The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 332

and the " Sceptre " of the following clalllle8 ; Destroyer of all the bee.then, i. e. of all who he speaks wholly as e. prophet, e.nd mee.ns were not J ewe. It is only in the New Testa- the.t his inner gaze is fixed upon such e.n ono, ment that the iron sceptre with which he with full assure.nee that he exists in the was to dash in pieces the heathen (Ps. ii. 9) co1msels of God, but with clear recognition becomes the pastoral ste.ff wherewith he of the fa.et that his actual coming is yet in shepherds them (Rev. ii. 27-71'0,µav,i, after the far future. There shall come II Star out the Septuagint, which has here misread the of Ja.cob. Septuagint, avar,X,i ,forpov. It text). The prophecy was that Messiah may quite as well be-rendered by the present; should destroy the heathen ; the fulfilment Balaam simply utters what passes before his that he destroyed not them, but their heathen- inward vision. The ste.r is e. natural and com- ism (cf. e g. Pa. cxli.x. 6-9 with James v. mon poetic symbol of e.n ill1111trio1111, or, e.s 20). we say, "brilliant," personage, e.nd BB such Ver. 18.-Seir also shall be a possession recurs me.nytimes in Scripture(cf. Job =viii. for his enemies. Seir (Gen. xxxii. 3), or 7; Isa.. xiv. 12; Dan. viii. 10; Matt. xxiv. Mount Seir (Gen. xxxvi. 8), was the old name, 29 ; Philip. ii. 15 ; Rev. i. 20 ; ii. 28). The still retained e.s an alternative, of Edom. It celebrated Jewish fanatic called himself Bar- is uncertain whether the rendering " for his cochab, "son of the Ste.r," in allusion to (i. e. Edom's) enemies" is correct. The this prophecy. A Sceptre shall rise out of Hebrew is simply , 1;i.1~, which may sto.nd in Israel. This further defines the " star'' e.s apposition to Edom and Seir, "his enemies," e. ruler of men, for the sceptre is used in the.t i. e. the enemies of Israel. So the Septuagint, sense in the dying prophecy of Ja.cob (Gen. 'Haav ;, •x~poc abrov. Shall do valiantly, xlix. 10), with which Balaam we.s evidently or, "shall be prosperous" (cf. Deut. viii. acquainted. Accordingly the Septuagint has 17; Ruth iv. 11). here ava11r;,11,rai a11~pw7roc. Shall smite Ver. 19.--Shall come he that shall have the comers of Moab. Rather, "the two dominion. ''!")1· Literally, " one shall corners" (dual), or" the two sides of MoBb," rule," the subject being indefinite. Of the i. e. shall crush Moe.b on either side. And oity. i 1v.12; not apparently out of any city destroy all the children of Sheth. In Jer. xlviii. 45, where this prophecy is in a manner in particular, but "out of any hostile city." quoted, the word ij:?7j;! (qarqar, destroy) is The expression implies not only conquest, but tote.I destruction of the foe. -- altered into ij,i~ (iiadqod, crown of the Ver. 20.-He looked on A.m!Llek. This head). This raises e. very curious and inter- looking must have been an inward vision, esting question e.s to the 11110 me.de by the because the haunts of the Amalekites were prophets of the earlier Scriptures, but it far away (see on Gen. xxxvi. 12; Exod. gives no authority for an a.Iteration of the xvii. 8 ; Numb. xiv. 25, 45). The drat of text. The expression n~ 1J:;I has been the nations. Amnlek we.s in no sense e. variously rendered. The Jewis'h comment- lee.ding nation, nor was it a very ancient ators, followed by the Septuagint (71'0 vrac nation. It we.s indeed the very first of the 11ioilc 1:;,~) and the older versions, nnderste.nd nations to attack Israel, but it is a most it to mean the sons of Seth, the son of arbitrary treatment of the words to under- Adam, i, e. e.ll mankind. Many modern stand them in that sense. The prophet commentators, however, te.ke nl(' as a con- Amos (vi. 1) uses the same expression of the traction of n~l;i (Lam. iii. 47-" desola- Jewish aristocracy of his day. As it was in no better position than Amo.lek to cln.im it in tion "), and read "sons of confusion," o.s any true sense, we can but suppose that in equivalent to the unruly neighbours and either csse there is a reference to the vain- relations of Israel This, however, is ex- ~lorious ve.untings of the people threatened ; tremely dubio1111 in itself, for n~ nowhere it would be quite in keoping with the Be- occurs in this sense, and derives no support dawin chnractor if Amo.lek gave himself out from Jer. xlviii. 46. It is true the.t n~ 1).:;i be "the first of nations." is there replaced by Ii~~ 1'-:;I, "sons of Ver. 21.-He looked on the Xenites. Thi.3 =hal is excessively obscure, for both the tumult," but then this very verse affords the subject of it and the drift of it a.re disputed. clearest evidence that the prophet felt no On the one hand, the Konites are mentioned hesitation in altering the text of Scripture among the Can,umitish tribes that were to to suit his own inspired purpose. If it be be dispossessed, in Gen. xv. 19; on the other, true the.t ij;!7k! will not bear the meaning thoy e.ro identified with the Miuio.nitish tribe given tc it in the Targums of" reign over," to which llobab and Raguel belonged, in still there is no insuperable difficulty in the Judges i. ~6, and apparently in 1 Snm. xv. common rendering. Jewish prophecy, from 6 (see on eh. x. 29). It he.s been supposed beginning to end, contemplated the Messiah that the friendly Kenites hnd by this time !Ill the Cop.queror, the Subduer, and even the loft the camp of Israel e.nd established them•  818 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [cH. x:xrr. 41-xxtv,