Verse 6<\/span>. Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this<\/B><\/I> <\/B>people<\/B><\/I>] Balaam, once a prophet of the true God, appears to have been one of the Moshelim<\/I>, (see Nu 21:27<\/span>), who had added to his poetic gift that of sorcery<\/I> or divination<\/I>. It was supposed that prophets and sorcerers had a power to curse persons<\/I> and places<\/I> so as to confound<\/I> all their designs, frustrate<\/I> their counsels<\/I>, enervate<\/I> their strength<\/I>, and fill them with fear, terror, and dismay. See Ge 9:25<\/span>; Ps 109:6<\/span>; Ps 109:20<\/span>; Jos 6:26<\/span>; Jer 17:5-6<\/span>.<\/P> <\/P> Macrobius<\/I> has a whole chapter De carmine quo evocari solebant<\/I> dii tutelares, et aut urbes, aut exercitus devoveri<\/I>. “Of the incantations which were used to induce the tutelary gods to forsake the cities, c., over which they presided, and to devote cities and whole armies to destruction.” See Saturnal<\/I>., lib. iii., cap. ix. He gives us two<\/I> of the ancient forms used in reference to the destruction of Carthage<\/I> the first, to call over<\/I> the protecting deities<\/I>, was pronounced by the dictator or general, and none other, when they began the siege. It is as follows, literatim et punctatim<\/I>: –<\/P> <\/P> Si. Deus. si. Dea. est. cui. popolus. civitas. que. Karthaginiensis. est in. tutela. te. que. maxime, ille. qui. urbis. hujus. popoli. que. tutelam. recepisti. precor. veneror, que. veniam. que. a. vobis. peto. ut. vos. popolum. civitatem. que. Karthaginiensem. deseratis. loca. templa. sacra. urbem. que. eorum. relinquatis. absque. his. abeatis. ei. que. popolo. civitati. que. metum. formidinem. oblivionem. injiciatis. proditi. que. Romam. ad. me. meos. que. veniatis. nostra. que. vobis. loca. templa. sacra. urbs. acceptior. probatior. que. sit. mihi. que. popolo. que. Romano. militibus. que. meis. praepositi. sitis. ut. sciamus. intelligamus. que. Si. ita. feceritis. voveo. vobis. templa. ludos. que. facturum.<\/P> <\/P> “Whether it be god or goddess, under whose protection the people and city of Carthage are placed; and thee, especially, who hast undertaken to defend this city and people; I pray, beseech, and earnestly entreat that you would forsake the people and city of Carthage, and leave their places, temples, sacred things, and city, and depart from them: and that you would inspire this people and city with fear, terror, and forgetfulness: and that, coming out from them, you would pass over to Rome, to me, and to mine: and that our places, temples, sacred things, and city may be more agreeable and more acceptable to you: and that you would preside over me, the Roman people, and my soldiers; that we may know and perceive it. If ye will do this, I promise to consecrate to your honour both temples and games.”<\/P> <\/P> The second, to devote the city to destruction, which it was supposed the tutelary gods had abandoned, is the following:<\/P> <\/P> Dis. Pater. Vejovis. Manes. sive. vos. quo. allo. nomine. fas. est. nominare. ut. omnes. iliam. urbem. Karthaginem. exercitum. que. quem. ego. me. sentio. dicere. fuga. formidine. terrore. que. compleatis. qui. que. adversum. legiones. exercitum. que. nostrum. arma. tela. que. ferent. Uti. vos. eum. exercitum. eos. hostes. eos. que. homines. urbes. agros. que. eorum. et. qui. in. his. locis. regionibus. que. agris. urbibus. ve. habitant. abducatis. lumine. supero. privetis. exercitum. que. hostium. urbes. agros. que. eorum. quos. me. sentio. dicere. uti. vos. eas. urbes. agros. que. capita. aetates. que. eorum. devotas. consecratas. que. habeatis. illis. legibus. quibus. quando. que. sunt. maxime. hostes. devoti. eos. que. ego. vicarios. pro. me. fide. magistratu. que. meo. pro. popolo. Romano. exercitibus. legionibus. que. nostris. do. devoveo. ut. me. meam. que. fidem. imperium. que. legiones. exercitum. que. nostrum. qui. in. his. rebus. gerundis. sunt. bene. salvos. siritis. esse. Si. haec. ita. faxitis. ut. ego. sciam. sentiam. intelligam. que. tune. quisquis. hoc. votum. faxit. ubi. ubi. faxit. recte. factum. esto. ovibus. atris. tribus. Tellus. mater. te. que. Juppiter. obtestor.<\/P> <\/P> “Dis. Pater. Vejosis. Manes., or by whatsoever name you wish to be invoked, I pray you to fill this city of Carthage with fear and terror; and to put that army to flight which I mention, and which bears arms or darts against OUR legions and armies: and that ye may take away this army, those enemies, those men, their cities and their country, and all who dwell in those places, regions, countries, or cities; and deprive them of the light above: and let all their armies, cities, country, chiefs, and people be held by you consecrated and devoted<\/I>, according to those laws by which, and at what time, enemies can be most effectually devoted. I also give and devote them as vicarious sacrifices for myself and my magistracy; for the Roman people, and for all our armies and legions; and for the whole empire, and that all the armies and legions which are employed in these countries may be preserved in safety. If therefore ye will do these things, as I know, conceive, and intend, then he who makes this vow wheresoever and whensoever he shall make it, I engage shall sacrifice three black<\/I> sheep<\/I> to thee, O mother Earth, and to thee. O Jupiter.” “When the execrator mentions the earth<\/I>, he stoops down and places both his hands on it; and when he names Jupiter<\/I>, he lifts up both his hands to heaven; and when he mentions his vow, he places his hands upon his breast.” Among the ancient records, Macrobius says he found many cities and people devoted in this way. The Romans held that no city could be taken till its tutelary god<\/I> had forsaken it; or if it could be taken, it would be unlawful, as it would be sacrilegious to have the gods in captivity. They therefore endeavoured to persuade the gods of their enemies to come over to their party. Virgil<\/I> intimates that Troy was destroyed, only because the tutelary gods had forsaken it: – <\/P> Excessere omnes, adytis arisque relictis<\/I>,<\/P> Dii, quibus imperium hoc steterat<\/I>.<\/P> AEn., lib. ii., ver. 351. <\/P> “All the gods, by whose assistance the empire had hitherto been preserved, forsook their altars and their temples.” And it was on this account that the Greeks employed all their artifice to steal away the Palladium<\/I>, on which they believed the safety of Troy depended.<\/P> <\/P> Tacitus observes that when Suetonius Paulinus<\/I> prepared his army to cross over into Mona<\/I>, (Anglesea,) where the Britons<\/I> and Druids<\/I> made their last stand, the priestesses<\/I>, with dishevelled hair, white vestments, and torches in their hands, ran about like furies, devoting their enemies to destruction<\/I>; and he farther adds that the sight<\/I>, the attitude<\/I>, and horrible imprecations<\/I> of these priestesses had such effect on the Roman soldiers, that for a while they stood still and suffered themselves to be pierced with the darts of the Britons, without making any resistance. Tacit. Ann., l. xiv., c. 29. Many accounts are related in the Hindoo Pooran<\/I> of kings employing sages to curse their enemies when too powerful for them. – WARD’S Customs<\/I>.<\/P> <\/P> The Jews also had a most horrible form of execration, as may be seen in Buxtorf’s Talmudical Lexicon under the word . These observations and authorities, drawn out in so much detail, are necessary to cast light on the strange and curious history related in this and the two following chapters.<\/P> <\/p>\n Curse me this people, <\/B>i.e. curse them for my sake and benefit; use thy utmost power, which thou hast with thy gods or infernal spirits, to blast and ruin them. <\/P> That we may smite them; <\/B>thou by thy magical imprecations, and I by my sword joined with them. He had some experience of, or, at least, a great confidence in, Balaams skill and power in these matters. <\/P> <\/p>\n 6. Come . . . curse me thispeople<\/B>Among the heathen an opinion prevailed that prayers forevil or curses would be heard by the unseen powers as well as prayersfor good, when offered by a prophet or priest and accompanied by theuse of certain rites. Many examples are found in the histories of theGreeks and Romans of whole armies being devoted to destruction, andthey occur among the natives of India and other heathen countriesstill. In the Burmese war, magicians were employed to curse theBritish troops.<\/P><\/p>\n Come now, therefore, I pray thee<\/strong>,…. To my country, city, and court:<\/p>\n curse me this people<\/strong>; by imprecations on them; and which being attended with various rites and ceremonies, brought calamities on persons, which men of Balaam’s character were supposed to have power to do:<\/p>\n for they are too mighty for me<\/strong>; to oppose and subdue by force of arms; and therefore was obliged to have recourse to such arts and methods he was master of; suggesting, that he was able to do more by his divinations than could be effected by an army of men:<\/p>\n peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land<\/strong>; there is hope, by taking such measures, that they may be prevailed over and conquered; and that, together with your curses, and my army, we may be able to smite them, and destroy them; you with your tongue, and I and my people with the sword, and so drive them quite out of the land, and get a clear riddance of them:<\/p>\n for I wot that he whom thou blessest [is] blessed, and he whom thou cursest [is] cursed<\/strong>; so high an opinion had the king of Moab of this soothsayer and diviner, from the report he had had of the mighty feats done by him; as, that those for whom he asked for blessings from heaven had them, and those on whom he imprecated evils, they came upon them; and this was a prevailing custom among the Heathens in later times, and particularly the Romans; not only to endeavour to get the gods of the people from them they were at war with, and whose cities they besieged, praying that they would leave such places, cities, and their temples; but also wished evils to cities and armies, and prayed the gods to fill them with flight, fear, and terror, and that such evils might come upon them, which had on others d.<\/p>\n d Vid. Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 9.<\/p>\n (6) Curse me this people.<\/strong>Balak undoubtedly believed in the efficacy of Balaams magical incantations. It is deserving of observation, moreover, that, as has been remarked by Keil (in loc.<\/em>), <\/em>it is frequently celebrated as a great favour displayed towards Israel that the Lord did not hearken to Balaam, but turned the curse into a blessing (Deu. 23:5<\/span>; Jos. 24:10<\/span>; Neh. 13:2<\/span>).<\/p>\n 6<\/strong>. <\/strong> Curse me this people <\/strong> That is, in my interest. The belief was widely diffused among the ancient heathen nations that certain persons, holding a peculiar relation to the gods, could surely call down their vengeance by certain formulas of cursing. Traces of this are found in the Greek and Roman classics, on the Egyptian monuments, in the traditions of the mediaeval Arabs, and among rude nations of the present day, who ascribe invincible power to the precise words and figures of the curse. In countries purely papal this pretended power of calling down anathemas is a great instrument of priestly despotism.<\/p>\n Num 22:6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they [are] too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, [that] we may smite them, and [that] I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest [is] blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.<\/p>\n Ver. 6. Peradventure I shall prevail.<\/strong> ] Hence he is said to have warred against Israel. Jos 24:9 He did not, because he durst not. Sed fieri dicitur, quod tentatur, aut intenditur,<\/em> saith Ribera on Amo 9:5<\/span> .<\/p>\n Numbers<\/p>\n BALAAM<\/p>\n Num 22:5 <\/strong> .<\/p>\n Give a general outline of the history. See Bishop Butler’s great sermon.<\/p>\n I. How much knowledge and love of good there may be in a bad man.<\/p>\n <\/strong> Balaam was a prophet:<\/p>\n a<\/em> He knew something of the divine character,<\/p>\n \n b<\/em> He knew what righteousness was Mic 5:8.<\/p>\n \n c<\/em> He knew of a future state, and longed for ‘the last end of the righteous.’<\/p>\n \n He would not break the law of God, and curse by word of mouth:<\/p>\n But yet for all that he wanted to curse. He wanted to do the wrong thing, and that made him bad. And when he durst not do it in one way, he did it in another.<\/p>\n So he is a picture of the universal blending and mixture that there is even in bad men.<\/p>\n It is not knowledge that makes a man good.<\/p>\n It is not aspirations after righteousness. These dwell more or less in all souls.<\/p>\n It is not desire ‘to go to heaven’-everybody has that desire.<\/p>\n Perfectly vicious men are devils. There is always the blending.<\/p>\n Many of us are trusting to these vagrant wishes, but my friends, it is not what a man would sometimes like, but what the whole set and tenor of his life tends towards, that makes him. There may be plenty of backwater eddies and cross-currents in the sea, but the tide goes on all the same.<\/p>\n ‘All these fancies and their whole array<\/p>\n One cunning bosom sin blows quite away,’<\/p>\n <\/em>‘Let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous.’<\/p>\n Do not trust your convictions; they are powerless in the fight.<\/p>\n II. How men may deceive themselves about their condition, or the self-illusions and compromises of sin.<\/p>\n <\/strong> These convictions will never, by themselves, keep a man from evil, but they may lead men to try to compromise, just as Balaam did. He would go, but he would not, for the life of him, curse; and he evidently thought that he was a hero in firmness and a martyr to duty.<\/p>\n He would not curse in words, but he did it in another way-by means of Baal-peor.<\/p>\n So we find men making compromises between duty and inclination; keeping the letter and breaking the spirit; obeying in some respects and indemnifying themselves for their obedience by their disobedience in others; very devout, attentive to all religious observances, and yet sinning on. And we find such men playing tricks upon themselves, and really deluding themselves into the idea that they are very good men!<\/p>\n This is the great characteristic of sin, its deceitfulness. It always comes as an ‘angel of light,’ like some of those weird stories in which we read about a strange guest at a banquet who discloses a skeleton below the wedding garment!<\/p>\n ‘Father of lies.’ ‘ Nihil imbecillius denudato diabolo.<\/em>’ The more one sins, the less capable he becomes of discerning evil. Conscience becomes sophisticated, and it is always possible to refine away its judgments.<\/p>\n ‘By reason of use have their senses exercised to discern.’ ‘Take heed lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.’<\/p>\n III. The absurdity and unreasonableness of unrighteousness.<\/p>\n <\/strong> We look at Balaam, and think, how could a man purpose anything so foolish as to go on seeking for an opportunity to break a law which he knew to be irrevocable!<\/p>\n Yet what did he do but what every sinner does?<\/p>\n All sin is the breach of law which at the very moment of breaking is known to be imperative.<\/p>\n All sin is thus the overbearing of conscience, or the sophistication of conscience, and all sin is the incurring voluntarily of consequences which at the moment are or might be known to be certain, and far overbalancing any fancied ‘wages of unrighteousness.’<\/p>\n Thus all sin is the overbearing of reason or the sophisticating of reason by passion. Men know the absurdity of sin, and yet men will go on sinning. ‘A rogue is a roundabout fool.’ All wrongdoing is a mighty blunder. It is only righteousness which is congruous with a man’s reason, with a man’s conscience, with a man’s highest happiness. ‘The fear of the Lord,’ that is wisdom.<\/p>\n IV. The wages of unrighteousness.<\/p>\n <\/strong> How Balaam’s experiment ended-his death. He tried to make the ‘best of both worlds,’ so he ran with the hare and hunted with the hounds, and this was how it ended, as it always does, as it always will. How death ends all the illusions, sternly breaks down all the compromises, reveals all the absurdities!<\/p>\n Men are one thing or the other. Learn, then, the lesson that no gifts, no talents, no convictions, no aspirations will avail.<\/p>\n Let this sad figure which looks out upon us with grey streaming hair and uplifted hands from beside the altar on Pisgah speak to us.<\/p>\n How near the haven it is possible to be cast away! Like Bunyan’s way to hell from near the gate of the celestial city.<\/p>\n Balaam said, ‘Let me die the death of the righteous!’ and his death was thus:-’Balaam they slew with the sword,’ and his epitaph is ‘Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,’ got them, and perished!<\/p>\n curse. Hebrew. ‘arar. To wish or speak evil against, as to effect rather than as to the act. <\/p>\n wot = know. <\/p>\n curse me: Num 23:7, Num 23:8, Num 24:9, Gen 12:3, Gen 27:29, Deu 23:4, Jos 24:9, 1Sa 17:43, Neh 13:2, Psa 109:17, Psa 109:18 <\/p>\n I wot: 1Ki 22:6, 1Ki 22:8, 1Ki 22:13, Psa 109:28, Pro 26:2, Isa 47:12, Isa 47:13, Eze 13:6, Act 8:9, Act 8:10, Act 16:16 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Exo 1:10 – wisely Num 22:17 – come Num 23:23 – no enchantment Num 24:10 – I called Psa 64:5 – encourage Act 3:17 – wot<\/p>\n Num 22:6. Curse me this people Agreeably to a superstitious opinion which prevailed in ancient times, that some men were so much in favour with the gods, that by prayers or imprecations they were able to prosper or blast the designs, not only of particular persons, but of whole armies. Among the worshippers of the true God, the blessings or imprecations of the inspired prophets were, indeed, very justly to be regarded, as being proper predictions of prosperity or disaster; see Gen 49:1-2; and<\/p>\n 2Ki 2:24. But it is certain that false prophets, or the worshippers of idols, having no intercourse with God, who alone presides over futurity, but relying only upon delusive and diabolical arts, were mere pretenders to that privilege, which the truly inspired prophets enjoyed.<\/p>\n Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they [are] too mighty for me: peradventure 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. Verse 6. … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 22:6”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/P> Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"