Balaam- Hebrew/Jewish FigureMortal"The Seer"

The Summons

Balaam son of Beor lived in Pethor, a city near the Euphrates, and was renowned as a prophet whose words carried power: "I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." This reputation reached Balak, king of Moab, who watched in terror as Israel camped on his borders after defeating the Amorite kings Sihon and Og.

Balak sent elders of Moab and Midian to Balaam with fees for divination, requesting that he come and curse Israel. Balaam consulted God. God commanded: "You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed." Balaam refused the first embassy. Balak sent more honored princes with promises of greater reward. God permitted Balaam to go but warned: "Only the word that I tell you, that shall you do." Yet God was angry with him for going.

The Angel and the Donkey

As Balaam rode toward Moab, the angel of the Lord stood in the road with drawn sword, invisible to Balaam but visible to his donkey. Three times the donkey saw the angel and turned aside. Three times Balaam struck her. Then the Lord opened the donkey's mouth: "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?"

Then God opened Balaam's eyes. He saw the angel with sword drawn and fell on his face. The angel declared: "Your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside these three times. If she had not turned aside, surely I would have killed you and let her live." The prophet hired for his spiritual insight needed a beast to show him what stood in his path.

The Oracles of Blessing

Balak brought Balaam to a height overlooking Israel's camp. Seven altars were built, seven bulls and rams sacrificed. Then Balaam spoke: "How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?" Instead of curse, blessing poured forth.

Balak tried again, moving to a different location. More altars, more sacrifices. The second oracle was even more emphatic: "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind."

A third attempt brought the Spirit of God upon Balaam, and he spoke with visionary power: "How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river." He prophesied a future king: "A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel."

Balak's fury reached its peak: "I summoned you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee to your own place."

The Shadow Side

The story might have ended there. But Numbers 31:16 reveals a darker conclusion. In the aftermath of the Baal-Peor incident, where Israelite men engaged in idolatry with Moabite women, Moses declared: "Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor."

Balaam, unable to curse Israel directly, had advised Moab on an alternative strategy: seduce Israel into idolatry, and God himself would punish them. This counsel succeeded where curses failed. Twenty-four thousand Israelites died in the plague that followed. Balaam was killed when Israel conquered the Midianites: "Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword."