Números 23:7

FIRST ORACLE

"From Aram hath Balak brought me,

The king of Moab from the mountains of the East:

Come, curse me Jacob,

And come, defy Israel.

How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?

And how shall I defy, whom Jehovah hath not defied?

For from the top of the rocks I see him,

And from the hills I behold him:

Lo, it is a people that dwelleth alone,

And shall not be reckoned among the nations.

Who can count the dust of Jacob,

Or number the fourth part of Israel?

Let me die the death of the righteous,

And let my last end be like his!"

"Aram ..." (Numbers 23:7b). "This is the ancient name of Mesopotamia."[9] "It includes the northern part of Mesopotamia and Syria as far south as the borders of Palestine and the larger part of Arabia Petraea."[10] Note that "mountains of the East" are in apposition with Aram, and this helps to identify its location.

"Who can count the dust of Jacob ..." (Numbers 23:10). God had promised Abraham that his posterity should be as innumerable as the stars of the heaven or the "dust of the earth" (Genesis 13:16); and here is a confirmation of that prophecy in the mouth of Balaam. Could this have derived in any manner from anything in Balaam's mind? No! We must reject interpretations that are based upon what scholars suppose that Balaam "had in mind." Balaam was not the author of these prophecies. God gave them. Carson, for example, rejected the thought that there was any reference to the "after-life" in Balaam's last lines here, saying that, "The thought of blessing beyond the grave could hardly have been in Balaam's mind!"[11] Certainly that comment is true, but, since the words here are of God, and not of Balaam, it can hardly be denied that the request as it stands is surely big enough to include life after death.

"Let me die the death of the righteous ..." The word "righteous" here (Numbers 23:10) is plural and therefore refers to all of the nation of Israel. His in the same context also speaks of the nation "as a corporate unity."[12] As far as it pertained to Balaam, such a request was futile. He died fighting on the side of the enemies of Israel (Numbers 31:8).