What Is This Babbler Trying to Say?: Essays on Biblical Interpretation

By Michael S. Moore

This book is a collection of revised-and-updated essays about the Hebrew Bible written by a North American scholar over a period of several decades. Subdivided into three parts--Torah, Prophecy/Apocalyptic, and Wisdom--these seventeen essays attempt to model for younger scholars and students what the discipline of biblical interpretation can look like, attending carefully to literary, historical, canonical, and comparative intertextual methods of investigation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Release date: Mar 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781498208536

Michael S. Moore

Michael S. Moore (PhD, Drew University) teaches courses about the Hebrew Bible to students at Arizona State University, Fuller Theological Seminary, and the Arizona Research Center for the Ancient Near East (www.arcane-az.com), where he serves as Director. He is the author of The Balaam Traditions: Their Character and Development (Scholars Press, 1990) and WealthWatch: A Study of Socioeconomic Conflict in the Bible (Pickwick, 2011).

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What Is This Babbler Trying To Say?

Essays on Biblical Interpretation

Michael S. Moore

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What Is This Babbler Trying To Say?

Essays on Biblical Interpretation

Copyright ©

2016

Michael S. Moore. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

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paperback isbn 13: 978-1-4982-0852-9

hardcover isbn 13: 978-1-4982-0854-3

eisbn 13: 978-1-4982-0853-6

Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Moore, Michael S.

What is this babbler trying to say? : essays on biblical interpretation / Michael S. Moore

xx +

348

p. ;

23

cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.

isbn: 978-1-4982-0854-3 (

paperback

) | isbn: 978-1-4982-0854-3 (

hardback

)

1.

Bible. Old Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc.

I. Title.

BS1171.3 M66 2016

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 02/13/2017

Table of Contents

Title Page

Preface

Abbreviations

Part One: Torah

Chapter 1: Another Look at Balaam

Chapter 2: Balaam the Prophet?

Chapter 3: Role Preemption in the Israelite Priesthood

Part Two: Prophecy and Apocalyptic

Chapter 4: Yahweh’s Day

Chapter 5: Jeremiah’s Progressive Paradox

Chapter 6: Jeremiah’s Identity Crisis

Chapter 7: The Laments in Jeremiah and 1QH: Mapping the Metaphorical Trajectories

Chapter 8: Jehu’s Coronation and Purge of Israel

Chapter 9: Big Dreams and Broken Promises: Solomon’s Treaty with Hiram

Chapter 10: Searching In Sheba: The Desire for Biblical Literacy

Chapter 11: Resurrection and Immortality: Two Motifs Navigating Confluent Theological Streams in Daniel 12:1–4

Part Three: Wisdom and Other Writings

Chapter 12: Ruth the Moabite and the Blessing of Foreigners

Chapter 13: To King or Not To King: A Canonical-Historical Approach to Ruth

Chapter 14: Job’s Texts of Terror

Chapter 15: Human Suffering in Lamentations

Chapter 16: Bathsheba’s Silence

Chapter 17: Wise Women or Wisdom Woman? A Biblical Study of Gender Roles

Bibliography

This book is dedicated to the memory of my dear mother, Marjorie Lee Moore.

Preface

One of the most creative biblical interpreters of all time once had a group of philosophers, after listening to him speak his mind publicly, disdainfully ask, What is this babbler trying to say? (Acts 17:18). The word translated babbler in most English translations of this ancient Greek text is σπερμολόγος, a composite word composed of two shorter ones: σπέρμα (seed) + λέγω (to pick up). On the page it looks pretty straightforward. These folks call Saul of Tarsus a seed-picker. Spinning the word positively, we might suggest that they see him as someone gifted at, say, picking up the seeds of great ideas and planting them in the fertile minds of eager students. Perhaps they think of him as a college lecturer or high school teacher. Like a lot of ancient terms, however, what this one actually means is something far different from what it looks like on the page.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus tells the story of a man named Postumius, a patrician sent by Rome to serve as ambassador to the bustling port city of Tarantus in southeastern Italy (where the sole meets the heel). After delivering a get-acquainted speech to his new neighbors, he soon finds himself accosted by a man named Philonides, whom Dionysius calls a σπερμολόγος, describing him in no uncertain terms as a drunk and a scoundrel. So, when the Stoics and Epicureans use the same word in Athens, doubtless this is more the type of babbler they have in mind.

Engagement with these two encounters yields two reflections. First, it seems prudent here at the outset of this book to advise readers picking up these seeds (i.e., the essays published here) to gauge their expectations accordingly. Though revised and updated, these studies span several decades, countries, and institutions of higher learning. Some of the ideas here have certainly changed over the years, but many have basically remained the same. Second, like Postumius and Paul, perhaps it also seems appropriate to caution this biblical interpreter (me) to gauge my expectations. If the folks in ancient Athens respond to Paul’s words by calling him a babbler, what sort of reaction should I realistically expect from colleagues and critics and students and friends and anyone else picking up these words?

Let’s see, shall we?

Abbreviations

ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. 6 vols. Edited by David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992

ABL Assyrian and Babylonian Letters (Harper)

ad loc. to the place (Lat)

AfO Archiv für Orientforschung

AGH Die akkadische Gebetsserie Handerhebung (Ebeling)

Aḥiq Aḥiqar (CAP 210)

AHw Akkadisches Handwörterbuch. 3 vols. Edited by Wolfram von Soden. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1961

A.J. Antiquities of the Jews

AJBI Annual of the Japanese Biblical Institute

AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature

Akk Akkadian

ANE Ancient Near Eastern

ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. 3rd ed. Edited by James B. Pritchard. Princeton: Prince­ton University Press, 1969

a posteriori knowledge dependent on experience or empirical evidence (Lat)

a priori knowledge independent of experience or empirical evidence (Lat)

Aq Aquila

Ar. Aristophanes

Aram Aramaic

ARM Archives royales de Mari (Parrot & Dossin)

art. article

AT The Alalaḫ Tablets (Wiseman)

BA Biblical Archaeologist

BAR Biblical Archaeology Review

BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research

BBR Beiträge zur Kenntnis des babylonischen Religion (Zimmern)

BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Edited by K. Elliger & W. Rudolph. Stuttgart, 1983

Bib Biblica

BibInt Biblical Interpretation

BuBR Bulletin for Biblical Research

BJS British Journal of Sociology

BMS Babylonian Magic and Sorcery (King)

BR Biblical Research

BSac Bibliotheca Sacra

BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin

BZ Biblische Zeitschrift

CA Current Anthropology

CAD Chicago Assyrian Dictionary. 20 vols. Edited by Martha T. Roth et al. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1921–2011

CANE Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Edited by Jack M. Sasson. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000

CAP Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. Edited by A. E. Cowley. Oxford: Clarendon, 1923

CAT The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places. Edited by Manfred Dietrich et al. Münster: Ugarit, 1995

CBQ The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CD Damascus Document

CEJ Christian Education Journal

cf. compare

CH Codex Hammurabi

CML Canaanite Myths and Legends. Edited by J. C. L. Gibson. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1977

contra against (Lat)

CTH Catalogue des textes hittites. Edited by E. Laroche. Paris: Klincksieck, 1971

d determinative for the deity (Sum DINGIR)

D doubled (i.e., the intensive form of semitic verbs)

DA Deir `Allā texts (Hoftijzer & van der Kooij)

DDD Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Edited by Karel van der Toorn et al. Leiden: Brill, 1999

DH deuteronomistic historian

DN divine name

DNWSI Dictionary of North-West Semitic Inscriptions. Edited by J. Hoftijzer and K. Jongeling. Leiden: Brill, 1995.

DOTPr Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets. Edited by Mark Boda & J. Gordon McConville. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012

DSD Dead Sea Discoveries

Dtr deuteronomistic (revision/editor)

DtrH Deuteronomistic History (Joshua-Kings)

DTT Dansk teologisk tidsskrift

DTTML Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud, and Midrashic Literature. Compiled and edited by Marcus Jastrow. New York: Chorob, 1926.

EA Die El Amarna Tafeln (Knudtzon)

ECB Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Edited by James D. G. Dunn & John W. Rogerson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003

EDB Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by David Noel Freedman. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000

EDSS Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 2 vols. Edited by Lawrence H. Schiffman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000

Ee Enûma Eliš

e.g. for example

EgT Eglise et Théologie

EI Eretz Israel

Emar Emar (Arnaud)

EOHJ Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus. Edited by Craig A. Evans. New York: Routledge, 2008

ER The Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. Edited by Mircea Eliade. New York: MacMillan, 1987

Erra The Epic of Erra (Cagni)

esp. especially

ET English translation

et al. and others (Lat)

EvT Evangelische Theologie

ExpTim Expository Times

f. feminine

FH Fides et Historia

frag. fragment

FS Festschrift (anthology of essays dedicated to a senior scholar)

FT Fragment Targums (Klein)

GCA Gratz College Annual

GE Gilgamesh Epic

GKC Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar. Edited by E. Kautzsch. Trans. by A. E. Cowley. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1910

GN geographic name

GNT Greek New Testament

HAL Hebräisches und aramäisches Lexikon zum Alten Testament. 5 vols. Edited by Ludwig Koehler et al. Leiden: Brill, 1967–95

Heb Hebrew

Hit Hittite

HS Hebrew Studies

HT Hethitisches Totenrituale (Otten)

HTR Harvard Theological Review

HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual

HUSLA Hebrew University Studies in Literature and the Arts

Ibid. same source as that cited in preceding footnote (Lat)

IDB Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible. 5 volumes. Edited by George A. Buttrick. Nashville: Abingdon, 1966

Idr The Statue of Idri-mi (Smith)

i.e. that is

IEJ Israel Exploration Journal

Int Interpretation

ipf. imperfect

ipv. imperative

JANESCU Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia University

JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies

JHS Journal of Hebrew Scriptures

JJS Journal of Jewish Studies

JL Jeremiah’s laments

JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies

Jos. Josephus

JPC Journal of Pastoral Counseling

JRT Journal of Religious Thought

JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Periods

JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

JSS Journal of Semitic Studies

JTS Journal of Theological Studies

KAI Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften (Donner & Röllig)

KAR Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts. Edited by E. Ebeling. Leipzig, 1923

KBo Keilschrifttexte aus Boğazköy

KS Kurkh Stele (Grayson)

KUB Keitschrifturkunden aus Boğazköy

LAB Ps.-Philo’s Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum (Harrington)

Lane An Arabic-English Lexicon. Edited by Edward William Lane. Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate, 1863

Lat Latin

LB Late Babylonian

Leitwort key-word

lit. literally

LSJ A Greek-English Lexicon. Edited by H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, and H. S. Jones. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996

Lu Luwian

Lud Ludlul bēl nēmeqi. Edited by A. Annus and A. Lenzi. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 2010

LW Martin Luther. Luther’s Works. St. Louis & Philadelphia: Concordia & Fortress, 1956

m. masculine

Maq Maqlû (Meier)

MDB Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by Watson E. Mills. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1990

mid. middle (voice)

MIO Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung

MT Masoretic Text

N.B. nota bene (note well, Lat)

NIV New International Version

NRSV New Revised Standard Version

NTS New Testament Studies

Nub. Nubes (Clouds)

OAN Oracles Against the Nations

OB Old Babylonian

OG Old Greek

OL Old Latin

op. cit. in the work cited (Lat)

Or Orientalia

OT Old Testament

OTWSA Ou-Testamentiese Werkgemeenskap in Suider-Afrika

P the priestly (editorial) stratum of Torah

p. person

pace with all due respect for (Lat)

passim throughout (Lat)

PBS Publications of the Babylonian Section, University Museum, University of Pennsyvania

pf. perfect

Ph Phoenician

pl. plural

PN proper name

pres. present (tense)

PSB Princeton Seminary Bulletin

PSD The Compendious Syriac Dictionary, founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith. Edited by J. Payne Smith. Oxford: Clarendon, 1903

Q Qur’an

qal waḥomer from minor to major

RA Revue d’Assyriologie

Racc Rituels accadiens (Thureau-Dangin)

RB Revue biblique

RBL Review of Biblical Literature

RelEd Religious Education

ResQ Restoration Quarterly

RevQ Revue de Qumran

rev. revised

RHA Revue hittite et asianique

RHPR Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses

RlA Reallexicon der Assyriologie. Edited by Erich Ebeling, et al. Berlin: 1928-

RN royal name

RPL Revue philosophique de Louvain

RS Ras Shamra (field numbers of excavated tablets)

RSR Recherches de science religieuse

šā šumma ālu (Nötscher)

SAA State Archives of Assyria

Sam Samaritan Pentateuch (von Gall)

SBL Society of Biblical Literature

SBLSP Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers

Sem Semeia

sg. singular

SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament

SSI Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions. Edited by J. C. L. Gibson. 3 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971, 1975, 1982

ST Studia Theologica

suff. suffix

Sum Sumerian

Šur Šurpu (Reiner)

s.v. sub verbo (see under)

Syh Syro-hexaplaric translation of OG

Sym Symmachus

Tanak The Hebrew Bible

TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. 14 vols. Edited by G. Johannes Botterweck et al. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978–2004

Tg. Esth. Targum Esther (Grossfeld)

Tg. Neof. Targum Neofiti (Diez Macho)

Tg. Onk. Targum Onkelos (Drazin and Wagner)

Tg. Ps.-J. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Clarke et al.)

Th Theodotian

TJob Testament of Job

trans. translated/translator

TS Theological Studies

TSol Testament of Solomon

TT Theologisch Tijdschrift

TuL Tod und Leben (Ebeling)

TynBul Tyndale Bulletin

TZ Theologische Zeitschrift

UET Ur Excavations, Texts

UF Ugarit Forschungen

Ug Ugaritic

Ugar Ugaritica (Nougayrol et al.)

UNP Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. Edited by Simon B. Parker. Atlanta: Scholars, 1997

USQR Union Seminary Quarterly Review

UT Ugaritic Textbook. 3 vols. Edited by Cyrus Gordon. Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1965

v(v). verse(s)

VBoT Verstreute Boghazöi-Texte (Goetze)

Vg Vulgate

viz. namely

VT Vetus Testamentum

VTSup Vetus Testamentum Supplements

WA Martin Luther. D. Martin Luthers Werke. Weimarer Ausgabe. 127 Vols. Weimar: Böhlau, 1893

WCA A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Edited by Hans Wehr and Milton Cowan. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1966

WTJ Westminster Theological Journal

WVDOG Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft

WW Word & World

ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie

ZÄS Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde

ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

ZDPV Zeitschrift des deutschen Palästina-Vereins

Part 1: Torah

1

ANOTHER LOOK AT BALAAM*

Balaam ben Beor is a multidimensional figure, whether we examine his activity in the Hebrew Bible, in Second Temple Judaism, or on the plaster inscription from Tell Deir `Allā.¹ Within the Balaam cycle in Tanak (Num 22–24) the text depicts him as Yahweh’s obedient servant.² Yet within this cycle he also behaves as a bungling buffoon in a satirical burlesque,³ a blind seer unable to see Yahweh’s angel standing directly in his path. Micah of Moresheth preserves a memory of him acting as Moab’s antagonist (Mic 6:3–5), but most Tanak sources depict him as Israel’s quintessential antagonist.⁴

This polarized response to Balaam hardens in several Second Temple texts. Ps.-Philo, for example, continues to portray him as God’s faithful servant (Lat servum tuum)⁵ while an anonymous rabbinic commentator calls him a prophet greater than Moses.⁶ Contradicting these portrayals, however, the Fragment Targums,⁷ Talmud,⁸ and Greek New Testament⁹ all portray him as Balaam the Wicked.¹⁰ Recognizing the danger posed by such lopsided polarization, Josephus cautiously suggests that readers go back to Tanak and examine it carefully before making up their minds about Balaam.¹¹

The Deir `Allā texts give us more information. Here Balaam appears as a seer of the gods (ḥzn ’lhn) on the first line of Combination 1,¹² an envoy allegedly chosen by a divine council to convey a doomsday oracle to a local populace. Combination 2, however, though more fragmentary, depicts him in categories more congruent with the occultic activity alluded to in Num 31:16.¹³ Whatever the interpretive possibilities,¹⁴ the DA discovery removes all doubt about the existence of a non-Hebrew Balaam tradition in Iron Age Transjordan among a people evidently non-Yahwistic and probably non-Israelite.

Yet in spite of this new evidence several studies of this ancient Near Eastern specialist continue to constrict his multidimensionality within bipolar parameters first proposed by nineteenth-century literary critics to explain, prior to the great archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century, the character and development of Torah. Within this framework Balaam is either a blesser or a curser, but these are the only options.¹⁵ The vestigial 2-source hypothesis underlying this polarized framework has been and continues to be contested. Some angrily rail at it;¹⁶ others try to work within its bipolar parameters (often without presuming the existence of independent literary documents);¹⁷ and still others ignore it.¹⁸ Few attempt to engage seriously the sociohistorical context out of which the Balaam traditions originate.¹⁹

The question raised here is therefore simple. Is Balaam only a curser/blesser, or is the nineteenth-century bipolar approach to the Balaam traditions inadequate and outdated? Without denying that Tanak editors largely succeed in corralling the Balaam traditions within enclosures structured by the blessing-curse polarity,²⁰ perpetuation of this nineteenth-century approach practically guarantees that the multidimensional roles enacted by this specialist will remain hidden from view. Better to switch methodological gears and re-examine the Balaam traditions from a perspective informed by selected anthropological studies of religion,²¹ especially the adaptable variables generated by contemporary role theorists.²² Such an approach has already helped us see deeper into the inner workings of the priestly (Israelite) cult²³ and (Hebrew) prophecy,²⁴ so the likelihood seems strong that a similar approach to the Balaam traditions will produce similar results—assuming, of course, that all the known literary portrayals of this specialist are rooted in actual praxis.²⁵

Plotting Roles on a Magic-Religion Continuum

Anthropologist Annemarie de Waal Malefijt argues convincingly that it’s impossible to draw neat, static distinctions between magic and religion in any given culture, but that some distinction between the two is necessary if comparative analysis is to proceed.²⁶ Thus it can be helpful (in certain cases) to visualize magic as manipulative and religion as supplicative (with Frazer),²⁷ or magic as utilitarian and religion as celebratory (with Malinowski),²⁸ or magic as individual and religion as communal (with Durkheim).²⁹ None of these distinctions is absolute, of course, but all can be helpful as long as the boundary between magical formula and supplications remains fluid.³⁰ Magic and religion are not static categories, nor is it helpful to conceptualize them via ideal types,³¹ or worse, pretend that no boundaries exist between them at all.³² Magic and religion are best viewed as opposite poles on a dynamic continuum upon which the roles of any given magico-religious specialist can be defined and plotted.³³

Ancient Near Eastern Magico-Religious Specialists

Most ancient Near Eastern magico-religious specialists enact pluralistic roles on variegated overlapping spectrums within the magic-religion continuum. Etymological analyses of titles thus do little to help us understand the sociological phenomenon of role enactment.³⁴ Both bārû and šā’ilu specialists, for example, enact roles as dream-interpreters in Mesopotamia.³⁵ This label describes one of several roles enacted by the bārû, but for all intents and purposes sums up the totality of the šā’ilu’s societal function. In fact, even though the Akkadian noun bārû philologically derives from the verb barû (to look upon, inspect, CAD B.115), the bārû-priest³⁶ in Mesopotamia is much more than mere diviner. In point of fact he enacts several roles, all clustering around the religion pole of the magic-religion continuum. Following R. K. Merton’s lead, we designate this cluster of roles a diviner-seer role-set.³⁷ The dominant roles within the bārû role-set thus include diviner, (including libanomantic [smoke-diviner],³⁸ lecanomantic [oil-diviner],³⁹ rhabdomantic [rod-diviner],⁴⁰ ornithomantic [bird-diviner],⁴¹ extispicist [entrails-diviner],⁴² oneiromantic [dream-diviner],⁴³ and oracle-reciter).⁴⁴

Clustered around the magic pole of the continuum, however, stand the variegated roles enacted by the āšipu-priest, premier among which stand the roles of exorcist,⁴⁵ purification-priest,⁴⁶ healer,⁴⁷ and sorcerer.⁴⁸ Distinguishable from the diviner/seer role-set on the other end of the continuum, the exorcist role-set encompasses a fascinating range of behavior well supported by now-extensive primary data.⁴⁹

In Anatolia, however, the evidence generates a different picture. Whereas roles on opposite ends of the magic-religion continuum tend to be enacted by separate specialists in Mesopotamia, complementary roles overlapping the spheres of both magic and religion in Anatolia/North Syria are often enacted by the same specialist. The old woman (SALŠU.GI, Hit ḫašawaš),⁵⁰ for example, is a remarkably diverse specialist who enacts a wide range of roles in the Boğazköy texts, including at least those of diviner⁵¹ and oracle-reciter⁵² near the religion pole, and exorcist,⁵³ purification-priest,⁵⁴ incantation-reciter,⁵⁵ and sorceress⁵⁶ at the magic pole. Another example is the augur (LÚMUŠEN.DÙ),⁵⁷ a specialist who, like the old woman, enacts both magical and religious" roles.⁵⁸

In Syria-Palestine we lack the sort of raw evidence like that attested in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, but we do have indirect evidence from Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Aramaic texts for identifying divinatory and exorcistic role-sets. From the evidence available it is possible to postulate that various Syro-Palestinian specialists enact roles as ornithomantics (bird-diviners),⁵⁹ cleromantics (lot-diviners),⁶⁰ oneiromantics (dream-diviners),⁶¹ lecanomantics (oil-diviners),⁶² rhabdomantics (rod-diviners),⁶³ necromantics (underworld-diviners),⁶⁴ sacrificial-priests,⁶⁵ and oracle-reciters⁶⁶ toward the religion end of the continuum, and roles as exorcists⁶⁷ and sorcerers⁶⁸ on the magic end.

Plotting Balaam’s Roles on a Magic-Religion Continuum

In light of all this evidence, therefore, we should not be surprised to see a specialist like Balaam enacting a variety of roles on both ends of the magic-religion continuum. DA 1.1 designates him a ḥzh ’lhn (seer of the gods), unpacking this title to describe the roles enacted by oneiromantics⁶⁹ and oracle-reciters⁷⁰ in the first paragraph of Combination 1 (roles also enacted in Num 22–24).⁷¹ Moreover, since the roles just mentioned cluster around the religion pole, the mention of birds and rods in DA 1.7–9 doubtless reflects the presence of a complementary role-set much like that enacted within other diviner/seer role-sets; viz., ornithomantic,⁷² and rhabdomantic.⁷³ The North Syrian warlord Idri-mi, for example, enacts complementary roles as ornithomantic/extispicist,⁷⁴ while the Hebrew patriarchs Jacob and Joseph also enact complementary divinatory roles. According to Tanak tradition Joseph practices oneiromancy as well as lecanomancy,⁷⁵ while Jacob engages in both oneiromancy and rhabdomancy.⁷⁶ In the ancient Near East it’s not unusual for one kind of divination to be validated by another. In fact, clients often demand multiple divinatory inquiries so that they might more exactly clarify the divine will before going in this or that spiritual direction.⁷⁷ Is it impossible for Jewish observers to understand this socioreligious behavior? No. Philo of Alexandria, for example, sees Balaam not simply as a curser/blesser, but as a man famous for divination, initiated into divination in all its forms,⁷⁸ especially augury (οἰωνοσκοπία)⁷⁹ and dream interpretation (ὀνείρατα διηγούμενος),⁸⁰ while Ps.-Philo sees him enacting the roles of dream interpreter (interpretem somniorum)⁸¹ and sacrificial priest.⁸²

Plotting Balaam’s religious roles is a less difficult task than identifying his darker magical roles. Two factors combine to exacerbate this. First, overt reference to magic and the occult is a delicate matter in Tanak, not least in the Balaam traditions. The social, cultural, political, and religious factors responsible for triggering this Hebrew allergy are well known and need no rehearsal here.⁸³ Balaam’s darker side occasionally peeks through a few biblical texts outside the Balaam cycle (e.g., Num 31:16),⁸⁴ but in Num 22–24 one gets the distinct impression that Yahwistic editors have carefully expunged it of all objectionable elements.⁸⁵ Second, the text surviving on DA 2 is much more fragmentary than that found on DA 1, thereby unavoidably rendering Combination 2 susceptible to more types of interpretation.⁸⁶ Yet too many clues exist here to designate this text simply and only as historical or even mythological narrative. It is extremely difficult, from an anthropological point of view, to deny the prospect that DA 2 preserves a typical purification ritual.⁸⁷ Several of these clues might be listed, but two are particularly telling. First, the beginning (DA 2.5) focuses on the preparation (kl) of foliage (rṭb) within a (magical) circle (mdr)—all elements found at the beginning of ritual series like the Assyrian series Šurpu.⁸⁸ Second, the red-inked ending (DA 2.17) focuses on making known (ld`t) the preceding material. What makes this detail significant is that priestly colophons concluding ritual texts usually emphasize a professional desire to keep incantational material secret; i.e., away from the eyes of the unknowing. E.g., "Secret (Akk pirištu)⁸⁹ of the great gods. Let the ‘knowing’ (mudû) show it to the ‘knowing’ (mudâ); the ‘unknowing’ (lā mudû) shall not view it."⁹⁰

The key to interpreting these texts is, again, anthropological. Whenever we try to understand the behavior of magico-religious specialists like Balaam apart from some understanding of good-vs.-evil magic,⁹¹ we quickly fall into the flytrap of cultural illiteracy which ensnares the pioneer comparativist Samuel Daiches, who writes in 1909: I think there exists evidence which goes to prove that Balaam is a sorcerer, pure and simple.⁹² This assessment comes from a gifted interpreter trying to make sense of a difficult Hebrew tradition by means of then newly-discovered Mesopotamian texts. But it fails miserably because (a) it does not recognize the clear anthropological differences in the Assyrian ritual texts between the roles enacted by bārû-priests and those enacted by āšipu-priests; and (b) it does not recognize the sociological distinctions between good-vs.-evil magicians. Sorcerers and exorcists both curse, but for very different reasons.⁹³ A sorcerer is an evil magician seeking to invade the established order, while an exorcist is a good magician seeking to protect it.⁹⁴ Sorcerers leave no written legacies of their activities because the activities themselves are illegal.⁹⁵ Exorcists, on the other hand, are often happy to leave extensive written evidence of their work. Thus whenever an exorcist, after exhausting every other means of apotropaic purification possible, takes on the dangerous task of cursing a client’s enemy, it is always to protect, never to invade.⁹⁶ Tanak often labels Balaam an evil magician, but such a role-label is not surprising when it is the only one available in cultures (like Israel) where any and all things magical are against the law.⁹⁷ In the Bible, theology is more important than anthropology, even though, as DA so glaringly reminds us, magico-religious specialists can and do enact roles as sorcerers. Like the North Syrian old woman Allaituraḫ(ḫ)i, who with her royal client curses an enemy city after first making sure its protective gods have been drawn away from protecting it,⁹⁸ so Balaam ben Beor ritually attempts—but repeatedly fails—to curse a foreign enemy threatening the borders of his client, Moab.⁹⁹ Tanak makes it clear that this role is protective, not invasive, when Balak, having asked Balaam to curse (קלל) his enemy, concurrently demands that he drive out (גרשׁ)¹⁰⁰ the invader threatening to violate his border.¹⁰¹

Yet exorcist does not appear to be the primary role enacted by Balaam, neither in Tanak nor at Deir `Allā. Though hidden beneath layers of Yahwistic veneer in Tanak and dingy plaster fragments at Deir `Allā, the evidence rather suggests that his primary role is purification-priest. Purification-priests protect and purify their clients from evil through various kinds of homeopathic rituals. When Tanak Balaam attempts (!) to summon the אלהים via a ritual involving seven altars,¹⁰² he tries to enact a purification-priest role parallel to that enacted by the āšipu-priest in the neo-Assyrian bît rimki (wash-house) ritual.¹⁰³ Several interpreters see a similar purification ritual in DA 2,¹⁰⁴ but most of these readings rely on linguistic analyses of a single term repeated three times, the root nqr. Originally meaning sapling, this term can figuratively refer to royal scion,¹⁰⁵ and may even refer here to a royal scion who is sacrificed to a Transjordanian deity.¹⁰⁶ But this is terribly hypothetical.¹⁰⁷ Rather than hypothesizing yet another linguistic history for this key term, the following paragraph briefly analyzes how it fits within the larger ritual sequence presented on DA 2.

(1) The first appearance of nqr occurs near the beginning of DA 2 in what appears to be a context of preparation¹⁰⁸ (N.B. the telltale mention of foliage¹⁰⁹ and [magic] circle).¹¹⁰ As in the purification rituals alluded to in the Tanak Balaam cycle (and indeed, rituals everywhere), preparation is always the first order of business.¹¹¹

(2) The second appearance of nqr occurs within a context of transference. The moaning (n’nḥ)¹¹² of the nqr in his/its heart (blbbh) occurs alongside some group (simultaneously?) moaning in their heart (blbbm n’nḥ).¹¹³ This moaning ritual appears to preserve the moment in the ritual when the conducting priest homeopathically transfers the evil distressing his client onto an (in)animate image (Lev 16:21!).¹¹⁴ Homeopathic magic cannot proceed without faith in the possibility, viability, and effectuality of this spiritual transference.

(3) The final appearance of nqr occurs within a context of destruction in which "the heart of the nqr dies out" (lbb nqr šhh).¹¹⁵ Once the purification-priest successfully transfers the evil to an (in)animate image, it can be harmlessly destroyed. Animate images are killed. Inanimate images are burned, dissolved, washed clean, or otherwise dispatched. The goal of every purification ritual is always the same: to drive evil away from one’s client as far as possible.¹¹⁶

In short, DA 2 appears to preserve a rather standardized purification ritual memorializing the standardized sequence of preparation, transferral, and destruction. Balaam receives an oneiromantic message of impending doom from the Unseen World, a message he confirms (or has confirmed) through ornithomantic and perhaps also rhabdomantic omens. Having thus identified the evil threatening his clients, he homeopathically transfers it away from them to an (in)animate image which he then destroys (or has destroyed).

Conclusion

In other words, Balaam essentially enacts the same range of roles at Deir `Allā as he does in the Bible. Both texts show that these roles noticeably overlap opposing spheres of the magic-religion continuum. Much like the Anatolian/North Syrian old woman Balaam enacts complementary diviner/seer and exorcist role-sets, a conclusion strongly resonant with George Mendenhall’s theory of an Anatolian origin for the Ba’al Peor cult as well as Al Wolters’ theory that the Deir `Allā tradition originates in North Syria before being transplanted to Transjordan via the Assyrian conquest.¹¹⁷

The comparative anthropological approach to the Balaam traditions is attractive because instead of hypothesizing literary sources underneath the text it seeks rather to examine the actual roles enacted by other magico-religious specialists in the ancient Near East. Source-critical attempts to interpret these traditions are at an impasse because they cannot sufficiently explain why the specialist responsible for contacting the divine realm in Num 22:8–20 also participates in what looks to be a magical purification ritual at Bamath Ba’al, Sade Ṣophim and Ba’al Peor. Nor do they help us make sense of the šdyn oracle in DA 1 as well as the moaning ritual in DA 2.¹¹⁸ Ultimately this approach fails because it cannot correlate all the known facts about Balaam into an identifiable whole.

1* Revised from a paper first read to the Hebrew and Cognate Literature Section of the SBL on Nov 20, 1989 in Anaheim, California, subsequently published in RB 97 (1990) 359–78.

1. Discovered in 1967 at the Zerqa river in Jordan (see Hoftijzer & van der Kooij, Deir `Allā). Excavated by a Dutch team of archaeologists led by H. J. Franken, this reconstructed plaster inscription now sits on display in the National Museum of Jordan in Amman.

2. Num 22:1–21, 36–41; 23:1–24:25.

3. Num 22:22–35; Rofé, Bl`m, 51 (ברלסקה).

4. Num 31:8, 16; Josh 13:21–22; 24:9–10; Deut 23:4–7; Neh 13:1–2. See Moore, Balaam, 1–11.

5. LAB 18.4.

6. Sifrê Deut 34.10, cited in Rofé, Bl`m, 28. The desire to nabi-ize Balaam—i.e., turn him into a Yahwistic prophet—has a long history among those tradents who find his multiplicity of roles socially, culturally, and religiously disturbing (e.g., Josephus, A. J. 4.104; see discussion in Moore, Balaam, 104). Anthonioz succinctly explains (Prophétisme, 13–14): "The generalization of the term ‘prophet’ . . . is driven by a certain uniformity of presentation with regard to different types of personnel connected to divine revelation (diviners, seers, visionaries, men of God, prophets), resulting in a redefined prophetic ideal in which the social aspects, practices, techniques, and rituals of ancient prophecy become ‘hidden’ (occulté)."

7. בלעם רשׁיעא (FTNum 22.30); בלעם הרשׁע (b. Ta`an. 20a; Num. Rab. 20.14).

8. b. Sanh. 106b. Arguing over whether or not Job might be Israelite, some rabbis list him alongside Balaam as one of שׁבעה נביאים נתנבאו לאומות (seven prophets who prophesy to the nations), the other five being Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu, and Balaam’s father (b. B. Bat. 15b).

9. 2 Pet 2:16 warns readers not to be like Balaam, described here as a prophet (προφήτης) prone to madness (παραφρονία // παρανοία in Ar. Nub. 845). Similarly lopsided portrayals occur in Jude 11 and Rev 2:14.

10. Qur’an contains no explicit reference to Balaam, but most readers take Q 7.175–76 to be a depiction parallel to that found in b. B. Bat. 15b: Recite against them (i.e., the Jews) the story of him (Balaam) to whom we brought our signs. But he separated himself from them, Satan followed him, and he became ‘one of the faithless’ (ﻣﻥ ﺍﻟﻐﺎﻭﻳﻥ).

11. Josephus, A. J. 4.158.

12. DA 1.1 (written in red ink). Levine transliterates and translates DA Combinations 1 and 2 (Numbers, 243–63), as does Hackett (Deir `Allā, 25–30), Hoftijzer & van der Kooij (Deir `Allā), and Caquot & Lemaire (Deir `Allā, 189–208)

13. The telling line here, למסר מעל ביהוה (to break faith with Yhwh) . . . בדבר בלעם (at Balaam’s word) cross-references the portrait in Num 22–24 with the occult ritual in 25:3 where יצמד ישׂראל לבעל פעור (Israel yokes itself to the Ba’al of Peor). Based on the parallel between פעור and Ph p`r // Lu pa-ḫa-r[a] in the Karatepe bilingual inscription (KAI 26A.6), Mendenhall plausibly suggests a North Syrian/Anatolian origin for the Ba’al Peor cult, translating בעל פעור as Lord of Fire (Hit paḫḫuwar, fire; Tenth, 109). Pope views the Ba’al Peor cult as a Transjordanian example of מרזח (Amos 6:7; Jer 16:5), however it may have been planted there (Song, 217).

14. See opinions listed in Moore, Balaam, 101–106.

15. Wellhausen, Composition, 109–16; 347–53; Mowinckel, Bil`amsage, 233–71; Noth, Pentateuchal, 78.

16. Kuenen, Bileam,, 497–540; Rudolph, Elohist, 97–128; Buber, Kingship, 210–14. Among more recent critics of the 2-source hypothesis, special mention goes to Gross (Bileam) and Rofé (Bl`m).

17. Schmidt, Bileamüberlieferung, 234–61; Donner, Pseudopropheta, 112–23; Müller, Dēr `Allā, 56–67; Bileamsprüche, 214–44.

18. Kalisch, Balaam; Albright, Balaam; Liver, Balaam; von Pákozdy, Bileam-Perikope; Coppens, Bileam; Vetter, Seherspruch; Rost, Bileam.

19. Exceptions: Prior to the discovery of DA, a few scholars compare Balaam’s behavior with that of other specialists. Ignaz Goldziher, e.g., compares Balaam’s משׁלים (oracles, Num 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15) with a species of Arabic poetry called ﻫﺟﺎ (satirical lampoon; Philologie, 41–44; see van Gelder, Hijā, 1–12), while Samuel Daiches (Balaam) and René Largement look for parallels in the Mesopotamian literature (Bile`am). Since the discovery of DA, however, some have begun to wonder whether a holistic understanding of Balaam is even possible; see Kaufman (Review); Knauf (Review); and Halpern (Review).

20. Halpern’s self-admittedly crass description of this agenda as a process whereby pentateuchal narrators loot and uproot Balaam, then mill and plane him into decorative paneling in a two-dimensional depiction of pre-monarchic antiquity unnecessarily denigrates this theology (Deir `Allā, 119). Wilson’s discussion is less flippantly polemical (Prophecy, 147–50).

21. De Waal Malefijt, Religion, 228–45; Banton, Religion; Morris, Religion.

22. Harnisch, Role Theory; Biddle, Role Theory; Turner, Role Theory; Sarbin & Allen, Role Theory; Goodenough, ‘Status’ and ‘Role’; Keesing, Role Analysis; Popitz, Theorie.

23. Mary Douglas’ influence (Purity) is pervasive in the work of Gottwald (Hebrew Bible, 473–78), Hendel (Aniconic), and other students of Hebrew cult.

24. Wilson (Prophecy) is heavily influenced by the theories of Lewis (Ecstatic), and Petersen (Roles) follows the theoretical path carved out by Sarbin & Allen (Role Theory), as do I in my dissertation (Balaam, 110–22). Buss obliquely explains some of the more obvious cognitions championed by role theorists (Prophecy, 3), and Morris (Religion, 231–33) critically analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of Douglas (Purity) and Lewis (Ecstatic).

25. For some readers this is an untenable presumption, but in the area of literary techniques the evidence from the literate neighbors of ancient Israel is not only relevant . . . but also enjoys a scholarly consensus based on a maximum of facts and a minimum of theories (Hallo, Cuneiform, 12–13).

26. De Waal Malefijt, Religion, 14–15.

27. Frazer, Bough, 56–69 (critiqued by Morris, Religion, 103–6).

28. Malinowski, Magic, 390–98 (critiqued by Morris, Religion, 144–51).

29. Durkheim, Elementary, 60 (critiqued by Morris, Religion, 106–22).

30. Weber, Sociology, 26.

31. Fischoff, Preface, xxxiii.

32. Cryer’s avant-garde attempt to eradicate all boundaries between magic and religion is hardly convincing (Divination, 70–95), nor are the attempts of Kitz (Prophecy, 22–42) and Jeffers (Magic, 1–4). More persuasive are the careful analyses of Grabbe (Specialists, 250–51), de Tarragon (Witchcraft, 2071), and Nissinen (Prophets, 1–6)

33. Garr’s judicious use of continuum significantly advances our understanding of Syro-Palestinian linguistics beyond Bergstrasser, Harris, and Rabin (Dialect, 205–40), and Anthonioz’ attempt to catalogue all divinatory activity into three simple categories—divination by natural elements, divination by animals, divination by humans—is too heuristic (Prophétisme, 22–27).

34. Moore, Balaam, 111–13.

35. For bārû, the couplet preserved on an Assyrian tablet published by Weidner (Tagen, 5.9) reads ba-ru-tum ip-pu-šu šu-na-ti i-ta-nam-ma-r[u], he performs divination; he experiences dreams. For šā’ilu, note the texts cited in Oppenheim (Dreambook, 221–25) and Renger (Priestertum, 217–18).

36. That there seems to be no generic Akk term for priest (Renger, Priestertum, 110) does not prohibit analysis of this social role in ancient Mesopotamia.

37. Merton, Role-Set.

38. CAD B.122; Gurney, Babylonians, 152–53.

39. BBR 79–82.21–2. Bārû-priests divine by oil (Gen 44:14–17) to determine whether enemies can be fended off, whether cities can be seized, and whether curses can be formulated for pronouncement by āšipu-priests enacting roles as sorcerers (see Gurney, Babylonians, 152).

40. TuL 74.4; HT 32.9–14; CAT 1.16.6.8; see Moore, Balaam, 52–3.

41. BBR 1–20.8; Nougayrol, Oiseau, 23.7–16. Bārû-priests use birds for divination purposes, but Akk texts are unclear about specific techniques, especially when compared with the Hittite texts (e.g., KUB 18.5.12; 22.15.1.1–14; Haas & Wilhelm, Riten, 139–42).

42. Aro, Extispicy, 109–17; Starr, Diviner.

43. Weidner, Tagen, 5; Mouton, Rêves. Oppenheim thinks that though bārū participate in this type of divination, dream interpreters as a class usually come from lower positions in the religious hierarchy (Dreambook, 221).

44. Knudtzon, Gebete, 7–62.

45. Zimmern, Keilschrifttexte,206–13; Geller, Incipits, 242–54.

46. Laessøe, Studies.

47. Labat, Traité; Ritter, Medicine; Geller, Medicine.

48. The second tablet of Maqlû shows the āšipu-priest asking the Seven Wise Men of Eridu (a) to protect his client from the magical power of the kaššaptu-sorceress (Maq 2.124; CAD K.291–92; cf. מכשׁפה, Exod 22:17; מכשׁף, Deut 18:10), and (b) that she be pursued by šêdu demons (Maq 2.210; see Moore, Terror, 662–63). In bît rimki an āšipu curses her via a familiar bipolar formula: [ši-]i li-mut-ma ana-ku lu-bu-lu[ṭ] (May she die, and may I live, Laessøe, 47.7; note also מברכיך ברוך וארריך ארור in Num 24:9, Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you).

49. Starr, Diviner; Mayer, Gebetsbeschwörungen; Geller, Medicine.

50. Goetze, Kleinasien, 149.

51. Gurney (Hittite, 42–44); Vieyra (Hittite, 110–15); Kammenhuber (Hethitern, 9–13, 27–8). Goetze (Kleinasien, 149) links the SALŠU.GI primarily with the KIN-oracle (an Anatolian form of cleromancy), but notes that she also practices augury via bird (MUŠEN) and snake (MUŠ) omens.

52. Vieyra, Sorcier, 111.

53. One North Syrian SALŠU.GI exorcises demons called "the thing which sticks to the mouth (dam-me-in-ku-wa-ar), the evil eye (IGIḪI-A), the fear of the lion, and the terror before the snake (see texts in Haas & Thiel, Allaituraḫḫi, 104, 146; Moore, Terror, 662–63).

54. Maštikka, another SALŠU.GI from North Syria, uses homeopathic ritual to cleanse impurity from a family in conflict (Rost, Ritual, 345–79; see Gurney, Hittite, 52–58; Vieyra, Hittite, 110–12; ANET 350–51).

55. The SALŠU.GI, for example, manipulates the šalliš waštaiš ritual (great passing away), with its repeated incantations to the sun deity, to save her client from damnation (HT 58.3–60.7; 66.1–68.36; see Bryce, Hittite, 142–43).

56. In one text a SALŠU.GI entices a city’s gods to abandon it so her client (the king) can curse it directly (KUB 7.60, cited in Haas & Wilhelm, Riten, 234–3; see Friedrich, Elementarbuch 2.42–43).

57. The title of this specialist (LÚMUŠEN.DÙ) suggests a core occupation with birds as a fowler (Akk ušandû), and one text shows a SALŠU.GI conducting a purification ritual alongside a LÚMUŠEN.DÙ named Ḫuwarlu (KBo 4.2, cited in Ünal, Augures, 31); see Gurney (Hittites, 155) and Collins (Ḫuwarlu).

58. KUB 18.5.4 reads, "An alliya-bird came back up from behind the river flying low, and settled in a poplar tree. While we watched it, another alliya-bird attacked it; see Ünal (Augures," 46–47); Haas (Orakel, 27–47); Mouton & Rutherford (Augury, 329–44).

59. Idri-mi looks into lambs (pu-ḫā-dē ab-ri-ma) and releases birds (iṣṣūrē u-za-ki) to divine the will of Adad (Idr 28–29), and one of the Amarna letters preserves a request from a Cypriot king for a man who inquires by eagles (LÚša-i-li naš-rē, EA 35.26). A LÚMUŠEN.DÙ appears at Alalaḫ (Akk ušandû, fowler, AT 281), and Daniel’s lament over Aqhat likely reflects an ornithomantic context, though this is disputed (CAT 1.19.3.2–4, 10, 24, 32–33, 38; see Haldar, Prophets, 80).

60. Iwry thinks that the twelfth-to-tenth-century bronze arrowheads found in Lebanon and points south are used in cleromantic praxis (Belomancy, 27–34) over Milik’s objection (Arrowhead, 3–6), but with Cross’ tepid approval (Alphabet, 8–24). Hebrew cleromancy is best represented by the אורים ותמים (Urim and Thummim, Exod 28:30); see Caquot (Divination, 87); Huffmon (Divination, 355–59); van Dam (Urim).

61. Kirta learns of his son’s birth in a dream (CAT 1.15.3.46–51), and a נביא or a מלך can receive a vision (מראה) or a dream (חלום, Num 12:6; 1 Kings 3:4–5); see Cryer (Divination, 267–72); Oppenheim (Dreambook); Gnuse (Dreams, 34–128); Alexander (Dreambook); Noegel (Dreams); Mouton (Rêves).

62. Caquot (Divination, 104); Noegel (Religion, 30); Anor (Omens).

63. The מטה האלהים (rod of God, Exod 4:20) carried by Moses parallels the iṣerina n[a-ra]m ilani rabuti (cedar rod of the great gods) of the bārû-priest (BBR 24.9) and the ḫultuppû (magic rod) of the āšipu-priest (BBR 26.1.20).