Balaam

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BALAAM (ci^>? Bil'am; BaAaoju; Vg. Balaam; the etymology of the name is uncertain), a prophet in the Bible. Balaam, the son of Beor, was a Gentile seer; he appears in the history of the Israelites during their sojourn in the plains of Moab, east of Jordan, at the close of the Forty Years' wandering, shortly before the death of Moses and the crossing of the Jordan. Israel had conquered two kings of eastern Palestine—Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. Balak, king of Moab, became alarmed, and sent for Balaam to curse Israel; Balaam came after some hesitation, but when he sought to curse Israel Yahweh compelled him to bless them.

The main passage concerning Balaam in Num. xxii-xxv.; it consists of a narrative which serves as a framework for seven oracular poems, the first four being of some length and the last three very brief. The story is doubtless based on ancient traditions, current in various forms; the Old Testament references are not wholly consistent.

The narrative in Num. xxii. ff. is held to be compiled with editorial additions from the two ancient documents (900-700 B.C.) commonly denoted by the symbols J and E. The distribution of the material between the two documents is uncertain; but some such scheme as the following is not improbable. The ' references to portions the origin of which is especially uncertain are placed in brackets ().

The present narrative, therefore, is not really a single continuous story, but may be resolved into two older accounts. In combining these two and using them as a framework for the poems, the compilers have altered, added and omitted. Naturally, when both documents made statements which were nearly identical, one might be omitted; so that neither account need be given in full in the composite passage. The two older accounts,

as far as they are given. here, may have run somewhat thus:restorations of

supposed omissions are given in square brackets [I~ (i) J. XXii. 3b-5a to

“ Beor “ (5c to “ to the land “—7, II, 17, ~8). Balak, king of Moab,

alarmedat the Israelite conquests, sends elders of Moab and Midian to

Balaam, son of Beor, to the land of Ammon, t0 induce him to come and curse

Israel. He sends back word that he can only do what Yahweh commands.The

land, of Ammon. The current Hebrew Text has the land ,of ammo,ie. as EV,

“his people,” but Ammon is read by the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac

‘and Vulgate Versions and some HebrewMSS., and is accepted by many modern

scholars.xxii. 22-3511 to “Balaam,” also “Go” and “So Balaam went.”

Nevertheless Balaam sets out with two servants to goto Balak, but the

Angel of Yahweh meets him. At first theAngel is seen only by the ass,

which arouses Balaam’s anger byits efforts to avoid the Angel. The ass is

miraculously enabledto speak ‘to Balaam. Yahweh at la-st enables Balaam to

see theAngel, who tells him that he would have slain him but for the

ass.Balaam offers to go back, but is told to go oii.Speaking animals are a

common feature of folk-lore;’ the onlyother case in the Old Testament is

the serpent in Eden. Maimonidessuggested that the episode of the Angel and

the conversation withthe ass is an account of a vision; similar views have

been held by E. W. Hengstenberg and other Christian scholars. ‘ Others,

e.g. Voick in Hauck’s Rcoiencyklopadie (I. “ Bileam “), regard the state-

ments abou,t the ass speaking’ as figurative; the ass lrayed, ‘andBalaam

translated the sound into words. The ordinary literal interpretation is

more probable; but it does not follow that the authors of the Pentateuch

intended the story to he taken as his-torical in its details. It need

hardly be said that the exact accuracyof such narratives is not an

essential part of the ‘Christian faith;no such doctrine is laid down by

the creeds and confessions.xxii. 36, 39, xxiv. I, 2, 10-14, 25. Balak

meets Balaam and they, go together [and offer sacrifices]; Balaam,

however, blessesIsrael by divine inspiration, Balak remonstrates but

Balaanireminds him of his message and again blesses Isiael ThenBalaam

‘goes home. ‘ (For the relation of the poems to J’s narrative, see

below.)(ii.) E. xxii. 2, 30, 5b “to Pethor, which is by the river,” 8-19,

12-16, 19-2I, 370, to “unto me,” 38. Balak, king of Moab, alarmed at the

conquests of Israel, sends the princes of Moab to Balaam at Peihor on the

Euphrates, that he may come and curse Israel.A. Jeremias, Das Alte

Testament im Lichte ties alten Orients, p. 278, adopts Marquart’s view

that the” River” (nahar) is the sO- called “ River” (better “ Ravine”

nahal) of Egypt or Mu~ri, on the southern frontier of Judea. - So too

Winckler, in the new edition of E. Schrader’s Die Keilinschriften und das

Alte Testament. It has been usual to keep nahar and take itin its ordinary

sense when used absolutely, i.e. the Euphrates, and to identify Pethor

with a Pitru on a tributary of the Euphrates, mentioned in an inscription

of Shalmaneser II. Deut. xxiii. 4 places Pethor in Mesopotamia. God

appears to him in a dream and forbids him to go~ , The princes return and

report to Balak, who sends them back to put further pressur~ on Balaam.

God in another dream per- mits him to go, on condition that he speaks what

God tells him’.He goes with the princes of Moab. Balak meets them, and

Balaam warns him that he can only speak what God tells him. xxii. 40, 41,

xxiii. 1-6,11-17. Balak offers sacrifices, but Yahweh inspires Balaam with

a blessing on Israel. Balakremonstrates and Balaam explains. They try to

get a morefavourable result by sacrificing on a different spot, and

byplacing Balaam on the top of Pisgah to view Israel, but heis again

compelled to bless Israel. After further remonstrancesand explanations

[Balaam goes home]. (For the relation of thepoems to E’s narrative,

see-below.)Deut. xxiii. 3-6 i summarizes E’s account of this incident,

adding, however, the feature that the Ammonites were associatedwith the

Moabites, possibly an imperfect reminiscence of thereference to Ammon in

J. Joshua, in his farewell speech to theIsraelites,1 also refers to this

episode. The Priestly Code3 hasa different story of Balaam, in which he

advises the Midianites how they may bring disaster on Israel by seducing

the people 1 Quoted Neh. xiii I f. 2 Josh. xxiv. 9, i0. E; cf. Micah vi.

5. Num. xxxi. 8 (quoted Josh. xiii. 22), 16. These references are not

necessarily inconsistent with JE; but they are probably basedon an

independent tradition. The date of the Priestly Code is cC. 400 B.C. -

from their loyalty to Yahweh. Later on he is slain in battle, fighting in

the ranks of Midian. It is often supposed’ that the name of the king of

Edom,4 Bela, son of Beor, is a corruption of Balaam, and that,

therefore,ne form of the tradition made him a king of Edom.The Poems fall

into two groups: the first four, in xxiii. 1.— rcxiv. 19, are commonly

regarded as ancient lyrics of the early monarchy, perhaps in the time of

David or Solomon, which J and E inserted in their narrative. Some recent

critics,1 however,are inclined to place them in the post-exilic period, in

which casea late editor has substituted them for earlier, probably

lessedifying, oracles. But the features which are held to indicatelate

date may be due to editorial revision.The first two are found in an E

setting, and therefore, ifancient, formed part of E.The First, xxiii.

7-10, prophesies the unique exaltation of Israel, and its countless

numbers. - The Second, xxiii. 18-24, celebrates the moral virtue of

Israel, the monarchy and its conquests. Again the second couple are

connected with J. The Third, xxiv. 3-9, also celebrates the glory and

conquests of the monarchy.A gag, in verse 7, can hardly be the Amalekite

king of I Sam. xv.; Amalek was too small and obscure. The Septuagint

andother Greek Versions and Sam. Pent. have Gog, which would imply a

post-exilic date, cf. Ezek. xxxix. Probably both Agagand Gog are textual

corruptions. Og has been suggested, but does’not seem a great improvement.

The Fourth, xxiv. 14-19, announces the coming of a king, possibly David,

who shall conquer Edom and Moab.The remaining poems are usually regarded

as later additions;thus the Oxford Hexateuch on Num. xxiv. 20-24. “The

three concluding oracles seem irrelevant here, being concerned neitherwith

Israel nor Moab. It has been thought that they were addedtobring the cycle

up to seven.”The Fifth, ‘xxiv. 20, deals with the ruin of Amalek; It is of

uncertain date; if the historical Amalek is meant, it may beearly; but

AmaIek may be symbolical.The Sixth, xxiv. 21 f., deals with the

destruction of ‘the Kenite state by Assyria; also of uncertain date,

Assyria being, accordingto some, the ancient realm of Nineveh, according

to ‘others theSeleucid kingdom of Syria, which was also called Assyria.The

Seventh, xxiv. 23 f., ,spea,ks of the coming of ships from the West, to

attack Assur and “Eber”; it may refer to theconquest of Persia by

Alexander the Great. An interesting,’but doubtful, emendation makes this

poem describe the nunof Shamal, a state in N. W. 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 Bala’am, who

taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to

eat things sacrificed toidols, and’tocornmit fornication.” ‘ Balaam has

attracted much interest, alike from Jews, Christians and Mahommedans.

Josephus7 paraphrases the story more suo, and speaks of Balaam, as the

bes’t prophet of his time, but with a disposition ill adapted to resist

temptation. Philo describeshim in the~ Life’ of Moses as a great magician;

elsewhere8 he speaks of “ the sophist Balaam, being,” i.e. symbolizing, “

a vain crowd’ of contrary and warring opinions “; and again9 as “ a vain

people”; both phrases being based on a mistaken etymology of the name

Balaam. The later Targums and ‘theTalmuds represent him as a typical

sinner; and there are theusual worthless Rabbinical fables, e.g. that he

was blind of one eye; that he was the Elihu of Job; that, as one of

Pharaoh’scounsellors, he was governor ‘of a city of Ethiopia, and

rebelledtgaipst Pharaoh; Moses was sent against him by Pharaoh atthe head

of anariny, and stormed the city and put Balaam to flight, &c. &c. , ‘ ‘

Gen xxxvi For names and reasons, see Gray, Numbers, 3f4. 2 Peter ii. 16,

17’ (also refers to the ass speaking), Jude xi. 1 Ant. iv. 6. ‘ Quad. Det.

Pot ion, § 20.~ ,~ Dc Cherub., §10,