Bilam
?–1273 BCE · Biblical · Moab (the Moabite plateau)
Bilam son of Beor was a renowned non-Israelite seer. Balak, king of Moab, sent for him from Pethor 'by the River' to curse Israel, who were camped on the steppes of Moab (Numbers 22:1-6). Deuteronomy places Pethor in Aram-naharaim, upper Mesopotamia (Deuteronomy 23:5). God first forbade him to go, then allowed it. On the way his donkey, seeing an angel with a drawn sword, refused to go on and spoke to him (Numbers 22:12-35). From three high places he tried to curse Israel, but each time blessings came out instead. Among them are 'There is a people that dwells apart' (Numbers 23:9) and 'How fair are your tents, O Jacob' (Numbers 24:5). Numbers 31:16 later blames the people's sin at Peor on his advice, and he was killed in the war against Midian (Numbers 31:8). The Mishnah calls him 'Bilam the wicked' (Avot 5:19). Modern scholars note an inscription found in 1967 at Deir Alla in Jordan, dated to about the 9th-8th century BCE. It names 'Balaam son of Beor', a seer of the gods, as a figure known outside the Bible.
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Moab (the Moabite plateau)Transjordan, east of the Dead Sea (Jordan)
What they did here
Balak met him at Ir-Moab on the Arnon border and took him to Bamoth-baal to view Israel's camp (Numbers 22:36-41). These sites are not identified, so the pin is regional. His home, Pethor 'by the River' (Numbers 22:5; Deuteronomy 23:5), is NOT pinned because its location is uncertain.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Bilam’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.