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The Study on the Religious Roles of Balaam described in the Book of Numbers 22-24

Dong-Young Yoon 1

1서울장신대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Balaam is described as a religious specialist in the Book of Numbers 22-24. “A religious specialist,” as Turner defines and elaborates, “is one who devotes himself to a particular branch of religion or, viewed organizationally, of a religious system.”Balaam primarily acts as a diviner who transmits divine oracles to Balak, King of Moab. The Bible does not directly state the process of divination which is performed by Balaam; the indirect evidences indicate that the divinatory process consisted of binary questioning such as “Yes” or “No.” The divinatory function of Balaam can be compared to that of a Mesopotamian “bārû” or Israelite “priest”; however, the Bible does not label him as either. Besides diviner, Balaam is also portrayed as a prophet who receives divine messages and relays them to a third party. Yet, just as in the case of him not being called a diviner, Balaam is not labeled as the religious title “prophet.” However, the technical terms used to describe Balaam gives evidence that he acted as a prophet. He is portrayed as a seer who can watch visions overwhelmed by the spirit of God. In this regard, the biblical Balaam’s role can be compared to that of the Balaam described in the inscriptions found at Deir Alla. Like the Balaam in Numbers, the Balaam in Deir Alla saw nocturnal visions and delivered them to the king in the morning. In conclusion, we can simply say that Balaam intermediated divine oracles by playing the role of diviner, prophet, or both. Like other diviners in the ancient Near East, he used various skills to ask, receive, and interpret divine will and to recite it to the clients.

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