The Mystery of Esau and Ephraim

“And now, behold, I go unto my people. Come therefore, and I will warn thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days,” Numbers 24:14;

— these Words, prophecised by Balaam, especially in regards to the house of Jacob, “in the latter days,” are prophecies for our times!

Numbers 21

¹ And when King Arad the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies, then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners. — these Canaanites were the Amalekites; for the Targum of Jonathan says “And Amalek, who had dwelt in the south, and changed, and came and reigned in Arad,” who dwelt in the Negeb, that is, the south;

² And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, “If Thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” — Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord; made to feel their own weakness, they implored the aid of Heaven, and, in anticipation of it, devoted the cities of this king to future destruction;

³ And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. And he called the name of the place Hormah [that is, Utter Destruction]. — these Canaanites could be Amalekites, as verse one of the Targum of Jonathan says;

— and he called the name of the place Hormah; which before was called Zephath, and it seems to have its name from various disasters which happened at this place; as the defeat of the Israelites by the Amalekites, Numbers 14:45, and here of the Canaanites by the Israelites, and afterwards of the inhabitants of this place by Judah and Simeon, Judges 1:17

⁴ And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. — by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom; which lay by it, and from whence it had the name of the Red sea, Edom signifying red; and by the way of that the Israelites must needs go, to go round that country;

— and the soul of the people was much discouraged because it was going back instead of going forward to Canaan’s land; it was a round about way they were going; when, could they have been admitted to have passed through the country of Edom, the way would have been short; 

⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.” — again, the children of Israel were wearied by a long march round the land of Edom; speaking discontentedly of what God had done for them, and distrustfully of what he would do.

⁶ And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died. — and the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people; of which there were great numbers in the deserts of Arabia, and about the Red sea;

— and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died; the same Arabian flying serpents, that their poison is so quick, that death follows before the pain can be felt, unless prevented by the grace of God.

⁷ Therefore the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people. — the severity of their punishment brough them to their senses: thus the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned;

— the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned; the severity of the scourge and the appalling extent of mortality brought them to a sense of sin, and through the intercessions of Moses, which they implored, they were miraculously healed;

⁸ And the Lord said unto Moses, “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole. And it shall come to pass that every one who is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” — a fiery serpent; that is, the figure of a serpent in brass, to be elevated on a pole or standard, which is of a fiery colour; that it might be seen at the extremities of the camp and that every bitten Israelite who looked to it might be healed;

— and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, shall live; which is very wonderful, that by looking to the figure of a serpent, men should be cured of the deadly bites; the virtue of healing could not come from the figure, but from God;

⁹ And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived. — and Moses made a serpent of brass; which was the most proper metal to make it of, that it might resemble the fiery serpents;

— and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived; God was teaching the people something about faith: it is totally illogical to think that looking at a bronze image could heal anyone from snakebite, but that is exactly what God told them to do.

¹⁰ And the children of Israel went forward, and pitched camp in Oboth.

¹¹ And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ijeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab toward the sunrising.

¹² From thence they removed, and pitched camp in the Valley of Zered.

¹³ From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the border of the Amorites; for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

¹⁴ Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord what He did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, — the Book of the Wars of the Lord; a history of wars in former times, from the times of Abraham onward perhaps, were lost;

¹⁵ and at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar and lieth upon the border of Moab.

¹⁶ And from thence they went to Beer. That is the well whereof the Lord spoke unto Moses: “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” — gather the people together, and I will give them water; for as they were now gone from the river Arnon, and they might be in want of water, though they did not murmur as they had been used to do;

¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing ye unto it! — then Israel sang; this beautiful little song was in accordance with the wants and feelings of travelling caravans, where water is an occasion both of prayer and thanksgiving.

¹⁸ The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people dug it by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves.” And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah,

¹⁹ and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

²⁰ and from Bamoth in the valley that is in the country of Moab to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon.

²¹ And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, — and Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, who were one of the nations of the Canaanites, and who were devoted to destruction, and their land designed for the people of Israel;

²² “Let me pass through thy land. We will not turn into the fields or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well, but we will go along by the king’s highway until we be past thy borders.” — let me pass through thy land; through some part of it, which would have been a shorter way to the river Jordan, over which Israel was to pass into the land of Canaan;

— the terms proposed, or things to be observed in their passage, which they would bind themselves strictly to, are the same that were made earlier to the king of Edom, Numbers 20:17.

²³ And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border. But Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness; and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. — Sihon, the rejection of their respectful and pacific message was resented; hence Sihon was defeated in battle, and Israel obtained by right of conquest the whole of the Amorite dominions.

²⁴ And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

²⁵ And Israel took all these cities; and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof. — and Israel smote him with the anathema (hatred or curse) of the Lord as Jonathan says, at the edge of the sword: slew him and his army, entirely routed them;

— and the land and cities given to the Reubenites and Gadites, who inhabited them, as their possession and inheritance, Numbers 32:2;

²⁶ For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon. — and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon; and had been in the hands of the Amorites some years;

²⁷ Therefore those who speak in proverbs say: “Come into Heshbon; let the city of Sihon be built and prepared. — Come into Heshbon; these verses appear to commemorate first the victory of the Amorites over the Moabites, and then that of the Israelites over the Amorites.

²⁸ For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. — and the lords of the high places of Arnon; their priests and worshippers in the temples.

²⁹ Woe to thee, Moab! Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh! He hath given his sons that escaped and his daughters into captivity, unto Sihon king of the Amorites. — O people of Chemosh; which was the name of their idol, who is called the abomination of the Moabites, 1 Kings 11:7;

³⁰ We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon. And we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.” — We have shot at them; either the Amorites at the Moabites, or else the Israelites at the Amorites;

³¹ Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. — the Israelites that dwelt here were the tribes of Reuben and Gad.

³² And Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites who were there. — and Moses sent to spy out Jaazer; or Jazer, as it is called in Isaiah 16:9, another city that belonged to the Amorites, and which they had taken from the Moabites;

³³ And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. — Og; a giant, an Amoritish prince, who, having opposed the progress of the Israelites, was defeated.

³⁴ And the Lord said unto Moses, “Fear him not, for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people and his land. And thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.” — for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; that is, he had determined to do it, and now promised it, and it might be depended on and looked upon as if actually done.

³⁵ So they smote him, and his sons and all his people, until there was none left him alive; and they possessed his land. — and they possessed his land; in which were sixty cities fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns; these were possessed by the half tribe of Manasseh, Deuteronomy 3:4.

Numbers 22

¹ And the children of Israel went forward, and pitched camp in the plains of Moab on this side of the Jordan by Jericho. — Israel pitched in the plains of Moab; so called from having formerly belonged to that people, though wrested from them by Sihon. It was a dry, sunken, desert region on the east of the Jordan valley, opposite Jericho;

² And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. — Balak the son of Zippor; the name Balak is presently explained, another branch of the kings of Moab at this time, but not the king from whom Sihon had wrested so much of his territory;

³ And Moab was sore afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. — and Moab was sore afraid of the people; lest they should enter into their country and do to them as they had done to Sihon and Og;

⁴ And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, “Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.

— lick up, that is, consume and utterly destroy, in which sense the fire is said to lick up the water and sacrifices, 1 Kings 18:38; the meaning is, we can expect no mercy from them, they will utterly root us out as they did the Amorites, if we do not make a stout and timely opposition;

⁵ He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the river of 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. — Balaam the son of Beor; it is interesting that the name Bela the son of Beor occurs as a king of Edom (Genesis 36:32).

— “Bela, son of Beor,” he was the first king of Edom; more details from Genesis 36:31-32

³¹ And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.

³² And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah. Genesis 36:31-32

— thus Balaam was a Edomite, or an Idumean, one from the children of Esau; Balaam was a prophet or a witchcraft from Edom;

— and just a reminder of what was prophecised by Isaac to Esau earlier:

“And upon thy sword shalt thou depend, entering at every place: yet thou shalt be supple and credulous, and be in subjection to thy brother [Jacob]; but it will be that when his sons [the children of Israel] become evil, and fall from keeping the commandments of the law, thou shalt break his yoke of servitude from off thy neck….and then will I kill Jakob my brother,” Genesis 27:40-41 Jonathan

⁶ Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse for 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.” — for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed; so high an opinion had the king of Moab of this soothsayer and diviner or of a witchcraft;

⁷ And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand, and they came unto Balaam and spoke unto him the words of Balak. — and the elders of Moab, and the elders of Midian, departed; by which they were princes and nobles; for such the elders were were sent to Balaam, which so famous a soothsayer could not be thought to be without;

⁸ And he said unto them, “Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word back, as the Lord shall speak unto me.” And the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. — the princes of Moab, and of Midian too, as is manifest from Numbers 22:7, which was needless to repeat here;

— but some thought they departed as soon as they heard Balaam say he would consult the Lord about this matter; because they concluded there would be no room to hope for success, since he would never consent to destroy a nation so dear unto him;

⁹ And God came unto Balaam and said, “What men are these with thee?” — and God came unto Balaam; in a dream probably, as he did to Abimelech and Laban, Genesis 20:3,

— What men are these with thee? this inquiry, like that addressed to Elijah, “What doest thou here?” (1Kings 19:9), or that to Hezekiah, “What said these men?

— and from whence came they unto thee?” and “What have they seen in thine house?” (Isaiah 39:3-4) was calculated to arouse the slumbering conscience of Balaam, and to open his eyes to a perception of his sin and of his danger.

¹⁰ And Balaam said unto God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying, — and Balaam said unto God; in answer to the question he put to him;

¹¹ ‘Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, who covereth the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out.’” — if Balaam had been a true prophet of God, he would have sent the messengers away and refused their request, as he must then have known that God would not curse His chosen people;

— but Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness; his corruption obscured his mind, so that he turned to God not as a mere form, but with the intention and in the hope of obtaining the consent of God to his undertaking.

¹² And God said unto Balaam, “Thou shalt not go with them. Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed.” — for they are blessed; by the Lord himself, with an irrevocable blessing, and therefore it would be vain and fruitless, as well as dangerous for him to attempt to curse them, Genesis 12:3;

— which may have a special respect to the blessing of Jacob by Isaac, and could not be reversed by the solicitations of Esau, and which descended to Jacob’s posterity, the Israelites, Genesis 27:33.

¹³ And Balaam rose up in the morning and said unto the princes of Balak, “Get you into your land, for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you.” — the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you; that is, the Lord had strictly forbidden him to curse this people, and assured him that they were blessed.

¹⁴ And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak and said, “Balaam refuseth to come with us.” — and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us; as Balaam told them less than what God had said to him, so they related less to Balak than what Balaam had said to them;

— saying nothing of the Lord’s refusing to let him go with them, but represent it as a piece of pride and obstinacy in Balaam, and which Balak was left to understand; and it seems as if he did understand it as a piece of policy in Balaam, to get a larger offer of money or honour, or both, from him.

¹⁵ And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they. — Balak treats the prophet’s reason for not coming as a mere excuse. Balaam, being a famous diviner, required, as he thought, to be treated with greater respect;

— Balak judged that Balaam was not really unwilling to come, and that it was only needful to ply him with more flattery and larger promises, with more honorable princes.

¹⁶ And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me; — let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me; no business, though ever so important, that might be upon his hands;

— nor any want of respect to him he might imagine; nor if the rewards offered were not thought sufficient; nor any persuasions of men to the contrary; and if it could be thought he knew anything of the prohibition of God, that may be included; so urgent was he upon his coming to him.

¹⁷ for I will promote thee unto very great honor, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me. Come therefore, I pray thee, curse for me this people.’” — come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; renewing the request made in the first embassy with great importunity, Numbers 22:6

— but using here a different word for “cursing”; there, the word signifies to curse lightly; here, to blaspheme and utterly devote to ruin; to which may be added, to curse expressly and by name, to pierce through and through, to deprive of all benefits, and to destroy utterly.

¹⁸ And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do less or more. — I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord; these words may have been nothing more than an ostentatious semblance of disinterestedness and superiority to worldly considerations;

— or it is possible that Balaam may have been conscious that “he spake not of himself,” and that, as regards his prophetic utterances, he was but the mouthpiece of the Lord.

¹⁹ Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what more the Lord will say unto me.” — that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more; he hoped he would change his mind, and say something to him different from,

— and contrary to what he had before declared unto him, which to suppose of God is great vileness and wickedness; to such a pitch did his greedy desire after riches and honour work him up into; he ought to have been satisfied with the answer already given him, and not to have inquired more.

²⁰ And God came unto Balaam at night and said unto him, “If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.” — they are come to call thee: but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shall thou do; whether he would or not, he should be forced to do it;

²¹ And Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. — and saddled his ass; which, if he did himself, this is of the haste he was in; though, as he had two servants with him, it is more likely that they did it by his order;

²² And God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. — Balaam went with an intention, with a will to curse Israel, which must be displeasing to God, who knew his heart; so the Targum of Jonathan says, “and the anger of the Lord was strong, because he was intending to curse them;”

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 and went into the field, and Balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way. — but Balaam saw not the angel because God withheld his eyes;

²⁴ But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on that side. — the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards; the roads which lead through fields and vineyards are so narrow that in most parts a man could not pass a beast without care and caution.

²⁵ And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; and he smote her again. — and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; running up so very closely to it; and he smote her again; having done it once before;

²⁶ And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. — and the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place; more narrow than the other, at a further distance: where was no way to turn, either to the right hand or to the left;

²⁷ And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. — and when the ass saw the angel of the Lord; the third time; for it seems that he was not always in sight, but disappeared as he removed from place to place, and at every new place where he stood the ass saw him, though her master did not;

²⁸ And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, “What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?” — God made use of the voice of an ass, both because it was fitting that a brutish mind should be taught by a brute;

²⁹ And Balaam said unto the ass, “Because thou hast mocked me. I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.” — I would there were a sword in my hand, for now would I kill thee: so enraged was he, and his passion was so great, that he was not at all frightened and amazed to hear the ass speak;

³⁰ And the ass said unto Balaam, “Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee?” And he said, “Nay.” — and he said, nay; she had never been used to serve him in such a manner as she had now, and therefore he should have concluded that something more than ordinary was the matter;

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 his head, and fell flat on his face. — and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face; from off his ass upon the ground, in reverence of the illustrious object before him, and through fear of being slain by his sword in his hand;

³² And the angel of the Lord said unto him, “Why hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? Behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me. — because thy way is perverse before me; the journey he took was not with his good liking, and especially seeing he went with an intention,

— if possible, to serve Balak, and curse Israel; the way of his heart was bad, which the Lord knew; it was not directed according to his will, but swerved from it; the Targum of Jonathan says, “it is manifest before me that thou seekest to go and curse the people, and the thing is not pleasing me.”

³³ And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times. Unless she had turned from me, surely now also I would have slain thee and saved her alive.” — surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive; had certainly and only slain him, and not the ass;

³⁴ And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again.” — now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get back; which he spoke very coldly and faintly, not caring heartily to go back, unless forced to it;

— for seeing a drawn sword in his hand, he might be afraid of his life should he persist in his journey, and therefore feigns a readiness to go back, quitting on condition that his going forwards was displeasing; whereas he knew it was, especially his going with an evil mind to hurt Israel if possible.

³⁵ And the angel of the Lord said unto Balaam, “Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that shalt thou speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. — but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak; which expresses not only what he ought to do, but what he should be obliged to say;

— even to bless the people against his will, when his mind was to curse them, it being for his worldly interest; so Balaam went with the princes of Balak; and they proceeded on in their journey.

³⁶ And when Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him unto a city of Moab, which is in the border of Arnon, which is in the utmost border. — he went out to meet him; overjoyed at the news that his princes had succeeded, and to show him respect, and do him honour, and all to encourage him to do his utmost for him;

³⁷ And Balak said unto Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee? Why camest thou not unto me? Am I not able indeed to promote thee to honor?” — Balak has now nothing to complain of, but that Balaam did not come sooner;

— wherefore camest thou not unto me? at first, without showing so much indifference and reluctance, and which obliged me to send another message to thee;

— am I not able to promote thee to honour? to give thee wealth and riches, and put thee into high places of honour and profit? hadst thou any doubt in thy mind about it, either concerning my ability or will to do it?

³⁸ And Balaam said unto Balak, “Lo, I have come unto thee. Have I now any power at all to say anything? The word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak.” — have I now any power at all to say anything? that would be agreeable to the king, and answer his purpose in sending for him, namely, to curse the people of Israel; he suggests that he had not, he was under the powerful restraint of God;

³⁹ And Balaam went with Balak, and they came unto Kirjathhuzoth. — he then went with Balak to Kirjath-Chuzoth, where the king had oxen and sheep slaughtered in sacrifice, and sent flesh to Balaam as well as to the princes that were with him for a sacrificial meal, to do honour to the soothsayer thereby.

⁴⁰ And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent some to Balaam and to the princes who were with him. — and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him; either part of it to them, or he sent for them to come, and partake of the feast, he and the princes of Moab and Midian, that had been to fetch him, and still attended him; 

⁴¹ And it came to pass on the morrow that Balak took Balaam and brought him up into the high places of Baal, that thence he might see the utmost part of the people. — and it came to pass on the morrow; the day after the arrival of Balaam at Balak’s royal seat, and after the entertainment given him, and the princes, “on the morning” of that day, as the word signifies; and perhaps early in the morning,

— the king eager to be about business, and get the people of Israel cursed if possible as soon as could be that Balak took Balaam and brought him up into the high places of Baal; where groves were planted, and altars erected to that “idol” and which the Targum of Jonathan calls the idol Peor, the same with Baalpeor, Numbers 25:3.

~ by Japheth on March 13, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses