Balaam (original) (raw)

Balaam and his donkey (Rembrandt, 1626)

Balaam, son of Beor (Numbers 22:5) was, according to the Bible, a non-Israelite 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 Numbers 22–24, 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.

• How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! / Your dwellings, O Israel! / Like valleys that stretch out, / Like gardens by the riverside, / Like aloes planted by the Lord, / Like cedars beside the waters. / He shall pour water from his buckets, / And his seed shall be in many waters. / His king shall be higher than Agag, / And his kingdom shall be exalted. / God brings him out of Egypt; / He has strength like a wild ox; / He shall consume the nations, his enemies; / He shall break their bones / And pierce them with his arrows.
  • Numbers 24:5-8 NKJV.
• And he took up his oracle and said: / Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, / From the mountains of the east. / ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, / And come, denounce Israel!’ / How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? / And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? / For from the top of the rocks I see him. / And from the hills I behold him; / There! A people dwelling alone, / Not reckoning itself among the nations. / Who can count the dust of Jacob, / Or number one-fourth of Israel? / Let me die the death of the righteous, / And let my end be like his!
  • Numbers 23:7-10 NKJV.
• They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.
  • 2 Peter 2:15-16 NKJV.
• Woe to them! They have followed in the footsteps of Cain; they have abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam for the sake of gain; and they have perished in the rebellion of Korah.
  • Epistle of Jude 11 NCB
• And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”

So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?" And he said, “No.”

Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.”

• • Numbers 22:27-33 NKJV.
• But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
  • Apocalypse of John 2:14 NKJV.
• And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed all the males. They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword. [...] And Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive? 16 Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.
  • Numbers 31:7-8;15-16 NKJV.
• Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand.
  • Joshua 24:9-10 NKJV.

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