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Prophetism is a widespread practice throughout the Bible. Both the Old and New Testaments present men and women who were true heralds of the God of Israel. However, there are other characters who also claim to speak of Yahweh. One of them is Balaam. Such characters are ambiguous and, in many cases, may appear to be legitimate men of God. Thus, this work will seek to understand the relationship between Balaam - a supposed prophet of God -and Yahweh from the appropriation that this seer made of the sacred name of this Deity, as described in the narrative of Numbers 22.13. Furthermore, this research will establish the relationship between the practices of Balaam, who claimed to speak in the name of Yahweh, and those of people who claim to be representatives of God in contemporary times. In this way, Balaam will be presented as an example of a relationship with Yahweh to be avoided by all those who place themselves as true messengers of God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes that the variant Baλaά in the text of Jude 11 be read in light of theological tendency in the Bodmer codex, especially as evidenced in the christological variants of. Initially, scholarly opinion dismissed the 'Balaak' reading as nothing more than an inexperienced copyist's careless mistake. Though recognizing the older view to be unsatisfactory, recent explanations are also inadequate. Given neutral or positive traditions about Balaam in Judaism, and in the context of the early Christian belief that the Spirit of Christ inspired the OT Prophets (including Balaam), the article makes a case for reevaluation of the variant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strange character of Numbers 22–24 as a story about foreigners and their attempts to rule YHWH can successfully be read with Homi Bhabha's concept of hybridity and Gayatri Spivak's subaltern. Focusing on the characters' relationships in this text, Balak is the hegemon and Balaam the subaltern, and this constitutes much of their communicational failures. The donkey's episode serves as a lesson for the reader as well as for Balaam who is the hegemon in this case: he learns—as Balak does not—that God is the real worldly and 'wordly' hegemon. This monotheistic message is explained to the Judaean readers/listeners through non-Judean protagonists. Many details point to an origin of the final text in a reception of the deuteronomistic YHWH/Assur/Israel constellation and theology in Persian times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]