And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place. Balak was surprised and disappointed at this unexpected eulogy on Israel, but still hoped that if Balaam saw that people from a different point of observation he would give utterance to different feelings.
Thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all, х 'epec (H657) qaatseehuw (H7097)] - the end of their extremity; i:e., a limited portion of them. Of course, as posts of observation, there must have been a difference between this and the former height (Numbers 22:41); but this difference, according to Hengstenberg, consisted in the second place being nearer, though still at a distance; and it was because Balaam might naturally expect that its greater proximity would afford him a full view of the Israelite camp, he was apprised on the way that he would still "see but the utmost part of them (though probably to a greater extent), and should not see them all."
Verse 14. And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, х sªdeeh (H7704) Tsopiym (H6839)] - field of watchers; a flat surface or tableland on the summit of the mountain range east of Jordan, which was cultivated land, and on which Balak had posted sentinels to keep guard and give signals-whence this name is supposed to have originated (see the note at Numbers 21:20, where it is called a Gai, a valley, or plain; bounded on the west by the towering eminences of the Abarim, and at some distance on the east by a chain of hills toward the desert (Robinson's 'Physical Geography,' p. 81; also Numbers 33:17). Pisgah, not an isolated mountain, nor a lofty peak, but an extensive ridge, which is designated interchangeably Pisgah (Deuteronomy 3:27; Deuteronomy 34:1) and Abarim (Numbers 27:12; Deuteronomy 32:49), though the former name is applied in Scripture principally to 'the serrated crests, or line of heights, forming the brow of the mountains on the west of the high plain' (Robinson's 'Physical Geography' p. 58). From that point a distant prospect could be obtained of the Arboth Moab, where the Israelites had pitched their tents. But only a portion of the camp would be visible, in consequence of some intervening heights which intercepted the view. There the king of Moab brought Balaam, who, after the same kind of sacrificial ceremonies had been observed as before, withdrew to a sequestered spot, to await the divine afflatus.