12 And God said to Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people; for they are blessed.
And I will make of thee a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.
In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then he openeth men's ears, and sealeth their instruction, That he may withdraw man [from his] work, and hide pride from man.
For the gifts and the calling of God [are] not subject to repentance.
Even as David also declares the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteousness without works: Blessed [they] whose lawlessnesses have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered:
My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of Jehovah.
Blessed is he who hath the ùGod of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God,
and said, By myself I swear, saith Jehovah, that, because thou hast done this, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son], I will richly bless thee, and greatly multiply thy seed, as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because thou hast hearkened to my voice.
Happy art thou, Israel! Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah, The shield of thy help, And the sword of thine excellency? And thine enemies shall come cringing to thee; And thou shalt tread upon their high places.
For there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. At this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath ùGod wrought!
ùGod is not a man, that he should lie; neither a son of man, that he should repent. Shall he say and not do? and shall he speak and not make it good? Behold, I have received [mission] to bless; and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou wilt see them; thou shalt see only the extremity of them and shalt not see them all, and curse me them from thence. And he took him to the watchmen's field, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on [each] altar. And [Balaam] said to Balak, Stand here by thy burnt-offering, and I will go to meet yonder.
And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go; perhaps Jehovah will come to meet me; and whatever he shews me I will tell thee. And he went to a hill.
And now, I pray you, abide ye also here this night, and I shall know what Jehovah will say to me further. Then God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, If the men have come to call thee, rise up, [and] go with them; but only what I shall say unto thee shalt thou do.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 22
Commentary on Numbers 22 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 22
At this chapter begins the famous story of Balak and Balaam, their attempt to curse Israel, and the baffling of that attempt; God's people are long afterwards told to remember what Balak the king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, that they might know the righteousness of the Lord, Mic. 6:5. In this chapter we have,
Num 22:1-14
The children of Israel have at length finished their wanderings in the wilderness, out of which they went up (ch. 21:18), and are now encamped in the plains of Moab near Jordan, where they continued till they passed through Jordan under Joshua, after the death of Moses. Now we have here,
Num 22:15-21
We have here a second embassy sent to Balaam, to fetch him over to curse Israel. It were well for us if we were as earnest and constant in prosecuting a good work, notwithstanding disappointments, as Balak was in pursuing this ill design. The enemies of the church are restless and unwearied in their attempts against it; but he that sits in heaven laughs at them. Observe,
Num 22:22-35
We have here an account of the opposition God gave to Balaam in his journey towards Moab; probably the princes had gone before, or gone some other way, and Balaam had pointed out where he would meet them, or where they should stay for him, for we read nothing of them in this part of our narrative, only that Balaam, like a person of some quality, was attended with his two men-honour enough, one would think, for such a man, he needed not be beholden to Balak for promotion.
Num 22:36-41
We have here the meeting between Balak and Balaam, confederate enemies to God's Israel; but here they seem to differ in their expectations of the success.