Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 24:22
Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
22. Until Asshur &c.] The Heb. can only be translated as in R.V. marg., ‘How long? Asshur shall &c.’ The words for ‘how long’ ( ‘ad mh) may be a corruption of the name of some place in the east; ‘unto shall Asshur carry thee captive.’ Asshur or Ashur is the true form of the name Assyria; cf. Num 24:24; Gen 10:22; Hos 14:3; Isa 10:5 (R.V. marg.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Render, For Kain shall surely not be destroyed (literally be for destruction) until Asshur, etc. The words are not, as they appear in the King James Version, a prediction of evil to the Kenites, but a promise, on the contrary, of safety to be long continued to them (compare Num 10:32; Jer 35:19).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.] The Assyrians and Babylonians who carried away captive the ten tribes, 2Kg 17:6, and the Jews into Babylon, 2Kg 25:1; 2Kg 25:11, probably carried away the Kenites also. Indeed this seems pretty evident, as we find some Kenites mentioned among the Jews after their return from the Babylonish captivity, 1Ch 2:55.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Kenite, Heb. Kain, i.e. the Kenite; so called, either by a transposition of letters, which is very usual in the Hebrew tongue; or from the name of some eminent place where they lived, or person from whom they were descended, though now the memory of them be utterly lost, as it hath fared with innumerable other places and persons famous in their generations mentioned in ancient heathen writers.
Shall be wasted, i.e. shall be by degrees diminished and wasted by the incursions of divers enemies, till at last the Assyrian comes to complete the work, and carries them into captivity. For the Kenites lived partly among the ten tribes, Jos 19:33, compared with Jdg 4:11, and partly with the two tribes, Jdg 1:16; 4:16,17, and were carried captive with them, part by Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, 2Ki 17:6, and part by Nebuchadnezzar, who also is called an Assyrian, Ezr 6:22; Isa 52:4. The words may be rendered thus, shall be wasted. How long? to wit, shall they be thus wasted? (these particles being oft used abruptly and pathetically in the same manner, Psa 6:3; 90:13 Isa 6:11) till Asshur comes,
Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted,…. Though they were so strongly fortified, and closely immured and surrounded with rocks and mountains, yet they should gradually waste away, as they were but few in Saul’s time, 1Sa 15:6
until Ashur shall carry thee away captive; Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, when he carried captive the people of Syria, took these with them, 2Ki 16:9, though Jarchi thinks they were carried captives with the ten tribes, that is, by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; and the Targum of Jonathan, by Sennacherib, king of Assyria; and others think by Nebuchadnezzar, who was sometimes reckoned a king of Assyria; taking them to be the same with the Amalekites, who were carried captives and returned with the two tribes.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
22. Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. It is a harsh and unnatural construction to apply this to the Kenites; and the majority, indeed, consent that it should be referred to the Israelites; yet they differ as to the meaning of it, for some take it affirmatively, that the Kenites should be wasted, until the Assyrians should conquer the Israelites and carry them away captive; some, however, take it interrogatlvely, (180) as if it were an abrupt exclamation, How long shall Asshur hold thee captive? Thus they conceive the prolonged exile of the people is indicated. Undoubtedly it was the purpose of the Spirit to shew, by way of correction, that their prosperity, which had been previously mentioned, should be mixed with heavy afflictions: for slavery is a bitter thing, and exile even worse. Hence we gather that, though the Church is blessed by God, it is still in such a way as that it shall not cease to be exposed to various calamities. The interrogation, therefore, will be most appropriate.
(180) It will be seen that the A. V. renders the clause interrogatively in the margin, though with a slight difference from the sense of C.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
22. Nevertheless the Kenite Hebrew, Kain. The sentence should be translated “for Kain shall not be exterminated until Asshur,” etc. It is here signified that they will dwell by Israel undisturbed till Asshur, the Assyrians, shall desolate the whole land, and lead Israel and their wards, the Kenites, into captivity. Not only original Assyria is here intended but Babylonia and Persia, which spread over the same territory. Ezr 6:22. Balaam did not foretell Israel’s captivity in Babylon, because this was a transitory, disciplinary judgment, and not an extinction of nationality, as in the case of the Kenites.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 24:22 Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
Ver. 22. Until Ashur. ] Who, together with the Jews, carried captive all the neighbouring nations. Jer 25:9
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the Kenite: Heb. Kain, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. or, how long shall it be ere Asshur carry thee away captive? Gen 10:11, Ezr 4:2, Psa 83:8, Hos 14:3
Reciprocal: Gen 15:19 – Kenites Jdg 1:16 – the Kenite 1Sa 15:6 – the Kenites 1Ch 1:17 – Asshur Eze 27:23 – Asshur