Introduction
An Aramaic text referred to as the Balaam Inscription was discovered during excavations at Deir Alla, Jordan, near the Jordan River. The poetic text had been written on a wall with black and red ink, using plaster as the medium. The plaster artifact dates from the 9th century BC, although it told a story from centuries earlier.
So far, 119 fragments have been recovered and pieced together. Although the text is still incomplete, it is a significant archaeological find, not only because of its historical and religious information, but because it is one of the oldest existing pieces of Aramaic literature.
The story relates how a man named Balaam, son of Beor, described as a seer or prophet, received a mysterious revelation from the gods one night especially from the god El. El is used in the original Hebrew of our Bible’s to describe the One True God and comes in several variations such as Elohim, Eloah, El-Shaddai, and El-Elyon. The text goes on to mention that darkness and chaos would be coming to the land due to the work of hostile gods, and further tells that Balaam went through various religious rituals in an attempt to appease those gods.
Although the text is unclear because of its fragmentary condition, the careful and artistic composition of this text, writ large on the wall of a building, indicates the importance of the story and of Balaam the Seer.
Summary
The existence of the Balaam Inscription demonstrates that Balaam, son of Beor, was known as a famous seer in the area on the east side of the Jordan River during the time of the Israelites’ desert wanderings, and corroborates the account recorded in the book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible.
