Numbers 24

The direction of a bird flying overhead is something Balaam might have taken as a sign, for example.

Possibly in a trance. Prophets and seers usually seemed to get their inspiration or messages from dreams sometimes called “visions of the night” (Job 33:14). But in daylight, they were often described as a trance (Acts 10:10).

The only Agag identified in the Bible was an Amalekite king 200 years or more in the future. King Saul, Israel’s first king, captured him. The prophet Samuel killed him (1 Samuel 15:33). Many scholars say this shows that the earliest this could have been written was during or after Saul’s reign. Others say this is a prophecy about Saul’s reign.

This is one of the most ancient titles of Israel’s God, in Hebrew: Elyon. This word puts him at the top of the heap of everything that exists. Some scholars say it’s strange to see a pagan seer like Balaam claim to know the mind of God when he couldn’t read the mind of his talking donkey.

Many scholars say this points to King David, who annexed Moab and claimed it as part of his kingdom. Some say what follows is intended to introduce him, in a prophecy, as an emerging and successful leader—the caliber of Egyptian pharaohs. A later king also conquered Moab: Omri, father of the infamous King Ahab, who married Jezebel. Some scholars say they see elements in this prophecy pointing to the Messiah.

The word in Hebrew is set. That could refer to Seth (aka) Sheth, third son of Adam and Eve. Scholars seem to have trouble understanding what that word is doing in this verse. Other scholars suggest taking the word in a different direction. Similar variations of set can produce words such as “tumult” (“sons of tumult,” New King James Version), and “pride.” People of Moab were famous for their pride (Isaiah 16:6; Zephaniah 2:10).

Amalekites were nomadic herders who lived in the desert parts of what is now Israel and Palestinian territories. Israel’s first kings nearly wiped them all out. But they disappeared in the time of King Hezekiah, after soldiers killed all the survivors (1 Chronicles 4:42). The line about Amalek being one of the great nations seems exaggerated, scholars say.

Kenites were friendly toward the Israelites and at least once were opposed to their enemies. One Kenite woman drove a tent peg into the temple of such an enemy (Judges 5:24). Scholars seem mystified about why Kenites would deserve such a bummer of a future.

Some scholars who date these prophecies early say Balaam was talking about the invasion of the Sea Peoples with the Philistines. Some who date the prophecy a little closer to us on the timeline say it’s probably a reference to Alexander the Great and his Greeks, a thousand years later, invading and taking control of the Persian Empire, which included the land once owned by the Assyrians.

Eber is a mystery. We could say more about it, but it would be more than we know.