Numbers 22:4

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Then the Israelites traveled on and camped in the plains of Moab near the Jordan, across from Jericho. ²Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, ³and Moab was terrified of the people because they were numerous. Indeed, Moab dreaded the Israelites. ⁴So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, "This horde will devour everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field." Since Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time,⁵he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. "Behold, a people has come out of Egypt," said Balak. "They cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. ⁶So please come now and put a curse on these people, because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land; for I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed." ⁷The elders of Moab and Midian departed with the fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and relayed to him the words of Balak. ⁸"Spend the night here," Balaam replied, "and I will give you the answer that the LORD speaks to me." So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. ⁹Then God came to Balaam and asked, "Who are these men with you?" ¹⁰And Balaam said to God, "Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message:

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

elders: Numbers 22:7, Numbers 25:15-18, Numbers 31:8, Joshua 13:21, Joshua 13:22

Now shall: Numbers 24:17, Jeremiah 48:38

And Balak: Numbers 22:2, Judges 11:25

Reciprocal: Genesis 25:2 - Midian Exodus 1:9 - the people Numbers 22:10 - General Numbers 25:6 - a Midianitish Deuteronomy 2:4 - they shall Deuteronomy 2:9 - Distress not the Moabites 1 Kings 11:18 - Midian 1 Chronicles 1:32 - Midian Nehemiah 2:10 - it grieved Habakkuk 3:7 - saw the

Cross-References

Exodus 5:3
"The God of the Hebrews has met with us," they answered. "Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword."

Exodus 15:22
Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water.

Exodus 19:11
and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

Exodus 19:15
"Be prepared for the third day," he said to the people. "Do not draw near to a woman."

Leviticus 7:17
But any meat of the sacrifice remaining until the third day must be burned up.

Numbers 10:33
So they set out on a three-day journey from the mountain of the LORD, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.

Numbers 19:12
He must purify himself with the water on the third day and the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.

Numbers 19:19
The man who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be clean by evening.

Numbers 31:19
All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both yourselves and your captives.

Joshua 1:11
"Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Moab said unto the elders of Midian,.... Whom the king of Moab sent for to consult with what to do in the present case, for the good and safety of both people; for, according to the Targum of Jonathan, they were one people and one kingdom unto this time, at least had been confederates, by what is said Genesis 36:35 though Jarchi thinks there was always a mutual hatred of each other, and that Midian now came against Moab to war, but for fear of Israel a peace was made between them, just as it was with Herod and Pontius Pilate in another case, Luke 23:12, however, they were friends as well as neighbours now; and by which it appears, that this Midian was not that where Jethro lived, which was on the Red sea, near Mount Sinai, in Arabia Felix; this was near the river Arnon, and the Moabites in Arabia Petraea; and though both the one and the other descended from Midian, the son of Abraham by Keturah, yet they had spread themselves, or the one was a colony from the other, and might be distinguished into southern and northern Midianites; the latter were those near Moab; and these elders of Midian, addressed by the king of Moab, being now at his court, whether sent for or not, are the same with the five kings or princes of Midian, as they are called, Numbers 31:8 as Aben Ezra observes:

now shall this company lick up all [that are] round about us; consume us, and all our people, and all adjoining to us, and depending on us:

as the ox licketh up the grass of the field; as easily, and as soon, and as completely and entirely; nor are we any more able to oppose them than the grass of the field is to resist and hinder the ox from devouring it:

and Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time; according to the Targum of Jonathan, Midianites and Moabites reigned by turns so long a time; and that Balak was a Midianite, and so says Jarchi, and unfit for the kingdom, and was set over them through necessity for a time: but it seems rather that he was king in succession after his father Zippor; and the design of the expression is only to show, that he who was before mentioned, Numbers 22:2 was the then reigning prince when this affair happened.