Bilangan 24:17

24:17 ‘I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not close at hand. ¹ 

A star ²  will march forth ³  out of Jacob,

and a scepter ⁴  will rise out of Israel.

He will crush the skulls ⁵  of Moab,

and the heads ⁶  of all the sons of Sheth. ⁷ 

Bilangan 24:19

24:19 A ruler will be established from Jacob;

he will destroy the remains of the city.’” ⁸ 

Hakim-hakim 1:1-2

Judah Takes the Lead

1:1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked ⁹  the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” ¹⁰  1:2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. ¹¹  Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.” ¹² 

Hakim-hakim 20:18

20:18 The Israelites went up to Bethel ¹³  and asked God, ¹⁴  “Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?” ¹⁵  The Lord said, “Judah should lead.”

Hakim-hakim 20:1

Civil War Breaks Out

20:1 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba ¹⁶  and from the land of Gilead ¹⁷  left their homes ¹⁸  and assembled together ¹⁹  before the Lord at Mizpah.

1 Tawarikh 5:2

5:2 Though Judah was the strongest among his brothers and a leader descended from him, ²⁰  the right of the firstborn belonged to Joseph.)

1 Tawarikh 28:4

28:4 The Lord God of Israel chose me out of my father’s entire family to become king over Israel and have a permanent dynasty. ²¹  Indeed, ²²  he chose Judah as leader, and my father’s family within Judah, and then he picked me out from among my father’s sons and made me king over all Israel. ²³ 

Mazmur 60:9

60:9 Who will lead me into the fortified city?

Who will bring me to Edom? ²⁴ 

Mazmur 108:9

108:9 Moab is my wash basin. ²⁵ 

I will make Edom serve me. ²⁶ 

I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”

[24:17]  ¹ tn Heb “near.”

[24:17]  ² sn This is a figure for a king (see also Isa 14:12) not only in the Bible but in the ancient Near Eastern literature as a whole. The immediate reference of the prophecy seems to be to David, but the eschatological theme goes beyond him. There is to be a connection made between this passage and the sighting of a star in its ascendancy by the magi, who then traveled to Bethlehem to see the one born King of the Jews (Matt 2:2). The expression “son of a star” (Aram Bar Kochba) became a title for a later claimant to kingship, but he was doomed by the Romans in a.d. 135.

[24:17]  ³ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is equal to the imperfect expressing the future. The verb דָּרַךְ (darakh), related to the noun “way, road,” seems to mean something like tread on, walk, march.”

[24:17]  ⁴ sn The “scepter” is metonymical for a king who will rise to power. NEB strangely rendered this as “comet” to make a parallel with “star.”

[24:17]  ⁵ tn The word is literally “corners,” but may refer to the corners of the head, and so “skull.”

[24:17]  ⁶ tc The MT reads “shatter, devastate.” Smr reads קֹדְקֹד (qodqod, “head; crown; pate”). Smr follows Jer 48:45 which appears to reflect Num 24:17.

[24:17]  ⁷ sn The prophecy begins to be fulfilled when David defeated Moab and Edom and established an empire including them. But the Messianic promise extends far beyond that to the end of the age and the inclusion of these defeated people in the program of the coming King.

[24:19]  ⁸ tn Or, understanding the Hebrew word for “city” as a place name, “of Ir” (cf. NRSV, NLT).

[1:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “asked” (שָׁאַל, sha’al) refers here to consulting the Lord through a prophetic oracle; cf. NAB “consulted.”

[1:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Who should first go up for us against the Canaanites to attack them?”

[1:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Judah should go up.”

[1:2]  ¹² tn The Hebrew exclamation הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally, “Behold”), translated “Be sure of this,” draws attention to the following statement. The verb form in the following statement (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the Lord speaks of it as a “done deal.”

[20:18]  ¹³ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[20:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “They arose and went up to Bethel and asked God, and the Israelites said.”

[20:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Who should go up for us first for battle against the sons of Benjamin?”

[20:1]  ¹⁶ sn Dan was located in the far north of the country, while Beer Sheba was located in the far south. This encompassed all the territory of the land of Canaan occupied by the Israelites.

[20:1]  ¹⁷ sn The land of Gilead was on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

[20:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “went out.”

[20:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the assembly was convened as one man.”

[5:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and [one] for a leader [was] from him.” This probably refers to the Davidic king.

[28:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “out of all the house of my father to become king over all Israel permanently.”

[28:4]  ²² tn Or “for.”

[28:4]  ²³ tn Heb “and among the sons of my father he desired to make me king over all Israel.”

[60:9]  ²⁴ sn In v. 9 the psalmist speaks again and acknowledges his need for help in battle. He hopes God will volunteer, based on the affirmation of sovereignty over Edom in v. 8, but he is also aware that God has seemingly rejected the nation (v. 10, see also v. 1).

[108:9]  ²⁵ sn The metaphor of the wash basin, used to rinse one’s hands and feet, suggests that Moab, in contrast to Israel’s elevated position (vv. 7-8), would be reduced to the status of a servant.

[108:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “over Edom I will throw my sandal.” The point of the metaphor is not entirely clear. Some interpret this as idiomatic for “taking possession of.” Others translate עַל (’al) as “to” and understand this as referring to a master throwing his dirty sandal to a servant so that the latter might dust it off.