Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 23:22

God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn.

22. He hath as it were the horns of the wild-ox ] ‘He’ means Israel, not God. The word for ‘horns’ is rare; but Deu 33:17 helps to decide the meaning. In Psa 95:4 it denotes mountain peaks. The wild-ox ( re’m) ‘is the rmu of the Assyrian inscriptions. It is represented on the Assyrian sculptures as a huge species (now extinct) of the bovine kind.’ See art. ‘Unicorn’ in Hastings’ DB. iv.

23a. For divination is not in Jacob, and soothsaying is not in Israel ] This appears to explain Israel’s victorious strength by the fact that they were free from these heathen practices. But the words are strange in the midst of a passage describing the fierce and irresistible advance of an army with a divine King and Captain at their head. In Num 23:21 the words for ‘calamity’ and ‘trouble’ can also be rendered, as in R.V. , ‘iniquity’ and ‘perverseness.’ And it is very probable that a scribe, who understood the two words in the latter sense, inserted the present clause as a marginal comment on Num 23:21, thus endorsing the principle contained in 1Sa 15:23, that soothsaying and divination by means of teraphim are sins no less than rebellion against God’s commands. It is further noteworthy that in the same chapter (1Sa 15:29) are quoted Balaam’s words in Num 23:19 a.

23b. Now shall it be said &c.] If the former half of the verse was not originally part of the poem, these words refer suitably to God’s action in bringing Israel out of Egypt ( Num 23:22 a).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

An unicorn – A wild bull, the now extinct Aurochs, formidable for its size, strength, speed, and ferocity.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 22. The strength of a unicorn.] reem and reim. It is generally allowed that there is no such beast in nature as the unicorn; i. e., a creature of the horse kind, with one long rich curled horn in the forehead. The creature painted from fancy is represented as one of the supporters of the royal arms of Great Britain. It is difficult to say what kind of beast is intended by the original word. The Septuagint translate the word , the unicorn, or one-horned animal; the Vulgate, sometimes, unicornus; and in the text rhinocerotis, by which the rhinoceros, a creature which has its name from the horn on its nose, is supposed to be meant. That no single-horned animal can be intended by the reem of Moses, is sufficiently evident from this, that Moses, speaking of Joseph, says, “he has the HORNS of A unicorn,” or reem, where the horns are spoken of in the plural, the animal in the singular. The creature referred to is either the rhinoceros, some varieties of which have two horns on the nose, or the wild bull, urus, or buffalo; though some think the beast intended is a species of goat; but the rhinoceros seems the most likely. There is literally a monoceros, or unicorn, with one large curled ivory horn growing horizontally out of his snout; but this is not a land animal, it is the modiodan or nurwal, a marine animal of the whale kind, a horn of which is now before me, measuring seven feet four inches; but I believe the rhinoceros is that intended by the sacred writers.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

God brought them out of Egypt, to wit, by a strong hand, and in spite of all their enemies, and therefore it is in vain to seek or hope to overcome them.

He; either,

1. God, last mentioned. But so the comparison is mean and unbecoming. Or rather,

2. Israel, whom God brought out of Egypt; such change of numbers being very common in the Hebrew language. The sense is, Israel is not now what he was in Egypt, a poor, weak, dispirited, unarmed people, but high, and strong, and invincible. The great strength and fierceness of a unicorn is celebrated in Scripture, Num 24:8; Deu 33:17 Job 39:9; Psa 22:21; 92:10. But whether it be a unicorn, or a rhinoceros, or a strong and fierce kind of wild goat, which is here called reem, it is not needful here to determine.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

22. he hath as it were the strengthof an unicornIsrael is not as they were at the Exodus, a hordeof poor, feeble, spiritless people, but powerful and invincible as areemthat is, a rhinoceros (Job 39:9;Psa 22:21; Psa 92:10).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

God brought them out of Egypt,…. With a mighty hand and stretched out arm, and he will conduct them through the wilderness, and bring them safe to Canaan’s land; he that brought them from thence will not suffer them to perish by any means; it is in vain to attempt to curse a people that is in such hands, and for whom he has done such great things: Jarchi thinks this stands opposed to what Balak had said,

Nu 22:5, thou sayest, “lo, a people is come out of Egypt”;

“they did not come out of themselves, but God brought them:”

he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn; that is, not God, but the people he brought out of Egypt, being a mighty people, able to push their enemies and subdue them, being numerous and strong, especially as strengthened by the mighty God of Jacob; and therefore their strength is expressed by the strength of this creature; for be it what it will, whether the rhinoceros or the wild ox, or one kind of goats, as Bochart l thinks; whatever is meant by the term here must be a strong creature, see De 33:17 and great is the strength of the spiritual Israel of God, which they have from him to exercise grace, perform duty, withstand and overcome all their spiritual enemies, sin, Satan, and the world.

l Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 27. col. 965.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

22. God brouqht them out of Egypt. He assigns a reason for their constant success, i.e., because God has once redeemed this people, He will not forsake the work which He has begun. The argument is drawn from the continued course of God’s blessings; for, since they flow from an inexhaustible fountain, their progress is incessant. This, however, specially refers to the state of the Church, for He will never cease to be gracious to His children, until He has led them to the very end of their course. Rightly, therefore, does Balaam conclude that, because God has once redeemed His people, He will be the perpetual guardian of their welfare. He afterwards teaches that the power wherewith God defends His people shall be invincible, for this is the meaning of the similitude of the unicorn.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(22) God brought them out of Egypt.Literally, is bringing them. The use of the participle denotes the continuance of the action. He who brought them forth out of Egypt was still conducting them on their march. There is an obvious allusion in these words to those of Balak in Num. 22:5 : Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt. Seeing that the people did not come out of Egypt in obedience to their own caprice, but under Divine guidance, it was vain for Balak to resist them on their course, seeing that to contend with them was to contend against God.

The strength of an unicorn.Better, of a buffalo. (Comp. Deu. 33:17a passage closely resembling the presentfrom which it appears that the reem had more than one horn.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

22. God brought them Literally, is bringing; implying that the act was still going on.

The strength of a unicorn This is not the rhinoceros, as some have supposed, but the “wild ox,” (R.V.,) or buffalo, which is untamable and incapable of agricultural service, and formidable on account of its horns. It was common in Palestine. Job 39:9-10; Deu 33:17; Psa 22:21. Instead of strength Furst uses fleetness.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments