John Gill Commentary Numbers 24

And when Balsam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel ,
&c.] That it was good in his sight, what he approved of, and was well-pleasing to him, and that it was his determined mind that Israel should be blessed, and not cursed, from which there was no turning him, by offering sacrifices to him, and much less by his sorceries and divinations:

he went not as at other times ;
or, "as at a time in a time" ^F17 , at two times, of which see (Numbers 23:3Numbers 23:15) , he abode in the place where the sacrifices were offered, and did not depart to another at some distance, as he had twice before done:

to seek for enchantments ;
which it seems he used before, for he not only offered sacrifices to the true God, which yet were attended with superstitious rites, but he made use of his divining art also; and not only went to meet with God, and hear what he would say to him, but consulted the devil also, being willing to have two strings to his bow, and that, if possible, he might carry his point, and get what his covetous and ambitious mind was desirous of: the words may be literally rendered, "to meet enchantments" ^F18 ; but what should be meant by the phrase is not easy to say; I should rather choose to render them, "to meet serpents", and make use of them in his divinations, make observations on them, and predictions from them: one sort of divination is called "ophiomancy", or divining by serpents; so Calchas, on seeing a serpent devour eight sparrows with their dam, foretold the duration of the siege of Troy ^F19 :

but he set his face towards the wilderness :
where the people of Israel lay encamped, not with an intention to bless them, though he saw it pleased the Lord, but to take an opportunity, if he could, without his leave, to curse them; and therefore he did not go out as he did before, to know his will, but stood by the sacrifice, with his face to the wilderness, where the people were, to take any advantage that offered.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: (Mepb Mepk) "sicut vice in vice", Montanus, Vatablus.
• F18: (Myvxn tarql) "in occursum auguriorum", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.
• F19: Homer. Iliad. 2. see more instances in Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 1. c. 3. col. 21, 22.

And Balaam lifted up his eyes
Being on Mount Peor:

and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes ;
in that exact order in which they were directed to encamp under four standards, and so many tribes under each standard, (Numbers 2:1–34)

and the Spirit of God came upon him ;
not in his grace but in his gifts; not as a spirit of sanctification, but as a spirit of prophecy, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it; and so sometimes the Spirit of God in this sense has come upon wicked men, as on Caiaphas and others, (John 11:51) (Matthew 7:22Matthew 7:23) .

And he took up his parable
His parable of prophecy, as the Targums, his prophetic speech, which, with a loud voice, he expressed in the hearing of Balak and his nobles:

and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said ;
the preface to his prophecy is pompous, and seems to be full of pride and vanity, and so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem represent him;``the man who is more excellent than his father has said, to whom hidden secrets, even what was hidden from the prophets is revealed to him;'' and the Jews have a saying ^F20 that he that has an evil eye, a haughty spirit, and a large soul, or is covetous, is one of the disciples of Balaam the wicked:

and the man whose eyes are open has said ;
or, as some ^F21 render it, whose eyes were shut, but now open; either the eyes of his body, which were shut when the angel met him, and the ass saw him and not he, but afterwards were open, and he saw him also; or the eyes of his understanding blinded with ambition and covetousness, but were open to see his mistake, at least so far as to be sensible that he could never prevail upon God to allow him to curse Israel; or rather open, by the spirit of prophecy coming on him, whereby he saw and foretold things to come.

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 19.
• F21: So V. L. Montanus, Tigurine version

He has said, who heard the words of God
God speaking to him, which he did several times, and with which he was greatly elated, see (Numbers 22:9Numbers 22:20) (Numbers 23:4Numbers 23:5Numbers 23:16) :

who saw the vision of the Almighty ;
not that he had a sight of any similitude of God, though the angel that appeared to him, which was Christ the uncreated angel, might appear in an human form, for some visible form was seen both by the ass and him; but rather this respects the visions of God to him in the night; it may be in a dream, as has been already observed, and which the following words seem to confirm:

falling into a trance, but having his eyes open ;
or falling into a deep sleep, and yet the eyes of his body open, which sometimes is the case with persons asleep; or the eyes of his mind open, to receive the instructions given him in a dream or vision of the night; unless this is to be understood of his falling on his face, when he had his vision, as sometimes the prophets did, see (Ezekiel 1:28) (Deuteronomy 8:17) (Revelation 1:17) , so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it; and the latter says, he prophesied of himself, that he should fall by the sword; which is better than to interpret it of his falling when his ass lay down with him, as some do:

so men may have a great deal of light and knowledge in their heads, and yet not have true grace in their hearts; great gifts, which puff up with pride and vanity, but not sanctifying grace, which is of an humbling nature, (1 Corinthians 8:1 1 Corinthians 8:2) (1 Corinthians 13:1 1 Corinthians 13:2 1 Corinthians 13:3) , what he said under a spirit of prophecy follows.

How goodly are your tents, O Jacob
Not that the matter of which they were made was so rich, or their structure so admirable, but the order in which they were placed was so beautiful and agreeable:

and your tabernacles, O Israel ;
which is the same thing in other words, and which may be applied figuratively to the church of God, which often goes by the names of Jacob and Israel; and agrees with particular congregations and assemblies of saints, where they dwell as in tents in a movable state, like pilgrims and sojourners; and which are the dwelling places of Father, Son, and Spirit, and of the people of God with one another; and are goodly, pleasant, and delightful, because of the presence of God with them, and on account of the provisions there made for them, and the company they there enjoy; see (Psalms 84:1Psalms 84:4Psalms 84:10) .