פירוש על במדבר 24:19

וירד מיעקב AND OUT OF JACOB ONE SHALL RULE — and there will be yet another ruler from Jacob,

And the meaning of the verse, and he shall destroy the remnant from ‘the’ city,²⁵⁵Verse 19. is “from ‘every’ city,” for there will not be left a remnant of any city in the world [i.e. of those belonging to the Roman Empire, here referred to by the names Edom and Seir]. Thus at first [in Verse 17] Balaam said that [the Messiah] will break down all the sons of Seth, and now he is saying that he will not leave any remnant or survivor [of them]. Thus was completed Balaam’s counsel to Balak.

וירד מיעקב, "and someone from Jacob will exercise dominion, etc." According to Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra Bileam referred to Yoav, David's commander-in-chief. Rashi understands the verse as a reference to King Messiah. I believe that Rashi is correct. If Ibn Ezra had been correct this verse should have preceded the verse predicting the downfall of Edom, as the wars under the leadership of David and Yoav against Moav certainly preceded the downfall of Edom. Edom's downfall is always equated with ushering in the age of the Messiah. Rashi's explanation means that although Bileam had already described the defeat of all the descendants of Sheth, i.e. of all mankind, he wants to tell us that Bileam here gives notice that there will be numerous survivors of the war against Edom and the descendants of Sheth. However, none of these survivors will ever again establish an independent state as previously but they will be ruled over by Jacob.

וירד מיעקב, a ruler emanating from Yaakov will wield authority over all kingdoms. We may add the word איש in front of the word מיעקב.

והאביד שריד מעיר, “he will destroy even the remnant of the city.” In other words, there will not remain any survivors of the Amalekites in any city on the globe. At the beginning Bileam had spoken of וקרקר כל בני שת, that the Messiah would uproot all the various nations of the world; now he amplifies that there would not remain any survivors from the people of Amalek anywhere According to Ibn Ezra this whole prophecy describes David’s rule. Some commentators understand the words כל בני שת as the descendants of Lot, and that seeing that Bileam mentioned the פאתי מואב, the nobles of Moav [Moav was a son of Lot and his daughter. Ed.], Bileam expands further on the theme of what would happen to the various descendants of Lot. Some commentators understand the שריד מעיר as referring to people whose descent from the original Sheth can be verified. Yet other commentators derive the word שת here not from the third son of Chavah, but from השחית, destroying, so that Bileam would describe the Messiah as destroying even all those who try to hide from him, i.e. he would destroy all organized states.

Yet another ruler shall come from Yaakov. That is to say, aside from David who had been mentioned (above, v. 17).

V. 19. וירד מיעקב. Indem aber so gerade aus dem machtlosen "Jaakob" der Zepterstern ausgeht, vor dessen geistiger Hoheit alle materielle Macht und selbst das edomitische Zepter sich beugt, geht damit der letzte Rest einseitiger "Kulturvergötterung" verloren, והאביד שריד מעיר. Indem nämlich hier עיר ganz absolut steht, dürfte damit die Städtekultur bezeichnet sein, mit deren einseitiger, sich selbst genügender Entfaltung ja eben die menschenvergötternde Geschichtsentwicklung (Bereschit 4, 17 und 11, 4) beginnt, die mit der endlichen Huldigung des Zepter führenden Sterns aus Jakob zum Abschluss kommen soll. So steht auch Jesaias 32, 14 u. 19 עיר als Repräsentant einseitiger Kulturvergötterung überhaupt, und das gottschauende Lied jener Zeit lautet Jesaias 26, 1: עיר עז לנו ישועה ישית חומת וחל, unser ist eine unüberwindliche Stadt, denn Gotteshilfe setzt er statt Mauer und Wall!

וירד מיעקב, “and out of Yaakov one shall have dominion.” A dictator will arise from Yaakov and destroy the last vestige of the Edomites. Bileam refers to David’s general Yoav, of whom it has been reported in Kings I 11,16: “for Yoav and all Israel stayed there for six months until they had killed off every male member of the Edomites.” וירד מיעקב, “of this man it is said: “he will not leave a remnant of the house of Esau.” (Ovadiah, 18)

והאביד שריד מעיר AND HE WILL DESTROY THE REMNANT OF THE CITY — the most important city of Edom, and that is Rome. It is of King Messiah that he is thus speaking, of whom it is said, (Psalms 72:8) “And he shall have dominion (וירד) from sea to sea”; (Obadiah v. 18) “And there shall be no remnant (שריד) of the house of Esau".

והאביד שריד מעיר, from Edom; in accordance with Ovadiah 1,18 that “there will not be a single person who belongs to the descendants of Esau escaping, seeing G’d had so decreed.”

והאביד שריד מעיר, "and shall destroy the remnants of the city." Bileam means that not only will these nations not again attain the degree of independent statehood presided over by a king, but they will not even attain enough independence that would warrant their appointing a שריד, a governor of sorts.