Atlas Biblica

    person

    Balaam

    בִּלְעָםΒαλαάμ

    Balaam was a pagan prophet hired by Balak to curse Israel, but he blessed them instead.

    IllustrationNumbers 22Balaam's donkey is trapped against a wall by an armed angel barring the road, while Balaam sees only the animal's refusal to move.
    verses
    59
    first named
    Numbers 22:5
    last named
    Revelation 2:14
    period
    Egypt and Wilderness
    role
    Prophet

    Description

    Who was Balaam?

    In the words of STEPBible TIPNR:

    Balaam was a pagan prophet from Pethor near the Euphrates River (Num.22.5). Balak, king of Moab, hired him to curse the Israelites as they approached Moabite territory (Num.22.6). Despite initial resistance, Balaam agreed to go with Balak's messengers after God permitted him, but only to speak what God told him (Num.22.7-21). On the way, Balaam's donkey saw the Angel of the Lord and saved Balaam from being killed (Num.22.22-35). In three oracles, Balaam blessed Israel instead of cursing them (Numbers 23-24). Later, Balaam was killed in Israel's battle against Midian (Num.31.8). He had advised the Midianites to entice Israel into idolatry and immorality (Num.31.16; Rev.2.14). Balaam's story is remembered as an example of God's sovereignty (Deu.23.4-5; Jos.24.9-10; Neh.13.2; Mic.6.5) and as a warning against greed and false teaching (2Pe.2.15; Jud.1.11).

    Relations

    Direct connections

    Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.

    How the graph connects Balaam10 of 22 entities the graph connects to Balaam, in one group: events 10. Kinship, company and ground are stated relations; events counts the acts two entities stand in together and is not a relation. Each mark is sized by how many verses name that entity and labelled with the link and the count, so the grouping and the size are both readable without colour. Distance from the centre carries nothing.Israel17 events · 2,578 versesLORD3 events · 1,004 versesSword2 events · 254 versesAltar3 events · 185 versesMoab2 events · 160 versesAmmon2 events · 123 versesRam3 events · 62 versesCurse1 event · 43 versesBalak36 events · 41 versesBull3 events · 33 versesBalaam

    The 10 best-attested of 22 are drawn. All 22 are listed below.

    Child of

    Took part in

    Stands in the same events as

    and 6 more, ordered by how many events they share.

    Places

    Where this happens

    The places the claims about this person reach, drawn where the gazetteer locates them. A point is where a row puts them and never where tradition does; no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.

    Where the story of Balaam happensAll 8 places the claims about Balaam reach, on a map of the world the text moves through, framed to them: Bamoth-baal, Paddan, Peor, Pethor, Arnon, Kiriath-huzoth, Pisgah, Zophim. Each dot is a coordinate from the gazetteer, sized by how many rows put Balaam there. The coastline is a modern one, simplified; no border, road or settlement of any period is drawn, and no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.Bamoth-baalPaddanPeorPethorArnon
    Egypt and WildernessAll 8 places the claims about Balaam reach

    Read it

    Where to read it

    Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 59, across 8 books. The name is written 63 times in them.

    1. Numbers49 verses

      22:522:722:822:922:1022:1222:1322:1422:1622:1822:2022:2122:2322:2522:2722:2822:2922:3022:3122:3422:3522:3622:3722:3822:3922:4022:4123:123:223:323:423:523:1123:1623:2523:2623:2723:2823:2923:3024:124:224:324:1024:1224:1524:2531:831:16

    2. Deuteronomy2 verses

      23:423:5

    3. Joshua3 verses

      13:2224:924:10

    4. Nehemiah1 verse

      13:2

    5. Micah1 verse

      6:5

    6. 2 Peter1 verse

      2:15

    7. Jude1 verse

      1:11

    8. Revelation1 verse

      2:14

    Onward

    Where this page goes

    Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.

    via Balaam’s cursing of Israel and Balaam’s return of Balak, and 6 moreBalakKing of Moab who hired Balaam to curse Israel.via Balaam’s cursing of Israel and Balak’s bringing of Balaam and IsraelIsraelPatriarch, son of Isaac, father of twelve tribesvia Balak and Balaam’s offering of Bull and Build AltarsAltarAltar is a concept gathering 166 labelled instances in the text.via Balak and Balaam’s offering of Bull and Prepare Bulls RamsBullBull is a concept gathering 19 labelled instances in the text.via Balak and Balaam’s offering of Bull and Prepare Bulls RamsRamRam is a concept gathering 46 labelled instances in the text.via Balaam and LORD’s meetingLORDNames or title used to refer to Godvia Balaam and LORD’s meetingMeetingMeeting is a concept gathering 42 labelled instances in the text.via Balaam’s return of BalakReturnReturn is a concept gathering 228 labelled instances in the text.via Balak’s taking of BalaamTakingTaking is a concept gathering 334 labelled instances in the text.

    Where they appear

    Chapter by chapter

    Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.

    3 more chapters, from Micah 6 to Revelation 2

    Sources

    What this rests on