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Deir Alla Balaam Inscription

'Balaam son of Beor, seer of the gods' written on a plaster wall

Conquest & Judges · inscription · Accepted by scholars · found 1967

Drawing of ancient ink text on plaster fragments
Photo: Disdero · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons — Reconstructed drawing of the Deir Alla Balaam inscription.

Found 1967 — Henk J. Franken, Leiden University expedition (Dutch)

Where Tell Deir Alla, east Jordan Valley near the Jabbok (Zarqa) river (possibly biblical Succoth) (Jordan)

Dates from c. 840–760 BCE · Iron Age IIB · Divided Kingdom text about a Wilderness/Conquest-era figure

Now at Jordan Archaeological Museum, Amman Citadel

Names a biblical person Balaam, Beor (identification with the biblical seer widely accepted but not certain)

How Deir Alla Balaam Inscription was found

In March 1967 fragments of painted plaster were found fallen from the wall of a room destroyed by earthquake. The fragments were pieced together into two 'combinations' of text written in red and black ink with rubrics, like a page of a book copied onto a wall.

What it is

About 119 plaster fragments with text in a Northwest Semitic dialect between Aramaic and Canaanite, written in an Aramaic-type script. The opening line reads: 'The account of Balaam son of Beor, a seer of the gods.' The gods come to him at night with a message of coming darkness and disaster, and he weeps and fasts.

Why it matters for the Bible

This is the only non-biblical text to name a person from the Torah's wilderness narrative: Bil'am ben Be'or (Balaam son of Beor), the foreign prophet of Bemidbar 22–24, remembered here in the very region east of the Jordan where the Bible places him. The inscription is centuries later than the story, so it does not prove the events, but it shows Balaam was a famous seer in Transjordanian tradition, with the same name, father, and role as a visionary receiving night messages from the gods.

The Hebrew word: cho-ZEH

חֹזֶה

חֹזֶה is pronounced cho-ZEH and means seer, visionary (Strong's H2374).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

Balaam hired by Balak to curse Israel (Numbers 22-24) · Balaam killed in the war with Midian (Numbers 31:8) · Gideon punishes Succoth (Judges 8)

Deir Alla Balaam Inscription in Scripture

Numbers 22:5 'Balaam the son of Beor'; the inscription opens with exactly this name and patronym. (First mention of Balaam.)

Numbers 22:20 Elohim came to Balaam at night; the inscription likewise has the gods visiting him by night.

Numbers 24:3-4 Balaam 'who sees the vision of Shaddai'; the text calls him a seer of the gods and mentions the Shaddayin.

Questions people ask

What is Deir Alla Balaam Inscription?
About 119 plaster fragments with text in a Northwest Semitic dialect between Aramaic and Canaanite, written in an Aramaic-type script. The opening line reads: 'The account of Balaam son of Beor, a seer of the gods.' The gods come to him at night with a message of coming darkness and disaster, and he weeps and fasts.

When was Deir Alla Balaam Inscription discovered?
It was found in 1967 by Henk J. Franken, Leiden University expedition (Dutch), at Tell Deir Alla, east Jordan Valley near the Jabbok (Zarqa) river (possibly biblical Succoth).

Where is Deir Alla Balaam Inscription today?
Jordan Archaeological Museum, Amman Citadel.

Which Bible verses does Deir Alla Balaam Inscription relate to?
Numbers 22:5, Numbers 22:20, Numbers 24:3-4.

Related discoveries

Sources

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