The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 331

Ver. 7.-lle shall pour the water, or, Bleaaed ls he that blesseth thee, &c. In these •' the water shall overflow." Out of his words Bala.am seems to refer to the terms of Balalc's first messa.,,,"ll (eh. mi. 6). Far from buckets. l '7'll is the dual, "his two buckets." b:ing affected by bl~ngs and cnrsings from The im&g!),•f~iliar enough to one who lived without, Israel waa 1teelf a source of olessing in an irrigated land, is of one carrying two ~rsing to othel"B e.ceordingas theytrea.ted buckets on the ends of a pole which e.re so full as to rnn over as he goes. And his Ver. 12.-Spake I not also. This was seed .. m many waters. It is uncertain in altogether true. BalQ&m had enough of the what sense the word" seed" is nseJ. It may true prophet abont him not only to act with be an ime.ge a.s simple as the last, of seed strict fidelity, as far as the letter of the com• sown either by or e.ctuallynpon many waters mand went, but also to behave with great (ef. Eccles. ri. 1), and so securing a plentiful dignity towards Bals.k. and safe return ; or it may st,and for the seed, Ver. 14.-I will advertiae thee. 'lln''~ i. e. the posterity, of Israel, which should haa properly the meaning "advise " (Sep• grow np amidst many blessings (Isa.. :tliv. 4). tuagmt, tt1>µ{3011XEottw), but it seems to have The former seems most in keeping here. here the Mme subordinate sense of giving liil king shall be higher than Agag. information which "advise " has with na. Rather, "let his king be liigher than Age.g." The Vnlga.te here has followed the surmise The name A.gag (l,tt, the fiery one) does not of the Jewish commentators, who saw nothing occnr e.gain e:rcept as the name of the king m Balaam bnt the arch-enemy of their race, of Ameiek whom Sanl conquered and Samuel and has actually altered the text into " dabo slew (I Sam. xv.) ; yet it ma.y sa.fely be consilium qnid populns tuns popnlo huic IISlllllD.ed that it was the official title of all faciat" (cf. eh. DXI., 16). the kings of Amalek, resembling in this Ver. 16. -Knew the knowledge of the ".!.bimelech" and "Pharaoh." Here it Most Blgh. Se_Ptna.gint, hwrriiµwo,: l,ritt• seems to stand for the dynasty and the rfil'•/V -irapd 'l',purrov. This expression alone na.tion of the Amalekites, and there i8 no distinguishes this introduction of Bala.am'e reason to Stlppose that any reference was ma:ikal from the former one (vere. 8, 4), mtended to a.ny particular individual or but it is difticnlt to say that it really adds event in the diste.n t future. The " king" anything to onr understanding of his mental of Israel here spoken of is certainly not Sanl state. If we a.sk when Bala.am had received or a.ny other of the kings, but God him.self the revela.tion which he now proceeds to in his character as temporal Rnler of Israel ; communicate, it wonld seem most natural to and the " kingdom" is the kingdom of reply that it was made known to him when heaven a.a set forth by we.y of anticipa.tion in "the Spirit of God came upon him," and that the polity and order of the chosen race. As Balak's anger had interrupted him in the a fact, Israel had afterwards e. viaibl, king midst of his maakal, or possibly he had kept who overthrew A gag, bnt their having such it back, as too distasteful to his patron, a king was &lien to the mind of God, and until he ea.w that he had nothing more to dne to a distinct falling away from national expect from that quarter. faith, and therefore could find no pl.e.ce in Ver. 17.-I shall see him, but not now: this prophecy. I shall behold him, but not nigh. Rather, Ver. 8.-And shall break their bones. " I see him, but not now: I behold him, but C')t (cf. Ezek. rnii. 84) seems to mean not near" (U~~~~ ... ~~t(it( exactly as in " Cl'llllh" or "smash." The Septuagint has eh. :uiii. 9). Bala.am does not mean to say '"l''u).u,, "shall suck out," i. e. the marrow, that he expected himself to eee at any future bnt the word does not seem to bea.r this timo the mystelions BeinJ of whom he meaning. Pieroe them through with hll speaks, who is identical with the "Sto.r" OH. XXII. 41-XXIV.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 317