Num 23:21-22 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel ] This is a difficult passage; for if we take the words as spoken of the people Israel, as their iniquity and their perverseness were almost unparalleled, such words cannot be spoken of them with strict truth. If we consider them as spoken of the patriarch Jacob and Israel , or of Jacob after he became Israel , they are most strictly true, as after that time a more unblemished and noble character ( Abraham excepted) is not to be found in the page of history, whether sacred or profane; and for his sake, and for the sake of his father Isaac , and his grandfather Abraham , God is ever represented as favouring, blessing, and sparing a rebellious and undeserving people; . In this way, I think, this difficult text may be safely understood. There is another way in which the words may be interpreted, which will give a good sense. aven not only signifies iniquity , but most frequently trouble, labour, distress , and affliction ; and these indeed are its ideal meanings, and iniquity is only an accommodated or metaphorical one, because of the pain , distress , &c., produced by sin. amal , translated here perverseness , occurs often in Scripture, but is never translated perverseness except in this place. It signifies simply labour , especially that which is of an afflictive or oppressive kind. The words may therefore be considered as implying that God will not suffer the people either to be exterminated by the sword , or to be brought under a yoke of slavery . Either of these methods of interpretation gives a good sense, but our common version gives none. Dr. Kennicott contends for the reading of the Samaritan, which, instead of lo hibbit, he hath not seen , has lo abbit, I do not see , I do not discover any thing among them on which I could ground my curse. But the sense above given is to be preferred.

‏ Numbers 23:21-22

Verse 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel] This is a difficult passage; for if we take the words as spoken of the people Israel, as their iniquity and their perverseness were almost unparalleled, such words cannot be spoken of them with strict truth. If we consider them as spoken of the patriarch Jacob and Israel, or of Jacob after he became Israel, they are most strictly true, as after that time a more unblemished and noble character (Abraham excepted) is not to be found in the page of history, whether sacred or profane; and for his sake, and for the sake of his father Isaac, and his grandfather Abraham, God is ever represented as favouring, blessing, and sparing a rebellious and undeserving people; See Clarke on Ge 49:33. In this way, I think, this difficult text may be safely understood.

There is another way in which the words may be interpreted, which will give a good sense. aven not only signifies iniquity, but most frequently trouble, labour, distress, and affliction; and these indeed are its ideal meanings, and iniquity is only an accommodated or metaphorical one, because of the pain, distress, &c., produced by sin. amal, translated here perverseness, occurs often in Scripture, but is never translated perverseness except in this place. It signifies simply labour, especially that which is of an afflictive or oppressive kind. The words may therefore be considered as implying that God will not suffer the people either to be exterminated by the sword, or to be brought under a yoke of slavery. Either of these methods of interpretation gives a good sense, but our common version gives none.

Dr. Kennicott contends for the reading of the Samaritan, which, instead of lo hibbit, he hath not seen, has lo abbit, I do not see, I do not discover any thing among them on which I could ground my curse. But the sense above given is to be preferred.

Verse 22. The strength of a unicorn.] reem and reim. It is generally allowed that there is no such beast in nature as the unicorn; i. e., a creature of the horse kind, with one long rich curled horn in the forehead. The creature painted from fancy is represented as one of the supporters of the royal arms of Great Britain. It is difficult to say what kind of beast is intended by the original word. The Septuagint translate the word μονοκερως, the unicorn, or one-horned animal; the Vulgate, sometimes, unicornus; and in the text rhinocerotis, by which the rhinoceros, a creature which has its name from the horn on its nose, is supposed to be meant. That no single-horned animal can be intended by the reem of Moses, is sufficiently evident from this, that Moses, speaking of Joseph, says, "he has the HORNS of A unicorn," or reem, where the horns are spoken of in the plural, the animal in the singular. The creature referred to is either the rhinoceros, some varieties of which have two horns on the nose, or the wild bull, urus, or buffalo; though some think the beast intended is a species of goat; but the rhinoceros seems the most likely. There is literally a monoceros, or unicorn, with one large curled ivory horn growing horizontally out of his snout; but this is not a land animal, it is the modiodan or nurwal, a marine animal of the whale kind, a horn of which is now before me, measuring seven feet four inches; but I believe the rhinoceros is that intended by the sacred writers.