Bilangan 11:2

11:2 When the people cried to Moses, he ¹  prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out. ² 

Bilangan 22:10

22:10 Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent a message to me, saying,

Bilangan 23:20

23:20 Indeed, I have received a command ³  to bless;

he has blessed, ⁴  and I cannot reverse it. ⁵ 

Bilangan 32:40

32:40 So Moses gave Gilead to Machir, son of Manasseh, and he lived there. ⁶ 

[11:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Moses.”

[11:2]  ² sn Here is the pattern that will become in the wilderness experience so common – the complaining turns to a cry to Moses, which is then interpreted as a prayer to the Lord, and there is healing. The sequence presents a symbolic lesson, an illustration of the intercession of the Holy Spirit. The NT will say that in times of suffering Christians do not know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes for them, changing their cries into the proper prayers (Rom 8).

[23:20]  ³ tn The Hebrew text simply has “I have received [to] bless.” The infinitive is the object of the verb, telling what he received. Balaam was not actually commanded to bless, but was given the word of blessing so that he was given a divine decree that would bless Israel.

[23:20]  ⁴ sn The reference is probably to the first speech, where the Lord blessed Israel. Balaam knows that there is nothing he can do to reverse what God has said.

[23:20]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “to cause to return.” He cannot return God’s word to him, for it has been given, and it will be fulfilled.

[32:40]  ⁶ tn Heb “in it.”