Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 24:19
Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
19. An obscure verse, which is perhaps a later addition to the song. It appears to look forward to a Messianic prospect of universal dominion. Some think that Num 24:18-19 are both entirely corrupt beyond restoration.
shall one have dominion ] This and the following verb are impersonal. ‘And dominion will be exercised out of Jacob, and the remnant (of Israel’s enemies) will be destroyed out of the city.’ If the text is right, ‘out of the city’ is parallel with ‘out of Jacob.’ It is therefore the city of the conquerors, i.e. Zion.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Destroy him that remaineth of the city – i. e., shall destroy those of every city that had previously escaped. The phrase tersely describes a conqueror who first defeats his enemies in battle, and then hunts out the fugitives until he has cut off all of every place (compare 1Ki 11:16).
The victories of David were a partial accomplishment of the predictions Num 24:14, Num 24:18, but did not exhaust them.
It is apparent that Edom and Moab are named by Balaam, as they are also by the prophets (compare e. g., Isa 11:14), as representatives of the pagan nations Num 24:8 who were hostile to the theocracy. As Jacob therefore figures as a constant type of the kingdom of Messiah in the prophets, so do Edom and Joab of the enemies of that kingdom; and in the threatened ruin of Edom and Moab is indicated the eventual destruction of all that resist the kingdom of God in its power.
The Star and Sceptre of the prophecy, like the Sceptre and Lawgiver of Gen 49:10, point also naturally to a line of princes rather than to an individual; or rather are emblems of the kingdom of Israel generally. Thus, the victories of David and his successors, generation after generation, over Edom and Moab, are unquestionably recurring and progressive accomplishments of what Balaam foretold; but in addition the prophecy reaches forward to some further and culminating accomplishment; and that too in the latter days Num 24:14, the ordinary prophetic designation for the time of the Messiah (compare the marginal references).
To a Christian the connection between the Star and Seeptre of Balaam and the Star of the king of the Jews, which the wise men saw Mat 2:2, is self-evident.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. Out of Jacob shall come, c.] This is supposed to refer to Christ, because of what is said Ge 49:10.
It is exceedingly difficult to fix the true sense of this prophecy in all its particulars. Probably the star, Nu 24:17, is only an emblem of kingly power. Among the Egyptians a star is said to have been the symbol of the Divine Being. The sceptre refers to the kingly power in exercise. The corners or outskirts may mean the petty Moabitish governments, as the Chaldee has understood the term. If karkar, which we translate utterly destroy, be not the name of a place here, as it is in Jdg 8:10, (which is not very likely), it may be taken in one of those senses assigned to it, (See Clarke on Nu 24:17,) and signify the blending together the children of Sheth, that is, all the inhabitants of the earth for so the children of Sheth must necessarily be understood, unless we consider it here as meaning some king of the Moabites, according to Grotius, or a city on the borders of Moab, according to Rabbi Nathan. As neither Israel nor the Messiah ever destroyed all the children of men, we must (in order to leave the children of Sheth what they are generally understood to be, all the inhabitants of the world) understand the whole as a prophecy of the final universal sway of the sceptre of Christ, when the middle wall of partition shall be broken down, and the Jews and Gentiles become one united, blended fold, under one shepherd and bishop of their souls.
I cannot think that the meteoric star which guided the wise men of the east to Bethlehem can be intended here; nor do I think that Peter refers to this prophecy when he calls Christ the day star, 2Pe 1:19; nor that Re 2:28, where Christ is called the morning star, nor Re 22:16, where he is called the bright and morning star, refers at all to this prophecy of Balaam. Nor do I think that the false Christ who rose in the time of Adrian, and who called himself Barcochab, which literally signifies the son of a star, did refer to this prophecy. If he had, he must have defeated his own intention, because the SON of the star is not THE STAR that should arise, but at the utmost a descendant; and then, to vindicate his right to the Jewish throne, he must show that the person who was called the star, and of whom he pretended to be the son or descendant, had actually reigned before him. As the sun, moon, stars, planets, light, splendours, effulgence, day, c., were always considered among the Asiatics as emblems of royalty, government, c., therefore many, both men and women, had these names given to them as titles, surnames, &c. So the queen of Alexander the Great, called Roxana by the Greeks, was a Persian princess, and in her native tongue her name was [Persian] Roushen, splendour. Hadassah, who became queen to Ahasuerus, in place of the repudiated Vashti, and is called Esther by Europeans in general, was called in the language of Persia [Persian] Sitareh from whence by corruption came both Esther, the Persian queen, and our word star. And to waive all farther examples, a Mohammedan prince, at first named Eesouf or Joseph, was called [Arabic] Roushen Akhter when he was raised to the throne, which signifies a splendid or luminous star. This prince, by a joyful reverse of fortune, was brought from a gloomy prison and exalted to the throne of Hindostan on which account the following couplet was made, in which there is a paronomasia or play on the name Roushen Akhter; and the last line alludes to the history of the patriarch Joseph, who was brought out of prison and exalted to the highest honours in Egypt.
[Arabic]
[Arabic]
Roushen Akhter bood, aknoon mah shud:
Yousef az zendan ber amd shah shud.
“He was a bright star, but is now become a moon.
Joseph is brought out of prison, and is become a
glorious king.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Out of Jacob; out of Jacobs loins.
He that shall have dominion; David, and especially Christ.
Of the city, or, from or out of this city, i.e. the cities, the singular number for the plural, which hath been oft noted before. The sense is, He shall not only subdue those Moabites and Edomites which meet him in the field, but he shall pursue them even to their strongest holds and cities, and shall pull them out thence. Possibly he may note some eminent city in which they confided most, their metropolis or royal city, as may be guessed from Psa 60:9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. Out of Jacob shall come he thatshall have dominionDavid, and particularly Christ.
that remaineth of thecitythose who flee from the field to fortified places (Ps60:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion,…. Meaning either David, or rather the Messiah; and so Jarchi interprets this of another ruler out of Jacob, even of the Messiah, of whom it is said, he shall have dominion from sea to sea; Ps 72:8,
and shall destroy him, that remaineth of the city; chief city of Edom, or of any of the cities of it, signifying that there should be none left, see Ob 1:18, this is also applied to the days of the Messiah, in the ancient writings of the Jews q.
q Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 179. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ And a ruler shall come out of Jacob, and destroy what is left out of cities.” The subject to is indefinite, and to be supplied from the verb itself. We have to think of the ruler foretold as star and sceptre. The abbreviated form is not used for the future , but is jussive in its force. One out of Jacob shall rule. is employed in a collected and general sense, as in Psa 72:16. Out of every city in which there is a remnant of Edom, it shall be destroyed. is equivalent to (Amo 9:12). The explanation, “destroy the remnant out of the city, namely, out of the holy city of Jerusalem” ( Ewald and Baur), is forced, and cannot be sustained from the parallelism.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(19) He that shall have dominion.The reference is explained in Psa. 72:8, He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth, where the same verb occurs which is in both places rendered in the Authorised Version shall have dominion.
And shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.Or, and He shall destroy the remnant from the cities. The city, which is in the singular number here as in Psa. 72:16, may be used collectively to denote cities generally, though some have understood the reference to be to the city of Jerusalem. But the reference seems to be rather to the chief city, or the cities generally, of Edom. (Comp. Obad., Num. 24:18, where the same word occurs which is here rendered him that remaineth, and which is there rendered any remaining.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. He that shall have dominion The same ruler as is symbolized by the Star and Sceptre. Num 24:17, note.
Him that remaineth Thus producing the utter destruction of the people.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 24:19 Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
Ver. 19. And shall destroy him. ] David in the history, 1Ki 11:15-16 Christ in the mystery, Oba 1:18 even all the antichristian rout and rabble. Rev 19:21
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Out of Jacob. In Hebrew there is the Ellipsis of the Participle (App-6); “shall come “is implied and should be repeated from the previous clause. Revised Version is literal.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Of Jacob: Gen 49:10, Psa 2:1-12, Psa 72:10, Psa 72:11, Isa 11:10, Mic 5:2, Mic 5:4, Mat 28:18, 1Co 15:25, Eph 1:20-22, Phi 2:10, Phi 2:11, Heb 1:8, 1Pe 3:22, Rev 19:16
shall destroy: Psa 21:7-10, Mat 25:46, Luk 19:12, Luk 19:27
Reciprocal: Deu 28:13 – the head 1Ki 11:15 – after he had Psa 60:12 – we shall Eze 21:27 – until Oba 1:19 – the south Mic 4:8 – the first Mat 2:6 – a Governor Mat 21:5 – thy King
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 24:19. Out of Jacob Out of his loins. He that shall have dominion David, and especially Christ. Shall destroy him that remaineth of the city Not only defeat them in the field, but destroy them even in their strongest cities. We see, Bishop Newton further observes, how exactly this prophecy hath been fulfilled in the person and actions of David; but most Jewish as well as Christian writers apply it, primarily, perhaps, to David, but ultimately to the Messiah, as the person chiefly intended, in whom it was to receive its full and entire completion. Onkelos interprets it of the Messiah. Maimonides understands it partly of David, and partly of the Messiah, and with him agree other rabbis. It appears to have been generally understood by the Jews as a prophecy of the Messiah, because the false Christ, who appeared in the reign of the Roman emperor Adrian, assumed the title of Barchochebas, or Son of the Star, in allusion to this prophecy, and in order to have it believed that he was the star that Balaam had seen afar off. The Christian fathers, I think, are unanimous in applying this prophecy to our Saviour, and to the star which appeared at his nativity. Origen, in particular, produces it as one of the plainest and clearest prophecies of the Messiah; and both he and Eusebius affirm, that it was in consequence of Balaams prophecies, which were known and believed in the East, that the magi, upon the appearance of a new star, came to Jerusalem to worship him who was born king of the Jews. The stream of modern divines and commentators apply the prophecy principally to our Saviour; and by Moab and Edom they understand the enemies and persecutors of the church.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24:19 Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the {m} city.
(m) Of the Edomites.