2:3 “Now those who will be camping 1 on the east, toward the sunrise, 2 are the divisions 3 of the camp of Judah under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is 4 Nahshon son of Amminadab.
24:1 5 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, 6 he did not go as at the other times 7 to seek for omens, 8 but he set his face 9 toward the wilderness.
1 tn The sentence begins with a vav (ו) on a word that is not a finite verb, indicating a new section begins here. The verbal form is a participle with the article used substantivally, with the meaning “and/now those camping.” Many English versions employ a finite verb; cf. KJV “on the east side…shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch.”
2 tc The two synonyms might seem to be tautological, but this is fairly common and therefore acceptable in Hebrew prose (cf. Exod 26:18; 38:13; etc.).
3 tn The sentence actually has “[those camping…are] the standard of the camp of Judah according to their divisions.”
4 tn Or “will be.”
5 sn For a thorough study of the arrangement of this passage, see E. B. Smick, “A Study of the Structure of the Third Balaam Oracle,” The Law and the Prophets, 242-52. He sees the oracle as having an introductory strophe (vv. 3, 4), followed by two stanzas (vv. 5, 6) that introduce the body (vv. 7b-9b) before the final benediction (v. 9b).
6 tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of the
7 tn Heb “as time after time.”
8 tn The word נְחָשִׁים (nÿkhashim) means “omens,” or possibly “auguries.” Balaam is not even making a pretense now of looking for such things, because they are not going to work. God has overruled them.
9 tn The idiom signifies that he had a determination and resolution to look out over where the Israelites were, so that he could appreciate more their presence and use that as the basis for his expressing of the oracle.