12<\/strong>. for they are blessed<\/em> ] It was necessary to inform Balaam of this; as a foreigner in far Mesopotamia he knew nothing of Israel and their relation to Jehovah.<\/p>\n Verse 12<\/span>. Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the<\/B><\/I> <\/B>people<\/B><\/I>] That is, Thou shalt not go with them to curse the people. With them he might go<\/I>, as we find he afterwards did by God’s own command, but not to curse<\/I> the people; this was wholly forbidden. Probably the command, Thou shalt not go<\/I>, refers here to that time<\/I>, viz., the first invitation: and in this sense it was most punctually obeyed by Balaam; see Nu 22:13<\/span>.<\/P><\/p>\n God revealeth his mind to Balaam, not for any love to him, but for the sake of his people concerned in it, as he did to Pharaoh, Gen 41:25<\/span>, and to Nebuchadnezzar, Dan 2:45<\/span>. <\/P> They are blessed<\/B> by my irrevocable decree and sentence, and therefore it is in vain for men to curse them. <\/P> <\/p>\n And God said unto Balaam, thou shalt not go with them<\/strong>,…. Which is a denial of the first thing Balak requested, “come now, therefore”, c. Nu 22:6<\/span><\/p>\n thou shall not curse the people<\/strong> which was the principal thing desired, and in order to which he was solicited to go with the messengers; but this is absolutely forbidden:<\/p>\n for they are blessed<\/strong>; by the Lord himself, with an irrevocable blessing, and therefore it would be vain and fruitless, as well as dangerous for him to attempt to curse them, Ge 12:3<\/span> this may have a special respect to the blessing of Jacob by Isaac, which could not be reversed by the solicitations of Esau, and which descended to Jacob’s posterity, the Israelites, Ge 27:33<\/span>.<\/p>\n 12. Thou shalt not go with them. If there were any room for doubt, God peremptorily removes it, and confirms the prohibition; because it was unlawful to curse, those whom He had blessed. For nothing more is permitted to prophets than that they should be the witnesses, or ambassadors (internuntii,) or heralds of the grace which God freely deigns to bestow at His own pleasure upon whom He will. Moreover, God is said to bless those whom He has embraced with His favor, and to whom He experimentally declares Himself to be propitious, when He displays His liberality towards them. Of this blessing He willed that the prophets should be His ministers in such a manner that the power should still remain altogether in His own hands. If, therefore, they usurp to themselves the prerogative of blessing without His commission, their act is not merely frivolous and inefficacious, but even blasphemous. Justly, then, does Ezekiel convict of falsehood and deception those false prophets, who, by their flatteries, encourage the souls which were doomed to die; whilst they slay by their terrors and threats those to whom God had promised life. (Eze 13:2<\/span> and 22.) Hence we gather, how vain it is for hypocrites, as they are wont to do, to purchase pardon from men in order to propitiate God; and also that we need not be afraid of those degenerate ministers, (147) who desire to domineer tyrannically in virtue of their office, although they launch their fulminations against the innocent. <\/p>\n It is plain, however, that Balaam’s obedience to God’s command does not proceed from the heart. His words, indeed, might deceive the simple, from their appearance of humility; “I will not go, because God forbids it; “but there is no doubt but that, led as he was to gratify them by ambition and by avarice, he indicates that he would be disposed to undertake the journey, unless he were forbidden by God. If his heart had been sincere, the honest reply he should have given was obvious, viz., that it was vain to send either for himself or any one else, in order that Balak might resist the inviolable decree of God. If he had thus heartily and unequivocally given glory to God, another embassy would not have been sent to him; but by his faltering excuse he appeared to inflame the desire of the foolish king, in order to sell his curse at a higher price; for we know that this is the usual way with impostors, that they obtain higher pay for themselves in proportion to the difficulty of the matter. Still, however, if we compare the mercenary prophets of the Pope with Balaam, his servile and enforced submission will deserve no little praise by the side of their detestable and indomitable folly, who, in despite of God, hesitate not to burst forth in impious curses. The truth, which they oppugn, is conspicuous: that terrible judgment, which (God) denounces by the mouth of Isaiah, rings in their ears, “Woe unto them that put darkness for light, and light for darkness,” (Isa 5:20<\/span>\ud83d\ude09 nevertheless they proceed, and in their brutal madness vomit forth their blasphemies not only to the destruction of the Church, but, if it were possible, to the extinction of all religion. <\/p>\n (147) “Les ministres masques;” the masked ministers. — Fr. <\/p>\n 12<\/strong>. <\/strong> For they are blessed <\/strong> The blessing here pronounced is national and not individual. They are included in the covenant in which not only they are blessed, but through them, as the progenitors of the Messiah, shall all the families of the earth be blessed.<\/p>\n God Tells Him Not to Go and Not to Curse Israel ( Num 22:12<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ) <\/p>\n Num 22:12<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n ‘And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” ’ <\/p>\n Note again that the One Who spoke to him was called ‘God’ and not ‘Yahweh’. He was not to be seen as one of many gods whom Balaam contacted (which was how Balaam would have seen Yahweh). He was the living God, the only God. He sternly informed Balaam that he must not go, and that he was not to seek to curse this people, for they were blessed. In other words they had special protection over them and were strengthened and watched over by Him. So no one must touch them (compare Psa 105:15<\/span>). <\/p>\n Num 22:12<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Thou shalt not curse the people<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> Though Balaam’s cursing the Israelites signified nothing of itself, yet God would not permit it, because the Moabites would have paid so great a regard to what he had promised, that they would thereupon have attacked the Israelites in hopes of being able to overcome and drive them. out, Num 22:11<\/span>. And so a war would have been brought on between the Israelites and Moabites, which God did not design at this time to permit; see Shuckford’s Connexion, vol. 3: b. 12. <\/p>\n REFLECTIONS.<\/strong>Frightened at the progress of the arms of Israel, and apprehensive lest the next stroke might descend on them, the king of Moab, with the elders of Midian, are contriving to save themselves. They need not be apprehensive of danger: their relation, as descendants from Lot, secured them; and probably Moses had informed them that they were safe. But the wicked are in fear where no fear is; and they who are conscious of their own ill intentions, are ever ready to suspect ill of others. 1. The method he pursued. Unable, as he thought himself, to cope with the armies of Israel, he has recourse to Balaam to curse the people, in hopes that under his imprecations he might prevail, though he could not by his sword alone. Note;<\/em> (1.) The prayers or curses of the wicked are alike impotent to work good or evil. (2.) They who think to purchase heaven by their alms-giving, act as foolishly as Balak did, who wanted by his gifts to procure Balaam’s blessing. 2. The refusal given to the ambassadors of Moab. Balaam stayed them that night, that, as he says, he might inquire of God; and God, for his people’s sake, is pleased to honour him with his appearance in a dream or vision of the night, forbids his journey, and assures him of the blessing which was upon Israel. In the morning he reports this answer to the messengers, but conceals the more material part, the blessing that God had pronounced on Israel; and they, to flatter their master, make their report, as if the refusal to come was not from God’s forbidding, but from Balaam, and that he might be gained by greater invitation, and by presents. Observe, <\/em>(1.) God may, for wise reasons, employ wicked men. No doubt, many, like Balaam, will perish, though as well as him they may have done many wonderful works. (2.) When we love the sin, and are only restrained by fear, we are but Balaam’s followers. (3.) To conceal part of the truth, is often as dangerous as a direct lie. <\/p>\n What a precious scripture is here! Reader! do not confine it to the Israel then, or to the occasion on which the sweet words were spoken. But consider it as of an everlasting import: GOD’S people are blessed. They ever have been, now are, and ever shall be. And if you would know why, turn to the word of GOD, and there discover that they are so wholly on the account of JESUS. Men shall be blessed in him. He is the sure mercies of David. Psa 72:17<\/span> ; Isa 55:3<\/span> .<\/p>\n not go. This is absolute. Compare Num 22:20, where the permission is conditional. See Structure above. <\/p>\n thou shalt not curse. A special various reading called Sevir (see App-34), with Samaritan Pentateuch, The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “neither shalt thou”. <\/p>\n not go <\/p>\n Cf. Num 22:12. (See Scofield “Gen 46:3”). <\/p>\n Thou shalt: Num 22:20, Job 33:15-17, Mat 27:19 <\/p>\n thou shalt not curse: Num 22:19, Num 23:3, Num 23:13-15, Num 23:19, Num 23:23, Mic 6:5 <\/p>\n for they: Num 23:20, Gen 12:2, Gen 22:16-18, Deu 23:5, Deu 33:29, Psa 144:15, Psa 146:5, Rom 4:6, Rom 4:7, Rom 11:29, Eph 1:3 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Gen 27:29 – cursed Num 22:34 – if it displease thee Deu 1:11 – and bless you Jos 24:10 – General 1Sa 17:43 – cursed Psa 109:28 – Let them<\/p>\n Num 22:12. They are blessed They are conducted under the banner of heaven, and no imprecations can hinder their progress. Though Balaams cursing Israel signified nothing of itself, yet God would not permit it, because the Moabites would have paid so great a regard to it, that they would thereupon have attacked the Israelites in hopes of being able to overcome and drive them back, Num 22:11; and so this would have brought on a war between them, which God did not design at this time to permit, Deu 2:9.<\/p>\n 22:12 And God {f} said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they [are] blessed.<\/p>\n (f) He warned him by a dream, that he should not consent to the kings wicked request.<\/p>\n And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they [are] blessed. 12. for they are blessed ] It was necessary to inform Balaam of this; as a foreigner in far Mesopotamia he knew nothing of Israel and their relation to Jehovah. Fuente: The Cambridge Bible … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 22:12”<\/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-4396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396","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=4396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
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: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes<\/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
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"