Numbers 23:14

14 And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram

Numbers 23:14 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 23:14

And he brought him into the field of Zophim
Or Sede Tzophim, as Hillerus ^F9 reads it, so called from the watch tower, and watchmen in it: Jarchi says, it was a high place, where a watchman stood to observe if an army came against a city, and so a very proper place to take a view of the armies of Israel from:

to the top of Pisgah;
a high hill in this place, where perhaps the watch tower was, or, however, the watchman stood: this looked towards Jeshimon or Bethjesimoth, in the plain of Moab, where Israel lay encamped, see ( Numbers 21:20 ) ( 33:49 ) : and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar: as he had done before, ( Numbers 23:2 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F9 Onomastic Sacr. p. 935.

Numbers 23:14 In-Context

12 He answered him: Can I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth?

13 Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.

14 And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram

15 He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt offering while I go to meet him.

16 And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him.