Scared by their sheer multitude, King Balak hires a prophet and seer called Balaam son of Beor to curse the Hebrews. Frightened by the fall of the lands of the Amorites and Bashan, the kings of Moab and Midian, implacable foes for many generations, united for the purpose of a common attack upon the children of Israel.Balak, the newly elected king of Moab, had been put in charge of the plans. Researchers identify it with today’s Jordanian city of Kerak, southeast of the Dead Sea. (Both the stele and the squeeze are now housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris.). The name gels with the biblical description of Balak’s kingdom, described as lying south of the Arnon river, which in fact flows toward the Dead Sea some 30 kilometers north of Kerak, that is, the Horonaim of the Mesha stele, Finkelstein says. [10], Balak is mentioned in chapter 10 of 2 Meqabyan, a book considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.[11]. When Israelites were piled east of the Jordan River, Balak, in fear of being conquered (as the Amorites were as well), requested for Balaam, a prophet, to curse the Israelites in order to drive them out of the land. Together with the Tel Dan inscription, this interpretation would make the Mesha stele one of only two known extra-biblical mentions of the biblical David, used as an alternative name for the Kingdom of Judah. 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The Moabite king repeatedly implores Balaam to work his mojo against this enemy people, but, inspired by God, the prophet can only bless the children of Israel, and prophesize the defeat of Moab, much to Balak’s frustration. As such, it seems to have been an appellative for a warrior king. Lemaire, the French epigraphist, disagrees with that conclusion and stands by his own interpretation. The King of Moab, and son of Zipper who hired Balaam to curse Israel when, toward the end of their wilderness journeyings they were in Balak’s territory (Num. Bibliography Information Balak, the greatest wizard of his age, managed it. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora. Authorities Let Them, Is a Cure for COVID-19 Already Sold at a Pharmacy Near You, This Disorder Is Also Known as Split Personality. of Balaam was not an Israelite.He was hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the Israelites. He tells the angel he will return home: "I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me on the road". Send me email alerts for new articles by Ariel David, Want to enjoy 'Zen' reading - with no ads and just the article? As such, it seems to have been an appellative for a warrior king. “It is the work of later authors, but there were memories of these historical personalities in that area, and these memories found their way into the story of the crossing of Transjordan into the land of Israel,” Finkelstein explains. $3.99 a month for 40+ study tools. Sign in https://bible.wikia.org/wiki/Balak?oldid=28844. The origin of the nation of Moab goes back to the same year as the birth of Isaac, son of Abraham. This reading inevitably fueled the loaded debate on the historicity and extent of the united monarchy ruled by David and his immediate successors. One of the most authoritative, and controversial, interpretations of line 31 was published in the 1990s by the French epigraphist André Lemaire, who claimed those faded letters should be read as BT [D]WD. A detail of the bottom of the Mesha stele. Balak is also the name of the weekly parshah or portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading, constituting Numbers 22:2–25:9 which tells the story of Balak. If the new interpretation of the Mesha stele is correct, it would mean that Balak could join the ranks of characters from the Bible who have made it into the history books. (19:7–9). By adding a comment, I agree to this site’s Terms of use. Scared by their sheer multitude, King Balak hires a prophet and seer called Balaam son of Beor to curse the Hebrews. Bible Dictionaries - Easton's Bible Dictionary - Balak, Bible Dictionaries - Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary - Balak, Bible Dictionaries - Smith's Bible Dictionary - Balak, Encyclopedias - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Balak, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. If Judah had been occupying territory so far into Transjordan as early as the 9th century B.C.E., surely, one could argue that there was some truth to the biblical accounts of a fabulous and vast kingdom in the time of David and Solomon a century earlier. Then He Realized His Mistake, This Is Israel's Greatest Enemy, According to a Former General and Shin Bet Chief, This Founding Father Was a Serial Cheater Who Hated Israel. All rights reserved. • Like Balaam, Balak also lives to the end of the Bible. In the Bible, Balak appears much earlier in the story of the Hebrews, ostensibly centuries before the time of Mesha. According to the Zohar, this was not the name of Balak's father but rather referred to a magical metal bird which Balak made use of. (2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, 3 and Moab was terrified because there were so many people.
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