Balaam (
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
:
בִּלְעָם,
Standard TiberianTiberian Hebrew designates the canonical yet extinct pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and related documents. This traditional medieval pronunciation was committed to writing by Masoretic scholars based in the Jewish community of Tiberias in the period ca. 750-950 CE...
) is a
divinerDiviner is an infrared sensing instrument aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, part of the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program which is studying the moon...
in the
TorahThe term "Torah" , refers either to the Five Books of Moses or to the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts...
, his story occurring towards the end of the
Book of NumbersThe Book of Numbers or Bəmidbar is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch.This book may be divided into three parts:#The numbering of the people at Sinai, and preparations for resuming their march...
. The
etymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
of his name is uncertain, and discussed below. Every ancient reference to Balaam considers him a non-
IsraeliteIn the Bible, the Israelites were the descendants of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. They were divided into twelve tribes, each descended from one of twelve sons or grandsons of Jacob....
, a
prophetIn religion, a prophet is a person who has been contacted by, or has encountered, the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other humans...
, and the
son of Beor, though
Beor is not so clearly identified. Though other sources describe the apparently positive blessings he delivers upon the Israelites, he is reviled as a "wicked man" in the major story concerning him. Balaam attempted to curse God's people. He failed all three tries, each time producing blessings, not curses (Numbers 22-24).
The stories
There are two fairly separate accounts of Balaam in the Bible:
- Balaam and Balak, containing a brief aside concerning Balaam and a talking donkey
- Balaam and the Midianites
Balaam and Balak
The main story of Balaam occurs during the sojourn of the Israelites in the plains of
MoabMoab is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in modern-day Jordan running along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. In ancient times, it was home to the kingdom of the Moabites, a people often in conflict with their Israelite neighbors to the west...
, east of the
Jordan RiverThe Jordan River or River Jordan is a river in Southwest Asia which flows into the Dead Sea. It is considered to be one of the world's most sacred rivers...
, at the close of forty years of wandering, shortly before the death of Moses, and the crossing of the Jordan. The Israelites have already defeated two kings on this side of the Jordan:
SihonSihon, according to the Old Testament, was an Amorite king, who refused to let the Israelites pass through his country. The Bible describes that as the Israelites in their Exodus came to the country east of the Jordan, near Heshbon, King of the Amorites refused to let them pass through his...
, king of the Amorites, and
OgAccording to several books of the Old Testament, Og was an ancient Amorite king of Jerusalem who, along with an army, was slain by Joshua and his men at the battle of Edrei . The internal chronology of the Deuteronomistic History and the Torah would suggest Og's overthrow and the conquest of...
, king of
BashanBashan or Basan is a biblical place first mentioned in , where it is said that Chedorlaomer and his confederates "smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth," where Og the king of Bashan had his residence. At the time of Israel's entrance into the Promised Land, Og came out against them, but was utterly routed...
.
BalakBalak was king of Moab around 1200 BC. According to the Bible, Zippor was the father of Balak and the ruler of Moab around 1350 BC.Revelation 2:12 - 2:14 says about Balak:...
, king of Moab, consequently becomes alarmed, and sends elders of Moab, and of Midian, to Balaam, son of Beor, to induce him to come and curse Israel. Balaam's location is simply given as
his people in the
masoretic textThe Masoretic Text is a Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible . It defines not just the books of the Jewish canon, but also the precise letter-text of the biblical books in Judaism, as well as their vocalization and accentuation for both public reading and private study...
, though the
Samaritan PentateuchThe Samaritan Torah or Samaritan Pentateuch is a version of the Torah or Pentateuch that is used by the Samaritans....
,
VulgateThe Vulgate is an early 5th-century Latin version of the Bible, largely the result of the labors of Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of old Latin translations...
, and Syriac Peshitta all identify it as
AmmonThe Ammon or Ammonites was a kingdom described in the Bible, said to occupy an area east of the Jordan river, Gilead and the Dead Sea....
, which is consequently supported by many modern scholars.
Balaam sends back word that he can only do what God commands, and God has, via a nocturnal dream, told him not to go. Moab consequently sends higher ranking priests and offers Balaam honours, and so God tells Balaam to go with them - but with instructions to say only what He commands. Balaam thus sets out with two servants to go to Balak, but the
Angel of the LordThe Angel of the Lord is one of many terms in the Hebrew Bible used for an angel. The Biblical name for angel, מלאך mal'ach, which translates simply as "messenger," obtained the further signification of "angel" only through the addition of God's name, as...
(Numbers 22:22) tries to prevent him. At first the Angel is seen only by the
donkeyThe donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family, and an odd-toed ungulate. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E. africanus. Traditionally, the scientific name for the donkey is Equus asinus asinus based on the principle of...
Balaam is riding, which tries to avoid the otherwise invisible Angel. After Balaam starts punishing the donkey for refusing to move, it is miraculously given the power to speak to Balaam (Numbers 22:28), and it complains about Balaam's treatment. At this point, Balaam is allowed to see the angel, who informs him that the donkey is the only reason the Angel did not kill Balaam. Balaam immediately repents, but is told to go on.
Balak meets with Balaam at Kirjat Huzoth, and they go to the
high places of Baal' is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" that is used for various gods who were patrons of cities in the Levant, cognate to Akkadian Bēlu...
, and offer sacrifices on seven altars, leading to Balaam being given a prophecy by God, which he speaks to Balak. However, the prophecy blesses Israel; Balak remonstrates, but Balaam reminds him that he can only speak the words put in his mouth, so Balak takes him to another
high place at
PisgahSome translators of the biblical book of Deuteronomy translate Pisgah as a name of a mountain, usually referring to Mount Nebo. The region is directly east of the Jordan River and just northeast of the Dead Sea. Mount Nebo is the highest among a handful of Pisgah summits; an arid cluster of...
, to try again. Building another seven altars here, and making sacrifices on each, Balaam provides another prophecy blessing Israel.
Balaam finally gets taken by a now very frustrated Balak to
PeorPeor is either*The name of a mountain peak to which Balak led Balaam as a last effort to induce him to pronounce a curse upon Israel. The tribes of Israel are described as being visible from the peak, but nethertheless, Balaam refused to curse them, and continued to offer blessings...
, and, after the seven sacrifices there, decides not to seek
enchantments but instead looks upon the Israelites from the peak. The
spirit of God comes upon Balaam and he delivers a third positive prophecy concerning Israel. Balak's anger rises to the point where he threatens Balaam, but Balaam merely offers a prediction of fate. Balaam then looks upon the
KeniteAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites were a nomadic clan in the ancient Levant, sent under Jethro a priest in the land of Midian. They played an important role in the history of ancient Israel. The Kenites were coppersmiths and metalworkers. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, was a shepherd and...
s, and Amalekites and offers two more predictions of fate. Balak and Balaam then simply go to their respective homes... for the moment.
DeuteronomyDeuteronomy or Devarim is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament, and the fifth of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch....
23:3-6 summarises these incidents, and further states that the Ammonites were associated with the Moabites.
JoshuaJoshua , according to the Hebrew Bible, was an Israelite leader who succeeded Moses. His story is told chiefly in the books Exodus, Numbers and Joshua. He was one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan...
, in his farewell speech, also makes reference to it.
Balaam and the Midianites
NehemiahNehemiah or Nechemya is a major figure in the post-exile history of the Jews as recorded in the Bible, and is believed to be the primary author of the Book of Nehemiah. He was the son of Hachaliah, and probably of the Tribe of Judah...
,
MicahMicah the titular prophet of the Book of Micah, also called "The Morasthite". He is not the same as another prophet, Micaiah son of Imlah. He is counted among the minor prophets in the Tanakh .-Authorship:...
, and
JoshuaJoshua , according to the Hebrew Bible, was an Israelite leader who succeeded Moses. His story is told chiefly in the books Exodus, Numbers and Joshua. He was one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan...
, continue in the historical account of Balaam the cursing prophet, who advises the Midianites how to bring disaster upon the Israelites by seducing the people. This accords with the events of the
Heresy of PeorThe heresy of Peor is an event related in the Torah at Numbers 25:1-15. Back references to the event occur in Numbers 25:18 and 31:16, Deuteronomy 3:28, Joshua 22:17, Hosea 9:10; Psalm 106:28.-Biblical account:...
, recorded in Numbers after the account of Balaam and Balaak. Much later, during the War against the Midianites, also recorded in Numbers, Balaam is listed amongst the Midianites who were killed in revenge for the matter of Peor.
According to Jewish legend, Egypt's Pharaoh had three advisers to help him prevent a potential Israelite revolt: Jethro, Job, and Balaam. Jethro advises conciliation, Job abstains, and Balaam advises enslaving the Jews.
Balaam and the donkey
While speaking animals are a common feature of folklore, the only other case in the
Old TestamentIn Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...
is that of the serpent in
EdenThe Garden of Eden is a location described in the Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
. Classical Jewish commentators, such as
Saadia GaonSaʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon , , was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period....
, and
MaimonidesMoses Maimonides, also known as Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon or the acronym the Rambam , was born in Cordoba, Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in Egypt on December 13, 1204....
, taught that a reader should not take this part of the story literally. Rather, they explained, it should be read as an account of a prophetic experience, which are experienced as dreams, or as visions, and consequently, the donkey did not actually speak. Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, one of the great Jewish biblical commentators of the 20th century, writes that these verses
- "...depict the continuance on the subconscious plane of the mental and moral conflict in Balaam's soul; and the dream apparition and the speaking donkey is but a further warning to Balaam against being misled through avarice to violate God's command."
Similar views have been held by E. W. Hengstenberg and other Christian scholars, though others, e.g. Voick, regard the statements about the donkey speaking as figurative; the donkey brayed, and Balaam translated the sound into words. Contrary to these views there are many other more fundamental Christians who continually take this instance in scripture as literal being that if God inspired the writer of this scripture to say that the donkey spoke, God being one of Truth, gave the donkey the ability to speak to the prophet.
According to
textual criticTextual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
s who support the
documentary hypothesisThe documentary hypothesis , holds that the Pentateuch was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives, which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors...
, this portion of the tale is unique to the Hebrew version of the tale. In this view,
GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
deliberately intended the donkey to be considered to have physically spoken, and the whole episode is designed to mock Balaam. As the paragraphs immediately preceding this episode are usually assigned to the
ElohistThe Elohist is one of four sources of the Torah described by the Documentary Hypothesis. Its name comes from the term it uses for God: Elohim...
, this treatment tries to explain why God, in a dream, tells Balaam to go with the princes to Balak, only to immediately send an
AngelAngels are spiritual beings found in many religious traditions. They are broadly viewed as messengers of God, sent to do God's tasks. Traditions vary as to the precise nature and role of these messages and tasks...
to prevent Balaam from going with the princes to Balak.
All the prophecies that Balaam makes take the form of (Hebrew) poems:
- The first, Numbers 23:7-10, prophesies the unique exaltation of the Kingdom of Israel, and its countless numbers.
- The second, Numbers 23:18-24, celebrates the moral virtue of Israel, its monarchy, and military conquests.
- The third, Numbers 24:3-9, celebrates the glory and conquests of Israel's monarchy.
- The fourth, Numbers 24:14-19, prophesies the coming of a king who will conquer Edom and Moab
- The fifth, Numbers 24:20, concerns the ruins of Amalek
- The sixth, Numbers 24:21-22, concerns the destruction of the Kenites by Assyria
- The seventh, Numbers 24:23-24, concerns "ships of Kittim" coming from the west to attack Assyria and Eber
The poems fall into three groups. The first group consists of two poems which characteristically start immediately. The third group of three poems also start immediately, but are much shorter. The second group, however, consists of two poems which both start:
- Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open ....
Of these, the first and third groups are considered, in the documentary hypothesis, to originate within the Elohist text, whereas the second group is considered to belong to the Jahwist. Thus the Elohist describes Balaam constructing giving two blessings, making sacrifices on seven altars, at the high places of Baal, before each, then deciding not to seek enchantments
after the third set of sacrifices, but to set his face upon the wilderness, which Balak views as a third blessing, and so Balaam then gives the three final predictions of fate. Conversely, in the Jahwist source, Balaam arrives, the spirit of God comes upon him, and he simply delivers a blessing and a prophecy, in succession.
Nevertheless, the poems themselves are considered to predate the Jahwist and Elohist, and simply to have been embedded by them in their works. While the Elohist took off whatever introduction was present in the poems they chose, the Jahwist left it on. An archaeological discovery in 1967 uncovered references to a Book of Balaam
, from which these poems may have originally been taken. The first four poems are commonly regarded as ancient lyrics of the early monarchy of Israel and Judah, although there is some suspicion amongst several critics that they have been edited from either less edifying oracles, or oracles which did not refer to Israel.
There are several odd features about the poems. Agag
, mentioned in the third poem, is described as a great king, which does not correspond to the king of the Amalekites who was named AgagAgag was the king of the Amalekites, mentioned by Balaam in Numbers xxiv.7 in a way that gives probability to the conjecture that the name was a standing title of the kings of Amalek. The name or title may mean "flame" in ancient West Semitic....
, and described in I Samuel 15, since that description considers Amalek to be small and obscure. While it is the Masoretic textThe Masoretic Text is a Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible . It defines not just the books of the Jewish canon, but also the precise letter-text of the biblical books in Judaism, as well as their vocalization and accentuation for both public reading and private study...
of the poem which uses the word Agag
, the SeptuagintThe Septuagint , or simply "LXX", referred to in critical works by the abbreviation ...
, other Greek versions, and the Samaritan Pentateuch, all have GogGog may refer to:* Gog of the land of Magog, the Chief prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal from the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 & 39* Gog , a 1954 3-D science fiction film by Herbert L...
(i.e., king GygesGyges can be:* A figure from Greek mythology, one of the Hecatonchires* King Gyges of Lydia...
of LydiaLydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
, (716 BC to 678 BC), implying a very late date for the poem. These names are consequently thought to be textual corruptions, and OgAccording to several books of the Old Testament, Og was an ancient Amorite king of Jerusalem who, along with an army, was slain by Joshua and his men at the battle of Edrei . The internal chronology of the Deuteronomistic History and the Torah would suggest Og's overthrow and the conquest of...
has been suggested as the original, though it does not make much of an improvement.
The final three poems do not refer either to Israel or Moab, and are thus considered unusual, since they seem to have little relevance to the narrative. It is thought that they may have been added to bring the number of poems either up to five, if inserted into the Elohist source, or up to seven, if only inserted once
JEJE is a hypothetical intermediate source text of the Torah postulated by the DH. It is a combination and redaction of the Jahwist and Elohist source texts. According to this hypothesis, J was composed c. 950 BC, E was composed c. 850 BC, and the two were combined into JE c. 750 BC. JE was...
was constructed. While the sixth poem refers to Assyria, it is uncertain whether it is an historical reference to the ancient Ninevah, or a prophecy, which religious commentators consider refers to the Seleucid kingdom of Syria, which also took the name Assyria. The seventh is also ambiguous, and may either be a reference to the Sea Peoples, or, again in the view of religious commentators, to the conquest of Persia by
Alexander the GreatAlexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history...
.
In the view of textual criticism, the thin narrative, excepting the episode involving the donkey, is simply a framework invented in order to be able to insert much older poems. Whether the poems themselves constitute prophecies, or simply poems created after the events they appear to prophesy, tends to depend on whether the commentator is religious or not.
Balaam in rabbinic literature
In
rabbinic literatureRabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, can mean the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. But the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term Sifrut...
Balaam is represented as one of seven
gentileThe term Gentile refers to non-Israelite tribes or nations in English translations of the Bible, most notably the King James Version....
prophetIn religion, a prophet is a person who has been contacted by, or has encountered, the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other humans...
s; the other six being Beor (Balaam's father),
JobThe Book of Job is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his theological discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, and finally a response from God...
, and Job's four friends (Talmud, B. B. 15b). In this literature, Balaam gradually acquired a position among the non-Jews, which was exalted as much as that of Moses among the Jews (Midrash Numbers Rabbah 20); at first being a mere interpreter of dreams, but later becoming a magician, until finally the spirit of prophecy descended upon him (ib. 7).
According to the a negative view of Balaam in the
TalmudThe Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
, Balaam possessed the gift of being able to ascertain the exact moment during which God is wroth — a gift bestowed upon no other creature. Balaam's intention was to curse the Israelites at this moment of wrath, and thus cause God himself to destroy them; but God purposely restrained His anger in order to baffle the wicked prophet and to save the nation from extermination (Talmud, Berachot 7a). The Talmud also recounts a more positive view of Balaam, stating that when the Law was given to Israel, a mighty voice shook the foundations of the earth, so much so that all kings trembled, and in their consternation turned to Balaam, inquiring whether this upheaval of nature portended a second deluge; the prophet assured them that what they heard was the voice of God, giving the sacred law to the Israelites (Talmud, Zeb. 116a).
According to Jewish legend, Balaam was made this powerful in order to prevent the non-Jewish tribes from saying: "If we had only had our own Moses, we would be as pious as the Jews."
Nevertheless, it is significant that, despite the apparently positive description of a Prophet blessing the Israelites, given in Numbers 22-24, in rabbinical literature the epithet rasha
, translating as the wicked one, is often attached to the name of Balaam (Talmud Berachot l.c.; Taanit 20a; Midrash Numbers Rabbah 20:14). Balaam is pictured as blind of one eye and lame in one foot (Talmud Sanhedrin 105a); and his disciples (followers) are distinguished by three morally corrupt qualities, supposedly the very opposite of those characterizing the disciples of Abraham (Ab. v. 19; compare Tan., Balak, 6).:
- an evil eye
- a haughty bearing
- an avaricious spirit
Due to his behavior with the Midianites, the Rabbis interpret Balaam as responsible for the behavior during the heresy of Peor, which they consider to have been unchastity, and consequently the death of 24,000 victims of the plague which God sent as punishment. When Balaam saw that he could not curse the children of Israel, the Rabbis assert that he advised Balak, as a last resort, to tempt the Hebrew nation to immoral acts and, through these, to the worship of Baal-peor. The God of the Hebrews
, adds Balaam, according to the Rabbis, hates lewdness; and severe chastisement must follow (San. 106a; Yer. ib. x. 28d; Num. R. l.c.).
The Rabbis, playing on the name Balaam, call him "Belo 'Am" (without people; that is, without a share with the people in the world to come), or "Billa' 'Am" (one that ruined a people); and this hostility against his memory finds its climax in the dictum that whenever one discovers a feature of wickedness or disgrace in his life, one should preach about it (Sanh. 106b). In the process of killing Balaam (Num. xxxi. 8), all four legal methods of execution—stoning, burning, decapitating, and strangling—were employed (Sanh. l.c.). He met his death at the age of thirty-three (ib.); and it is stated that he had no portion in the world to come (Sanh. x. 2; 90a). The Bible devotes a special section to the remarkable history of the prophet, in order to answer the question, why God has taken away the power of prophecy from the Gentiles (Tan., Balak, 1). Moses is expressly mentioned as the author of this episode in the Pentateuch (B. B. 14b).J. Sr. H. M.
Balaam in the New Testament
An interesting, but doubtful, emendation makes this poem describe the nun of Shamal, a state in northwest Syria. In the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
, Balaam is cited as a type of avarice; for example in
Book of RevelationThe Book of Revelation, also called the Revelation of St. John, the Apocalypse of John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is the last book of the New Testament. It may be shortened to Revelation but never Revelations...
2:14 we read of false teachers at Pergamum who held the "teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication." Balaam has attracted much interest, alike from Jews, Christians and Muslims.
JosephusJosephus , also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu and, after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus, was a first-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70...
paraphrases the story more so, and speaks of Balaam as the best prophet of his time, but with a disposition ill adapted to resist
temptationA temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as such, tends to lead a person to regret such actions, for various reasons: legal, social, psychological , health, economic, etc...
.
PhiloPhilo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher born in Alexandria....
describes him in the Life of Moses as a great magician; elsewhere he speaks of "the sophist Balaam, being," i.e. symbolizing "a vain crowd of contrary and warring opinions" and again as "a vain people" — both phrases being based on a mistaken etymology of the name Balaam.
Balaam also figures as an example of a false teacher in both 2 Peter 2:15 and in Jude 1:11. In both of these verses, Balaam is cited as an example of a false prophet motived by greed or avarice. These references harken to the Old Testament account of Balaam in Numbers 22-24 in which King Balak hires the renowned Balaam to curse his enemies (Israel). Even though God intervenes and makes Balaam deliver blessings instead of curses, it's clear that Balaam was normally a prophet for hire. The verses in 2 Peter and Jude are then warnings to the early Christians to beware of religious leaders who are enjoying financial advantages.
Balaam in ApocryphaApocrypha comes from the Greek word , which means those having been hidden away. The general term is usually applied to the books that were considered by the Church as useful, but not divinely inspired...
In the Arabic
GospelA gospel is a writing that describes the life of Jesus. The word is primarily used to refer to the four canonical texts: the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John, probably written between AD 65 and 80...
of Youth, the three
MagiMagi is a term, used since at least the 4th century BCE, to denote a follower of Zoroaster, or rather, a follower of what the Hellenistic world associated Zoroaster with, which was – in the main – the ability to read the stars, and manipulate...
who came to bear gifts to the child
JesusJesus of Nazareth —also known as Jesus Christ or occasionally Jesus the Christ—is the central figure of Christianity. Within most Christian denominations...
are identified as priests of the
ZoroastrianA Zoroastrian is an adherent to Zoroastrianism, the first monotheistic religion that is based on the teachings and philosophies of Zoroaster....
religion, and Zoroaster, the founder of their sect and their first prophet, who had told to their people how to recognize the Saviour at the right moment, is identified as Balaam.
The Arabic Gospel of Youth was written in a geographical region where still Zoroastrian communities were present and well known by Christians, and Balaam was very fit as an identification of Zoroaster because he was considered as a more or less contemporary of
MosesMoses was, according to biblical texts, a religious leader, lawgiver, and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbeinu in Hebrew Moses was, according to biblical texts, a...
, as a non Jew, but also a believer in a Monotheistic religion, and, as so, as able to make true prophesies in the name of the only God.
Balaam in the Quran
[7:175-176] "And recite to them the story of the person whom Our revelations were given to him, but he removed himself from them, and thus the devil followed him, and He became of those who went astray. Had We wished, We could have elevated him by it, but he stuck to the Earth and he followed his desire. His example is like the dog, if you scold him he pants, and if you leave him he pants; such is the example of the people who deny Our revelations. Relate the stories, perhaps they will think."
It is said that this passage refers to Balaam, who knew Ismul Azam (Gods great name) which gave man the ability to have his prayers answered. He was asked to pray against Moses and damn him. He agreed and sat on his donkey to go to a particular place to recite the Ismul Azam against Moses, but the donkey did not budge. He beat the animal to its death. Then he realized that he had totally forgotten the Ismul Azam.
Imam
Muhammad al-BaqirMuḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Baqir was the Fifth Imām to the Twelver Shī‘ah and Fourth Imām to the Ismā‘īlī Shī‘ah. His father was the previous Imām, ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, and his mother was Fatimah bint al-Hasan...
said: "Though it relates to Balaam, but Allah intends to set an example for those who receive true guidance from Allah, yet prefer to act according to their own desires in order to lay hands on the worldly gains."
Etymology
The etymology of the name Balaam
is uncertain, and several Jewish, and Christian, sources translate it either glutton
, or foreigner
. The rabbis, playing on the name, call him Belo 'Am
, meaning without people
, more explicitly meaning that he is without a share with the people in the world to come
, or call him Billa' 'Am
, meaning one that ruined a people
. This deconstruction of his name into B--l Am
is supported by many modern biblical criticsBiblical criticism is "the study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning and discriminating judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were...
, which considers his name to simply be derived from Baal Am
, a reference to Am, a Baal' is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" that is used for various gods who were patrons of cities in the Levant, cognate to Akkadian Bēlu...
of MoabMoab is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in modern-day Jordan running along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. In ancient times, it was home to the kingdom of the Moabites, a people often in conflict with their Israelite neighbors to the west...
.
It is often supposed that the name given for a king of EdomEdom is a name given to Esau in the Hebrew Bible, as well as to the nation descending from him. The nation's name in Assyrian was Udumi; in Syriac, ܐܕܘܡ; in Greek, Ἰδουμαία ; in Latin, Idumæa or Idumea....
, Bela, son of Beor
, is a corruption of Balaam, and that, therefore, this reference actually points to Balaam as having once been an Edomite king.
Balaam and the Deir Alla inscription
In 1967, at
Deir AllaDeir Alla, Jordan, was the site of a sanctuary and metal-working centre, ringed by smelting furnaces built against the exterior of the city walls, whose successive rebuildings, dated by ceramics from the Late Bronze Age, sixteenth century BCE, to the fifth century BCE, accumulated as a tell based...
,
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
, archaeologists found an inscription apparently containing a previously unknown prophecy by Balaam written in a previously unattested dialect with Aramaic and
South CanaaniteCanaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt...
characteristics and employing an idiosyncratic script. The inscription is datable to ca. 840-760 BCE; it was painted in red and black inks, apparently to emphasize the text, on fragments of a plastered wall: 119 pieces of inked plaster were recovered. According to the story in the inscription, Balaam wakes up weeping and tells his people that the gods appeared to him in the night telling him about a goddess threatening to destroy the land. She is to cover the sky and reduce the world to complete darkness. The remarkable text has not received the attention it deserves from Old Testament scholars, who have been inclined to dismiss it. Meindert Dykstra suggests that "the reticence of OT scholarship to take account of the text may be attributable to its damaged state, the difficulty of reconstructing and reading it, and the many questions it raises of script, language, literary form and religious content."
External sources
- Hoftijzer, Jacob. "The Prophet Balaam in a 6th Century Aramaic Inscription," Biblical Archaeologist, Volume 39, 1976 (2001 electronic edition)
- McCarter, P. Kyle, "The Balaam Texts from Deir Allā: The First Combination," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 239. (Summer, 1980), pp. 49-60.
- Olrik, Axel (Kirsten Wolf and Jody Jensen, trs.) Principles for Oral Narrative Research. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1921 (1992 tr.).
External links