Numbers 22 Footnotes

PLUS

22:1–24:25 The Book of Balaam contains the story of the renowned pagan divination expert. Hired to pronounce a curse upon Israel, he pronounced a blessing instead upon God’s chosen. As one seeking Israel’s demise at the bidding of the Moabite king Balak, Balaam was the very antithesis of Moses; yet God used him in a way similar to Moses to pronounce the future blessing of the Lord upon his people. Moses is curiously absent from the story because of his sin of rebellion and irreverence at Meribah (20:2-13). God demonstrated that he can use whatever means necessary to bring blessing to his people. Even the person most adamantly opposed to his will can become an instrument of his purpose.

Balaam is from the Mesopotamian town of Pethor of the land of Ammaw. Pethor is identified with Pitru, known from Assyrian records to be about twelve miles south of Carchemish. Scholars identify the land of Ammaw with a region mentioned in a fifteenth-century BC inscription from Alalakh in northern Syria.

22:1 During the events narrated here, Israel is on the eastern side of the Jordan River opposite the soon-to-be-conquered city of Jericho in a region generically referred to as the plains of Moab. Israel is a passive participant in the story of three chapters, in which the leading characters are Balak and Balaam. They are situated in the hills of Transjordan, at a distance overlooking the Israelite encampment from the southeast.

22:2-14 King Balak of Moab fears his overthrow by the mighty Israelites, who have just defeated his oppressors the Amorites. He sends a diplomatic envoy to Balaam ben Beor of Pethor in upper Mesopotamia to secure his prophetic services. While some critics would place this story hundreds of years later than its setting in the Pentateuch, textual evidence of prophetic activity in such cities as Mari and Babylon during the Late Bronze Age coincides with what is predicated of Balaam in these chapters. Placing or removing of curses, pronouncing blessings, and providing counsel to individuals were services they customarily offered. Their techniques included divination, incantation, animal sacrifice, and reading of natural omens. These prophets were known as “seers of the gods” and were said to be skilled at manipulating the deities to bring about the results desired by the person who hired them. Balak’s men offer the standard fees to procure Balaam’s services, but during the night the God of Israel counsels Balaam not to accept their offer.

22:22-40 The story takes an ironic turn as God is displeased with Balaam on the journey to Moab. Critics question why God would be angry with Balaam for listening to him. This story type fits into the category of faith-challenges similar to Jacob’s wrestling with the angel at Peniel on his return to the promised land (Gn 32:24-32) or Moses’s encounter with the Lord upon his return to Egypt (Ex 4:24-26). These accounts are reminders that a holy God demands complete obedience of his servants; on the journey to Moab Balaam’s female donkey was more sensitive to God’s moving than was this renowned prophet.

Critics call the communication by the donkey fanciful story telling. But, as with Balaam himself, God will use whatever means necessary to accomplish his purpose. The donkey could see what the seer could not, and she brayed in such a manner as to convey to Balaam a distinct message of anger and resentment. She communicated in such a way that only her owner could understand the meaning of her intonation. Similarly, in Jn 12:28-30, what some thought was thunder or the voice of an angel was God speaking. When Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, only Saul could understand his words, while those around him “stood speechless” (i.e., unable to make out the meaning of what they heard, Ac 9:7).

22:41–23:10 Elaborate ritual precedes the first oracle. The preference for performing seven rituals was widespread in the ancient Near East. The sacrificing of seven bulls and seven rams on seven altars parallels a well-known Babylonian text in which Ea, Shamash, and Marduk are worshiped with the ritual libation of the blood of seven sheep poured out on seven altars which are accompanied by seven incense censers containing cypress wood. Hoping for a favorable location for carrying out his hired duty, Balaam and Balak enacted the ritual on Bamoth-Baal, a worship center dedicated to the patron deity of several Northwest Semitic peoples, such as those of Ugarit and Canaan.

Balaam becomes God’s prophetic instrument in a manner similar to Moses and reveals to Balak the message of blessing upon Israel. God’s hand is upon Israel, and she cannot be cursed. To be numbered among her multitude is enviable even to Balaam (23:10).