Intertextuality Pair

Isaiah 25:10 → Numbers 24:17

Allusion

Later text

Isaiah 25:10BSB

For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.

Earlier text

Numbers 24:17BSB

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.

Significance

Balaam's oracle in Numbers 24:17 promises that "a scepter will arise from Israel" who will "crush the skulls of Moab" (מָחַץ פַּאֲתֵי מוֹאָב, machatz pa'atei Mo'av). Isaiah 25:10 picks up the anti-Moab tradition with an image of its own: Moab will be threshed in his place — דושׁ (dush, "to thresh," used twice in the verse) — as straw is threshed into a dung-pit (מַדְמֵנָה, madmenah). Both texts envision the decisive subjugation of Moab by a figure or force arising from Israel, and Isaiah places this within the eschatological context of the LORD's mountain feast (25:6-9) and the swallowing up of death (25:8). Balaam's prophecy of a future conqueror of Moab finds its prophetic elaboration in Isaiah's vision of God's kingdom triumph. Balaam's oracle in fact pairs two royal images — "a star... out of Jacob" alongside the scepter — both converging on the same messianic conqueror who subdues Moab.

Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Promise-Fulfillment

▸ Star Out of Jacob

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