Numbers 23:24 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

As a great lion As a lion rouseth up himself to fight, or to go out to the prey, so shall Israel stir up themselves to warlike attempts against their enemies. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey They shall not lay down their arms until they have made an entire conquest of their enemies; just as the lion, risen up to pursue his prey, doth not usually lie down till he hath taken that prey, and drunk the blood of the beasts he has slain. The prophecy seems to have a peculiar respect to the conquest of the Canaanites. This was the condition of Israel at present, and during the days of Joshua and David. But alas! their sins and follies often so enfeebled them that they themselves became an easy prey to their enemies! And there is no truth more plain or more incontestable than this, that piety and virtue are at once the strength and glory of a nation, and that ungodliness and vice are the surest and saddest presages of the ruin of any people.