •^ Ibid. i. 93, 94, 100; iii. 113. 
 
 « Ibid. i. 78, 80. 
 
 f Ibid. i. 101; iii. 45, 47; comp. 
 
 2 Mace. vii. 7 ; Mic. iii. 1. 
 e Ibid. ill. 42, etc. 
 
 '' Ibid. iii. 47, 62, 68, 73, 95. 
 
 ' ' I consigned 3,000 of their cap- 
 tives to the flames' {Ibid. iii. 49); 
 ' The sons and daughters of their 
 nohles I Lurned for holocausts ' 
 {Ibid. p. 85), etc. 
 
 k Ibid. iii. 68. 
 
 ' Ibid. iii. 49, 52, 85-88, etc. ; 
 comp. 2 Ki. X. 8. 
 
 °> Ibid. iii. 50, 57,61. Tamerhme, 
 A. C. 1387, 'huilt up a living pyra- 
 mid of 2,000 people with mot tar, 
 like stones'; comp. Vai^-Lcunep.Jiihle 
 Lands, ii. 691, 692, 743-747. Who 
 is not, alas! reminded of recent 
 ' atrocities' — infra mtiros ...et extra? 
 Eec. iii. 4C-52, 54, 66, 62, etc. 
 
BALAAMS THIRD SPKECH. 
 
 229 
 
 chariot, as it swept away the slain and the fallen, were 
 clogged with blood and flesh ; the heads of their soldiers 
 I salted and stufl'ed them into great wicker baskets.'* 
 And having specified all these horrors, the monarchs often 
 triunijDhantly wind up their inscriptions with some such 
 sentence as, ' By these things I satisfied the hearts of the 
 great gods my lords.' "^ 
 
 Seeing in his words nothing else but the praise of 
 Israel's power and indesti'uctible greatness, the prophet 
 addresses them again, as he had done at the beginning, 
 and declares not merely that the Hebrews, blessed by God, 
 are subject to no human imprecation, but he exclaims 
 ' Blessed are those that bless thee, and cursed those that 
 curse thee ' — impressing upon the king of Moab to his 
 terror, that the malediction which he had desired to call 
 down upon Israel, would surely rebound upon himself. 
 Balak had believed that he was fighting against a nation 
 like all other nations, but he found, to his dismay, that 
 he had hazarded an impotent warfare against an omni- 
 potent God. 
 
 This is the only metaphysical notion contained in the 
 speech. It is the natural complement of the idea of 
 Israel's election as God's people, and it occurs, therefore, 
 also in the accounts of the patriarchal promises.*' Yet 
 even that dogma admits the intelligible meaning, that he 
 who turns to Israel, turns to God and His truth ; while 
 
 » Inseript. col. v., lines 80-85 ; 
 Rec. i. 49. 
 
 b iA?W. i.78, 93,etc. The'Moabite 
 Stone' (lines 11, 12, 16), after re- 
 lating that king Mesha slew all the 
 captured Israelites, adds that he did 
 this 'for the delight of Cheniosh and 
 Moab' pxobl t^'DD"? fin). Comp. 
 Rec. i. 63, 70, 71, 84, 87, 101; ii. 
 32 ; iii. 40, 41, 44, 62, 76, 87, 107 ; 
 iv. 4.5, 46: v. 9, sqq., 58, 96; vi. 
 19, 91 ; vii. 25-56 passim, 63, (M, 
 
 etc. — Comparatively very rare are 
 phrases like, 'I, Assur-bani-pal, of 
 generous heart, forgiver of sin ' ; 'he 
 trusted to the goo<lness of my heart'; 
 ' I granted favour or grace ' ; ' I had 
 mercy on him and washed out his 
 rebellion ' ; or, not without a cer- 
 tain dignity, 'I left him in life to 
 learn the worship of the great gods 
 from my city of Asshur ' {Ibid. i. 76, 
 77, 90; iii. 95, 117; v. 17). 
 ■^ Gen. xxvii. 29 ; xii. 2, 3. 
 
280 NUMBERS XXIV. 3 0. 
 
 he who opposes Israel, sinks into pernicious falsehood 
 and depravity. In every other point, the oracle so clearl}'^ 
 breathes the purest and simplest humanity, that it seems 
 to move in the sphere of art and history, rather than of 
 religion and doctrine. 
 
 Philological Eemarks. — While in the first two speeches 
 the poet depicts the destinies of the Hebrews and their rela- 
 tions to God in general outlines, he portrays, in the third, more 
 fully, his own age — the time of Israel's greatest prosperity 
 and power. Indeed, looking at the introductory or idyllical 
 portion of the address (vers. 5-7), we might even be tempted 
 to apply the description to Solomon's reign, when ' Judah 
 and Israel dwelt safely (^P?^) every man under his vine and 
 under his fig tree from Dan to Beer-sheba' (1 Ki. v. 5; comp. 
 Mic. iv. 4; Zech. iii. 10; 2 Ki. xviii. 31), and when 'they 
 were numerous as the sand which is by the sea, eating and 
 drinking and making merry' (I Ki. iv. 20), if the second 
 part did not too clearly speak of armament, war, and conquest, 
 (p. 43 ; comp. 2 Sam. vii. 10 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 23-28 ; 1 Chr. xiv. 
 2, etc.). We accept it as no mean confirmation of our histo- 
 rical analysis, that one of the ablest and most consistent 
 of modern apologists arrived at the result : 'As the state- 
 ments in ver. 8 were realised under David, so the declaration 
 in ver. 9 found its fulfilment under Solomon ' (Hengsttnb., Bih, 
 p. 155). There is nothing that compels us to refer the de- 
 scription to Saul's time ; for David also fought successfully 
 against the Amalekites (2 Sam. viii. 12); and the words 'his 
 kingdom shall be exalted,' are little suitable to Saul, whose 
 royal authority declined, if it did not practically cease, after 
 his victory over the Amalekites. — Many interpreters have 
 employed the strongest terms of censure to condemn Balaam's 
 l)refatory sentences (e.g. Calvin, eum ad se jactandum impulit 
 fastus et ambitio .... elogiis se ornat, quibus propheticum 
 munus sibi arroget, etc.) — an injustice both to the author 
 and his composition. — It is as inappropriate to force upon the 
 designation ' Balaam, the son of Beor ' a deeper significance 
 as to take these and the following words as a part of the 
 narrative, so that the speech would only begin with ver. 5 
 
ic 
 
 Balaam's third speech. 231 
 
 (so Pliilo, Vit. Mos. i. 32). — DNJ, that which is uttered or utter- 
 (tnce, the ordinary term introducing prophetic or Divinely 
 inspired speech (D.^C3 being cognate with Dnj and non, to 
 speak in a low or murmuring voice), is always used in the 
 consti^Scate 2X3, commonly 'lin; DX?^ speech or revelation of 
 Jahveli (of which DX3 hi Jer. xxiii. 31 is elliptical), very often 
 occurring in the three greater prophets and i n Amos and 
 Z echariah . occasionally in the Pentateuch (besides this pas- 
 sage in Gen. xxii. 16; Num. xiv. 28), but very rarely with: 
 the human speaker or author following, as here Dy?3 D??!" 
 (vers. 3, 15), "in, □«? (2 Sam. xxiii. 1), and ^^^ri'^W (Prov. 
 XXX. 1), that is, only in old or archaic compositions, written at 
 periods when ni.T DX? had not yet become a fixed and almost 
 technical expression, land when a combination as Vt," 3 DSp, 
 a speech concerning wickedness (Ps. xxxvi. 2) was still possible 
 (comp. Isa. V. 1, 'in ^Tt^', a song concerning my friend). The »^ 
 translation ' speech (of God) to Balaam ' is not countenanced 
 by any analogy. The rarer appellatioa for prophecy ^fl^, from 
 xbj, sc. ^ip, is, on the contrary, a speech delivered with up- 
 lifted voice (Isa. xxi. 1, 11, 13; Nali. i. 1; Hab. i. 1; comp. 
 Jer. xxiii. 31 and 34); though, of course, in either ease the 
 etymological signification was gradually effaced, and no such 
 shade of meaning is implied in the most frequent phrase 
 nin^ "i3'^._i:2^ see on xxiii. 18. — nJ?n ^'?V' ^^^i ^^^Ij be 'with 
 iniclosed eye,' analogous to Q^^^V '•l'?il (ver. 4), ' with opened 
 eyes,' an intelligible metaphor employed in various modifica- 
 tions (comp. Ps. xl. 7, 'Thou hast opened — 0^12 — my ears'; 
 cxix. 18, 'open — ^i — my eyes'; Gen. iii. 5, etc.). In the 
 Mishnah (Avod. Zar. v. 3, 4), the verb DHL*' is employed side 
 by side with DHD as its opposite, viz. DDDM DTC'Si' ''12 ' while 
 he opens (or bores) a hole and stops it again ' (explained by 
 Barttn., apJH DJIDM imn • ■ • • np: Dp'-CT n3) ; and in this sense 
 translate Targ. Ouk. (V^.n 1^S"J'"], seeing clearly), St/r. (SvJl 
 nyy, whose eye is unveiled), Samar. Vers, (nmin DHT), Saad., 
 Kiinchi (pyn runs), Sept. {a\T)diroJc opdy), and the greater part 
 of ancient and modern interpreters. But many, following 
 some Greek versions and the Vulgate {k^-KE(ppayp.fvoi, cujus 
 obturatus est oculus), and urging the analogy of Q'T'^' with 
 Cno and QHw' (Lam. iii. 8), to close or to stop, translate, ' with 
 
 
282 NUMBERS XXIV. liA). 
 
 closed eye,' and explain this very variously to mean either 
 that Balaam's eyes had, up to that time, been blind with 
 respect to the true nature and essence of things (Abdrban.), 
 or to future events, and especially the destinies of Israel 
 {Dei/liiig, Lengerke) ; or, on the contrary, that they could see 
 hidden things {Calv., se pollere arcanis visionibus) ; or that 
 they were unable to perceive the angel on the road {Cleric.) ; 
 or that ' Balaam described himself as the man with closed eye 
 in reference to that state of ecstasy during which the shutting 
 of the outward senses goes hand in hand with the opening of 
 the inward faculties,' so that 'we must consider Balaam to 
 have pronounced all his prophecies with closed eyes' {Heng- 
 stenb., Bauvigart., OeJtler, Kurtz, Hupfeld, Rodiger, Buasen, and 
 others). But, if so, why did Balak make such scrupulous 
 efforts that Balaam should see the Hebrews during his utter- 
 ances, the first times a part of them, and the third time the 
 whole people ? That explanation is a branch of the same 
 strong stem of invidious prejudice which yielded the corres- 
 ponding conception of the entire piece. 'With men like 
 Balaam,' it is asserted, ' who was on a low level of spiritual 
 life, the closing of the eyes was the necessary condition of 
 their opening ; the spirit could only disclose itself by with- 
 drawing him, the defiled heathen, from the staining influences 
 of the baser world' {Hevgstenb., Bil., pp. 1 37-139). But what 
 did Balaam see, when he opened his eyes? That people, 
 which he extolled as the purest, noblest, and most pious. 
 Yet here again — it might seem incredible — recourse is taken 
 to ' second sight.' ' Balaam,' so says a follower of the author 
 just quoted, ' having his outward eyes closed, as is the case 
 M ith second sight, beheld the meaning of the Divine revela- 
 tions with his mental eye opened' {Keil, Num., j). 317). The 
 Eabbins understand indeed DinJ^ as 'unclosed,' but infer 
 from the singular i?yn, the one eye which was opened, that 
 Balaam was blind on the other eye ( Talm. Sanhedr., 105a and 
 Jiasbi in loc. ; see svpra, p. 31 ; but comp. Q^yV ''h:\ ver. 4). 
 — '"^J^^ the Almighty (ver. 4), is here used for '''V^ ^X (Gen. 
 xvii. 1 ; xxviii. 3 ; Exod. vi. 3, etc.), as in the contemporary 
 Book of Euth (i. 20, 21), in the Book of Job (v. 17; vi. 4, 
 14 ; viii. 3, etc.), and some other poetical compositions (Gen. 
 
Balaam's third srEECH. 288 
 
 xlix. 25; Isa. xiii. 7; Ezelc. i. 24; Joel i. 15; Ps. xci. 1), 
 because it is pitliier, not because the latter term was deemed 
 too sacred in connection with Balaam, as some have supposed 
 {Herder, ' machtige Geister,' etc.). — The word ?S2, falliivj down, 
 may possibly refer to those violent trances which overcame 
 inspired persons, and during which they 'fell down on the 
 ground ' and prophesied; and though such remarkable aifec- 
 tions are not recorded with regard to Samuel himself, we 
 learn that they seized his disc iples in his presence (compare 
 1 Sam. xix. 24, O'lV "^S*!). But hence it does not follow that 
 that word retained exactly the same meaning in all times. 
 As jxarTiQ {oi jjairo^oi) is properly a 'maniac,' and yet no one 
 easily figured to himself the venerable seer Tiresias as 
 raving and raging when he was called a ^aiT«c ; so the 
 Hebrews, setting aside the original and literal sense of /3J, 
 and merely preserving its deeper or essential signification, 
 may very soon have understood it of a seer or prophet in 
 general, as here indeed '?|?i is co-ordinated with DTy M'PJ. 
 Similar modifications in the meaning of words are natural 
 and frequent; so, for instance, was D'lDj properly evmich, 
 later employed for official generally, because, at first, all offi- 
 cials were eunuchs (see Comm. on Glen., p. 617); and the 
 Arabic writer, El Kifti, observes with respect to Aristotle : 
 ' for about twenty years he poured water on the hands of 
 Plato,' meaning that Aristotle was Plato's discii)le, because, 
 in the East, that duty devolves on disciples, as is recorded of 
 Elisha, 'who poured water on the hands of Elijah' (2 Ki. iii. 
 1 1 ; compare the phrases ' to be brought up ' or ' to sit at the 
 feet' of somebody, Luke x. 39; Acts xxii. 3, etc.). It seems 
 impossible to represent to ourselves the writer of these calm 
 and thoughtfully measured prophecies as a man who ' in the 
 moment of supreme frenzy feels himself grasped by the 
 mighty hand of Jahveh and hurled to the grcmnd ' (Ewald), 
 'lying there like dead' {Bunsen); much less is it permitted 
 to draw from that word ?3J the inference that Balaam's pro- 
 phecying assumed such a vehement form because 'it found 
 him in an unripe state ' {Hengsienb.). It is not even necessary 
 to bring the terms 723 and D^yj? '•173 into the relation of cause 
 and efiect, as has frequently been done (Si/r., ' when he falls 
 
234 NUMBERS XXIV. 8-9. 
 
 down— NO"! "13 — his eyes are opened' ; Vulg., qui cadit et sic 
 aperiuntur oculi ejus ; Lxith., Michael., dem die Augen geoflFnet 
 werden, wenn er niederkniet ; similarly Onh., Calmet, Herd , 
 Etvakl, and others); and it is certainly questionable to place 
 them in juxtaposition {Hashi, in old MSS., ' although he falls 
 down . . . yet his eyes are open'; Engl. Vers., falling into a 
 trance, but having his eyes open; Keble, ' thy tranc'd yet open 
 gaze,' etc.) It is enough that 7?J recalled, in the then familiar 
 phraseology, the idea of prophetic inspiration, and perhaps 
 also implies that humble submission with which Balaam 
 listened to the Divine suggestions — though not awestruck and 
 overwhelmed by a special vision (as in Ezek. i. 28 ; iii. 23 ; 
 xliii. 3; Dan. viii. 17, 18 ; x. 9, 15; comp. Eev. i. 17); for nut 
 from without, but by his own spiritual elevation, did Balaam 
 learn Grod's will and decree. Jonathan, in his copious para- 
 phrase, renders '^SJ twice — ' who, because he was not circum- 
 cised, fell upon his face when the angel stood before him,' 
 and ' he /ell upon his face, and the sacred mysteries hidden 
 from the prophets were revealed to him' ; and Targ. Jerus., 
 ^ proslrcite on his face,' and 'he prophesied that he would fall 
 by the sword.' The addition of the Sept tv inriy is certainly 
 unjustifiable (comp. Saad., ^.. Ij ^^'^ Lvzzat to, in sonno -pro - 
 fetico). — The parallelism in ver. 4, it must be admitted, is 
 strikingly inferior to that of almost every other sentence in 
 Balaam's genuine prophecies (see infra, on ver. 8) ; it consists 
 of three rather irregular and monotonous members, the 
 mutual relation of which is not clear, and which include the 
 prosaic particle "i">r'?S found nowhere else in these speeches. 
 But of the most perfect structure is the sixteenth verse, which 
 corresponds to the fourth, and which, by offering the words 
 \vbv r\V~\ yiM instead of "iCi^X, forms two excellent synonym 
 parallelisms of a truly poetical character; it might, there- 
 fore, be supposed with some confidence that ver. 4 should be 
 read like ver. 16. This point, imessential in itself, obtains 
 importance as one of the proofs of the corruptions and inter- 
 polations discoverable in this section (p. 41).— 'T']?ni< (ver. 
 5) points to the Israelites as Balaam sees them encamped 
 before him, while "|''n:3L"D aptly leads over to the people 
 domiciled in Canaan and to their future fortunes, — As ?Dl 
 
Balaam's thiud spekch. 2.S5 
 
 (ver. G) is originally a rirer, and then a valley through which 
 a river flows (a Wadi/ or watercourse ; Genu., Quellthal), 
 that word also brings before the mind the agreeable notion 
 of water designedly repeated in this passage again and 
 again (Loicth, Sacr. Poes., xx., fitly and elegantly, 'ut rigua 
 vallis fertilem pandens sinum'); yet the parallelism of rii333 
 does not favour the translation 'like str- ams' (the Targ., Si/r., 
 Gr. Yen., lioseiim., Zum, Lnzzntto, and others). — Before -Vtsp 
 the relative "IK'X is to be supplied — 'like valleys that are spread 
 out ; ' we cannot take VDJ as a principal verb, 'they are spread 
 out like valleys,' as in the whole of this speech the singular 
 is used in reference to Israel, and it seems less suitable to 
 take 'the tents' as subject (inaccurately, Sept., wo-fi vairui 
 cKiaZovfrai ; Vuhj., ut valles neraorosae, etc.). — Vt33j the past 
 of Niphal (comp. Jer. vi. 4: Zech. i. 16), instead of -1^?, the 
 original "i of nD3 re-appearing, as is not seldom the case 
 (comp. i^^^T) Ps. Ixxiii. 2, Kcri; see Gram., § Ixvii. 1. a). The 
 Samar. Text has ''S?t3J plantations (like well-planted valleys) ; 
 some MSS. read MDJ extended or spread out (is Israel) ; and 
 the Targ. render freely in accordance with their acceptation 
 of D'^np (viz., r"'2'=!P"=! and r^S^J^p'.). 
 
 If we consider, on the one hand, the connection in which 
 the Dv'7^. are here mentioned, and on the other hand, the 
 graphic distinctness of this description in every detail, we 
 can hardly doubt that the Q*^''^^ were not less familiar to the 
 Hebrews and not less indigenous in their country than the 
 cedars, with which they are named in conjunction. It 
 seems, therefore, most natural to understand some of the 
 many varieties of the aloe, a succulent jjlant of the genus 
 asphodalus, frequently found in Palestine, Arabia, and other 
 countries adjoining the Mediterranean, and often growing 
 into stately trees with stems twenty to twenty-five feet high, 
 and presenting a palm-like appearance. The most common 
 species — aloe succotrina — has numerous tufts of light-green, 
 lanceolate and thorny leaves, from the midst of which, on 
 long, separate stalks, rises a cluster of bright orange-yellow 
 blossoms (whence perhaps the name, from '?■^l^5 to sliine, Job 
 XXV. 5). The inspissated sap prepared from this plant 
 hardens in the air, has a myrrh-like odour (Cant. iv. 14) 
 
236 NUMBERS XXIV. 3-9. 
 
 and a sjiicy taste, and ■was, togetlier with myrrh, used for 
 the fumigation of garments and beds (Ps. xlv. 9 ; Prov. vii. 
 17) and abundantly placed in graves as a protection against 
 decay (John xix. 39). It is, therefore, unnecessary, if it is 
 not inadmissible, here to identify the DvHX with the Agallo- 
 ehum (ayaXAo^ov or ^vXaXotj), the product of a resinous tree, 
 which grows in China, western India, and some of the 
 Indian isles, and about which there exists a very extensive 
 though still rather confused literature (comp. Dioscorid. i. 21 ; 
 iii. 25; Celsius, Hierobotan., i. 135-171; Gosenius, Thesaur. 
 p. 33 ; Royle in Kitto^s Cyclop., i. pp. 94-97 ; Rosenm., Morgenl., 
 ii. 280, 281, etc.). It is, however, not impossible that that 
 wood, at a later pei-iod introduced in Palestine under its 
 native name of agliil, was designated by the Hebrews with 
 the similar word alial, since it has several qualities in common 
 with the indigenous ahal; therefore, where, in the /«^^'/- Books, 
 this term is mentioned, it may likewise mean that foreign 
 product. — Some earlier translators do not render Q'^^^^^ but 
 D'''pnX tents {Sept., w(teI rrKi)ru\ uq (iDjt.s KvpwQ ; Vulg., taber- 
 nacula ; Samar. Vers., D^JD'J'ID ; Syr., SaacL, Lvther, Iliitten, 
 etc.), which is made more than doubtful by the parallelism of 
 ^"■n^- cedars, though the verb llDi is also used in connection 
 with tents (Dan xi. 45). 
 
 The aloe trees 'which God has planted' are, like the 
 cedars 'which Grod has planted' (Ps. civ. 16), pre-eminent in 
 excellence and duration— and so are the Israelites, whom 
 God has firmly established ; this notion is included in the very 
 expression 'planting'; thus God says to the prophet Nathan, 
 'I have given an abode to My people Israel and have 
 planted them (ITiyDJI), that they may dwell in a place of 
 their own and be moved no more' (2 Sam. vii. 10; comp. 
 Amos ix. 15; Jer. xxiv. 6; Ps. xliv. 3, etc.): that those 
 words 'contain a reference to Paradise' (Gen. ii. 8) is not 
 evident (Loivth, Sacr. Poes., xx., 'Sacris Edena3 costi ut in 
 sylvis viient,' and others) ; nor that they mean 'such trees as 
 grow independently of the cultivation of man,' which, if 
 applied to the people of Israel, would involve a questionable 
 simile. — As all the four parts of the sixth verse are meta- 
 phors, so also the first half of the seventh verse, ' water 
 
Balaam's third speech. 237 
 
 flowetli from his buckets,' etc. ; for water is a common 
 figure for happiness and abundance in general (comp. Isa. 
 xliv. 3; Ixvi. 12; Ps. Ixv. 10, 11, etc.; Rashi, r\rh^7\ ]\^h 
 i<1i"l) : tlie blessings of Israel will be as copious as the water 
 of full and overflowing buckets, and they will continue un- 
 diminished iu later generations — 'and his seed is by many- 
 waters' [V~\l iov poster iiy, as in Gen. xvii. 19; xlviii. 19; Ps. 
 xxxvii. 25, etc). Very languid is the sense, if, as is usua,lly 
 done, the words '31 D''D ?V are taken literally, viz., that the 
 wells and cisterns of the Hebrews will always be supplied 
 with water for themselves and their cattle, and that their 
 seed (y"]T, Gen. xlvii. 19; Lev. xxvi. 5) will be irrigated by 
 abundant showers (Coccej., Baumgart., Knob., and others; 
 Mendelss., sein Samen iallt in feuohten Boden ; Ewald, seine 
 Saat wird an reichen Wassern stehen ; similarly Bun-en, and 
 others). This is, to some extent, already included in the pre- 
 ceding verse, and forms but a part of the blessings which 
 the Hebrews enjoy, since these blessings comprise, besides, 
 j)Ower, glory, peace, and other boons. Still less acceptable is 
 the opinion that water is here a metaphor for numei'ous 
 posterity (comp. Isa. xlviii. 1 ; see also Deut. xxxiii. 28 ; Ps. 
 Ixviii. 27; Nah. ii. 9) — 'metaphora ab aqua de situla destil- 
 lante ad semen virile translata' (Gesen., s. v. ; Lutli., sein 
 Saame wird ein grosses Wasser werden ; Michaelis, Herder, 
 viele Strome werden ihm Sulme sein ; Jiosenin., multos 
 procreabit liberos, etc.) : but how could D''2"l D"'D3 iy~l)"l be 
 understood and justified ? The Sept., the Syriac translation, 
 and the Targumim render the first half of the verse very 
 freely, as if following a different reading, and connect it, in 
 sense, with the second half — Sept., tE(Xev(T£Tui arBpwivoc ek -uv 
 aiiippaToc uhrov Kcii Kvpievcrei idruiv iroXXcvy ; similarly the S//r; 
 Onk., 'the king anointed from his sons shall increase and 
 liave dominion over many nations'; Jonath., 'from them 
 their King shall arise, and their Redeemer be of them, and 
 the seed of the children of Jacob shall rule over many 
 nations'; while the Taig. Jerus. translates plainly ini3?D by 
 'the Kingdom of the Messiah,' to which unwarranted con- 
 ception Christian interpreters have given their assent (comp. 
 Oriyen, In Num. Hom. xvii. 5, 6, and others), contending that, as 
 
238 NUMBERS XXIV. 3-9. 
 
 the Hebrews arrived at their full power only by the estab- 
 lishment of the monarchy, so 'the monarchy realised its full 
 destination only by the advent of the Messiah' {^Uengstb., 
 Eil., 154 ; Keil, and others) ; or that this King, 'after having 
 crushed all enemies, will break his own arrows (ver. 8), 
 because then all instruments of war shall have become un- 
 necessary' {Lange, Bibelwerk, ii, 315). — ^l\ to run, to flow, a 
 poetical word occurring elsewhere also in the Pentateuch 
 (compare Exodus xv. 8, and Deut. xxxii. 2), is occasionally 
 employed in connection with ^0 deiv (Deut., 1. c), or is 
 metaphorically introduced in various ways (Cant. iv. 10; 
 Isa. xlv. 8, etc.), but usually chosen in reference to DJ'P, 
 which is here construed with the singular of the verb, as 
 elsewhere also (Lev. xi. 34 ; Num. xx. 2 ; 2 Ki. iii. 9, etc.) ; a 
 translation, therefore, like 'rieseln wird er (Israel) vom 
 Wasser seiner Eimer' (I^ivald), is doubtful and needless. — 
 "Iv^ his buckets (for V^'p'^, as tj?, Deut. ii. 33, etc., see Gram., 
 § XXX. 5. c) is by many taken as the dual of V? (for 7"^, Isa. 
 xl. 15), buckets for drawing water being generally used and 
 carried in pairs ; but it may also be a shortened ])lnral, like 
 0'J?X (Prov. XXV. 11), of I^'X, and other segolate nouns (see 
 Gram., § xxiv. 5). The proper meaning of bucket yields here 
 a suitable sense; it is unnecessary to take the word as clouds, 
 which, like ' the bottles (^^33) of heaven ' (comp. Job xxxviii. 37), 
 pour down the water upon the earth [Ewald), or as boughs, 
 equivalent to ^'"1*?'^, Jer. xi. 16, etc. (so lumchi, VDjy nnriQ 
 D''D yPV, Ebn Ezra, Bechcn, Bunseu, and others). — The result 
 of Israel's numerous and varied blessings will be that 'their 
 king shall be higher than Agag'; the conjunction "I, there- 
 fore, in 01^1 denotes the consequence, but the verbs Q^) and 
 ^WP^ are simple futures announcing later events, and do not 
 express a wish {Hengstb., erhabener sei ; Knob., Keil, and 
 others). — It is an unfounded assertion, dating from very early 
 times and still extensively upheld, that Agag (^^^S or 3JX) is no 
 pro; er noun, but was an honorary title (supposed to mean 
 the fienj, comp. Z.\ arsit; or the sublime, comp. ,^ altitudo), 
 and belonged to the kings of the Amalekites generally 
 {Kachman., rx Nip: pboy nvi -\bl2 b, and others), ma Pharaoh 
 to the kings of Egypt ; or applied to a particular dynasty of 
 
Balaam's third speech. 280 
 
 the Amalekite kings. The historical Books of the Old 
 Testament mention only one King Agag, who was defeated 
 by 8aul and killed by Samuel (1 Sam. xv. 8, 9, 20, 32, 33), 
 and to this Agag and none else can Balaam's prophecy refer 
 (conip. Bcchai in loc, H'pO iJX ns t:'Dn Sim '?1S'^' S"in Is'pD 
 p7KDy ; so Ketlier lorah, and others). None of the apologetic 
 devices which, with noteworthy timidity, shrink from admit- 
 ting the distinct prediction of historical names (as Agag and 
 Cyrus), is of any avail (see, for instance, Hengstenb., Auth. 
 d. Pentat., ii. 306-309; Bil., p. 149; comp., however, Alen- 
 delss. in loc), and least of all is it possible to identify i5^<. 
 with Ogyges, who led a Phoenician colony into Boeotia and 
 reigned in Thebes, the 'Ogygian' town {Michael, in loc; 
 Specileg. Geogr., ii. 16, 17, etc.), which opinion has no other 
 support than the reading i)iJ2 for 3JXD found in the Samari- 
 tan text, and the corresponding version of the Sept. and 
 Symmachus ?} Foiy, since in later times Gog was frequently 
 employed as the type of powerful and dangerous kings 
 (comp. Ezek. xxviii., xxix.). It will merely be necessary to 
 mention that this improbable explanation has been blended 
 with the conjecture that 'his king,' in this passage, is God 
 Himself (comp. xxiii. 21), so that the words under discussion 
 would mean, 'and Israel's God is higher or mightier than 
 Ogyges' (Biinsen, Bibelwerk, v. 607) — a sense which not 
 even the desire of proving a favourite theory ought to have 
 forced on the context (see supra, p. 47). But the Assyrian 
 King Assur-bani-pal boldly declared in his deciphered 'Annals' 
 (col. vii., lines 9-18) that, 1,635 years before his time, he 
 liad by the gods been proclaimed by name as a future ruler 
 of Assyria, and appointed to certain holy duties. — The ViiJfi. 
 renders, 'toUetur (Dl^) propter Agag rex ejus et auferetur 
 (Nb'3m) regnum illius,' a translation not permitted by the 
 verbs.- x'tf*3n, future of Hithpael, instead of SJ^'^nn, as 
 wU'r (Dan. xi. 14), -IX^Sn (Jer. xxiii. 13) for -IXI^nn, etc.; see 
 Gram., § xlvi. 8. b. — The noun ri-"13?fp occurs indeed almost 
 exclusively in the latest Books of the Hebrew Scriptures, as 
 the Chronicles and Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, Esther and 
 Ecclesiastes ; but this is no proof that it was never used in 
 earlier times instead of the more frequent HD^DO (comp. Ps. 
 
240 NUMBERS XXIV. 3-9. 
 
 xlv. 7 ; 1 Sam. xx. 31 ; 1 Ki. ii. 12, etc.) ; for, in the words 
 of Horace, 'Multa renascentur qute jam cecidere, cadentque 
 Quae nuue sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus.' — However 
 strong the expressions are, with which here (ver. 8) the 
 treatment of Israel's vanquished enemies is described, they 
 do not, as has been confidently asserted, imply the abomination 
 of human sacrifices [Gldllany, Mensehenopfer, pp. 770, 771 ; 
 see Com. on Lev. i., pp. 410, 411, 415) ; for ?3i< is simply to 
 destroy, especially enemies (comp. Jer. x. 25, where •1'^??*? is 
 joined with in^?.? ; xxx. 16; li. 34; Deut. vii. 16; xxxi. 17; 
 Isa. ix. 11, etc.), and is, thei'efore, used not only in connec- 
 tion with fire, but also the sword, pestilence, and other 
 agencies of destruction; and D"l3 is most probably to crush 
 or break hones (pi')}, being a denominative verb of D"?.^. bone, as 
 D:Vy, which is employed in the same sense, is of oyV. ; comp. 
 the close parallel in Jer. 1. 17: 'first the king of Assyria 
 devoured him — i'?3X. — and last the king of Babylon crushed 
 his bones' — 'l^V^/), and then, in a wider sense, to break into 
 fragments generally (Ezek. xxiii. 34 ; Sept., eKi.ivXiFl, he will 
 take out the marrow; Vulg., confringent ; Liith., zermalmen ; 
 Menahem ben Sarvk, TT^yz* JlEi'?, etc.). Less plausibl}' the verb 
 D"|J has been understood as gnawing the bones {Gesen., De 
 IVctte, Ewald, and others : Ezek. xxiii. 24 is not conclusive, 
 and does not counterbalance the clear analogy of DlH and 
 Q->*V ; comp. n-»3 in Mic. iii. 3 ; D1| in Zej)h. iii. 3 is to reserve 
 a bone). 'Devouring' the enemies, 'crushing their bones,' 
 and, as has before been announced, 'drinking their blood,' 
 are metaphors the more readily justified by remembering 
 that they properly describe the prey of the lion introduced 
 immediately afterwards (ver. 9). As these images are so 
 systematically adhered to and carried out, it is indeed sur- 
 prising to find them interrupted by words so heterogeneous 
 as KP^! '•''V'^l, which may either mean 'and he (Israel) pierces 
 with his arrows' (fHD used absolutely, as in Deut. xxxii. 89; 
 Job. V. 18; and the simple noun taken as the instrument 
 see Gram., §86.4); or, 'he pierces them with his arrows' 
 (the objective case omitted, Sept., kuI ralr ^oXiaiv avrou 
 KaTciTo^tvcfti i^Bpov, the last word being added; Vulg., et 
 perforabunt sagiltis, sc. ossa ; Luth., und mit seineu Pfeilen 
 
Balaam's third speech. 241 
 
 zersclimettern, etc.); or, 'he shatters their arrows' (viz., of 
 the enemies, witli an anaJlage in the suffix of ^'•'J'O'!, instead of 
 ^'I!'"'?''^"!, comp. Hos. i. 5) ; or, ' his arrows pierce ' (viz., the 
 enemies, the phiral of the noun in VXni taken collectively, 
 comp. ver. 9, 11"l2 "I^DIDJD, and Gen. xxvii. 29 ; see Grram. 
 § 77.9) ; or, as has been proposed, ' he shakes bis arrows in 
 blood' {Raslii, Gesen., Lmzatto, and others, after the analogy 
 of Ps. Ixviii. 24, where, however, DT2 is added, and where, 
 moreover, Tl'")'"? is perhaps to be read instead of f'npn). The 
 first of these interpretations seems to deserve the preference 
 — ' lie causes slaughter by his arrows ' (comp. Ps. xviii. 39) ; 
 but even this, we confess, appears hardly satisfactory, and 
 ■we cannot help suspecting here, as in ver. 4, a corruption of 
 the text ; yet it would be hazardous to propose emendations, 
 as, for instance, to read, instead of 1''V~^:, either 1''"V01 {Michael.)^ 
 explained after the Syriac XVn and his thighs (Si/i\ Ve?'s., Tlivm, 
 ani his hack), or I^Vpni, and his loins (Gesen. Thesaur. p. 783), or 
 vynoi (Ewald, Jahrb. viii. 34, 'und die so ihn zerschellen, wird 
 er zerschellen), or VOf^l. [Knob.; comp. Dent, xxxiii. 11), none of 
 which conjectures seems to improve the rhythm or the sense. 
 For it cannot be denied that the 8th verse in general is con- 
 structed with an irregularity greatly contrasting with the usual 
 symmetry of Balaam's oracles (p. 178) ; and it is indeed surpris- 
 ingto find here thewnrds* God brought him forth out of Egyp% 
 he hath the fleetness of the buff'alo,' reiterated from xxiii. 22 
 — a repetition very different in character from another and 
 intelligible one in this chapter (vers. 3, 4, and 15, 16), and 
 here almost devoid of force and significance. It seems to 
 have been inserted by a later reader, who, after the mention 
 of Agag, which clearly points to the time of Saul, considered 
 a statement desirable which should distinctly lead back to the 
 period of Moses. Thus also the greater grammatical correct- 
 ness of those words in the passage before us may be accounted 
 for (ix^Vi? for DX^Iiiro, p. 206).— Onkelos, evidently anxious to 
 soften the harshness of the prediction, renders the verse 
 freely : ' God, who brought them from Egypt, is mighty and 
 high, and through Him shall Israel use the wealth of the 
 nations, enjoy the spoils of their kings, and inherit their 
 lands.' — It has been well observed : ' The image of the lion 
 
1^42 NUMBERS XXEV. 10-14. 
 
 has here (ver. 9) not the same meaning as in xxiii. 21. In 
 tlie previous prophecy, the lion goes out for his prey, and 
 has not yet lain clown ; in the later speech, appears the 
 triumphant lion after having couched, and in a majesty 
 which no one dares any longer to approach' {Zange, Bibel- 
 werk, ii. 315). The author describes, in clear gradation, 
 Israel's combats and victories; but while the former extended 
 through all the earlier epochs of their history, the latter 
 were at no time so conspicuous — at least not in the manner 
 here depicted — as in the reign of David. 
 
 13. balak's anger and Balaam's reply, xxiv. 10-14. 
 
 10. And Balak's anger was kindled against 
 Balaam, and lie smote his hands together; and 
 Balak said to Balaam, I called thee to curse my 
 enemies, and behold, thou hast ever blessed them 
 these three times. 11. Therefore now, flee thou 
 to thy place ; I thought to honour thee indeed, 
 but behold, the Lord has kej^t thee back from 
 lionour. 12. And Balaam said to Balak, Did I 
 not also speak to thy messengers, whom thou 
 hast sent to me, saying, 13. If Balak would 
 give me liis house full of silver and gold, I can- 
 not go against the command of the Lord, to do 
 eithe?' good or bad of my oicn mind ; hut what 
 the Lord says, that will I speak? 14:. And now, 
 behold, I go to my people ; come, I will tell 
 thee, what this people is destined to do to thy 
 peoj)le in later days. 
 
 The tragical development of the story is approaching 
 its culmination. Rage, vexation, and despair struggle in 
 Balak's heart. Even he is now certain that, after a 
 threefold Llesiting lias Leen j^ronounced upon Israel, he 
 
balak's anger and Balaam's reply. 243 
 
 must no longer hope for a curse from Balaam's mouth. 
 But against whom does he direct his wrath ? Not 
 against the God of the Hebrews, whose awful power 
 fills his mind, in spite of himself, with a mysterious 
 horror, but against the stubborn prophet, whose conduct 
 he regards with amazement and burning indignation. 
 Agitated by confusion and perplexity, he hardly knows 
 how to act. Anger urges him to take revenge upon the 
 self-willed traitor who so tenaciously and so ardently 
 sides with rapacious invaders ; but he is checked not 
 only by fear of the God whom that traitor serves, but 
 by fear of Balaam himself, to whom he had confessed, 
 'I know that he whom thou . . . cursest is cursed,'" and 
 whose ire he is, therefore, reluctant to provoke. As if 
 anxious to remove all temptation of violence, the conse- 
 quences of which he instinctively dreads, he bids Balaam 
 speedily 'escape' to his own home.^ But it is indeed fear 
 alone by which he is actuated, not reverence. Striking 
 his hands together in wild excitement, he dismisses the 
 prophet with a sneering irony against the God whose 
 heavy hand, he feels, is already upon him : ' I thought to 
 honour thee, but behold, the Lord (nin"') has kept thee 
 back from honour.' Why need he fear a god^what can 
 he expect from a god (he recklessly implies to deaden 
 his agony) who so ill requites his most faithful servants ? 
 Distracted by contradictory feelings inexplicable to him- 
 self, he can neither reward the seer nor punish him; he 
 can neither acknowledge nor oppose the God of Israel. 
 Once more the name of Jahveh has fallen from his lips, 
 thencefoith for ever to vanish from his horizon. Won- 
 derful indeed may a narrator's art be called, that draws 
 the subtlest psychological shades at once so delicately and 
 so strongly. 
 
 But that art is still further manifested in a higher 
 sphere. The most consummate skill is allied with the 
 
 " xxii. G. ^ Ver. 11, "I'^-n-l^. 
 
244 NUMBERS XXIY. 10-14. 
 
 greatest depth and power of thought, and while appearing 
 to sketch the infatuated enterprise of a single monarch 
 and his inevitable failure, the author really delineates 
 the grea.t laws and principles that rule the destinies of 
 the world and all nations. For how does Balaam act 
 aftei- the taunting provocation of the resentful king ? 
 Does he evince personal irritation or animosity ? Does 
 he even show haste or excitement ? Immoveable like 
 fate itself, he does nothing more than again declare his 
 dependence on the God of Israel in that emphatic form 
 which he had employed in his answer to the second royal 
 embassy, ' If Balak would give me his house full of silver 
 and gold, I cannot go against the command of the Lord, 
 to do either good or bad : '^ but with marked significance 
 he adds that word which is the key-stone of all his 
 actions and of his whole life, 'of rtiy own mind.'^ 
 Balaam is the very embodiment of the Divine will, and 
 Balak, lighting against Balaam, has fought against God. 
 Therefore, the prophet, in uttering that momentous prin- 
 ciple, is, by the Divine spirit which rests upon him," 
 impelled to exercise the office of Judge and Avenger. 
 The king had taken no warning from a first and second 
 repulse ; he dared again and again to storm heaven and 
 to substitute his own scheme for that of Omnipotence. 
 It is, therefore, not sufficient that he should merely 
 be annoyed and mortified by hearing a blessing invoked 
 upon the people he desires to hear cursed. It is not 
 sufficient that his punishment should be announced 
 to him in obscure allusions and faint outlines. By the 
 eternal plans of Divine justice and government, it has 
 become necessary not only that his ruin should be 
 unmistakeably proclaimed, but that he should fall into 
 the pit he has dug for others. Therefore, Balaam de- 
 clares, without agitation and without bitterness, that, in 
 obedience to the king's command, he is ready to return 
 
 " Comp. xxii. 18, p. 117. ^ '37JD see supra, pp. 7, 8. <^ Ver. 2. 
 
balak's an(jer and Balaam's kkply. 1245 
 
 to his home, but that, before departing, it is his duty to 
 reveal to the monarch the councils of God'' — to reveal to 
 him, what ' the people of Israel is destined to do to his 
 people in later days.' The retribution is, indeed, not to 
 be executed upon Balak forthwith, as it was upon the 
 contumacious king of Egypt, who perished together with 
 the flower of his armies, but 'in later days,'*^ after more 
 than four centuries ; but Balak feels the misfortunes of 
 his descendants as his own. He must consider them so, 
 since they are aggravated and partiall}'- caused by his 
 guilt. He is, moreover, the unchanging type of all kings 
 of Moab, both of those that preceded and those that fol- 
 lowed him ; and there is no glimmer of a hope left, that 
 the latter would, by greater moderation and righteousness, 
 and by pious submission to the God of the Hebrews, de- 
 serve and obtain a reversal of the fated decree. 
 
 One of the most interesting points in connection with 
 the Book of Balaam, is its history in reference to tJie 
 powerful influence it exercised upon the later literature 
 of the Hebrews. We have already dwelt on more than 
 one adaptation, but none is more instructive than the 
 echo which the verses under discussion found in the fresh 
 and original mind of the prophet Amos."" So essentially 
 analog(,)us is the account he furnishes of his own connec- 
 tion with King Jeroboam to that here given of the 
 I'elations between Balaam and Balak, that the one seems 
 almost to be moulded on the other. Amos is a native of 
 Judah, but prophesies in the kingdom of Israel. In- 
 dignant at his oracles, the king bids him flee or ' escape ''^ 
 to his own country. Amos quietly complies, but protests 
 that he does not speak his own words, but delivers the 
 inspirations of the Lord ; and before he departs, he 
 announces in the strongest terms the king's and his 
 country's downfall. If we consider the altered times 
 and the essential difference in the circumstances and 
 
 ^ Vcr. 14, i^ys. " Dvo-'n nnnNa. ^ Amosvii. 10-17. ■■ 'i^n-ia. 
 
246 NUMBERS XXIV. 10-14. 
 
 surroundings, the resemblance in the two records may 
 well be called remarkable, and serves as an additional 
 proof of the zeal and veneration with which the best 
 and most gifted among the Hebrews studied this masterly 
 composition. 
 
 PiriLOLOGiCAL Remarks. — The parallels just pointed out 
 would lose much of their interest if the passage in Amos 
 were considered as the original and earlier one (comp. for 
 instance, Eivcdd, Jahrb. viii. 34); hut Amos wrote consider- 
 ably more than two centuries after our author. — ' Smiting 
 (p3D) the hands together,' is here naturally expressive of 
 anger, impatience, and annoyance — almost as if the king had 
 made a strong effort of self-control to refrain from striking 
 the distasteful prophet ; though the same gesture elsewhere 
 conveys derision and mocking exultation (Job xxvii. 23; 
 xxxiv. 37; Nah. iii. 19; Lament, ii. 15). — In repeating the 
 answer previously given to the ambassadors (ver. 13 ; xxii. 
 18), Balaam, besides adding the weighty word ''3?'?, modifies 
 one term not without some significance, substituting ' good 
 or evil,' instead of ' a small or a great thing' ; for, following 
 the Divine suggestions of the moment, he now only, after 
 having delivered the speeches, knew himself that it was evil 
 and not good which he had to pronounce with respect to 
 Balak. The omission of ''Jp>^., which, from the tenour of the 
 verse, can have no importance, is by Eashi explained : 'Be- 
 cause Balaam knew that TiD31 r\'2'pn2 C'Nai.' Some MSS., 
 however, have TlPN (see Dc-JiosH, Var. Lect. in loc), and the 
 Vulg. translates Dei mei. — The apparent abruptness of the 
 words '2) -["iVa n^h (ver. 14) produces an excellent effect, the 
 inspiration falling suddenly on Balaam. The verb ^V^''':', 
 most happily chosen, recalls the niH' nvy, the counsel or 
 decree of God, which it is Balaam's mission to unfold to the 
 king of Moab (comp. Isai. xiv. 24, 26, ^2 hj ny-iy^n nyun 
 pNH ; xix. 17; Jer. xlix. 20; 1. 45; Eom. xi. 34, etc. Ongeu, 
 In Num. Horn, xviii. 2, ' consilium divinum, quod in novissi- 
 nus diebus implendum est, mihi nunc revelatum, aperio tibi 
 et niaidfesto, ut scias quid populus hie faciet populo tuo ;' 
 Nudnnanides, '31 D^n'pNn XV' X'N r^'iVTy "^ l^JJ^, and siuularly 
 
BAJ.AKS AXCJER Ax\D BALAAM'S KKPl.Y. 247 
 
 FasJii). It seems less appropriate to translate, ' I will declare 
 to iiifurni thee ' (eomp. Joseph Karo ap. Jkrliner, Pletatli So- 
 pherim, '31 NIH jrx m'?''J p:^"?); and although l^iyx occurs also 
 in the sense ' I will give thee advice ' (Exod. xviii. 19 ; 1 Ki. 
 i. 12 ; Jer. xxxviii. 15), it is certainly questionable to explain 
 that Balaam intended * to give counsel and warning to Balak 
 what would befall the Moabites, if they persisted in their 
 enmity against Israel' {Ilengstenb., Bil., p. 1.50) ; the ruiu of 
 the Moabites is irrevocably fixed, as their constant perverse- 
 ness and future conduct towards the Hebi'ews is fully autici- 
 l)ated and known. Jewish tradition, entirely disregarding the 
 context, renders, ' I will give thee counsel what thou shouldst 
 do to cause the destruction of Israel' {OnkeL, liaslii, Bechai, 
 and others), which, brought into connection with xxxi. IG, is 
 thus carried out: 'Go, furnish tavern houses, and put therein 
 seductive women to sell food and beverages below their value, 
 and to bring this peojile together to eat and drink and be 
 intoxicated and commit fornication, that they may deny their 
 God ; then in a brief time they will be delivered into thy 
 hand and many of them will fall' {Targ. Jon.); or 'Lead this 
 j)eople into sin, for else thou shalt have no power over them' 
 {Targ. Jer. ; Talm. Sanhedr. 105i. ; see supra, p. 25). The Vul- 
 gate, perhaps merely by an oversight, strangely renders, 
 ' dabo consilium quid pojoulus tuus populo huic faciat ' — the 
 reverse of the Hebrew text. — D'D»^ri n^";nX2 is here in later or 
 fnhire days, in the time of David ; that those words have in- 
 deed this meaning also, and do not always signify {lie end of 
 days (Sept., Iw tcry/irov twv yf^tepwy; Vulg., extremo tempore; 
 Targ. Onk., Jon., Jerus., N"'»r fl"iD3 ; Syr., Saad., Luth., and 
 others), has been shown before (see Comin. on Genes, p. 729). 
 The efforts made to prove the contrary opinion (comp., for 
 instance, Utngstenh., Bil., pp. 158-160; Reinke, Beitriige, iv. 
 pp. 236-238, and others), have been fruitless. Objectionable, 
 therefore, is the surmise of an earlier Jewish commentator, 
 that Balaam encouraged Balak to take heart and shake oHF 
 all fear of the Israelites, since the fall of Moab would not 
 happen in his time, but only at the end of days ; but sur- 
 prising is the remark of a learned modern critic : ' It is 
 proper that Balaam makes the ominous announcement with 
 
248 NUMBERS XXIV. 15-17. 
 
 respect to Moab only after having experienced ill-treatment 
 from Moab's king' {Knob., Num., p. 144), which suggestion 
 is by others even intensitied into ' a revenge ' of Balaam (so 
 JSunsen and others), so that, when ' the proud seer ' has 
 finished his last speech, in which he proves ' his talent for 
 cursing,' he leaves the king 'in anger and rage' (^Lange, 
 Bibelwerk, ii. 310) — as if Balaam was ever influenced hy 
 personal motives, or as if his individuality was of the least 
 account in "his prophecies. These can only be fully vmder- 
 stood by rising to the author's own lofty eminence of con- 
 ception. 
 
 r 
 
 14. BALAAMS PBOPHECY ON MOAB. XXIV. 15-1/. 
 
 15. And he took up liis parable, and said, 
 
 So speak eth Balaam, the son of Beor, 
 And so speaketli the man of unclosed 
 eye; 
 16. So speaketh he who heareth the words 
 of God, 
 And knoweth the knowledge of the 
 
 Most High ; 
 Who seeth the vision of the Almighty, 
 Prostrate and with opened eyes : 
 I't. 1 see him, but not now ; 
 V I behold him, but not near : 
 
 j There cometh a star out of Jacob, 
 n And a sceptre riseth out of Israel, 
 / And smiteth both sides of Moab, 
 I And shattereth all the children of 
 tunmlt. 
 
 Speaking as before from his own enthusiasm, and with- 
 out special communion with God, because the Divine 
 spirit is upon him, and beginning his new utterance with 
 
Balaam's i>R()Phecy on moab. 249 
 
 the same stately solemnity as the preceding oracle, in 
 order to impart to it the utmost weight and authority, 
 Balaam advances directly to the goal which he has pro- 
 posed to himself, and in words, in which force, precision, 
 sublimity, and beauty vie for the j)alm, announces to the 
 king of Moab the fate which, in future days, awaits his 
 people. Uplifted by the force of an irresistible impulse 
 beyond the ordinary measure of human faculties, the 
 prophet looks into 'the seed of time.' Clear before his eye 
 stands that illustrious ruler who, centuries after him, will 
 rise in Israel like a brilliant star, and smite with his 
 mighty sceptre every province and division of Moab, and 
 annihilate her power for ever. Thus the object of the pro- 
 phecy seems to be accomplished ; for Balaam had simply 
 declared, 'I Avill tell thee what this people is destined to do 
 to thy 'people!^ However, while it was necessary, on the 
 one hand, plainly and specially to state Moab's ruin, al- 
 though it had before been involved in the comprehensive 
 prediction, 'Israel devoureth nations, his enemies, and 
 crusheth their bones,''' lest any doubt or refuge be left to 
 the hardened king ; it was, on the other hand, indispen- 
 sable for the general plan of the composition that its scope 
 should not be contracted or curtailed in its conclusion. 
 For the work has a twofold aim : to depict, by the king | 
 of Moab's exai^iple, heathen blindness with its terrible 
 consequences, and to extol the transcendent greatness 
 and glory of Israel. For the former end it would have 
 been sufficient to announce that ' the sides of Moab shall be 
 smitten'; but for the latter object it was essential not to 
 finish Balaam's prophecies with referring to this small 
 portion of Israel's victorie's, but to return to the wider 
 and central idea of the whole. Therefore the author 
 pithily adds, that Israel's famous ruler 'shattereth all 
 the children of tumult' Moab is exterminated and 
 Israel has triumphed over all his fierce and restless foes. 
 
 " Yer. 14, -pvb. ^ Yer. 8. 
 
250 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. 15-1' 
 
 The heathen king's contumacy is broken and the omni- 
 potence of Israel's God established and recognised. The 
 Gentile prophet, inspired by the God of the Hebrews, 
 and readily obeying His dictates, has faithfully pro- 
 claimed His distant decrees. The authoi- has accom- 
 plished his great task : — 'And Balaam rose and went 
 away, and returned to his place, and Balak also went 
 his way.'^ 
 
 How perfectly the deeds of 'Jacob's star,' as here 
 delineated, apply to David is apparent by remembering 
 this king's military successes and his implacable harsh- 
 ness against subdued enemies. |^ With regard to Moab, 
 M^hich had indeed been defeated by Saul, but soon 
 resumed a hostile attitude," it is expressly recorded, 'And 
 David smote Moab, and measured them with a line, 
 making them lie down on the ground, and two lines he 
 measured to put to death, and the length of one line to 
 keep alive''' — a kind of proceeding which- is said to have 
 been adopted by other ancient and Eastern conquerors 
 also;^ although the Chronicler, solicitous for the fair fame 
 of the theocratic king, suppresses that statement, and 
 embodies in his narrative no more than the final issue : 
 'And the Moabites became David's servants paying 
 tribute'^-— Mdiich consisted, at least partly, of a veiy 
 heavy impost of sheep.s And there was hardly any 
 
 a Ver. 25. ^ P. 226. 
 
 •= 1 Sam. xiv. 47. 
 
 ^ 2 Sam. viii. 2. 
 
 * Comp. Bougtaei, Annal. Sacr. i. 
 195-198 ; Eosemniill. Morgenl. No. 
 653, etc. On the Monolith Icscrip- 
 tion of the Assyrian king Sanias- 
 Eimmon, a contemporary of Jehu, 
 that king, describing his victories 
 over Babylon, boasts, ' Three thou- 
 sand lives M'iih a measuring line I 
 took' (Col. iv., line 31; Records of 
 the Past, i. 21). 
 
 f 1 Chr. xviii. 2. 
 
 s 2 Ki. iii. 4; Isa. xvi. 1 ; comp. Ps. 
 Ix. 10; cviii. 10. The first of these 
 passages mentions 100,000 lambs 
 and 100,000 rams as the amount de- 
 manded : whether these figures are 
 exaggerated (so Colcnso, Lectures, p. 
 361, and others), we have no means 
 of ascertaining, yet even the most 
 recent travellers in those districts 
 were struck by the vast numbers of 
 flocks and herds grazing in the rich- 
 est and most extensive pastures 
 {Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, Vol. 
 ii. ch. 10, and others). 
 
Balaam's proi-hkcy on moau. 2')! 
 
 other of his hostile neighbours whom David did not 
 attack and curb. He fought against the Philistines 
 and Ammonites, against the Amalekites and Edomites, 
 against the Syrians in all parts of their wide territory, 
 and everywhere with the same success — 'And the Lord 
 gave His help to David whithersoever he went.'^ No 
 other Hebrew king so truly 'shattered all the sons of 
 tumult'; and these great and warlike triumphs could 
 be acknowledged and enjoyed by the Israelites with un- 
 mingled pride and gratitude, for they did not lead to 
 haughty despotism and dynastic self-aggrandisement, for 
 'David executed right and justice to all his people.'^ 
 
 Not without reason, therefore, might a contemporary 
 Hebrew, having his people's glory at heart, and thoroughly 
 understanding their character and vocation, feel mduced 
 to designate King David with the highest appellations 
 of splendour and magnificence he could conceive, and 
 not merely to praise him as 'the light of Israel,''^ but to 
 describe him as a 'star' (^3'i3) shining with a pure light, 
 like David's renown, over the whole earth for ever in 
 undiminished brightness. Exi t as if to preclu de all possi- 
 bility of misconception, the author hastens to identify 
 that star with a 'sceptre' (^^^) which 'smites both sides 
 of Moab,' and strikes down other aggressive adversaiies 
 — that is, with a worldly power which, at a definite time, 
 discomfits a definite class of foes, and thus seals Israel's 
 temporal dominion as an invincible kingdom. How- 
 ever old, therefore, the interpretation is which associates 
 the 'star' with a Divine Messiah and Saviour, and how- 
 ever large the number of adherents it has at all times 
 obtained among difterent creeds, it is, from the spirit of 
 the context, wholly inadmissible. The poet says indeed, 
 'I see him, hut 'not now ; I behold him, hid not near ;' 
 yet this does not refer to 'the end of days.' Taking our 
 
 " 2 Sam. viii. 1-14; comp. 1 Chr. I *> 2 Sam. viii. 15; 1 Cbr. xviii. 14. 
 xiv. 2, etc. ' 2 Sam. xxi. 17, :'Xib''' ^3. 
 
252 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. lo-l' 
 
 starting point in the time of Balaam, and reviewing the 
 history of Israel down to the end of David's reign, Ave 
 survey a long and eventful period — upwards of four 
 centuries of struggles and bloody contentions, of humilia- 
 tions and victories, of barbarism and germinating en- 
 lightenment and civilisation ; we survey the epochs of 
 Joshua and the Judges, of Samuel, Saul, and David ; 
 and we might well consider the closing years of this 
 great king as 'not near.' The 'star' has no other mission 
 than to deliver the political Israel from their dangerous 
 and vexatious enemies, conspicuous among whom are the 
 Moabites : is such the only mission of the heavenly 
 Messiah ? After some fitful successes, the Moabites sank 
 into insignificance, and centuries before the beginning of 
 the current era they had disappeared from history. 
 4 But the Messianic interpretation was by no means 
 uniformly accepted even by the Jews, and passed among 
 them through considerable fiuctuations.'^ It is true that 
 Bar Cochba (snD13 "Q), the brave and herculean but 
 somewhat rough and savage leader of the determined re- 
 bellion of Palestinian Jews against their Roman masters 
 under Hadrian (a.c. 132-135), was, by so remarkable and 
 honoured a teacher as Rabbi Akiva, wdth reference to 
 our passage, 'A star (2313; cometh out of Jacob,' hailed 
 with the words, 'Thou art the King Messiah.' But we 
 know also that other and hardly less famous authorities, as 
 the elderRabbiJudah, though in those days of overwrought 
 excitement supported by a smaller party, as firmly 
 opposed that chief's recognition as Messiah, and after 
 the fatal failure of the sanguinary enterprise called him, 
 instead of Bar Cochba, 'son of the star,' Bar Cosiva (in 
 S3'^T13), ' son of falsehood,' which name he exclusively 
 bears in Jewish waitinos.^ 
 
 * See the various opinions infrti, 
 Philolog. Eem. 
 ^ Cornp. Tulm. Sunhedr. 'dob, 97, 
 
 98; Tahn. Jems. Taan. iv. 7; jVid}'. 
 Eabh., Lanunt. ii. 2, 221D npn "PX 
 01 nnD N^N, ttc. 
 
BALAAMS PROPHECY ON MOAB. 
 
 253 
 
 So obvious and natural is the comparison of powerful 
 and far-famed persons with stars, that it is found among 
 the most different nations. A later Hebrew prophet, 
 alluding to the king of Babylon in the zenith of his 
 triumphs, addresses him as the 'Shining star, son of the 
 morning.' •■' The Hebrews themselves, the people of God 
 or His heavenly host, rising high above all other nations, 
 are designated ' stars. '^ T he wis p a^"*^! thp. rightpmis shall 
 shine 'as the brightness of the firmament' and 'as the 
 stars for ever and ever.'° The pious on earth, so declares 
 the Book of Enoch,'^ are in heaven represented by stars, 
 which, called by name, are there examined and judged. 
 Evidently in allusion to the passage before us, Christ call s 
 himself 'the bright morning star,' because he is 'the root 
 and offspring of David.''' Very frequent are Greek 
 proper nouns like Aster and Astrwa.^ One of the Argo- 
 nauts was 'Asterios, the son of Kometes.'^ Anything 
 prominent or renowned is described in analogous terms. 
 Corinth is 'the star of Greece.''^ Fabius Maximus is by 
 Ovid extolled as ' the star of his race';^ and, similarly, are 
 CcEsar and Augustus distinguished by poets, Alexander 
 the Great, Mithridates, and others by historians.''^ In 
 
 p a-^ ■ 
 
 " isa. xiv. 12, in::' p '?'?^n ; 
 
 comp. ix. 1, 5. 
 
 ''Dan. viii. 10; comp. ver. 24; 
 hence the Chaldee translator, in Isa. 
 xiv. 13, renders '?X P^'lD the stars 
 of God, hy Xn^pST n^!3y' the peo2)lc 
 of God. 
 
 ( <^ Dan. xii. 3 ; comp. Book of 
 Enoch, civ. 2; Matt. xiii. 43. 
 
 d xliii. 1-4. 
 
 * Rev. xxii. 16, dariip 6 Xafnrpug 
 Trpio'irog; comp. ii. 28; 2 Pet. i. 19. 
 
 f Comp. Esther, dariip, Ishtar, 
 Ashtoreth, etc. 
 
 B 'Affrspioc ViofitjTnv, ApoUod. I. 
 ix. 16. 
 
 '' 'KWd^QQ anrpov; comp. Horn. 
 II. vi. 401, 'EKTopiSiiv clyaTrtjrov, 
 
 aXi'y/cioi' doTfpi 
 
 Herod, v. 
 
 63; Soph. Elect. 66, etc. 
 
 i Ex Pont. III. iii. 2, 0, sidus 
 Fabite, Maxime, gentis. 
 
 ^ Comp. Virg. Eclo. ix. 47, Ecce 
 Dionsei processit Cfesaris astrum ; 
 Eor. Od. I. xii. 46, 47, Micat iiittr 
 omnes Juliuni sidus velvit inter ig- 
 nes Luna niinores; Pliit. Nat. Hist. 
 ii. 24 or 23, eo sidere significari vol- 
 giis credidit Ctesaris animam inter 
 deorum immortalium numina recep- 
 tam, etc. ; Sueton. Cisesar, c. 88, hac 
 de causa simulacro ejus in vertice 
 additur stella; Curt. IX. vi. 8, quis 
 deorum hoc Macedonia coluraen ac 
 sidus diuturnum fore polliceri pot- 
 est, etc.; Justin, xxxvii. 2, etc. 
 
254 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. 15-17, 
 
 one of the oldeat and most interesting of the Assyrian 
 Inscriptions, King Tiglath-pileser I. (about B.C. 1150) 
 styles himself not only 'the illustrious chief, who, under 
 the auspices of the Sun God, was armed with the 
 sceptre/ or 'held the sceptre of dominion,' but also 'the 
 bright constellation who, as he desired, has warred 
 against foreign countries . . . and subdued the enemies of 
 Ashur,' and again simply 'the ruling constellation, the 
 powerful, the lover of battle';'' while King Assur-nasir- 
 pal is, on his 'Standard Inscription,' denominated as 'the 
 sun of great splendour.'^ No less explicit are the 
 Egyptian records. King Amenophis IV. assumed the 
 title of 'splendour,' or 'glory of the solar disc' (Cku-en- 
 aten); in his Annals, Thotuies III. is addressed, 'They 
 see thy majesty like the star Sesht'; and in the fine 
 hymn to Menephta, son of Ramses II., that king receives 
 almost all the glorious attributes of Amen or the Sun- 
 god himself, as whose living representative on earth he 
 is revered, and depicted in poetic strains like these : 
 'Give thy attention to me, thou Sun that risest to en- 
 lighten the earth by thy goodness — solar orb of men 
 chasing the darkness from Egyj)t . . . whose beams pene- 
 trate every cavern.'*^ 
 
 "■ Inscript. of Tigl.-pil. I., §§ 3, 
 24, 43 ; coiup. Rec. of the Past, v. 
 8, 18-23. 
 
 ^ Comp. foe. «^ vii. 12. Frequent 
 allusion is made on the Assyrian 
 monuments both to 'the sceptre the 
 diead of man,' and 'the sceptre of 
 righteousness' or 'justice' (couip. 
 Ps. xlv. 7); and the god Neho is 
 described as the ' Bearer of the high 
 sceptre' {il/id. iii. 43, v. 29, 114, 
 122, 139, etc.). 'Sceptres for the 
 king's hand' and 'staves' (probalily 
 pl~'np^ Gen. xlix. 10, etc.) were by 
 Assyiiaa monarchs demanded as 
 tiibute fioni subjected chiefs; as, 
 according to the Black Obelisk In- 
 
 scription, Shalinaneser II. received 
 from Jehu, king of Israel (see the re- 
 marks on Assyrian invasions in notes 
 on vers. 23, 24). 
 
 <= Comp. loc. cit. ii. 33 ; iv. 98 ; vi. 
 101, 102. The hymn, with an in- 
 consistency whicli discloses its alle- 
 gorical character, contains the lines: 
 'Bright is thy eye above the stars of 
 heaven, able to gaze at the solar 
 orb.' See also Horapoll. i. 13; ii. 
 1: 'God in his splendour' (Bfog 
 tyKO(Tj.ioQ) is expressed by a star, 
 which also depicts /«{e and Jive, the 
 number of the chief planets, 'be- 
 cause God's providence determines 
 victory.' 
 
BALAAMS PROPHECY ON MOAB. Zoo 
 
 Most happily and skilfiillj- was Moab chosen by the 
 author as the vehicle of his thoughtful creation. For 
 the Moabites were, in his time and long afterwards, not 
 only known as wealthy and honoured, possessing large 
 and populous towns, to which very nuQierous ruins, still 
 extant, bear ample witness, flourishing in all agricultural 
 and pastoral pursuits, and singularly valiant and martial ; 
 but they were notorious above all as proud and elated, 
 vainglorious and boastful, restless and tumultuous, ever 
 disposed to war and violently contentious.'* Fortune, 
 moreover, had done much to foster their arrogance. 
 They were indeed, shortly before the Hebrew immigra- 
 tion, deprived by the king of the Amorites of those 
 provinces which were soon afterwards conquered by the 
 Israelites ; but they seem gradually to have regained a 
 large portion of these districts ; and it is certain that 
 they re-occupied them all after the deportation of the 
 east-Jordanic tribes.'' Justly, therefore, might Jeremiah 
 say that 'Moab hath been at ease from his youth' 
 (that is, from the time of his dwelling in that country 
 after the expulsion of the indigenous Emim),'^ ' and hath 
 settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from 
 vessel to vessel, nor hath he gone into captivity': he M^as 
 not, like Israel, purified and refined in 'the iron furnace 
 of affliction.'"^ Hence the prophet significantly added, 
 'Therefoi'ehis (acrid) taste remained in him, and his (evil) 
 scent is not changed ':'' the Moabites clung to all their 
 sinful ways, persisted in their moral depravity and 
 religious blindness, and constantly grew in disdainful 
 haughtiness.*^ Represented as al)le to crush such a 
 
 •'' Comp. 2 Sam. x.xiii. 20 ; Isa. 
 xvi. G; Jer. xlviii. 29, SO; Amos ii. 
 2; Zeph. ii. 10; Ps. Ixxiv. 23; see 
 also 2 Ki. iii. 4; Isa. xv. 4, 6, 7 ; 
 xvi. 1, 8-10, 14; and the allusions in 
 Jer. xlviii. 2, 7, S, 14, 17, 18, 21-24, 
 28, 32, 33, 36,41. 
 
 '' See supra, p. 72. 
 
 ^ Gen. xiv. 5; Deut.'ii. 10. 
 
 '' Comp. Deut. iv. 20 ; 1 Ki. viii. 
 51; Isa. xlviii. 10; Ezck. xxii, 18, 
 20, 22. 
 
 ^ Jer. xlviii. 11. 
 
 f Comp. Zeph. i. 12. 
 
!5G 
 
 NUMBERS XXTV. 15-1' 
 
 people, the power of Israel's illustrious king is seen in 
 the strongest light ; while his justice is no less clearly 
 apparent, because that people, 'having impiously risen 
 against the Lord,' deserved destruction.'^ 
 
 Philological Eekarks. — From our general comments it 
 Avill be obvious that this prophecy on Moab is an essential 
 and organic part of the composition, which, without it, would 
 be weak and incomplete, since it would include no direct and 
 positive announcement of the refi-actory king's subjection. It 
 is, therefore, entirely unwarrantable to separate these verses 
 from the original conception, and to consider them as a later 
 addition (as is done by Bertholdt, Einleitung, iii. 792, 793 ; 
 £ansen, Bibelwerk, v. 605-608, and others). All the argu- 
 ments in favour of the genuineness of the first three oracles, 
 plead with^qual force for the genu ineness^of the fourth ; and 
 if the latter was written in David's time, then the preceding 
 speeches belong to the same age and not to the period of Joshua 
 orIIezehiah(seec«;n/?rrt,p.47). — Balaam addresses this prophecy 
 to Balak ('Dl "|^*j;\X "l'?), who, as the king of Moab, represents 
 the whole people ; he is, therefore, not expressly stated to 
 have seen the Moabites, since Balak is with him, and we 
 need not assume that ' he turned from north to south in 
 order to obtain a view of Moab ' (Knob.) ; the scope of this 
 remark will become more apparent in our observations on 
 vers. 18-24, when we shall discuss the economy of this last 
 part of the section. — Most poetically the seer refers even in 
 the first two verbs (I^STiL-aniL-lpli^) to David as the ' star ' 
 and the ' sceptre,' as he has that king in his mind from the 
 beginning, although he has not yet mentioned him (comp. 
 Deut. xxxiii. 2; Isai. xli. 27; Ps. Ixxxvii. 1, etc.); for the suf- 
 fixes in those verbs do not apply to Israel (so Vei^scJmir and 
 others), whom Balaam, while he spoke, really beheld ; nor 
 do they mean indefinitely 'something' (Saad. ].yc\, and 
 
 " Jerom. xlviii. 26, 42 11D\yi'\ 
 
 ArVe arc the more justified in nnticing 
 these parallels from Jeremiah, as the 
 
 prophet, in his great oracle on Moab, 
 borrows also the principal idea of 
 this utterance of Balaam (Jer. xlviii. 
 45; see infra). 
 
Balaam's prophecy on moab. 257 
 
 others). Tlie futures i:X"iN* and IJilu'N have, of course, the 
 signification of the present, as the same words possess clearly 
 in xxiii. 9 (comp. Gram. § 94.6) ; the future time in this 
 connection is hardly intelligible (so Sept., 2f('^w; Aqxi., o\ponai; 
 Vul(j., videbo; Lulh., ieh werde sehen, etc.), thougli we 
 might expect interpretations like that of Origen (In Num. 
 Horn, XV. 3 ; xviii. 4), ' ut futurum tempus significet .... 
 quando omnis Israel ad fidem Christi veniens salvabitur et a 
 niontibus et a collibus intuebitur,' etc. The _Sept. r eads ^f-j^^'^^'' 
 moreover ■13i<'lt? and renders IJIII^'N by fj.aKapt^u), connecting 
 tliis word with "l?^'>> in Piel (Glen. xxx. 13 ; Prov. xxxi. 28, 
 etc.).— It would be an almost interminable task histoincally 
 to pursue the interpretation of the 'star' (^9''-^) in detail; nor , 
 
 can we enter into the arguments by which the Messianic 
 conception of that term has been defended, as they lie, for 
 the most part, in the sphere of dogma and not of critical 
 enquiry. ^It may suffice to remark that that conception is al- 
 ready found in the Chaldee Targumim and was maintained by 
 many Jewish authorities (the Midrashim, Zohar, Nachman., 
 Eashbam, Bechai, Albo, Arama, Abarban., Isaac b. Abra- 
 ham, Ealbag, and others), though by no means unanimously 
 (e.g., Eas/ii, 1)1 HT ; Ebn Ezra, 1)1 hv nSUJH nST ; Mendelss., 
 and others) ; that, supported by the expressions in the Revela- 
 tion of St. John, above referred to, and perhaps even more 
 by the star of the wise men (^tayot) from the east (in Matth. 
 ii. 1—10, e'idofiEV yap avrov rov auripa tv ri) avuToXij), Since 'the 
 later magicians ' were supposed to be ' of the school of 
 Balaam,' the same view was adopted by the Fathers of the 
 Church (Justin, Irenceus, Origen, Athanas., Euseb. Pamph., 
 Basil., Greg, of Nyssa, Cyril!., Theodoret., Cyprian, Ambros., 
 Jerome, Evagrius, Maxim. Taurin., Gregor., and others; see 
 I'eiul-e, Beitriige, iv. 187), although not without contradiction 
 from various sides (comp. Theodoret., Qutest. 44 in Num), and 
 was long upheld in the orthodox Church, both Catholic and 
 Protestant (as by Oleaster, Bonfrerius, Corn, a Lapide, Cal- 
 met. Bade, Miinster, Fagius, Drusius, Calvin, Cleric, Lilien- 
 thal, Warburton, Whiston, Parker, Deyling, J. H. Michaelis, 
 and others ; see Rtinke, I.e.) ; but that in more recent times, 
 though still pertinaciously insisted upon by some, it has 
 
258 NUMBERS XXIV. 15-17. 
 
 generally given way to the historical application to king 
 David. Not a few, however, combine both interpretations, 
 and contend, strangely, that indeed, in the iirst place, David, 
 or the personified and ideal royalty of his house, is meant, 
 but, in a more extended view, the Messiah also, since ' without 
 the Messiah the monarchy of Israel is like a trunk without a 
 head.' Moab, it is further asserted, is merely a type of all 
 , adversaries of the kingdom of God; 'wherever, therefore, 
 and as long as there are enemies of Israel, there and so long 
 there are also Moabites ' (so Chrysostom., Augustin., Leonh. 
 Marius, Deyling, Dereser, Allioli, IIengstenb.,Eeischl, Kurtz, 
 Eeinke, Lange, and others). Such dialectic subtleties, how- 
 ever ably and learnedly carried out, can be of little profit, as 
 they vainly attempt to volatilize a poetical and graphic crea- 
 tion into a vague and indefinite symbol. The author carries 
 his survey down to his own time and not farther ; in his ex- 
 Iperience, the Moabites and other enemies of Israel are de- 
 jfeated by David and utterly weakened or annihilated; it 
 ^ cannot concern him that, in later times, most of them re- 
 gained their strength and their liberty, and even conquered 
 or outlasted the Hebrews. An ingenious Jewish commentator 
 urges that, though all the nations here named have long dis- 
 appeared, the prophecies concerning them are yet Messianic, 
 as they mention the countries by the names which they bore 
 in Balaam's time without reference to their future occupants 
 (Abarban., in loc ) ; but the object of these prophecies is not 
 to announce the devastation of countries, but the extinction 
 of nations. Michaelis (in loo.) remarks appositely: 'Take 
 heed not to convert the saviour of the human race, the most 
 universal benefactor, into an evil star, into one who is to 
 smite Moab, if not to destroy all the children of men .... 
 I What is praiseworthy in David .... is a very unsuitable 
 /! picture for the Messiah' (comp. also Dathe, in loc, 'at enim- 
 vero qui possunt htec nisi perquam coacte ad Messiae regnum 
 pacificum et generi humano salutare transferri ? ' and see es- 
 , ^Qc\?i\\y Hengstenh., Christologie, i. l.pp.78-83, First Ed., 1829, 
 where the author sets forth and defends, with admirable clear- 
 ness, the anti-Messianic arguments which he subsequently 
 abandoned, and where he even admits (p. 79) that Balaam 
 
BALAAMS I'ROPIIECV ()\ MoAT.. 2.')!) 
 
 is, in this narrative, 'represented as a true pi-opliet of tlio true 
 Grod' — a remarkable instance of earlier and juster impressions 
 obscured by later researches or influences). Curious is the ex- 
 planation of Maimonides (De Regib., xi. 6), who applies the 
 first hal f of eacli of the three members of ver. 17 to David, 
 but the second half to the future Messiah (|nnxn IT'K'On), one 
 of David's descendants; e.g., 'I see him, but not now — that is 
 David; I behold him, but not near-that is the King Messiah'; 
 and in a similar manner he understands the first two parts 
 of ver. 18. It need, not be remarked that such a mode of 
 exposition is forbidden even by the common rules of parallel- 
 ism. — The ' star' cannot denote king Uzziah (so Fiirst, Gresch. 
 d. bibl. Liter., ii. 230), were it for no other reason than that 
 the Moabites were not among the nations subdued by that 
 king (comp. 2 Ki. xv. 1-7; 2 Chr. xxvi. 3-15). — But some, 
 tliough not supposing this passage to refer to a special 
 Messiah, describe the whole piece as 'Messianic' This view 
 has been most systematically carried out by Ewald (Jahrb., 
 viii. 1 sqq.), who observes : * If Israel is to be that singular 
 jjeople for whose sake an intended curse is turned into a 
 blessing, they must indeed have something immortal and 
 Divine .... and this is, in a word, the Messianic hope .... 
 which is also the soul of this narrative relating to the time of 
 Moses ' (I.e., p. 22). But a fixed and almost technical ex- 
 pression ought not to be used so loosely. The ' truth of the 
 immortality of Israel ' is not ' Messianic' in the ordinary and 
 accepted sense of the word, and ' a national Messiahship ' is 
 almost a contradiction in terms, as the very essence of 
 Messiahship is universality. We can discover in this section 
 no allusion whatever pointing to 'the perfection and ultimate 
 triumph of the true religion ' (I.e., pp. 3, 38), as it hardly 
 refers to religion at all. It represents God as Israel's Pro- 
 tector and Guide, not as the Eevealer of rehgious truth. The 
 flourishing and y outhful time of Dav idwas not an age c al- 
 culated to foster Messianic expectations. The happy realit}"- 
 was too absorbing to create a fongmg for an indefinite ideal 
 in a distant future. Morality and piety, po litical power and 
 social pj::iisperity — these are the notions in~which thls^Book 
 of Balaam moves (comp. also I.e., p. 36 ; Gesch. d. Volk. Isr. 
 
260 NUMBERS XXIV. 15-17. 
 
 i. 142, where Ewald, on the contrary, observes, that our 
 author ' urges the Mesoianic idea less strongly'; Baumgarten, 
 Pent. ii. 372; Oehler, Theolog. d. Alt. Test. i. 119; H.Schultz, 
 Alttestam. Theol. i. 472, 473, etc.). 
 
 As the verb "^Tl (Arab. ^,s) means to {read or to walk 
 
 CkV (^^^- incessit), apVO 3313 "j"!! is ' a star comes out of Jacob ' ; 
 
 1 it would be artificial to connect that verb here with the 
 
 phrase D''Vn in, to shoot off arrows (Ps. Iviii. 8 ; Ixiv. 4), or 
 
 nL"p 1"n, to bend the bow (Lam. ii. 4, etc.) ; so Rashi, ' the star 
 
 \X .passes like an arrow ' ; Ebn Ezra, shooting-star ; see, on the 
 
 other hand, Heidenheim in loc. — The 'scep tre ' (t23t^•). the 
 
 bol of regal power (Gren. xlix. 10 ; Isai. xiv. 5 ; Am. i. 
 
 , t33Ji' "101 n, eomp. m^rfurovy^^oQ ; Ps. xlv. 7), is, by way of 
 etonymy, the ruler himself {Sept., Fhilo, ardpuizoQ ; Onlc., 
 NH'-S^'D ; Sijr., NEi'n, prince ; Rashi, '?::'1D1 mil "I'po, etc.), like 
 the star, which properly cannot 'shatter' (fnoi) nations. The 
 i^?^.' is here not the shepherd's ' staff,' the king understood as 
 Hhe shepherd of his people (Lev. xxvii. 32; Ps xxiii. 4, etc.); 
 nor directly ' rod ' of castigation (Isai. x. 5 ; xi. 4 ; Job ix. 
 34; comp. Zech. x. 11; Prov. xx. 15; Fw/^'., virga, and so 
 Saad., and others), but only indirectlj' (' sceptrum priscorum 
 virgse fuerunt'), since the power which it represents chastises 
 rebellious foes (comp. Ps. ii. 9; see Comm. on Gen. pp. 748, 
 749). — The two words 3313 and t33t^' have curiously been 
 taken as one notion, 'sceptrum stellatum,' which meaning, 
 applied to a Divine ruler, has been supported by the usage 
 of the Egyptians, who expressed their king and lord,, Osiris, 
 by the pictures of an eye and a sceptre, the former signify- 
 ing Providence, the latter, Power (Plutajxh, Delsid. et Osir., 
 chap. 10; comp, Deyling, Observatt., iii. 109). — The prince 
 shall smite 3s''i?3 ''rl^^2 the two sides of Moab, that is, every part 
 of tjbe land, or he sliall humble it thoroughly and completely 
 (comp. Neh. ix. 22, nxs'? □p'pnni, 'thou hast distributed them 
 in all directions'; but 'ri3^;|, Judg. xix. 1, 18; Isa. xxxvii. 24); 
 yet some, following the analogy of Jer. xlviii. 45, translate, 
 questionably, fem^j/es (so Ewald, Schlafen, and others see infra), 
 or even the hair and beards (comp. Lev xix. 27 ; Jer. ix. 25 ; xxv. 
 23, etc.), supposed to denote ornament or nobles (Gcddes, Be Geer, 
 and others). But a different reading seems,in early times, to have 
 
Balaam's prophecy on moab. 2G1 
 
 been 3S1D ^'^D- (from r\^^ governor, equivalent to the more fre- 
 quent term nns and preserved in the proper noun 2xnO"nn3^ 
 Ezra ii. G; viii. 4; INch. iii. 11, etc.; comp. 2 Ki. xvii. 21, 
 kethia and ktri, Nl"""! and m"'')), for the Sept. renders apxvyovc; 
 Viihj., duces; Onkel. and Junatli., "'T!?"!"] princes; Targ. Jer. 
 and Syr., i<D''pn and N1333 the strong ones; and so also Luth., 
 Fiirsten, etc. — 1P"1|^, the Pilpel of llp to dig (kindred to 
 113, n"l3, "ip^, 2 Ki. xix. 24, whence "lip'p source), or undermine 
 or destroy (comp. Gi"am. § xlviii. 14), instead of "ii2"!i? ; tlie 
 pat/iach in the second syllable is not surprising, as the Piel, 
 and hence also the modifications formed after its analogy, as 
 rilel and Pilpel, have frequently j^at/iach instead of tsere, and 
 we find, indeed, the form "'."^li'^P (Isai. xxii. 5 ; comp. Gram. 
 § xliv. i.i) ; but the patliacli in th.Q first syllable is anomalous. 
 The verb is rendered in the sense just indicated by the Sept., 
 TrporofiEVfTEi (that is, according to Resychius and Suidas, hpira- 
 ^tiv, \r]i^Eiy, or ai^^aXwnffu') ; Syinni., Ipevyijaei', Vulg., YOSta,- 
 bit; Syr.,12V'^i) and he will subdue, and others (comp. Midr. 
 Jlabb. Gen. Ixxiv. 6, nPvn ?3 piplpO, although another read- 
 ing is D''yaip?3 leaping; see also Buxt., Lex. Talm. sub ^^")'''i"'T» 
 where "T'pT Xlipip dtstructio parietis is quoted from Zuhar in 
 Gen. col. 483). But in Jer. xlviii. 45, we find, instead of the 
 last part of this verse, the following : "Ipii'^l :iXV3 nx? ^DXni 
 jiSL" ''p3, < and the fire shall devour the side of Moab, and the 
 crown of the head of the sons of tumult.' That these words 
 were meant as identical with those of our text, it is impossible 
 to doubt, as Jeremiah, in his long prophecy on Moab, freely 
 incorporates or adapts passages from predecessors ; yet they 
 are so divergent from our text, that it is difficult to suppose 
 that Jeremiah, or whoever revised and completed that pro- 
 phecy, took them from this source : it is likely that different 
 copies of Balaam's speeches were in circulation, and were 
 followed by different writers or revisers. It would not be 
 easy to decide which is the original reading; but judging by 
 that canon of criticism which attributes the greater probability 
 of genuineness to the more difficult version, we are inclined 
 to give the preference to our text ; the introductionof_a_ne3V 
 verb (iplpl) in tbe last hemistich is more emphatic, and the 
 addition of "?3 to' the sons of tumult' enlarges the circle of the 
 
262 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. 15-17. 
 
 prophecy iu the appropriate and comprehen.«ive manner above 
 pointed out, whereas, without that word, the coni-hxsion also 
 would be limited to Moab alone. Yet the reading "'Pli^, which 
 is also found in the Samaritan Codex, has been adopted by 
 several modern critics (as Vater, Ewald, Lengerke, Knobel, 
 Graf, Oort, and others). In Jeremiah, it will be noticed, the 
 word rit^' is replaced by ps^^i' (eomp. Isai. xiii. 9; Jer. li. 55) ; 
 that noun, therefore, which occurs also with the scriptio plena 
 riXu* (Lam. iii. 47), is most probably to be referred to the 
 same root nx'J' to cause a din, from which |ii<t:' is derived, and 
 means tumult; 'the children of tumult' being tumultuous, 
 seditious, and war-loving nations, like many of those by 
 which the Hebrews were surrounded (compare Amos ii. 2, 
 3NV3 liSL'3 npi). To take r\^ as the proper noun Seth, the 
 son of Adam (Gren. iv. 25), and to understand T\'^ ''J3 73 as 
 ' all the children of men ' (so Sept., Sam. Vers., Syr., Targ. Joti., 
 Saad., Luth , and others ; Onk. NK'JX ''J2 ^2^, Rashi niOIXH "pD, 
 Ebn Ezra DIN *J3, Aharban., and others), is neither appro- 
 priate as regards the words nor the sense; for it is difficult 
 to see why men should be represented as descendants of 
 Seth, and not of Adam or Noah ; and then, the mighty king 
 of Israel is surely not expected to kill all mankind : without 
 urging that thus the Hebrews also would be included in the 
 general massacre, it cannot be admitted that, ' according to a 
 fundamental notion of the prophets, all pagans must perish,' 
 because ' they are hostile to Grod and His truth ' (so Hansen, 
 Bibelwerk, v. 604, and others) ; it was, on the contrary, the 
 most cheering hope of the prophets to see the holy community 
 so enlarged as to embrace all nations, and they considered it 
 among their holiest tasks to accelerate the time, when ' the 
 earth shall be full of the knowledge of the L )rd as the water 
 covers the sea' (Isa. xi. 9; see supra, pp. 35, 36; comp. also 
 Mendelss. in loc). T(j lessen the difficulty, 2arg. Jems, renders 
 r\y by 'all the children of the east' (Nmno), and Onkel. 
 "ipni^l by ' he will reign ' (and so Arabs Erp., CastelL, and 
 others), which are untenable expedients. Still less defensible 
 are the very numerous other explanations of r\Z^ ""JD, which 
 perplexity has suggested, and which it would be purposeless 
 to review; for instance, 'children of the drunkard' (Lot), 
 
SUPPLEMP]NTS. 263 
 
 or the Ammonites and Moabltes, r\'C* derived from nni'' ; or 
 'men of might,' T)^' taken as equivalent to nint?* foundations ; 
 or ' all the strong walls,' "'J2 supposed to be equivalent to pJQ, 
 etc. Some propose to read T\^, identical with riNy" (comp. Job 
 xli. 16), in the sense of haurjhliaess or presumption (so Vater, 
 Pentat. iii. 147; Eivald, Gesch. i. 145, and others); but there 
 is, as we have shown, no occasion for abandoning the Maso- 
 retic reading. 
 
 15. SUPPLEMENTS. XXIV. 18-24-. 
 
 Nothing can be conceived that seems wanting to the 
 absolute completeness or the fullest comprehensiveness 
 of the composition. After blessings had been pronounced 
 upon Israel in threefold gradation, the prophet proposed 
 to reveal how, in due time, God's chastisement would 
 overwhelm the Moabites on account of their malignant 
 hostility to His chosen people.'' He has not only carried 
 out this object, but, in order to enforce once more Israel's 
 universal power and ascendancy, he has included in his 
 admonition and menace 'all the children of tumult.' 
 What else remained but simply to record that thenceforth 
 the paths of Balaam and Balak were for ever separate — 
 that the one ' returned to his place,' and the other also 
 ' went his way'?'' Here, if anywhere, it was a sacred duty 
 to obey the command, ' You shall not add to it, nor shall 
 you diminish ought from it,' as else the beautiful harmony 
 of the Book was certain to be destroyed. And yet the 
 strict limits which the author had imposed upon himself, 
 might appear to later readers unsatisfactory and even in- 
 explicable. Scarcely less brilliant or less gratifying to 
 the nation than Saul's and David's victories over Moab, 
 were their triumphs and those of their successors over 
 the Edomites;'' and the wars against Moab and Edom, 
 
 » Ver. 14. ^ Yer. 25. <^ See infra, on vers. 18, 19. 
 
264 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. 18-24. 
 
 two neigiiboiiring and kindred tribes, are Ijy Hebrew 
 writers constantly and closely coupled.'' Those, therefore, 
 who, disregarding the art and mastership in the form of 
 the composition, looked npon the Book mainly as a 
 national document, might consider it an unaccountable 
 omission that the annihilation of the powerful Edomites, 
 which was of much greater importance to the Hebrews 
 than that of the Moabites, was not specially proclaimed. 
 They felt, therefore, induced to supply this supposed 
 defect, and added significant words concerning Edom, not 
 as a distinct prophecy, introduced, like the other oracles, 
 by the formula, ' And Balaam took up his parable,' but 
 in direct conjunction with the speech against Moab — 
 strangely forgetful of Balaam's clear announcement to 
 Balak, 'I will tell thee what this people is destined to 
 do to thy j^eople.'^ When thus the unity of the work 
 was once deranged, the way was smoothed for further 
 enlargements. It was considered that the admired and 
 pojjular work offered a convenient framework for the 
 glorification of Israel as a conquering people in general ; 
 and one by one, such predictions w^ere appended as, by 
 the side of oracles on Moab and Edom, and in the mouth 
 of an earlier prophet, appeared suitable or desirable." 
 
 The total difterence between these additions and 
 Balaam's genuine vaticinations ought to be felt and 
 recognised, it might be thought, even by the common 
 instincts of literary taste and judgment. That differ- 
 ence extends alike to the spirit and the language. 
 Where is, in these supplements, that lucid simplicity 
 
 " Comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 47; 2 Sam. 
 viii. 12-14; 1 Chron. xviii. 11; Ps. 
 Ix. 10; Ixxiii. 7; cviii. 10; Isa. xi. 
 14; Jer. ix. 26; xxv. 21; Ezek. 
 XXV. 8; Dan. xi. 41. We find lliem 
 also combined in Sennacherib's In- 
 Bcription on the 'Taylor Cylinder' 
 (col. ii., lines 53, 54): 'Kammuz 
 (Chemosh)-natbi, k'ng of Moab, and 
 
 Airammii, king of Edom ;' and in the 
 Inscription of Esarhaddon (col. v., 
 1. 14): ' KaduTuukb, king of Edom, 
 and Mitziui, king of Moab;' see 
 also ' Annals of Assur-bani-pal,' col. 
 vii., 1. 119-121, Edom, Beih-Am- 
 mon, Moab. 
 
 b Yer. 14, lOy^. 
 
 *= Sec also notes on vers. 20-24. 
 
SUPPLEMENTS. 265 
 
 wliich is never impaired by })rofbiindness or suLliiiiity ? 
 Where is that natural splendour or beauty of imagery, 
 which, in every toucli, reveals the genius and the poet ? 
 Tlu-oughout the four speeches of Balaam there is hardly 
 a single obscurity or real difficulty in the Hebrew expres- 
 sion : obscurity and difficulty abound in these last few 
 verses.* The former display transparency of plan in the 
 whole and every individual utterance ; the latter consist 
 of a disconnected and almost monotonous enumeration 
 of facts scarcely adorned or veiled, and yet so dim and 
 shadowy that they sound like Sibylline mysteries. In 
 the one, we find depth and wealth of the most fruitful 
 ideas ; in the others, there is hardly a new idea of 
 moment. From noon-day brightness we pass to indis- 
 tinct and clouded twilight. And yet even these verses 
 are not without their own interest. Though deficient as 
 efibrts of prophecy and poetry, they possess a high value 
 as history. While destroying the picture of Davidic 
 times in its rounded and finished completeness, they ex- 
 pand it to an almost panoramic view comprising event- 
 ful centuries ; and while they exhibit youth's soaring 
 elevation and aspiring vigour lowered and weakened, 
 they ofter in compensation the maturit}^, though alas ! 
 also the bitterness, of manly exj^erience. 
 
 Philological Remarks. — The numerous and singular 
 attempts that have been made to vindicate an organic con- 
 nection between these verses and the preceding portions, 
 prove sufficiently the hopelessness of the task. Some con- 
 tend that Balaam's words, 'I will tell thee, what this people 
 is destined to do to thy people' (ver. 14), are intended a 
 potiori, that is, that Balaam indeed restricted his announce- 
 ment to Moab alone, as the people of the greatest immediate 
 importance, but that he really, at the same time, had other 
 
 =» J. D.Michaelis writes: 'Ihonest- 
 !}• confess, that from the 18th to the 
 24th verse, the Hebrew text is not 
 only difficult, but seems partly not 
 
 to have come down to us in correct 
 transcriptions ' — yet there is no 
 reason to doubt the general accuracy 
 of the received readings. 
 
206 NTTMBERS XXIV. 18-24. 
 
 enemies of Israel in his mind. But is it likely that the author 
 should, with a rude hand, destroy a finely drawn plan, which 
 he had carried out from the beginning with such thoughtful 
 care? The king of Moab dares to oppose Israel and their God, 
 aud must, therefore, hear the prediction of his ruin ; no 
 other people is directly concerned; the conclusion 'and he 
 shattereth all the children of tumult' is not so much meant 
 to depict the annihilation of the heathen world, as to extol 
 the victorious Israelites, and thus once more to condense, in 
 a few emphatic words, a chief idea of the three preceding 
 speeches. — It is, therefore, hardly necessary to refute the 
 vague opinion that the narrative aims at delineating 'Israel's 
 relations to their enemies in general,' or to announce 'the 
 downfall of all the empires of the world,' which tlieme, it is 
 asserted, the fourth prophecy carries out in detail, and in 
 special applications (ITengstb., Bil., p. 150, etc.). But if so, why 
 are the Ammonites not mentioned ? Why not the Philistines 
 and Midianites, nor the powerful Syrians, nor any other people 
 in Canaan or Gilead, with whom the Hebrews exchanged 
 Constant and bitter feuds ? and why not Egypt ? It is, of 
 course, not difficult to put forth specious reasons for all these 
 omissions, but they do violence both to the sense and the 
 words of the text. For who will find acceptable an expe- 
 dient like this: 'Balaam, standing on the height of Peor, 
 has turned round to the south, in order to cast his eye upon 
 Moab ; he then looks farther southward and southwestward, 
 in which posture he does not behold Ammon and Aram, and 
 therefore, delivers about them no prophecies {Knob., Numer. 
 p. 145). It is very questionable whether Balaam must not 
 have seen Ammon from the point and in the position des- 
 cribed (see p. 214). But supposing he saw no part of their 
 territory, could he not turn round a little more eastward if 
 he desired or was able to make a prophetic announcement 
 on their future career ? And was it indeed indispensable for 
 him to behold those concerning whom he prophesied ? This 
 ■was certainly necessary according to the plan of the main or 
 genuine narrative ; but in these additions Balaam speaks of the 
 Cyprians and Assyrians, whom he surely could not see from 
 an eminence in the east of the Jordan — which constitutes an- 
 
SUPPLEMENTS. 267 
 
 other notable divevg-eiice (see p. 18; about Amalek.on ver. 20). 
 If even an aj^i^roximately systematic series of prophecies hail 
 been intended, in accordance with the events narrated in the 
 Book of Numbers, it would have been impossible to exclude 
 the Midianites. These were in alliance with the Moabites in 
 tlieir contemplated, execration of Israel (xxii. 4, 7), and lived 
 in their immediate vicinity ; they were soon afterwards 
 attacked by the Hebrews and routed with fearful slaughter 
 (xxxi. 1-20), and for a long time they never ceased, either 
 alone or in conjunction with other enemies, to annoy and to 
 harass the Israelites in Canaan (pp. 85, 86). But why, in spite 
 of all this, are they not introduced ? Because, after having 
 been completely overwhelmed by Gideon, the Judge, they 
 had, in David's time, lost all power and importance. This 
 one point alone ought to lead to correct inferences, and it 
 will serve to show the weakness of the assertion that the 
 Ammonites are passed over because, unlike Moab, Edom, or 
 Amalek, they had ' till then ' come into no contact whatever 
 with the Hebrews, whether of a friendly or a hostile nature 
 (so Keil, Num. p. 323j. But without insisting that the same 
 might be said, of the Cyprians and Ass3Tians, who are yet 
 noticed (vers. 23, 24), what does ' till then ' mean ? The 
 author takes regard throughout of his own time, not of that of 
 ]3alaam; and the Ammonites were, like the Moabites, defeated 
 by Saul and David, were by the latter most rigorously treated, 
 and required the continued vigilance of Hebrew kings (1 Sam. 
 xi. 11 ; xiv. 47; 2 Sam.viii. 12; x. 14; xi. 1; xii. 26-31; xxiv, 
 2; 2 Chr. xxvii. 5; Ezek. xxv. 2-7, etc.). Or if it is urged, 
 on the other hand, that in these prophecies Balaam ' surveys 
 the time from Da-vdd to Hezekiah ' {Knobel, Num. p. 144), it 
 is permitted to ask, why in all the four preceding oracles no 
 allusion is found, however faint or indirect, which leads be- 
 yond the time of David ? For if Balaam, represented as 
 prophesying in the age of Moses, did not hesitate to describe 
 events reaching to the reign of David, why should he have 
 shrunk from hinting at subsequent facts, if they lay within 
 the circle of his knowledge or experience ? How little, there- 
 fore, is gained by the remark: 'As the historical events which 
 unroll themselves before the prophet's spirit become more 
 
268 NUMBERS XXIV. 18, 19. 
 
 distant in time, they become also less determinate in out- 
 line'! Is there for the prophet who portrays scenes occurring 
 four centuries after his age, a distinction between near and 
 distant? Must not all future be to him like the present? 
 But, in realitj', Balaam, that is the autlior of the first four 
 oracles, is not__tlie_aa me as the aut hor, o r any^ of the^authors, 
 of these additions; the former live d^n David'sjtime, but the 
 additions^ reacTrarle ast dow n to th e ag^ of Hezekiah. The 
 following finely conceived theory has been proposed. The 
 speech on Edom, observes Ewald ('Jahrb. viii. 37), turned out 
 so brief because Balaam felt already exhaustion coming 
 upon him; 'but for this very reason he collected himself 
 again and again after a few moments of rest, as if impelled 
 by the spirit finally still to say all that without which the 
 circle of his prophecies would not be truly complete.' But 
 was that exhaustion felt by the author also ? To attribute it 
 here to Balaam, would not be art, but playfulness. The 
 nations forming the subjects of the last oracles, were partly, 
 like Edom and Amalek, much more dangerous enemies to 
 Israel than Moab ; the sa7ne author woidd not so palpably 
 have missed the just proportions in the various predictions. 
 The perplexity created by assuming one writer indiscrimi- 
 nately, is well exemplified by the same great critic, who, on 
 the one hand, praises the skill and art of this composition in 
 the highest terms of admiration, but, on the other hand, de- 
 clares, with surprising self-contradiction, the author's style 
 to be deficient in ' guiet beauty and harix mny,' supporting 
 his assertion by the verses under discussion, which he calls 
 ' abrupt and quite ghostlike ' (abgerissen und ganz geister- 
 haft ; compare Ewald, Geschichte, i. 143, and Jahrbiicher, 
 viii. 1 sqq., passim). 
 
 16. PROPHECY ON EDOM. XXIV. 18, 19. 
 
 18. And Edom is his possession, 
 
 And his possession is Seir, Jiis enemies, 
 And Israel acquireth might. 
 
 19. And he that cometh out of Jacob ruletli, 
 
PROPHECY ON EDOM. 
 
 2G9 
 
 And (Icstro^^eth the remnant from the 
 cities. 
 
 It would be unnecessary here to dwell on the history 
 of the Edomites in their relations to the Hebrews, as it 
 has been sketched in another place with some fulness.* 
 For the illustration of the words before us, it suffices to 
 remind the reader that the Edomites, after having been 
 vanquished by Saul, and still more decisively crushed by 
 David, who made them tributary, liberated themselves 
 completely in the reign of Jehoram, king of Judah (B.C. 
 890), since the advantages obtained against them by 
 some later Hebrew kings, as Amaziah (B.C. 838) and 
 TJzziah (b.c. 809), were so far from important or perma- 
 nent, that, in the time of king Ahaz (b.c. V41) they were 
 able to make a successful invasion into Judea.^ Before the 
 reign of Jehoram, therefore, these verses must have been 
 added, possibly as early as the life-time of David or soon 
 afterwards. They recall the subjugation of the Edomites 
 and the dominion of Israel, the indelible enmity of the 
 two nations and the merciless severity of the Hebrew 
 victors. Not only did David slay, in the Salt-valley, 
 18,000 Edomites, and placed Hebrew garrisons in all parts 
 of their territory, but, by his direction, Joab remained 
 for six months as commander in those districts with 
 his whole army, and slaughtered and devastated ' till he 
 had cut off every male in Edom.' ° To these occurrences 
 especially may apply the words of this prophecy : ' And 
 he that cometh out of Jacob ruleth, and destroyeth the 
 remnant from the cities.' 
 
 It appears that the Hebrews harboured so strong a 
 feeling of kinship, that they were reluctant to estrange 
 themselves from the Edomites in spite of the most 
 
 ^ Comp. Comm. on Gen. pp. 486- 
 489. 
 
 b Comp. 2 Ki. viii. 20-22; ,\iv. 
 7, 22; 2 Chron. .xxviii. 17. 
 
 ■: 2 Sam. viii. 14 '^nxa Q'C"'^ 
 
 □^nv3 D'^;' DnN-'?Da n-'a^':); iKi, 
 
 xi. 15, 16; 1 Cbron. xviii. 12, 13; 
 P.-i. Ix. 2, 10 ; cviii. 10. 
 
270 NUMBERS XXIV. Ls, 19. 
 
 aggravating j^ro vocations. Leniency and humanity were 
 indeed deplorably violated both on the one side and the 
 other. The prophet Amos complains bitterly that Edom 
 'pursued his brother — the HebreAvs — with the sword, 
 and cast off all pity, and his anger raged perpetually, and 
 he kept his wrath for ever.' ^ And on the other hand, 
 the Chronicler records that, after the Hebrews under King 
 Amaziah (B.C. 838-811) had killed ten thousand Edomites 
 in battle, ' they carried away other ten thousand captive, 
 and brought them to the top of a rock, and cast them 
 down from the top of the rock that they all were dashed 
 in pieces.''^ And yet, Hebrew tradition painted Esau's 
 character, if not favourably, at least not invidiously. It 
 represented him as the perfect man of nature, recklessly 
 indifferent indeed to the higher boons and privileges of 
 religion and truth and swayed by violent passion, but 
 generous and forgiving, brave and confiding, and even 
 capable of deep attachment. And when, in the seventh 
 century, under King Josiah, the early history of the 
 people was written or compiled, Edom's old and persistent 
 hostility against Israel could, naturally, not be concealed 
 in the facts. ' We turned .... and compassed Mount Seir 
 many days,' observes the author, because the Edomites 
 refused the Hebrews a j)assage through their country. 
 But even on that occasion the historian alludes to them 
 in terms of friendship and affection. By God's command 
 Moses tells the Israelites, ' You are to pass through the 
 land of your brethren (DD'^nM), the children of Esau .... 
 take good heed, do not strive against them .... because 
 I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession ' ; and 
 then the account concludes, ' So we passed by our brethr-en 
 the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir.' " Even in the 
 legislation the rigorous principles ordinarily applied with 
 respect to foreign nations were relaxed in their favour, 
 
 • Amos i. 11. •> 2 Chron. xxv. 11, 12; comp. 2 Ki. xiv. 7. 
 
 <= Deut. ii. 1-8. 
 
PROPHECY ON EDOM. 271 
 
 because thc}^ were hardly regarded as strangers : ' Thou 
 shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother, . . . the 
 children that are born of them shall enter into the con- 
 gregation of the Lord in their third generation ' ; ^ that 
 is, after three generations the Edomites were allowed to 
 intermarry wnth the Israelites and were admitted to all 
 the prerogatives of the holy community. 
 
 But this sympathy found among the Edomites no echo 
 or response. They saw in the Hebrews only their former 
 masters, against whom they had been compelled, for 
 centuries, to make the strongest efforts to assert and to 
 maintain their independence. Both nations had no higher 
 interests of faith or intellectual pursuit in common. 
 When, therefore, not long after Josiah, ruin overtook 
 Judah, when their capital was destroyed by the Babylo- 
 nians, and king and people were carried away into capti- 
 vity, the unbridled tierceness of the Edomites broke forth 
 without restraint ; in wild exultation they fired the 
 ravaging Chaldean : ' Destroy, destroy, to the very founda- 
 tion ' ; they seemed to bear their own affliction more wil- 
 lingly when they saw the cruel sufferings of the Israelites ; 
 and from this time of ungenerous and ignoble vindictive- 
 ness, a hatred against the Edomites took root so bitter 
 and inplacable, that the Hebrews thenceforth designated 
 their most detested foes, like the Romans in a later age, as 
 Edomites. From this period the Hebrew writings abound 
 in indignant invectives, and even virulent outbursts 
 of rage, against the unbrotherly people. Jeremiah 
 and Obadiah, Ezekiel and the second Isaiah, and later 
 Psalmists, vie with each other in portraying Edom's igno- 
 miny and debasement, devastation and slavery, as a 
 punishment of their taunting mockery and shameless 
 defiance — ' because they had a perpetual hatred and shed 
 the blood of the children of Israel by the sword in the 
 
 * Deut. xxiii. 8, 9 ; comp. Miskn. Yeram. viii. 2, 3. 
 
272 NUMBERS XXIV. 18, 10. 
 
 time of their calamity.' "■ Therefore, the later narrative 
 in the Book of Numbers does not state, like Deuteronomy, 
 ' The Edomites shall be afraid of you, take ye therefore 
 good heed to yourselves';'' but it represents the Edomites 
 as haughtily saying to the Hebrews, 'Thou shalt not pass 
 by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword ' ; ° 
 and it designedly expresses the entreaty of the Israelites 
 for permission of a free passage in words the most pathe- 
 tic and most insinuatingly suppliant, in order to make 
 the conclusion stand out in harsher contrast : 'And Edom 
 'answered, Thou shalt not go through ; and he came out 
 against the Hebrews with a mighty army and with a 
 strong hand.' ** But even in these later times, when the 
 Edomites, by no means politically extinct or dispossessed 
 of their land, but, on the contrary, successful in enlarging 
 it, continued to foster their ineradicable spirit of turbu- 
 lence and revengefulness, the Hebrews might still, with 
 a peculiar satisfaction, point not only to the vaticinations 
 attributed to the patriarch Isaac,® but especially to this 
 prophecy ascribed to an old and famous seer : ' And 
 Edom is his possession, and his possession is Seir, his 
 enemies.' This hope seemed at last to be completely re- 
 alised, when John Hyrcanus (B.C. 129) subjected the 
 Edomites and forced them to submit to circumcision and 
 to adopt all other Jewish rites and laws, although a 
 century after this time, thoughtful men might have been 
 roused to serious reflections, when they saw the Idum?ean 
 Herod acquire the sovereign rule over the Jewish com- 
 monwealth, and when they beheld the Idumsean districts 
 still untouched and flourishing, and not, as they read in 
 their sacred predictions, ' a desolation . . . like the over- 
 
 * Ezek. XXXV. 5 ; comp. Jer. xlix 
 7-22; Lam. iv. 21,22; Obad. 1-21; 
 Ezek. XXV. 12-14 ; xxxv. 2-15 ; Isa. 
 xxxiv. 5, sqq. ; Ixiii. 1-6 ; Psalai 
 cxxxvii. 7; Mai. i. 3, 4. 
 
 ^ Dput. ii. 4. 
 
 c Xum. XX. IS. 
 
 ■1 Ibid. ver. 20. 
 
 ■= Gen. xxvii. 29, 40, T'nJ HIH 
 
 7ns'?, and nnyn T'nN-nNi. 
 
PROPHECY ON EDOM. Hi/.i 
 
 throw of Sodom and Gomorrah ... in wliich no man 
 sliall abide and no son of man shall dwell.'* 
 
 PniLOLOGiCAL Remarks. — None of the attempts which 
 have heen made to prove the agreemeat between the two 
 accounts on the Edomites (in Deut. ii. and Num. xx.) has 
 been successful (eomp. ffengstenh., Auth. d. Pent., ii. 283-288; 
 Winer, Eeal-WcJrt. i. 293 ; Be Wette, Kritik, i. 359, 360, etc). 
 — From the explanation above proposed, it cannot be sur- 
 prising that the speech on Edom is not given as a distinct 
 oracle premised by 'huD NL"''1. But it may be observed that 
 this phrase occurs in the whole section seven times, and it is 
 possible that the desire of establishing this holj number of 
 prophecies may not have been without influence in determin- 
 ing the additions, though it cannot have prompted the amal- 
 gamation of the oracle on Edom with that on Moab, because 
 that oracle was probably the earliest supplement, made at a 
 time when the composition comprised no more than the four 
 original prophecies. In no case is the remark justified that 
 ' the arrangement and number of predictions imperatively 
 require the whole of tliem to be attributed to one and the 
 same period' {Hengstenh., Eil., p. 273); the symbolical signi- 
 ficance of the numbers was but gradually developed, and an 
 adaptation of earlier writings to subsequent notions enter- 
 tained of the holiness of certain numbers is quite conceivable. 
 On the application of the number three in the interpolated 
 incident on the road (xxii. 22-35) see pp. 147, 148; on the 
 number seven in the preliminaries to the oracles, p. 165. — It 
 is hardly necessary here to enter into the relation between 
 these verses and the Jahvistic blessing of Isaac (Gen. xxvii. 
 29, 40): as the former must be placed before King Jehoram of 
 Judah, so the latter, on account of the allusion it contains to 
 Edom's liberation (ver. 40), after that king ; and as both are 
 identical in the chief idea that he who blesses Israel is him- 
 self blessed, so they relate to the same chief enemy of Israel; 
 for in the Jahvist's time these verses on Edom had long been 
 
 " Jer. xlix. 17, 18; Mai. i. 2, .3; I 17; xii. 32, nqq.; Jos. Ant. XIIL 
 comp. 1 Mace. v. 6o ; 2 Mucc. x. IJ- | ix. 1; XV. vii. 9; etc. 
 T 
 
274 NUMBERS XXIV. 18, 19. 
 
 incorporated with the Book of Balaam. — To '^^'1!', possession 
 (equivalent to H^'T, Deut. ii. 5, 9, 19 ; Josh. xii. 6, 7 ; Sept., 
 K\T)poyof.ua), we must supply his, viz.^ Israel's, or of Israel's 
 victorious king (ver. 17), as can hardly be doubtful from 
 the context ; and to the same proper noun refers the suffix 
 in l''^;';^; while this substantive is in apposition to DilX and 
 l""];^, analogous to, but by no means so clear and appropriate 
 as, V")^' DMil in ver. 8 ; the sense being, that Edom and Seir, 
 Israel's adversaries, shall become his possession (Vulg , dis- 
 tinctly the first part, * et erit Idumsea possessio ejus' ; Sept., 
 the second part, kol Eorai K^rjpoyopla 'Hcrav 6 ex^Opug avrov). The 
 construction is even less simple if the suffix in Vl^S is applied 
 to Seir, 'a possession is Seir of his enemies' {Vulg., ha^redi- 
 tas Seir cedet inimicis suis ; Luth., Seir wird seinen Feinden 
 unterworfeu sein ; Ung. Vers., Seir also shall be a possession 
 for his enemies; Rosenm., Verschuiv, and others; but Vater, 
 questionably, 'Seir, seiner Peinde Land'; Maur., Seir hos- 
 tium suorum, i.e , Seir terra hostium, etc ). By taking Q}!M 
 and "i^y'??' not as synonymous, like 3pJJ'' and ^XT^"", but in a 
 somewhat different sense, we avoid a languid repetition in 
 the first two parts of the verse ; for those terms may either 
 be understood as Edomites and Horites (so also Knob, and 
 others; comp. Gen. xxxvi. 9, 20, 'Esau, the father of the 
 Edomites — DHX — in mount Seir,' and 'The sons of "IW the 
 Horite, mnn ' ; see Comm. on Gen. pp. 352, 598); or, though 
 less suitably, as the people and the country (so Hengstenb., 
 Be We.lte, and others; comp. Gen. xxxii. 4). — As 'Edom' and 
 'Israel' are in juxtaposition, so are nL'^l* ^^^1 and T'TI r\^V ; 
 and as ^'i'y. includes also the notion of ' dispossession ' or 
 •expulsion' (comp. B'T in this sense in Deut. ii. 12; ix. 1, 
 etc.), pTl ^t^'y must here denote a n in crease in property or 
 ^ower^_as that phrase frequently involves (Deut. viii. 17, 18 ; 
 Euth iv. 11 ; Prov. xxxi. 29, etc.) — 'and Israel acquireth 
 might ' ; yet 7'n should not be restricted to ' wealth ' alone 
 (Targ O/ikel. and Jonath., ^0222 vhn, etc.). Other translations, 
 though not taking full account of the parallelism, imply a 
 kindred sense {Sept., kui 'lo-pco/X eirolrja-ev iv 'ktxvi', comp. 1 
 Sam. xiv. 48; Ps. Ix. 14; cviii. 14, etc.; and so VuJg., Eng. 
 Vers., Vat., Gesen., Knob., and others; or Luth., Israel wird 
 
PROPHECY ON EDOM. 275 
 
 Sieg haben ; ITerder, Eivald, and otUers). — The subject to 
 IT-"' (ver. 19) is indeed iadefinite, 'and one' or 'he that coineth 
 out of Jacob shall rule' (comp. Mic. v. 1, «:»"' '•'? 1D)0) ; but if 
 we consider that the prophecy on Edom is designedly joined 
 to that on Moab as closely as it could be joined, this ruler can 
 be no other than the 'star' or the^ce^tre_^ that humbles Moab 
 also (ver. 17), t hat is Dav id, to whom alone the following 
 words likewise apply, "l^yo Tl".^ Tinxm. It is inappropriate 
 to understand ' the whole race of Hebrew kings ' (Hengsienb., 
 Bil., p. 187; Reinke, Beitriige, iv. 202, and others), as the 
 individual conception should be adhered to as far as possible. 
 Some consider indeed that in the first part of ver. 19 David 
 is meant, but in the second part Joab, with respect to the 
 passage, 1 Ki. xi. 15, above quoted (so Eba Ezra), upon which 
 others have impi'oved by the still more untenable expedient 
 of taking 'yV.i^ as avenger [Michael., Mendelss., and others, 
 'one who rouses or stirs up' ; comp. Isai. xiii. 17). — "^y., the 
 fat. Kal of ni^j to be master or to rule (Gram. § Ixvii. 15.5., not 
 of 1];, to descend, as Onk., nin''M ; Sijr., ninJI; Sam. Vers., 
 ny^M ; Sept., i'Eey(pdi]iTETai), is used as an intransitive verb (as 
 iu 1 Ki. V. 4; Ps. Ixxii. 8); it is, therefore, unnecessary to 
 read npl?;. D"^.n^1 or '' tl^V'.] (Isai. xli. 2 ; so Gaab, Vater, Knob., 
 and others), even if the plural of the suffix admitted the con- 
 jecture. As "1^1^*, abandoning its strictly etymolo gical me an- 
 ing of ^ne who has escaped ' (comp. "i~g^. Josh, x. 20 ; Arab., 
 Jiji*, like f^''r?), has almost uniformh^th e sense of 'remainder ' 
 or 'remnant' (Num. xxi. 35; Deut. iii. 3; Judg. v. 13; Job 
 XX. 2TI comp., especially, Josh. x. 20, m^ nnnE^'^1), it 
 seems pi-eferable to connect I'^I^P with 'T'?^.'!'! ; thus the word 
 was construed by the Masorites, who furnished T'"l5i' with a 
 distinctive accent; and "i^ya T'axn (with })D) is 'to destroy away 
 from' or 'out of the city' (Gram. § 105. 4; not as ih.%yulg., 
 et perdat relicj^uias civitatis ; the Sept., indistinctly, Kal cnroXe'i 
 aij)(6peyoy h iruXetJC, etc.), or rather 'out of the cities,' since 
 "I'y is here used in a collective sense (comp. Job xxi v. 12) — 
 all or the principal cities of Edom which David captured and 
 the population of which he partially destroyed; for the words 
 "i-yo T'TJ' l^axm must, it is hoped, be understood as a poetical 
 hyperbole. The translation ' Out of Jacob ruleth Jehovah and 
 
276 NUMBERS XXIV. 18, 19. 
 
 destroyeth those that remain out of the town of Zion* (so 
 Ewal'i and others, with doubtful reference to Ps. ex. 2), pre- 
 supposes a corruption of the text for which there is no proof 
 or trace ; it yields, moreover, the artificial sense that ' God 
 completes the subjection of all nations from Zion as His 
 abode,' and is at variance with the context, as then the verse 
 could hardly apply to Edom alone. Such an extension of its 
 meaning has indeed been asserted by the defenders of that 
 interpretation: 'the prophetic view stretches out into the 
 distant future —far beyond David ; his aspirations become in 
 a wide sense Messianic ; they long for and foretell a glorious 
 time of conquest, of which David was but the prelude.' To 
 this opinion apply all the difficulties and objections above 
 pointed out with respect to a Messianic acceptation of these 
 verses in any sense. The 19th verse was at least not so ex- 
 plained by the prophet Obadiah, who refers it liteially to the 
 Edomites, and reproduces some words very distinctly (vers. 
 
 17-19, 01 ik^y n^a"? nn-^ T\>r\^ n^i; comp. Am. ix. 12). Nor 
 
 do these sentences in general seem to have been understood 
 as Messianic by the ancient Hebrew writer or writers who 
 appended the following predictions ; for, if so, they would 
 have made the additions superfluous, as they would have 
 included the subjugation or destruction of the Amalekites 
 and all other heathen nations. Similarly some Jewish inter- 
 preters (as Ebn Ezra and others) inferred from the very place 
 which this prophecy occupies that it cannot foreshadow the 
 Messiah, who is expected ' at the end of days,' and would, 
 therefore, have been introduced at the conclusion, after the 
 announcement of Asshur's annihilation. Yet other Jewish 
 authorities riphold the Messianic conception: ' the principal 
 empire of Edom,' says Eashi, ' is Eome, and these words 
 refer to the king Messiah ' ; and a modern critic goes so far 
 to contend that ' Edom is the immediate end and object of the 
 whole piece' {Ewabl, Gesch., i. 148; Jahrb. viii. 36); whereas 
 we have shown thnt, in the author's original plan, Edom 
 is not even specially comprised (p. 263). — It is impossible 
 to associate these verses with Amaziah's expedition against 
 Edom above alluded to (2 Ki. xiv. 7; 2 Chr. xxv. 11, 12), 
 because that war was waged in the open field and not in 
 
PR(n'HP:CY (IN THI<: AMALEKITKS. 
 
 towns, and because, in Araaziali's time, Israer.s rule over Edoni 
 had long ceased, althougli de.sultory successes were occa- 
 sionally achieved. 
 
 17. PROPHECY ON THE AMALEKITES. XXIV. 20. 
 
 20. And lie saw Amalek, and ho took up liis 
 parable and said, 
 
 Amalek is the first of the nations, 
 But his end is for destruction. 
 
 Long and changeful had been the warfare carried on 
 by the Hebrews against the Amalekites. It began when 
 the children of Israel had hardly left Egypt,'' was renewed 
 when they had reached the southern border of Canaan,** 
 and continued, with varying fortunes, in the period of 
 the Judges and Kings.*^ At length, in the reign or age 
 of Hezekiah, a band of Simeonites annihilated the last 
 remnants of the Amalekites in their strongholds of 
 Mount Seir.*^ At that time, the prophecy we read in this 
 verse might have been added : ' Amalek is the first of 
 nations, but his end is for destruction.' Such a supple- 
 ment must have seemed particularl}- desirable for more 
 than one reason. First, it might ajopear that, as Agag had 
 before been incidentally mentioned,*^ his humiliation and 
 fate ought to be proclaimed with all possible distinctness 
 and emphasis. A similar announcement, moreover, forced 
 itself upon the Hebrews almost spontaneously. For 
 though, according to the Biblical i-ecords, the Amalekites 
 were a branch of the Edomites,^ the Hebrews regarded 
 them by no means with the same fraternal feelings, but, 
 on the contrary, conceived against them a hatred so 
 
 ^ Exod. xvii. 
 ^ Num. xiv. 2-5, 40-4.5. 
 <= Judg. iii. 13; vi. 3, 33: vii. 12, 
 X. 12; see Commentary on E.xodiis, 
 
 '^ I Chron. iv. 42, 43. 
 - Ver. 7. 
 
 f Ge'ii.xxxvi. 12, 16; comp. 1 C'lir. 
 i. 36 : the sons of Esau, Eliphaz. . ., 
 
 pp. 309, 310. I the sons of Eliphaz . . . Amalefe 
 
278 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. 20. 
 
 intense and inextinguishable, that it can only be com- 
 pared to the fierce enmity of later Jews against the 
 Samaritans. The older account, given in Exodus, of the 
 first conflict with the Amalekites, after stating God's 
 resolve, 'I will utterly blot out the remembrance of 
 Amalek from under heaven,' concludes with the sentence 
 which sounds like a real battle-cry in a holy campaign, 
 ' War of the Lord against Amalek from generation to 
 generation.''' For centuries, this was the spirit in which 
 both nations met. Nothing is so much calculated to 
 convey an idea of the untamed ferocity of those times, 
 which the mellowing rays of a true civilisation had 
 hardly reached beyond the surface, as the ruthless com- 
 mand given by the great and highly cultivated leader 
 Samuel to the king he had anointed in the name of 
 Jahveh, ' Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy 
 all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both 
 man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, 
 camel and ass.''' For when Saul, having marched ont 
 with a prodigious army of two hundred and ten thousand 
 men,'^ believed, in the joy and pride of his heart, he was 
 announcing to his prophetic guide the successful execu- 
 tion of the command in telling him that ' he had taken 
 Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and had utterly 
 destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword ;''' it 
 became clear what Samuel had meant by the injunction 
 ' thou shalt utterly destroy them ' (cnTI^-inm). The total 
 reduction and submission of the Amalekites did not 
 suffice. They and their memory were to be effaced 
 without leaving a vestige. As long as the faintest trace 
 remained which recalled their unhallowed existence, 
 heaven and earth seemed outraged and defiled. The very 
 
 " Exodus xvii. 13-15, MOn'^D 
 
 -in "no pbr2V2 mn'''? 
 
 ^ 1 Sam. XV. 3, '31 DDOinni ; 
 comp. ver. 18; xxviii. 18; also the 
 brief statement in xiv. 48. 
 
 <^ XV. 4; comp. on this verse and 
 figure Noldeke, Ueher die Amale- 
 kiter und einige andere Narhlar- 
 vblker der Israeliten, p. 14. 
 
 '• XV. 8; comp. vtr. 20. 
 
PROPHECY ON THI'] AIMALEKITKS. 
 
 27!) 
 
 cattle that belonged to them was an abomination, and 
 detested by God as sacrifices. For such an object, their 
 king Agag alone was deemed acceptable, and so ' Samuel 
 hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.'* 
 
 It might be supposed that this was enough of wrath 
 and tierce persecution ; Ijut new wars and marauding 
 expeditions followed, which were repulsed by David with 
 a strong hand ;'^ and under later kings also, as Amaziah, 
 Amalek eagerly made common cause with Edom and 
 other adversaries of Israel.^ But not even their all but 
 absolute extermination by Hezekiah could appease the 
 burning animosity of the Hebrews. When, a century 
 later, the Deuteronomist fixed Israel's relations to the 
 surrounding tribes, he did not fail to enjoin upon his 
 countrymen, ' Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of 
 Amalek from under heaven ; thou shalt not forget it.''' 
 This feeling was, in subsequent times, most zealously 
 fostered ; it received new nourishment when the popular 
 belief stamped Haman, ' the Agagite,' the arch-enemy 
 of the Jews, as an Amalekite f and it was carefully 
 cherished by the Synagogue, which takes Amalek, like 
 Edom, as the perpetual type of all wicked and malignant 
 foes of Israel; although, in this respect also, a milder 
 spirit has long since arisen, which considers it the noblest 
 form of the festive joy of Purim, to eflface all distinction 
 between ' Blessed be Mordeeai ' and ' Cursed be Haman.' 
 
 If we enquire after the causes of such deep and per- 
 sistent aver.sion, the Hebi-ew documents declare that it 
 originated in the base and reckless conduct of the 
 Amalekites at the time when the Hebrews had but just 
 escaped from an oppressive servitude and a perilous 
 flight; not waiting till the embarrassed hosts arrived in 
 
 " Yer. 33; see Comiu. on Lev. i., 
 p. 414; compare 1 Saui. xxviii. 18, 
 
 '' 1 Sam. xxvii. 8; xxx. 1-20; 
 2 Sam. viii. 12; 1 Chron. xviii. 11. 
 
 " 2 Ki. xiv. 7; comp. Ps. Ix.xxiii. 
 Jos. Antiq. IX. ix. 1, 2. 
 
 ^ Dellt. XXV. 19. 
 
 " Esth. iii. 1, 10; vii. 6; viii. 5; 
 24. 
 
280 
 
 NUMBERS XXTV. 20. 
 
 their districts, the Amalekites inarched out and met them 
 at Rephidim, not far from the northern ridges of Mount 
 Sinai, attacked and ' smote their rear, all the feeble 
 behind them, when they were faint and weary;' and 
 thus acted as ' sinners ' who ' do not fear God,' nay, as 
 ' enemies of the Lord.''"^ If we recollect that the Hebrews 
 thus saw their young liberty and new power menaced in 
 the bud, and, instead of marching northward direct into 
 Canaan, were compelled to long and weary wanderings 
 round Mount Seir into the east-Jordanic country, we 
 shall at least understand that vehement antipathy which 
 outlasted the political existence both of the Hebrews and 
 the Amalekites ; although it cannot be fully estimated 
 without, besides, taking into account their constant and 
 violent collisions. For the Amalekites seem indeed to 
 have been ubiquitous. We find them at the southern 
 frontiers of Canaan, spreading almost to the coast of the 
 Philistines and the approaches of Egypt ; Ave meet them 
 in Arabia Petrpea and the rugged fastnesses of Mount 
 Seir ; we see them scattered throughout the peninsula of 
 Sinai, and yet also in the tracts of Ephraim, where even 
 a mountain chain bore the name of ' Mountain of the 
 Amalekites.'"' And wherever they dwelt or roamed, they 
 fanned the old flame of hostility by pillage, bloodshed, 
 and every barbarous provocation. 
 
 Now the full import of this verse may be intelligible: 
 'And he saw Amalek ;' even from the summit of Peor, by 
 the plains of Moab, branches of that far-extending tribe 
 might be beheld, or might be supposed to be visible. 
 'Amalek is the first of nations,' Balaam said— first in 
 power and first in wantonly displaying this might against 
 the distressed Hebrews; 'but his end is for destruction' — 
 so literally and so emphatically to utter destruction, that 
 he became a type and an emblem of national extinction. 
 
 *> Judg.Y. 14; xii. lo; coinp.Num. 
 xiii. 29; 1 Sam. xv. 7; xxvii. 8; 
 
 XXX. 1. 
 
 » mn* ^3'1X; conip. Exod. xvii. 
 8-15; Deut. xxv. 18; 1 Sam. xv. 2, 
 18; XXX, 26. 
 
PHOPHECY ()\ THE AMALEKFTES. I^Sl 
 
 riiiLOLOGiCAL E-EMAiiKs. — The author of tliis vorse evidently 
 metint tliat the j)rophet saw the Amalekites reall}'-, and not 
 merely ' in his mind's eye ' ; the addition was framed so as 
 to harmonise with the plan of tlie entire composition, and the 
 words p'poy ns NIM correspond to ^XTJ^' nX {^IM (ver. 2). It 
 may be difficult to prove that a division of the Amalekites 
 actually resided in a district that could be surveyed from the 
 height of Peor ; but such a settlement, at some time at least, 
 is not impossible on the part of a tribe so ramified and so 
 roving; and this ideal possibility the author might plead as 
 a sufficient justificati(m. For he desired to describe the 
 Amalekites as D''1J JT'tiW"), that is, as the head or chief and 
 most powerful of nations ; one of the principal attributes of 
 such a people is wide extent of territory; and that impression 
 of almost unlimited abodes is pi'oduced upon the reader by 
 the supposition that the prophet 'saw Amalek'. from Peor. — 
 In a sense similar to this passage, DM3 n^t^'^"l is employed in 
 Am. vi. 1, where the Israelites are so characterised, and 
 wlience the phrase may have been borrowed [Sept., apyri 
 eflj'wr; Viilg., principium gentium, etc.; comp. Am. vi. 6, 
 where the chief or choicest ointments are called D^J^3k^' n^t^'Xl; 
 1 Sam. XV. 21, etc.). Israel's king has before been described 
 as mightier than the king of the Amalekites (ver. 7) ; this 
 statement is exhibited in all its force and significance by in- 
 timating that the Amalekites were the most powerful and 
 most important of all heathen nations. It is true that Arabic 
 writers designate the Amalekites as a very old people of true 
 Arabs, older not only than the Ishmaelites, but even than 
 the Joktanites, and forming the primitive population not only 
 of Shemitic but of many other countries (comp. D'Heilelof, 
 Bibl. Orient., p. 110, etc.). But this was not the opinion of 
 Biblical historians, who, as we have above observed, regarded 
 Amalek as a grandson of Esau from a subordinate wife (Gen. 
 xxxvi. 12, 16); and the almost absurdly fabulous, confused, 
 and fictitious character of all Arabic accounts of the Amale- 
 kites, has been satisfactorily proved (ccmp. Nokleke, Ueber die 
 Amalekiter, etc., pp. 29-42). The mention of the district of 
 ''p'pDyn m"J', in the time of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 7), is easily 
 explained, by historical anticipation, as a country inhabited 
 
282 NUMBERS XXIV. 21, 22. 
 
 by Amalekites in the author's time (see Comm. on Genes, pp. 
 355, 597). The transhition 'the oldest of nations is Anialek,' 
 seems, therefore, less appropriate (no Sam. Vers., n'i?13 mxOTp 
 and many others) ; it is, at least, not required by the anti- 
 thesis, evidently meant as pointed, of n^ti'NI and innnx, which 
 is sufficiently distinct in the other acceptation also. — Q^lil is 
 not heathen or hostile nations, so that the first words of the 
 prophecy would denote the enmily which the idolatrous Ama- 
 lekites were the first to evince against Israel (so Onk., Ji'''"l 
 •pSX'n Smp; Jon.,Jerus., Rashi, '?iS^D"'a Dnbn'p d'pd JIN mp Kin, 
 and others), but, as usual, nations in general (comp. ver. 8, 
 where D'''l3 is qualified by VIV ; and xxiii. 9, where DMJ3 is 
 'among the of/jer nations '). — 'His end is "I3S ''11?,' that is, 
 literally, ' as far as those who perish,' "I3S< being taken col- 
 lectively (comp. Job xxix. 13; xxxi. 19; Prov. xxxi. 6), or 
 'his end will« reach destruction,' the concrete, by way of 
 metonymy, used for the abstract noun, or simply ' his end is 
 destruction.' AVith respect to the Amalekites, Samuel com- 
 manded Saul : ' thou shalt fight against them Dnix Qri'l?3"iy, 
 till they are destroyed' (1 Sam. xv. 18), and the preposition 
 iy is similarly employed in other passages (comp. 1 Chr. iv. 
 27; Hag. ii. 19; Job xxv. 5; Ps. xc. 3, etc.). It is, there- 
 fore, unnecessary to read "t^.X^ "iP (so Sam. Cod. and Vers., 
 Syr., Michael., and others, and a few MSS.), and to under- 
 stand this, as the Syriac Version does, ' his posterity will 
 perish for ever ' (|"'f07y? ^3^^n nn~in, wliich would require 
 "72Nn in the Hebrew text; and similarly Sept., kox to (TiTepi.ia 
 avTov oTToXftrat, and others; see svpra, p. 183; but OnkeL, 'in 
 his end he will perish /or ei-'er ' ND^J??, and similarly l/excZe/ss. 
 and others). 
 
 18. PROPHECY ON THE KENITES. XXIV. 21, 22. 
 
 21. And he saw the Kenite, and he took up his 
 parable and said, 
 
 Strong z'.s- thy dwelling place, 
 
 And build thou thy nest in the rock : 
 
PT^OrHEfY OX THE KENITES. 283 
 
 22. Yet for destruction is Kain — 
 
 Until Assliur carrietli thee away captive. 
 
 In their relations to the Hebrews, the Kenites formed 
 tlie most striking contrast to the Amalekites. From the 
 l)eginning of their history down to its close, as far as it 
 has beeii preserved to us, those relations were marked 
 l)j the sincerest friendship and goodwill ; and no less 
 strong and indelible than the hatred entertained by the 
 Israelites against Amalek, was the gratitude they evinced 
 towards the Kenites, on which it is more grateful to 
 dwell. They never forgot that, in remote times, Jethro 
 or Hobab, the Midianite priest or Emir, whom they 
 associated with the Kenites,*^ atforded them advice and 
 assistance in the toils and dangers of their desert 
 wanderings, that he was to them 'like eyes' on their 
 journeys and in their encampments, and that he con- 
 sented to accompany them into their new homes to 
 share their fortunes.^ Indeed, from the earliest parts of 
 the period of the Judges, we find the Kenites settled in 
 the southern districts of Palestine, especially in the terri- 
 tory of Judah, to which they were almost reckoned, in- 
 habiting tlieir own towns and forming independent com- 
 munities, but constantly exchanging with the Hebrews 
 acts of kindliness.*" A portion of their number, separa- 
 ting from the principal stock, settled, it is true, or lived 
 as nomads, in more northern provinces of Canaan among 
 tribes hostile to the Hebrews ; but even there they 
 remained strongly mindful of the old bonds of sym- 
 pathy. When the Israelites were compelled to encounter 
 the powerful northern king Jabin of Hazor, it was a 
 Kenite woman, 'Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite,' 
 living near Kedesh in Naphtali, who delivered them, 
 from their most dangerous foe, the valiant general 
 
 ^ .Judg. i. 16, iv. 11. I <= Judg. i. 16; 1 Sam. xxvii. 10; 
 
 •^ Exod. xviii. 1-26, and notes in xxx. 29, David sent presents from 
 loc; Num. x. 29-32. ' the boot)- also '^pn nyn TCN*?. 
 
284 NUMBERS xxir. 21, 22. 
 
 Sisera ; she committed that sanguinary deed in spite of 
 the alliance of friendship which existed " between her 
 house and King Jabin, and in spite of the sacredness of 
 hospitality inviolable even to enemies, so deep was her 
 attachment to Israel; and for that deed she was extolled, 
 with fiery eulogies, by the Hebrew prophetess : 'Blessed 
 above women shall Jael be, the wife of Heber the 
 Kenite, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.''' 
 And on the other hand, when Saul, engaged in his war 
 of extirpation against the Amalekites, had advanced to 
 their capital, he sent to the Kenites, who had established 
 themselves among that tribe, this message: 'Go, depart, 
 remove from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you 
 with them ; for you showed kindness to all the children 
 of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.'" Even the 
 Chronicler connects the Kenites with Caleb, a descendant 
 of Judah, and counts among them the Kechabites, who, 
 living as nomads and Nazarites, were by Jeremiah 
 praised as bright examples of filial piety and obedience." 
 All the Hebrew records confiim this genial attachment 
 and mutual harmony, which JeAvish tradition of later 
 times maintained with equal unanimity. 
 
 It would, therefore, be extremely surprising were we 
 here to find a hostile utterance against the Kenites similar 
 to that on Amalek or Edom. But are these verses indeed 
 conceived in such a spirit ? Carefidly examined, the 
 prophecy is not hostile, but sorrowful ; it does not 
 breathe hatred, but compassion ; it proclaims a sad fate, 
 but without exultation or bitterness. It simply enun- 
 ciates that the rocky mountain strongholds, in which the 
 Kenites believed themselves unassailable, proved a vain 
 protection, and that the people, weakened by repeated 
 losses and reverses, were at last carried away into cap- 
 tivity b}' the Assyrian conquerors. Indeed, weighing 
 
 Judg. iv. 11, 17; V. 24. I c Comp. I Chron. ii. 42, 55; Jer. 
 
 *" 1 Sam. XV. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
PROPHECY^ ON THE KEXITES. 28.") 
 
 the context, ws are justitied in referriug to this pro})hecy 
 also the author's plaintive and sympathetic exclamation 
 immediately following : 'Woe, who may live, when God 
 doeth this:''' 
 
 But how, it may be asked, could such an oracle find a 
 place in this Book of Bilaam? A correct insight into the 
 origin of the 'Supplements' explains this point. It 
 appeared suitable to join to a prophecy on the Amalekites 
 an announcement concerning a people which, though 
 partly domiciled among the former, and perhaps being 
 with them of kindred race, was held by the Hebrews in 
 deep aflection, but did not escape afiiiction and misery. 
 In setting forth this memorable contrast, the tone of 
 violent indignation is naturally changed almost into 
 mournful elegy. Such a connection is indeed loose if not 
 extraneous, but it fully corresponds to the character of 
 additions in which the strict plan and close unity of the 
 main composition are disregarded. The destinies of 
 Moab alone were to be delineated ;^ with some appear- 
 ance of fitness, speeches on Edom and Amalek were 
 appended, as these nations also were inveterate enemies 
 of Israel ; but how great is the anti-climax of annexing 
 an oracle concerning a peaceful and comparatively insig- 
 nificant tribe which, even if slight collisions should have 
 occasionally arisen, never made itself conspicuous by 
 animosity against the Hebrews ! 
 
 We are not informed what disasters the Kenites suifered 
 in the course of time. Those who had taken up their abodes 
 in the northern districts, probably participated in the fate 
 of the ten tribes of Israel, which Shalmaneser deported 
 into Assyria, if they had not already belonged to those 
 whom Tiglath-pileser carried away in the reign of Pekah, 
 king of Israel, since among the captives we find distinct 
 mention made of the people of Kedesh and all the 
 
 Yer. 23. " Ver. 14. 
 
286 NUMBERS XXIV. 21, 22. 
 
 inliabitants of Naplitali.'* After this time, therefore, the 
 verses before us must have beeu added, probably by the 
 same hand that wrote the preceding prophecy on Amalek 
 and the following words concerning Kittim ; all at 
 least refer to the Assyrian period. We learn indeed from 
 the Inscriptions, that the Assyrians began to come into 
 contact with the Hebrews, and to make them tributary, 
 from a time as early as the first half of the ninth century;'' 
 but an actual abduction into Assyria is only recorded in 
 connection with much later expeditions, and these verses 
 manifestly imply more than a mere menace or a vague 
 apprehension of danger. 
 
 Philological Eemarks. — Among the nations whose pos- 
 sessions God promised to Abraham after the conclusion of 
 the Covenant (Gen. xv. 19-21), the Kenites are indeed also 
 mentioned. But the object of that enumeration was merely 
 to describe the extent of the future territory of the Hebrews, 
 which was to reach ' from the river of Egypt to the great 
 river Euphrates' [ibid., ver. 18). Not all those tribes need 
 necessarily be considered as hostile to the Israelites, who 
 were, of course, at liberty to allow residence among them to 
 whomsoever they chose. It is, therefore, also an unfounded 
 supposition to identify the Kenites with those Canaanites 
 who, in conjunction with Amalek, fought unprovoked against 
 the wandering Hebrews on the southern frontiers of Palestine 
 (Num. xiv. 25, 43, 45), since even those portions of the Kenites 
 that lived among the Amalekites were amicably disposed 
 towards the Hebrews (comp. also Noldeke, Ueber die Ama- 
 lekiter, pp. 19-23 ; Kuenen, Eehg. of Israel, i. 179-182, and 
 others). — It has been conjectured that t!ie capital of the 
 southern Kenites was Hazezon-Tamar, later called En-gedi 
 (the present Ain Bjidi), in the desert of Judah, famous for its 
 beautiful palm plantations and vineyards and the precious 
 
 " 2 Ki. XV. 29; corei). the Inscrip- 
 tion of Tiglatb-pileser : 'The land 
 of Beth-Omri (Samaria), the popula- 
 tioDj the goods of its people I sent 
 
 to Assyria' (Records of the Past, 
 V. 52). 
 
 '' See the events referred to in 
 notes on vers. 23, 24. 
 
PROPHECY ON THE KENITES. 287 
 
 opoLalsiimum (Gen. xiv. 7 ; 1 Sam. xxiv. l-.'5 ; 2 Chr. xx. 2 ; 
 Cant. i. 14; comp. JosepJi. Ant. IX. i. 2; Ptln. Nat. Hist. v. 
 17; Eohingon, Bibl. Eesearclies, i. 500-509, etc.), while others 
 fix upon the summit of the cliff rising perpendicularly from 
 the level of the western shore of the Dead Sea, about ten 
 miles south of En-gedi, where afterwards the famous city of 
 ]\rasada was built : the position of either place is indeed suit- 
 able; but proofs are wanting in the one case and the otber, 
 and En-gedi is, in earlier times, described as peopled by the 
 Amorites (Gren. xiv. 7). — Tiie friendly spirit of Jewish tradi- 
 tion towards the Kenites is reflected in Rashi's explanation : 
 'Blessed art thou in being so strongly fortified, for surely thou 
 shalt no more be humbled in the world ; for even if one day 
 expelled from the place of thy habitation, and led into cap- 
 tivity with the ten tribes of Israel, do not be concerned ; this 
 is no humiliation but merely a change of abodes, and thou 
 shalt certainly return with the other captives.' The last 
 idea is also expressed in the reading of tbe Samaritan Codex, 
 "lac^'in "Tlt:'><D ny, 'till thy inhabitants return from Assyria,' and 
 in the Sam. Vers., innry '\'\Z'^'0 nyo. The Targum of Jonathan 
 renders 'Jj^n by 'Jethro wh.0 had become a proselyte' (similarly 
 Mendehs. and others, ' Balaam saw Jethro and his family in 
 the Hebrew camj) '), and the Chaldee translators generally 
 represent '•Jpn by HXO.^K' or '"i*9r'^*> probably meaning 
 'the peaceful people' (compare, however, Talm. Bab. Bathr. 
 56a, where nNo'p'J' stands for '•JIDnpH, Gen. xy. 19, but '•ninSJ 
 for ''lpr\. According to 1 Chr. ii. 51, 54, XD>b'_with b'_is 
 kindred with the Kenites). — The hyjDothesis of two tribes 
 distinct from each other and both accidentally bearing the 
 same name of Kenites, the one of Midianite descent, friendly 
 to the Hebrews, the other of. Canaanite origin, hostile to 
 them, can neither be supported nor is it required ; it was 
 chiefly suggested by the supposed necessity that these ' pro- 
 phecies of Balaam ' must certainly include some representa- 
 tive of the Canaanites, those most troublesome and most 
 obnoxious foes of Israel. But this opinion rests on an estimate 
 of the economy of the last speeches (vers. 18-24), which we 
 have proved to be untenable. And even if that necessity were 
 admitted, why should the small and peaceful people of the 
 
288 NUMBERS XXIV. 21, 22. 
 
 Kenites have been selected to serve as such a representative, 
 since from, the height of Peor many much more conspicuous 
 tribes, both east and west of the Jordan, could be seen or ima- 
 gined ? More consistently, though of coarse unwarrantably, 
 some Jewish writers (as Abarhanel and others) consider the 
 Kenites here to mean the Ammonites. Hence it is also utterly 
 against the context to assume that it was the Hebrews who 
 caused the ruin of the Kenites ; for though they executed 
 punishment upon Moab, Edoin, and Amalek, they were cer- 
 tainly not instrumental in the downfall of Asshur and Eber 
 (ver. 24) : a uniform plan, as is evident from all sides, is not 
 carried out in the Supplements. 'The words are not a pre- 
 diction of evil to the Kenites, but a promise of safety to be 
 long continued to them,' says the author of the Commentary 
 on Numbers in Canon Cook's Holy Bible — the only modern 
 interpreter, as far as we ai-e aware, who takes this view, 
 which is alone borne out by the facts of history. If any 
 relation be intended between this and the preceding oracle, 
 it is that of antithesis contrasting the enmity of the Ama- 
 lekites with the friendship of the Kenites, and comparing the 
 satisfaction felt by the Hebrews at the annihilation of the 
 one with the pity and sympathy evinced by them in the mis- 
 fortunes of the others. — The first ancestor of the Kenites is 
 i1i2 (ver. 22), of which word was formed the patronymic ^T\^., 
 also written *?i?. (1 Sam. xxvii. 10), or ^T\> (1 Chr. ii. 55; Sept., 
 Kn'ulfu) ; but then ''T\?. itself was used as the name of an 
 individual (Judg. i. 16, '?''i?. \^3), and conversely, what is more 
 natural, V?, was employed to denote the whole tribe (ver. 22 ; 
 Judg. iv.ll), as 3sV:D or DHJ?^ stands for '3X10 or 'pn^. Whether 
 the name is to be connected with I'i? lance (2 Sam. xxi. 16), so 
 that it would mean lance-hearer, or with i!i^ in the sense of 
 jwssession, like ij?i? (Gen. xxxiv. 23, etc.), is doubtful. — If we 
 consider this passage by itself, the simplest construction seems 
 to be to take D*ti' as imperative Kal, which yields a good and 
 poetical sense : ' Strong (in\s;) is thy dwelling place, and put 
 thou thy nest in the rock, yet' etc., i.e., fortify yourselves as 
 strongly as you may, yet, etc. We are certainly not compelled 
 to interpret these words from the text of Obadiah (ver. 4), 
 who freely adapted them ;^3p D'b • • • C«) • • • n'3?n DS), and to 
 
niOPHECr ON THE KEXITRS. 280 
 
 assume an irre:^ular or Aramaic participle passive of Kal, 
 DT instead of Di"', for the existence of which a kdhiv of the 
 feminine (no^bj is but a feeble support (2 Sam. xiii. 32; Sept., 
 freely, koX lav Q^q\ Vulg., sed si posueris, etc.) ; still less plausi- 
 bly, therefore, has D'^ here been taken as the infinitive with 
 the force of the finite verb. — ^3i? is no doubt chosen as forming 
 a paronomasia with ''}''[?. and \\?,, and the same word has been 
 preserved both by Obadiah and Jeremiah, although, in re- 
 jDroducing this verse, they apply it to the Edomites (Obad. 3, 
 4; Jer. xlix. 16, '31 ^3.P ^^r"?? n*3:n-'3) ; but the metaphor is 
 by no means unusual and occurs, for instance, in the Assyrian 
 Inscription of the ' Taylor Cylinder ' (col. iii., lines 66-70), 
 where Sennacherib records, ' In my fifth campaign the people 
 of ... . Kua and Kana, who had fixed their dwellings like 
 the nests of eagles on the highest summits and wild crags of 
 the Nippur mounxains,' etc. (comp. also the same king's In- 
 scription on the slab of the Kouyunjik bulls, § 38 ; Annals of 
 Assur-nasir-pal, col. i.^ §§ 49, 50, 64, 65; see Eec. of the 
 Past, iii. 44, 45 ; vii. 63). — The conjunction DS ^3 can here 
 have no other meaning but that of an adversative — except 
 that (Gen. xxxii. 27; xlii. 15), or simply but or however: 
 though the Kenites fix their abodes on rocky strongholds, 
 they yet do not escape destruction (comp. Gen. xxviii. 17; 
 Lev. xxi. 2 ; Num. xxvi. 65, where DX O is the preposition 
 except; and Job xlii. 8, where it is the adverb only). Tlie 
 translation ' for Kain shall surely not be destroyed ' {Ktil, 
 Geigcr, and others), Q"S taken in the negative sense which it 
 bears in oaths (xiv. 23, etc.), is syntactically not so simple, 
 destroys the obvious antithesis to the preceding verse, and 
 gives an incongruous sense. — * Kain ii?.^? '^.V'^,1,' literally, 
 ' shall be for destroying,' i.e., shall be destroyed, a not un- 
 common application of nTl with the infinitive (comp. Deut.xxxi. 
 17, '?3n'? nTll, 'he shall be consumed;' Josh. ii. 5; 2 Chr. 
 xxvi. 5, etc.) ; which does not necessarily, as in the frequent 
 phrase "laipD yin niyni (Deut. xiii. 6 ; xvii. 7; xix. J 9, etc.), 
 involve utter and permanent annihilation, but may merely 
 mean serious loss and injury (comp. Isai. iv. 4; vi. 13). — 
 no-ny for I'fH^ny, until; comp. xxiii. 3, n?3 laTl for TJ'X inn-i. 
 The translation : ' How long ? Asshur shall carry thee aw ay,' is 
 u 
 
200 NUMBERS XXIV. 21, 22. 
 
 not inadmissible (comp. Ps. iv. 3 ; Ixxiv. 9, etc.), but seems 
 here abrupt. The rendering of the Sept., kcu ear yivrjTui t^ 
 Bfwp voatTih TrarnvfjyiaQ, ' and if to Beor a nest of cunning is 
 made,' is evidently based on the reading ii^ "^V?? '~i)n'_ DX] 
 '2^ "i-1t^\^ nD"ij;, that is, even if Beor most shrewdly chooses his 
 dwelling, he will be carried away by the Assyrian?, which 
 may be meant to predict the destruction of Balaam's own 
 house ; whereas the version of the Vulff., ' et si fueris electus 
 de stirpe Cin, quam diu poteris permanere ' ? pre-supposes 
 the reading pp "lina^ ^^^n1, i.e., even if thou provest thyself 
 to be a sti-ong and elected band of Kain, thou shalt not be 
 rescued. The text appears, from early times, to have been 
 uncertain, but the received reading is evidently the most ap- 
 propriate. — The first part of the 22nd verse, in which the 
 Kenites are not, as in the rest of the pi-ophecy, addressed in 
 the second person, implies an anallage; for it cannot be 
 doubted that the suffix in I^L'TI, 'until Asshur carries thee 
 away captive,' refers to the Kenites ; to apply it to the He- 
 brews (llengstenb. and others), who are not mentioned in the 
 whole oracle, would be as unsuitable in this speech, which 
 begins, ' And he saw the Kenite,' as it is natural in a former 
 prophecy introduced by ' And he saw Israel ' (vers. 2, 5, 9) ; 
 yet, contrary to logic and contrary to the plainest rules of 
 construction, that explanation has been insisted upon, because 
 it was believed that every single statement in these verses 
 must import enmity against the Hebrews; and the sense is 
 supposed to be this : Asshur carries Israel into captivity in 
 defiance of right and mercy, thus commits grave sins against 
 God's people, and must therefore himself sink into ruin (ver. 
 24; see supra). No dexterity or skill, even if ready to sacri- 
 fice all philological accuracy, can establish that unity or 
 continuity of sense, which is irreparably destroyed by the 
 appendages. Sometbing of this irregularity has been felt by 
 all careful and unprejudiced critics, though a clear result is 
 impossible without distinguishing between the genuine and 
 the interpolated parts of the piece; eo, for instance, by Schvltz 
 (Alttestam. Theol., i. 93, 'The allusions to Asshur, very sur- 
 prising in these verses, were probably added by the last 
 redactor,' etc), Valer, Lengarke, and others. Bertholdt, how- 
 
rROPHECY ON ASSYRIA. 
 
 2!)1 
 
 evei' (Einleitung, Vol. III., jjp. 792, 793), goes too far in 
 placing the whole passage from ver. 14 to ver. 24 in the time 
 after Alexander the Great; the objections to which this and 
 analogous opinions are open will be apparent from our notes 
 on these verses. 
 
 19. PROPHECY ON ASSYRIA. XXIV. 23, 24. 
 
 23. And he took up liis parable and said, 
 
 Woe, Avho may live, when God doeth 
 
 this ! 
 
 24. And ships from the coast of Kittim, 
 They humble Asshur and humble Eber, 
 And he also is for destruction. 
 
 'Until Asshur carrieth thee away captive.'^' What 
 Hebrew citizen in the time of Hezekiah could write or 
 read these words without being agitated by the strongest 
 and most conflicting emotions ? They naturally prompted 
 another prophecy, which, however, in a still higher 
 degree than the preceding utterance, is covered by un- 
 certainty and mysteiy. Will it be possible to lift the 
 veil of so many ages ? 
 
 After an unbroken and almost unparalleled succession 
 of brilliant victories and conquests, east and west of the 
 Euphrates ; after Assur-nasir-pal (Sardanapalus), as early 
 as the first part of the ninth century, had exacted 
 heavy imposts from Tyre and Sidon, Arvad, and other 
 Phoenician towns ;" when his successor Shalmaneser II. 
 liad repeatedly, in the battle of Karkar and elsewhere, 
 routed with terrible slauo-hter twelve allied kings of 
 
 « J|3V'Jil l-lt^''^? ^9""'V, ■^•er. 22. 
 
 ^ On his 'Standard Inscription' 
 ( j 5) he calls himself ' the king who 
 subdued all the regions from the 
 great stream of the Tigris unto the 
 land of the Lebanon and the great 
 
 (Mediterranean) sea' (compare his 
 ' Annals ' in Records of the Past, iii. 
 70-74, 99, 100; vii. 12; Schrader, 
 Keilinschriften und das Alte Test., 
 pp. 66, 309, etc., and Art. Aisi/n'en 
 in Riehm's Handworterbuch). 
 
292 
 
 NU-MBERS XXIV. 28, 24-. 
 
 Syria and the adjoining countries, among whom were 
 Bimmon-IIldri (Ben-hadad) of Damascus and 'Akhabbu 
 (Ahab) of the country of the Israelites ' furnishing a force 
 of ten thousand men and two thousand chariots,"* and had 
 again and again defeated and weakened Hazael, Ben- 
 hadad's successor, and levied tribute not only from the 
 towns of Phoenicia, but also from Jehu, king of Israel, 
 as the famous Black Obelisk of Nimroud explicitl}" 
 records both in word and sculpture ;^ after Pul, or 
 Tiglath-pileser, had, by rigorous extortions, asserted his 
 authority over King Menahem of Israel, Rezin of Damas- 
 cus, and Hiram of Tyre, and had reduced Edom, Arabia, 
 and Philistia to obedience and tributary dependence, 
 had carried away large numbers of Hebrews from the 
 northern districts,*^ and even interfered in the internal 
 affairs of the country so far as himself to appoint, after 
 Pekah's assassination, Hoshea as king of Israel;*^ and 
 when at last Sargon, among other acquisitions extending 
 from Armenia and Media to Egypt and Libya, captured 
 Samaria, and the ten tribes were deported to Halah, 
 Habor, and the towns of the Medes:*^ then the Assyrian 
 
 * Jlonolith Inscript. of Shalman., 
 col. ii., §§ 90-100; Black Obelisk 
 Inscript., Face D, lines 58-66; and 
 Face A base, lines 87-89, ' Eighty- 
 nine cities I took; a destruction I 
 made of the kings of the Hittites.' 
 
 •> Face B base, lines 97-99, 102- 
 104; Face C base, line 127, Epigraph 
 ii., 'the tribute of Yahua (Jehu), 
 son (a successor) of Khiimri (Oniri) 
 —silver, gold, bowls of gold, vessels 
 of gold, goblets of gold, pitchers of 
 gold, lead, steptres for the king's 
 hand and staves ; ' see Comm. on 
 Genes, pp. 290, 296; Records of the 
 Past, iii. 99, 100; v. 32-41. 
 
 I- iSupra, pp. 285, 286. 
 
 ** Conip. the Inscript. of Tiglath- 
 pileser II, in G. Smith's, Assyrian 
 
 Discoveries, pp. 254-287; Eec. of 
 the Past, V. 43-52, etc.; ' Pakaha, 
 their king, they had slain . . . Husih 
 to the kingdom I appointed ; ten 
 talents of gold, one thousand of 
 silver ... I received from them as 
 their tribute ; ' conip. however, 2 Ki. 
 XV. 30, where the Assyrian king's 
 share in the appointment of Hoshea 
 is not mentioned. 
 
 « See Comm. on Genes, p. 291 ; 
 'Annals of Sargon,' in Records of the 
 Past, vii. 25-56, ' In the beginning 
 of my reign — B.C. 721 — I besieged 
 the king of Samaria, occupied the 
 town of Samaria, and led into cap- 
 tivity 27,280 souls; I took them to 
 Assyria, and in their stead I there 
 put people M'hom my hand had con- 
 
PliOl'HKCy UN ASSYRIA. 
 
 '2\)'S 
 
 empire, under the rule of Sargou's son, Seiniacliorib, 
 seemed to have reached the very zenith of its might and 
 splendour. This monarch, as we now know his history 
 and exploits from the deciphered inscriptions on the ruins 
 of his magnificent palace at Kouyunjik, from famous 
 cylinders, and other contemporary records, discomfited 
 the king of Babylon, Merodach Baladan (Mavduk-hel- 
 adon) and his allies, the Elamites, so completely, that the 
 Babylonian monarchy, which, for many centuries, had 
 been to Assyria a constant source of vexation and danger, 
 never recovered, but thenceforth remained in subjection.^ 
 Then Sennacherib, after a short repose, during which he 
 directed the enlargement of his palaces and the improve- 
 ment of Nineveh, which ' he made as splendid as the 
 sun,' crossed the Euphrates, marched into Syria, defeated 
 the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and captured other Phoeni- 
 cian cities, over which he placed Tubaal as tributary 
 chief, took Ashkelon and many other coast towns, sub- 
 dued Moab and Edom, scattered the united armies of 
 Egypt and Ethiopia, ' in the plains of Altaku,''' or Albaku," 
 and then turned his arms against the kingdom of Judah. 
 ' Forty-six of Hezekiah's strong towns,' he declares in 
 his Annals,"^ ' his castles, and the smaller towns in their 
 
 quered,' etc., ibid. p. 28; comp. also 
 pp. 26, 34, ' I plundered the district 
 of Samaria and the entire house of 
 Omri;' on the extent of Sargon's 
 rule, see ibid. p. 27. 
 
 * ' I entered rejoicing,' states the 
 Inscription on Bellino's Cylinder, 
 ' into his palace in the city of Baby- 
 lon ; I broke open his royal treasury 
 . . . his wife, the men and women of 
 his palace ... I carried off . . . In 
 the power of Asshur, my lord, eighty- 
 nine large cities, and royal dwellings 
 in the land of Chaldea, and eight 
 hundred and twenty small towns . . . 
 I assaulted, captured, and carried off 
 their spjils ' (lines 6-12 ; couip. lines 
 
 13-34). The same events are related 
 in an Inscription on a slab belonging 
 to the Kouyunjik bulls (see Records 
 of the Past, vii. 57, 63). Subsequent 
 revolts, as those under Esarhaddon 
 and Assur-bani-pal, Sennacherib's 
 son and grandson, were easily quelled 
 (see 1. c, i. 73-75, 79; iii. 104, 105; 
 comp. also v. 104; vii. 26, 40-42, 
 47, 48). 
 
 b.Eltekon in Judah, Josh. xv. .)t). 
 
 iPFI^N*. 
 
 Taylor Cylinder, col. 
 
 line 76. 
 
 = Sennacherib's Inscription on the 
 Kouyunjik slab, § 24. 
 
 "^ The Taylor Cylinder, col. iii., 
 lines 11-41. These incidents and 
 
294 
 
 NUMBERS XXIV. 23, 2 1. 
 
 neighbourhood beyond number, I attacked and captured. 
 I carried off from the midst of them two hundred thou- 
 sand one hundred and fifty people, male and female, and 
 horses, asses, camels, and cattle beyond number. Heze- 
 kiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, his royal city, like 
 a bird in a cage, and constructed siege towers against 
 him. The cities which I plundered and cut off from his 
 kingdom, I gave to the kings of Ashdod, Ekron, and 
 Gaza. I diminished his kingdom and augmented his 
 yearly tribute and gifts. The fearful magnificence of my 
 kingdom overwhelmed him, and he sent me thirty talents 
 of gold, eight hundred talents of silver . . . precious stones 
 of large size, couches of ivory, movable thrones of ivory 
 ... a great treasure of every kind; and his daughters 
 and the male and female inmates of his palace, he sent 
 after me to Nineveh, my royal city, and his envoy to pay 
 tribute and do homage.'*^ Seeing all these misfortunes, a 
 Hebrew patriot, filled with grief and anguish, might well 
 exclaim, ' Woe, who may live, when God doeth this ! ' 
 But a faint ray of hope might have animated even the 
 desponding, when the irresistible conqueror — his Inscrip- 
 tions are naturally silent on this point — in the midst of 
 his eager preparations for the utter demolition of Jeru- 
 salem, almost without a humanly manifest cause, and as 
 if compelled by the invisible hand of God, suddenly 
 retreated and left the land, whether induced by a fearful 
 plague, or by terrifying rumours of the approach of 
 southern armies.*' 
 
 facts are, with slight modifications, 
 also recorded in Sennacherib's In- 
 scription on slab 1 of the Kouyunjik 
 bulls, ^ 27-32. 
 
 " See Comm. on Genes, pp. 291, 
 297; Records of the Past, i. 38, 39 ; 
 vii. 61-63, where the concluding lines 
 read : ' The bullion treasure of his 
 palace, his daughters, the women fif 
 his palace, male and female musi- 
 
 cians to Nineveh, the city of my 
 power, he caused to carry, and for the 
 payment of the tribute he sent his 
 messenger.' 
 
 *> 2 Kings xviii. 13-xix. 37; Isa. 
 xvii. 12-xviii. 7; xxxvi., xxxvii. ; 
 Tobit i. 21. The Inscriptions are in 
 disharmony with the Biblical ac- 
 count, which does not express or 
 imply that Hezckiah sent the priso- 
 
PROPHECY ON ASSYRIA, 
 
 295 
 
 It is not impossible that, encouraged by this unhoped- 
 for change in the schemes of the powerful foe, the Cypri- 
 ans, strengthened by the inhabitants of other islands and 
 coasts, attempted hostile attacks upon the Assyrian 
 possessions in Syria, and then extended their expedi- 
 tions eastward to the Euphrates, although neither the 
 Biblical nor the monumental accounts allude to any 
 such enterprise. We know not only that Sennacherib's 
 predecessor, Sargon, had accomplished a successful cam- 
 paign against Cyprus, where his memorial tablet has 
 not long since been discovered ;"■ but we learn from an 
 
 ners and the envoy after Sennacherib 
 to Nineveh, and which, moreover, 
 seems to convey that the Assyrian 
 king was killed shortly after his 
 return to his capital [2 Ki. xix. 36, 
 37; Isa. xxxvii. 37, 38)— the Book 
 of Tobit says distinctly after fifty 
 (or fifty-five) days : whereas accord- 
 ing to the Inscriptions, his campaign 
 against Judea took place in the third 
 year of his reign, which lasted up- 
 wards of twenty years. In accor- 
 dance with the spirit of Hebrew 
 historiography, the Biblical writer 
 desired to let the heathen monarch's 
 early and unnatural death appear as 
 a direct retribution for his impious 
 designs against the people of God 
 {^ee supra, \^. G5). The 'Inscription 
 of Esarhaddon,' found at Kouyunjik, 
 throws no light on the discrepancy 
 (comp. Rec. of the Past, iii. 101 sqq. 
 The ' Will of Sennacherib,' see ibiii. 
 i. 136). There are very probably 
 mythical elements in the Biblical 
 statement, ' It came to pass that 
 night that the angel of the Lord 
 went out, and smote in the camp of 
 the Assyrians a hundred and eighty- 
 five thousand ; and when they rose 
 earl J' in the morning, behold, they 
 were all dead coipses ' (2 Ki. xix. 
 35; compare I^a. xxxvii. 36, also 
 
 2 Chron. xxxii. 21; Sir. xlviii. 21 ; 
 see Herod, ii. 141, where Senna- 
 cherib's sudden flight in his war 
 against the Egyptian king Sethos is 
 attributed to swarms of field mice, 
 which, in the night, devoured all 
 the quivers, bow-strings, and shield- 
 thongs of his soldiers ; see Wilkinson 
 in loc.) ; for criticism has long since 
 proved that the chapters xxxvi. to 
 xxxix. of Isaiah are not authentic, 
 but belong to the Babylonian period: 
 yet that statement may enclose an 
 historical kernel referring to some 
 unexpected event which induced the 
 Assyrian king to an abrupt retreat. 
 
 a See ' The Annals of Sargon,' in 
 Rec. of the Past, vii. 26, ' I made 
 tributary the people of Yafnan (Cy- 
 prus), who have established their 
 dwellings in the midst of the Sea of 
 the setting sun ' (comp. page 27 ibid). 
 Whether the name Yatnan or Atnaa 
 has any connection with the pro- 
 montory of Acamas (now Cape Ar- 
 nauti) on the western »ide of Cyprus 
 [Strab. XIV. vi. 2-4), is uncertain. 
 In the Egyptian ' Decree of Canopus " 
 (§ 9), important in many respects, 
 Cyprus is described as 'the island 
 Nabinaitt, which lies in the midst of 
 the Great Sea' (comp. Rec. of the 
 Past, viii. 84). 
 
298 
 
 N-UMBERS XXIV. 23, 24. 
 
 elaborate inscription of Sennacherib's son, Esarliaddon, 
 that, at that time, the Assyrian rule extended in those 
 parts over ' twenty-two kings of Syria, and the sea- 
 coast and the islands ; ' that among them were, besides 
 ' Baal, king of Tyre,' and ' Manasseh, king of Judah,' 
 also ' ten kings of Cyprus which is in the middle of the 
 sea;''* and that the great monarch exacted from these 
 subjected chiefs both heavy contributions and humiliating 
 homage.** What is, therefore, more natural than that fear 
 and revenge alike stimulated the Cyprians, assisted by 
 others who shared their subjection, to dare even hazardous 
 ventures ? Of one such attempt that liad before been made 
 in Sargon's reign, the deciphered 'Annals ' of this sovereign 
 contain distinct mention : ' The kings of Jahnagi of the 
 land of Yatnan (Cyprus), whose dwelling is situated at 
 a distance of seven journeys in the middle of the western 
 sea, refused to pay their imposts.' The attempt failed, 
 and the Cyprians were compelled to send to the king- 
 additional gifts of enormous value, and again to pledge 
 their allegiance.'" But they doubtless renewed their 
 efforts after Sargon's death and Sennacherib's first great 
 calamity, and then most likely directed their operations not 
 only against Assyria, but also against Eber (p'yp.), the in- 
 habitants of Mesopotamia and Babylonia, which countiies, 
 by Sennacherib's extensive conquests, had almost become 
 parts of the Assyrian empire^ and probably furnished 
 their contingent of troops for foreign wars. Recent 
 discoveries and decipherments have imparted to this 
 subject a fresh and higher interest. On Cyprus, inscrip- 
 tions have been found written in characters analogous to 
 the Assyrian and Babylonian cuneiform signs, but com- 
 
 " The kings oi JuJihal (Idaliutn), 
 Kittie (Citium), iSUlumi (Salamis), 
 Pappa (PajAos), Silht (Soloc), Kuri 
 (Curion), Tamisus, Aiidi-Kharhista 
 (Amniochosta), Lidinl, and I'pri . . . 
 (Aphrodisiuui). 
 
 ^ See Inscription of Esarhaddon, 
 col. v., lines 12-26; comp. Eec. of the 
 Past, iii. 107, It 8, 120. 
 
 «^ Comp. the explicit statement in 
 'Annals of Sargon,' ii. 35; see Eec. 
 of the Past, vii. 51. 
 
PROPHECY OX ASSYRIA. 2!)7 
 
 posed iu a language kindred to the Greek, and it will thus 
 be easier to trace the relations of the Cyprians, on the one 
 hand, to Assyria, and, on the other hand, to Greece.'' 
 It can hardly be questioned that the Cyprians, as they 
 had the disposition, possessed, to a certain extent, also 
 the power for such military undertakings. For their 
 island, which formed the chief westward station of 
 Phoenician navigators, was eminently prosperous by 
 commerce, natural fertility, and mineral wealth. They 
 could command the support of many allies and kinsmen, 
 and might, above all, count upon the assistance of the 
 Phoenicians, who, even more oppressed and imperilled by 
 the Assyrians, hai'dl}^ separated their destinies from those 
 of the neighbouring island, the independence and friend- 
 ship of wdiich was almost a necessity for their export 
 trade and maritime supremacy.^ In the enthusiasm of 
 the moment, some slight advantages gained by the 
 Cyprian forces over the powerful nations of the east, may 
 have been invested with an exaggerated importance ; 
 but certainly, although the Assyrian empire maintained 
 itself about a century longer, a Hebrew statesman, 
 considering its pomp and luxury, its presumption and 
 recklessness, and firmly relying upon the judgment and 
 retribution of a just and all-seeing God, could not be 
 doubtful as to its ultimate fate, and he might declare 
 with confidence, ' And ships from the coast of Kittim 
 (Cyprus), they humble Asshur and humble Eber, and he 
 (Asshur) also is for destruction ;' although Ave know that 
 the Cyprians remained tributary to the later Assyrian 
 kings Esarhaddon and Assur-bani-pal. But beyond this 
 circle the scope of the prophecy does not reach. It 
 does not intend to intimate the future triumphs of the 
 western over the eastern world, such as the conquests of 
 the Macedonians or Romans ; for the Cyprians and their 
 
 " Comp. the works of jBrff«c?('6 and i *> Comp. Isa. xxiii. 1, 12; Ezek. 
 Moritz Schmidt, \ xxvii. 6; see Comm. on Gen. p. 24-1. 
 
298 NUxMBERS XXIV. 23, 24. 
 
 Phfjenician allies were themselves, in religion and man- 
 ners, emphatically eastern populations. Nor is it the 
 author's chief object to supply 'an utterance respecting 
 the destinies of the world at large,' but he desires to 
 show how the Cyprians were specially chosen by God 
 as instruments to bring ruin and annihilation upon those 
 ruthless tyrants who had also inflicted so many and such 
 cruel sufferings upon His elected people. However, not 
 from the west, but from the east, ruin and annihilation 
 came upon the Assyrians — from the rugged mountain 
 tracts of Kurdistan, which poured forth the rapacious and 
 pitiless Chaldeans like a scourge over the lands of Asia. 
 
 Thus, in considering this section, we have passed from 
 the happy and prosperous age of David to the fatal epoch 
 of the Assyrian invasion ; from the time when Israel, act- 
 ing with independence and self-conscious power, 'devoured 
 nations, his enemies, and crushed their bones,' to the years 
 of decline when weakness and disunion compelled the 
 people to leave the repulse of their enemies to other and 
 inferior communities, and when they found their sole 
 gratification in impotent wishes and denouncements. How 
 many centuries of sorrowful experience separate 'Balaam's' 
 joyous prophecies from the sad utterances which have 
 been linked to them with so little fitness ! 
 
 Philological Remarks. — In the depth of his sorrow the 
 author proclaims riTI^ ''^ ''Mi, ' woe, who may live,' i.e., who 
 can wifeh to live to see such dishonour and misfortune ! 
 (comp. Eev. ix. 6) not 'who can hope to live!' which is less 
 pathetic; and still less 'who will' or 'can live,' as if all 
 were to perish (comp. Mai. iii. 2). Those who start from 
 the principle of literal inspiration are, perhaps, justified in 
 accounting for Balaam's grief hy the circumstance that it is 
 his countrymen whose ruin he announces (xxii. 5 ; xxiii. 7 ; 
 xxiv. 14; comp. Hengstb., Bil., p. 263); hut it is not pro- 
 bable that the author of these verses, living at a much later 
 time, had such considerations in his mind ; in the Supple- 
 
prophp:('Y on Assyria. 209 
 
 ments (lie strictly historical background is aLaudoued, and 
 in the genuine portions Balaam's individuality is never 
 obtruded. — A foreign idea is associated with the M'ords by 
 the rendering of Targiim Onkel. and Jonath., 'Woe to tlie 
 sinners (N''3'n? M) who shall live,' etc.; and entirely agaiubt 
 the context and the words ('31 "iS) is the interpretation of 
 Origen (In Num. Homil. xix. 4) and otliers, 'quis erit tarn 
 beatus, tarn felix, qui hsec videat?' viz., the abolition of all 
 idolati*y and the destruction of all demons through the 
 Messiah. Nor does the reading i^<, instead of 'ii<, offered 
 by some MSS. {De-Bossi, Var. Lection, ii. p. 18), in any way 
 recommend itself. — '?X l^'J^p^ literally, 'from the time that 
 God does this' — IP denoting the termirrus a quo, and, there- 
 fore, simply after or when (comp. Prov. viii. 23 ; Ps. Ixxiii, 
 20; 1 Chron. viii. 8; 2 Chron. xxxi. 10, etc.; Sept., orav By 
 ravra o Oeoc ; Vulg., quando, etc.), which seems simpler than 
 the sense of because or on account of (comp. Deut. vii. 7 ; Isa. 
 liii. 5, etc.). The sufhx in \'C}^t2 refers, grammatically, to 
 the statement of the next verse (the 24th), but, logically, 
 rather to the preceding prophecy — to Asshur's implacable 
 cruelty in carrying away captives, which reminds the author 
 of the same sad fate of his own nation ; lor the import of 
 the next verse implies nothing that was painful to the 
 Hebrews, but, on the contrary, alludes to the longed for 
 punishment of their oppressors. It is unnecessary, though 
 it may be admissible, to take ?^? as an abbreviated form of 
 '"'.??S (1 Chron. xx. 8), and then to refer the suffix in IDw'D to 
 God; the sense would not be different from that of the 
 former interpretation. A possible exposition is also : 'who 
 may live when he considers this' (comp. Job xxiv. 12); but it 
 is certainly strained and artificial to understand those words 
 thus: 'when God appoints him,' viz., appoints (comp. Hab. 
 i. 12; 1 Sam. viii. 1, etc.) the Assyrian as His instrument to 
 punish sinful nations {Zunz, Banmgart., Knob., and others), 
 which idea is indeed familiar to the prophets (Isa. vii. 20 ; 
 X. 5, 6, etc. ; comp. Jer. xxv. 9 ; xxvii. 6; xliii. 10), but can- 
 not be grafted on the two words b^ lOE^D. Moreover, if 
 Asshur was the chosen rod of chastisement, it would have 
 been impious to fight against him or to desire his destruction; 
 
'M)() NUMBERS XXIV. 23, 21 
 
 for we do not find here the slightest or remotest allusion to 
 his /having haughtily overstepped the Divine commission, 
 especially with regard to Israel' (comp. Isa. x. 7-11). — It 
 may be curious to observe that the Talmud (Sanhedr. 106a; 
 comp. Eashi and Yulkut) interprets the words '31 n'TT' '•D ""IN 
 by Vk DCQ 1D^*y nTiJD^ ''D? ''IN, which is supposed to involve 
 another of those points of contact between Balaam and 
 Christ, to which we have above referred (pp. 30, 31); that 
 the Sam. Vers, renders, n'pm HDt^'D 'n> p, 'who shall live, if 
 he (Asshur) destroys his (Israel's) power?' and that Abar- 
 banel explains: 'Who can live in those days, when he — 
 Nebuchadnezzar — makes himself a god ' (?X IDVJ? D"'CJ'*); but 
 it would be impossible to notice the large number of unten- 
 able interpretations which the brevity of those words has 
 rendered possible (for instance, Vaier, 'wer iibersteht sein 
 Verwiisten?' Michael., 'wenn Grott ihn ungliicklich macht;' 
 Mendelss., 'wenn Gott es ihm zugedacht,' etc.; Gramberg, 
 'Wehe! wer uberlebt, was Gott festgesetzt ;' Kuenen ap. 
 Oort, I.e., p. 45, 'Yae quis prsoteribit vitae terminos, quos ei 
 Deus constituit ;' Luzzatto, 'Who can live when God shall 
 have put him — the Assyrian — into the world!' etc.; comp. 
 also Firke Rub. Eliez., chap. 30). — ''V, a rare word, synonymous 
 with ''?J^ ship (Vulg. , tvieres ; Targ. Jcrusal., ii^rii? Hburnae, 
 light ships, comp. Isa. xxxiii. 21 ; less accurately, Onkel., 
 jrp hosts; Jonath., TV^ araiies ; Stjr., i«:VJP legions); the 
 plural is both CV (Ezek. xxx. 9) and Q'';V (Dan. xi. 30, where 
 we find D^JilS D\*V, as if in allusion to this passage ; see 
 Gram., § xxiii. 2. fl). In the 24th verse some of the ancient 
 versions point to another early fluctuation in the Hebrew 
 text ■ for in the Se2)t. ^V is represented by i^eXeutTerai, in the 
 Samar. Cod. and Vers, by DX^^V and TPDN, so that there was 
 evidently in the original some form of NV', which several 
 modern interpreters have unnecessarily adopted {Michaelis, 
 Von der Seite her kommen ; Dathe, exeunt ; so Be Gee?-, and 
 others; comp. De-Rossi, I.e., p. 18; Vater in loc). — 1^ pro- 
 perly, side (Ex. ii. 5 ; Dent. ii. 37), and then coast.— ^'7\^ is 
 undoubtedly the island of Cyprus, in which one of the most 
 ancient towns was Citium {Kinoy or Kimov), although in sub- 
 sequent periods that name comprised nearly all the shores 
 
rROPHECY ON ASSYRIA. 'M)l 
 
 and islands of the Mediterranean, as Rhodes and Sicily, 
 Greece and Italy, and even Macedonia (I Mace. i. 1 ; Dan. 
 xi. 30; corap. Comm. on Gen., p. 244). 'Ships from the 
 coast of Kittini' may include auxiliaries assembling in 
 Cyprus as a convenient station, since the Cyprians would 
 hardly have entered upon the daring enterprise single- 
 handed.^Josephus (Ant. IX. xiv. 2) relates on the authority 
 of Menander, who, in writing his ' Chronology,' is supposed 
 to have availed himself of the archives of Tyre, that, in the 
 reign of Eluleus of Tyre, the Assyrian king Shalmaneser 
 invaded Phoenicia, and subjected many districts ; that, how- 
 ever, after his return to the Euphrates, some towns revolted, 
 and among them Tyre ; upon which the Assyrian monarch 
 re-appeared, but was opposed by twelve ships of the Tyrians, 
 who dispersed the enemy's fleet and took five hundred 
 prisoners, by which deed ' the reputation of all the citizens 
 of Tyre was greatly enhanced.' It is not probable that 
 this is the event to which our text alludes, as many have 
 asserted ; for, on the one hand, it has no direct connection 
 with the Cyprians, who in our verses are the chief actors, 
 and, on the other hand, it does not include l?y at all ; more- 
 over, the result was too insignificant to kindle the hopes of 
 even the most sanguine; for soon afterwards 'the king of 
 Assyria returned and placed guards at the rivers and aque- 
 ducts, so that the Tyrians were hindered from drawing 
 water, and this siege continued for five years.' According 
 to the inscription on the Taylor Cylinder (col. ii., lines 35- 
 37), and an inscription on a slab belonging to the Kouyunjik 
 bulls (Rec. of the Past, vii, 61), Lnliah, supposed to be 
 identical with Eluleus, is mentioned as king of Sidon, who 
 fled before Sennacherib 'to a distant spot in the midst of the 
 sea,' or Yaina (Cyprus); and Assur-bani-pal, the son of Esar- 
 haddon and grandson of Sennacherib, again defeated and 
 weakened the Tj-rians ; 'their spirits I humbled,' he recorded, 
 'and caused them to melt away' (see 'Annals of Assur-bani- 
 pal,' col. ii., lines 84-98). Still less suitable is the applica- 
 tion of this passage to such unimportant occurrences as the 
 invasion of the Greeks in Asia at the time of Sennacherib, 
 who, besides, was victorious, as the Assyrian annals relate in 
 
802 NUMBERS XXIV. 23, 24. 
 
 unison with other accounts (comjp. Alexander Polyhistor in 
 Euseb. Chronic, i. 14). And yet most critics base their esti- 
 mate of this entire composition upon similar conjectures, 
 either contending that the whole was written about B.C. 
 710, or that, at this time, the verses under consideration 
 were added to the principal portion, which they consider 
 to have been composed about b.c. 750 (as Lengerke, Ken., 
 i. 597 ; Bunsen, Bibelwerk, v. pp. 602, 603, who assigns 
 vers. 20-24 to that period, although ver. 20 stands in no 
 certain relation to the Assyrians ; see supra, pp. 46, 47). 
 — D^riB has by Jewish and Christian interpreters frequently 
 been understood to mean the Romans {Onk., ^Xfo'lT^ ; Jon., 
 ' ^J^I^^'P, Lomhardy and the land of ^^^,f'I^>^, Italy, in conjunc- 
 tion with the legions that will come forth from ^l!'P^^P''P, Con- 
 stantinople^; and similarly Targ. Jerus., Eashi, D''''D'I ; Vulg., 
 Italia, etc.) — which is, of course, out of the question. — The 
 verb nay is not a very strong or emphatic term — for it is used 
 to express the trials which God imposes upon Israel from 
 love (Deut. viii. 2, 3, 16; comp. Gen. xxxi. 50) — and may 
 merely imply that the Cyprians caused to the Assyrians loss 
 and annoyance ; but even slight victories over an all but 
 invincible enemy must have excited lively hopes, and no 
 doubt called forth the utmost exultation. — "i^y, used in the 
 wider sense of "i^y \33 (Gen. x. 21, 24; xi. 15-17; comp. Isai. 
 vii. 20), are the inhabitants of the land beyond the Euphrates, 
 or of Mesopotamia {Onk., ms '\2''vh ; Jerus., Nin3 -\2]} ; Eashi, 
 "in:n n2J?2t^ DniX), and embrace, in this passage, especially 
 the Babylonians (comp. Comm. on Genes, pp. 278, 279). The 
 context forbids to take 2V in the stricter sense of Hebrews 
 (so Sept., Vulg., and others), who, throughout the section, are 
 mentioned by the names of IpV and ?N"IC''', and who cannot 
 be coupled with the Assyrians as common enemies of the 
 Cyprians ; for this reason, probably, a modern critic un- 
 warrantably identifies iVu^X with the Syrians {JSwald, Gesch., 
 i. H7), contrarj' to the meaning which that word clearly bears 
 in the preceding oracle (ver. 22 ; comp. the full arguments 
 oi Hengstenb., Bil., p. 206-210). — DJ), and also, points to the 
 pi'ediction on the Amalekites (ver. 20)— like these inveterate 
 and most detested foes of the Hebrews, the Assyrians are 
 
PROPHECY ON ASSYRIA. 803 
 
 devoted to annihilation. Grammatically, ' the shij)S from the 
 coast of Kittim,' are indeed the subject ; but we must suppose 
 an inversion or irregularity of construction and explain the 
 singular of the pronoun Kin by remembering that the author 
 had iu his mind Asshur alone, the principal of the two 
 nations, which included Eber (comp. ver. 22). Nin cannot 
 refer to Kittim (D^n?); for, independently of the syntactical 
 inaccuracy, a Hebrew seer would have refrained from an- 
 nouncing the extinction of those who humbled the dangerous 
 enemies of his own people. But supposing even that the 
 ruin of Kittim were meant, it would not involve the idea that 
 * before the seer's eye the whole heathen world had become 
 one great Grolgotha, over which God's people rises triumph- 
 antly ' (Oehler, Theol. d. Alt. Test.'s, i. 119) : for these verses 
 contain no direct allusion to Israel whatever, much less to a vic- 
 torious Israel. The .S'e;)^ premises this oracle with the words: 
 Kai Idijy roj'"Oy, which addition, whatever its origin (comp. 
 supra, p. 239), can certainly not be used to support the very 
 strange and hazardous conjecture that the earlier and genuine 
 reading of this verse was n;'n'; "'p ''IX • • • • xb'»_1 J3X-ns N"i*1 
 PXVi^'P^ ' And he saw Agag and took up his parable and 
 said. Woe, who shall live before Samuel ' ! (so Geiger, Ur- 
 schrift, p. 367). Though many MSS. write 'pNID'ti'D in one 
 word, all ancient versions render two words and not the pro- 
 per noun (comp. De-Rossi, Yar. Lect. in loe.). — It has often 
 been asserted that Balaam's speeches, vague and indefinite 
 as they are, include nothing which, in the time of Moses, 
 any intelligent observer, having seized the idea of Israel's 
 election, and weighed their hostile relations to their weaker 
 neighbours, would have been unable to predict with confi- 
 dence (so, for instance, Hevgstenh., Bil,, pp. 17, 19, 259-263, 
 268-270; ^osenm., Schol. ad xxiii. 7; xxiv. 29, etc.). Granted 
 that, to a certain extent, this might be possible with respect 
 to Moab, Edom, and Amalek, does the same hold good in re- 
 gard of the Assyrians and Cyprians, with whom the Hebrews, 
 in the fifteenth century, came into no contact, however dis- 
 tant or indirect, whether friendly or hostile? It is even 
 doubtful whether Assyria existed, at so early a time, as an 
 independent empire and, if so, whether her armies crossed 
 
:V)i XUMBKRS XXIV. 2."). 
 
 the Euphrates for centuries after the commeucemeat of her 
 rule (comp. Ditnker, Gesch. des Alterthums, i. 266 sqq. ; 
 Oppert, in Zeitsch. der D. M. Gr , 1869, p. 144, who places 
 the foundation of the kingdom at B.C. 1318 ; lieeords of the 
 Past, iii. 27, etc. ; Tiglath-pileser I., about b c. 1150, seems to 
 have made an expedition against certain ' rebellious tribes 
 of the Kheti or Khatte,' that is the Hittites or Syrians; 
 Records, v. 12, 18, 20. The statements of classical and later 
 writers about the antiquity of Assyria are mere surmises). 
 'The ships from the coast of Kittim,' which 'humble Asshur,' 
 refer to distinct and special occurrences, which, could only be 
 foretold by virtue of supernatural inspiration or announced as 
 vaticinin post eventum. — Nothing but the determined endeavour 
 to vindicate the whole of the story of Balaam to the ' Sup- 
 plementer ' (Erganzer), and to pi'ove this writer not to have 
 lived later than the time of Solomon, could have induced a 
 scholar of Tucb's critical tact and sound judgment to assert 
 that this section exhibits merely an acquaintance of the He- 
 brews with the existence of the Assyrians, not a hostile con- 
 flict between both nations, and that ' the prophet, in these 
 verses, rises to a general prediction concerning that great 
 power advancing from the east, and as indefinitely opposes 
 to it a western power destined one day to break its influence' 
 {Tuch, Comment, iiber die Genes., pp. Ixxvi., Ixxvii., 2nd ed.). 
 What can the sad exclamation, * Woe, Avho may live, when 
 God doeth this ! ' mean, if it does not refer to calamities 
 actually inflicted by the Assyrians ? (comp. ver, 22, no ly 
 "imrri ~i1K'X). And how can ' ships from the coast of Kittim' 
 be considered ideally to represent a power mighty enough to 
 crush the vast Assyrian empire? 
 
 20. CONCLUSION. XXIV. 2.5. 
 
 25. And Balaam rose, and went away, and 
 returned to his place, and Balak also went his 
 way. 
 
 Previous to the announcement of the tenth and last 
 Egyptian plague, Pharaoh said to Moses in vehement 
 
fONC'LUSlON. 305 
 
 anger : 'Go away from me, take heed to thyself, see my face 
 no more;' upon which Moses replied: 'Thou hast spoken 
 right, I will see thy face again no more'"^ — the Divine 
 messenger and the obdurate heathen king could only 
 meet to come into terrible collision, and then for ever to 
 move in opposite directions. Like Moses and Pharaoh, 
 those great primeval types, Balaam and Balak are abso- 
 lutely without a real tie or bond. The former has been 
 employed as the mouthpiece of the God of Israel, the 
 latter does not comprehend this God and dares to defy 
 Him, although he dreads His power. The community of 
 the 'righteous' and the community of the worshippers of 
 falsehood cannot dwell together in harmony or sym- 
 pathy ; therefore, ' Balaam rose and went away . . . and 
 Balak also went his way.' 
 
 Commenting on the statement of Deuteronomy, that 
 God changed Balaam's intended curse into a blessing for 
 Israel,'^ the Midrash observes: 'The Lord gave power to 
 Balaam's voice, so that it is heard from one end of the 
 w^orld to the other.' "^ Taken in that figurative sense in 
 which this remark is no doubt intended, it implies an 
 incontestable truth. Balaam's words have passed from 
 age to age and from nation to nation, and they will 
 be read and admired as long as men shall delight in 
 sublimity of thought, largeness of soul, and perfection 
 of art. 
 
 Philological Remarks. — How is it possible even to make 
 the attempt at reconciling the clear conclusion of this verse 
 with the later Elohistic account in the Book of Numbers ? 
 (see xxxi. 8, 16; corap. Josh. xiii. 22). Language and logic 
 alike must be violently strained to effect the faintest appear- 
 ance of plausibility. Balaam is, in those later portions, 
 related to have given to the Moabites and Midianites the 
 fiendish advice to ensnare and corrupt the Hebrews by 
 licentious seduction, and subsequently, fighting in the ranks 
 
 ^ ExoJ. X. 28, 29. ^ Deut. xxiii. 6. = Midr. liabb. Xuiu. xx. 13. 
 X 
 
800 NUMBERS XXIV. 25. 
 
 of Israel's enemies^ to have been killed in battle. Which 
 are the proposals made to harmonise these facts with the 
 verse before us ? The words ' and he returned to his place ' 
 {Vlipu? 2'^'')), it is contended, do not mean that Balaam, re- 
 paired to his home in Mesopotamia — wh'ch would bo the 
 only possible interpretation, even if Balak had not, imme- 
 diately before, expressly bidden Balaam, 'Escape to tiiy 
 place ' (I^DlpD'^PN), and Balaam himself had not distinctly 
 said, 'And now, behold, I go to my people' (""Cy? "l?iri ''Jjn, 
 vers. 11, 14 ; comp. Gen. xviii. 33; xxxii. 1 ; 1 Sam. xxvi. 
 25 ; 2 Sam. xix. 40) — but they mean, it is asserted, that 
 Balaam went back to the place in the east of the Jordan, 
 where he had been the day before ; or they signify, ' he went 
 away whither he would,' or ' he went to hell,' which is ' his 
 l^lace' (TaJm. Sanhedr. lOoa., etc.; comp. Acts i. 25); or 'he 
 resumed his sorceries,' since he prophesied this time only for 
 the honour of Israel (Bechai); or, 'he merely started to re- 
 turn,' or 'went in the direction of his home' (2^"*1 taken in 
 'inchoative sense) ; or ' he intended to go and to return,' but was 
 kej)t back by the Midianites. It would be unnecessary to 
 refute interpretations which would never have been advanced 
 had this verse been explained from its own context, and not 
 in the light of heterogeneous accounts. But some maintain 
 that Balaam indeed returned to Mesopotamia, but came back 
 again to the plains of Moab. We will not stop to inquire 
 Avhether there was time for such a double journey, the war 
 against the Midianites being fought very soon afterwards, in 
 the same year, and the distance from Moab to the Euphrates 
 through the desert requiring not less than twenty days ; nor 
 what object so shrewd a man as Balaam could have for this 
 waste of time and exertion, if he entertained the plan imputed 
 to him. But the exegetical question is not what the simple 
 words V^ptJ? 3t;"'1 ought to mean if the unity of the Book of 
 Numbers is to be upheld, but what they really mean accord- 
 ing to all sound rules of interpretation — and in this respect 
 not the slightest doiibt can prevail among men who have the 
 Scriptural text more at heart than their own theories or pre- 
 conceptions. — The Tca-g. Jon. inserts in these verses expli- 
 citly : ' Balak put the daughters of the Midianites in tavern 
 
CONCLTTSrON. .307 
 
 rooms at Betli-jeshimotli, by the snow-mountain, wliero they 
 sold various kinds of pastry (|''3D''D ""rt) below their value, 
 after the counsel of Balaam the wicked, at the parting of the 
 road' (see p. 247). — It is usually contended that Balaam, ' who, 
 as God's mouthpiece, had blessed the Hebrews with inward 
 repugnance, soon returned to his own hostile disposition and 
 joined the Midianites, another enemy of Israel' (so even 
 Winer, Real-Wort. i. 18 4, see supra, p. 50). In these chap- 
 ters, Balaam is neither represented as an unwilling instrument 
 of God, nor as an enemy of Israel, and his passive conduct in 
 reference to Balak is in direct contrast to the restless eager- 
 ness ascribed to him in his intercourse with the Midianites. 
 And if he indeed played so important and so fatal a part in 
 the following events, it is surprising why, after having once 
 been introduced so conspicuously as the proclaimer of these 
 prophecies, he is in the next sections either not mentioned at 
 all or mentioned quite incidentally. But still more astonish- 
 ing is the amicable intercourse in which, immediately after- 
 wards, we find the Hebrews engaged with the Moabites 
 (xxv. 1, 2, p. G9). Almost the only point of harmony be- 
 tween the chapters under discussion and those which follow is 
 the alliance or friendship which both the former and the latter 
 state to have existed between Moab and Midian (xxii. 4, 7 ; 
 xxv. 1, 6, 14-18; xxxi. 1 sqq.). All these circumstances can be 
 satisfactorily explained under no other sujiposition than that 
 the ' Book of Balaam,' having originally formed a complete 
 and separate work, was incorporated in the Book of Numbers 
 M'ithout being thoroughly amalgamated with the other parts 
 of the narrative. Even the Talmud, in declaring that 'Moses 
 wrote his own Book, and the section of Balaam, and the Book 
 of Job' {Tahn. Bab, Bathr. 15a.), seems to intimate that it 
 considers the ' section of Balaam ' as a composition distinct 
 from the rest of the Pentateuch. Hence it is not sufficient 
 to say that ' the historian, as if touched with a feeling of the 
 greatness of tlie prophet's mission, drops the veil over its 
 dark close ' : the historian had, with respect to Balaam's life, 
 evidently nothing more to add that could be of interest to 
 Hebrew readers, or that was in direct connection with 
 Israel's destinies. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The Original Form of the Book of Balaam. 
 
 Ix order to exhibit the Book of Balaam in its admirable symmetry, we 
 subjoin it, in the English Translation, as we believe it to have been origi- 
 nally written." 
 
 XXII. — 2. When Balak, the son of Zippor, Icing of Moab, 
 saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites [vers. 3, 4], 
 5. He sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, to Pethor, 
 which is by the river (Euphrates), into the land of the 
 children of his people, to call him, saying. Behold, there is 
 a people come out from Egypt ; behold, they cover the face 
 of the earth, and they abide over against me, 6. Come now, 
 therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people ; for they are 
 too mighty for me ; perhaps I shall prevail, that we may smite 
 them, and that I may drive them out of the land : for I 
 know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom 
 thou cursest is cursed. 7. And the elders of Moab and the 
 elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in 
 their hand ; and they came to Balaam, and they spoke to 
 him the words of Balak. 8. And he said to them, Stay here 
 this night, and I will bring you word, as the Lord shall 
 speak to me. And the princes of Moab remained with 
 Balaam. 9. And God came to Balaam, and said, Who are 
 these men that are with thee ? 10. And Balaam said to God, 
 Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, 
 saying, 11. Behold, the people that is come out of Egypt, 
 it covers the face of the earth ; come now, curse me them ; 
 perhaps I shall then be able to fight against them, and drive 
 theQi out. 12. And God said to Balaam, Thou shalt not go 
 
 "The additions we have made to the received Hebrew text are marked by 
 itnlles ; the omissions from that text by square brackets []; and the 
 alterations by capitals. 
 
ORIGINAL F0R:\[ of THE ROOK OF I'.Al.AAM. .SO!) 
 
 witk them, tliou slialt not curse tlie people; for they are 
 blessed. 13. And Balaam rose in the morning, and said to 
 tlie princes of Balak, Go to your country, for the Lord refuses 
 to give me leave to go with. you. 14. And the princes of 
 Moab rose, and they went to Balak, and said, Balaam refuses 
 to come with us. 
 
 15. And Balaam sent yet again princes, more numerous 
 and more distinguished than those. 16. And they came to 
 Balaam, and said to him, Thus says Balak, the son of Zip- 
 per, Do not, I pray thee, withhold thyself from coming to 
 me; 17. For I will honour thee greatly, and I will do 
 whatsoever thou sayest to me : come, therefore, I pray thee, 
 curse me this people. 18. And Balaam answered and said 
 to .the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house 
 full of silver and gold, I cannot go against the command of 
 the Lord my God, to do a small or a great thing. 19. Now, 
 therefore, I pray you, remain you also here this night, that 
 I may know what the Lord will say to me more. 20. And 
 God came to Balaam at night, and said to him. If the men 
 are come to call thee, rise and go with them ; but only that 
 which I shall tell thee, that shalt thou do. 21. And Balaam 
 rose in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with 
 the princes of Moab. 
 
 [Vers. 22-35.] 
 
 36. And when Balak heard that Balaam had come, he 
 went out to meet him to the city of Moab, which is at the 
 border of the Arnon, which is at the utmost boundary (of the 
 land). 37. And Balak said to Balaam, Did I not earnestly 
 send to thee to call thee ? wherefoi-e didst thou not come to 
 me? ami not forsooth able to honour thee? 38. And Balaam 
 said to Balak, Behold, I am come to thee ; have I now any 
 power at all to say anything? the word that God shall put in 
 my mouth, that shall I speak. 39. And Balaam went with 
 Balak, and they came to Kirjath-huzoth. 40. And Balak 
 killed oxen and sheep, and sent thereof to Balaam and to the 
 princes that were with him. 
 
 41. And on the next morning, Balak took Balaam, and 
 brought him up to Bamoth-Baal, and thence he saw the extreme 
 part of the people. XXIII. — 1. And Balaam said to Balak, 
 
310 APPENDIX. 
 
 PjuIM for me here seven altars, and prepare for me liei-e 
 seveQ bullocks and seven rams. 2. And Balak did as Balaam 
 liad spoken ; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar 
 a bullock and a ram. 3. And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by 
 thy burnt offering, and I will go, perhaps the Lord will 
 come to meet me ; and svhatsoever He will show me, I shall 
 tell thee. And he went to a solitude. 4. And Grod met Balaam, 
 and he said to Him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I 
 have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. 5. And 
 the Lord put words in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to 
 Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 6. And be returned to 
 him, and, heboid, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he 
 and all the princes of Moab. 
 
 7. And he took up his parable and said, From Aram hath 
 Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of 
 the east: come, curse me Jacob, and come, execrate Israel! 
 8, How shall I curse, whom God dotb not curse? and how 
 shall I execrate, whom the Lord doth not execrate ? 9. For 
 from the summit of the rocks I see them, and from the hills 
 I behold them : lo, a people that dwelleth apart, and is not 
 reckoned among the nations. 10. Who counteth the dust of 
 Jacob, and by number the fourth part of Israel ? Let me die 
 the death of the righteous, and be my end like them ! 
 
 11. And Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou done to 
 me '? I took thee to curse my enemies, and, behold, thou hast 
 blessed them indeed. 12. And he answered and said, IMust 
 I not take heed to speak that w^hich the Lord puts in my 
 mou.th ? 13. And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, 
 with me to another place, whence thou mayest see them — only 
 the extreme part of them shalt thou see, but shalt not see 
 them all— and curse me them from thence. 14. And he 
 brought him to the Field of Seers, to the top of Pisgah, and 
 built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every 
 altar. 15. And he said to Balak, Stand as before by thy 
 burnt- offering, while I go to meet (the Lord) as before. 
 16. And the Lord met Balaam, and put words in his mouth, 
 and said, Go back to Balak, and speak thus. 17. And when 
 he came to him, behold, lie was standing by his burnt-olfer- 
 ing, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to 
 him. What has tlie Lord spoken ? 
 
OliKilXAL FOinr OF TJIE WX)K OF BALAAM. 811 
 
 IS. And he took up his parable, aud said, Eise, Balalc, 
 and Lear, hearken unto me, son of Zippor ! 19. God is 
 not a man, that He should lie, nor the son of man, that He 
 should repent: hath He said and shall He not do it. and spo- 
 ken and shall He not fulfil it ? 20. Behold, 1 have received 
 command to bless, and He hath blessed, and I cannot reverse 
 it. 21. He beholdeth no iniquity in Jacob, nor seeth dis- 
 tress in Israel ; the Lord their God is with them, and the 
 trumpet-call of the King is among them. 22. God brought 
 them out of Egypt — they have tlie fleetness of the buffalo. 
 23. For there is no enchantment in Jacob, nor divination in 
 Israel ; in due time it is told to Jacob and to Israel, what 
 God doeth. 24. Behold, they are a people that rise as the 
 lioness, and lift themselves up like the lion : they do not 
 lie down till they eat their prey, and drink the blood of 
 the slain. 
 
 25. And Balak said to Balaam, Neither slialt thou curse 
 them, nor shalt thou bless them. 26. And Balaam answered 
 aud said to Balak, Have I not told thee, saying. All that 
 the Lord speaks, that I must do ? 27. And Balak said to 
 Balaam, Com.e, I pray thee, I will take thee to another 
 place ; perhaps it will please God that thou mayest curse 
 me them from thence. 28. And Balak took Balaam to the 
 summit of Peor, that looks over the plain of the wilderness. 
 
 29. And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven 
 altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 
 
 30. And Balak did as Balaam had said, and he offered a 
 bullock aud a ram on every altar. XXIV. — 1. And when 
 Balaam saw that it jpleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went 
 not, as the first and second time, to meet God, and he turned 
 his face towards the wilderness. 2. And Balaam lifted up 
 his eyes, and he saw Israel encamped according to their 
 tribes ; and the spirit of God came upon him. 
 
 3. And he took up his parable, and said. So speaketh 
 Balaam, the son of Beor, and so speaketh the man of un- 
 closed eye ; 4. So speaketh he who heareth the words of 
 God [Tf ^], and knowdh the knowledge of the Most High, he 
 who seeth the vision of the Almighty, prostrate and with 
 opened eyes : 5. How goodly are thy tents, Jacob, thy 
 
;U2 APPENDIX. 
 
 tabernacles, Israel ! 6. As valleys that are spread out, as 
 gardens by tbe river's side ; as aloe trees which the Lord 
 hath planted, as cedars beside the water. 7. Water floweth 
 from his buckets, and his seed is by many waters : and his 
 king is higher than Agag. 8. [nbyha Dn.vsQ "ix^V^^ ^^ 
 i? DX"i] He devoureth nations, his enemies, and crasheth 
 their bones, and pierceth. with his arrows. 9. He coucheth, 
 he lieth down like a lion and like a lioness ; who shall stir 
 him up ? Blessed are those that bless thee, and cursed those 
 that curse thee, 
 
 10. And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and 
 he smote his hands together ; and Balak said to Balaam, I 
 called thee to cvirse my enemies, and, behold, thou hast ever 
 blessed them these three times. 11 . Therefore now, flee thou 
 to thy place ; I thought to honour thee indeed, but, behold, 
 the Lord has kept thee back from honour. 12. And Balaam 
 said to Balak, Did I not also speak to thy messengers, whom 
 thou hast sent to me, saying, 13. If Balak would give me 
 his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go against the 
 command of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own 
 mind; but what the Lord says, that will I speak ? 14. And 
 now, behold, I go to my people ; come, I will tell thee, what 
 this people is destined to do to thy people in later days. 
 
 15. And he took up his parable, and said, So speaketh 
 Balaam the son of Beor, and so speaketh the man of unclosed 
 eye; 16. So speaketh he who heareth the words of God, 
 and knoweth the knowledge of the Most High ; who seeth 
 the vision of the Almighty, prostrate and with opened eyes : 
 17. I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: 
 there cometh a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre riseth out of 
 Israel, and smiteth both sides of Moab, and shattereth all 
 the children of tumult. 
 
 [Vers. 18-24.] 
 
 25. And Balaam rose, and went away, and returned to his 
 place, and Balak also went his way. 
 
NUMBERS XXIV. 18 — 25. 12 
 
 n^-]^ Dn\; n;n] is 
 V3'.i< "I'V-b' ^.^1! ^^J^] 
 
 ■ii^x*! iS^p ^^,tr*i p^prnst k-)*i 20 
 
 : ^3p ySg? D\bi 
 pp^ nviS ^;^l^°^* 7 -^ 
 
 ^^^X*l iS^'9 Nb*l 23 
 
 n3-ii_^ -^iSn pSrD^i i?pi?S nc^n "^^^t dp^? Dp^l25 
 
11 NUMBERS XXIV. 9 — 17. 
 
 ^piN{3 2;ip p3 9 
 
 pjDi in^? nSp p'pn ^'p-jri'-Dx 13 : ^bih ^ri-i^^l 
 ix r\y\^ r\)tvh m] *3-nx hh^h SiiN* n*S nnji^ 
 nnp) 14 : n^nx inx nin; ^sipD'iN} ^j'pp nyn 
 pjn D^n n^y^ ^^^^f 'T|yy;^? n^S \^yS "^iSin *;;in 
 1^^^*5 i'?^? N^l 1^ J c^p*n nnnx!i ^^y'p 
 
 J ryn nn^ n^jn dn^i 
 
 S^-n^N* yitr Di<: 10 
 
 [vSy nri vy] 
 
 nm nSi 'i3wsnN 17 
 
NUMBEES XXIV. 2 — 8. 10 
 
 "ipxn i*?^*? i<,|^*5 3 : D\nSx nn^ vSy \nrn. vpnp^S 
 : pyn Dn^f n^^ri dx31 
 njn^ h?^ r^THp ni*j>j 
 
 D^an Dr!:^ i^jm 
 
9 NUMBERS XXIII. 23— XXIV. 1. 
 
 ipy;.3 mr^h *3 23 
 
 Dip; N^nS? brjn 24 
 
 •^jns-Di i35pn wnS i|TD5 DrSr'^Ni p^? ^^x-'l^s 
 :ntryx inx nin^ nsn^-itr.^ hb ^b^h t^x 'min 
 
 |v .:|v ^ vT : J- -: v ": i "I " " ' ■■^- ■ 
 
 : Lztrb \^ in^pi Q^nSsn ^J^y3 n^^: ^S^wS* nnx 
 ^;s-Sr fjp^sn nivsn jtn'i cr^3-n5< pSs npj;i28 
 nyn^ nn Vni!i p'prSi^ br'pB i^n*] 29 j |b^^\n 
 : aS\x nrnc^i. en? nrat?' nb ^^ [Dni nhafp 
 
 A- T -IT -3-- AT : • J- T v.- ;i- ( T X -J- 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 '7iNt'ib^:-ns* iinn'p nin; p^y^ nijib ^3 D-j^3 i<y\i 
 
NUMBERS XXIII. 14 — 22. 8 
 
 *S-i:npi nsnn nS 'h:^] nxnn m^^ d|5wN{^ ctrb 
 
 j:)S|i-Sx niti^ n^xn vsn w Db;*i nrSii-Sx hin^ 
 nb] inVy-Sy nv^i "iiri] vj^x xnn n : n^^in nb) 
 Nb'^1 18 : nin; "inrnss p^^ 'ib n^x^i inx nxitt 
 
 I • i : \.-r T J- -;r 
 
 : n3D\T nSi 13-n 
 
 :n|by;3 jix tD^^n-x^ 21 
 
 i^y VnSx nin; 
 : 13 -TiS!: nynni 
 
7 NUMBEES XXIII. 5 — 13. 
 
 3VJ^ •^pxn. cr^3 ^3? w nin^^ ub') s : n^r^s 
 
 -^y DVi n^n^ v'pws* d^;*i g : -)p,ir] r\b] pS^-Sx 
 
 T)iS*5 )hpf2 m\\ 7 : :iN;iD nb-S^i xin inS'^ 
 
 Sx n!Dp nS iji^ ng 8 
 : r\)r\\ err n^ u"j;|i< np^i 
 
 :ipy.; -isy^ n:^ ^p ^o 
 n/t?N*ii3 nsnS nb^x in'j^ ^i)? nin; n\b^'^ i^'x 
 
NUMBERS XXII. 35 — XXIII. 4. C 
 
 ^1^^ &r^3-^x nin; *!|i<^p \pN*5 35 : "^ nnif\N* 
 ins* r^'hi< i^nx-nt^^N? ^5^n-nv\» dsxi D-i'Jxn-Dy 
 
 -Sis* D^S? ^^xn 38 : "Tj-iai Sp^Nj xS DiDxri ^Sx* 
 n-^VN{p ^5*1 SpiiS h'yn nny -rj^S^ '^nN'i-nsn p'p-i 
 
 pS3 npf.i 40 : ni^;n nnp \s*nn pSs-DV cpSs 
 ^n^j -ii J iriN* n^\s; D'X'Si uhh^h nW;i is*^^ npa 
 Nnn h^^ niD3 pSin cr^^-n.^ pSa n\^^) npin? 
 
 : Dm n^^-3 Dtrb 
 
 CHAPTER XXIIL 
 
 SK^^K^^- 2^?n p%h n^r^s n-pN*! 3 : rii]^^ 
 ^;Nn*-n^ "in^i 'h^^p^ ^P! '^^'^'iT ''?^^'^ ^^S^'l 
 
 AT : • V V v: |jT-- ■ (v |vv- ]f,^ • u- • : 
 
5 NUMBERS XXII. 23—84. 
 
 ^^ni "^^in-jp jinxn Dni iT3 nsiS^ i^'in") "r^ii^ 
 nby*j 24 : "^■^.'jn rrnbnS jinxn-nx by^ps "tj»i nnb'? 
 : np ^n:5i np ni2 D^pnsn Siyc'tjs nin; •^j.x'po 
 n^pn-'^ws* I'n'pni nin*^ ij^Sib-™ ]ihxn Nnni25 
 sjDV;! 2G : nnbriS ^iDh n^jpn-^x ny^? S^rns j^n'pni 
 
 pHNn-nx "Tip. DuSs 5^x-nnp. qS? nnri pnni 
 bySnS n!:xm nnxn "a-nx nin* nns*i 28 ♦ SpQ3 
 
 ^5Jx hhr^ nvhThi^ jihxn nzisni ^0 ♦ ir^riJinn nny 
 
 • |T -: T : • V I T |T V - I I- : — : vt - 
 
 vSx -)^x»i 32 : V5x^ ^r\W') I'jo'), n^2 nsW 
 
 : ^-n^iS -Tj-^.^n LDn;-^3 [Db'S ^nxv^^ '^jjx njn 
 '"S^^* c',^^1 ^S^ rnr \ii|5^ Dri] pnsn ''•;Nirii33 
 J'n;™ nniwsv wn • n;nx-D4 r\r\v ^3 ^kt: nntpi 
 
NUMBERS XXII. 10—22. 4 
 
 n^n 11 : ^S« nStr nsnib *nS^ nb^-p pS^i D^nSxn 
 
 n^x*i 12 : vri^ij.i 13 cn'pn'p Spix hii^ in^s* '^"nn|"^ 
 
 n.b^-Sx n^xh np35 by^3 Dpn is : xn "^jn^ 'p 
 : D5^y "^SnS ^nn'p nh] [nd ^5 D^v^ix-Sst ^iD^p p% 
 qv'pB [Np in^ws*^! pSrSi^ ixn*^ i^xi^ n.b* b^pn 14 
 D^nn onb' nW pSa niy p)d;i is : ^iddv "^'Sn 
 nb "h n^iS*i Dr^;i-':)x !ixn»i 16 : n|pxxp onsp:] 
 -^3 17 : ^^'px ijSnp y;!3n i^rbx "liisV't? p5l '"^^^ 
 
 T : I A.- v: jv V- •• J- V -: •> : : I : v . •«•• 
 
 n^xh DyS? pn 18 : nn nyn ns* 4 nng X3 
 DHTi p]D3 in^n nS^: pSn Vin^-Dw^ p^n nny-'^x 
 
 t: I vjv V •• J : ) iT r i- 1 v • • I t t j- ; - 
 
 ix HBbp nmh ^^l'^^5 nin; ^'rriN* hnrS Sbis* x'p 
 nriNi nSfpn Dns^-D^ nn Ni litr nm'i 19 : n^-f;i 
 cvh^^ ' D'ri'^^f ^^^-r. 20 : ^jpr na"! nin; tip*-nD 
 
 \k • t-:,t jt |: ^|: • • .a- t : ■ 
 
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 •^ix^;^ :ikm x^n ^'pin-^s b^nSx p)x-nnp. 22 : nxi^ 
 ^Jtri i:hx-S*; n^h ^iini iS jDb'S "ni^a nin^ 
 
NUMBERS XXII. TO XXIV. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 p.T-^ '^?.V^ ^^"^^ ^^51?-? '^^CI-?- ^.^1^' '/"•? ^^^''•l ^ 
 Sx'ib': nsrr-i^N;-^^ nj< "lisv'l^ rW ^^?.1 ^ : inn; 
 fpn KP-nn ^3 njs\p D^n ^^sJ? nxi2: n>n 3 ♦ nbi^^S 
 ]np ]:\\Pr^i^ nxi^ n?pisn 4 ♦ h^-p] ;;? -i ;:3!: :3^iD 
 nx nii^n ^nSs ^rnh\3p-^3-n« ^nj-^n ^^rh] nm 
 :Ninn nifi nxia'p ':\h^ niDr|5 p!?;i^ nnbn pv 
 -hv n^wv; nnin3 nij^3-||i Dy'pii-':'^ d^dn^d n'pc:**! s 
 
 :^Sdp ip'^ x^n) p>s:n yv-^i^ '^^P ^l^H on^'^-p 
 kin mr'^ njrr D^n-n^i '^-nnx Nrnp'p nny) 6 
 'r\vni '2 p.xn-p ^3^'l^Nn ii-ns; ^^^wS \S^,n* *^)bp 
 \yp) ^ibn 7 : nxr ni<n ni^Nn ^^nhx: "Tjnnjj^-nc'x riX 
 rnin ci^3-Sx '^iS*nn dt3 D^pppi \np ];pn nvNi:: 
 nS^^n hb ^^h nnhi^ n-p.^n. § : pSn nnn v^'px 
 5i3^n ^Sn* nin^ nsi^ n:^*K3 nni crnN* ^nhc*m 
 
 < ; I'" AT • KT : J - : Sv -;|- t t v ; v ■:■ |* -:i- 
 
HEBREW TEXT. 
 
 NUMBERS XXII. to XXIV. 
 
 •jnc*'^ niD 'K'9? nbri 
 
 (xxiii. 10). 
 
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INDEX 
 
 PAGF. 
 24 
 
 cton's Modern Cookery 
 
 'Ipine Club Map of Switzerland 
 
 Ipine Guide (The) 
 
 [moss jurisprudence 
 
 I Primer of the Constitution 
 
 hidersons Strength of Materials ....• 
 
 Ir milages Childhood of the English 
 
 I Nation 
 
 k rmstrong's Organic Chemistry 
 
 {ImoMs (Dr.) Christian Life 
 
 -Lectures on Modern History 2 
 
 — Miscellaneous Works 8 
 
 — School Sermons i7 
 
 Sermons ^7 
 
 17 
 
 . (T.) Manual of English Literature 
 Beowulf 
 
 \rnotfs Elements of Physics 
 
 [\telier (The) du Lys 
 
 jMherstone Priory ••• 
 
 kutumn Holidays of a Country Parson 
 \Ayres Treasury of Bible Knowledge .., 
 
 iBacow'i Essays, h-j Abbott 
 
 by Whately 
 
 Life and Letters, by Speddlng 
 
 Works 
 
 \Bailcys Festus, a Poem 
 
 Bain's Mental and Moral Science.., 
 
 ,. on the Senses and Intellect 
 
 '.. . Emotions and Will 
 
 \Bakers Two Works on Ceylon 
 
 \Ball's Guide to the Central Alps .. 
 
 1 Guide to the Western Alps.. 
 
 -Guide to the Eastern Alps .. 
 
 ll Barry on Railway Appliances 
 Barrv L^ BraimocUs Lectures on Raihsays 
 
 and Locomotives • •••"••• 
 
 ficaconsfieW s (Lord) Novels and Tales ... 
 
 Beckers Charicles and Gallus 
 
 Beeslys Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla 
 
 Blacks Treatise on Brewing 
 
 Blackhy's German-English Dictionary 
 
 Blaine s Rural Sports 
 
 Bloxam's Metals VVA","'- 
 
 Bolland and Langs Aristotle s Pohtics 
 
 Boultbee on 39 Articles •••••■.••"" 
 
 Bournes Catechism of the Steam Engine . 
 
 . Handbook of Steam Engine 
 
 Treatise on the Steam Engine ... 
 
 Improvements in the same 
 
 Bawdier s Family Shakespeare ••••••••—•- 
 
 Bramley-Moore s Six Sisters of the VaUeys . 
 
 Brandes Dictionary of Science, Literature, 
 
 and Art 
 
 PAUB 
 
 Brassev's Voyage of the Sunbeam 19 
 
 Browne's Exposition of the 39 Articles lO 
 
 Broionin^s Modern England, 1820-1875 20 
 Buckles History of Civilisation 
 Posthumous Remains 
 
 Buckton's Health in the House 
 
 Bull's Hints to Mothers "•■•■••■, 
 
 Maternal Management of Children . 
 
 BtilUngcr's Lexicon to the Greek Testament 
 
 Burgomaster's Family (The) 
 
 ^//r^c'i Vicissitudes of Families 
 
 23 
 
 Cabinet Lawyer 
 
 Campbell's Norway -^ 
 
 Capes' s Age of the Antomnes 4 
 
 Eariy Roman Empire •••• 4 
 
 Carpenter on Mesmerism, Spirituahsm, &c. 7 
 
 Catess Biographical Dictionary •• 5 
 
 and Woodward's Encyclopaedia ... 3 
 
 Caylcvs Iliad of Homer •:•-•";•/ % 
 
 Changed Aspects of Unchanged 1 ruths ... o 
 
 Chesney's Indian Polity •• 
 
 Modern Military Biography 2 
 
 Waterloo Campaign 3 
 
 Colenso on Moabite Stone &c. •••••••""•"• ^9 
 
 -5 Pentateuch and Book of Joshua. 19 
 
 Commonplace Philosopher in Town and ^ 
 
 Country ^ 
 
 Comtes Positive Polity g 
 
 Cotigreve's Politics of Aristotle •r;,""4;"";V ° 
 Coiington's Translation of Virg;il s .Eneid 2| 
 
 1 Miscellaneous Writings » 
 
 Contanseau's Two French Dictionaries ... 9 
 Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles 
 
 of St. Paul ,""d'V.VI 
 
 Cordery's French Revolution to the Battle 
 
 of Waterloo ^;:'"'\\"^"■V" % 
 
 Counsel and Comfort from a City Pulpit... 
 
 Cox's (G. W.) Aryan Mythology 
 
 Athenian Empure 
 
 — Crusades •••" 
 
 .^ General History of Greec« 
 
 Greeks and Persians 
 
 . . History of Greece 
 
 , - Tales of Ancient Greece ... 
 
 Crei<'htons Age of Ehzabeth ••••• • 
 
 ^^'■^ Enc-land a Continental Power 
 
 . ^Tudors and the Reformation 
 
 Cresys Encyclopaedia of Civil Engineenng 
 
 Critical Esslys of a Country Parson ^| 
 
 Crookes's Anthracen 
 
 Chemical Analyses *4 
 
 Dyeing and Calico-pnnting 10 
 
 16 
 
J^£fV WORKS published by LONGMANS 6- CO. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CuUey's Handbook of Telegraphy 15 
 
 Curteis's Macedonian Empire 4 
 
 D' Aubigni' 5 Reformation 18 
 
 De Caisne and Le Maout's Botany 13 
 
 De Tocqueville s Democracy in America... 5 
 
 Dobsofi on the Ox 23 
 
 Dove's Law of Storms 10 
 
 ZJ^Wir/rj^ History of Taxes 6 
 
 Doyle's {R.) Fairyland 14 
 
 Drummonds Jewish Messiah 17 
 
 Eastlake's Hints on Household Taste 15 
 
 Edwards's Rambles among the Dolomites 20 
 
 Year in Western France 19 
 
 Elements of Botany 13 
 
 Ellicott's Commentary on Ephesians 17 
 
 Galatians 17 
 
 Pastoral Epist. 17 
 
 Philippians,&c. 17 
 
 Thessalonians . 17 
 
 Lectures on Life of Christ 17 
 
 Elsa, a Tale of the Tyrolean Alps 21 
 
 Epochs of Ancient History 4 
 
 Modem History 4 
 
 Evans (J.) Ancient Stone Implements ... 13 
 
 (A.J.) Bosnia 19 
 
 Ewalds History of Israel 18 
 
 Antiquities of Israel 18 
 
 Fairbairn' s Application of Cast and 
 
 Wrought Iron to Building... 16 
 
 Information for Engineers 16 
 
 Life 4 
 
 Farrar's Chapters on Language 8 
 
 Families of Speech 8 
 
 /^;«/aJ(7«'i Judicial System 24 
 
 Fitzwygram on Horses and Stables 22, 
 
 Forbes s Two Years in Fiji 19 
 
 /^raOT//,?«' J (Bishop) Life 5 
 
 /v-awrtVj Fishing Book 22 
 
 Freshfield's Italian Alps 19 
 
 A/-o«£f«'j English in Ireland 2 
 
 History of England 2 
 
 Short Studies 7 
 
 Gairdner's Houses of Lancaster and York 4 
 
 Ganot's Elementary Physics 11 
 
 Natural Philosophy 11 
 
 Gardiner's Buckingham and Charles 2 
 
 Personal Government of Charles I. 2 
 
 First Two Stuarts 4 
 
 Thirty Years' War 4 
 
 G^f/?'^/?' J Church and State 6 
 
 German Home Life 8 
 
 Gilbert b' Churchill's Dolomites 20 
 
 Girdlestone s Bible Synonyms 17 
 
 Goldziher's Hebrew Mythology 17 
 
 Goodeve's Mechanics 12 
 
 Mechanism 12 
 
 Grant's Ethics of Aristotle 6 
 
 Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson 8 
 
 Gr^^i'/Zir' J Journal 2 
 
 Griffin's Algebra and Trigonometry 12 
 
 Griffith's Behind the Veil 18 
 
 Grohtnan's Tyrol and the Tyrolese 19 
 
 pack! 
 Grove s Correlation of Physical Forces ... 
 
 Grove (F. C.) The Frosty Caucasus 19; 
 
 Gwilt's Encyclopaedia of Architecture 15 : 
 
 Hale's Fall of the Stuarts 4 
 
 Hartley on \\\Q K\r 10 i 
 
 Hartwig's Aerial World 12 I 
 
 Polar World 12 
 
 Sea and its Living Wonders ... 
 
 Subterranean World 13' 
 
 Tropical World 
 
 Haughton s Amma\ Mechanics 
 
 i^aywar^'jBiographicaland Critical Essays 5 
 
 Heer's Primeval World of Switzerland 13 
 
 //«««'j Life and Works, by Stigand 4 
 
 Helmholtz on. Tor\^ 11 
 
 Helmholiz's Scientific Lectures 11 
 
 ^if;«5/(fy.f Trees and Shrubs la 1 
 
 //^^rj^y^ff/' J Outlines of Astronomy id', 
 
 Hinchliff's Over the Sea and Far Away ... 19 
 
 Hobsons Amateur Mechanic 15 
 
 Hoskold's Engineer's Valuing Assistant ... 15 
 
 Howorth's Mongols 
 
 Hullalis History of Modern Music 13 
 
 Transition Period 13 
 
 Hume's'EssdLys 7 
 
 Treatise on Human Nature 7 
 
 Ihne's Rome to its Capture 4 
 
 History of Rome 3 
 
 Indian Alps 19 
 
 Ingelow's Poems 21 
 
 Jameson's Legends of the Saints & Martyrs 15 
 
 Legends of the Madonna 15 
 
 Legends of the Monastic Orders 15 
 
 Legends of the Saviour 15 
 
 Jenkins Electricity and Magnetism 12 
 
 Jerrold's Life of Napoleon 2 
 
 Johnston's Geographical Dictionary g 
 
 Jonson's (Ben) Every Man in his Humour 7 
 
 Jukes's Types of Genesis 18 
 
 on Second Death .- 18 
 
 Kalisch's Commentary on the Bible 17 
 
 A'«Vy4'j Evidence of Prophecy 17 
 
 Kerl's Metallurgy, by Crookes and Rohrig. 16 
 
 Kingzett's Alkali Trade 14 
 
 Animal Chemistry 14 
 
 Kirby 2inA. Spence' s Y.Vi\omo\ogy 12 
 
 Kirk?nan's Philosophy 6« 
 
 Knatchbull- Hugessen s Whispers from 
 
 Fairy-Land ... ao 
 
 Higgledy-Piggledy 20 
 
 Kuenen's Prophets and Prophecy in Israel 17 
 
 Landscapes, Churches, <S:c 8 
 
 Lathain's Enghsh Dictionaries 8 
 
 Handbook of English Language 8 
 
 Lawrence' s Early Hanoverians 4 
 
 Lecky's History of European Morals 3 
 
 Rationalism 3 
 
 Leaders of Public Opinion 5 
 
 Lefroy's Bermudas 19 
 
 Leisure Hours in Town 8 
 
 Lessons of Middle Age 8 
 
NEW WORKS published by LONGMANS (^^ CO. 27 
 
 rwes's Biographical History of Philosophy 
 
 ■jvis on Authority 
 
 iddelland Scott's Greek-English Lexicons 
 dley and Moore's Treasury of Botany ... 
 
 loyd's Magnetism 
 
 -Wave-Theory of Light 
 
 iondon Series of English Classics 
 
 ongmati's (F. W.) Chess Openings 
 
 Frederick the Great ... 
 
 • German Dictionary ... 
 
 (W.) Edward the Third.... 
 
 Lectures on History 
 
 England 
 
 • Old and New St. Paul's 
 
 of 
 
 '^udon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture ... 16 
 
 — Gardening 16 
 
 Plants 13 
 
 Lubbock's Origin of Civilisation 13 
 
 Ludlow s AmmctM. War 4 
 
 Lyra Germanica i^ 
 
 Macaulay's (Lord) Clive, by Bowcn 
 Essays 
 
 . History of England ... 
 
 Lays of Ancient Rome 14, 
 
 . Life and Letters 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings 
 
 Speeches 
 
 Works 
 
 . Writings, Selections from 
 
 McCulLucIis Dictionary of Commerce 
 
 Macfarrcn on Musical Harmony 
 
 Mackod's Economical Philosophy 
 
 Theory and Practice of Banking 
 
 Elements of Banking 
 
 Mademoiselle Mori 
 
 Mulct's Annals of the Road 
 
 Manning's Mission of the Holy Spirit 
 
 Marloii'cs Doctor Faustus, by Wagner ... 
 
 Marshall's Physiology 
 
 Marshman's Life of Havelock 
 
 Martineau's Christian Life 
 
 Hours of Thought 
 
 Hymns. 
 
 Maunders Biographical Treasury 
 
 Geographical Treasury 
 
 . ■ Historical Treasury 
 
 Scientific and Literary Treasury 
 
 — Treasury of Knowledge 
 
 Treasury of Natural History ... 
 
 Maxwells Theory of Heat 
 
 May's History of Democracy 
 
 History of England 
 
 Melville's Digby Grand 
 
 General Bounce 
 
 Gladiators 
 
 Good for Nothing 
 
 . Holmby House 
 
 . Interpreter 
 
 . Kate Coventry 
 
 . Queen's Maries 
 
 Memorials of Chirlottc \VilUa7ns-Wynn 
 
 Mendelssohn's Letters 
 
 Merivales Fall of the Roman Republic ... 
 
 • General History of Rome 
 
 . Roman Triumvirates 
 
 . Romans under the Empire 
 
 MerrifielSs Arithmetic and Mensuration... 
 
 TAGE 
 
 Miles on Horse's Foot and Horse Shoeing 23 
 
 on Horse's Teeth and Stables 23 
 
 Mill (J.) on the Mind 6 
 
 Dissertations & Discussions 6 
 
 Essays on Religion 17 
 
 Hamilton's Philosophy 6 
 
 (J. S.) Liberty 5 
 
 Political Economy 5 
 
 Representative Government ... 5 
 
 System of Logic 6 
 
 Unsettled Questions 5 
 
 Utilitarianism 5 
 
 Autobiography 5 
 
 J////f/-'j Elements of Chemistry 14 
 
 Inorganic Chemistry 12 
 
 Mitchell's Manual of Assaying 16 
 
 .1////^//'^ Lycidas, by y<r/-rrtw 21 
 
 Paradise Regained, by Jerram ... 7 
 
 Modern Novelist's Library 21 
 
 Monsell's Spiritual Songs 18 
 
 Moore's Irish Melodies, Illustrated Edition 14 
 
 Lalla Rookh, Illustrated Edition.. 14 
 
 Morell's Mental Philosophy 6 
 
 Moreton on Horsebreaking 22 
 
 Mozart's Life, bv Nohl 4 
 
 MUller's Chips from a German Workshop. 8 
 
 Science of Language 8 
 
 Science of Religion 3 
 
 Neison on the Moon 10 
 
 Ncvilc's Horses and Riding 22 
 
 New Testament, Illustrated Edition 15 
 
 Nicols's Puzzle of Life i3 
 
 Northcott's Lathes & Turning 1 5 
 
 O' Conor s Commentary on Hebrews 18 
 
 —Romans 18 
 
 St. John 18 
 
 Osborn's Islam 3 
 
 Ow^«'j Evenings widi the Skeptics 7 
 
 (Prof.) Comparative Anatomy and 
 
 Physiology of Vertebrate Animals 12 
 
 Packe's Guide to the Pyrenees 20 
 
 /"izr^yj Origines Romanse 21 
 
 Reges et Heroes 21 
 
 Pattison's Casaubon 5 
 
 Payen's Industrial Chemistry i5 
 
 Pewtners Comprehensive Specifier 24 
 
 Pierce •< Chess Problems 24 
 
 Pole's Game of Whist 23 
 
 Pope's Select Poems, by Arnold 7 
 
 Powell's Early England 20 
 
 Preecc & Sivewright's Telegraphy 12 
 
 Present-Day Thoughts ^ 
 
 Proctor's Astronomical Essays 10 
 
 Moon »° 
 
 Orbs around Us ^o 
 
 ■ Other Worlds than Ours 10 
 
 Saturn •— • ^° 
 
 Scientific Essays (Two Senes) ... 12 
 
 Sun »° 
 
 . Transits of Venus ^o 
 
 Two Star Atlases ^o 
 
 Universe ^° 
 
 Protherds'DQl.ionX.ioTX. ••• * 
 
 Public Schools Atlas of Ancient Geography 9 
 Atlas of Modern Geography 9 
 
28 
 
 JV£JF WOJ^KS published by LONGMANS 6- CO. 
 
 Rawlinsons Parthia 3 
 
 Sassanians 3 
 
 Recreations of a Country Parson 8 
 
 iftfi/g^raw'j Dictionary of Artists 14 
 
 Reeves Residence in Vienna and Berlin ... 19 
 
 Reilly' s Map of Mont Blanc 20 
 
 Monte Rosa 20 
 
 Reresbys Memoirs S 
 
 Reyiiardso7i s Down the Road 22 
 
 Rich's Dictionary of Antiquities 9 
 
 Rivers's Rose Amateur's Guide 13 
 
 Rogers's Eclipse of Faith 17 
 
 Defence of Eclipse of Faith 17 
 
 Essays. 5 
 
 Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and 
 
 Phrases 8 
 
 Ronald's Fly-Fisher's Entomology 22 
 
 ^(Wfi?c'j Outlines of Civil Procedure 6 
 
 Rothschild's Israelites 18 
 
 Rowley's Rise of the People 20 
 
 Settlement of the Constitution ... 20 
 
 Sandars' s ']\xst\ma.n' 5 Institutes 6 
 
 ^aw/J^y'j Sparta and Thebes 4 
 
 Savile on Apparitions 8 
 
 on Primitive Faith 17 
 
 Schelleti s Spectrum Analysis 10 
 
 Scott's Lectures on the Fine Arts 14 
 
 Poems 14 
 
 Seaside Musing 8 
 
 Seebohnis O.xford Reformers of 1498 3 
 
 Protestant Revolution 4 
 
 .Sew/«//'5 History of France 2 
 
 Passing Thoughts on Religion ... 18 
 
 ■ Preparation for Communion 18 
 
 Questions of the Day 18 
 
 Self-Examination for Confirmation 18 
 
 Stories and Tales 21 
 
 Thoughts for the Age 18 
 
 ^Ae/Z^yj Workshop Appliances 12 
 
 •SAcr/'j Church History 3 
 
 Smith's [Sydney) Essays 7 
 
 Wit and Wisdom 7 
 
 (Dr. R. A.) Air and Rain 10 
 
 ■ (R. B.) Rome and Carthage 4 
 
 Southey's Poetical Works 21 
 
 Stanley's History of British Birds 13 
 
 ^^(r/A««'j Ecclesiastical Biography 5 
 
 Stonehenge on IhQ'Dog 22 
 
 on the Greyhound 23 
 
 Stoney on Strains 16 
 
 ^/a^iJ/j Early Plantagenets 4 
 
 Empire under the House of 
 
 Hohenstaufen 4 
 
 Sunday Afternoons, by A. K. H.B 8 
 
 Supernatural Religion 18 
 
 Swinbourne's Picture Logic 6 
 
 Tancock's England during the Wars, 
 
 1778-1820 20 
 
 Ta^/orj History of India 2 
 
 Ancient and Modern History ... 4 
 
 (Jeremy) Works, edited hy Eden 18 
 
 Text-Books of Science..,, , 12 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Thomi's Botany ij 
 
 Thomson's Laws of Thought 7' 
 
 Thorpe's Quantitative Analysis 12 
 
 Thorpe and Muir's Quahtative Analysis ,,. 
 
 Tilden s Chemical Philosophy 12, 141 
 
 Todd on Parliamentary Government 2 j 
 
 Trench's Realities of Irish Life 
 
 Trollope's Barchester Towers 
 
 Warden 
 
 Twiss's Law of Nations 6| 
 
 TyndaU's American Lectures on Light ... 11' 
 
 Diamagnetism x\ 
 
 Fragments of Science ri' 
 
 Heat a Mode of Motion 
 
 Lectures on Electricity 11 
 
 Lectures on Light n 
 
 Lectures on Sound 11 
 
 Lessons in Electricity 
 
 Molecular Physics 11 
 
 Unawares 2i 
 
 Unwin's Machine Design 
 
 Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, 
 
 and Mines 16 
 
 Vaitghan's TrlAeni, Crescent, and Cross... 18 
 
 Walker on "Whisi 23 
 
 IFi/^6i/f'j History of England 
 
 Warburton's Edward the Third 4 
 
 Watson's Geometry 12 
 
 H^(Z«/j Dictionary of Chemistry 14 
 
 Webb's Objects for Common Telescopes ... 10 
 
 Weill hold's Experimental Physics 11 
 
 Wellington s Life, by Gleig 5 
 
 Whately's English Synonymes 8 
 
 Logic 6 
 
 Rhetoric 6 
 
 White's Four Gospels in Greek 18 
 
 and Riddles Latin Dictionaries ... 9 
 
 Whitworth Measuring Machine (The) 15 
 
 M^f/foc^j'j Sea-Fisherman 22 
 
 H^z7//a;«/j Aristotle's Ethics 6 
 
 Wi inch's Popular Tables 24 
 
 Wood' s{].G.)Bih\eAmmvi\s 12 
 
 Homes without Hands ... 12 
 
 Insects at Home 12 
 
 • Insects Abroad...., 12 
 
 Out of Doors 12 
 
 Strange Dwellings 12 
 
 (J. T.) Ephesus 19 
 
 Wood-ward's Geology 13 
 
 I-I^a//'j History of Prussia 2 
 
 Yonge's English-Greek Lexicons 9 
 
 Horace 21 
 
 Youatt on the. Hog 22 
 
 on the Horse 22 
 
 Zellers Plato 3 
 
 Socrates 3 
 
 Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics... 3 
 
 Zimmern s Lessing 4 
 
 Schopenhauer 4 
 
Date Due 
 
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