The theology of the balaam oracles: a pagan diviner and the word of god

narrative toMesopotamian parallels, Largement concludes by agreeing with

the vaticinia ex eventu hypothesis of Mowinckel.²

Hence, Largement is in general agreement with Daiches con-

cerning the Mesopotamian caste of the account in terms of the mantic acts

of the baru. His view of the integrity of the text is manifestly weak, how-

ever, and this article may not be used by one to interpret the text as it

stands; it is rather grist for the mill of the practitioners of the so-called

Balaam may be seen as a part of ancient Near Eastern divin-

ation, a movement of immense proportion. Orlinsky writes, divination "was

a universal craft, recognized in all countries and cultures of the ancient

world."³ In another place the same writer has summarized:
¹ Ibid.

² Ibid., p. 49. He does admit, "Certaines propositions ex-

primees clans cette etude ont, sans aucun doute, un caractere hypothetique,"

but he regards the comparative data as furnishing a working hypothesis for

further study. Ibid., p. 50. On Mowinckel's view, see above, pp. 68-95.

'Suffering Servant' in Second Isaiah, " SVT, XIV (1967), p. 116, n. 1. A

major study of divination in the ancient Near East was written by Alfred

Guillaume. This is his Prophecy and Divination Among the Hebrews and

per and Brother, Publishers, 1938). However, Guillaume relates Balaam

190

Soothsayers, seers, miracle workers--that is, priests who divined

expertness in transmitting the supernatural--were a definite social

group in the ancient civilizations of the Near East. Ecstasy, frenzy,

the examination of the liver and entrails of animals, the flight of

birds, the interpretation of dreams, astrology, the casting of lots,

divination by water--all these were the property and trademark of

the priestly and related guilds from the Euphrates to the Nile. For

the seers of antiquity were organized in guilds, which had set rules

governing masters and apprentices, as surely as if they were stone-

masons. These craftsmen in the supernatural worked both in groups

and as individuals.¹

The most wide-spread method of divination in Mesopotamia was

that which related to the examination of the livers of animals. Moscati

writes:

139 of his work. His viewpoint regarding Balaam is divergent from that being

presented in the present study. He writes: "If it be the function of a prophet

to rise above the ignorance and the self-seeking of the men of his day and to

proclaim what he believes to be the word of the God who inspires him, Balaam.

deserves high rank in the annals of prophecy. Despite all inducements, and

all the traditions of his office, he held to his determination to speak the word

which God should speak to him. In Balaam the transition from heathen kahin

to the Hebrew prophet has already begun," p. 138. In his most recent work,

Fohrer also relates Balaam to the Arabic kahin. Georg Fohrer, History of

don Press, 1972), p. 224.

To the present writer, such associations are less than satis-

factory, for they are based on the presupposition of the evolution of religion,

and they ignore the exact cultural associations Balaam would have had in

Mesopotamia.

writes on the mobile guilds of soothsayers, comparing Near Eastern models

(including Balaam) with the Homerich demioergoi. Cyrus H. Gordon, Before

the Bible: The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilisations

(London: Collins, 1962), p. 41.

191

of animals. The Babylonians and Assyrians attached a particular

to its study. Clay models have been found with the detailed indi-

cation of all the regions of the liver, and observations as to the

meaning of each sector. If for example a king wanted information

about the future, he called in the diviner-priest who sacrificed an

animal, usually a sheep, and made answer to the king according

to the indications he read in the liver.¹

But prognostication was not limited to extispicy. There were

prognostications drawn from almost everything. Moscati lists some examples

connected with dogs.

If a dog stops in front of a man: an obstacle will check him.

If a dog stops at his side: the god's protection will be upon him

If a dog lies on his bed: the god's wrath will be against him

If a dog lies on his chair: his wife will follow him into disaster. . . .

If a white dog enters a temple: the foundations of the temple will be

stable.

be stable.

If a brown dog enters a temple: prosperity for that temple.

If a yellow dog enters a temple: prosperity for that temple.

If a parti-coloured dog enters a temple: favour of the gods for that

temple.²

Books (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1960), p. 62, Compare also H. W.

F. Saggs, The Greatness That Was Babylon: A Sketch of the Ancient Civili-

zation of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, A Mentor Book (New York: The New

American Library, 1908), pp. 331-32; O. R Gurney, The Hittites (Rev. ed.;

Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1962), pp. 158-59.

² Sabatino Moscati, The Face of the Ancient Orient: A Panor-

ama of Near Eastern Civilizations in Pre-Classical Times, Anchor Books

192

near a city gate, for instance, by their numbers and the direction of their

movements they will indicate the fate of that city."¹ Thus there seems to

been no phenomenon in life that was exempt from divination and the

mantic arts. Divination was spread throughout the ancient Near East like

virulent disease. This was the system of which Balaam was a part. In

fact, Balaam in his day was known to have been the best of them all.

Now it is of the highest importance for the purpose of this

study to understand that this system, in which Balaam was a part, was

loathed by Yahweh. One of the strongest terms for aversion, abhorrence,

or loathsomeness in the Old Testament is hbAfeOT. This is the term that is

used to describe Yahweh's utter detesting of divination and all associated

therewith. A central passage on this issue is Deuteronomy 18:9-15:

(9) When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you

shall not learn to imitate the detestable things [tbfvtk ] of those

nations. (10) There shall not be found among you anyone who makes

his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divin-

ation, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens,

or a sorcerer, (11) or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a

spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. (12) For whoever does these

things is detestable [tbfvt ] to Yahweh; and because of these

detestable things [tbfvth], Yahweh your God will drive them out

cites as his source for these data G. Contenau, La divination chez les

of divination in the ancient Near East is to beg found in Paul van Imschoot,

193

(14) For those nations which you shall dispossess, listen to those

who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, Yahweh your

God has not allowed you to do so. (15) Yahweh your God will raise

up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen,

you shall listen to him. [N. A. S. B.]¹

In this passage one is warned by the three-fold use of the

word hkfvt, how detestable Yahweh regards the mantic arts. There was

to be an absolute ban on the paganisms relative to ancient Near Eastern

divination, Kaufmann states, "one of the peculiar features of biblical religion

is its ban on virtually all of the techniques employed by paganism for ob-

taining oracles. This ban applies not only to inquiries addressed to 'other

gods'; it is an unconditional ban.”²

The reason for the total and absolute ban on all forms of divin-

ation lies in its polytheistic basis. Davies insists, "I have no hesitation in

saying that there has never been, and there is not at the present time any magic,

any divination, which has not involved and grown out of the conviction that

spirits more powerful and more knowing than man, exist and can be

Deuteronomy," Int., VI (1952), 335-36,

is so insistent on this issue, however, that he regards the redaction of the

Balaam story as free from any concept of pagan forces: "indeed YHWH is

Balaam's god too," p. 78. Again, "Balaam has no contact with gods other

than YHWH; he uses magic, builds altars, and goes 'to meet with enchant-

ments,' all without reference to any god, " p. 90. Kaufmann is implying that

Balaaam was in reality a polytheist, but that the text does not allow such to

be expressed. We would agree that the text does not state that Balaam is

a polytheist, but the text does not camouflage his character.

194

A similar sentiment has been expressed by Unger.

The basic presupposition underlying all methods of divination

is that certain superhuman spiritual beings exist, are approachable

by man, possess knowledge which man does not have, and are

willing, upon certain conditions known to diviners, to communicate

this information to man.²

Note as well, for emphasis, the stricture by Cassuto:

An act of magic is actually an attempt to achieve a given ob-

ject outside the laws of natural causation, which would otherwise

be impossible. The magician believes that he has the power--or

others believe so--to compel, by his acts and utterances, the forces

of nature and the demons and even the gods, to do his will. Ob-

viously, there is no room for such views in Israel's religion. The

laws of nature were established by the Creator, and it is impossible

for a human being to change them in any way; a fortiori it is unthink-

able that a man should be able to force God to do anything contrary

to His will. Consequently, the Torah is absolutely opposed to all

forms of magic.³

Divination and idolatry are intimately linked. Divination is

the appanage of idolatry and polytheism. Moreover, divination is linked

to demonology. This latter point is stressed in a recent book by Unger.

Publishing House, Inc., 1969), pp. 17-18.

wism, in its basic principle, is and must ever have been inimical to divin-

ation of every type. . . . all recourse to illegitimate methods, or appeal

to spiritual beings other than God, or search for forbidden, or illicit know-

ledge which could not pass the divine scrutiny, is taboo. This means, in

short, that all divination of every form and description, is excluded from

the religion of Israel." Ibid., p. 123.

³ U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Rook of Exodus, trans. by

Israel Abrahams (Jerusalem: At the Magnes Press, 1967), p. 95.

195

The biblical ban of spiritualism and all phases of occultism

clairvoyants are linked with demonic spirits who lead devotees to

violation of God's first commandment (Exodus 20:3-5). They are

an insult and an "abomination" to God because they defile God's

people. The term "abomination" has the clear connotation of out-

rageously affronting God by contaminating his holy worship with the

adoration of finite, polluted, false deities.¹

Deuteronomy 18:9-15 (quoted above) cites divination and the

associated mantic arts as among the prime reasons for Yahweh's decision

to dispossess the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, for the iniquity of the

Amorite was now complete (cf. Gen. 15:16). The idolatry of the Amorites

becomes the paradigm of evil in the biblical theology of the Old Testament.

It is against that loathsome standard that Ahab is measured in I Kings 21:26.

Israel was to have a far superior method of obtaining information beyond

normal human ken. She was to receive prophets patterned after Moses,

raised up by Yahweh, from among her own people.

Now, when measured against the utter contempt and detestation

that Yahweh has for the mantic arts, and in the light of the fact that it was

because of the idolatrous-demonic, mantic system that the Canaanites were

to be exterminated--the equation of Balaam with divination of the baru type

becomes frightfully significant. Balaam's function, that of a pagan diviner,

is a function loathsome to Yahweh. Yet it was this same Balaam whom God

92.

used to utter the magnificent oracles of Numbers 22-24. It is no wonder that

the personality and character of Balaam have caused such difficulties through

the ages. Who would have believed that Yahweh would use one who rep-

resents something detestable to Him? Yet that is precisely what has happened

in our narrative; this, too, is part of the wonder of our God. He ordains

glory to Himself, even of instruments such as Balaam.¹

Viewed as a mantic prophet of the baru type, the problem of

the origin of Balaam's knowledge of Yahweh diminishes. As a professional

trafficker with the gods, a craftsman in the supernatural, Balaam must have

kept abreast of new developments in theology. So from his point of view,

news of the wonders of Yahweh for His people was important professional

information. Viewed from another perspective, the events of the Exodus

were not done secretly. These events were calculated to demonstrate to

the nations the reality of Yahweh (compare Deut. 2:25 and Exod. 23:27).²

The issue does not need to be labored: Balaam could well

only if one has a low view of the absolute sovereignty of Yahweh in the

universe. If Yahweh is sovereign over the universe, He is sovereign in

an absolute sense. If He is sovereign at all, He must be sovereign over

all. For other Old Testament examples of Yahweh's use of evil instruments

for His own purposes and to His own glory, consult: J. M. Ross, who writes,

"The Old Testament teems with examples. A familiar one is Cyrus, that

warmonger and imperialist, whore the second Isaiah nevertheless calls

God’s shepherd, because he would be instrumental in rebuilding Jerusalem,

and the Anointed of Jehovah, because he was doing the Lord's will in sub-

duing nations and loosing the loins of kings (Is,. 44:28--45:4)." "God's

Use of Evil," CQR, CIXV (October, 1964), 476.

197

various groups in the ancient Near East believed in one supreme deity with

deities, Balaam may have acknowledged the existence of Israel's

God without being in any sense a true believer."¹

A polytheist has no difficulty admitting the existence of the

god of another people.² His difficulty may be found in attempting to relate

to the new deity. An example of this problem may be seen in I Kings 20.

After the first defeat of Syria by Ahab, the counsellors of the king of Syria

advised him that the "gods" of Israel appeared to be mountain deities. Hence,

they advised that he prepare for a battle in the plain (I Kings 20:23). So,

in a similar fashion, Balaam must have known something concerning the

nature of Israel's God and he began his attempt to relate to this new addition

to his pantheon. How very little he really knew of Yahweh was to be demon-

strated when he began to curse the people of that God. He, as the Syrians

after him, had much to learn!

A Recent Development: Prophetism at Mari

Albright's praise of Daiches work (noted above) had an element

Company, 1960), I, 175.

was apparently a polytheist, a worshipper of many gods, and recognized

Jehovah as the God of Israel, " W. T. Purkiser, ed., Exploring the Old

Testament (Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press, 1955), p. 133.

198

valid.”¹ More recent investigation may have removed some of the reason

for reserve in the comparative area. One may refer to the recent work done

on the role of prophetism in the ancient Near East elucidated by new texts

from Mari (Tell Hariri) was one of the major centers of Mesopotamia

during the third and early second millennia B. C. The location of the ancient

site is near the Euphrates River (near Abu Kemal), about fifteen miles north

of the present Syria-Iraq border. Excavations at Mari were begun in 1933

under Andre Parrot, and have continued (with a break during the war years)

to the present day.²

William L. Moran estimates that "of the many contributions

the documents from Mari have made to Old Testament studies, unquestion-

ably one of the most important has been the light they have thrown on the

historical background of the prophetic movement in Israel."³ Of the more

than 20,000 cuneiform tablets found at Mari, there are twenty-five new texts
^l Albright, "Oracles, " p. 231.

² The literature on Mari has become immense. A brief survey

If, to be found by Charles Pfeiffer in his The Biblical World: A Dictionary of

A fuller and more recent treatment may be found in the article by Abraham

Malamat titled "Mari, " BA, XXXIV (January, 1971), 2-22 (where a large and

select bibliography is presented on p. 22). A brief discussion of the site

by the excavator may also be consulted: Andre Parrot, "Mari," Archaeology

and Old Testament Study: Jubilee Volume of the Society for Old Testament

Study, 1917- 67, ed. D. Winton Thomas (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press,

1967), pp. 136-44.

of Prophecy, " Biblica, L (1969), 15.

199

which relate to intuitive divination as against mantic prognostication.

The earliest definite references to intuitive divination are found in

some twenty-five Mari texts, revealing a religious phenomenon

independent of, but alongside, current external mantic techniques.

The diviner-prophets of Mari largely acted as the unsolicited and

spontaneous mouthpieces of deities by means of ecstatic trances,

dreams and the like. Apart from male and female laity imbued with

such esoteric abilities, there were cult diviners, usually attached

to sanctuaries (for example, the Dagan temple at Terqa or the temple

of the goddess Annunitum at Mari) --professionals designated by

such Akkadian terms as muhhum (fem. muhhutum), 'frenzied one'

and apilum (fem. apiltum) 'respondent.’¹

Huffmon comments on the class termed apilu in his 1968

article in The Biblical Archaeologist.

One class of prophet is termed apilu (fem, apiltu), "one who

answers,' The etymology of the word suggests that the "Answerer"

gave oracles in response to questions put to the god, but the texts

do not require that interpretation. There is a good possibility of at

least indirect solicitation in some instances, but on other occasions

it is apparent that the message was not solicited by the person

"'Prophecy' in the Mari Documents" [Hebrew], EI, IV (1956), 74-84 [ Eng.

summary on pp, vi-vii]; "Prophetic Revelations in New Documents from

Mari and the Bible" [Hebrew], EI, VIII (1963), 231-40 [ Eng, summary on

p. 75*]; "Prophetic Revelation in New Documents from Mari and the Bible,

SVT, XV (1966), 207-27. Cf. Andre Parrot, "Autels et installations cul-

Inches A Mari, " SVT, I (1953), 112-19; J. H. Hayes, "Prophetisim at Mari

and Old Testament Parallels, " ATR, XXXIX (1967), 397-409; James F. Ross,

"Prophecy in Hamath, Israel, and Mari, HTR, LXJII (January, 1970), 1-28;

Jean-Georges Heintz, "Oracles prophetiques et 'guerre sainte' selon les

archives royales de Mari et 1'Ancien Testament, " SVT, XVII (1969), 112-38;