Numbers 24:17, commentary and pictures

The Star out of Jacob and the Sceptre out of Israel is the world's Redeemer, the promised Messiah and Saviour, a ruler and King arising from Israel to have dominion. The seeing and beholding is not for Balaam's own day but looks ahead to one not yet seen and not near. It points first to Jesus at his first advent and then to his second appearing in power and glory, when God's enemies are finally destroyed. The promise was preserved through tradition and the Hebrew Scriptures, from which the Eastern magi learned to watch for the promised Star. They recognized the strange new star as the sign that the newborn Prince and King of the Jews had been born, and came to seek and worship him. Balaam himself will at last behold Christ's majesty from afar after rising among the wicked dead, seeing the redeemed in God's city but shut out from it, as with all who claim to believe in Christ yet do not obey His word.

Meaning and Historical Setting

The Star coming out of Jacob and the Sceptre rising out of Israel picture the world's Redeemer, the promised Messiah and Saviour. They are images of a ruler and king arising from Israel, from Jacob and Judah, who will have dominion. The seeing and beholding of him is not now and not nigh, but looks ahead to one not yet seen nearby in Balaam's own day and not belonging to his present time. The prophecy points to Jesus at his first advent, with its reference to a Star applied to Christ.

The Star and Sceptre point first to his first advent and then to his second appearing in power and glory. The verse also foretells the final destruction of God's enemies, including Moab and Edom. He will smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth, and the following verses predict the complete destruction of Moab, Edom, Amalek and the Kenites. In its setting Balak repeatedly tried to induce Balaam to change Israel's blessing into a curse, but his efforts failed because human pressure could not overturn the blessing.

The prophecy belongs to Israel's future triumph over Moab. The Moabites understood that Israel would conquer the Canaanites and settle in their land, and later overcome attempts to subdue them. Those attempts to subdue Israel will fail, revealing that victory as a display of God's power.

Fulfilment by the Wise Men

Balaam's promise of the coming Messiah was preserved through tradition, and from the Hebrew Scriptures the Eastern magi learned to watch for the promised Star. They learned that the Messiah's coming was near, and that with his coming the knowledge of the Lord's glory would fill the world. They eagerly awaited the one who would bring salvation and light to the Gentiles and to the ends of the earth.

When a strange, new, bright and unusual star appeared, they connected it with Balaam's prophecy, wondering whether it announced the Promised One's birth and whether the Messiah had come. The star served as a sign that the Promised One had been born, the newborn Prince and King of the Jews, prompting them to seek the infant King and worship him. They had studied prophecy and knew the time was near, and as they searched the prophecies the Holy Spirit impressed their hearts with conviction that God was guiding them. The guiding star recalled Balaam's prophecy and served as an outward sign of the One they sought, and though it appeared like a star it was a distant cluster of bright angels that guided them to Jesus.

The Jews understood the coming king as the star arising from Judah, an earthly prince who would free Israel from foreign rule and make it a kingdom of priests, and so they looked for political deliverance. Jesus did not meet that expectation, for he came as the Sun of Righteousness, exposing sin and calling people to holiness. His rebuke of their hypocrisy was harder for them to bear than the disappointment of their political hopes.

Second Advent and Spiritual Application

Seers beheld in this prophecy the coming Redeemer as the Star of Bethlehem and the Shiloh to come. The Star arising out of Jacob is the one in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed. He is the firstborn of heaven and the only begotten of the Father, filled with the treasures of eternity. By assuming humanity He impressed upon it the glorious image of the everlasting God.

The Star and Sceptre rising out of Israel point first to His first advent and then to His second appearing in power and glory. Balaam himself will behold that majesty from afar, after rising among the wicked dead in the second resurrection. He will see the redeemed in God's city but will himself be shut out with the wicked. The prophecy also foretells the final destruction of God's enemies, including Moab and Edom. That seeing from afar, but not near, describes those who claim to believe in Christ but do not obey His word, for like Balaam they see Christ at a distance and do not represent Him.