Balaam (;; ; ), son of Beor, was, according to the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' non-Israelite

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

and diviner who lived in Pethor, a place identified with the ancient city of Pitru, thought to have been located between the region of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and northern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

in what is now southeastern Turkey. According to chapters 22–24 of the

Book of Numbers The Book of Numbers (from Biblical Greek, Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi'', , ''Bəmīḏbar'', ; ) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and complex history; its final f ...

, he was hired by King Balak of

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

to curse Israel, but instead he blessed the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

, as dictated by God. Subsequently, the plan to entice the Israelites into idol worship and sexual immorality is attributed to him. Balaam is also mentioned in the

Book of Micah The Book of Micah is the sixth of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. The book has seven chapters. Ostensibly, it records the sayings of Micah, whose name is ''Mikayahu'' (), meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th-century BCE prophet f ...

. In rabbinic literature, Balaam is portrayed as a non-Jewish prophet with powers comparable to

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

but is often depicted negatively for his attempts to curse Israel, his role in leading them to sin, and his eventual execution. The

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

emphasizes his importance by stating that Moses authored not only the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

but also the section relating to Balaam (Bava Batra 14b). In

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

, and

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

sources, Balaam is recognized for his exceptional divinatory abilities but is criticized for his moral failings, including greed and corruption. The

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

portrays Balaam as a symbol of

greed Greed (or avarice, ) is an insatiable desire for material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions) or social value, such as status or power. Nature of greed The initial motivation for (or purpose of) greed and a ...

, particularly in Revelation 2:14, which accuses him of instructing Balak to lead the

into sin by encouraging

idolatry Idolatry is the worship of an idol as though it were a deity. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Abrahamic ...

and sexual immorality.

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

tradition does not mention Balaam by name in the Quran but identifies him with the figure in Surah Al-A’raf 7:175–176, who received divine knowledge but succumbed to worldly desires, leading to his downfall and depiction as a panting dog. The Deir Alla inscription, dating to around 840–760 BC, describes visions of Balaam, son of Beor, and portrays him as receiving messages from multiple deities rather than

Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...

, making it potentially the earliest extra-biblical reference to a biblical figure and the oldest known West Semitic alphabetic text.

Hebrew Tanakh

The main story of Balaam occurs during the sojourn of the Israelites in the plains of Moab, east of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

, 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 in Transjordan:

Sihon Sihon was an Amorite king mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, king of Ashtaroth, who refused to let the Israelites pass through his country. Chronicled in Numbers, he was defeated by Moses and the Israelites at the battle of Jahaz. He and Og were said ...

, king of the

Amorites The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Eg ...

, and Og, king of

Bashan Bashan (; ; or ''Basanitis'') is the ancient, biblical name used for the northernmost region of Transjordan during the Iron Age. It is situated in modern-day Jordan and Syria. Its western part, nowadays known as the Golan Heights, was occupied b ...

. Balak, king of

, consequently becomes alarmed and sends elders of Midian and his Moabite messengers, to Balaam, son of Beor, to induce him to come and curse Israel. Balaam's location, Pethor, which is now located in the region of northern Syria and southeastern Turkey is simply given as "which is by the river of the land of the children of his people" in the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

and the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

. The

Samaritan Pentateuch The Samaritan Pentateuch, also called the Samaritan Torah (Samaritan Hebrew: , ), is the Religious text, sacred scripture of the Samaritans. Written in the Samaritan script, it dates back to one of the ancient versions of the Torah that existe ...

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

, and

Peshitta The Peshitta ( ''or'' ') is the standard Syriac edition of the Bible for Syriac Christian churches and traditions that follow the liturgies of the Syriac Rites. The Peshitta is originally and traditionally written in the Classical Syriac d ...

all identify his land as

Ammon Ammon (; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; '; ) was an ancient Semitic languages, Semitic-speaking kingdom occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Wadi Mujib, Arnon and Jabbok, in present-d ...

John Linnell - The Prophet Balaam and the Angel - Google Art Project

Balaam sends back word that he can only do what

YHWH The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from right to left, a ...

commands, and God has, via a nocturnal dream, told him not to go. Balak consequently sends higher-ranking priests and offers Balaam honours; Balaam continues to press God, and God finally permits him to go but with instructions to say only what He commands. Balaam then sets out in the morning with the princes of Moab. God becomes angry that he went and sends the Angel of the Lord (Numbers 22:22) to prevent him. At first, the angel is seen only by the donkey Balaam is riding, which tries to avoid the 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 says, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" At this point, Balaam is allowed to see the angel, who informs him that the donkey's turning away from the messenger 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 Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

", and offer sacrifices on seven altars, leading to Balaam being given a prophecy by

, 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 Pisgah, 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

Peor Peor (, Biblical: ''Paġor'') meaning "opening", may refer to: *The name of a mountain peak, mentioned in Numbers , to which Balak, king of Moab, led Balaam in his fourth and final attempt to induce Balaam to pronounce a curse upon the Israelites ...

, 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 Kenites, and Amalekites and offers two more predictions of their fates. Balak and Balaam then go to their respective homes. Later, Numbers 25:1–9 describes how Israel engaged in the Heresy of Peor. Numbers 31:16 blames this on Balaam's advice and because of his culpability in the incident, which resulted in deadly divine judgements against the Israelites who participated, he was eventually killed in a retaliatory battle against Midian in Numbers 31:8.

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

23:3–6 summarises these incidents, and further states that the Ammonites were associated with the Moabites.

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

, in his farewell speech, also makes reference to it. With God's protection taken from him, Balaam is later listed among the Midianites who were killed in revenge for the "matter of Peor".

13:22 records that Balaam died "by the sword" during a battle for the Reubenite occupation of Moabite land. P1150002 Cognacq-Jay Rembrandt anesse de Balaam rwk

P1150002 Cognacq-Jay Rembrandt anesse de Balaam rwk

In total, Balaam's prophecies consist of seven (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 its 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 ...

Biblical criticism

Of Balaam's three groups of poems, the

documentary hypothesis The documentary hypothesis (DH) is one of the models used by biblical scholars to explain the origins and composition of the Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible: Book of Genesis, Genesis, Book of Exodus, Exodus, Leviticus, Bo ...

argued that the first and third groups originated within the

Elohist According to the documentary hypothesis, the Elohist (or simply E) is one of four source documents underlying the Torah, together with the Jahwist (or Yahwist), the Deuteronomist and the Priestly source. The Elohist is so named because of its ...

text, whereas the second group belonged to the

Jahwist The Jahwist, or Yahwist, often abbreviated J, is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist, the Priestly source and the Elohist. The existence of the Jahwist text is somewhat controver ...

. Thus the Elohist describes Balaam 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 delivers a blessing and a prophecy in succession. ''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 1 Samuel 15, since that description considers Amalek to be small and obscure. While the

Masoretic text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

of the poem uses the word ''Agag'', the

, other Greek versions, and the Samaritan Pentateuch all have ''Gog''. These names are consequently considered textual corruptions, and '' Og'' has been suggested as the original. The final three poems do not refer 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 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 a historical reference to ancient

Nineveh Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...

or a prophecy, which some religious commentators consider refers to the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...

, which also took the name "Assyria". The seventh is also ambiguous and may either be a reference to the

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples were a group of tribes hypothesized to have attacked Ancient Egypt, Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean regions around 1200 BC during the Late Bronze Age. The hypothesis was proposed by the 19th-century Egyptology, Egyptologis ...

or, in the view of some religious commentators, to the conquest of the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

. In the view of some schools of textual criticism, the narrative, excepting the episode involving the donkey, is simply a framework invented to be able to insert much older poems.

Deir Alla inscription

In 1967, at Deir Alla,

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, archaeologists found an inscription with a story relating visions of the seer of the gods Bala'am, son of Be'or, the same name appearing as that of a prophet in the Bible. In both the inscription and the Bible, Balaam is a prophet whose utterances determine the fate of nations. However, other details of the stories are different. According to 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. In contrast with the biblical account where Balaam receives prophecies from Yahweh, the inscription associates Balaam with multiple deities ( Ashtar, a god named Shgr, and Shadday gods and goddesses). If this inscription refers to Balaam mentioned in the Book of Numbers, Balaam is the earliest biblical figure identified in extra-biblical source. ''The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies'' describes it as "the oldest example of a book in a West Semitic language written with the alphabet, and the oldest piece of Aramaic literature." 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. Meindert Dijkstra 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."

In rabbinic literature

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire corpus of works authored by rabbis throughout Jewish history. The term typically refers to literature from the Talmudic era (70–640 CE), as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic ...

Balaam is represented as one of seven

gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

s; the other six being Beor (Balaam's father),

Job Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...

, and Job's four friends. In this literature, Balaam gradually acquired a position among the non-Jews, which was exalted as much as that of Moses among the Jews; at first being a mere interpreter of dreams, but later becoming a magician, until finally the spirit of prophecy descended upon him. According to a negative view of Balaam in the

, Balaam possessed the gift of being able 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 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. The Talmud also recounts a more positive view of Balaam, stating that when the

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. 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." Balaam is included in the list of persons born circumcised along with Moses. In rabbinical literature the epithet ''rasha'', translating as ''the wicked one'', is often attached to the name of Balaam. Balaam is pictured as blind in one eye and lame in one foot, and his disciples (followers) are distinguished by three morally corrupt qualities: an

evil eye The evil eye is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glaring, glare, usually inspired by envy. Amulets to Apotropaic, protect against it have been found dating to around 5,000 years ago. It is found in many cultures i ...

, a haughty bearing, and a greedy 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, ''hates lewdness; and severe chastisement must follow''. 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.Sanhedrin 106b In the process of killing Balaam (Numbers 31:8), all four legal methods of execution—stoning, burning, decapitating, and strangling—were employed. He met his death at the age of 33, and it is stated that he had no portion in the world to come. The book devotes a special section to the history of the prophet discussing why God has taken away the power of prophecy from the Gentiles. The Talmud states that "Moses wrote his book and the portion of Balaam", regarding this passage as separate from the rest of the Torah in terms of topic or style, but united in authorship. Some have suggested that in

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...

106b and Giṭtin 57a Balaam may be likened to Jesus. Balaam's father Beor was a son of Laban. The Book of Jasher reports that Balaam's sons were Jannes and Jambres. Balaam's exclamation, "How good are your tents, O Jacob, your tabernacles, O Israel!", was taken by later generations of Jews as the basis of the liturgical prayer Ma Tovu.

In Josephus, Philo, and Christian sources

Balaam is mentioned in several places in the

, where he is cited as a type of avarice; for example in

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

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.

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 Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...

describes him as a great magician in the ''Life of Moses''; elsewhere he speaks of "the

sophist A sophist () was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics and mathematics. They taught ''arete'', "virtue" or "excellen ...

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. A man also named Balaam also figures as an example of a false prophet motivated by greed or avarice in both

2 Peter 2 Peter, also known as the Second Epistle of Peter and abbreviated as 2 Pet., is an epistle of the New Testament written in Koine Greek. It identifies the author as "Simon Peter" (in some translations, 'Simeon' or 'Shimon'), a bondservant and ...

2:15 and in Jude 1:11. This Balaam is listed as the son of Bezer, which is usually identified as Beor.''A Dictionary of the Bible, Comprising Its Antiquities, Biography, Geography, and Natural History''
by William George Smith, S.S. Scranton & Company, 1896
p.123
/ref>''Jude and 2 Peter'' (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)
by Gene Green, Baker Academic, 1 Nov 2008
p.289
/ref> Some authors claim that Bezer was the Aramaic pronunciation of Beor, while others hold that the author was attempting to play off the Hebrew word ''basar'' or "flesh" to insult Balaam. Later Jewish tradition similarly played with Balaam's name to call him corrupt and imply bestiality. Still other authors hold that Bezer and Beor are distinct, while still identifying the Balaams of the Old and New Testaments, claiming that Beor is Balaam's father and Bezer is Balaam's home town. The story is also referred to in chapter 10 of 2 Meqabyan, a book considered

canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean 'according to the canon' the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, ''canonical exampl ...

in the

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

. In his commentary on

Matthew's Gospel The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah ( Christ), Jesus, his resurrection, and his mission to the ...

, Dale Allison associates the

magi Magi (), or magus (), is the term for priests in Zoroastrianism and earlier Iranian religions. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Per ...

who visited the

infant Jesus The Christ Child—also known as Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, Child Jesus, Divine Child, Divine Infant and the Holy Child—refers to Jesus Christ during his early years. The term refers to a period of Jesus' life, described in the canonical Gospe ...

(Matthew 2) with Balaam, in that both Balaam and the magi were "from the east": thus "Matthew's magi are Balaam's successors".

In the Quran

No clear reference is made to Balaam in the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

. However, the commentators argue that he is the one to whom the following text is referring: The

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

commentators explain that Bal'am bin Ba'ura () was a

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ite who had been given knowledge of some of the books of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. His people asked him to curse

(

Musa Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon * Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam province, Iran * Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran * Musa Kalayeh, Gilan province, Iran * Abu M ...

) and those who were with him, but he said, "How can I curse one who has

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

s with him?" They continued to press him, however, until he cursed the

, and, as a consequence, they remained 40 years in the Wilderness of the Wanderings. Then, when he had cursed Moses, his tongue came out and fell upon his breast, and he began to pant like a dog. The story as told by Tabari is somewhat more

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

. Balaam had the knowledge of the Most Sacred Name of God, and whatever he asked of God was granted to him. The story of Balaam and the ass, then follows at length. When it came to the actual cursing, God "turned his tongue" so that the cursing fell upon his own people and the blessing upon Israel. Then his tongue came out and hung down on his breast. Finally, he advised his people to adorn and beautify their women and to send them out to ensnare the Israelites. The story of the plague at Baal-peor and of Cozbi and Zimri follows. According to another story which al-Tabari gives, Balaam was a renegade Israelite who knew the Most Sacred Name, and to gain the things of this world, went over to the Canaanites. Al-Tha'labi adds that Balaam was descended from Lot. He gives, too, the story of Balaam's dream, his being forbidden by God to curse Israel. Another version is that Balak, the king of Bal'a, compelled Balaam to use the Most Sacred Name against Israel. The curse fell automatically, and Moses, having learned whence it came, entreated God to take from Balaam his knowledge of the Name and his faith. This being done, they went out from him in the form of a white dove. The Baghdadi historian Al Masudi said in his book Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems that Balaam ben Beor was in a village in the lands of Shem (Canaan), and he is the son of Baura(Beor) ben Sanur ben Waseem ben

ben Lot ben Haran (PUT), and his prayers were answered, so his folks asked him to pray against Joshua ben Nun but he could not do it, so he advised some of the kings of the giants to show the pretty women and release them toward the camp of Joshua ben Nun, and so they did, and they (the Israelites) hurried up to the women and the plague spread among them and seventy thousand of them were dead.

Notes

References

* Ausloos, Hans, ''On an Obedient Prophet and a Fickle God. The Narrative of Balaam in Numbers 22–24'', in ''Old Testament Essays'' 20 (2007) 84-104 * Hoftijzer, Jacob. “The Prophet Balaam in a 6th Century Aramaic Inscription.” ''Biblical Archaeologist'' 39.1 (March 1976), pp. 11–17 (electronic edition 2001). * 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. * Savelle, Charles. 2009. Canonical and Extracanonical portraits of Balaam. ''Bibliotheca Sacra'' 166:387-404. * Shenk, Robert
“The Coherence of the Biblical Story of Balaam.”
''Literature and Belief'' 13 (1993), 31–51. * Van Kooten, George H. and Jacques van Ruiten (edd.). ''Prestige of the Pagan Prophet Balaam in Judaism, Early Christianity and Islam''. Leiden: Brill, 2008. Attribution *

External links

* ttp://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_6.htm#Balaam The Oracles of Balaam (poetic portions of Numbers 23:7–24:24) Reconstructed {{Authority control Angelic visionaries Book of Numbers people Book of Micah people Moses Prophets in the Hebrew Bible Curses