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Post by michelle on Jun 11, 2007 20:08:28 GMT -8
17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth.
18 Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong.
19 A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city." (NIV)
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Post by Josh on Jun 14, 2007 16:56:14 GMT -8
This one is interesting to me because it arguably has two different referents.
The first would be a fulfillment in King David, who became the first ruler of Israel and dealt a crushing blow to the enemies mentioned here.
But, later Jewish interpreters (before Christ) and early Christian interpreters saw this as ultimately fulfilled in the Messiah.
That Jews thought this referred not merely to David, but to a future Messiah is reflected, among other places, by the fact that the would-be Messiah Bar Kochba who lead a revolt against Rome in the 2nd Century, chose a name meaning "son of the star".
Then there's the tie-in with the star of Bethlehem at the birth of Christ. It may have been this prophecy that the Magi were reading when they responded to the site of an unusual star in the West.
Lastly, the enemies listed in this passage often stand in the OT as the archtypical enemies of God, and can be understood in an eschatological sense as the enemies of the Church, for example.
Still, because of the double-referent (David and Jesus), I'd personally give this one a C, R, and V.
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Post by Josh on Jun 19, 2007 21:52:02 GMT -8
Michelle, since you're the one who suggested this one, do you think C, R, and V is a good rating?
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Post by stevend on Apr 12, 2014 21:34:07 GMT -8
Greetings everyone,
My name is Steven, I'm new here (and haven't yet introduced myself on the proper page). As this is my first post on this forum, I'll try to keep it brief and to the point.
Considering the time signature assigned to Balaam's final recorded oracle (i.e. "the end of days", cf. 24:14) as well as its relationship to the Pentateuch and the Hebrew Bible in its entirety, I'm persuaded that Balaam's prophecy is worthy of much more meditation on my part. Recently, through the course of written exchange between myself and a rather thoughtful orthodox Jewish man, I've attempted to account for the less peaceful looking features of Balaam's fourth oracle (Num. 24:17-19) in view of a Christological fulfillment (cf. allusions in Mt. 2:2, 7, 9-10).
This orthodox man ("Avi") and I both agree that Balaam makes reference to the King Messiah. We both agree that the time reference prompts one to look to "the latter/[end of] days" (cf. also Gen. 49:1, 8-9; Deut. 4:30; 31:29). Further, we both recognize that some measure of tangible change to the visible order was/is called for by the advent of the royal Messiah whose coming we both understand the text to anticipate. (Perhaps I should note that Avi's position may remain unsettled as he sometimes questions whether the reign of David or even Saul provides grounds sufficient to satisfy demands for an historical fulfillment).
The stickier part is determining the sense in which the language of dominion is to be understood. As I am aware that Christ did not come to establish order by way of coercion or any manner resembling that of a triumphal worldly empire, the warfare imagery invoked (e.g. v. 17: strike the corners of Moab, destroy the children of Seth, v. 19: destroy the children of the city) within the prophetic poem strikes me as highly charged, yet non-literal language that most likely refers to the uncompromising nature of the reign of God's anointed. It seems safe to suggest that upon inauguration, the king in view will (in some thorough sense) deal with challenges to his throne. As I understand the Moabites to have yielded submission to David (2 Sam. 8:2) and to have later become extinct, I realize that discovering a literal fulfillment for this element of the prophecy seems unreasonable. Additionally, unless I'm mistaken, the Edomites later morphed into the Idumeans which also ceased to exist beyond the era marlked by the demolition of the temple in 70 AD. The trailing away and eventual extinction of both of the Moabites and Edomites includes some implications regarding other prophecies making reference to either group. The fact that no individual earthly king annihilated both people groups may also imply that Balaam's prophecy isn't to be understood with reference to a literal slaughter and subdual of these nations. Rather, I think history supports an understanding of Balaam's prophecy as employing non-literal, dynamic language that doesn't require the celebrated king to impose his rule by means of the worldly sword. Finally, the closing phrase of Num. 24:17 (including the difficult to interpret term קרקר; perhaps more accurately emended to קדקד, i.e. crown of the head, skull; thus, "smite the corners of Moab and the crown of the head of all the sons of Seth") popularly understood as "undermining" or "destroying" the sons of Seth may add to the difficulty of feasibly imagining a literal fulfillment to the prophecy. The sons of Seth would seem to refer to Seth the son of Adam (cf. Gen. chaps. 4 and 5; 1 Chr. 1:1) as the Hebrew Bible identifies no additional individuals by that name to whom the prophecy may refer. Working with this proper name alone, a literal fulfillment would seem to require that the long awaited king would wipe out the human race (i.e. those that descend from Seth). An alternate solution may posit that the people of the land of the Shittim (where Balaam began to deliver his prophecies; cf. Mic. 6:5) as the disfavored sons of Seth. This allows for an interesting structural solution as Num. 25:1 (the subsequent chapter) notes that Israel was dwelling in Shittim. The chapter continues by describing the moral collapse of the Israelites who proceeded to join themselves to Moabite women as well as to Moabite gods (vv. 1-3). This is the story that describes how Phineas prevented the spread of a deathly plague within the Israelite camp by thrusting an Israelite man and a Midianite woman through with a javelin. If only the word Shittim used the same letter "t" as the name Seth does (the difference between שת and שט), the result would present a curious match that might suggest alternate scenarios as fulfillment of the prophecy.
Meanwhile, a third possibility (that I think has merit) is the interpretation of "sons of Seth" according to the meaning of the word translated as the proper noun "Seth". The term may alternately be understood as "tumult". A search for additional instances where the root appears points to Jer. 48:45. Interestingly, Jeremiah chapter 48 is placed within a cluster of chapters that prophesy the doom of a series of nations (chaps. 46-51, Egypt to Babylon); chap. 48 anticipates a visitation of judgment upon Moab. The passage refers to both "the corners of Moab" as well as "the crown of the head of the sons of tumult" (cf. final phrases of Num. 24:17).
Perhaps it's helpful to bear in mind that Jeremiah lived during the Babylonian captivity; thus, his prophecy addressed a stage of history post-dating the Davidic reign. This implies that the complete destruction of Moab post-dated David's reign and, conceivably, Jeremiah's day as well. It is noteworthy that at least until the period of the Babylonian captivity none of David's seed had put an end to the Moabites. Again, expectations for a literal fulfillment of Num. 24:17 appear to disqualify David as the bearer of the scepter to whom the prophesy looks forward. Nevertheless, a non-literal understanding of the prophesy yet anticipates fulfillment as Jeremiah continues to look forward toward the period identified as "the latter [end of] days" (48:47; cf. Gen. 49:1; Num. 24:17; Deut. 4:30; 31:29). Meanwhile, according to Jer. 48, the Moabite nation was yet to be wiped out (v. 42). Reference to "the latter [end of] days" included in Jer. 48:47 (the final verse of the chapter) includes a prophecy from God that he will again cause the captivity of Moab to return sometime during that era classified by the somewhat ambiguous phrase "the latter days". This prophecy seems to imply that God will bring about repentance during that period of time (Jeremiah includes the phrase "the latter days" within the final verse of chap. 30 prior to introducing a vision of hopeful restoration that culminates in the inaugurating of the new covenant, chap. 31:31-34). Meanwhile, within the context of chap. 48, maybe the most peculiar feature of the prophecy is mention that the captivity of Moab will return/repent in "the latter days". Perhaps this simply refers to Gentile nations yielding their submission to the king described by Balaam within Num. 24:17?
I don't know of a better way to understand these passages. However, I would be interested in thoughtful input that anyone would care to offer concerning any segment of Balaam's oracles and/or Jeremiah 48. Thanks for reading.
Gratefully, Steven D.
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Post by Josh on Apr 13, 2014 8:50:17 GMT -8
Great stuff, keep it coming!
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