Numbers 24:22

22 Still, you Kenites will look stupid when Asshur takes you prisoner.

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 Balaam spotted Amalek and delivered an oracle-message. He said, Amalek, you're in first place among nations right now, but you're going to come in last, ruined.

21 He saw the Kenites and delivered his oracle-message to them: Your home is in a nice secure place, like a nest high on the face of a cliff.

22 Still, you Kenites will look stupid when Asshur takes you prisoner.

23 Balaam spoke his final oracle-message: Doom! Who stands a chance when God starts in?

24 Sea-Peoples, raiders from across the sea, will harass Asshur and Eber, But they'll also come to nothing, just like all the rest.