Advent Readings: Numbers 24:15-17

From Balaam’s Fourth Oracle (this occurs toward the close of 40 years of wandering for the Israelites, prior to Moses' death)

Numbers 24:15 Then he proclaimed his poem:

The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,

the oracle of the man whose eyes are opened;

16 the oracle of one who hears the sayings of God

and has knowledge from the Most High,

who sees a vision from the Almighty,

who falls into a trance with his eyes uncovered:

17 I see him, but not now;

I perceive him, but not near.

A star will come from Jacob,

and a scepter will arise from Israel.

Commentary

(the following is from Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com)

"Our Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah, is chiefly pointed at in the antitype, and of him it is an illustrious prophecy; it was the will of God that notice should thus be given of his coming, a great while before, not only to the people of the Jews, but to other nations, because his gospel and kingdom were to extend themselves so far beyond the borders of the land of Israel. It is here foretold, 

• (1.) That while: "I shall see him, but not now; I do see him in vision, but at a very great distance, through the interposing space of 1500 years at least." Or understand it thus:—Balaam, a wicked man, shall see Christ, but shall not see him nigh, nor see him as Job, who saw him as his Redeemer, and saw him for himself, Job 19:25, 27. When he comes in the clouds every eye shall see him, but many will see him (as the rich man in hell saw Abraham) afar off. 
• (2.) That he shall come out of Jacob, and Israel, as a star and a sceptre, the former denoting his glory and lustre, and the bright and morning star, the latter his power and authority; it is he that shall have dominion. Perhaps this prophecy of Balaam (one of the children of the east) concerning a star that should arise out of Jacob, as the indication of a sceptre arising in Israel, being preserved by a tradition of that country, gave occasion to the wise men, who were of the east too, upon the sight of an unusual star over the land of Judea, to enquire for him that was born king of the Jews, Mt. 2:2."