BALAAPIS (b5.'laam or bala-am), (Heb. he name is supposed by to mean lord of the people; but by others, destruction of the peo fle—an allusion to his supposed supernatural pow ers. Balaam is called the Son of Bosor, which Gesenius attributes to an early corruption of the text, but Dr. Lightfoot considers it to be a Chal daism, and infers from the apostle's use of it that he was then resident at Babylon. (Works, vol. vii, p. 8o; Sermon on the fray to Balaam.) In the other passage of the New Testament (Rev. n : 15) the sect of the Nicolaitans is described as following the doctrine or teaching of Balaam; and it appears not improbable that this name is employed symbolically, as NiKaaos, Nicolaus, is equivalent in meaning to Balaam.
(1) First Mention. The first mention of this remarkable person is in Numbers xxii :5, where we are informed that Balak 'sent messengers unto Balaam, the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people.' Tsselve Hebrew MSS. examined by Dr. Kenni Lott, two of De Rossi's, the Samaritan text, with the Syriac and Vulgate versions, instead of 'chil dren of his people,' read 'children of Ammon.' This is approved by Houbigant and Kennicott, but is inconsistent with Deut. xxiii :4. which in forms us that Pethor was in Mesopotamia; for the Ammonites, as Rosenmuller observes, never extended so far as the Euphrates, which must be the river alluded to. If the received reading be correct, it intimates that ['calor was situated in Balaam's native country, and that he was not a mere sojourner in Mesopotamia. as the Jewish patriarchs were in Canaan. In Joshua xiii :22, Balaam is termed 'the Soothsayer,' a word which, with its cognates, is used almost without excep tion in an unfavorable sense. Balak's language, wot he whom thou blessest is blessed' (Num.
Origen considers as only designed to flatter Balaam and render him compliant with his wishes.
Of the numerous paradoxes which we find in 'this strange mixture of a man,' as Bishop Newton terms him, not the least striking is that with the practice of an art expressly forbidden to the Israelites ('there shall not be found among you one that useth divination, Deut. xviii:Io), for all that do these things arc an abomination to the Lord (verse 12), he united the knowledge and worship of Jehovah, and was in the habit of re ceiving intimations of his will: 'I will bring you word again as the Lord ( Jehovah) shall speak unto me' (Num. xxii :8). The inquiry naturally
atises, by what means did he become acquainted with he true religion? Dr. Hengstenberg sug gests that he was led to renounce idolatry by the reports that reached him of the miracles attending the Exodus; and that having experienced the de ceptive nature of the soothsaying art he hoped, by becoming a worshiper of the God of the Hebrews, to acquire fresh power over nature and a clearer insight into futurity. Vet the sacred narrative gives us no reason to suppose that he had any previous knowledge of the Israelites. In Num.
he merely repeats Balak's message, 'Be hold there is a people come out of Egypt,' etc., without intimating that he had heard of the mira cles wrought on their behalf. The allusion in Num. xxiii :22 might be prompted by the Divine afflatus which he then felt.
(2) Some Knowledge of Truth. And had he been actuated, in the first instance, by motives of personal aggrandizement, it seems hardly probable that he would have been favored with those Di vine communications with which his language in xxii.8 implies a familiarity. Since, in the case of Simon Nlagus, the offer to 'purchase the gift of God with money' (Acts viii :2o) called forth an immediate and awful rebuke from the apostles, would not Balaam's attempt to obtain a similar gift with a direct view to personal emolu ment and fame have met with a similar repulse? Dr. H. supposes, indeed, that there was a mixture of a higher order of sentiments, a sense of the wants of his moral nature, which led him to seek Jehovah, and laid a foundation for intercourse with him. In the absence of more copious and precise information, may we not reasonably con jecture that Jacob's residence for twenty years in Mesopotamia contributed to maintain some just ideas of religion, though mingled with much su perstition? To this source and the existing re mains of Patriarchal religion Balaam was proba bly indebted for that truth which he unhappily 'held in unrighteousness' (Rom. i :18).