Commentaria in Numeros
The Hebrew may be translated secondly, with the Chaldee and Vatablus, thus: his king shall be exalted more than Agag, and his kingdom shall be lifted up; and this is true, for Saul prevailed over Agag, and took him in war. The Septuagint translate, and Gog (for so it is to be read, not Psoch, as the Royal Bibles have; for Gog is read by Rabanus and Cyprian, book I, Testimonies to Quirinus, testimony 10) shall be exalted, his kingdom. Gog, that is, upon the roof, says Rabanus. For Gog in Hebrew Psalm 37: “His kingdom shall be lifted on high.” But Gog is here taken properly, not as a common noun: hence Eusebius, Demonstration of the Gospel book IX, chapter 2, by Gog understands the Roman Emperor, as if to say: His kingdom shall be exalted at the time of Christ. But Balaam here prophesies of the kingdom, not of the Romans but of the Jews.
Wherefore Symmachus and Theodotion better translate, in Procopius, his kingdom shall be exalted above Gog, namely of Christ the king, to be born of Israel; and this the Septuagint seem to have meant. For they translate: a man shall come forth of his seed, and shall rule over many nations, and his kingdom shall be exalted above (for the Hebrew has “above,” and so the Septuagint seem to have translated) Gog, as though Balaam here prophesied the victory of Christ against Antichrist and his leaders Gog and Magog, of whom Ezechiel 38.
But the true reading is Agag, not Gog, as is plain from the Hebrew and Chaldee and our version: wherefore the first sense is the genuine one (1).
Finally, the Jerusalem Paraphrast takes these words literally of Christ; and so translates: “Their king shall arise from among their sons, and their redeemer from themselves. He shall also be among them, and shall gather them, namely their captivities, from the provinces of their enemies: and their sons shall rule over peoples. He shall be stronger than Saul, who spared Agag king of the Amalecites; and the kingdom of the king Messias shall be multiplied.” But this paraphrase is not literal.
8. WHOSE STRENGTH IS LIKE TO THE RHINOCEROS.—See what was said on chapter 21, verse 22.
THEY SHALL DEVOUR (the Israelites, namely) THE NATIONS, (which are) HIS ENEMIES—Israel’s, namely, by slaying and consuming them. Whence the Chaldee clearly translates: the house of Israel shall devour the pride of the peoples their enemies, and they shall delight in the spoil of their kings, and shall possess their land.
Note: Scripture, when it speaks of a certain nation or people, now in the singular, presently in the plural speaks of it. Whence for “they shall devour,” here in the Hebrew it is, he shall devour, namely Israel his enemies.
AND BREAK THEIR BONES—in Hebrew, they shall unbone their bones; Vatablus, they shall gnaw their bones, namely the Israelites; the Septuagint translate, they shall draw the marrow from their fat (2).
9. LYING DOWN HE HATH SLEPT AS A LION.—This is a prophecy, as is plain; therefore the past is to be taken for the future: he hath slept, that is, he shall sleep, that is, Israel shall rest secure in the land of promise, and shall be terrible to the neighbouring nations, and strong as a lion, and fierce and warlike as a lioness robbed of her cubs, so that none dares to attack him. Such was Israel, especially in the time of David and Solomon.
HE THAT BLESSETH THEE, SHALL ALSO HIMSELF BE BLESSED—as if to say: He who shall invoke good fortune on thee, good fortune shall be invoked on him: again, he who shall do thee good, good shall be done to him. On the contrary, he who shall do thee ill, or pray ill for thee, ill shall be done to him, and men shall invoke ill upon him; God so directing and rewarding thy friends, and punishing thy enemies (3).
13. I CANNOT TRANSGRESS (I shall not be able to pass over the word of the Lord) THE WORD OF THE LORD.
14. NEVERTHELESS I WILL GIVE THEE COUNSEL WHAT THY PEOPLE MAY DO TO THIS PEOPLE IN THE LATTER DAYS.—Balaam saw that before king Balac he was seized by the spirit of the Lord, and could not curse the people of Israel; he thought therefore that if he departed from him, going to his own people, he would be deserted by the spirit of God, and so might give king Balac evil counsel for destroying the Hebrews, and consequently obtain the gold promised by him (4); wherein his marvellous impiety and blind avarice plainly betray themselves.
“What dost thou not compel mortal hearts to, accursed hunger of gold? Justice is for sale for gold, for gold sacred things are for sale.”
How much loftier and holier was Pope Liberius, who, sent into exile by the Emperor Constantius, refused a great sum of gold sent by him for his support, saying: “Thou hast plundered the churches of the world, and now offerest alms to me as to one condemned and needy! Go first, and become a Christian thyself.” So Theodoret, book I, History, chapter 16. And Eusichius the hermit in the territory of the Bituriges, who said to king Childebert offering him 50 gold pieces: “Give them to the poor, I need them not,” as Gregory of Tours relates, On the Glory of Confessors, 26. And Hormisdas, a noble Persian, who for the faith of Christ was stripped of nobility and wealth, and hearing from the king: “Now at last deny the carpenter’s son; dost thou think that for the sake of this poor shirt, with which by the king’s order thou hast been clothed, thou wilt desert thy piety? Keep the gift with thy impiety.” So Theodoret, book V, chapter 37.
WHAT THY PEOPLE MAY DO TO THIS PEOPLE.—The Septuagint, Chaldee and more recent writers translate the Hebrew in a plainly contrary way, namely, I will counsel thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. Which Rabanus explains thus, as if to say: I will give thee counsel, that is, I will declare to thee the divine counsel and decree, which is to be fulfilled in the latter days, that thou mayest know what this people shall do to thy people, which counsel is expressed in verse 17, when it is said: “A sceptre shall spring up from Israel, and shall strike the chiefs of Moab.” But because Balaam did not utter this divination going to his own people, but still abiding with Balac; and because the Hebrew ya’ats properly signifies to counsel, but not to divine or foretell: hence our interpreter better translates the Hebrew, which you may render word for word: I will give thee counsel (for although the Roman Bibles and other Latin ones commonly do not read “thee,” yet they understand it) what thy people shall do to this people: for the article lamed, which is prefixed to the word ammecha, is not always a sign of the dative, but sometimes also of the nominative, as is plain from the lexicons of the Hebrews. The sense is therefore, as if to say: I see that by auguries and divinations I cannot hurt the Israelites; departing therefore, I will give thee, O Balac, a counsel by which the Israelites may be enticed by women to the worship of Beelphegor, and so destroyed. That Balaam suggested this counsel is plain from chapter 31, verse 16, and Apocalypse 2:14, and Josephus expressly relates it, Antiquities book IV, chapter 6; and that it succeeded prosperously for him will be plain from the next chapter. So Theodoret, Question 45, St. Augustine, Question 60, and others. For, as St. Ambrose beautifully teaches, book VI, epistle 37, and Nyssen, On the Life of Moses, near the end, and Prosper, part II On Predictions, chapter 12, Philo and Abulensis, Balaam, desirous of the king’s favour and of Balac’s gold, wished to rob the Israelites of the divine protection and of the goods which he had prophesied of them; to this end the best plan seemed to him to be if the Israelites were drawn to luxury: and so they would offend God, who is a lover of chastity, as a rhinoceros (says Rupert), and thence be led away from the worship of God to idolatry, and so God be angry with them; and to provoke them to idolatry, he persuaded that most beautiful Moabite and Madianite women should be set, as though to sell food or to trade, near the camp of Israel, with their idols and food consecrated to the idol, who should first ensnare the Israelites by their beauty, love and embrace; then entice them to worship their idol Beelphegor, or Priapus, most obscene; and Balaam suggested and persuaded this to be done throughout the whole journey, namely from Phasga to Galgal, or to the entrance of Chanaan. But that it was done once only, and thereafter hindered by the sharp vengeance of God, will be plain from the next chapter; and Michaeas teaches it, chapter 6, verse 5. Learn here how grievous and dangerous is the temptation of women; so Solomon was led by women to idols; “For wine and women make wise men fall off.” Of a like temptation by women, but which had a different issue, Damascene tells a beautiful example, On Barlaam and Josaphat, chapter 30.
IN THE LATTER DAYS—that is, in the days following after I shall have departed from thee; for the Hebrew acharit, that is, last or latest, in Scripture is often said not in respect of the time that could follow, as though it were the last time after which none other follows; but is said in respect of that which went before; and it is that which follows after another, even though after it still others follow; last, therefore, or latest, is the same as following, or later. This is plain both from the Hebrew root achar, that is, he was later, he delayed, and also from examples. For so in Genesis 33:2, in the Hebrew, it is said that Jacob put Lia and her sons last: whereas after Lia followed Rachel with her son Joseph. So commonly the Prophets call the time of the Messias the latest, because it is later. Like are Genesis 49:1, Isaias 9:1: whence you may rightly here translate, with Oleaster, in later days. See Ribera, on Michaeas 4:5.
15. TAKING UP THEREFORE HIS PARABLE (prophecy), HE SAID AGAIN.—Note the “therefore,” as if to say: When Balaam now thought of departing, before he departed, being still with Balac, he could not but bless the Israelites; therefore, as if bidding farewell, he again, and for the last time, blessed them (1).
16. THE MAN WHOSE EYE IS STOPPED UP hath said—by sleep, or ecstasy. See what was said on verse 2.