The Prestige of the Pagan Prophet Balaam in Judaism, Early Christianity and Islam

The Prestige of the Pagan Prophet Balaam in Judaism, Early Christianity and Islam......Page 4
Editorial Statement......Page 10
Introduction......Page 12
Contributors......Page 20
Part I: Balaam in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East, and Comparable Figures in Ancient Greece......Page 22
1. Introduction......Page 24
2. The Geographical Scenery and Biblical Background......Page 25
3. The Two Main Lines of the History of Reception......Page 28
4. Balaam: Good Guy or Bad?......Page 31
5. The Texts outside Numbers 22–24......Page 32
6. From Blessing Israel to Death Penalty......Page 37
2. Émile Puech: Balaˁam and Deir ˁAlla......Page 46
Balaˁam at Deir ˁAlla......Page 61
Introduction......Page 70
1. The professional seer in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean......Page 71
2. Mopsus......Page 73
3. Melampous......Page 81
4. Excursus: Female travelling seers......Page 87
5. Conclusion......Page 88
Part II: Balaaam in Ancient Judaism......Page 90
4. Florentino García Martínez: Balaam in the Dead Sea Scrolls......Page 92
1. Numbers 22–24 at Qumran......Page 93
2. The Sceptre and Star Prophecy......Page 96
5. Eibert Tigchelaar: A Qumran Cave 2 Fragment Preserving Part of Numbers 23:5–7[8] (2Q29 1)......Page 104
1. 1 Enoch 1:2–3b and Num 24:15–17a......Page 108
2. The Use of Scripture in 1 Enoch 1......Page 112
3. Enoch and Balaam......Page 117
4. Conclusions......Page 120
7. Jacques T.A.G.M. van Ruiten: The Rewriting of Numbers 22–24 in Pseudo-Philo, Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 18......Page 122
An Overall Comparison of Numbers 22–24 and Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 18......Page 125
The Ambiguity of Balaam......Page 131
The First Invitation (lab 18:2d–7f)......Page 132
The second invitation (lab 18:7g–9)......Page 135
The Discourse of Balaam (lab 18:10–13)......Page 137
Conclusion......Page 141
APPENDIX......Page 142
8. George H. van Kooten: Balaam as the Sophist Par Excellence in Philo of Alexandria: Philo's Projection of an Urgent Contemporary Debate onto Moses' Pentateuchal Narratives......Page 152
1. Balaam in Philo’s thought......Page 156
2. Philo’s Anti-Sophistic Programme......Page 163
3. Philo’s application to the philosophical discussion of his day......Page 174
Epilogue: The function of the Old Testament narratives in Philo......Page 179
1. Introduction......Page 184
2. The ‘Messianic Ingredients’ of the Bar Kokhba Revolt......Page 187
3. ‘Star-Messianism’ in the Diaspora? —The Fifth Sibylline Oracle......Page 200
4. Conclusions......Page 209
Introduction......Page 210
§1. Introduction to the Speaker (Num 24:15–16)......Page 211
Concluding remarks on Number 24:15–16......Page 217
§2. The Content of the Oracle (Num 24:17–19)......Page 219
Concluding remarks on Numbers 24:17–19......Page 231
11. Ronit Nikolsky: Interpret Him as Much as You Want: Balaam in the Babylonian Talmud......Page 234
The Pericope about Balaam in the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 90a–106b)......Page 235
1. Summary and Analysis of the BT Pericope (Sanhedrin 90a –106b)......Page 237
The BT Point of View As It Appears in the Representation of the Biblical Balaam Story......Page 245
2. Old Wine in New Jars: Narrative Continuum......Page 246
Concluding Summary......Page 251
Part III: Balaam in the New Testament and Early Christianity......Page 252
12. Tobias Nicklas: Balaam and the Star of the Magi......Page 254
Conclusion......Page 267
1. Introduction......Page 268
2. Literary Context......Page 269
3. The accusations concerning Balaam’s teaching......Page 271
4. Three Avenues for Contextualising Rev 2:14......Page 281
5. Conclusion......Page 283
1. Balaam in Jude and 2 Peter......Page 286
2. Balaam in 2 Peter 2:12–16......Page 288
3. Balaam and the false prophets in 2 Peter 2:1–3......Page 293
4. Balaam—heretic par préférence or prophet......Page 294
1. Speaking animals in the Apocryphal Acts......Page 296
2. Speaking asses in the Acts of Thomas......Page 297
3. Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem......Page 299
4. The Ass Novel......Page 301
5. Ὄνος ἄγει μυστήρια......Page 302
6. Cognitive considerations about speaking animals......Page 304
1. Introduction......Page 308
2. Num 24:17 in the Fathers: foretelling the incarnation......Page 310
3. The ‘star’ of Num 24:17 and the star of the Magi......Page 313
4. Balaam’s star and the Church Fathers’ polemic against astrology......Page 316
5. Balaam: An ambiguous character......Page 317
Part IV: Balaam in the Koran and Early Koranic Commentaries......Page 322
1. ‘He to whom We gave Our signs’—Balaam in the Koran?......Page 324
2. The earliest period of Koranic commentary (8th/9th cent. CE)......Page 325
3. Later Koranic commentaries......Page 326
4. Conclusion......Page 329
I.  Hebrew Bible......Page 330
II.  Apocrypha and Septuagint......Page 335
III.  Pseudepigrapha......Page 336
V.  Philo of Alexandria......Page 337
4. Babylonian Talmud......Page 339
6. Targumim......Page 340
1. Authors......Page 341
3. Inscriptions......Page 344
1. New Testament......Page 345
2. Patristic and other Christian Writings......Page 346
X. Koran and Koranic Commentaries......Page 348
Back Matter......Page 350