Balaam in the Bible. The mysterious story of Valaam and his donkey

Alexey asks
Answered by Alexandra Lanz, 09/05/2010

Question: Why did God communicate with Balaam? And where did Balaam have such power that he could curse an entire people? After all, Balaam worshiped Baal, and not the God of the Israelites! Who could give Balaam such power if Baal were a fictional god?

If Yahweh gave Balaam such power, then how could he give it to the priest of Baal?
After all, God told Balaam several times not to curse the Jews, which meansBalaam really had power!

The one true God communicated with Balaam, because Balaam communicated with Him. He was a prophet of the true God who knew God's will. Why then did the Jews kill Balaam, since he blessed them?!

God's peace to your heart, Alexey!

Your question about Balaam touches on a huge number of important Biblical truths. I will try to answer your question as concisely as possible in the hope that you will not be upset by not understanding some points of my answer (after all, it is very difficult to convey all the thoughts in a concise form), but simply then clarify what seems not quite right to you understandable.

And I also really hope that you will once again carefully, and try to evaluate everything calmly and impartially, and not through the prism of your current ideas about the Savior, re-read the story of Balaam in the book of Numbers, chapters 22, 23, 24.

Why did God communicate with Balaam? I believe that God did this because Balaam, to the extent of the light revealed to him, to the extent of his abilities and capabilities, still revered the True God. Even being in a pagan environment, even without full revelation of the Truth, a person still has the opportunity to approach the Truth (). About people like him Peter says: “God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation whoever fears Him and acts in His righteousness is acceptable to Him”() We must take into account the context in which Peter spoke these words. Remember that pagan Cornelius, virtuous, fearing God and even approved of by the Jews? Peter was sent to him to give him an understanding of the real God. Cornelius was at that time a pagan who already knew about the real God, but could not put all this into place in his head. So the story in Valaam is similar to this.

Balaam is a pagan, but his heart was still open to the influence of the Spirit of God, so he received from the True God knowledge and the ability to prophesy correctly. Please note that at the time we are talking about, the knowledge of the True God was almost completely erased from the memory of all people and replaced by paganism. Even the descendants of Abraham were still essentially pagans, 400 years in Egyptian slavery did not pass without a trace for them, they practically forgot the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and worshiped all sorts of calves, toads, etc. The Creator brought them out of Egypt, but there was still a lot of work to be done by melting them down through pagan consciousness.

Thus, Balaam was almost no different from those Israelites. The only difference was that they ALREADY were in the direct presence of God, who had been teaching them for some time what monotheism meant, and Balaam was still in the dark about this issue. In order to once and for all lead Balaam out of this ignorance and add him to the number of His chosen people, the Savior created a situation where Balaam could see with his own eyes that the children of Israel were under the leadership of the One who had been revealing himself to him for a long time, Balaam.

Now let's take a closer look at the events of those days. The pagan princes were afraid that the people who found themselves in their land would destroy them (although no attempts were even made), but there were too many people, and the news was that they were being led by some very strong God, capable of destroying everyone in an instant the firstborn of Egypt and open the sea so that people along its bottom will cross to the other side... - this news spread very quickly. However, the pagan princes still believed that the gods they served were stronger, and it was quite enough to simply call some strong prophet and curse these people in order to suppress and kill them.

Therefore, they find in their midst a person who clearly has a relationship with some Strong God, but neither they nor Balaam himself yet understand the main thing that It is He, this Strong God, Whom Balaam already knows a little, who is the One who leads the Israeli people!

The Savior creates a situation where the fearful pagan princes and vice, who had had fellowship with Him for a long time, could actually encounter Him and, adding 1 and 1, draw the right conclusions. See:

Are we folding? If Balaam had followed the path that the Savior laid out for him, then, having tried to curse the Israelites and failed, he would have said to the princes: “God is with them, Whom we must worship! A God who is infinitely stronger than all our gods combined. Let’s join these people and begin to learn with them how to truly serve the Real God!” However, he could have said this earlier, because GOD warned him at the very beginning: "Do not go with them, do not curse this people, for he is blessed" (Num. 22:12). Balaam did not accept THIS, and the Savior graciously allowed him to be convinced many times that His first word was true!

In other words, the Savior led His people to where other nations needed salvation, i.e. in the knowledge of the True God, where there were even His prophets, albeit from pagans, but they were already ready to see the TRUTH and call others to this truth. Just like in the New Testament story with Cornelius. Cornelius was already ready to accept the truth, and Peter became the “people” of God who brought him this truth.

The power of real prophecies was given to Balaam by the Creator Himself, through this He prepared both Balaam and the pagan peoples around him so that they could join those being saved, to become real children of God. But unfortunately, the heart of the prophet, who received strength from the Creator, was not completely devoted to the Creator. After all, Judas once received the power of God in order to go with the rest of his disciples preaching, healing, casting out demons, prophesying about the approach of the Kingdom of God () So Balaam turned out to be such an Old Testament Judas, who, having coveted gifts and power, refused his salvation and placed entire nations on the edge of the abyss.

Read about how he, who knows the WILL of the One who has been talking to him for a long time, fidgets and twists... just to receive the promised reward from the princes! How he tries to avoid the One Who cannot be avoided! How impudent he becomes and increasingly separates from the Savior with each unsuccessful attempt to pronounce something that guarantees him earthly blessings! How he tries to betray to reproach and death the people who belong to the One who speaks to him! In those days, Balaam ceased to be a prophet of the Most High, however, in those days he lost EVERYTHING! All the riches of the universe were before him, he just had to remain faithful to the Voice that once taught him the truth, but he exchanged them for gifts from pagan princes.

You ask: “God told Balaam several times not to curse the Jews, so Balaam really had power!” But let's think, did Balaam really have some kind of power to curse, independent of the Creator? Is it possible to curse those whom the Almighty Himself blesses? Is it possible to defeat those on whose side the Creator Himself is ()? After all, if Balaam had such power, then why didn’t he curse? Don't you think that in those days he tried to use the power of the Savior, which he received from Him, to achieve his own purposes, and not to fulfill the will of the Almighty? Do you understand? His power came from the Almighty, but he tried to use it under the influence of Satan. Three times he could not do anything, and even more than that, he made such a laudatory speech to those whom he was supposed to curse that you are amazed: he wanted to say one thing, but said something completely different. So the question is: who is stronger - Baal and the personal will of the prophet who went astray or the One who stood in defense of the Israeli people?

Why did Balaam perish, and those pagan princes perished with him? For the same reason that everyone will perish who, SEEING the Truth before their own noses, HEARING how it calls them to the true God, to a saving relationship with the Almighty (), refuse to see and hear (even the miracle of a talking donkey cannot stop them! )... because they so want their own glory, their own greatness, their own blessings and so do not want to change anything in their life, in their value system ()! But the main thing is not even this, but the fact that such people, in order to achieve their carnal, worldly, one-day goals, surrender themselves to the power of the Baals (= the dragon, which has many names) and try to destroy His people ()!

They appeal to those whom they consider stronger than the True God: “Come, curse this people for me, for they are stronger than me: perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land” (Num. 22:6) and do not want understand that the earth and everything that fills it belongs to the Creator ( ; ; ), who will give it only to those whose hearts are pure from evil and completely devoted to the Truth ( ; ; -10).

Sincerely,

Read more on the topic “Interpretation of Scripture”:

Balaam

Balaam and the donkey. Rembrandt, 1626
Floor male
Terrain
  • Pethor[d]
Class prophet
Quotes on Wikiquote
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Initially, the Jews did not intend to attack the Midianites, since they were descendants of Abraham. The conflict arose over Balaam himself. Although he cursed everyone present at the feast, he then gave friendly advice to Balak - to corrupt the Israeli men with the help of women (so that the God of Israel would turn away from the chosen people). The war (Balaam’s prophecy about which did not foretell anything good for the Midianites themselves) began precisely because of this provocation of his. According to Balaam’s plan, the Midianite women invited Jews to the towns of Moab (mainly for some holidays) and dealt with them in various types of criminal cases under Israeli law (idolatry, adultery, etc.). However, this plan did not go as planned. Having killed 24 thousand Israelites, God suddenly ordered a war to begin with Moab, and after its conquest, he additionally ordered the destruction of all captives who had been deflowered (an exceptional case in the history of the war for Canaan).

Video on the topic

Prediction

His prediction is one of the Old Testament prophecies about Christ:

These words of Balaam, looking from the mountain at the Jewish people, are about the “Descendant” of this people (messiah), who is called the “star” and the “rod”. Balaam predicts the defeat of the princes of Moab and the descendants of Seth who invited him, implying here the crushing of the forces of evil taking up arms against the Kingdom of the Messiah.

Mention in the New Testament

Balaam is mentioned three times in the New Testament (including in the Revelation of John the Theologian) as an example of a person inclined to commit crimes against God and people for the reward of unrighteousness (2 Pet., Jude, Rev.).

Rabbinic interpretation

Inscription from Deir Allah

In 1967, in the Deir Allah hill in the eastern Jordan Valley, a Dutch expedition led by Professor Henk J. Franken, during excavations of an ancient temple, discovered plaster with an inscription in Early Aramaic, first published in 1976. The text talks about the soothsayer Balaam. Reconstruction by André Lemaire:

Inscription of Laam, [son of Beho]rov, a man who was a seer of God. Behold, the gods came to him at night, and [spoke to] him according to these words, and they said to [Balaam], the son of Beor, thus: “Behold, the last flame has appeared, the fire of punishment has appeared!” And Balaam got up the next day […several?] days […] and he could not eat, and he wept greatly. And his people came to him and said to Balaam the son of Beor: “Why don’t you eat anything and why are you crying?” And he said to them: “Sit down! I will show you how great the calamity is!” cloud! Let there be darkness and nothing shining [...? ...] will cause horror for you with the [cloudy] darkness, and you will never make noise, but [in their place?] the swift, the bat, the eagle and peli[kan], vultures, ostrich and a[ist] and young falcons, and the owl, the chickens of the heron, the dove, the bird of prey, the dove and the sparrow, [every bird of heaven], and [on the earth] below, in the place where the [shepherd's] staff led the sheep, the hares eat 10. freely [but...]

Christian writers about Valaam

Tertullian and Jerome write that Balaam actually had the gift of prophecy from God, but the passion for profit prevented Balaam from using his gift.

In the chants of the Orthodox Church, the Magi who came to worship

  • Tue. 23:4 Because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam against you, son of Veorov, from Pephorus of Mesopotamia to curse you;

Diviner

  • Joshua 13:22 also Balaam the son of Beor, soothsayer, the children of Israel slew with the sword among them that they slain.

Prophet

  • Numbers 24:2-9 And Balaam looked and saw Israel standing by his tribes, and the Spirit of God was upon him. 3 And he spoke his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor speaks, the man with open eyes speaks, 4 he who hears the words of God speaks, who sees the visions of the Almighty; falls, but his eyes are open: 5 How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! 6 They are spread out like valleys, like gardens by the river, like aloe trees planted by the Lord, like cedars by the waters; 7 Water will flow from his buckets, and his seed will be like great waters; his king will surpass Agag, and his kingdom will be exalted. 8 God brought him out of Egypt, with the speed of a unicorn, he devours the nations hostile to him, crushes their bones and strikes [the enemy] with his arrows. 9 He bows down, he lies like a lion and like a lioness, who will lift him up? He who blesses you is blessed, and he who curses you is cursed!
  • 2 Pet. 2:15-16 Leaving the straight path, they lost their way, following in the footsteps of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 but was convicted of his iniquity: the dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, stopped the madnessprophet.

Balak asks him to curse Israel

  • Number 22:5-7 And he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor to Pephor, which is on the river [Euphrates], in the land of the sons of his people, to call him [and] say, Behold, a people came out of Egypt and covered the face of the earth, and he lives next to me; 6 Therefore come, curse this people for me, for they are stronger than I: perhaps I will then be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land; I know that whomever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed. 7 And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went, with gifts in their hands for sorcery, and came to Balaam, and told him the words of Balak.
  • Joshua 24:9 Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and went to war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you;
  • Nehemiah 13:2 because they did not meet the children of Israel with bread and water and hired Balaam against him to curse him, but our God turned the curse into a blessing.
  • Micah 6:5 My people! remember what Balak king of Moab planned, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what [happened] from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteous actions of the Lord.

Got angry at the donkey when she tried to stop him

  • Numbers 22:22-35 And the wrath of God was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way to hinder him. He rode on his donkey and with them two of his servants. 23 And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, and the donkey turned out of the way and went into the field; and Balaam began to beat the donkey to get her back on the road. 24 And the Angel of the Lord stood on the narrow road, between the vineyards, [where] there was a wall on one side and a wall on the other. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall; and he again began to beat her. 26 The angel of the Lord crossed over again and stood in a narrow place, where there was nowhere to turn, neither to the right nor to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger flared, and he began to beat the donkey with a stick. 28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have beaten me now for the third time?” 29 Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you mocked me; If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you now. 30 And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you rode at first until this day?” did I have the habit of doing this to you? He said no. 31 And the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing on the road with a drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed down and fell on his face. 32 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times?” I came out to hinder [you], because [your] way is not right before Me; 33 And the donkey, when she saw Me, turned away from Me these three times; If she had not turned away from Me, I would have killed you and left her alive. 34 And Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that You were standing against me in the way; therefore, if this is displeasing in Your sight, then I will return. 35 And the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam: Go with these people, only say what I will tell you. And Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
  • 2 Pet. 2:16 But he was convicted of his iniquity: the dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, stopped the madness of the prophet.

Instead of cursing, Balaam blesses Israel

  • First blessing. 7. And he spoke his parable and said: Balak the king of Moab brought me from Mesopotamia, from the eastern mountains: come, curse Jacob for me, come, speak evil against Israel! 8. How will I curse? God doesn't curse him. How can I utter evil? The Lord speaks no evil against him. 9. From the top of the rocks I see it, and from the hills I look at it: behold, the people live separately and are not counted among the nations. 10. Who will number the sand of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel? May my soul die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs! (Book of Numbers 23:7-10)
  • Second blessing. 18. He spoke his parable and said: Arise, Balak, and listen, give ear to me, son of Zippor. 19. God is not a man, that He should lie, and not a son of man, that He should change. Will he say it and not do it? will he speak and not fulfill it? 20. Behold, I began to bless, for He blessed, and I cannot change this. 21. No trouble is seen in Jacob, and no trouble is seen in Israel; The Lord his God is with him, and the royal sound of the trumpet is with him;
    22. God brought them out of Egypt, the speed of a unicorn was with him; 23. There is no magic in Jacob and there is no sorcery in Israel. In due time they will say about Jacob and about Israel: this is what God is doing! 24. Behold, the people rise up like a lioness and rise up like a lion; He will not lie down until he has eaten the spoils and drunk the blood of the slain. (Book of Numbers 23:18-24)
  • Third blessing. 3. And he spoke his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor speaks, the man with open eyes speaks, 4. He who hears the words of God speaks, who sees the visions of the Almighty; falls, but his eyes are open: 5. How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! 6. They are spread out like valleys, like gardens by the river, like aloe trees planted by the Lord, like cedars by the waters; 7. Water will flow from his buckets, and his seed will be like great waters; his king will surpass Agag and his kingdom will be exalted. 8. God brought him out of Egypt, he has the speed of a unicorn, devours the nations hostile to him, crushes their bones and defeats the enemy with his arrows. 9. He bowed down, lying down like a lion and like a lioness, who will raise him up? He who blesses you is blessed, and he who curses you is cursed! (Book of Numbers 24:3-9)
  • Against Edom. 15. And he spoke his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor speaks, a man with open eyes speaks, 16. He who hears the words of God speaks, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees the visions of the Almighty, he falls, but his eyes are open. 17. I see Him, but now I am not yet; I see Him, but not close. A star rises from Jacob, and a rod arises from Israel, and smite the princes of Moab and crush all the sons of Seth. 18. Edom will be under the dominion, Seir will be under the dominion of its enemies, and Israel will show its strength. 19. He who is descended from Jacob will take possession and destroy what is left of the city. (Book of Numbers 24:15-19)
  • Against Amalek. 20. And he saw Amalek, and spoke his parable, and said: Amalek is the first of the nations, but his end is destruction.
    (Book of Numbers 24:20)
  • Against the Kenites.
  • Against Asura. 21. And he saw the Kenites, and uttered his parable, and said, Thy habitation is strong, and thy nest is built on the rock; 22. But Cain will be ruined, and it won’t be long before the Assyrian will take you captive. (Book of Numbers 24:21,22)
  • Number 31:16 Behold, according to the advice of Balaam, they were a reason for the children of Israel to depart from the Lord to please Peor, [for which] and the defeat was in the congregation of the Lord;
  • Open 2:14-15 But I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cause the children of Israel to stumble, so that they would eat things sacrificed to idols and commit fornication. 15 So also among you there are those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I hate.

Greed

  • 2 Pet. 2:15-16 Leaving the straight path, they became lost, following in the footsteps of Balaam, son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 but was convicted of his iniquity: the dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, stopped the madness of the prophet.
  • Jude 1:11 Woe to them, for they walk in the way of Cain, indulge in the seduction of bribes, like Balaam, and in stubbornness they die, like Korah.

Death

  • Numbers 31:8 And with their slain they slew the kings of Midian: Ebiah, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, and they slew Balaam the son of Beor with the sword;
  • Joshua 13:22 And the children of Israel slew also Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer, with the sword, among them that they slain.

[Heb. , ; Greek Βαλαάμ], pagan seer and soothsayer who blessed the people of Israel and predicted the coming of the Messiah. In Numbers 24.3, 15 he is described as “a man with open eyes... who hears the words of God, who sees the visions of the Almighty; falls, but his eyes are open.” The biblical narrative relates the time of V.'s life to the period when the people of Israel, after the exodus from Egypt (XIV century BC) and receiving Divine revelations at Sinai, again began their journey to Canaan (Numbers 10). However, the Edomites do not allow the Jews to pass through their territory (Num. 20. 14-21). In an effort to bypass the lands of Edom, the Israelites go to war with the Amorite king Sihon and the Bashanite king Og and seize their lands (Numbers 21).

Another enemy of the people of God, the Moabite king Balak, having concluded an alliance with the Midianites, sends his servants to V. in order, having secured his magical curse, to deprive Israel of support from above and defeat him by military force (Numbers 22. 6, 11). However, at night V. receives a revelation from God that he should not go with Balak’s messengers, for the people of Israel are blessed (Numbers 22.12). The messengers return without V. Balak again sends them to the soothsayer with promises of a great reward, but V. repeats that he cannot do anything without the command of Yahweh (Numbers 22.18). This time the Lord, who appeared to V. in a dream, allows him to go along with the messengers, but he must do only what God says. Following this, it is said that the Lord is angry with V. and sends his angel to prevent him. Only the donkey on which V. rides sees the angel, but the seer himself does not notice anything until the Lord opens his eyes; The angel of the Lord tells V. that he should not prophesy anything except what God tells him (Numbers 22.22-35). V. repeats these words to Balak himself: he will prophesy only what “God puts in his mouth” (Numbers 22.38). After the solemn sacrifice, V. must finally curse Israel, but instead, miraculously inspired by God, he pronounces 4 blessings. In the 1st blessing, Israel is called a people who live separately from other nations (Numbers 23.9); in the second, Israel is praised as a people like a lion (Numbers 23.24: “Behold, the people rise up like a lioness and rise up like a lion; they will not lie down until they have eaten the prey and drunk the blood of the slain”; cf. Gen. 49.9). This comparison is also found in the 3rd blessing, which begins with words of praise to the land of Israel: “How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! ...He who blesses you is blessed, and he who curses you is cursed!” (Numbers 24.5, 9). In the 4th, which is pronounced contrary to the direct prohibition of Balak, V. prophetically predicts the coming of the powerful ruler of Israel, who will defeat Moab (“I see Him, but now not yet; I see Him, but not close. A star rises from Jacob, and a rod arises from Israel, and smites the princes (Heb., lit. “whiskey”; the Synodal translation follows the Septuagint) of Moab, and crushes all the sons of Seth” (Num. 24.17)). The next chapter (Numbers 25) begins with the message that the Israelites, who had just been predicted that they would defeat the Moabites, “commit fornication” with the Moabite women and even pray to their gods (Numbers 25. 1, 2). This remark was of great importance for the development of further traditions about V. Although in Numbers 24.25 it is stated that B. returned to his city, in Numbers 31.8 it is reported that the Israelites killed B., the son of Beor, together with the Midianites, because, according to Numbers 31.16, it was on his advice the Midianites “were a reason for the children of Israel to depart from the Lord.”

In other places in the OT, V.’s personality is assessed predominantly negatively. The only biblical text that speaks of V. in a positive sense is Micah 6.5, where there is a reminder of V.’s correct response to Balak’s evil plan (cf. Num. 22.38). V. is mentioned here on a par with Moses, Aaron and Miriam (Micah 6.4), named in the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures by the prophets before V. The story of V., therefore, serves as proof that God can use a pagan seer to save Israel.

In other places in the Bible, V. is mentioned clearly negatively: in Deut. 23. 4-6 it is said that V., hired by the Moabites and Ammonites, really cursed Israel, but God “did not want to listen to Balaam and turned ... his curse into a blessing” (v. 5); Almost verbatim words from Deut. 23.5 are given in Joshua 24.9-10. The Book of Joshua (13.22) reports that V. was killed along with King Sihon and the Midian leaders. V.’s guilt, obviously, was that he was a “soothsayer” (,), for, according to Deut. 18.12, “everyone who does this is an abomination to the Lord, and for these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you "(cf. Numbers 23:23). Only the fact that V. was engaged in prediction puts him on a par with his enemies, who are destroyed. The last mention in the OT of V., hired by foreigners, is found in Neh 13.2 (quote from Deut. 23.5-6). Reading this text before the people becomes sufficient grounds for separating “everything that is foreign from Israel” (Nehemiah 13:3) and later purifying itself “from everything that is foreign” (Nehemiah 13:30). V. here becomes the prototype of a dangerous stranger.

A negative assessment of V. is also present in the NT, where he is understood as the Old Testament prototype of false teachers whose words are dangerous for Christ. communities: just as V. seduced the Israelites with his advice to fall away from the Lord, so the Nicolaitan heretics seduce Christians into idolatry (eating the meat of sacrificed animals) and licentiousness (Rev 2:14); false teachers spread their destructive teaching, obsessed, like V., with a thirst for profit (Jude 11; 2 Peter 2. 15-16).

Despite the prevailing negative assessment of V.’s personality, quite early in Judaism his prophecy about the star is perceived first of all, while the personality of the seer himself remains in the shadows. Thus, at Qumran, V. is mentioned among the false prophets (4 Q339), but his prophecy about the rising of a star from Jacob is quoted almost verbatim in the “testimonies” - a small collection of Old Testament places that were considered messianic in the community (4Q Test 11-13). The prediction, obviously, was of great importance at Qumran, since it is quoted back in CD 7, 18-19 and 1QM 11. 6-7, however, without mentioning the name V. The messianic interpretation of Numbers 24. 17 has been spreading since translation of 70 interpreters (LXX), where, unlike Heb. The text does not speak of a “rod from Israel,” but of a man who will crush the “princes” (ἀρχηγοῦς) of Moab. The apocryphal “Testaments of the Patriarchs” also quotes Numbers 24.17 without mentioning V.’s name (Test. Jud. 24.1; cf. Test. Lev. 18.3).

In the NT, with its belief in the fulfillment of the Old Testament messianic prophecies in Jesus Christ, allusions to the fulfillment of the prophecy about the star rising from Jacob can be seen in the story of the Evangelist Matthew about the Magi, whom the star brought to Bethlehem to worship the Baby Jesus (Matt 2.1-12 ). Greek the word “sunrise” (ἀνατολή) can mean both the rising of a celestial body and the germination of plants. In the prophets Zechariah (3.8; 6.12) and Jeremiah (23.5), the word “sprout” (Heb.) means “Branch of David,” i.e. the Messiah. In Greek in the text it is rendered as “ἀνατολή”, so that this word could be perceived as pointing to the Messiah (cf. Lk 1:78). Allusions to the prophecy about the star of the Messiah, obviously, are also in 2 Peter 1.19 and Rev. 22.16.

The messianic nature of V.'s prophecy is recognized by the early Christians. writers. The star mentioned in V.'s prophecy was identified with the Star of Bethlehem. According to St. Justin Martyr and Origen, the wise men who came to Bethlehem, knew the prophecy of V., which was fulfilled on the Nativity of Jesus Christ (Iust. Dial. 106. 4; 1 Apol. 32. 12; Orig. Contra Cels. 1. 60; Euseb . Demonstr. IX 1. 1, 16; Iren. Adv. haer. III 9. 2), and were even descendants of V. . In church hymns, Jesus Christ is sung as the star of Jacob: “” (3rd troparion of the 5th hymn of the canon of the forefeast of the Nativity of Christ); " "(3rd troparion of the 3rd canto, ibid.); " "(2nd Troparion of the 4th Song of the 1st Canon for the Nativity of Christ).

Although in the Jewish tradition, V.'s prophecy about the star from Jacob continues to be considered messianic (Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan (Num. 24.17); Targum of Onkelos (Num. 24.17); cf.: Billerbeck. Bd. 1. S. 76-77) , the prevailing assessment of V.’s personality remained negative here. Philo of Alexandria admits that V. composed “the most excellent of the hymns” (ὑπερβάλλοντας ᾄδων), but considers V. himself godless and damned (ἀσεβὴς και ... ἐπάρατος), because he was on the side of the enemies (Philo De. Abr. 113), and the blessing of Israel was pronounced by the prophetic spirit who descended on the East against his will (Philo. De vita Mois. I 277). Josephus is more restrained in his judgment about V. This may be explained by the fact that the author sought to offer the Romans a positive image of Judaism and its relationship to the pagans (Ios. Flav. Antiq. IV 100-158). The rabbis found many examples of condemnation of V. His name was understood as “ ” (without the people), “ ” (devourer or destroyer of the people) (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 105a; Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan (Numbers 22.5). In the haggadah V. together with his sons is presented as the founder of magic. Together with his sons, he was among the Egyptian priests who tried to interpret the dream of Pharaoh (Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan (Ex. 1. 15; 7. 11; Num. 22. 22)), he gave advice. throw male Hebrew babies into the Nile (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 106a; Sotah 11a). He really wanted to curse the Israelites (Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 20a; Sotah 5.8, 20d) and wanted to convince God to prefer worship from Israel 70 pagan peoples (Midrash Bemidbar Rabbah 20.18).

However, in some early texts V. appears as a prophet of pagan peoples, no less important than Moses (Midrash Sifre Dvarim 357). The tendency of these texts is apologetic; their addressee, apparently, was the pagan (Greco-Roman) environment of Judaism.

The subject of scientific discussions was the question of the homeland of V. Mentioned in Numbers 22. 5, Pephor (Heb.) “on the river” was identified with Pitru near the city of Carchemish on the East Euphrates, known from Assyrian. epigraphic sources. In ancient translations there is no unity as to whether this word is understood as a geographical indication or as a description of the status of V. (Latin ariolus - prophet (Vulgate); cf. Heb. - to interpret). The localization of V.'s homeland on the E. Euphrates is consistent with the indication of Numbers 23.7 and Deut. 23.4 that he came from Aram (Mesopotamia); this also does not allow us to identify V. with the Edomite king “White, the son of Beor” (Genesis 36.32; Gressmann et al.). The additional indication of Numbers 22.5 that Balak sends to V., to the land (of the sons of his people), was transmitted in the Vulgate, Peshitta and Samaritan tradition as “to the land of Ammon,” i.e., to the Ammonites (this localization has supporters - see Gray. Numbers. 325). In any case, all proposed localizations of V.’s homeland relate to the area north of the river. Arnon, i.e. V. comes to Balak from the north. This is confirmed in Aram. inscriptions from Deir-Alla (c. 700 BC), where the prophet V. is mentioned. Perhaps here we are talking about fragments of several. stories about V. (Aramaic Texts. P. 268 ff.), which, however, are not directly related to the Old Testament tradition and indicate that approx. 700 BC in the north. Transjordan there was a tradition of narration about V., independent from the biblical one.

The theme of the incarnation of God, which had special significance in early Christ. art, determined the spread of V.’s images already in the earliest period. In the paintings of the catacombs and on the reliefs of sarcophagi there are 2 types of images: V. pointing to the star (catacombs of Peter and Marcellinus, Rome, 2nd half of the 3rd-1st half of the 4th century), and the appearance of the angel V. (catacombs on Via Latina, Rome, 4th century). Next to V. is depicted a donkey, in front of him is an angel in the form of a young man in white robes with a staff, and a star in the heavens. In the late Byzantine period. period, V.’s image is included in the composition “Praise of the Mother of God.” Thus, he is represented among the prophets surrounding the Mother of God in the icon “Praise of the Mother of God with an Akathist” (XV century, Russian Museum).

Lit.: Gressmann H. Mose u. seine Zeit. Gott., 1913; Karpp H. Bileam // RAC. 1954. Bd. 2. S. 362-373; Vermes G. The Story of Balaam // idem. Scripture and Tradition in Judaism. Leiden, 1961. P. 127-177; Aramaic Texts from Deir Allah / Ed. J. Hoftijzer et al. Leiden, 1976. (DMOA; 19); Braverman J. Balaam in Rabbinic and Christian Traditions: Festschr. f. J. Finkel. N.Y., 1974. P. 41-50; Schmidt L. Bileam // TRE. Bd. 6. S. 635-639; Baskin J. R. Origen on Balaam: The dilemma of the unworthy prophet // VChr. 1983. Vol. 37. P. 22-35; The Balaam text from Deir - Alla re-evaluated: Proc. of the intern. symp. held at Leiden, 21-24 Aug. 1989. Leiden, 1991; Feldman L. H. Josephus" portrait of Balaam // Studia Philonica Annual. 1993. Vol. 5. P. 48-83; Greene J. T. The Balaam Figure and Type before, during, and after the Period of the Pseudepigrapha // JSP. 1991. Vol. 8. P. 67-110; Moore M. The Balaam traditions: their character and development. Atlanta, 1990; Wie einer vom Verführer wurde: Tradition und Rezeption der Bileamgestalt. 1999. Vol. 80. No. 4. P. 506-524.

BALAAM soothsayer Valaam is one of the most mysterious persons of Sacred History. He lived, according to the testimony of Prince. Number 22 -24 And 31 . 22 . Vtrz. 13 , 4-5), and then by bringing them closer to the Moabites through a seductive, dissolute cult in honor of the Moabite idol of Baal-Peor (Num. 25 , 1-8 and 31 , 16).

It happened like this. When the Jews, by God's command (Gen. 17 , 8; Number 14 , 23: Vtrz. 1 , 3-4; 2 , 7-9, 14 , 18-19; Number 20 , 14-21) approached the eastern border of the Promised Land, they had to, in order to secure themselves from the flank and rear, enter into a victorious struggle with the Amorite and Bashan kings (Num. 21 ) and thus stay for several months in the neighborhood of the Moabites and Midianites on the so-called “Plains of Moab,” near the Jordan, opposite Jericho (Num. 22 , 1). Meanwhile, the Moabites and Midianites, seeing that the Jews at that time were busy conquering the kingdoms of the Amorites and Bashan, were imbued with painful fear for their fate and, after an unsuccessful attempt to drive some of the Jews from their borders with an armed hand, they decided to resort, according to the custom of that time, to destructive the power of magical curses, i.e., magical harmful slander.

At that time, magic, which in its rare actual facts was nothing more than strong hypnotic phenomena, was practiced on a large scale, especially in Chaldea among its primitive inhabitants, the Akkadians. According to currently available information, Chaldean magic, which at first represented a number of mysterious facts of volitional healing or harmful effects remaining in the memory of the people, then turned into the art of spells (blessings) and curses and found expression in special written works interpreting the healing phenomena of magic under the name of white , a harmful and destructive under the name of black magic. Over time, confidence in the reality and benefits of magical actions from Chaldea penetrated to the tribes surrounding Mesopotamia, including the Moabites and Midianites. Therefore, as soon as it became clear to these tribes that they could not drive the Jews away from their borders with an armed hand, they found it necessary to turn to the magical protection of the magician Balaam, famous at that time, the son of Beor from Pephor of Aramaic (Mesopotamian).

There is no direct historical information regarding the life and social activities of this magician before his invitation by the Moabites. The famous Jewish writer Philo, in his biography of Moses the Seer of God, on the basis of legend, only reports that Balaam was famous for his art of soothsaying, that is, predicting events of interest to them from the life of nature and human destiny to people turning to him. But since the Moabites turned to Balaam with a request to curse the Jews (Num. 22 , 6), and not to unravel the future, then it follows that Balaam was known, perhaps, much more for his wondrous ability to produce the changes he desired in the life activity of the objects of his magical influence through the utterance of certain words (magical suggestion of the necessary thoughts and feelings).

By origin, Balaam was undoubtedly a Semitic and belonged, in all likelihood, to the Syrian branch, i.e., distant descendants of Shem’s youngest son Aram (Gen. 10 , 22; 1 Par. 1 , 17). One can form an idea about the essence of his activities and natural talents partly from the fact that the Moabites invited him to curse the Jews, partly from his name in the book. Iis. Nav. 13 , 22 words mosem. Word mosem according to the latest research, there is Chaldean (Akkadian) modified in the mouths of the Jews kakama or what the hell and means not only a sorcerer in the sense of a seer who has the gift of predicting the future, but also in the sense of a sorcerer-caster. From this we can conclude that the magician Valaam was not only a soothsayer-seer, but also a spellcaster, and thus represented in his person a rare combination of magical ability in full and perfect form, namely, he possessed the powerful will of a spellcaster and the sensitive insight of a seer. A hint of these properties of the Mesopotamian magician invited by the Moabites, apparently, lies in his name (nickname) Balaam, which represents a change in the Assyrian (Aramaic) Bilamat “lord of word and deed,” i.e., strong in word and deed.

With such gifts, Balaam, like all outstanding Chaldean magicians, used his wondrous, powerful willpower in the form of a curse to (imaginary or real) avert the destructive influence of evil spirits, sorcerers and eliminate other accidents to which people are exposed. In the form of a spell or “divine” protection, he could use the magical power (hypnotic) of his will to protect people from all evil, misfortunes and diseases, to call upon them the divine will that protects them from evil and works for the good. At the same time, with the ability to grasp with the prophetic heart the intimate connection of the world process in a dream (Num. 22 , 8, 19) and in significant phenomena (by the special color of clouds, the flash of lightning, the movements of animals) of the surrounding world (Num. 24 , 1), Balaam probably engaged in fortune-telling regarding the intentions and destinies of individuals and entire nations and, on the basis of such fortune-telling, gave more or less useful advice for getting out of difficult circumstances. The reality of Balaam's magical spells and predictions in the past, before his invitation by the Moabites, is also indicated by the unconditional statement of St. writer of the faith of the Moabites due to the curses of this magician (Num. 22 , 6) and recognition of St. writer for the good deed of delivering the Jews from his curses (Vtrz. 23 , 5 and Joshua Nav. 24 , 10).

According to religious convictions, Balaam, like Righteous Job and his friends, was a worshiper of the true God, Whom he recognized as the Creator of his ability to see the future, pronounce saving spells and destructive curses (Num. 22 , 8-12, 18-19; 23 , 3, 26 and others).

This is the general idea of ​​the magician Valaam. More private features of his profession and character are revealed from his actions described in 22 -25 Ch. Book Number It was when the Moabite king Balak invited him through his ambassadors to come to Moab and from there, by pronouncing a curse on the Jews, weaken them (Num. 22 , 5-7), Balaam, although in a dream he was forbidden to go with the Moabites to curse the Jews, however, he did not do this completely sincerely and made it clear to the Moabites that he sympathized with them in their predicament. When Balak sent another embassy with a strong request to come and curse the Jews, and the ambassadors told him about the difficult situation of their tribe near the then militant Jews and conveyed an invitation from their king with the promise of honors and gold, Balaam again persistently asked God for permission to go and curse the Jews ( Number 22 , 18, 19) and finally received permission to go with the Moabite ambassadors, however, to do only what the Lord would reveal to him upon entering the land of Moab (Num. 22 , 20). However, on the way, Balaam did not stop thinking and persistently asking for God’s permission to weaken the Jews with his crushing curse, and with this unrighteous desire he irritated the Lord, and The wrath of God was kindled because he went with the persistent intention of cursing the Jews, and the Angel of the Lord stood on the road to prevent him(Num. 22 , 22), and forced the donkey on which Balaam was riding to turn off with his roads and go in the direction opposite to the caravan of Moabite ambassadors accompanying Balaam. Absorbed in anxious thoughts about whether God would allow the Jews to be cursed, Balaam at first did not notice this Divine messenger, but the strange evasions of the donkey on which he was riding, which seemed significant to his magical insight, and, finally, her unexpected conversation with him, revealed to him his spiritual eye and he I saw the Angel of the Lord standing on the road with a drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed down and fell on his face.(Num. 22 , 23-31). And the Angel of the Lord said to him: Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I came out to hinder you, because your way is not right before Me. And the donkey, when she saw Me, turned away from Me three times already; If she had not turned away from Me, I would have killed you and left her alive. And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord: I have sinned, for I did not know that You were standing opposite me on the road; So, if this is unpleasant in your eyes, then I will return. And the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam: go with these people, just say what I tell you.(Num. 22 , 32-35). This ended the vision. Balaam again joined the caravan of Moabite ambassadors and soon reached the land of Moab.

But now Balaam’s mood was very different from what he had been in before the vision. Then he was still comforted from time to time by the hope of the Lord’s permission, he strongly wanted to satisfy the request of the Moabites and with pleasure imagined generous gifts and a glorious return to his fatherland. Now he felt like an involuntary executor of the plans of the Almighty, alien to him, and with annoyance he imagined the discontent of the Moabites at the undesirable consequences of his invitation. Then he was burning with expectation and doubt, now he felt heavy fatigue. Before the vision, he felt his power and believed in it, now it seemed to him as if the wondrous magical power had left him...

Therefore, when the Moabite king, hearing about Balaam’s approach to the borders of his land, came out to meet him, Balaam sadly said to him: So I have come to you, but can I say anything on my own: Whatever God puts in my mouth, that is what I will say...(Num. 22 , 38).

However, Balak, with his pagan outlook, did not understand the meaning of these words. He understood by blessing and curse those spells and curses for which the Chaldean magicians, including Balaam, were famous. These spells and curses, according to the belief of that time, produced, regardless of the agreement or disagreement of the magician’s actions with the law of God and in general the will of the Divine, the desired influence not only on the course of the elements of nature, but also on the activities of ethereal powerful spirits. Blessing of St. patriarchs and prophets, in the sense of some (religious) action, means asking the Almighty for all good that is blessed, and as a result of such an action, it means every gift sent down to a person from God or given by a rich person to the poor (cf. 2 Cor. 9 , 5). On the contrary, a magic spell, in Akkadian (Chaldean) ep, i.e., “God’s protection,” represents only a condition (a tool) for attracting a higher power to eliminate a temporary disaster that has occurred or is approaching. The blessing was a living one, coming from the mouth of one holy man (prophet) as a saying or prediction of God’s mercy, or a promise of a reward for piety; a spell (magical blessing), on the contrary, was an unchangeable song (sacred word) composed once and for all, containing an insistent demand for higher help in the event of any misfortune, regardless of whether danger and suffering exist at the moment; the spell, on the contrary, was conditioned by temporary, partial manifestations of evil, in the form of attacks by enemies, lack of rain, pestilence, and disease. The blessing was pronounced in the name of the One True God, according to His inspiration: the spell, on the contrary, was pronounced in the name of the false gods in the hope of the power of the spell formula, for the selfish reasons of the magicians, in fulfillment of the superstitious desire declared on the part of someone to be saved from some misfortune by a spell. Likewise, the curse of St. patriarchs and prophets is different from magic. The holy men of the Church of God cursed anyone, be it an individual, a family, or an entire nation, by the power of God for the crime of the Divine law; among the pagans, curses or harmful slander were uttered only by evil sorcerers, sorcerers out of malice and envy or bad for the sake of profit: the holy patriarchs and prophets betrayed the fulfillment of their curse to the will of the Lord Almighty, and evil sorcerers were whisperers (Isa. 8 , 19; Deut. 18 , 10) expected the necessary consequences from the power of their magical spell, capable of supposedly forcing divine or evil spirits to perform one or another desired action.

Due to this view of the conditions of magical spells and curses, Balak, despite Balaam’s statement that he could not on his own utter curses on the Jews hated by the Moabites, tried three times to elevate the Mesopotamian magician to the tops of the mountains, three times he built altars there in honor of the God of Balaam ( Jehovah), however, frightened by the formidable warning of the angel, Balaam every time pronounced, instead of curses on the Jews, parables inspired to him from above - blessings. Calling the blessings of the magician Balaam parables, St. the writer, apparently, wanted to show by this that each of these blessings, representing in its essence and form a small prophetic speech, contains an indication of the general constant and unchanging laws, conditions and phases of the existence of the chosen people. Moreover, in the first four parables of his, Balaam speaks exclusively about the chosen people in their relations with related tribes, and the last three contain a prophecy about the fate of foreign peoples who had only temporary, most important contact with the people of Israel.

For the first time Balak raised Balaam to Bamot Baal, or the heights of Baal (Num. 22 , 41), from where the Israeli camp could be seen in the distance. According to the ancients, this was necessary, firstly, so that the subject of the spell was accessible to the senses of the caster (just as the hypnotized person should be visible to the hypnotist), and, secondly, in order to be closer to the influx of Divine power , which, according to ancient belief, most readily revealed itself at heights. In this case, the Almighty was pleased to justify this belief. For when Balaam, after offering a sacrifice of seven bulls and rams (according to Aramaic custom, see Job. 42 , 8), retreated some distance from Balak and his retinue in order to guess the will of the Divine in natural phenomena significant from the point of view of Chaldean mantika (fortune telling) (the color of clouds, the flight of birds, the movement of snakes, etc.) and listen with his sensitive heart to the beckons of the Divine world government, God met with him, showed him His presence and he put a word in his mouth and said to him, “Return to Balak and speak thus.”(Num. 23 , 2-5). And Balaam, instead of a curse, pronounced a blessing on the chosen people, testifying to their eternal largeness and prosperous existence (Num. 23 , 7-10). Valak was very dissatisfied with this unwanted magical speech of Balaam ( 23 , 11), but explained it partly, perhaps, by the unsuitability of this height to the Deity, partly by its remoteness from the camp of the Jews, as a result of which the latter was visible only in weak and unclear outlines and could not, in the opinion of the Moabite king, make a corresponding impression on the magician. Therefore, he invited Balaam to go with him to another mountain closer to the Jewish camp - namely, to the top of Pisgah, called the “field of the guards.” Balaam fulfilled the desire of the head of the Moabites, ascended with him to the top of Pisgah, from where the camp of the Jews was clearly visible ( 23 , 12-14) but even here, despite new sacrifices and prayers, the Lord again inspired Balaam to pronounce a new blessing on the Israelites. In this second parable, Balaam refutes Balak’s hopes for their weakening and defeat by indicating that there is no injustice or disease among the Jews, the Lord protects them with His presence and the manifestation of His protection in the exploits of their leaders, reveals to them in a timely manner His definitions through the mouth of the prophets and makes them just as terrible for enemies, as the lion and lioness are for cattle and beasts (Num. 23 , 21-24).

But the second transformation of the curse into a blessing unpleasant for the Moabite king did not extinguish the latter’s hope for the opportunity to hear the curse on the Jews he hated from the lips of the Mesopotamian magician. " And Balak said to Balaam, go, I’ll take you to another place, maybe it will please God and curse him from there for me(Israel). And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, facing the desert"(Num. 23 , 27-28), more precisely to that uninhabited part of the Jordan Valley, where the Jewish people, ready to move to Canaan, were camped (cf. Num. 23 , 48; Deut. 3 , 29).

However, Valam entered this height more at the insistence of Balak than of his own free will. He already felt tired and had no firm intention of begging the Divine for permission to curse the mysterious people who came out of Egypt. The events that happened during his preparations for Moab and on the way to the borders of this land quickly flashed through his spirit. With involuntary fear, he remembered how the magician’s typically violent, dark and menacing mood turned into the quiet, warming light of prophetic insight. It became more and more clear to him that Jehovah invariably favors the tents of Israel and breathes upon them an abundance of goodness and mercy. Therefore, when the prescribed sacrifices were offered on the top of Peor (Num. 23 , 29-30), Balaam mentally saw that the Lord only wanted to bless Israel, and did not go, as before, to the heights of Baal and Pisgah, for sorcery, i.e., looking out for the commands of the Divine in significant things (according to the teachings of Chaldean astrology) phenomena of the surrounding nature, but turned his face to the wilderness (plain) and saw Israel standing by his tribes, and the Spirit of God was on him ( 24 , 2). This time the Mesopotamian magician was brought by the power of God into a state of highest spiritual (psychophysical) excitement, an uncontrollable urge to express the prophetic contemplation revealed to him in the form of a prophetic parable-song. According to its external manifestations, this excitement in Balaam, as a soothsayer in general, was apparently accompanied by convulsions, trembling of the limbs, rolling of the eyes, trembling of the lips, swaying of the chest, and from the inside it was felt like a heavy drowsiness, combined with horror, in which self-awareness then extinguishes , then flares up, and the power of self-control and the ability to control the course of ideas are weakened, and in general there comes a darkening of the consciousness of the external world due to the total aspiration of the mind towards the subject of contemplation. After the cessation of this excitement, caused by the fascination with the object of contemplation, a second, complete darkening of consciousness occurs, from which the contemplator seems to awaken, that is, comes to a normal state (a similar state was partly experienced by the holy prophets (see Gen. 2 , 21; 15 , 12.; Job. 4 , 13-14.; Ev. Onion. 9 , 32, 33.; Acts 10 , 10; 22 , 17; 2 Cor. 12 , 2, 3.).

Due to this nature (partly noticed by the holy prophets) of the inspired state, Balaam should have, under the influx of real Divine inspiration that descended on him, felt hysterical depression, so to speak, lose his temper and fall to the ground in a heavy half-sleep (cf. Num. 22 , 31 and 24 , 4). And in this state of numbness and self-forgetfulness, in the spirit of Balaam, a joyful vision of the ideal state of Israel is revealed - its holiness, spiritual power and peace (complete contentment). Perhaps, vaguely aware of what his tongue was saying, he involuntarily draws his extraordinary mood, full of contrast between the state of spirit and body. According to his testimony, he, the famous son of Veor, was struck by an unprecedented, hitherto unknown inspiration. He speaks heavenly things with his eyes closed. He has renounced the sensation of sensuality; he sees, hears and touches nothing earthly. In his face he who listens (now) to the verbs of the Mighty One prophesies, he who contemplates the visions of the Almighty prophesies; The divine spirit plunged him (Balaam) into a state of mysterious half-sleep, strong ecstasy; he completely plunged into the depths of his “inner man”; in an aggravated drowsiness he fell and lies on the ground, but his spiritual eyes are open, as if a thorn had fallen from them (Num. 24 , 3-4). In this state, the present is contemplated without a shell, and what is to come in the future appears before the spirit as if in tangible features and images. With amazing clarity the seer now sees the beauty of dwellings, that is, the civil-theocratic order of Israeli life (cf. Ezek. 31 , 3-9), and future political strengthening among the peoples by the power of the coming Leader. Balaam sees how the Almighty victoriously freed the Jews from the painful subordination of hitherto invincible Egypt and creates for the Jews a magnificent and terrible decoration - the indestructible strength of the unicorn; Like a formidable lion, Israel destroys nations hostile to it, crushes their bones, takes away all means of obesity as spoils of war, and as a sign of complete victory and the onset of indestructible peace, crushes its weapons, its arrows (Num. 24 , 5-9).

And Balak’s anger flared against Balaam and he clasped his hands and said to Balaam: I called you to curse my enemies, and you are blessing them for the third time. And so run to your place; I wanted to honor you, but the Lord deprives you of honor(Num. 24 , 10-11). But this does not stop the inspired contemplation that came over Balaam, and he, moved by this flame, announces to Balak as a warning council the future destinies of the Moabite people, which are about to occur at the end of days (Num. 24 , 12-13). According to Balaam’s testimony, an endless scene of the world life of peoples unfolds before his spiritual gaze. On the horizon of this scene, from the side of the tents of Israel, as if in a foggy distance, the Mesopotamian seer sees the appearance of the Coming One, this ideal David (Ezek. 34 , 23-24) in the form of a star, as an emblem of Divine dignity (the Chaldeans represented the Divine in the form of a radiant star, they depicted the concept of God with the sign of a star). At some approach, this star appears to the spiritual eye of the seer as the likeness of a man, clothed in the radiant radiance of a heavenly body. And this Type of David (cf. 2 Sam. 21 , 17), this mysterious God in human form (cf. Rev. 22 , 16) crushes the princes of Moab and fetters the destructive impulses of the violent sons of the evil murderer (the god of war, according to the Egyptians) Set (2 Sam. 8 ). Among them is the tribe of the Edomites. In the person of the Amalekites, they were the first to harm Israel (Exod. 17 and Deuteronomy 25 , 17-19). And this Edom, hostile to Israel and its ideal Lord, will be, as punishment for this enmity, forever in the possession of other nations, and Israel, in the person of the coming star-shaped Leader, will show an indestructible, far-influencing force. At a certain hour, this radiant Conqueror, the descendant of Jacob, will rise from his seemingly dormant existence and will consign to destruction everything that had thought to escape from His righteous vengeance by fleeing from the ruined city, that is, from the ruins of an ungodly citizenship (Num. 24 , 14-19).

But this did not end the prophetic prediction of the Mesopotamian magician to the king of Moab. Balaam had not yet returned to his usual spiritual mood. Like the slowly fading radiance of the rays of the setting sun, the divine inspiration that illuminated the soul of Balaam did not fade away suddenly, but gradually. Like flashes of evening lightning, it flared up three more times in the soul of Balaam, and in its rays he saw the fate of the peoples known to him, in contact with Israel, Moab and Edom - the Amalekites, Kenites, Assyrians and Scythians. The Amalekites, who set a bad example of hatred of Israel, will perish, and the ungrateful Kenites, who enjoy the patronage of the Jews, will not go unpunished. The formidable Assyrians, according to their custom of relocating captives to their country, will take this treacherous tribe beyond the Euphrates, and it will disappear there in the multi-tribal waves of the mighty Assyrian state. But the same is the fate of the formidable Assyria and Valaam’s native Aram. Here, in the darkness of the northern mists to the northwest of Kittim (the kingdom of the Hittites), the boundless hordes of the peoples of Gog - the Scythians - flash before the illuminated eye of Valaam from above. The Almighty will lead them out from the ends of the north (see Ezek. 38 And 39 ), and they will defeat and humble the proud fortress of the arrogant Assyrians and similar destroyers and robbers of the descendants of Eber (Iaktan), inhabiting Balaam’s native Aram and Arabia. But along with them at the end of days world history, Gog and all his hordes will perish (Num. 24 , 20-24).

This is the content of the parables of Valaam, which represent, as it were, an outline of the historical destinies of peoples, representing types of one or another attitude towards God’s chosen people. From the point of view of the significant facts indicated in them, it would be necessary to give Balaam a respectable place among the heralds of truth, to place him among the lamps of the earth. However, his subsequent behavior makes us think of him differently than we would like. In Numbers 31 , 16 the writer of the Pentateuch reports that “ on the advice of Balaam, the Midianite women were a reason for the Israelites to depart from the Lord to please Peor, for which defeat was in the company of the Lord", a in Num. 25 this criminal and ill-fated story is depicted in detail. How could this happen, how did Balaam become the author of the wickedness and death of some of the sons of Israel?

According to the above, Balaam did not pronounce his destructive curse on the Jews only for the sake of divine warning and as a result of a violent change in his mood and will by the power of the Spirit of God from evil to blessing. When this extraordinary influence of the Spirit of God on the spirit of Balaam ceased, and he returned to his usual state, anger at the Israelites again awakened in him, as the culprits of the painful fear of the Moabites and Midianites, and sympathy for the unpleasant situation of these tribes. Therefore, when on the way back to Aram, Balaam accidentally stopped with the Midianites, and the latter again began to ask for his help in getting out of their difficult situation, Balaam decided to advise them to get closer to the Jews and establish close friendly relations with them by inviting them to joyful festivities in honor of Baal -Producer, combined with gluttony, dancing and legalized unbridled debauchery. This proposal of Balaam with magical power united the Moabites and Midianites in an irresistible attraction to lure the Jews to the festivals and set a net for them in the charming voluptuousness of their women. On the other hand, for the Jews themselves, in the person of their worst members, the word of Valaam turned out to be like a magical love spell. A few days after the invitation ceremonies were completed, the chosen people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab and bowed down to their gods and joined himself to Baal Peor (Num. 25 , 1-3). The consequence of such a riotous life was a pestilence, the death of 24,000 Israelites, the cessation of friendly relations with the seducers, the beating at the command of Moses of the Midianites, as the main culprits of this sad event, and the killing of Balaam himself among them (Num. 31 , 2-8).

Thus, from the previous it is clear that Balaam, on the one hand, was a deeply religious person, and on the other, a selfish, stubborn disobedient of Divine commands. What is he and who should he be likened to?

For a moral assessment from the point of view of revelation, one must take into account not the entire path of earthly life, not deeds in general, but only the deeds of the last days of earthly life, the states immediately preceding a person’s detachment from the bodily shell (Ezek. 18 , 24; 2 Kings 11 And 24 Ch. Ev. Brand 12 , 36). Meanwhile, Balaam in the last days of his life acted lawlessly (2 Sam. 11 , 16), deliberately declared his disobedience to the Almighty in relation to the Israelites, taught the Midianites and Moabites to lead them into temptation by criminally serving Peor (Num. 31 , 16, 25 ; Apoc. 2 , 14.15), and disobedience is the same sin as witchcraft, and resistance is the same as idolatry (1 Sam. 15 , 23). In inviting Balaam to the Moabites to curse the Jews, the Lord placed a stumbling block before Balaam, and he retreated from his righteousness, committed iniquity and died unrepentantly (Num. 31 , 8; Ezek. 18 , 24.26), for the Lord admonished him with words and visions, the wonderful speech of a donkey and the terrible appearance of an Angel with a drawn sword (Num. 24 , 4. 16; 22 , 22-35). The Lord struck Balaam with the sword of the Jews (Num. 31 , 8; Iis. Nav. 13 , 22), because this magician, richly gifted by God, forgot what he received and heard, did not keep it and did not repent (Rev. 3 , 3). Therefore, despite his prophecy about the coming of Christ the Redeemer (Num. 24 , 17), Balaam was not worthy not only of the title of prophet, but also of the man of God (cf. 1 Sam. 2 , 27-86; 1 Kings 13 , 1-10), and is called the word common to all pagan magicians soothsayer(Josh. 13 , 22).

But behind all this, the question may arise: how did he serve as an organ of revelation about the coming of the Deliverer, and are there personalities similar to him among the chosen people?

The only possible answer to these questions is this. Just as not every soil, but only good soil, is suitable for the growth, that is, the discovery of the word of God, so not every believer is suitable for the full perception and vivid expression of the gifts and revelation of the Holy Spirit, but only a believer with a special quality of his temperament. Studying the states of the prophets at the moment of their perception of revelation and the very form of expression of the Divine speeches and visions they received, gives reason to think that St. prophets according to God's special vision (1 Cor. 12 , 10.29) differed from other holy teachers, also consumed by zeal for God, by their fiery temperament and natural poetic gift (sensitivity and eloquence), which gave them the opportunity to quite clearly perceive the verbs and appearances of the Lord and communicate what they perceived to their believing brothers not in the form of a calm , albeit a deeply edifying narrative or reasoning, but in the form of a captivating, bright, picturesque, measured speech. And these two properties inherent in the holy prophets, i.e., fiery character and poetic talent, are, it seems, the common condition (between Balaam and the prophets) thanks to which Balaam, who possesses these properties, despite his criminal greed and stubborn disobedience to God, he turned out to be able to perceive and express Divine revelation regarding the destinies of the Holy Church. Therefore, only special circumstances of life were needed, such as those depicted in Numbers. 22 -24 ch., and Balaam, with his orthodoxy and poetic feeling, “hears the words of God, feels in himself the knowledge of the Most High, sees visions of the Almighty” (Num. 24 , 4. 16).

And for all that, Balaam does not represent something completely exceptional in the history of the Church. On the contrary, by his extraordinary talents, by the special blessing of the Lord and by the special vicissitudes of fate, he is very similar to two strange Jewish men: Judge Sampson and King Saul. Both of these men were appointed by the Lord to glorify the Lord through the salvation of His people (Judg. 13 , 5. 25: 1 Sam. 9 , 16. 17); both were distinguished by special physical superiority (Judg. 16 , 3; 1 Sam. 10 , 24); both were capable of prophetic reception of the Spirit of power (Judg. 13 , 25; 14 , 6. 19.; 15 , 14; 1 Sam. 10 , 10; 11 . 6; 19 , 23); both, as if completely forgetting the commands of the Lord, without any internal struggle, were carried away by self-will, in accordance with the distinctive properties of their nature: Sampson - by immoderate sexual desire (Judg. 14 , 1-3; 16 , 4-17), Saul - stubborn willfulness and arrogance (1 Sam. 11 , 5. 7. 13; 13 , 8. 9. 11; 14 , 44; 15 , 9.24), and therefore both ended the final half of their lives with a sad, painful consciousness of obvious Divine rejection (Judg. 16 , 17; 1 Sam. 16 , 14; 18 , 10, etc.) and an extremely tragic end - suicide (Judg. 16 , 28-30; 1 Sam. 31 , 4-6). And how strange (in itself criminal), exclusive passion of Sampson for the daughters (women) of the Philistines (Judg. 14 , 1-3 and 15 , 1. 4) according to the dispensation of the Lord, served as a reason for Sampson to punish the Philistines for their dominance over the Jews (v. 4), and in this case, Balaam’s greed and ambition served as a reason for him to use his wondrous magical gift of divination on the blessing of the spiritual descendants of Israel and, through his prophetic talent (but not calling), glorified the name of the Almighty in the face of the nations.

A detailed explanation of the history of Valaam can be found in Bishop Seraphim's master's thesis, “The Soothsayer Balaam,” ed. in 1899 in St. Petersburg and published in translation into English in London in 1900 under the title: The Soothsayer Balaam by the very Rev, Seraphim, Bishop of Ostrojsk. London. 1900.

* Seraphim, Bishop of Ostrog, Master of Theology

Text source: Orthodox theological encyclopedia. Volume 3, column. 73. Petrograd edition. Supplement to the spiritual magazine "Wanderer" for 1902. Modern spelling.