Difference between revisions of "Balaam" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
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{{Claimed}}{{Started}}{{Contracted}}
 
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{{otheruses4|the prophet Balaam|the demon sometimes called Balaam|Balam (demon)}}
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[[Image:Bakaan-ass.jpg|thumb|300|Balaam sees the angel of God.]]
  
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[[Image:Gustav Jaeger Bileam Engel.jpg|thumb|250px|Balaam and the angel, painting from [[Gustav Jaeger]], 1836.]]
 
 
'''Balaam''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: '''בִּלְעָם''', <small>[[Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew|Standard]]</small> ''{{unicode|Bilʻam}}'' <small>[[Tiberian vocalization|Tiberian]]</small> ''{{unicode|Bilʻām}}'') is a [[prophet]] in the [[Torah]], his story occurring towards the end of the [[Book of Numbers]]. The [[etymology]] of his name is uncertain, and discussed below. Every ancient reference to Balaam considers him a non-[[Israelite]], a prophet, 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''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: '''בִּלְעָם''', <small>[[Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew|Standard]]</small> ''{{unicode|Bilʻam}}'' <small>[[Tiberian vocalization|Tiberian]]</small> ''{{unicode|Bilʻām}}'') is a [[prophet]] in the [[Torah]], his story occurring towards the end of the [[Book of Numbers]]. The [[etymology]] of his name is uncertain, and discussed below. Every ancient reference to Balaam considers him a non-[[Israelite]], a prophet, 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.
  
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[[Image:Nuremberg chronicles f 30r 2.png|thumb|250px|right|Balaam and the angel.  ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493).]]
 
[[Image:Nuremberg chronicles f 30r 2.png|thumb|250px|right|Balaam and the angel.  ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493).]]
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[[Image:Bakaan-ass.jpg|thumb|left|300|Balaam sees the angel of God.]]
 
  
 
Balaam sends back word that he can only do what [[Yahweh]] commands, and God has, via a nocturnal dream, told him not to go. Moab consequently sends higher ranking official and offers Balaam honors. He resists on the grounds that he must not disobey "Yahweh my God." But this time, God tells Balaam to go with them.
 
Balaam sends back word that he can only do what [[Yahweh]] commands, and God has, via a nocturnal dream, told him not to go. Moab consequently sends higher ranking official and offers Balaam honors. He resists on the grounds that he must not disobey "Yahweh my God." But this time, God tells Balaam to go with them.
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===Balaam and the Midianites===
 
===Balaam and the Midianites===
  
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While one might expect Balaam to be viewed positively by the biblical writers for his brave and prophetic deed, such is not the case. Encamped at Shittim, the Israelites commit sexual sin with the women of Moab and join them in worshiping the Baal of Peor. God commands Moses to execute all the participants in this episode. The priest Phinehas, takes a spear and gruesomely slays both an Israelite leader and his Midianite wife, a local princess. Later, God commands a war of "vengeance" against Midan. An Israelite force of 12,000 carries out the task with Phinehas as their standard-bearer. They kill "every man," of the opposition, including five Midianite kings and the unfortunate Balaam, whom is apparently blamed for the sin of Israel at Peor.
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While one might expect Balaam to be viewed positively by the biblical writers for his brave and prophetic deed, such is not the case. Encamped at Shittim, the Israelites commit sexual sin with the women of Moab and join them in worshiping the Baal of Peor. God commands Moses to execute all the participants in this episode. The priest Phinehas, takes a spear and gruesomely slays both an Israelite leader and his Midianite wife, a local princess. Later, God commands a war of "vengeance" against Midan. An Israelite force of 12,000 carries out the task with Phinehas as their standard-bearer. They kill "every man," of the opposition, including five Midianite kings and the unfortunate Balaam, whom blamed for the sin of Israel at Peor. When Midianite women are left alive, Moses demands:
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[[Nehemiah]], [[Micah]], and [[Joshua]], 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.
 
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==Balaam and the ass==
 
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While [[speaking animal]]s are a common feature of folklore, the only other case in the [[Old Testament]] is that of the serpent in [[Eden]]. Classical Jewish commentators, such as [[Saadia Gaon]], and [[Maimonides]], 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 ass did not actually speak. Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, one of the great Jewish biblical commentators of the 20th century, writes that these verses
 
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:''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'.
 
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Similar views have been held by E. W. Hengstenberg and other Christian scholars, though others, e.g. Voick, regard the statements about the ass speaking as figurative; the ass brayed, and Balaam translated the sound into words.
 
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According to modern [[textual criticism|textual critic]]s, such as the of biblical scholars who support the [[documentary hypothesis]], this portion of the tale is unique to the [[Jahwist]] version of the tale. In this view, the Jahwist deliberately intended the ass to be considered to physically have spoken, and the whole episode is designed to mock Balaam. The Jahwist evidently disliked non-Jewish prophets, and is much harsher toward Balaam than the [[Elohist]]. As the paragraphs immediately preceding this episode are usually assigned to the Elohist, this treatment explains why God, in a dream, tells Balaam to go with the princes to Balak, only to immediately send an Angel to prevent Balaam from going with the princes to Balak.
 
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According to Jewish legend, 10 things were created at the end of the Creation itself, just before the evening of the seventh day, on which God rested. One of these is said to be "the mouth of the ass" that would later speak to Balaam.
 
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==The poems==
 
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All the prophecies that Balaam makes take the form of (Hebrew) [[poem]]s:
 
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*The first, Numbers 23:7-10, prophesies the unique exhaltation of the [[Kingdom of Israel]], and its countless numbers.
 
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*The second, Numbers 23:18-24, celebrates the moral virtue of Israel, its [[monarchy]], and military conquests.
 
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*The third, Numbers 24:3-9, celebrates the glory and conquests of Israel's monarchy.
 
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*The fourth, Numbers 24:14-19, announces the coming of a king who will conquer [[Edom]] and Moab
 
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*The fifth, Numbers 24:20, concerns the ruins of [[Amalek]]
 
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*The sixth, Numbers 24:21-22, concerns the destruction of the Kenites by [[Assyria]]
 
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*The seventh, Numbers 24:23-24, concerns ships approaching from the west, to attack Assyria and ''[[Eber]]''
 
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These fall into three groups. The first group consists of two poems 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
 
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:''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: ....''
 
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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.
 
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Nethertheless, 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.
 
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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 [[Agag]], and described in [[I Samuel]] 15, since that description considers Amalek to be small and obscure. While it is the [[Masoretic text]] of the poem which uses the word ''Agag'', the [[Septuagint]], other Greek versions, and the Samaritan Pentateuch, all have ''[[Gog]]'', implying a very late date for the poem. These names are consequently thought to be textual corruptions, and ''[[Og]]'' has been suggested as the original, though it does not make much of an improvement.
 
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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 [[JE]] 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 People]]s, or, again in the view of religious commentators, to the conquest of Persia by [[Alexander the Great]].
 
  
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In the view of textual criticism, the thin narrative, excepting the episode involving the ass, 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 prophecy, tends to depend on whether the commentator is religious or not.
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<blockquote>Have you allowed all the women to live? They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor.. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. (Numbers 31:15-18)</blockquote>
  
 
==Balaam in rabbinic literature==
 
==Balaam in rabbinic literature==
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In [[rabbinic literature]] Balaam is represented as one of seven gentile [[prophet]]s; the other six being Beor (Balaam's father), [[Book of Job|Job]], and Balaam'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).
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[[Image:Balaam-angel.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Balaam, not seeing the angel in his path, urges his donkey onward.]]
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Like the biblica story itself, rabbical tradition about Balaam is mixed. The posititve tradition gives him a place of great honor as the a type of Moses for the gentiles, the greatest prophet who ever lived came from a non-Jewish population. Balaam is represented as one of seven gentile [[prophet]]s. The other six are Beor (Balaam's father), [[Book of Job|Job]], and Balaam's four unnamed companions (Talmud, B. B. 15b). In this tradition, Balaam had acquired a position among the non-Jews that was as exalted as that of Moses among the Jews (Midrash Numbers Rabbah 20). At first he was a mere interpreter of dreams, later becoming a magician, and final a prophet of the true God. The Talmud also recounts that when the Law was given to Israel at Sinai, a mighty voice shook the foundations of the earth, so much so that all kings trembled. They 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).
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According to the a negative view of Balaam in the [[Talmud]], 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).
 
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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."
 
  
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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).:
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Even the a negative view of Balaam in the [[Talmud]], recognizes that he possessed an amazing talent—to ascertain the exact moment during which God is angry—a gift bestowed upon no other creature. Balaam's intention was to curse the Israelites at that very moment, and thus cause God himself to destroy them. However, God restrained His anger in order to baffle the wicked prophet and to save the nation from extermination (Talmud, Berachot 7a). Balaam is pictured as blind in one eye and lame in one foot (Sanhedrin 105a); and his disciples 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
 
*an evil eye
 
*a haughty bearing
 
*a haughty bearing
 
*an avaricious spirit
 
*an avaricious spirit
  
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Due to his behaviour with the Midianites, the Rabbis interpret Balaam as responsible for the behaviour 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.).
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Based on the account of Moses' war of vengeance against the Midianites, the Rabbis interpret Balaam as responsible for the behaviour during the "heresy of Peor," indirectly causing 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, he actaully advised Balak, as a last resort, to tempt the Hebrew nation to immoral acts and, through these, to the worship the Baal of Peor. (San. 106a).
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The first century CE Jewish historian [[Josephus]] speaks of Balaam, as the best prophet of his time, but adds that he had a weakness in resisting temptation. [[Philo of Alexandria]] describes him in the ''Life of Moses'' as a great magician.
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While [[speaking animal]]s are a common feature of folklore, the only other case in the [[Old Testament]] is that of the serpent in [[Eden]]. Classical Jewish commentators, such as [[Saadia Gaon]] and [[Maimonides]], taught that a reader should not take this part of the story literally.
  
 
==Balaam in the New Testament==
 
==Balaam in the New Testament==
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An interesting, but doubtful, emendation makes this poem describe the nun of Shamal, a state in northwest Syria. In the [[New Testament]] Balaam is cited as a type of avarice ;6 in Rev. ii. 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. [[Josephus]] paraphrases the story more so, and speaks of Balaam, as the best prophet of his time, but with a disposition ill adapted to resist temptation. [[Philo]] 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.
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In Rev. 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."  
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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 Balaam to curse his enemies (Israel). The implication is that although God intervenes and makes Balaam deliver blessings instead of curses, Balaam was normally a prophet for hire, specializing in curses. The verses in 2 Peter and Jude are warnings to the early Christians to beware of prophets who ask for money. <ref>The ''[[Didache]]'', or "Teaching of Twelve," similarly teachers that the way to distinguish a true prophet from a false one is that a true prophet will not ask for money.</ref>
  
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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.
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==Textual and literary analysis==
  
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==Balaam in the Quran==
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According to modern [[textual criticism|textual critic]]s, such as the of biblical scholars who support the [[documentary hypothesis]], the accounts of Balaam in the Book of numbers are drawn from more than one source. The "J" or "Yahwist" source is more negative toward Balaam, while the "E," or Elohist source, is more positive.
  
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[7:175-176] Recite unto them the tale of him to whom We gave Our revelations, but he sloughed them off, so Satan overtook him and he became of those who lead astray. And had We willed We could have raised him by their means, but he clung to the earth and followed his own lust. Therefore his likeness is as the likeness of a dog: if thou attackest him he panteth with his tongue out, and if thou leavest him he panteth with his tongue out. Such is the likeness of the people who deny Our revelations. Narrate unto them the history (of the men of old), that haply they may take thought.
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[[Image:Gustav Jaeger Bileam Engel.jpg|thumb|250px|Balaam and the angel, painting from [[Gustav Jaeger]], 1836.]]
  
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It is said that "the tale of him to whom We gave Our revelations" refers to Balaam, who knew Ism al 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 Ism al Azam against Moses, but the donkey did not budge. He beat the animal to its death. Then he realised that he had totally forgotten the ism al azam. He died as an infidel.  
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The tale of Balaam's talking donkey, for example, belongs to J and is intended to mock Balaam. It shows first that even Balaam's donkey is more spiritually perceptive than Balaam, for she see the angel before he does. And secondly, it shows that since God can make an ass talk, he can also put words in the mouth of a false prophet like Balaam. The Elohist versions of the story, on the other hand, show Balaam to be a man of integrity, who takes a great risk it confronting Balak with blessing for Israel instead of curses, and refuses to be bribed into going against the will of "Yahweh my God."
  
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Imam Muhammad bin Ali al Baqir 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."
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Balaam prophecies take the form of (Hebrew) [[poem]]s and cover the following themes:
 +
*The first, Numbers 23:7-10, prophesies the unique exhaltation 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, announces 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]]
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*The seventh, Numbers 24:23-24, concerns ships approaching from the west, to attack Assyria and ''Eber''
  
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==Etymology==
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While the poems themselves are presented in the context of the Elohist and Yahwist narratives, many scholars consider them to pre-date these sources. <ref>An archaeological discovery in 1967 uncovered references to a ''Book of Balaam'', from which these poems may have originally been taken. (Hoftijzer, 1976.)</ref>
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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 criticism|biblical critics]], which considers his name to simply be derived from ''Baal Am'', a reference to [[Am (biblical figure) |Am]], a [[Baal]] of [[Moab]].  
 
  
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It is often supposed that the name given for [[The list of Edomite Kings|a king of Edom]], ''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.
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Some critics view the Balaam narratives, excepting the episode involving the ass, to be simply a framework invented in order to insert the earlier poems. Scholars debate whether the poems themselves constitute actual prophecies, or poems created after the events they appear as prophecies.
  
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==Balaam and other gods==
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==Etymology==
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{{details|Deir Alla}}
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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 criticism|biblical critics]], who consider his name to simply be derived from ''Baal Am'', a reference to [[Am (biblical figure) |Am]], a [[Baal]] of [[Moab]]. It should be noted that several important Israelite figures also had names related to Baal, including Gideon (also called Jerubaal), and King Saul's sons Ish-bosheth and Mephi-bosheth (also called Ishbaal and Meribaal). <ref>The word Baal means simply "Lord" in both various semitic languages including Hebews.</ref>
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In 1967, an archaeological mission found in [[Deir Alla]], [[Jordan]], an  inscription apparently containing a previously unknown prophecy by Balaam, written in an unattested peripheral local dialect, with [[Aramaic]] and [[Canaanite|South Canaanite]] characteristics, which employed an idiosyncratic script.<ref>Jo Ann Hackett, ''The Balaam Text from Deir ʿAllā''. (Harvard Semitic Monographs '''31''') 1980, released 1984.</ref> The inscription is datable to ca. 840-760 B.C.E.; it was painted in inks<ref>Red and black inks were used, apparently to emphasize the text.</ref> on fragments of a plastered wall: 119 pieces of inked plaster were recovered.  Hoftijzer reports<ref>J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, ''Aramaic Texts from Deir 'Alla'' ''Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui '''19''' (Leiden) 1976.</ref> that 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. 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."<ref>Meindert Dijkstra, "Is Balaam Also among the Prophets?" ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' '''114'''.1 (Spring 1995, pp. 43-64), p. 44.</ref> McCarter elaborates that she is to cover the sky and reduce the world to complete darkness.
 
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==

Revision as of 03:59, 5 June 2007


File:Bakaan-ass.jpg
Balaam sees the angel of God.

Balaam (Hebrew: בִּלְעָם, Standard Bilʻam Tiberian Bilʻām) is a prophet in the Torah, his story occurring towards the end of the Book of Numbers. The etymology of his name is uncertain, and discussed below. Every ancient reference to Balaam considers him a non-Israelite, a prophet, 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.

The stories

There are two fairly separate accounts of Balaam in the Bible:

  • Balaam and Balak, containing a brief aside concerning Balaam and the ass
  • Balaam and the Midianites

Balaam and Balak

The main story of Balaam occurs during the sojourn of the Israelites in the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan River. The events take place at the close of 40 years of wandering, shortly before the death of Moses, and the crossing of the Jordan into Canaan proper. The Israelites have already defeated two kings on this side of the Jordan: Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. Balak, king of Moab, consequently becomes alarmed, and sends elders of Moab and of Midian, to Balaam son of Beor, in order to induce him to come and curse Israel. [1]

Balaam and the angel. Nuremberg Chronicle (1493).

Balaam sends back word that he can only do what Yahweh commands, and God has, via a nocturnal dream, told him not to go. Moab consequently sends higher ranking official and offers Balaam honors. He resists on the grounds that he must not disobey "Yahweh my God." But this time, God tells Balaam to go with them.

Balaam thus sets out with two servants to go to Balak, but an angel tries to prevent him. At first the angel is seen only by the ass Balaam is riding, which tries to avoid the otherwise invisible angel. After Balaam starts punishing the ass for refusing to move, it is miraculously—and possibly comically—given the power to speak to Balaam. It complains about Balaam's treatment, saying: "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" At this point, Balaam is allowed to see the angel, who informs him that the ass is the only reason the angel did not kill Balaam. Balaam immediately repents, but is told to go on.

The angel repeats God's previous instructions to Balaam, who then continues his journey and meets Balak as planned. Balak prepares seven altars at Kiriath Huzoth and they go to a high place, where they offer sacrifices on seven altars.

File:Balaam-blesses-israel.jpg
Balaam blesses Israel: "May my end be like theirs."

God inspires Balaam with the following prophetic message:

How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?... Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel?

Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs! (Num. 23:8-10)

Balak remonstrates, but Balaam reminds him that he can only speak the words put in his mouth by God, so Balak takes him to another high place at Pisgah, to try again. Building another seven altars here, and making sacrifices on each, Balaam provides another prophecy blessing Israel, declaring: " "There is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel."

Balaam finally gets taken by a now very frustrated Balak to Peor, 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:

How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel! ...May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed!

Balak's anger rises to the point where he threatens Balaam, refusing to pay him for his services, and ordering him to leave. Balaam, however, gets the last word, as he declares a prophecy of doom against Moab:

the oracle of one who hears the words of God,

who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened: I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab,

the skulls of all the sons of Sheth.

Balak and Balaam then each depart to their respective homes.

Balaam and the Midianites

While one might expect Balaam to be viewed positively by the biblical writers for his brave and prophetic deed, such is not the case. Encamped at Shittim, the Israelites commit sexual sin with the women of Moab and join them in worshiping the Baal of Peor. God commands Moses to execute all the participants in this episode. The priest Phinehas, takes a spear and gruesomely slays both an Israelite leader and his Midianite wife, a local princess. Later, God commands a war of "vengeance" against Midan. An Israelite force of 12,000 carries out the task with Phinehas as their standard-bearer. They kill "every man," of the opposition, including five Midianite kings and the unfortunate Balaam, whom blamed for the sin of Israel at Peor. When Midianite women are left alive, Moses demands:

Have you allowed all the women to live? They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor.. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. (Numbers 31:15-18)

Balaam in rabbinic literature

File:Balaam-angel.jpg
Balaam, not seeing the angel in his path, urges his donkey onward.

Like the biblica story itself, rabbical tradition about Balaam is mixed. The posititve tradition gives him a place of great honor as the a type of Moses for the gentiles, the greatest prophet who ever lived came from a non-Jewish population. Balaam is represented as one of seven gentile prophets. The other six are Beor (Balaam's father), Job, and Balaam's four unnamed companions (Talmud, B. B. 15b). In this tradition, Balaam had acquired a position among the non-Jews that was as exalted as that of Moses among the Jews (Midrash Numbers Rabbah 20). At first he was a mere interpreter of dreams, later becoming a magician, and final a prophet of the true God. The Talmud also recounts that when the Law was given to Israel at Sinai, a mighty voice shook the foundations of the earth, so much so that all kings trembled. They 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).

Even the a negative view of Balaam in the Talmud, recognizes that he possessed an amazing talent—to ascertain the exact moment during which God is angry—a gift bestowed upon no other creature. Balaam's intention was to curse the Israelites at that very moment, and thus cause God himself to destroy them. However, God restrained His anger in order to baffle the wicked prophet and to save the nation from extermination (Talmud, Berachot 7a). Balaam is pictured as blind in one eye and lame in one foot (Sanhedrin 105a); and his disciples 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

Based on the account of Moses' war of vengeance against the Midianites, the Rabbis interpret Balaam as responsible for the behaviour during the "heresy of Peor," indirectly causing 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, he actaully advised Balak, as a last resort, to tempt the Hebrew nation to immoral acts and, through these, to the worship the Baal of Peor. (San. 106a).

The first century CE Jewish historian Josephus speaks of Balaam, as the best prophet of his time, but adds that he had a weakness in resisting temptation. Philo of Alexandria describes him in the Life of Moses as a great magician.

While speaking animals are a common feature of folklore, the only other case in the Old Testament is that of the serpent in Eden. Classical Jewish commentators, such as Saadia Gaon and Maimonides, taught that a reader should not take this part of the story literally.

Balaam in the New Testament

In Rev. 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 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 Balaam to curse his enemies (Israel). The implication is that although God intervenes and makes Balaam deliver blessings instead of curses, Balaam was normally a prophet for hire, specializing in curses. The verses in 2 Peter and Jude are warnings to the early Christians to beware of prophets who ask for money. [2]

Textual and literary analysis

According to modern textual critics, such as the of biblical scholars who support the documentary hypothesis, the accounts of Balaam in the Book of numbers are drawn from more than one source. The "J" or "Yahwist" source is more negative toward Balaam, while the "E," or Elohist source, is more positive.

Balaam and the angel, painting from Gustav Jaeger, 1836.

The tale of Balaam's talking donkey, for example, belongs to J and is intended to mock Balaam. It shows first that even Balaam's donkey is more spiritually perceptive than Balaam, for she see the angel before he does. And secondly, it shows that since God can make an ass talk, he can also put words in the mouth of a false prophet like Balaam. The Elohist versions of the story, on the other hand, show Balaam to be a man of integrity, who takes a great risk it confronting Balak with blessing for Israel instead of curses, and refuses to be bribed into going against the will of "Yahweh my God."

Balaam prophecies take the form of (Hebrew) poems and cover the following themes:

  • The first, Numbers 23:7-10, prophesies the unique exhaltation 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, announces 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 approaching from the west, to attack Assyria and Eber

While the poems themselves are presented in the context of the Elohist and Yahwist narratives, many scholars consider them to pre-date these sources. [3]

Some critics view the Balaam narratives, excepting the episode involving the ass, to be simply a framework invented in order to insert the earlier poems. Scholars debate whether the poems themselves constitute actual prophecies, or poems created after the events they appear as prophecies.

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 critics, who consider his name to simply be derived from Baal Am, a reference to Am, a Baal of Moab. It should be noted that several important Israelite figures also had names related to Baal, including Gideon (also called Jerubaal), and King Saul's sons Ish-bosheth and Mephi-bosheth (also called Ishbaal and Meribaal). [4]

Notes

  1. ↑ Balaam's location is simply given as his people in the masoretic text, though the Samaritan Pentateuch, Vulgate, and Syriac Peshitta all identify it as Ammon, which is consequently supported by many modern scholars.
  2. ↑ The Didache, or "Teaching of Twelve," similarly teachers that the way to distinguish a true prophet from a false one is that a true prophet will not ask for money.
  3. ↑ An archaeological discovery in 1967 uncovered references to a Book of Balaam, from which these poems may have originally been taken. (Hoftijzer, 1976.)
  4. ↑ The word Baal means simply "Lord" in both various semitic languages including Hebews.

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

See also

  • Biblical archaeology
  • Balak (parsha)

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