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Numbers 24 Bible study: A star out of Jacob
Balak had hired Balaam because "he whom you bless is blessed" (22:6). With the Spirit of God on him (24:2), Balaam spoke those words over Balak's enemy: "Everyone who blesses you is blessed" (24:9). Then he saw someone far off: "A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel" (24:17), words the New Testament never quotes.
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“How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your dwellings, Israel!”
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“In Numbers 24, before his third saying, Balaam didn't go to use divination.”
Is that in Numbers 24, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
No divination this time
The chapter opens with a change: "When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to use divination, but he set his face toward the wilderness" (24:1). He looks out at the camp, "and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him" (24:2). Then he speaks of himself as one "who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty" (24:4), and as the fourth saying opens he adds that he "knows the knowledge of the Most High" (24:16). "It pleased the LORD" (24:1) is, literally, "it was good in the eyes of the LORD", and the same Hebrew verb, tov, comes again when he turns to Israel: "How goodly are your tents, Jacob" (24:5).
Where it leads to Jesus
A star out of Jacob
Numbers 24:17leads toRevelation 22:16
Balaam says, "A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel" (24:17). Jesus says, "I am the root and the offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star" (Revelation 22:16). Revelation doesn't cite Numbers, so this is a reading. Some take 24:17 as a promise of the Christ and hear Jesus's words answering it, since in one line he calls himself both David's offspring, of Israel's royal line, and a star. Others read 24:17 of a king of Israel such as David (2 Samuel 8:2, 8:14), and take Revelation 22:16 as Jesus's own title, not a reference to Balaam.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Numbers 24
That was a taste
The rest of Numbers 24 is waiting in Favor
- Balak's own words, turned around
- "I see him, but not now"
- Two words for "open"
- Amalek: first and last
- 15 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
כּוֹכָבkokhavsay ko-KHAV
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "star". Strong's: "a star (as round or as shining); figuratively, a prince". "A star will come out of Jacob" (24:17) is the word's only use in Numbers, and it stands beside "A scepter will rise out of Israel" (24:17). Genesis uses it in the LORD's promise to Abram, "count the stars, if you are able to count them" (Genesis 15:5), and in Joseph's dream, "the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me" (Genesis 37:9).
For your group
Numbers 24 Bible study questions
- 1Balak sent for a curse and got a blessing on the people he feared, three times (24:10). When has God's answer been the opposite of what you asked for, and what came of it?
- 2Balaam looked at Israel's camp from outside and said, "How goodly are your tents, Jacob" (24:5). What would someone see if they looked at your life, or your group, from outside?
- 3Balaam said, "I will say what the LORD says" (24:13), yet Numbers later speaks of "the counsel of Balaam" at Peor (31:16). What is the difference between saying the right words and walking the right way?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Numbers 24 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
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Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home