The Messianic Vision of the Pentateuch by Kevin S. Chen

Author:Kevin S. Chen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Old Testament;exegesis;biblical studies;Pentateuch;compositional criticism;canonical criticism;foreshadowing;prophecy;prediction;Christ;anointed;Messiah;messianic;Moses;seed of the woman;seed of Abraham;Sinai;Lion of Judah;exegetical;Mosaic Law;Christ centered biblical theology;Jesus;Messianic prophecy;old testament studies;old testament interpretation;old testament exegesis;old testament theology;jesus in the old testament;John Sailhamer
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2019-09-24T09:19:47+00:00

THE BALAAM NARRATIVE AND BALAAM’S ORACLES

In order to properly understand the Messianic prophecies in Balaam’s third and fourth oracles (Num 24:3-9, 15-19), we must interpret them in light of the Balaam narrative as a whole (Num 22–24).15 As has already been pointed out, this section is closely tied to the preceding context and especially to Numbers 21:4-9 through the keyword nakhash (נחשׁ), meaning “snake” or “omen” (see Num 23:23; 24:1). The link between Numbers 22–24 and Genesis 3 is further strengthened through the common theme of a talking animal. Moreover, though used of the angel of the Lord’s opposition to Balaam, the verb satan (שָׂטָן, “to oppose”), a cognate of which is “the adversary” (הַשָּׂטָן) in Job 1–2, appears in Numbers 22:22, 32, its only two occurrences in the Pentateuch. The solution to Israel and humanity’s problem with their adversary, “the [talking] snake” is what it has always been—the seed of the woman who will crush its head (Gen 3:15) and the heads of its seed (Num 24:17), even as he is struck on the heel by it (Gen 3:15) and lifted up like a bronze snake on a pole (Num 21:8-9). This inclusio of intertextual allusions to Genesis 3:15 in Numbers 21–24 was also pointed out above.

Although Moab’s opposition to Israel (Num 22:2-6) is broadly similar to the responses of Edom (Num 20:14), the Canaanite king of Arad (Num 21:1), Sihon (Num 21:21-31), and Og (Num 21:33-35), the extended attention given to Moab’s opposition (Num 22–24), in conjunction with Balaam’s oracles as one of the four major poetic sections of the Pentateuch, yields rich intertextual relationships to other key passages in the Pentateuch and its Messianic vision. As demonstrated above, Numbers 21–24 is compositionally related to Genesis 3. The discussion of Numbers 22–24 below will also show that the Balaam narrative is also deeply intertwined with Genesis 12:1-3 and the Abrahamic covenant, Pharaoh’s oppression of the Israelites in Exodus 1, and the longest continuous Messianic prophecy in the Pentateuch in Genesis 49:8-12.

Sailhamer observes that “the Balaam story, which lies at the close of Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness, parallels many of the events and ideas of the story of Pharaoh at the beginning of the book of Exodus. Both men, Pharaoh and Balak [king of Moab], were kings of large and powerful nations which represented a major obstacle to Israel’s entering the Promised Land.”16 Both rulers were worried that the Israelites were too “many” (רַב) and too “strong” (עָצוּם, Ex 1:7, 9; Num 22:3, 6) and took counsel against them (Ex 1:9-10; Num 22:4-6). Hedwige Rouillard relatedly points out the parallel between the phrase “covers the eye of the land” in Numbers 22:5, 11 and Exodus 10:5, 15, as well as the use of magic by Israel’s enemies.17 Sailhamer further notes that Exodus 1:10 connects Pharaoh’s opposition to Israel’s possession of the Promised Land and that Pharaoh’s three attempts to suppress Israel (Ex 1:11-22) parallel Balak’s three attempts to get Balaam to curse Israel (Num 24:10).18 Pharaoh’s first measure

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