Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 22:19
Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me more.
19. Balaam had learnt ( Num 22:12) that Israel was a people on whom God’s blessing rested. It was therefore impossible for him to go and curse them. But when Balak’s more splendid retinue of princes travelled all the way to Mesopotamia to beg him again to come, he asked God again whether he might go, not to curse but to deliver a divine message whatever it might prove to be. And on his arrival he immediately told Balak that this was the purpose for which he had come ( Num 22:38).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye also – i. e., as the other envoys before you. Had Balaam possessed a sincere spirit of obedience, he would have found in the first instructions Num 22:12 a final decision upon the matter. His hypocritical importunity with God when the fresh messengers came from Balak demonstrates his aversion to Gods declared will.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. What the Lord will say unto me more.] He did not know but God might make a farther discovery of his will to him, and therefore he might very innocently seek farther information.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Possibly he may change his mind, or yield to my renewed suit. Thus he sought to make God and his conscience stoop to the service of his pride and covetousness, which was abominable.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19, 20. tarry ye also here thisnight, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me moreThedivine will, as formerly declared, not being according to hisdesires, he hoped by a second request to bend it, as he had alreadybent his own conscience, to his ruling passions of pride andcovetousness. The permission granted to Balaam is in accordance withthe ordinary procedure of Providence. God often gives up men tofollow the impulse of their own lusts; but there is no approval inthus leaving them to act at the prompting of their own wicked hearts(Jos 13:27).
Nu22:21-41. THE JOURNEY.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night,…. As the former messengers had; this shows his strong inclination to go along with them, and do what was desired of him, could he be permitted; otherwise he might and ought to have told the messengers at once that Balak needed not to have given himself and them so much trouble, since it was not in his power to do for him what he requested; nor would he attempt it, as being contrary to the will of God, and therefore it would be their best way to return as soon as they could; but instead of that, he desires them to stay that night, which must give them some hope of succeeding in their embassy:
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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(19) Tarry ye also here this night.Balaam knew that God was not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent (Num. 23:19); and yet he indulged the vain expectation that he might be allowed to curse those whom God had declared to be blessed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. What the Lord will say unto me more The more desired by Balaam was evidently a different communication, permitting him to go. In this he shows that he rests not in God’s will plainly revealed before. His safety lay in a perfect conformity of his desires to that will by the entire consecration of his soul to Jehovah, so that he could have no joy but in pleasing him. Balaam tempted God by this second consultation, prompted by a dissatisfaction with the prohibition already uttered. Gal 1:8, note.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 22:19. Now, therefore, I pray you, &c. Here, as Bishop Butler well observes, the iniquity of his heart began to disclose itself. A thorough honest man would, without hesitation, have repeated his former answer, that he could not be guilty of so infamous a prostitution of the sacred character with which he was invested, as, in the name of a prophet, to curse those whom he knew to be blessed. But, instead of this, which was the only honest path that in there circumstances lay before him, he desires the princes of Moab to tarry a night with him also; and, for the sake of the reward, deliberates, whether, by some means or other, he might not be able to obtain leave to curse Israel; to do that, which had been before revealed to him to be contrary to the will of God, but which yet he resolves not to do without his permission. See Bishop Butler’s Sermons at the Rolls, p. 123.
See commentary on Num 22:15
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Num 22:19 Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me more.
Ver. 19. Tarry also now this night, &c. ] Very loath he was to forego so fat a morsel. His mouth even watered, his fingers itched to be dealing with Balak. He therefore detains the messengers, and will try again what may be done for them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Num 22:7, Num 22:8, 1Ti 6:9, 1Ti 6:10, 2Pe 2:3, 2Pe 2:15, Jud 1:11
Reciprocal: Num 22:12 – thou shalt not curse 1Ki 13:16 – General Job 4:13 – thoughts
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 22:19. Tarry ye also this night Here, says Bishop Butler, p. 123 of his Sermons at the Rolls, the iniquity of his heart begins to disclose itself. An honest man would, without hesitation, have repeated his former answer, that he could not be guilty of so infamous a prostitution of the sacred character with which he was invested, as, in the name of a prophet, to curse those whom he knew to be blessed: but instead of this he desires the princes of Moab to tarry that night with him also; and, for the sake of the reward, deliberates whether, by some means or other, he might not be able to obtain leave to curse Israel.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
22:19 Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me {i} more.
(i) Because he tempted God to require him contrary to his commandment, his petition was granted, but it turned to his own condemnation.