21. Balaam . . . saddled hisass<\/B>probably one of the white sprightly animals which personsof rank were accustomed to ride. The saddle, as usually in the East,would be nothing more than a pad or his outer cloak.<\/P><\/p>\nFuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
And Balaam rose up in the morning<\/strong>,…. Early, not waiting for the call of the princes, which showed how eager he was to be gone, and how intent upon the journey:<\/p>\n and saddled his ass<\/strong>; which, if he did himself, as Jarchi suggests, this is a further proof of the haste he was in; though, as he had two servants with him, it is more likely that they did it by his order: the same is said of Abraham, Ge 22:3<\/span>, it was usual for persons of note and figure, in those times and countries, to ride on asses, Jud 5:10<\/span> and went with the princes of Moab; in company with them, and with as good a will as they, his heart and theirs being alike, as Jarchi notes; though it seems by what follows that by some means or another they soon parted company; for when the affair of the ass happened, Balaam was alone, only attended by his two servants.<\/p>\n 21<\/strong>. <\/strong> In the morning <\/strong> In contrast with Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice all to God in Isaac (Gen 22:3<\/span>) is Balaam’s greediness to clutch the wages of iniquity.<\/p>\n Balaam Therefore Goes with the Chieftains of Moab ( Num 22:21<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ). <\/p>\n Num 22:21<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n ‘And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the chieftains of Moab.’ <\/p>\n As God had bidden him Balaam rose, saddled his ass, and went with the chieftains of Moab. Note that he was now supposed to be under God’s orders. But it is clear that his thoughts were seemingly otherwise. He was all mixed up. For God knew that while he was obeying Him, he was still thinking in terms of helping the Moabites. He was measuring up how he could ‘persuade’ God to conform to what he wanted. Thus he needed to be taught a lesson. <\/p>\n Num 22:21<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>And saddled his ass<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> That is, according to the usual mode of expression in Scripture, caused his ass to be saddled; <\/em>for he had servants <\/em>to wait upon him. Persons of the highest rank, in those times, were accustomed to travel upon asses. <\/p>\n REFLECTIONS.<\/strong>Balak was earnest to carry his point, and therefore spares no pains to accomplish it. If he had been at but half the trouble to secure God’s blessing, and Israel’s friendship, he had succeeded better. 1. He increases his embassy, and adds distinguished honour to his presents. Importunate to gain Balaam, he stops at nothing; let him prescribe his own terms, and Balak will ratify them. Note; <\/em>(1.) A man’s heart must be strongly fortified by realizing views of the eternal world, who can stand out against the united temptations of gain and honour. (2.) They who would keep from yielding to sin must resolutely resist and avoid the temptations to it. 2. Balaam receives and entertains the messengers, and whilst professedly adhering to the command of God, evidently betrays his willingness to go with them. He makes most honourable mention of God, and claims high relation to him, seeming to prefer his favour to the riches of the universe; but his heart was deceitful. Note; <\/em>(1.) Many claim an interest in God whom he will disown for his people. (2.) Sound words do not always speak a sound heart: it is easier to learn the language of God’s people, than to shew their fidelity. (3.) The sin is almost already committed when we are seeking an excuse for running into temptation. 3. God in anger gave him permission to go. He should have been satisfied with one denial: could he imagine that there was in God any shadow of changing? Yet even now he is restricted, and cannot speak farther than he is permitted. God holds the devil’s chain, and neither he nor his instruments can go a step beyond their appointed bounds. 4. Balaam is in haste to be gone: he does not wait to be called by the princes of Midian, but runs greedily after the bait of Balak’s offers. Note; <\/em>When the heart is gone from God, it will not be long ere the conduct betrays it. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Num 22:21 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Ver. 21. And saddled his ass.<\/strong> ] Which never runs fast enough after preferment, till horse and man and all to the devil.<\/p>\n went. Without waiting for the condition given by the LORD in Num 22:20. Hence God’s anger. See Num 22:22. <\/p>\n Balaam Warned What to Speak<\/p>\n Num 22:21-40<\/p>\n If only Balaam had abided by his first answer to Balaks request, he would have been saved from the disgrace and suffering which ensued. But he seemed to think that it was possible to alter Gods mind; hence his request to the second company of messengers that they give him time to ascertain Gods will. Already that will had been clearly made known to him; what object had he in pressing for a further response?<\/p>\n When, finally, he was told that he might go, he rose up in the morning, saddled his ass, and started post-haste. He was trying to serve two masters-to speak as God bade him, but to please Balak and pocket his gold.<\/p>\n How many agencies God uses to arrest our evil courses! Peter specially refers to this incident, 2Pe 2:16. Many cries are raised to stop the boat that is caught in the rapids above Niagara! Thus the way of transgressors is made hard by the love of God!<\/p>\n Pro 1:15, Pro 1:16 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Num 16:15 – I have not Num 22:35 – I shall speak 1Ki 13:13 – General<\/p>\n Balaam was sensitive to the spirit world. Either he did not sense the presence of the Angel of the Lord or his greed had blinded him to the Angel’s presence. The Angel had drawn his sword (Num 22:23), symbolic of God’s wrath against Balaam, for acting as he was doing (cf. Gen 3:24; Exo 12:12). God finally caught Balaam’s attention by speaking through the donkey (Num 22:28; cf. 1Co 1:27). Then he saw the Angel and bowed in submission before Him (Num 22:31).<\/p>\n ". . . even a beast is more capable of discerning things from the higher world, than a man blinded by sinful desires." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 3:173.] <\/span><\/p>\n Hopefully Balaam appreciated the contrast between his own lack of insight and his donkey’s ability to discern God’s will and learned some humility from the event.<\/p>\n "We see the prophet Balaam as a blind seer, seeing less than the dumb animal. . . . The long shadow of Moses falls across the pages of the Balaam story even though Moses is never named once. Moses spoke face to face with God (see ch. 12); Balaam does not even know that God is near-but his donkey does!" [Note: Allen, p. 893.] <\/span><\/p>\n Why did Balaam answer his donkey as though he normally conversed with it (Num 22:29)? Perhaps spirits had spoken to him through animals previously (cf. Gen 3:1; Gen 3:4). Maybe the donkey exasperated him to the point that he answered before he realized what he was doing.<\/p>\n "The donkey’s acts and words anticipate the problems Balaam is about to face. The ass was caught three times between the angel’s sword and Balaam’s stick. Soon Balaam will find himself trapped between Balak’s demands and God’s prohibitions. Through his third encounter with God, Balaam was reminded that God wields a sword and that disobedience means death. So he goes on his way fully committed to declaring God’s words rather than submitting to Balak’s wishes (35)." [Note: G. Wenham, Numbers, p. 171.] <\/span><\/p>\n "The Lord tells Balaam to continue on his journey but to ’speak only what I tell you’ (Num 22:35). This is the point of the whole chapter: Balaam the pagan mantic will not be able to speak cursing as he had planned. Instead, he would be the most surprised of all; he would be the most remarkable instrument of God in the blessing of his people, Israel." [Note: Allen, p. 894.] <\/span><\/p>\n Some ancient and modern interpreters have pointed out the similarities and differences between the stories of Balaam’s donkey in this pericope and Abraham’s binding of Isaac (Gen 22:1-19). [Note: See Jonathan D. Safren, "Balaam and Abraham," Vetus Testamentum 38:1 (January 1988):105-13.] <\/span> The stories appear in inverse form, as a reflection in a mirror. God through Moses may have subtly contrasted Balaam with Abraham to put Balaam in a bad light and to glorify Abraham.<\/p>\n Balak was a bit put out with Balaam for delaying his arrival. He assumed Balaam’s hesitancy was due to doubt concerning Balak’s ability to pay him (Num 22:37). The sacrifices (Num 22:40) were probably to secure the favor of Balak’s gods.<\/p>\n "The pieces given to Balaam presumably would have included the livers; for as a baru<\/span> diviner, Balaam was a specialist in liver divination." [Note: Allen, p. 895.] <\/span><\/p>\n Balak assumed that Balaam would be more susceptible to receiving supernatural power, and it would be more effective, if he had Israel in view. This is why he took Balaam to places where he could see Israel.<\/p>\n "In order to lay a spell on a people, it was considered necessary to be able to see them, if only in part." [Note: Maarsingh, p. 84.] <\/span><\/p>\n None of the sites mentioned are identifiable with certainty, but all were around the area where Israel lay camped.<\/p>\n Num 22:41 contains one of the first references to Baal worship in the Old Testament.<\/p>\n "Israel struggled with Baal and his worshippers from the beginning to the end of her national history. Baal worship was the most serious challenge and threat to the worship of Yahweh of all the pagan religions in the ancient Near East. This was true because some similarities and some vast differences existed between Baal and Yahweh." [Note: Ralph L. Smith, "Baal," Biblical Illustrator 10:2 (Winter 1984):15.] <\/span><\/p>\n And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. 21. Balaam . . . saddled hisassprobably one of the white sprightly animals which personsof rank were accustomed to ride. The saddle, as usually in the East,would be nothing more than a pad or his outer cloak. … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 22:21”<\/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-4405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405","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=4405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/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: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"