God’s Word for You

Numbers 24:10-16 Translating “Behold”

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, November 26, 2021

10 Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he slapped his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but look, all you have done is bless them these three times. 11 Now get out of here. Go to your own place! I said I would really reward you, but look, the LORD has denied you a reward.” 12 Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I tell the messengers you sent to me, ‘I will say what the LORD says. 13 Even if Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go against the command of the LORD by doing anything good or bad of my own will’? 14 Yes, I am going back to my people, but pay attention now—I will tell you what this people will do to your people in days to come.”

Balak fires Balaam and tells him to go home. But God is not thwarted by human anger, human whims, or human wills. The Lord God Almighty, Savior, protector and defender of his people Israel, had more to say, and Balaam was still there before Balak, a mouth ready to say what the Spirit placed into it. Balak also claims that Balaam has forfeited his reward; he will not be paid for his service. Balaam answers simply, “I told you so. I can only say what the Lord gives me to say.” A prophet cannot curse the people of God. The Lord cannot be bribed (2 Chronicles 19:7).

Before Balaam can take a single step back toward his home near the Euphrates, he speaks again, and each of the following four oracles continue to bless God’s people.

Word study: “Look, behold; Lo!”

In Hebrew as in Greek, there are words that lexicons call demonstrative interjections. We see these words translated “Behold” more than 1400 times in the King James Version, most famously in “For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10). In Hebrew, these are forms of the word hinney (הִנֵּה). In the text before us (Numbers 24:10-14), this occurs three times, in verses 10, 11 and 14, but translations differ as our understanding of this interesting word grows. The word hinney serves as a marker pointing to what follows as worthy of special attention, but the mechanics of various languages that the Bible is being translated into handle such markers differently.

Without tiring the reader with too much technical linguistic information, I will summarize by saying that hinney may have different possible translations, with more than one possibly serving in various passages, including leaving the Hebrew interjection untranslated. This is a sample from the Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV) of the variety involved. The translated interjection is capitalized here for emphasis:

Genesis 1:31 “INDEED, it was very good.”
Genesis 3:22 “LOOK, the man has become like one of us.”
Genesis 18:2 “Abraham looked up and SAW three men…”
Genesis 22:7 “HERE ARE the fire and wood…”
Genesis 50:18 “SEE NOW, we are your servants.”
Psalm 48:4 “LOOK! SEE! The kings came together.”
Psalm 59:3 “YES, LOOK how they lie in ambush”
Psalm 127:3 “INDEED children are a heritage from the Lord”
Proverbs 7:10  “SUDDENLY a woman meets him”
Isaiah 17:1 “SOON Damascus will no longer be a city”
Isaiah 22:17 “WATCH OUT! The Lord is going to hurl you…”
Isaiah 34:5 “NOW it will fall on Edom”
Isaiah 36:6 “TELL ME! Are you really trusting…”
Jeremiah 8:8 “WHEN IN REALITY the lying pen…”
Jeremiah 8:9 “SINCE they have rejected the word…”
Jeremiah 8:19 “I HEAR the cry”
Jeremiah 9:25 “WATCH! The days are coming”
Jeremiah 16:14 “Nevertheless, LISTEN TO THIS.”
Jeremiah 21:8 “I WILL CERTAINLY set before you…”
Jeremiah 23:7 “So, MARK MY WORDS.”
Jeremiah 27:16 “Saying to you THAT the vessels…”
Jeremiah 38:22 “THOSE WOMEN will say to you.”
Jeremiah 49:19 “WATCH THIS. Like a lion…”
Habakkuk 2:13 “BE SURE OF THIS.”

This is why our translator has presented hinney as “Look” in both verses 10 and 11, but “Pay attention (now)” in verse 14. The Word of God does not change, but as our human languages change, we must continue to be ready to present the unchanging Word of God in such a way that the truth is conveyed to people rather than whatever their itching ears may want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). This little study of “behold” is a minor point, but I hope that it will help us all to understand the need for good translators and good translations. What a blessing it is to live in a time when there are so many fine translations of the Bible in our English language.

Balaam’s Fourth Message

15 Balaam took up his oracle and said:
  The declaration of Balaam son of Beor,
  the declaration of the man whose eye is open,
16 the declaration of the one who hears the words of God,
  who receives knowledge from the Most High,
  who sees the vision of the Almighty,
  who is falling down, but his eyes are wide open:

Balaam’s words in the beginning of this fourth oracle are very similar to the introduction of the third (Numbers 24:3-4). In fact, the words are identical except for one additional phrase here formatted as the second line of verse 16, “who receives knowledge from the Most High.”

The knowledge Balaam received and passed along to us is part of the Word of God. But this doesn’t mean that everything this man said or did or stood for is in accord with God’s will. Luther said: “Not all who teach correctly or uphold the true doctrine are necessarily holy. For Balaam also is a true prophet, and Judas is a true apostle (Matthew 10:4), and the Pharisees occupy the seat of Moses and teach the truth (Matthew 23:2-3). Thus we too must have something else and something more reliable for our faith than the (ancient church) councils. That ‘something else’ and ‘something more’ is Holy Scripture.” Luther’s point was that the councils sometimes veered off into conclusions that were at odds with the clear testimony of the Bible (LW 41:120). The Bible is the true and governing source of Christian doctrine.

The declaration of Balaam that follows will proclaim the advent of the Lord Jesus from a long way off. As with the rest of the Old Testament prophecies, these true words describe the One who was coming, in order to give comfort and confidence to God’s people, as well as a necessary anticipation so that they would not become careless about their sinful status and neglect the place of true repentance and true faith. But now that Christ has come, we don’t always need to dwell on the prophecies as much as on the fulfillment. Still, the words of Balaam that we will hear next will bring to mind the seed of the woman, Eve’s promised Son, who is glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is our saving God, and we trust in him for our eternal salvation. As Jeremiah said (Jeremiah 21:8), with hinney for emphasis: “I will certainly set before you the way of life.”

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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