Bamidbar 24:2

2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Yisroel encamped according to their Shevatim; and the Ruach Elohim came upon him.

Bamidbar 24:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 24:2

And Balaam lifted up his eyes
Being on Mount Peor:

and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes;
in that exact order in which they were directed to encamp under four standards, and so many tribes under each standard, ( Numbers 2:1-34 )

and the Spirit of God came upon him;
not in his grace but in his gifts; not as a spirit of sanctification, but as a spirit of prophecy, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it; and so sometimes the Spirit of God in this sense has come upon wicked men, as on Caiaphas and others, ( John 11:51 ) ( Matthew 7:22 Matthew 7:23 ) .

Bamidbar 24:2 In-Context

1 4 And when Balaam saw that it was tov in the eyes of Hashem to bless Yisroel, he went not, as at other times, to use nechashim (sorceries, divination, looking for omens) but he set his face toward hamidbar.

2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Yisroel encamped according to their Shevatim; and the Ruach Elohim came upon him.

3 And he took up his mashal, and said, Balaam ben Beor hath said, the man whose eyes are open hath said,

4 He hath said which heard the words of El, which saw the machazeh Shaddai (vision of Shaddai), which falling prostrate, but having his eyes open:

5 Mah tovu ohalecha (How goodly, beautiful, are thy tents), O Ya’akov, and mishkenotecha (thy dwellings, tabernacles), O Yisroel!