Numbers 24:22

22 But you Kenites will be destroyed. Assyria will take you as prisoners."

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 saw the people of Amalek. He spoke the message he had received from God. He said, "Amalek was the first nation to attack Israel. But they will finally be destroyed."

21 Then he saw the Kenites. He spoke the message he had received from God. He said, "The place where you live is safe. Your nest is on a high cliff.

22 But you Kenites will be destroyed. Assyria will take you as prisoners."

23 Then he spoke the message he had received from God. He said, "Who can live when God does this?

24 Ships will come from the shores of Kittim. They will bring Assyria and Eber under their control. But they themselves will also be destroyed."