Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Bilang 24:18

It is well to realise that at this time it was not an ascent to G’d which G’d had in mind, as if it had been that there would not have been a point in including Aaron, his sons and the elders in any part of this instruction. When the Torah writes here in verse 2 that Moses was to approach the ערפל all by himself, the meaning is also that he would approach the angel Mattatron who was at that time within the thick cloud described as ערפל. Actually, the Torah should have written: ונגשת לבדך “you are to approach all by yourself,” if the Torah had meant for him at this time to ascend all the way to G’d. At this point G’d’s words were directed only at Moses seeing that what was said about Aaron, his sons, and the elders was in the third person, i.e. quite obviously not intended for their ears at this time. G’d had told Moses that Aaron and the elders were to remain at a distance when they would prostrate themselves.
We need to understand why the direct form of the speech in verse 1, i.e. עלה אל ה' was changed to indirect speech in verse 2 where the Torah writes in indirect speech “and Moses shall approach theערפל .” We must assume that the words in verse 2 for Moses to approach the ערפל all by himself were not spoken by G’d but by the angel Mattatron. In that event he spoke of Moses approaching himself (the angel) within the thick cloud. The entire verse then was primarily a command for Aaron, his sons, and the elders not to approach but to prostrate themselves from a distance. As a consequence of these instructions, the Torah adds immediately that these people who had not approached beheld what is reported in verse 10 i.e. ויראו את אלו-הי ישראל ותחת רגליו כמעשה לבנת הספיר וכעצם השמים לטוהר, “they experienced a vision of the G’d of Israel in the form of a likeness of bricks made of sapphire under His feet, being as pure as the essence of heaven.” In the interval, Moses alone approached more closely to the ערפל, as he had been told in verse 12 עלה אלי ההרה “ascend to Me to the mountain and remain there, etc.” This additional ascent (additional to what was commanded in verse 1 represented an additional spiritual elevation on the part of Moses until he actually entered the cloud. The next step occurred in verse 18 where the Torah reports Moses as entering the cloud, ascending the mountain and remaining there for forty days.

And it's impossible to says that he saw the destruction of Edom that occurred in Nevuchadnezer's days like the Ibin Ezra writes, or the one that occurred in Hyrcanus's days because he says in order to cut off man from the Mt of Esau and also says there will be no remnant to Esau and it is known that Nevuchadnezer's and Hyrcanus's destructions weren't complete destructions without survivors. So this proves that it refers to a future time when they will be utterly destroyed without any remnant when Gd redeems His people. And don't be surprised that he would prophecy about an event so far in the future, since Bilaam, who came 300 years prior also prophesized about the destruction of Edom (Numbers 24:18) "Edom will be an inheritance and it's enemies will inherit Seir and Israel will be triumphant and Jacob will descent and destroy the remnant from the city." which refers to the future Edomites that are the Christian nation. And many prophets talked about the destruction of Edom, and in my opinion there were nine a)Bilaam b)Ovadiah c)Yishayahu d)Yoel e)Amos f)Jeremiah g)Ezekiel h)Malachi i)Dovid Hamelech in his sefer Tehillim and Dovid Hamelech lived in between Bilaam and Ovadiah. Maybe that' the meaning of "we have received tidings from Hashem" meaning that many prophets received this prophecy from Gd. And I already wrote in my commentary on Isiah that the way of prophets is that when they told about events that another prophet already told about, they used the words of the earlier prophet because the only prophet on the level to hear words directly rom Gd was Moshe Rabbeinu the father of prophets about whom it is said (Numbers 7:89) that he came to the tent of meeting to speak to Him and he heard the Voice...and with those words he wrote the Torah. But the other prophets were given visions and had to use their Gd-given discernment to deduce the meaning and they told what they saw in their own words which is why in their s books sometimes the words are their own and sometimes they speak about what another prophet said. For example, in parashat haazinu (Deut 32:36) Moshe Rabbeinu says "Because Gd will judge His people and have mercy on His servants..." And Dovid Hamelech uses similar language in Tehillim (Psalms 135) and says "Because Gd will judge his people and have mercy on his servants..." And even though Dovid Hamelech had many prophecies here he was quoting an earlier prophecy. And this is a common theme in the book of prophets. But two prophets are not given the same one prophecy in the same words. And this prophecy of the downfall of Edom was repeated to nine prophets because Gd wanted the matter to be well known and not a hidden matter. And because it was commonly prophesized about sometimes one prophet would borrow an earlier one's words which explains why Ovadiah and Jeremiah's language is so similar. But Jeremiah adds onto the words with his own prophecy. And thus we have answered the first three questions.

אשר עשו בחרן [THE SOULS] THAT THEY HAD GOTTEN (literally, made) IN HARAN — The souls which he had brought beneath the sheltering wings of the Shechinah. Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women and Scripture accounts it unto them as if they had made them (Genesis Rabbah 39:14). However, the real sense of the text is that it refers to the men-servants and to the maidservants whom they had acquired for themselves. The word “עשה” is used here as (in Genesis 31:1), “he has acquired (עשה) all this wealth”, and (Numbers 24:8), “And Israel acquires (עושה) wealth” — an expression for acquiring and amassing.

חילם means THEIR WEALTH. Examples are: (Deuteronomy 8:17) “hath gotten me this (חיל) wealth”; (Numbers 19:18) “and Israel acquireth (חיל) wealth”; (Psalms 49:11) “and they leave (חילם) their wealth to others”.