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24 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course Lesson 42

seems to have been one long column with at least the naharaim (two rivers) of Deuteronomy 23:4
50 lines, displayed on a plastered wall. Accord- would be the Jabbok and Jordan rivers. With
ing to the excavators’ dating, the disaster was regard to the references to Aram, Shea suggests
most likely the severe earthquake which occurr- that the original place name was Adam, with the
ed in the time of King Uzziah (Azariah) and the “d" being miscopied as “r,” since the two letters
prophet Amos in about 760 B.C. (Amos 1:1; are nearly identical in ancient Hebrew. Adam
Zechariah 14:5). The lower part of the text was a town about 8 miles southwest of Deir Alla,
shows signs of wear, indicating that it had been on the east bank of the Jordan river, where the
on the wall for some time prior to the earthquake. Jabbok meets the Jordan.
Written in Aramaic, the text begins with Balaam evidently was well known as a
the title “Warnings from the Book of Balaam the “cursing prophet,” for Balak specifically sum-
son of Beor. He was a seer of the gods." It is in moned Balaam for the purpose of cursing Israel
red ink, as are other portions of the text where (Numbers 22:6). Much of the Deir Alla text was
emphasis is desired. The reference to the “Book given to curses uttered by the prophet. The term
of Balaam” indicates that the text was part of a “shadday-gods” is used on two occasions in the
pre-existing document and therefore the original text. Shadday is one of the names for YEHO-
date of the material is much earlier than the VAH God in the Old Testament, used mainly in
plaster text itself. Balaam goes on to relate a the book of Job. Since the account of Job is set in
vision concerning impending judgment from the Transjordan (Job 1:1-3), it seems that shadday
gods, and enters into a dispute with his listeners. was a name used for deity in this region. Balaam
There are a number of similarities be- used the name twice in his blessing speeches
tween the text and the account of Balaam in the where it is translated “Almighty” (Numbers
book of Numbers. To begin with, the events de- 24:4, 16).
scribed in Numbers 22-24 took place in the The Deir Alla text presents a problem to
same general area where the text was found. At those who dismiss the Biblical account of the
the time of the Numbers 22-24 incident, the Exodus, Wilderness Wanderings and Conquest
Israelites were camped on the Plains of Moab, as legendary, as is the trend in scholarship today.
across the Jordan river from Jericho. Deir Alla is It is clear that Balaam was a real person who
located about 25 miles north of this area, where operated on the east side of the Jordan river. He
the Jabbok river flows into the Jordan valley. was known as a cursing prophet and continued to
Balaam was from Pethor, near “the river" (Num- be revered hundreds of years after his death. His
bers 22:5), in “Aram” (Numbers 23:7; Deuter- persona as revealed in the Deir Alla text PRE-
onomy 23:4). The reference to Aram has led CISELY matches that of the Balaam of Num-
most scholars to conclude that Balaam was from bers 22-24. If Balaam was a real person, what
northern Syria, in the vicinity of the Euphrates about Balak, Moses, Joshua and all of the other
river. That does not fit well with the Biblical persons named in the Biblical narrative? They
account, however, since Balaam’s home seems must have been real as well, and the events
to have been close to where the Israelites were described authentic.
camped (Numbers 22:1-22; 31::7-8).
In view of Balaam being revered at Deir Bulla of Ishmael, Assassin of Gedaliah
Alla, one would expect that Deir Alla was his
home. This is exactly what William Shea has A bulla, or clay seal impression, recently
proposed, based on his reading of the name purchased in Jerusalem, and now in a private
Pethor in an inscribed clay tablet found at Deir collection in Jerusalem, has the inscription,
Alla (1989:108-11). In this case, the river of “Belonging to Ishmael, the King’s Son.” The
Numbers 22:5 would be the Jabbok river and evidence points to this being the Ishmael of the

Archaeology and the Bible