The interpretation timeline

Num 24:8

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Num 24:8 · Douay-Rheims
“God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. They shall devour the nations that are his enemies, and break their bones, and pierce them with arrows.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
339
A.D.
Eusebius of Caesarea Patristic
c. A.D. 260–339
“The oracle in the previously quoted prophecy, in saying that the Lord would come into Egypt, foretold the journey of our Lord Jesus Christ when he went into Egypt with his parents. Here we have the prophecy of his return from Egypt in its natural order, when he came back with his parents into the land of Israel, in the words "God led him out of Egypt." For our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ of God, was the only one of the seed of Israel and of the Jewish race who has rule over many nations, so that it is indisputable that he is the fulfillment of the prophecy which says, literally, "that a man will come from the Jewish race and rule over many nations." If he is not, let him who will suggest some other famous man among the Hebrews who has ruled over many nations. But this he cannot do, for such a man never existed. But with regard to our Savior, truth itself will shout and cry aloud, even if we say nothing. This shows plainly that his divine power has ruled, through the human he took of the seed of Israel according to the flesh, and even now will rule many nations.”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.