8 ùGod brought him out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a buffalo. He shall consume the nations his enemies, and break their bones, and with his arrows shall smite [them] in pieces.
ùGod brought him out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a buffalo.
Thine arrows are sharp -- peoples fall under thee -- in the heart of the king's enemies.
Thou shalt break them with a sceptre of iron, as a potter's vessel thou shalt dash them in pieces.
Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria devoured him, and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
I kept still until the morning; ... as a lion, so doth he break all my bones. From day to night thou wilt make an end of me.
For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon, an assemblage of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her: from thence shall she be taken. Their arrows shall be as those of a mighty expert man: none shall return empty.
When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations from before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou,
I will heap mischiefs upon them; Mine arrows will I spend against them.
For thou wilt make them turn their back; thou wilt make ready thy bowstring against their face.
And the king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and broke all their bones in pieces ere they came to the bottom of the den.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 24
Commentary on Numbers 24 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 24
This chapter continues and concludes the history of the defeat of the counsels of Balak and Balaam against Israel, not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts; and as great an instance it is of God's power over the children of men, and his favour towards his own children, as any of the victories recorded in the book of the wars of the Lord. What preparation was made the third time for the cursing of Israel we read of in the close of the foregoing chapter. In this chapter we are told,
Num 24:1-9
The blessing itself which Balaam here pronounces upon Israel is much the same with the two we had in the foregoing chapter; but the introduction to it is different.
Num 24:10-14
We have here the conclusion of this vain attempt to curse Israel, and the total abandonment of it.
Num 24:15-25
The office of prophets was both to bless and to prophesy in the name of the Lord. Balaam, as a prophet, per force had blessed Israel; here he foretels future events.