The Strange Tale of Balaam and His Talking Donkey

Episode 8: The Strange Tale of Balaam and His Talking Donkey

The seer Balaam from the book of Numbers was famous even outside the Bible. Over time, however, he became seen as an extremely negative figure in Judaism and Christianity. This legacy is complicated by the contents of his oracles, which were believed to predict the Jewish messiah. Oh yeah, and he had donkey that could talk.

Contents:
0:03 - Prologue
0:37 - Balaam outside the Bible
2:34 - The main Balaam story
7:21 - The vilification of Balaam
9:18 - Harmonizing the Balaam stories
11:22 - The talking donkey
13:50 - From villain to messianic prophet
15:51 - Jesus Christ, super star
18:13 - The Balaam blame game
20:21 - Easter egg

Special thanks to John Kesler for consultation and advice.

Related blog post:
⦾ https://isthatinthebible.wordpress.co...

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Academic sources:
⦾ Jonathan Miles Robker, Balaam in Text and Tradition, 2019
⦾ Baruch A. Levine, Numbers 21–36 (Anchor Yale Bible Commentary), 2000
⦾ Baruch A. Levine, “The Deir ‘Alla Plaster Inscriptions (The Book of Balaam, son of Beor)”, The Context of Scripture, Volume 2, 2000
⦾ John Van Seters, “From Faithful Prophet to Villain: Observations on the Tradition History of the Balaam Story”, in A Biblical Itinerary: In Search of Method, Form and Content, 2009
⦾ Philippe Wajdenbaum, Argonauts of the Desert: Structural Analysis of the Hebrew Bible, 2011
⦾ Tzemah L. Yoreh, The First Book of God, 2010

Music by Fesliyan Studios (fesliyanstudios.com), Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au), Tim Moor, and Patrick Patrikios.