John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 5. He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor , etc.] In consequence of the consultation held by the king of Moab with the elders of Midian; and very probably through a motion of theirs, and by advice they gave, Balak dispatched messengers of both people to the person here described by his name and parentage; but who he was is not easy to say: the Jews sometimes make him to be a magician in Pharaoh’s court, at the time when Moses was born f333 , which is not probable; and it is still more improbable that he should be Laban the Syrian, as the Targum of Jonathan here, and the Targum on ( 1 Chronicles 1:44) though others say he was the son of Beor, the son of Laban, and so was the grandson of Laban; and with as little probability is he said to be Elihu, that answered Job according to a tradition of the Jews, mentioned by Jerom f335 ; nor is there any reason to believe that he was ever a good man, and a true prophet of the Lord; he is expressly said to be a diviner or a soothsayer, ( Joshua 13:22), a sort of men abhorred of God, and not to be suffered to be among his people, ( Deuteronomy 18:10) but were of great credit and esteem among the Heathens, for their pretensions to foretell things to come, or to discover lost goods, and the like; and by their enchantments to drive away evils, or bring on curses, for which Balaam was famous: and therefore, by the advice of the Midianites, Balak sent for him to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people ; the land of his people, of his birth or habitation, was Aram or Syria, ( Numbers 23:7) that is, Aram Naharaim, which lay between the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates, or what is sometimes called Mesopotamia, as is clear from ( Deuteronomy 23:4), and the river of that land, which was eminently so called, is the river Euphrates, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it here, and by that river was Pethor, where Balaam now lived; and is by some thought to be the same with the Pacoria of Ptolemy f336 , which was by that river: the messengers were sent to call him : to invite him to Balak’s court: saying, behold, there is a people come out from Egypt ; Balak speaks of them, as if he knew not who they were, only that they were come from Egypt, and were seeking a new habitation to settle in, and so were in danger from them, lest they should invade his country, and settle there: behold, they cover the face of the earth ; not the face of the whole earth, unless an hyperbolical expression is supposed, to set forth the greatness of their numbers; but a large part of the earth, all within sight almost, even the plains of Moab: and they abide over against me ; were very near him, lay encamped before his country, and his metropolis, and so he thought himself in great danger, and threatened with an invasion, as the pitching of their tents so near made him surmise.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-14 - The king of Moab formed a plan to get the people of Israel cursed; tha is, to set God against them, who had hitherto fought for them. He had false notion, that if he could get some prophet to pray for evil upo them, and to pronounce a blessing upon himself and his forces, tha then he should be able to deal with them. None had so great reputation as Balaam; and Balak will employ him, though he send a grea way for him. It is not known whether the Lord had ever spoken to Balaam, or by him, before this; though it is probable he had, and it is certain he did afterwards. Yet we have abundant proof that he lived an died a wicked man, an enemy to God and his people. And the curse shal not come upon us if there is not a cause, even though men utter it. To prevail with Balaam, they took the wages of unrighteousness, but God laid restraint upon Balaam, forbidding him to curse Israel. Balaam wa no stranger to Israel's cause; so that he ought to have answered the messengers at once, that he would never curse a people whom God ha blessed; but he takes a night's time to consider what he should do When we parley with temptations, we are in great danger of being overcome. Balaam was not faithful in returning God's answer to the messengers. Those are a fair mark for Satan's temptation, who lesse Divine restraints; as if to go against God's law were only to go without his leave. The messengers also are not faithful in returnin Balaam's answer to Balak. Thus many are abused by the flatteries of those about them, and are prevented from seeing their own faults an follies.
Original Hebrew וישׁלח7971 מלאכים4397 אל413 בלעם1109 בן1121 בעור1160 פתורה6604 אשׁר834 על5921 הנהר5104 ארץ776 בני1121 עמו5971 לקרא7121 לו לאמר559 הנה2009 עם5971 יצא3318 ממצרים4714 הנה2009 כסה3680 את853 עין5869 הארץ776 והוא1931 ישׁב3427 ממלי׃4136
