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Numbers 23

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1 And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven bullocks and seven rams.

2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered·​·up on every altar a bullock and a ram.

3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand·​·forth over thy burnt·​·offering, and I will go; perhaps Jehovah will happen to meet me: and what word He shows me I will tell thee. And he went to a slope.

4 And God came* to Balaam; and he said to Him, I have arranged seven altars, and I have offered·​·up on each altar a bullock and a ram.

5 And Jehovah set a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

6 And he returned to him, and, behold, he stood over his burnt·​·offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

7 And he lifted up his enunciation, and said, Balak the king of Moab has led me from Syria, from the mountains of the east, saying, Go, curse Jacob for me, and go, have·​·indignation against Israel.

8 How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? And how shall I be·​·indignant when Jehovah is· not ·indignant?

9 For from the head of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I observe him; behold, the people shall abide alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part* of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the upright, and let my last be like his!

11 And Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse my enemies, and, behold, blessing thou hast blessed them.

12 And he answered and said, Must I not keep to speaking that which Jehovah has set in my mouth?

13 And Balak said to him, Go, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see nothing but the edge of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse them for me from thence.

14 And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the head of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered·​·up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

15 And he said to Balak, Stand·​·forth here over thy burnt·​·offering, and there it will befall me.

16 And Jehovah came* to Balaam, and set a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

17 And he came to him, and behold, he stood over his burnt·​·offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, What has Jehovah spoken?

18 And he lifted·​·up his enunciation, and said, Rise·​·up, Balak, and hear; give·​·ear even·​·to me, thou son of Zippor;

19 God is not a man, that He should lie; neither a son of man, that He should repent Himself. Has He said, and shall He not do? And has He spoken, and shall He not secure it?

20 Behold, a blessing I have received, and He has blessed; and not turned· it ·back.

21 He has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, neither has He seen mischief in Israel; Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in him.

22 God brought· them ·out from Egypt; he has as·​·it·​·were the powers of a unicorn.

23 For there is no foretelling against Jacob, neither divination against Israel; according·​·to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God worked!

24 Behold, the people shall rise·​·up as an old·​·lion, and lift· himself ·up as a young* lion; he shall not lie·​·down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

25 And Balak said to Balaam, Even cursing thou shalt not curse them, even blessing shalt thou not bless them.

26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, Spoke I not to thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaks, it I will do?

27 And Balak said to Balaam, Go, I pray thee, I will take thee to another place; perhaps it will be·​·upright in the eyes of God, and thou mayest curse them for me from thence.

28 And Balak took Balaam to the head of Peor, that looks·​·out upon the faces of Jeshimon.

29 And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven bullocks and seven rams.

30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered·​·up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Jacob or Israel (the man)

  

Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to meet Esau, and the angel tells him that his name will be changed. After he is reconciled with Esau, they go their separate ways. Jacob moves to Shechem and then on to Bethel, where he builds an altar to the Lord. The Lord appears to him there, renews the covenant He first made with Abraham and again tells him that his name will be Israel (Genesis 35). The story goes on to tell of Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death in bearing him, and then of Jacob's return to Isaac and Isaac's death and burial. But at that point the main thread of the story leaves Israel and turns to Joseph, and Israel is hardly mentioned until after Joseph has risen to power in Egypt, has revealed himself to his brothers and tells them to bring all of their father's household down to Egypt. There, before Israel dies, he blesses Joseph's sons, plus all his own sons. After his death he is returned to the land of Canaan for burial in Abraham's tomb. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob represents truth, and Esau good. Jacob's stay in Padan-Aram, and the wealth he acquired there, represent learning the truths of scripture, just as we learn when we read the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. The change of name from Jacob to Israel represents the realization that what we learn should not simply be knowledge, but should be the rules of our life, to be followed by action. This action is the good that Esau has represented in the story up to that time, but after the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob as Israel now represents the truth and the good, together. It is interesting that even after his name change Jacob is rarely called Israel. Sometimes he is called one and sometimes the other, and sometimes he is called both Jacob and Israel in the same verse (Genesis 46:2, 5, & 8 also Psalm 14:7). This is because Jacob represents the external person and Israel the internal person, and even after the internal person comes into being, we spend much of our lives living on the external level.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 4274, 4292, 4570, 5595, 6225, 6256, Genesis 2:5, 46:8)