Numbers 23:9

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams." ²So Balak did as Balaam had directed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³"Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone," Balaam said to Balak. "Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you." So Balaam went off to a barren height, ⁴and God met with him. "I have set up seven altars," Balaam said, "and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram." ⁵Then the LORD put a message in Balaam's mouth, saying, "Return to Balak and give him this message." ⁶So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab. ⁷And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: "Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. 'Come,' he said, 'put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!' ⁸How can I curse what God has not cursed? How can I denounce what the LORD has not denounced? ⁹For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, who will not reckon themselves among the nations.¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the people: They shall ever be a distinct nation. This prophecy has been literally fulfilled, through a period of 3,300 years, to the present day.

dwell alone: Exodus 19:5, Exodus 19:6, Exodus 33:16, Deuteronomy 33:28, Esther 3:8, 2 Corinthians 6:17, Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 2:9

shall not: Deuteronomy 32:8, Ezra 9:2, Jeremiah 46:28, Amos 9:9, Romans 15:8-10, Ephesians 2:12-14

Reciprocal: Leviticus 20:24 - which Numbers 2:34 - so they Numbers 24:2 - abiding Deuteronomy 4:7 - what nation 1 Samuel 8:5 - now make 1 Samuel 8:20 - General 1 Kings 8:53 - separate Ezra 9:1 - have not separated Song of Solomon 6:9 - General Isaiah 5:2 - fenced it Isaiah 49:25 - I will contend Jeremiah 46:1 - against Jeremiah 49:31 - which dwell Micah 7:14 - which

Cross-References

Romans 12:17
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.

Romans 13:8
Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him,.... That is, Israel in their camps; Balaam being at this time on the top of a rock, or on an high hill, from whence he had a view of Israel, encamped in the plains of Moab below him:

lo, the people shall dwell alone; this certainly respects their dwelling in the land of Canaan, where they dwelt a separate people from all others, distinguished by their language, religion, laws, customs, and manner of living, being different both in their clothing, and in their food, from other people; nor had they dealings, nor did they company with those of other nations; see Esther 3:8 "or shall dwell safely" z, or securely, not so much because of the situation of their country, but because of the protection of the Almighty; see Deuteronomy 33:28

and shall not be reckoned among the nations; as belonging to them, shall not be made of any account by them, but be despised and reproached for their religion chiefly; nor reckon themselves of them, nor mix with them; so the Targum of Jerusalem,

"they shall not be mixed;''

or, as Jonathan,

"they shall not be led in the laws of the people;''

and though they are now scattered among the people and nations of the world, yet they are not mixed with them, nor reckoned to be a part of them; nor do they reckon themselves to be of them, but are a separate distinct people from them. Thus Israel, or the people of God in a spiritual sense, dwell alone; not solitarily, or without company, in every sense, for they have the company of Father, Son, and Spirit, of angels and saints; but they dwell in God, in Christ, in the house of God, and with one another, separately and distinctly from the world: they are a separate people in the love of God; in the choice of them in Christ; in the covenant of grace made with them in him; in redemption by him; in his intercession for them; in effectual calling; as they will be in the resurrection morn, and in heaven to all eternity: and they shall dwell safely, God being around them; Christ the rock and fortress of them; the Spirit in them being greater than he that is in the world; angels their guardians, and they in a strong city, whose walls and bulwarks are salvation: nor are they reckoned among the nations; they are chosen, redeemed, and called out of them, and are not accounted of by them any other than the refuse and offscouring of all things; nor do they reckon themselves to be of the world, but as pilgrims and strangers in it. Baal Hatturim refers this prophecy to the days of the Messiah; see Jeremiah 23:5.

z לבדר "confidenter", Pagninus; "securus", Vatablus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For from the top of the rocks ... - The “for” indicates the constraint under which Balaam felt himself. He had been met by God in his own way; from the cliff he had watched for the expected augury; and by the light of this he here interprets, according to the rules of his art, the destiny of Israel.

Dwell alone - i. e., apart from others, undisturbed by their tumults, and therefore in safety and just security. Compare the same idea in marginal reference; Jeremiah 49:31; and Micah 7:14. This tranquility was realized by the Israelites so long as they clave to God as their shelter and protection. But the inward “dwelling alone” was the indispensable condition of the outward “dwelling alone,” and so soon as the influence of the pagan world affected Israel internally, the external power of paganism prevailed also. Balaam himself, when he eventually counseled tempting the people into sin, acted upon the knowledge that God’s blessing and Israel’s prosperity depended essentially on faithfulness to God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 23:9. From the top of the rocks I see him — That is, from the high places of Baal where he went, Numbers 22:41, that he might the more advantageously see the whole camp of Israel.

The people shall dwell alone — They shall ever be preserved as a distinct nation. This prophecy has been literally fulfilled through a period of 3300 years to the present day. This is truly astonishing.