Balaam's Error
Jeff Epler jepler@inetnebr.com
Mon, 8 Dec 1997 18:11:40 -0600 (00881647900, 19971208181140.36722@inetnebr.com)
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On Mon, Dec 08, 1997 at 01:06:34PM -0500, Curt van den Heuvel wrote:
> With this in mind, what is the possibility that we are dealing here with an
> extrabiblical source for the story of Balaam?
I enclose a pair of messages which touch on this subject. As far as I
can tell, this is all that was said about possible extrabiblical
traditions about Balaam.
Jeff
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>From jepler Sat Aug 23 22:15:04 1997
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Date: Sat, 23 Aug 1997 20:51:51 -0500 (CDT)
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To: Errancy <errancy@infidels.org>
From: jftill@midwest.net (Farrell Till)
Subject: Re: Balaam
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>> JULIE: Also, these statements are distanced by being in different
>> books. So, even if you have the "whole" bible in front of you, you
>> couldn't understand the story in numbers until you got to the back
>> of the book! And this is a PERFECT book, Matt?
>
>MICHAEL
>Hey, I wonder if one of the non-canonical books fills in the
>missing piece of the puzzle? That wouldn't really help us to much; but
>it would be fascinating if it did because it would tell us where "Peter"
>got his idea of Balaam from, namely an "uninspired" book!
>
RALPH NIELSEN
Sorry, Balaam is not mentioned in the deuterocanonical/apocryphal books.
TILL
He is mentioned in Deuteronomy 23:4-5, where it is claimed that Balaam was
hired to curse Israel but Yahweh "turned the curse into a blessing." Only a
rank fundamentalist, however, would believe that the same person who wrote
Numbers also wrote Deuteronomy, so we have the same problem here that we
have with the three NT references that assailed Balaam. How did the writer
of Deuteronomy get from Numbers 22-24 that Yahweh had turned Balaam's curse
into a blessing, when the text has Balaam stating several times to Balak
that he would not say anything except what Yahweh told him to say?
Farrell Till
Skepticism, Inc.
jftill@midwest.net
>From jepler Fri Aug 22 21:49:36 1997
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To: errancy@infidels.org
From: jftill@midwest.net (Farrell Till)
Subject: Josephus and Balaam
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TILL
I'm surprised that Bell or some other inerrantist hasn't cited Josephus as
evidence that Balaam's motives were wrong. The section is too long to
quote, but Josephus told the story of Balaam in *Antiquities of the Jews,*
Book 4, Chapter 6. In section 3 of the chapter, verse 107, Josephus said,
"Now the Midianites, at the earnest request and fervent entreaties of Balak,
sent other ambassadors to Balaam, who, desiring to gratify the men, inquired
again of God; but he was displeased at this trial, and bid him by no means
to contradict the ambassadors. Now Balaam did not imagine that God gave
this injunction in order to deceive him, so he went along with the
ambassadors." Josephus went on from here to tell the incident with the
talking ass, after which he had Balaam offering to return home (just as the
biblical text does) but Yahweh instructing him to "go on his intended
journey" but to "declare nothing but what he [God] should suggest to his
mind" (just as the Bible does).
There probably was some tradition that had presented Balaam in a bad light,
and that may be the explanation for "Peter's" claim that Balaam had loved
the hire of wrong-doing. However, Josephus doesn't offer much consolation
to Bell for two reasons: (1) If he accords Josephus's version of this story
some kind of special consideration, what will be his excuse for not
accepting Josephus in matters that are clearly at variance with the biblical
text? (2) If we are going to accept Josephus's indication that Balaam's
motives were wrong, are we going to accept his claim that "Balaam did not
imagine that God gave this injunction in order to DECEIVE him"? That would
present God's character in a very unfavorable light.
The fact is that the Bible text itself gives Bell no justification for
arguing that Balaam was motivated by selfishness. If he cites 2 Peter as
his "evidence," he must explain how Peter was able to know this or else he
is begging the question of inspiration.
Farrell Till
Skepticism, Inc.
jftill@midwest.net
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