Page 48 - BV1

The fragments are believed to be from an in- As for what finally happened to the Prophet
scribed commemorative stone slab, presuma- Balaam, son of Beor, the fragments found at
bly part of an ancient sanctuary wall. They Deir Alla do not elaborate. The Book of Num-
were written in ink in an Aramaic dialect bers, however, records that God commanded
which suggests that they were penned by either Moses to make war on the Midianites.
a Moabite or one of the neighboring nationali-
ties east of the Jordan River. Indeed, the Israelites did just that and killed the
five kings of Midian who had once sent their
The tablets were found outside a building, elders to convince Balaam to curse them. In
thrown there during an earthquake or fire. In- addition, "they put to death also Balaam son of
deed, fire charred a portion of the texts. Other Beor..." (Numbers 31:8)
remnants of the texts may still lie in the
ground. Masada Adds to Textile

After Balak's failure to make Balaam curse History
the Israelites, Numbers 25 records how the
children of Israel were seduced by the daugh- 'A lively interest in history may be the more
ters of Moab and enticed to commit idolatry easily provoked when the bald notices of im-
by worshiping Moabite gods. According to portant events are correctly set into a back-
Numbers 31:16, Balaam's counsel was be- ground of the detail in the daily lives of a
hind this scheme. He had hoped to help defeat people. Therefore, it is encouraging to learn
Israel after the attempt to curse them failed. something more of those in the Jewish resis-
Years later, Jewish rabbis came to associate tance movement which occupied the ancient
Balaam with all that was evil in "the [pagan] stronghold of Masada over 1900 years ago.
nations." Indeed, Balaam's oracle of the "star
from Jacob" prompted generations of Jewish 'At the time the Romans were sacking Jerusa-
rabbis to refer to the pagan nations as "the lem, the zealous Sicarii fled with their families
worshippers of the stars." (b. Sanh. 59a) The to the almost impregnable fortress near the
New Testament also cites Balaam as an ex- western shore of the Dead Sea. They made use
ample of someone who took money for wrong of the buildings erected there as a winter resort
purposes. He was, therefore, compared with by King Herod c. 40 B.C., and it was there they
false teachers in the Church (2 Pet. 2:15) and made their stand against the Roman army.
with those who "compromise with the world"
(Rev. 2:14). 'The siege continued until A.D. 73, when the
remaining zealots (Sacarii) -- 1,000 men
Although the Prophet Ballam's legacy is women and children -- burned what they pos-
generally deemed negative, there is also a sessed and killed themselves rather than sur-
possible positive aspect of Balaam which render to Rome. Today the Israelis look upon
should not be overlooked. The Magi in Mat- Masada as a symbol of their statehood and it
thew's Gospel which came to worship the in- reminds them also of their ancient roots.
fant child -- the first non-Jews to recognize the
Messiah -- are considered by some scholars to 'However, it was during excavations under-
be connected to Balaam. He may well have taken there from 1963 to 1965 by the Hebrew
been the founder of their order. University of Jerusalem that about 3,000 frag-
ments of textiles were found. Mostly of cloth-
ing, these include pieces of cloaks and tunics,

48