Greek word · G903

Βαλαάμ

balaam

Balaam

Proper name, Hebrew Bilʿām. The seer from Pethor hired by Balak of Moab to curse Israel (Numbers 22–24). He could only bless Israel, but Numbers 31:16 says Israel's sin at Peor came 'by the word of Balaam'.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

Βαλαάμ, ὁ, indecl. (Heb. בִּלְעָם), as in LXX (FlJ has ὁ βάλαμος);

Balaam (Num.22-24): 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, Revelation 2:14.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Revelation 2:14

Range of meaning

Proper name, Hebrew Bilʿām. The seer from Pethor hired by Balak of Moab to curse Israel (Numbers 22–24). He could only bless Israel, but Numbers 31:16 says Israel's sin at Peor came 'by the word of Balaam'.

Against the English

Many readers know Balaam only as the man with the talking donkey, or (from 2 Peter 2:15 and Jude 11) as the prophet who prophesied for money. Revelation's 'teaching of Balaam' is a different emphasis: it is his scheme to lead Israel into idolatrous feasting and sexual unfaithfulness.

Used elsewhere in the period

Numbers 31:16 and Deuteronomy 23:4–5. Nehemiah 13:2. Philo, Life of Moses 1.294–299, where Balaam advises using the women of Moab as bait to draw Israel away from its God. Josephus, Antiquities 4.126–130, where Balaam counsels Balak to send beautiful young women who will require the young men to give up their ancestral laws and worship Moab's gods. Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 18.13. A rabbinic play on words (b. Sanhedrin 105a) links his name with destroying or 'swallowing' the people (bālaʿ ʿām).

Where it appears

2 Peter · 1

  1. 2 Peter 2:15 Βαλαὰμ of Balaam

    They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

    Here: The non-Israelite seer of Numbers 22–24. Balak king of Moab hired him to curse Israel. By the first century Jews remembered him as the model of the prophet-for-hire.

Jude · 1

  1. Jude 1:11 Βαλαὰμ of Balaam

    Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

    Here: The foreign seer King Balak hired to curse Israel (Numbers 22–24). Numbers 31:16 blames his advice for Israel's sexual and idolatrous sin at Peor. Tradition made him the prophet for hire who led God's people astray.

Revelation · 1

  1. Revelation 2:14 Βαλαάμ, of Balaam,

    But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

    Here: The non-Israelite seer of Numbers 22–24. By the first century, Jewish tradition remembered him as the man whose advice led Israel into the sin at Peor (Numbers 25; 31:16). He is used here as a code name for a group in the church.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.