He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
He shall pour the water out of his buckets - literally, the waters shall flow from his buckets. Dual, two buckets-namely, of a water-carrier-indicating the plenty and prosperity of a well-watered country.
And his seed shall be in many waters - i:e., his posterity shall be numerous. The image is borrowed from the luxuriant growth of plants in well-watered places (cf. Isaiah 44:4). Le Clerc and Lowth render the clause, fluet aqua ex ejus ramis-`water shall flow from his branches. Gesenius, Rosenmuller, Furst ('Handbuch,' p.
707), and Bunsen ('Bibelwerk'), following Jerome, consider "waters" in this passage as used in a sense too indelicate for modern taste to mention. The procreation of children is often metaphorically indicated by waters, fountains, cisterns, etc. (Psalms 68:26; Proverbs 5:15; Proverbs 5:18; Proverbs 9:17; Isaiah 48:1). The Septuagint gives a somewhat similar interpretation, exeleusetai anthroopos ek tou spermatos autou kai kurieusei ethnoon polloon.
His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. The Septuagint and the Samaritan His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. The Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch have Gog instead of Agag, but on no good critical authority. Agag was the regal title of the Amalekite rulers, who, from their presiding over the most puissant of the desert tribes, are selected as representing all the rest; and the purport of the prophecy is, that when the power of Israel should be fully developed, it would be superior to that of all the surrounding nations. The reference to a future kingdom in Israel was founded on the promises made to the patriarchs (see the note at Genesis 49:10). This kingdom attained its predicted eminence in the reigns of David and Solomon, and yet only foreshadowed the still more 'exalted kingdom' of the Messiah, which should be raised absolutely above all the world-kingdoms, and be all-powerful in the earth.