Numbers 22:37

37 Balak said to Bil'am, "I sent more than once to summon you! Why didn't you come to me? Did you think I couldn't pay you enough?"

Numbers 22:37 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 22:37

And Balak said unto Balaam
Upon their meeting together:

did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee?
or "in sending send" {u}; the first messengers in a very pressing manner, with great importunity, to give thee an invitation to come to me, and those men of rank and quality, with rewards of divination in their hands, and yet the invitation was rejected; and after them other messengers, more in number and greater in dignity, with larger offers and promises; and now indeed thou art come, but with much ado, what is the meaning of all this?

wherefore camest thou not unto me?
at first, without showing so much indifference and reluctance, and which obliged me to send another message to thee:

am I not able to promote thee to honour?
to give thee wealth and riches, and put thee into high places of honour and profit? hadst thou any doubt in thy mind about it, either concerning my ability or will to do it?

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 (ytxlv xlv) "mittendo misi", Pagninus, Montanus.

Numbers 22:37 In-Context

35 But the angel of ADONAI said to Bil'am, "No, go on with the men; but you are to say only what I tell you to say." So Bil'am went along with the princes of Balak.

36 When Balak heard that Bil'am had come, he went out to meet him in the city of Mo'av at the Arnon border, in the farthest reaches of the territory.

37 Balak said to Bil'am, "I sent more than once to summon you! Why didn't you come to me? Did you think I couldn't pay you enough?"

38 Bil'am replied to Balak, "Here, I've come to you! But I have no power of my own to say anything. The word that God puts in my mouth is what I will say."

39 Bil'am went with Balak. When they arrived at Kiryat-Hutzot,