Water shall flow out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in great waters, And his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
Balak paid Balaam to curse Israel, and Balaam instead described a nation overflowing with water and a king above the strongest ruler of the day. The verse looks past the tents in the wilderness to a throne, and asks when such words come true, and in whom.
The picture is of a container so full it spills. That fullness is not meant to stay with the one who holds it.
Those who are drawing on the infinite resources of God have something to give to others. They take in more than they can hold. So Balaam says, "Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters." If Balak had understood what he was hearing, he would have had no fear of Israel. The people were meant to be a blessing to all the nations. They were to spread the knowledge of the one true God, and to share His wonderful grace with others. Israel has never yet risen to this.
The blessing is Israel's own as well, not only something they pass on.
Material prosperity and spiritual blessing await Israel. They will also be the means of blessing to others, and with no stingy hand. "Water shall flow from his buckets" is a figure that shows the lavish abundance of the blessing. Wherever the Israelite goes, he carries blessing.
The second clause widens the map. The waters stand for peoples, so the promise spreads outward.
"Water shall flow from his buckets" (v.7) reminds us of the "rivers of living water" that flow from within a believer (John 7:38), for the blessing of others too. So Israel will be a source of refreshment for all the nations in the Millennium. "His seed shall be in many waters." The waters speak of the Gentile nations (Rev. 17:15). So the descendants of Israel will spread an influence of great blessing over the whole world.
The verse measures Israel's king against Agag. So who was he?
Agag was the title of the kings of Amalek, probably a general title, like the title Pharaoh, king of Egypt. (1 Sam. 15:9, 32; Num. 24:7)... Amalek descended from Esau, through Eliphaz. (Gen. 36:12, 16)
The name itself carries a claim to height, which is exactly what the comparison overturns.
In this picture of fullest blessing, we cannot miss Israel's supremacy over Amalek. We have seen what Amalek stands for (Ex. 17). In the earlier prophecy, the meek King of Israel meets the restlessness of the flesh, and His rest-giving yoke conquers it. Now, as the direct result, Amalek's king comes down. Simonis gives the meaning of his name as "very high," which seems to fit the sense best. Israel's King is higher than the highest. And is not self-exaltation the very thing that gives free rein to the lusts of the flesh?
Israel's later kings answer the words in part, but not to the full height of them.
Israel had no king, and would not have one for many years to come. Even so, it could be foretold that "his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted." The Spirit of God who had come on Balaam was looking forward to the coming of Messiah. He would not only be higher than Agag, the king of Amalek, "the first among the nations." He would be King of kings and Lord of lords. There was a partial fulfilment of this prophecy in David and Solomon, but the Lord Jesus is the One the Spirit of God has in view.
Notice the change of tense. Balaam speaks of the camp as it is now, and of the throne as still to come.
Then, besides this, there is strength. "His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted."... Notice the difference: the tents "are" lovely now, but the king "shall be" higher than Agag. The people did not yet have a king. Their visible blessing in power had not yet come. Their exaltation was to be a future thing in the land.
Yet the beauty was real while they were still camped in the desert, and that is where the lesson turns personal.
Balaam is not speaking of what they would become in Canaan. He speaks of what God saw them to be — indeed, what God let him see them to be while they were still in the wilderness. It is therefore a wonderfully lovely picture of what grace does for the Christian and the church now... No doubt it is a vision only for faith; but it is a vision not for closed eyes, but for open eyes, as it says here.
- Source. The water is not Israel's own. They draw on the infinite resources of God.
- Overflow. The buckets spill on purpose — the figure speaks of lavish abundance, not a careful ration.
- Reach. "Many waters" points to the nations; the blessing travels outward until the whole world feels it.
- King. Agag was the royal title of Amalek, and the name means "very high." Israel's King is higher than the highest — seen in part in David and Solomon, in full in Christ.
- Kingdom. The tents were lovely already, but the throne was still to come. God shows His people what He sees now, and what the world will see later.
God brought him out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a buffalo. He shall consume the nations his enemies, and break their bones, and with his arrows shall smite [them] in pieces.
Balak sent for Balaam to curse Israel. Instead the prophet traces the whole strength of the nation back to the God who brought them out of Egypt. If their power is not their own but His, who can stand against it?
The verse opens by naming where Israel came from. One writer calls this a refrain the prophecy keeps coming back to, because the name Israel only carries power if it rests on that foundation.
Yet "Israel" is a name of power; but to make that power real, we must come back again to the foundation. So here the refrain of redemption comes back, with its results.
Glory is coming to this nation. At that very moment, God reminds them of what they once were.
While this glory is coming, God reminds the people where they came from. The same words come back from the second prophecy (23:22), where they go with God not looking on iniquity, and with Israel kept safe from every spell — there too with power against their enemies. But here, in this third prophecy, there is not only victory over the enemy in battle, but the complete conquest of the "nations his enemies." God would not have them forget that He brought them out of Egypt. However high they rise in glory and power, they were once a nation of slaves. God is the source of all good, clothing with beauty and endowing with power.
Balak had told Balaam that a people had come out of Egypt. He never said who brought them. This verse repeats the fact and names God as the one who did it.
The repetition surely stresses that Israel were under the care and protection of God. They had not come out of Pharaoh's bondage by their own strength. When Balak sent for Balaam he had said to him, "Behold, a people has come out of Egypt" (22:11). God wanted Balak to understand that His all-powerful arm had brought them from Egypt. He had freed them from the bondage of Pharaoh, and had cared for them all through their wilderness journey.
Older translations call this animal a "unicorn"; the ESV has "wild ox". It was not a fanciful creature but an animal Israel knew, and two things about it mattered.
Nothing in Scripture shows that the animal had only one horn. In fact Deut. 33:17 speaks of "the horns of a unicorn" (see margin), and it must have been some animal the Israelites knew well. Its great strength and wildness are its main features: no one can put it to farm work, as they could the tame ox.
Balak was listening to all this. To take on Israel meant taking on something no man handles alone.
It was hopeless for Balak to oppose Israel, for he had, as it were, the supreme power and strength of the buffalo; God had given him strength like that of this very powerful animal. By repeating this, God left Balak in no doubt: he could no more hope to defeat the people of God than he could meet the charge of the buffalo single-handed.
The second half of the verse looks forward. It promises victory over enemies still ahead, and one writer sees it reaching far beyond Balaam's day.
Balaam's final parable is about the victorious power of the people of God, when Christ takes His place at their head… Balaam paints a vivid picture of the power of God as it acts for His chosen people, and in them… For the second time he points back to the great deliverance from Egypt. The God who broke the power of the enemy at that time will break the power of even mightier foes in the coming day (Micah 5:8).
Balaam drew the conclusion himself. Standing in front of the king who had sent for him, he said why he would not touch Israel.
I dare not meddle with them, Balaam says; I have too much understanding of what they are, to do so; they are connected with God, with His strength and power.
- Foundation. One act holds up everything else: God brought Israel out of Egypt. Every promise of power in the verse rests on that.
- Gift. The strength is not their own. God's arm brought them out of Pharaoh's bondage. He clothes them with beauty and gives them power.
- Picture. The "wild ox" (older versions say "unicorn") stands for strength and wildness. No one can harness it for work, and no king could meet its charge alone.
- Reach. The same power that broke Egypt will break mightier foes in the coming day. That is when Christ takes His place at the head of His people.
- Result. Balaam's own verdict: I dare not meddle with them — they are connected with God, with His strength and His power.