And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.
Moab said unto the elders of Midian. While branches of the Midianites established themselves in various localities (Genesis 36:35; Exodus 3:1, etc.), the main portion of the tribe were settled on the high table-lands east of Moab and south of Ammon, being under the government of five kings (shiekhs) (Numbers 31:8; Joshua 13:21) - evidently those who are here called "elders" х ziqniym (H2205); Septuagint, gerousia (G1087), the senate of Midian]. They were a pastoral people, who, like many Arab nomads that are found in the present day in Eastern countries, wandered through the country, and on the Amorite usurpation became tributary to the new power-`dukes (princes) of Sihon, dwelling in the country.'
Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.
This was an allusion most significant to the minds of a pastoral people, who were familiar with the manner in which the ox collects his food, with the quantity which he devours, and the rapidity with which he eats down the pasture. A more graphic picture could not have been drawn than what lies in the ideas suggested by this simile of the calamity to which the Midianites would be exposed by the unchecked invasion of the Israelite armies.