Charles Ellicott Commentary Numbers 24:21-22

"And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, And thy nest is set in the rock. Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive." — Numbers 24:21-22 (ASV)

And he looked on the Kenites ... — According to the ordinary interpretation of these verses, the continuous destruction of the Kenites is foretold until the Israelites should be taken captive by the Assyrians. The Kenites are included among the tribes whose country Abraham’s descendants were to possess (Genesis 15:19). A portion of this tribe, however (for there is no evidence that the Canaanitish and the Midianitish Kenites had a different origin), joined the Israelites and settled on the southern border of Judah (Judges 1:16).

If the Authorised Version of these verses is adopted, it is reasonable to conclude that the Kenites to whom Balaam’s prophecy referred must have been included among the enemies of Israel, whose destruction, in common with their other foes, is here predicted.

It is obvious that this interpretation is open to two serious objections:

1. That the natural reference of the words “carry thee away captive” is to the Kenites, not to the Israelites.

2. That as the later history, as well as the Book of Numbers, mentions only those Kenites who allied themselves with the Israelites, we should naturally expect that, in accordance with the promise which was given to Hobab by Moses (Numbers 10:29), the Kenites should be distinguished from the enemies of Israel and be exempted from the destruction with which they were threatened.

Another rendering of Numbers 24:22, and one which appears to be more agreeable to the context in which it stands, is the following: “For surely the Kenites shall not be destroyed until Asshur shall carry thee into captivity.” This version has the support of the Targum of Palestine and other authorities. It is true that there is no express record of the fulfilment of this prophecy, but it is not probable that the Assyrians spared the Kenites who were settled among the Israelites; and we know from Jeremiah 35:11 that after the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, the Rechabites, who were of the Kenite race (1 Chronicles 2:55), came to Jerusalem for fear of the armies of the Chaldeans and Syrians.

If Asshur denotes in this place the Assyrians in the later sense of the term, it must be remembered that one branch of the Kenites settled in Naphtali, near Kadesh (Judges 4:11). Asshur, however, appears to be used in a wider sense, so as to include all the nations which proceeded from it . Even the Persian king is called, as Keil has observed, King of Asshur (Ezra 6:22). If this interpretation of the text is accepted, the antithesis between the doom of the Amalekites and the deliverance of the Kenites exactly corresponds to the attitude assumed by those tribes respectively in regard to Israel.