Numbers 22:25

22:25 And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself into the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he beat her again. 1 

Numbers 24:1

Balaam Prophesies Yet Again

24:1 2 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, 3  he did not go as at the other times 4  to seek for omens, 5  but he set his face 6  toward the wilderness.

Numbers 32:9

32:9 When 7  they went up to the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they frustrated the intent of the Israelites so that they did not enter 8  the land that the Lord had given 9  them.

1 tn Heb “he added to beat her,” another verbal hendiadys.

2 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).

3 tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of the Lord.”

4 tn Heb “as time after time.”

5 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.

6 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.

7 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the parallel yet chronologically later verb in the next clause.

8 tn The infinitive construct here with lamed (ל) is functioning as a result clause.

9 tn The Lord had not given it yet, but was going to give it. Hence, the perfect should be classified as a perfect of resolve.