In 1967 pieces of a plaster
inscription was discovered in some building
ruins (generally thought to be an
ancient
sanctuary)[1]
located at Tell Deir 'Alla the Transjordan
valley near the
In
the first combination, and in the first line,
Balaam is described as a “seer of the gods.”
Interestingly, Yahweh is never mentioned,
although El, El Shaddayin (plural), and a
goddess (whose name is mostly missing from the
fragmentary text) are found in the text. The
superscription also mentions that Balaam sees an
oracle like a vision. The rest of the text
contains material not found in the biblical
record (although some of the language is
similar).[5]
The oracle itself appears to relate to divine
punishment and the loss of fertility.[6]
A detailed examination of the text is not
possible here but such treatments are available.[7]
McCarter's Combination
(“The Balaam Texts from Deir 'Alla,” 51-2)
(1) [VACAT] The sa]ying[s of
Bala]am, [son of Be]or, the man who was a seer
of the gods. Lo! Gods came to him in the night
[and spoke to] him (2) according to these
w[ord]s. Then they said to [Bala]am, son of Beor,
thus: “Let someone make a [ ]
hereafter, so that [what] you have hea[rd may be
se]en!” (3) And Balaam rose in the morning [
] right hand [ ]and
could not [eat] and wept (4) aloud. Then his
people came in to him [and said] to Balaam, son
of Beor, “Do you fast? [ ] Do
you weep?” And he (5) said to them, “Si[t do]wn!
I shall inform you what the Shad[daying have
done]. Now come, see the deeds of the g[o]ds!
The g[o]ds have gathered (6) and the Shaddayin
have taken their places in the assembly and said
to Sh[ , thus:]
‘Sew
shut the skies with your thick cloud! There let
there be darkness and no (7) perpetual shining
and n[o] radiance! For you will put a sea[l upon
the thick] cloud of darkness and you will not
remove it forever! For the swift has (8)
reproached the eagle, and the voice of vultures
resounds. The st[ork has ]
the young of the NHS-bird and ripped up the
chicks of the heron. The swallow has belittled
(9) the dove, and the sparrow [
] and [ ] the staff.
Instead of ewes the stick is driven along. Hares
have eaten (10) [ ]. Freemen[
] have drunk wine, and hyenas have
listened to instruction. The whelps of the (11)
f[ox ] laughs at wise men,
and the poor woman has mixed myrrh, and the
priestess (12) [ ] to the one
who wears a girdle of threads. The esteemed
esteems and the esteemer is es[teemed.
] and everyone has seen those things that
decree offspring and young. (15) [
] to the leopard. The piglet has chased
the young (16) [of ] those
who are girded, and the eye. . .’”
[1] There is some discussion regarding the original placement of the plaster. Some suggest that it was on a wall and other suggest that it may have been part of a stele. See Gerrit van der Kooij, “Book and Script at Deir 'Alla,” in The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-Evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden 21-24 August 1989, ed. J. Hoftijzer and G. Van Der Kooij (New York: E. J. Brill, 1991), 239-41.
[2] See P.
Kyle McCarter, Jr., “The Balaam Texts
from Deir 'Alla: The First Combination,”
Bulletin of the Schools of
Oriental Research 237 (1980): 49-60,
J. Naveh, “The Date of the Deir 'Alla
Inscription in Aramaic Script,”
[3] M. W.
Chavalas, “Balaam,” in
Dictionary of the Old Testament
Pentateuch, ed. T. Desmond Alexander
and David W. Baker (
[4] Dennis Pardee, “The Linguistic Classification of the Deir 'Alla Text,” in The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-Evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden 21-24 August 1989, ed. J. Hoftijzer and G. Van Der Kooij (New York: E. J. Brill, 1991), 100-05.
[5] Hackett, “Balaam,” 572
[6] Chavalas, “Balaam,” 76.
[7] See Jo Ann Hackett, The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla, Harvard Semitic Monographs 31, ed. Frank Moore Cross (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1980), 21-89, McCarter, “The Balaam Texts from Deir 'Alla: The First Combination,” 51-9.
