Balaam (; ; ), son of Beor, was, according to the Bible, a gentile prophet 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 and northern Syria in what is now southeastern Turkey. According to chapters 22–24 of the Book of Numbers, he was hired by King Balak of Moab to curse Israel, but instead he blessed the Israelites, 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 Second Epistle of Peter, the Book of Jude, and the Book of Revelation.
In rabbinic literature, Balaam is portrayed as a non-Israelite prophet with powers comparable to Moses but is often depicted negatively for his attempts to curse Israel, his role in leading them to sin, and his eventual execution. The Talmud emphasizes his importance by stating that Moses authored not only the Torah but also the section relating to Balaam (Bava Batra 14b).
In Josephus, Philo, and Christian sources, Balaam is recognized for his exceptional divinatory abilities but is criticized for his moral failings, including greed and corruption. The New Testament portrays Balaam as a symbol of greed, particularly in Revelation 2:14, which accuses him of instructing Balak to lead the Israelites into sin by encouraging idolatry and sexual immorality. Islamic 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, 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, 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, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. Balak, king of Moab,Numbers 22:2 consequently becomes alarmed and sends elders of Midian and his Moabite messengers,Numbers 22:4–5 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 and the Septuagint. The Samaritan Pentateuch, Vulgate, and Peshitta all identify his land as Ammon.
Balaam sends back word that he can only do what Yahweh 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 Bamoth-Baal (the "high places of Baal"), and offer sacrifices on seven altars, leading to Balaam being given a prophecy by Yahweh, 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, 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 23:3–6 summarises these incidents, and further states that the Ammonites were associated with the Moabites. Joshua, 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". Joshua 13:22 records that Balaam died "by the sword" during a battle for the Reubenite occupation of Midianite land.
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 In the oldest Biblical traditions about the seer, he is viewed "unequivocally positively". Of Balaam's three groups of poems, the documentary hypothesis argued that the first and third groups originated within the Elohist text, whereas the second group belonged to the Jahwist. 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 of the poem uses the word Agag, the Septuagint, 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 or a prophecy, which some religious commentators consider refers to the Seleucid Empire, which also took the name "Assyria". The seventh is also ambiguous and may either be a reference to the Sea Peoples or, in the view of some religious commentators, to the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great.
The redactor used word association of the "summit of Peor" in Numbers 22-24 to recount and place the Balaam story before the unrelated Numbers 25 event where the Israelites are incited to worship "Baal of Peor" by Moabites. Michael B. Shepherd then indicates that both narratives are combined to create a new incident in Numbers 31, where it is instead Midianites who instigate the idolatry and Balaam is directly named as an antagonist. Deuteronomy 23 attempts to harmonize the traditions by having Yahweh turn Balaam's curse into a blessing, rather than Balaam originally himself blessing Israel, and Ammonites are included alongside Moabites in provoking Balaam to act. In Joshua 24 there is a similar endeavour to reconcile the narratives, but the situation remains conflicted, as it mentions that Balaam did in fact bless them.
In the view of some schools of textual criticism,See Critical View Nearly all modern expositors agree that the section xxii.–xxiv. belongs to the composite document JE the narrative, excepting the episode involving the donkey, is simply a framework invented to be able to insert much older poems. The incorporated tale of Balaam and his donkey is considered to be in the genre of fable, and to have been from later after he was already vilified.Van Seters, John (2009). "From Faithful Prophet to Villain: Observations on the Tradition History of the Balaam Story". In Carpenter, Eugene E. (ed.). A Biblical Itinerary: In Search of Method, Form and Content: Essays in Honor of George W. Coats. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series. Vol. 240. Sheffield Academic Press. p. 126, 131-132.Robker, Jonathan Miles (2013). "The Balaam Narrative in the Pentateuch". In Frevel, Christian; Pola, Thomas; Schart, Aaron (eds.). Torah and the Book of Numbers. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe. Vol. 62. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 334–366. "The variant attitude toward Balaam suggests that the narrative of the donkey was inserted into the Balaam narrative at a later stage. The form of the narrative can be more readily identified as a fable, which is inconsistent with the form of the surrounding narrative." Robert Karl Gnuse believes there is possibly ancient Greek influences in the folktale of Balaam, due to the narrative similarities with that of Achilles and his talking horse Xanthus.
Balaam's fourth oracle of the star and sceptre is said to have been influential on the Damascus Document, and cited as well in the War Scroll, Qumran 4QTestimonia and 4Q541. However, the Numbers 24 prophecy was not attributed to Balaam in the Damascus Document due to his negative portrayals.Robker, Jonathan Miles (2013). "The Balaam Narrative in the Pentateuch". In Frevel, Christian; Pola, Thomas; Schart, Aaron (eds.). Torah and the Book of Numbers. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe. Vol. 62. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. p. 256
Deir Alla inscription