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468 Balaam Balak

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

a writer other than the author of the four longer

poems.

Balaam in

tradition about Balaam exists in the Priestly Code (P), where Balaam is represented as a Midianite, who at-

Priestly tempted to seduce Israel by immoral Code and in rites (Num. xxxi. 16). According to this account, which probably depends Deuteronomy. upon Num. xxv. 6-15, Balaam was afterward slain with the Midianitish

(Num. xxxi. 8; Josh. xiii. 22). The allusion to Balaam in Deut. xxiii.

princes

4,

5 (com-

pare Neh. xiii. 2) states that the prophet was hired to curse Israel and that Yiiwii turned the curse into a blessing, thus implying that the prophet was anxious to accede to Balak's desire (compare also Josh, xxiv. 9). Such an idea might have been obtained

from Num.

xxiii. 4,

where Balaam

tells

Elohim ex-

he has offered a bullock and a ram on thereby implying a hope that God will

plicitly that

seven altars,

Balaam

to curse Israel.

Opinions vary greatly as to the derivation and meaning of the name Balaam. It is generally considered to be a compound of "Bel" and " 'Am," and since both "Bel" and "'Am" are names of deities

among

own

people and the blessing upon Israel. Then 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 (Num. xxv. 14, 15) follows. According to another story which 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. Alhis his

A different

inspire

468

Semites, the

name may

either represent a

combination of two deities ('"Am" is "Bel") or " Bel " may be used in the general sense which it acquired of " lord " the name would then be interpreted " 'Am is Lord."

Bibliography Kuenen, Theolng. Tijdschrift, 1884, xviii. 497540; Van Hoonacker, Observations Critiques Coneernant Bileam, in Le Museon, 1888; Hale>y, Revue Semitique, 1894, pp. 301-209 Delitzsch, Zur Neuesten Literatur liber den

Tha'labi ("Kisas al-Anbij'ya," pp. 206 et seg., Cairo ed. 1298) 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 Balka, 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. Other interpreters, however, refer the passage in the Koran to Umayya b. Abi al-Salt al-Thakafi, one of the seekers of religious truth in the time of Mohammed, who had read the books and aspired to be the expected prophet. He refused to embrace Islam, and this passage was revealed in consequence (Herbelot, "Orient. Bibliothek "). Some scholars find in Lokman the Arabic parallel to ,

Balaam. j.

M.

jk.





Absehnitt Bileam, in Zeitsehrift der Kirehlichen Wissensehaft, 1888 Cheyne, in Expository Times, 1899, x. 399-402 and the various commentaries on Numbers. J. JR. J. D. P.

In Mohammedanism



It

is

very doubtful

whether there is any reference to Balaam in the Koran. The commentators apply to him, but with " And recite against 174 et seg. the story of him to whom we brought our signs, but he separated himself from them; then Satan followed him, and he was of those And if we had willed, we had exthat go astray. alted him through them, but he inclined toward the His likeness was the earth and followed his desire. likeness of a dog if you attack it, it pants, and if you leave it alone, it pants." The Moslem commentators explain that Balaam was a Canaanite who had been given knowledge of some of the books of God. His people asked him to curse Moses and those who were with him, but he said, " How can I curse one who has angels with him?" They continued to press him, however, until he cursed the Israelites, and, as a consequence, they remained forty 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 ("Annales," ed. De Goeje, i. 508 et seg.) is somewhat more Biblical. Balaam had the knowledge of the Most Sacred Name of God, and whatever he asked of God was granted The story of the ass, etc., then follows at to him. When it came to the actual cursing, God length. " turned his tongue " so that the cursing fell upon

reservations, sura

them

vii.

[the Jews]





In Hellenistic and Hag-g-adic Literature The Alexandrian Jews made Balaam an object of popular legend as a great sorcerer. Philo (" De Vita Moysis," i. 48) speaks of him as "a man renowned

above all men for

who foretold

his skill as a diviner

and a prophet,

to the various nations important events,

abundance and

rain, or droughts and famine, inundations or pestilence." Josephus ("Ant." iv. 6, § 2) calls him "the greatest of the prophets at that time." He has been identified with Bela, the son of Beor, and first king of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 32; Targ. Yer., Ibn Ezra and Ziuni to the passage); with Elihu, the friend of Job (Yer. Sotah v. 20d) with Kemuel, the father of Aram (Gen. xxii. 21 compare Targ. Yer., " head of the enchanters of Aram " and Yalk. Num. i. 766), and with Laban (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxii. 5; compare Gen. P. lvii., end; and Sanh. 105a, where Laban is identified with Beor, the father of Balaam), being a master of witchcraft, the skill of the sons of the East (Gen. xxx. 27; Isa. ii. 6; Num. xxiii. 7). Balaam's residence was Padan-aram, but his fame as " interpreter of dreams " gave his city the name " Petor " (iriS " to interpret "). His great wisdom





=

,

—

and he became a foolish man " ben "fool"; Targ. Yer. to Num. xxii. 5). The story of Moses' war with the Ethiopians, as related by Josephus ("Ant." ii. 10) after Hellenistic sources, was in olden times brought into connection with Balaam. Balaam (see Sanh. 106a; Sotah 11a; Jellinek, "B. H." ii. 3; " Chronicles of Jerahmeel," translated by Gaster, xliv. 9, xlvi. 15) was one of the three counselors consulted by Pharaoh in regard to the Hebrews whose rapid increase provoked his fear. Jethro spoke in their favor and fled to Midian to

made him

vain,

be'or" (njn

=