Balaam gazed over the camp of Israel that stretched before him, and allowed the spectacle to work its own influence upon him.<\/P> <\/p>\n
Verse 2<\/span>. The Spirit of God came upon him.<\/B><\/I>] This Divine afflatus he had not expected on the present occasion, but God had not yet declared the whole of his will.<\/P><\/p>\n According to their tribes; <\/B>in the order appointed, Num 2<\/span>. <\/P> Came upon him, <\/B>i.e. inspired him to speak the following words, and so constrained him again to bless those whom he desired to curse. <\/P> <\/p>\n 2. he saw Israel abiding in histents according to their tribes<\/B>that is, in the orderlydistribution of the camp (Nu2:1-34<\/span>). <\/P> the spirit of God came uponhim<\/B>Before the regular ministry of the prophets was instituted,God made use of various persons as the instruments through whom Herevealed His will, and Balaam was one of these (De23:5<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n And Balaam lifted up his eyes<\/strong>,…. Being on Mount Peor:<\/p>\n and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes<\/strong>; in that exact order in which they were directed to encamp under four standards, and so many tribes under each standard, Nu 2:1<\/span><\/p>\n and the Spirit of God came upon him<\/strong>; not in his grace but in his gifts; not as a spirit of sanctification, but as a spirit of prophecy, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it; and so sometimes the Spirit of God in this sense has come upon wicked men, as on Caiaphas and others, Joh 11:51<\/span>.<\/p>\n (2) Abiding in his tents . . . <\/strong>i.e., <\/em>encamped according to the order prescribed for the respective tribes. The cognate noun is rendered tabernacles <\/em>in Num. 24:5<\/span>.<\/p>\n And the spirit of God came upon him.<\/strong>In regard to the two former utterances, it is said that Jehovah put a word in the mouth of Balaam (Num. 23:5<\/span>; Num. 23:15<\/span>). In the present case the Spirit of God came upon (or, over) him. The same expression is used of the messengers of Saul (1Sa. 19:20<\/span>), and of Saul himself (Ibid, <\/em>Num. 24:23<\/span>). The prophecy of Caiaphas (Joh. 11:15<\/span>) affords another instance of the sovereign power of the Spirit as displayed through the medium of wicked men.<\/p>\n 2<\/strong>. <\/strong> The Spirit of God came upon him <\/strong> The inlet of God into the soul is through the truth as a medium. The orderly aspect of the Hebrew camp encircling the tabernacle the abode of Jehovah signalized by the cloudy pillar, awakened faith in the mind of Balaam; not, indeed, a personal and saving trust in Jehovah, but a realization of the truth of his claims and of Israel’s election. This faith prepared Balaam for the incoming of the inspiring Spirit. This is not said of his two former speeches, which were put into his mouth without his being thrown into a state of ecstasy; but this utterance resembles the predictions of true prophets: the inner ear is opened to hear the voice of God, and the spiritual eye, purged by the Spirit of God, sees the substance of the revelation.<\/p>\n Num 24:2<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>The spirit of God came upon him<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> That is, a prophetic influence from God, whereby his mind was inspired to see and foretel future events. Philo and others consider Balaam as merely passive in this affair, and that God moved his organs much in the same manner as he did those of the ass: but the state of his mind may, perhaps, be better understood, by saying in Homer’s phrase, that he uttered these predictions, ; i.e. he was a voluntary agent, but overruled to speak contrary to his inclinations; for he would gladly have gratified Balak in cursing the Israelites, but he could not, or durst not, counteract the divine authority, which enjoined him to bless them. Neither is it any just exception against Balaam’s being a true prophet, that he was a bad man: Saul was among the prophets. See the First Principle <\/em>on Num 24:5<\/span> of chap. 22: The completion of his prophecies removes all objections that might arise from his character. <\/p>\n The SPIRIT of GOD came upon him; that is upon him by an overruling, constraining power, so as to prompt to a service his heart would gladly have been excused from; but not in him, in a way of renewing sanctifying grace. Many have felt the power and sovereignty of the HOLY GHOST who have never known what his sweet and gracious influences in converting the soul from error to salvation mean. Saul is among the prophets, Saul hath another heart given to him, but not a renewed heart. He had indeed another heart suited to the change of station the LORD in his Providence appointed him to; and this for the advantage of the LORD’S people. He was before this seeking his father’s asses, and now he is appointed to a kingdom. So that another heart in its bias and pursuits became needful. But here is not a word through all this to lead to the idea, that Saul was a converted and regenerated believer. 1Sa 10:9<\/span>1Sa 10:9<\/span> . Reader! learn to make this nice but most proper distinction, and it will help to explain many of the otherwise seeming difficulties you may meet with in life.<\/p>\n Num 24:2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding [in his tents] according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him.<\/p>\n Ver. 2. And the spirit of God came upon him.<\/strong> ] A common spirit, a spirit of prophecy: “Have not we prophesied in thy name?,” Mat 7:22 said those castaways. In impiis quandoque sunt dona Dei, sine Deo.<\/em> God gives gifts to men, “yea to the rebellious,” Psa 68:18 for the use of his Church. A blind man may bear a torch in his hand, whereby others may receive benefit, though himself receive none; so here.<\/p>\n according to their tribes. Compare Numbers 2. <\/p>\n the spirit of God (Hebrew. ‘Elohim). This expression occurs eight times outside the books of Samuel (Gen 1:2; Gen 41:38. Exo 31:3; Exo 35:31. Exo 24:2. Eze 11:24. 2Ch 15:1; 2Ch 24:20). In all other places it is “the spirit of Jehovah”. <\/p>\n Spirit. Hebrew. ruach. App-9. <\/p>\n upon. Always “upon “(not “in “) in Old Testament. <\/p>\n abiding: Num 24:5, Num 2:2-34, Num 23:9, Num 23:10, Son 6:4, Son 6:10 <\/p>\n the spirit: Num 11:25-29, 1Sa 10:10, 1Sa 19:20, 1Sa 19:23, 2Ch 15:1, Mat 7:22, Mat 10:4, Mat 10:8, Luk 10:20, Joh 11:49-51 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Lev 23:42 – General Num 1:52 – General Num 2:34 – so they Num 23:7 – parable 1Ki 13:11 – an old prophet 2Ch 20:14 – came the Spirit Dan 8:3 – I lifted Joh 11:51 – he prophesied<\/p>\n Num 24:2-3. The Spirit of God came upon him And is it likely that the Spirit of God would have come upon a sorcerer or enchanter? A prophetic influence from God came upon him, whereby he was enabled to foresee future events, and inspired to utter the following words: The man whose eyes are open Some, confounding shetum, with , or setum, would translate the words, Whose eyes are or were shut, for which there does not seem to be sufficient authority. The Seventy render them, , seeing truly. His eyes indeed had been shut, and he had been blind and stupid, having eyes but not seeing, nor understanding; but God had opened them in a peculiar and prophetical manner. Hence the prophets were called seers, from Gods having opened their eyes.<\/p>\n And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding [in his tents] according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him. Balaam gazed over the camp of Israel that stretched before him, and allowed the spectacle to work its own influence upon him. Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 24:2”<\/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-4457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4457","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=4457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}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: 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: 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: 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":"