Numbers 22:40

And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(40) And Balak offered . . . —Better, and Balak slew (or, slaughtered in sacrifice), &c. The word rendered offered does not necessarily denote anything more than to slay. It is very commonly used, however, to denote slaying in sacrifice; and it is most probable that Balak made a sacrificial feast, and sent portions of the flesh to Balaam and the princes who were with him. Kings not unfrequently acted as priests of old, as, e.g., Melchizedek. (Comp. Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos, Aen. 3:80.)

Benson Commentary

Numbers 22:40. Sent to Balaam, and to the princes, &c. — Either to invite them to partake of the feast upon the sacrifice, or, having sacrificed, he sent portions of the sacred banquet to him, and the princes whom he had left to attend him. Balaam, who professed to be a worshipper of the true God, was very blame-worthy in partaking of meat offered to idols.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:36-41 Balak has now nothing to complain of, but that Balaam did not come sooner. Balaam bids Balak not depend too much upon him. He seems to speak with vexation; but is really as desirous to please Balak, as ever he had pretended to be to please God. See what need we have to pray every day, Our Father which art in heaven, lead us not into temptation. Let us be jealous over our own hearts, seeing how far men may go in the knowledge of God, and yet come short of Divine grace.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Kirjath-buzoth - i. e., "city of streets," within Balak's dominions, south of the Arnon, and identified either with the ruins of Shihan, 4 miles west by south of the site assigned to Ar or Ir, or with Kirjathaim (Kureivat).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

40. Balak offered oxen and sheep—made preparations for a grand entertainment to Balaam and the princes of Midian.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Or, killed, either for sacrifice, or rather for a feast; for the sacrifices were offered after this, Numbers 23:1,2.

Sent to Balaam, to invite him to the feast. The king had left the princes to accompany him and attend upon him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Balak offered oxen and sheep,.... Or "slew" (w) them, either for sacrifice; and if so Balak was the sacrificer, as it was common for kings to be priests; and then Balaam, who was sent for, was the prophet, that was to observe and explain any omen at the time of sacrificing, as Calchas did, when the chiefs of Greece sacrificed (x): or rather for a feast, as the following words seem to show; though it might be for both, it being usual, when sacrifices were offered to idols, to eat part of them in a festival way, in imitation of the peace offerings of the Jews, see Numbers 25:2,

and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him; either part of it to them, or he sent for them to come, and partake of the feast, he and the princes of Moab and Midian, that had been to fetch him, and still attended him; and this the king did in a way of rejoicing, being glad that Balaam was come, and as expressing his well pleasedness with the conduct of the princes, and their success, as well as to keep Balaam in high spirits, hoping to have his end answered by him.

(w) "cuinque occidisset", V. L. (x) Homer. Iliad. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

40. and sent to Balaam &c.] When the animals had been slaughtered for sacrifice, Balak caused portions of the flesh to be brought to Balaam and the Moabite princes who had accompanied him. Cf. 1 Samuel 9:23 f.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 40. - Balak offered oxen and sheep. Probably these sacrifices were offered not to Chemosh, but to the Lord, in whose name Balaam always spoke. Indeed the known fact that Beldam was a prophet of the Lord was no doubt one of Balak's chief reasons for wishing to obtain his services. Balak shared the common opinion of antiquity, that the various national deities were enabled by circumstances past human understanding to do sometimes more, sometimes less, for their special votaries. He perceived that the God of Israel was likely, as things stood, to carry all before him; but he thought that he might by judicious management be won over, at least to some extent, to desert the cause of Israel and to favour that of Moab. To this end he "retained" at great cost the services of Balaam, the prophet of the Lord, and to this end he was willing to offer any number of sacrifices. Even the resolute and self-reliant Romans believed in the wisdom of such a policy. Thus Pliny quotes ancient authors as affirming "in oppugnationibus ante omnia solitum a Romanis sacrdotibus evocari Deum, cujus in tutela id oppidum esset, promittique illi eundem aut ampliorem apud Romanos cultum," and he adds, "durat in Pontificum disciplina id sacrum, constatque ideo occultatum, in cujus Dei tutela Roma esset, ne qui hostium simili modo agerent." And sent, i.e., portions of the sacrificial meats.

CHAPTER 22:41; 23, 24 Numbers 22:40

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

He then went with Balak to Kirjath-Chuzoth, where the king had oxen and sheep slaughtered in sacrifice, and sent flesh to Balaam as well as to the princes that were with him for a sacrificial meal, to do honour to the soothsayer thereby. The sacrifices were not so much thank-offerings for Balaam's happy arrival, as supplicatory offerings for the success of the undertaking before them. "This is evident," as Hengstenberg correctly observes, "from the place and time of their presentation; for the place was not that where Balak first met with Balaam, and they were only presented on the eve of the great event." Moreover, they were offered unquestionably not to the Moabitish idols, from which Balak expected no help, but to Jehovah, whom Balak wished to draw away, in connection with Balaam, from His own people (Israel), that he might secure His favour to the Moabites. The situation of Kirjath-Chuzoth, which is only mentioned here, cannot be determined with absolute certainty. As Balak went with Balaam to Bamoth-baal on the morning following the sacrificial meal, which was celebrated there, Kirjath-Chuzoth cannot have been very far distant. Knobel conjectures, with some probability, that it may have been the same as Kerioth (Jeremiah 48:24), i.e., Kereijat or Krriat, at the foot of Jebel Attarus, at the top of which Bamoth-baal was situated (see at Numbers 21:19).