Numbers 24:22

22 yet Kain is destined for burning. How long shall Asshur take you away captive?"

Numbers 24:22 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 24:22

Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted
Though they were so strongly fortified, and closely immured and surrounded with rocks and mountains, yet they should gradually waste away, as they were but few in Saul's time, ( 1 Samuel 15:6 )

until Ashur shall carry thee away captive;
Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, when he carried captive the people of Syria, took these with them, ( 2 Kings 16:9 ) , though Jarchi thinks they were carried captives with the ten tribes, that is, by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; and the Targum of Jonathan, by Sennacherib, king of Assyria; and others think by Nebuchadnezzar, who was sometimes reckoned a king of Assyria; taking them to be the same with the Amalekites, who were carried captives and returned with the two tribes.

Numbers 24:22 In-Context

20 Then he looked on Amalek, and uttered his oracle, saying: "First among the nations was Amalek, but its end is to perish forever."

21 Then he looked on the Kenite, and uttered his oracle, saying: "Enduring is your dwelling place, and your nest is set in the rock;

22 yet Kain is destined for burning. How long shall Asshur take you away captive?"

23 Again he uttered his oracle, saying: "Alas, who shall live when God does this?

24 But ships shall come from Kittim and shall afflict Asshur and Eber; and he also shall perish forever."