Bonus 38 - Deir ‘Alla Balaam Inscription

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The Deir ‘Alla Inscription (also called the Bala’am Son of Be’or Inscription) was discovered during the Deir ‘Alla excavations under the direction of Henk J. Franken in Jordan in 1967, written in ink on a plastered wall. 1.  There were 119 pieces of the plaster recovered and are today displayed in the Amman Museum. The first translation appeared in Dutch in 1973 by Jacob Hoftijzer of the State University of Leiden, the Netherlands. It was then made available in a 1976 article in English.2.   A more recent (1986) translation is provided here by McCarter:

(1)    [VACAT] The sa]ying[s of Bala]am, [son of Be]or, the man who was a seer of the gods. Lo! Gods came to him in the night [and spoke to] him (2) according to these w[ord]s. Then they said to [Bala]am, son of Beor, thus: Let someone make a [ ] hearafter, so that [what] you have hea[rd may be se]en!” (3) And Balaam rose in the morning [ ] right hand [ ] and could not [eat] and wept (4) aloud. Then his people came in to him [and said] to Balaam, son of Beor, “Do you fast? [ ] Do you weep?” And he (5) said to them, “Si[t] do]wn! I shall inform you what the Shad[dayin have done]. Now come, see the deeds of the g[o]ds!. The g[o]ds have gathered (6) and the Shaddayin have taken their places in the assembly and said to Sh[ , thus:] 'Sew the skies shut with your thick cloud! There let there be darkness and no (7) perpetual shining and n[o] radiance! For you will put a sea[l upon the thick] cloud of darkness and you will not remove it forever! For the swift has (8) reproached the eagle, the voice of vultures resounds. The st[ork has ] the young of the NHS-bird and ripped up the chicks of the heron. The swallow has belittled (9) the dove, and the sparrow [ ] and [ ] the staff. Instead of ewes the stick is driven along. Hares have eaten (10) [ ]. Freemen [] have drunk wine, and hyenas have listened to instruction. The whelps of the (11) f[ox] laughs at wise men, and the poor woman has mixed myrhh, and the priestess (12) [ ] to the one who wears a girdle of threads. The esteemed esteems and the esteemer is es[teemed. ] and everyone has seen those things that decree offspring and young. (15) [ ] to the leopard. The piglet has chased the young (16) [of] those who are girded and the eye ....3.

Millard describes it as “the oldest example of a book in a West Semitic language written with the alphabet, and the oldest piece of Aramaic literature.”4. 

Balaam is known from the Bible as a non-Israelite prophet (Num 22–24, 31:8, 16; Deut 23:4, 5; Josh 13:22; 24:9, 10; Neh 13:2; Micah 6:5; 2 Peter 2:15; Jude 11; and Rev 2:14). Bryant Wood describes its importance to biblical studies:

In an unprecedented discovery, an ancient text found at Deir Alla, Jordan, in 1967 tells about the activities of a prophet named Balaam. Could this be the Balaam of the Old Testament? The text makes it clear that it is. Three times in the first four lines he is referred to as “Balaam son of Beor,” exactly as in the Bible. This represents the first Old Testament prophet to be dug up in Bible lands — not his tomb or his skeleton, but a text about him. The text also represents the first prophecy of any scope from the ancient West Semitic world to be found outside the Old Testament, and the first extra-Biblical example of a prophet proclaiming doom to his own people. … It was among the rubble of a building destroyed in an earthquake. It seems to have been one long column with at least 50 lines, displayed on a plastered wall. According to the excavators’ dating, the disaster was most likely the severe earthquake which occurred in the time of King Uzziah (Azariah) and the prophet Amos in about 760 BC (Am 1:1; Zec 14:5). The lower part of the text shows signs of wear, indicating that it had been on the wall for some time prior to the earthquake.5. 

Footnotes

• 1. Jacob Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, G., ed., The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21–24 August 1989. Leiden: Brill, 1991. For the details of the story of its discovery see André Lemaire, “Fragments from the Book of Balaam Found at Deir Alla: Text foretells cosmic disaster.” Biblical Archaeology Review 11, no. 5 (Sep/Oct 1985): 26-39.
• 2. Jacob Hoftijzer. “The Prophet Balaam in a 6th century Aramaic Inscription.” The Biblical Archaeologist 39, No. 1 (March 1976): 11-17; Hoftijzer, Jacob and G. van der Kooij, G., Aramaic Texts from Deir ‘Alla (Leiden: Brill, 1976).
• 3. P. Kyle McCarter Jr.,”The Balaam Texts from Deir 'Alla: The First Combination.” Bulletin of the Schools of Oriental Research 239 (1980): 49–60.
• 4. Millard, Alan R. “Authors, Books and Readers in the Ancient World.” In The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies, edited by J. W. Rogerson and Judith M. Lieu. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2008, 554.
• 5. Bryant G. Wood, “Balaam Son of Beor,” Bible and Spade 8 no.4 (1995): 114.

For Futher Study

• Dijkstra, Meindert, “Is Balaam Also Among the Prophets?” Journal of Biblical Literature 114/1 (1995): 43–64.
• Franken, Hendricus J. “Deir ‘Alla, Tell.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Edited by Eric M. Meyers, 2:137–38. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Franken, Hendricus J. Excavations at Tell Deir ʻAlla: The Late Bronze Age Sanctuary. Louvain, Belgium: Peeters, 1992.
• Hackett, Jo Ann, The Balaam Text from Deir ‘Alla. Harvard Semitic Monographs 31 (Chico, Calf.: Scholars, 1984).
• Hallo, William W., K. Lawson Younger, Harry A. Hoffner, and Robet K. Ritner. Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World. Vol. 2. Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 2001, 27.
• Hoftijzer, Jacob. “The Prophet Balaam in a 6th century Aramaic Inscription.” The Biblical Archaeologist 39, No. 1 (March 1976): 11-17.
• Hoftijzer, Jacob and G. van der Kooij, G., Aramaic Texts from Deir ‘Alla (Leiden: Brill, 1976).
• Hoftijzer, Jacob and G. van der Kooij, G., ed., The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21–24 August 1989. Leiden: Brill, 1991.
• Lemaire, André. “Fragments from the Book of Balaam Found at Deir Alla: Text foretells cosmic disaster.” Biblical Archaeology Review 11, no. 5 (Sep/Oct 1985): 26-39.
• Levine, Baruch A. “The Balaam Inscription from Deir Alla: Historical Aspects.” In Biblical Archaeology Today. Edited by Janet Amitai. Jerusalem, Israel Exploration Society, 1985, 326-339.
• Levine, Baruch A. “The Deir ‘Alla Plaster Inscriptions.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 101 (1981): 195-205.
• McCarter Jr., P. Kyle, “The Balaam Texts from Deir ‘Alla: The First Combination.” Bulletin of the Schools of Oriental Research 239 (1980): 49–60.
• Millard, Alan R. “Authors, Books and Readers in the Ancient World.” In The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies, edited by J. W. Rogerson and Judith M. Lieu. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2008, 554.
• Naveh, J. “The Date of the Deir ‘Alla Inscription in Aramaic Script.” Israel Exploration Journal 17 (1967): 236–38.
• Puech, E. “L'inscription sur pl tre de Tell Deir Alla.” in Biblical Archaeology Today: Proceedings of the International Congress on Biblical Archaeology Jerusalem, April 1984. Edited by J. Amitai. (Jerusalem: IES, 1985), 354–65.
• Seow, C. L. “Deir ‘Alla Plaster Texts.” In Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East. Edited by M. Nissinen. Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Ancient World Series 12. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003, 207-12.
• Shea, William H. “The Inscribed Tablets From Tell Deir ʿAlla.” Andrews University Seminary Studies 27 (1989): 21–37; 97–119.
• Weippert, Manfred, “The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla and the Study of the Old Testament.” pp. 151–84 in The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21–24 August 1989, Leiden: Brill, 1991.
• Wood, Bryant G. “Balaam Son of Beor.” Bible and Spade 8 no.4 (1995): 115-17.
• Wood, Bryant G. “Prophecy of Balaam Found in Jordan.” Bible and Spade 6 no. 4 (1977):121–24.