Bilam
d. c. 1273 BCE · Biblical era · Moab (the Moabite plateau)
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Bilam son of Beor was a renowned non-Israelite seer. Balak, king of Moab, sent for him from Pethor 'by the River' to curse Israel, who were camped on the steppes of Moab (Numbers 22:1-6). Deuteronomy places Pethor in Aram-naharaim, upper Mesopotamia (Deuteronomy 23:5). God first forbade him to go, then allowed it. On the way his donkey, seeing an angel with a drawn sword, refused to go on and spoke to him (Numbers 22:12-35). From three high places he tried to curse Israel, but each time blessings came out instead. Among them are 'There is a people that dwells apart' (Numbers 23:9) and 'How fair are your tents, O Jacob' (Numbers 24:5). Numbers 31:16 later blames the people's sin at Peor on his advice, and he was killed in the war against Midian (Numbers 31:8). The Mishnah calls him 'Bilam the wicked' (Avot 5:19). Modern scholars note an inscription found in 1967 at Deir Alla in Jordan, dated to about the 9th-8th century BCE. It names 'Balaam son of Beor', a seer of the gods, as a figure known outside the Bible.
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Moab (the Moabite plateau)Transjordan, east of the Dead Sea (Jordan)
What they did here
Balak met him at Ir-Moab on the Arnon border and took him to Bamoth-baal to view Israel's camp (Numbers 22:36-41). These sites are not identified, so the pin is regional. His home, Pethor 'by the River' (Numbers 22:5; Deuteronomy 23:5), is NOT pinned because its location is uncertain.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Bilam’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Bilam’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn from recorded birth and death years (reign years for rulers whose lives are undated); where only one end of a life is known, a span of about 70 years is assumed.
Jewish world
- Miriam bat Amram (the Prophetess)· 1399 BCE–1273 BCE
- Aharon ben Amram (the first Kohen Gadol)· 1396 BCE–1273 BCE
- Yehoshua bin Nun (Joshua son of Nun)· 1355 BCE–1245 BCE
- Kalev ben Yefuneh (Caleb)· b. 1352 BCE
- Betzalel ben Uri (Bezalel, builder of the Mishkan)· b. 1326 BCE
- The Seventy Elders of Israel (the Sanhedrin appointed by Moshe)· 1310 BCE–1240 BCE
- Pinchas ben Elazar HaKohen· 1280 BCE–1180 BCE
Egyptian world
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.