Though a relatively obscure Old Testament character, the New Testament makes a number of references to Balaam. Peter, Jude, and John all mention him explicitly; Paul likewise alludes to him. Consider these verses:
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness.” (2 Peter 2:15)
Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion. (Jude 11)
In describing false teachers this way, the New Testament authors identify Balaam as a prototypical false teacher, worthy of special consideration. To understand false teaching, we ought to understand Balaam.
Notably, Balaam is not distinguished as a false prophet by false propositions but instead by his own motivations and how he motivated others. Specifically, he is distinguished by his motivation of greed and his appeal to the sensuality of others. In giving Balaam as an exemplar, The New Testament teaches us to calibrate our discernment of false teachers around these features.
The Importance of Tradition
Before we begin in earnest, some explanation and justification of our approach is warranted. We will not only rely on Old Testament Scripture, but likewise make extensive use of tradition. The primary point—that Balaam is to be regarded as a prototypical false prophet—may be demonstrated exclusively from the pages of Scripture, but it is heavily corroborated by a consideration of tradition. This is because the nature of the NT—and even the later OT—allusions to Balaam are designed to appeal to an understanding of him that does not merely come from Scripture but is likewise informed by tradition.
To offer a simple example, consider the words of Paul to Timothy:
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth (2 Timothy 3:8)
One can read this and understand it well enough without actually knowing details of who Jannes and Jambres are. They are men who opposed Moses. But the weight of the analogy is strengthened when informed by tradition. Though never mentioned in the Old Testament, Jannes and Jambres are the two sons of Balaam in a prophetic sense—that is, they are his apprentices. In the service of Pharaoh, under Balaam’s direction, they were the magicians who turned their staves into serpents.[1] Recognizing this connection to Pharaoh and Balaam establishes multiple associations of greed that would not otherwise be obvious (Heb 11:24-26; 2 Peter 2:15). For its full effect, Paul is counting on his original audience (Timothy) having some familiarity with these characters as they exist in legend, whether historical truth or embellishment.
As we will see, this Balaam tradition will be helpful to us beyond 2 Timothy 3:8. To that end, a brief survey of the Balaam narrative is in order.
Balaam in Scripture and Tradition
Numbers 22 introduces Balaam the son of Beor as one who is capable of blessing and cursing. While he is not expressly called a prophet, he fulfills a prophetic function, speaking with the Spirit of God on him (Num 24:2). Moreover, he is not merely a prophet, but a prophet of God, speaking of Yahweh by name as his own God (Num 22:18).
Details of Balaam are not merely recorded in the Bible, but in other sources as well. In 1967, the discovery of the Deir ‘Alla inscription provided Mesopotamian evidence of the seer, Balaam son of Beor.[2] Recorded in a Semitic dialect, this resource even speaks of the equivalent of “Shaddai” (the Almighty) and “Elohim” (God). Note that these are the exact titles used to describe Balaam as one who hears the words of God (Elohim) and sees the vision of the Almighty (Shaddai) in Numbers 24:4, 16. Typical scholarship emends Shaddai to a plural and regards “elohim” to refer to a divine counsel,[3] making Balaam to be a prophet of some other gods, but the text ultimately confirms the biblical narrative of Balaam as a trans-Jordan prophet of the true God.
Jewish legend offers all sorts of details that precede his appearance in Numbers 22, some more fanciful than others. He is a shield-bearer for Zepho the king of Kittim; He is Laban or a descendent of Laban; he received his donkey as a gift from Jacob, he counseled Pharaoh to drown the Hebrew children and make the Israelites produce bricks.[4] However scant these assertions may be, more universally in tradition, he is blind in one eye and lame in one foot.[5]
Balaam’s Hire
Moab and Midian are overcome with fear because of the growing number of Israelite people, so Balak the king of Moab summons Balaam to curse the people of Israel. Consulting with Yahweh, Balaam finds that God will not permit him to curse the people, so Balaam hesitates, but then obliges when the Lord says that he may go so long as he does not take any further action.
While the New Testament speaks of Balaam operating out of greed, Numbers 22:7 speaks of messengers being sent with “divination” in their hand. Since the Vulgate, this has generally been translated as a “divination fee.”[6] Balaam responds that he could not accomplish this maladiction even if Balak were to offer his house full of silver and gold (Num 22:18; 24:13). Only later does it explicitly speak of him as hired (Deu 23:4; cf. Neh 13:2).
Jewish tradition is explicit on the point of Balaam’s greed. He was one who not only wanted Balak’s gold, but was also envious of Israel’s good fortune.[7] Balaam has an evil eye, a haughty spirit, and limitless appetite.[8] While Balaam’s mentions of gold and silver to modern readers may indicate his refusal to sell the word of God, tradition universally regards as indicating his avarice.[9] He is frequently grouped with Gehazi, the servant of Elisha who sold the work of God for silver.[10]
Balaam’s Donkey
Perhaps the most memorable point in Balaam’s narrative is that of his donkey. The Lord is angry that Balaam has taken his permission to go, and sends the Angel of the Lord to block his path. Only the donkey can see this and refuses to move forward. After Balaam strikes the donkey three times, she speaks to him in rebuke. Balaam confesses his sin, but then continues when the Lord gives him permission once again.
Jewish legend elaborates heavily on Balaam’s donkey.[11] It is said that the mouth of this donkey was created on the twilight that ended the sixth day of creation.[12] Additionally, it contains a number of assertions that Balaam would engage in bestiality with this donkey in order to stir up the wicked spirit necessary to effect his sorcery.[13]
Numbers 22:21 speaks of Balaam rising up to saddle his donkey. Because the same Hebrew phrase is used in Genesis 22:3, Balaam’s activity is often compared to Abraham’s.[14] The former was moved by hate to curse Israel and the latter by love to sacrifice Isaac.
Balaam’s Temptation
Balaam sets out to honor Balak’s wishes to curse the people, but because the Spirit of the Lord is on him, he can only bless the people. This takes place in four oracles containing a number of memorable passages. Prophesying the Messiah, he says that a star will come from Jacob and a scepter from Israel (Num 24:17). Expressing his own pious desires, he says, “Let me die the death of the righteous.” After repeatedly failing to curse Israel, Balaam and Balak part ways.
However, this is not the end of Balaam’s efforts to help Balak within the particular constraints he has been handed by the Lord. While he cannot curse the people, he can instruct Balak in how to tempt the people into sin. Specifically, he does so by having their women tempt the men of Israel into false worship.
The details of Balaam’s temptations are recorded a number of times throughout Jewish tradition.[15] He instructed the Moabite women to set up tents where elderly women would invite the Israelites in to purchase their wares. Inside, young women immodestly dressed would give them wine and invite them to fornicate so long as they were willing to worship Baal of Peor. The kind of worship that was required is variably reported—eating, undressing, even defecating—but the Israelites considered it sufficiently unlike a typical act of idolatry that they willingly engaged. Likewise these young women would appeal to their common ancestry in Terah (Gen 11:31). The common interpretation, however, is that their behavior stems directly from their ancestry in Lot through his illicit relations with his daughters (Gen 19:34-37).
While this sexual sin and idolatry is recounted in Numbers 25, immediately after the Balaam narrative, we only learn of Balaam’s involvement later in Numbers 31.
Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the LORD at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the LORD. (Numbers 31:16)
In zeal for the Lord, Phinehas runs a spear through an Israelite and his Midianite consort, at which the Lord withdraws the plague.
Balaam’s Death
In Numbers 31, the Israelites attack the Midianites in vengeance, killing their five kings and Balaam (Num 31:8; cf. Josh 13:22). Jewish Legend elaborates that when Balaam was struck down with the five Midianite kings, he was present in order to receive his reward for tempting the Israelites. As a powerful sorcerer, he had the ability to fly, which he used to attempt to escape with these kings from the forces of Israel. He fell injured when Phinehas—his chief opponent—prayed to the Lord.[16] Afterward, Phinehas killed him with his own sword. His body was left to rot and his bones transformed into snakes.[17]
It is said that he was thirty-three or thirty-four years old when he died.[18] This demonstrates the truth of Psalm 55:23, that the wicked do not live out half their days.[19] Of course, this is not compatible with other legends about Balaam that would make him an adult at the time of Moses’s birth, but the point of these traditions is often to establish an instructive image of a false prophet rather than to record history itself.
The Prototypical False Teacher
All three sources—The Old Testament, Jewish Legend, and the New Testament—present Balaam as a prototypical false prophet/teacher. That is, among false teachers, he is a first and primary example for consideration.
In the Old Testament, beyond his sizable presence in the Pentateuch and Joshua, he is recalled later by Nehemiah and Micah. In Jewish legend, Balaam is regarded as a prophet like Moses, or even greater than Moses.[20]
Of course, as the inspired interpretation of the Old Testament, our primary concern is the New Testament. Balaam is explicitly mentioned in 2 Peter 2:15; Jude 1:11; Revelation 2:14; and then by association in 2 Timothy 3:8 with the mention of Jannes and Jambres. Note that this does not represent the fascination of one apostle, but rather four New Testament authors—Paul, Peter, Jude, John—all draw from his example to the exclusion of other Old Testament false prophets.
Paul’s Reference to Peor
Arguably, Paul associates the false apostles of Corinth with Balaam. The apostle addresses a number of ills in 1 Corinthians that are corrected by the time of 2 Corinthians, but one remains. At the climax of the letter, Paul implores them to be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:21) and then broaches the issue:
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)
While mirror reading—the task of trying to understand the concrete issues Paul addresses—is a difficult task, can there be any doubt that the super-apostles of 2 Corinthians are behind this syncretistic approach to pagan culture? Paul argues that it is the super apostles that have led them astray (2 Cor 11:3), and in his appeal for their repentance, he assures the Corinthians that his heart is wide open to them, later asserting the same in contention with the supposed affection of the super-apostles (2 Cor 11:7,11).
The notion of being “yoked with unbelievers” has been interpreted in various ways, but the most direct (and traditional) understanding is that they have continued in the sin of idolatry and food sacrificed to idols that Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 8 & 10.[21] Of that sin, Paul explains,
We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. (1 Corinthians 10:8)
He refers here to the incident at Peor. As such, he uses the image of Balaam’s temptation to describe the super-apostles’ appeals to the flesh.
Peter’s Allusions to Balaam
Peter’s mention of Balaam is worth additional consideration because it extends further than one may initially realize. The apostle warns against false prophets in the whole of 2 Peter 2 but arguably continues through 2 Peter 3:4-7 to scoffers who would reject true prophecy. His explicit mention of Balaam comes in the middle of all of this:
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. (2 Peter 2:15-16)
Yet earlier, Peter describes false prophets as “blaspheming glorious ones” and as “irrational animals” lacking the sensibilities to understand spiritual things (2 Peter 2:10,12). Does this not allude to Balaam, the one who opposed the Angel of the Lord because he literally lacked the spiritual sense of a donkey? Note that Jude makes the association more directly in subsequent verses, describing false teachers as blaspheming angels like irrational animals and as similar to Balaam (Jude 10-11).[22]
Moreover, in chapter 3, when Peter speaks of scoffers, he directly alludes to Balaam. Peter writes,
But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world of that time perished in the flood. And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:5-7)
Peter’s audience, having some familiarity with extra-biblical understandings of Old Testament characters, would see the connection. Louis Ginzberg summarizes Jewish sources that account events that transpired when the Lord descended on Sinai:
The kings of the earth trembled in their palaces, and they all came to the villain Balaam, and asked him if God intended the same fate for them as for the generation of the flood. But Balaam said to them: “O ye fools! The Holy One, blessed be He, has long since promised Noah never again to punish the world with a flood.” The kings of the heathen, however, were not quieted, and furthermore said: “God has indeed promised never again to bring a flood upon the world, but perhaps He now means to destroy it by means of fire.” Balaam said: "Nay, God will not destroy the world either through fire or through water.[23]
In other words, throughout the entire passage of 2 Peter 2:10-3:7, Peter uses Balaam as his template to concretely characterize false prophets.
Legendary Associations of Simon the Sorcerer with Balaam
Did the early Christians understand the instruction of the New Testament to identify those who would commercialize spiritual things as being akin to the false prophet Balaam? We have reason to suspect the answer is “yes,” but may require much more in order to fully demonstrate. However, one observation may be made here about the early Christian views of Simon the Sorcerer, who treated the Holy Spirit as a matter of sale (Acts 8:9-24).
Recorded in the apocryphal Acts of Peter and the Acts of Peter and Paul, Peter contends with Simon before Nero, sometime after the event of Acts 8.[24] In order to demonstrate his powers, Simon flies overhead, demons carrying him. Peter prays to the Lord, and Simon falls, breaking his leg, his body being kept, Nero thinking he would arise on the third day.[25] This legend is depicted in numerous works of Christian art throughout the centuries.
The similarities to the legend of Balaam should be apparent.
| Balaam the Sorcerer | Simon the Sorcerer |
|---|---|
| Had the power to fly | Had the power to fly |
| Was opposed in flight by the prayer of his chief opponent, Phinehas (Phinehas opposes Balaam’s purchased work of temptation in Numbers 25) | Was opposed in flight by the prayer of his chief opponent, Peter (Peter opposes Simon’s attempted purchase of the Holy Spirit in Acts 8) |
| Fell to his injury | Fell to his injury |
| Became lame in one leg from the incident with the donkey | Became lame in one leg from his fall |
| Died after being cut by Phinehas | Died after being cut by physicians |
| Was not buried | Was kept uninterred for three days in Nero’s false anticipation of his resurrection |
What accounts for these similarities? Is it not that early Christians understood the New Testament association of false teachers with Balaam? In particular, those who engage in the commerce of spiritual things should be identified with the Old Testament prophet for hire.
The point is not that we as Christians should accept any of these apocryphal stories as true. In fact, perhaps the point is made stronger by these merely being legends and not historic truths: Early Christians took to heart the New Testament authors’ use of the Balaam of legend as the quintessential religion grifter. They identified Simon as being like Balaam, and so are all who would treat the Word and Spirit as salable.
The Character of a False Teacher
So if the Bible presents Balaam as a prototypical false teacher—an exemplar to instruct us—what exactly does Balaam show us about the nature of a false teacher?
The most striking thing about Balaam is that he is not a false teacher in the way that most people think of a false teacher: one who promotes false propositions. In fact, this is one of the most important details in the primary narrative regarding Balaam: He is only able to speak the words that God puts in his mouth and is unable—or at least refuses—to go beyond them.[26] In choosing an exemplar, Scripture does not point to Hananiah, who contended with Jeremiah and falsely declared peace. It did not point us to Zedekiah who contended with Micaiah and falsely declared victory. It points us to Balaam, who declared only what is true.
Rather than lies, Balaam is characterized by his internal motivation of greed and his external appeal to sensuality. Concerning greed, he is one who “loved the wages of wickedness” (2 Pet 2:15). Those who follow him do so “for payment” (Jude 1:11). Concerning temptations to sensuality, those who encourage sexual immorality hold to the teaching of Balaam (Rev 2:14). Even Paul’s mention of Jannes and Jambres suggests this, claiming those who are like these sons of Balaam would “captivate vulnerable women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions” (2 Tim 3:6). Likewise, Peter labels him as a “son of the flesh,” making a play on words by replacing the name Beor with “Bosor,” sounding similar to the Hebrew word for flesh, “basar” (2 Pet 2:15; cf verse 18).
These attributes characterize false teachers as they are generally presented in the epistles, not just when directly associated with Balaam.
- For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. (Romans 16:18)
- These men regard godliness as a means of gain. (1 Timothy 6:5)
- For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)
- For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not. (Titus 11)
- In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you (2 Peter 2:3)
- Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed. (2 Peter 2:14)
- Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. (2 Peter 2:10)
- With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh (2 Peter 2:18)
These two vices of greed and sensuality form the merism of the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” (Exod 20:17). Consider how even beyond Balaam, false teachers are characterized by covetousness, that is, discontentment. At the end of his description of false teachers, Jude summarizes: “These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires” (Jude 16). Taking some liberty to rephrase with synonyms, “They are covetous, covetous, covetous.”
None of this is to deny that Scripture warns against heresy, only to affirm that false doctrine is de-emphasized as a derivative feature of false teachers. We are told repeatedly that false doctrine arises from such motives and indicates that someone necessarily indicates greed.
- If anyone teaches another doctrine…These men regard godliness as a means of gain…For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. (1 Timothy 6:3,5,10)
- Watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned…For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. (Romans 16:17-18)
- Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies…They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed. (2 Peter 2:3,14)
Greed drives false teachers to give instruction that accords with the fleshly desires of their audience.
Concluding Reflections
Admittedly, in focusing on Balaam, we have left some stones unturned. Jesus speaks of discerning false prophets by their fruits (Matt. 7:15-20). John teaches us to test the spirits by seeing whether they confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (1 John 4:3). Perhaps some may even point to these as counter-examples, indicating we are to primarily employ a doctrine-based assessment of false teachers. Each may be demonstrated to be in harmony with the approach presented here, but regardless, the recurring presentation of Balaam as a prototypical false teacher demands our attention.
On this point, an analogy is commonly offered: Those who detect counterfeit money do not study examples of counterfeits, but rather authentic currency. Therefore, to detect false teaching, there is little value in pondering examples of false teaching. Rather, we should concern ourselves with true teaching. While this analogy has some truth to it, ultimately, it must be tempered by this simple observation: the Bible commands us to consider examples of false teaching. More than that, the assumption behind that analogy of counterfeit currency is that the detection of false teachers lies exclusively in a critical evaluation of the propositions they communicate. Yet, this is not the primary emphasis when we regard examples like Balaam.
We must recalibrate how we think of false teachers. While explicit heresy is a dead giveaway, the absence of false propositions does not necessarily indicate a true teacher. Instead, we must evaluate motivations of greed and appeals to sensuality. These features may co-exist with pious aspirations; recall that Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous (Num 23:10). They may likewise co-exist with an outward asceticism (Col 2:23).
The primary way this heart of covetousness may be discerned is in Balaam’s primary transgression: the sale of the word of God. In our day, countless among the outwardly orthodox engage in this very same error. They offer their teaching at a price, they sell their conference tickets, they charge tuition in their seminaries. The evangelical landscape is awash with a doctrinally-sound grift. Like Balaam, they charge for a pristine prophetic word.
For some, this practice stems from a lack of clarity in our time. A unique patience and even sympathy is warranted that would not be in other eras. Regardless, we must hold them accountable and call them to repentance. In increasing levels, as wisdom dictates, we should demand they refuse to sell the word of God before we would patronize their ministry or support it with our own generosity. May they turn quickly from their error.
For others, this trafficking in holy things indicates something more sinister. These teachers would never promote outright heresy, but their greed leads them to take a soft approach to the sins of our generation, condoning and even encouraging sensuality, the desires of the flesh. Presently, they go unchallenged, but though they soar like birds in flight, may the prayers of the saints bring them crashing to their end.
Jonathan Miles Robker, Balaam in Text and Tradition, 353-357. ↩︎
“divinationis pretium in manibus;” see Robker, Jonathan Miles, Balaam in Text and Tradition, 260. ↩︎
It’s worth observing that a number of other legends likely come from the narrative. On 2 Peter 2:16, John Gill notes that Numbers 22 likely led to the fable of one of the stars of the constellation of Cancer, which is regarded by the Greeks as a donkey given a human voice. A number of fairy tales have men enchanted to be talking donkeys such as in the Brothers Grimm’s “The Donkey” or Pinocchio. Perhaps these likewise were inspired by the biblical narrative, and consequently Eddie Murphy’s character in Shrek. ↩︎
Zohar, Chayei Sara 12:76; Zohar,_Vayishlach 4.85; Sanhedrin 105a:17; Ba’al Shem Tov, Balak 4:1. ↩︎
Pirkei Avot 5:19; Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 11.93; Bereshit Rabbah 55.8. ↩︎
Josephus Antiquities, 4.6.6-9;Bamidbar Rabbah 20.23; Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews 3.104. ↩︎
Bamidbar Rabbah 22.5; Midrash Tanchuma, Matot 4.1; Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Balak 23.5; Zohar, Balak 11.161 ↩︎
Notably, our Savior who died on behalf of the wicked lived to thirty-three or thirty-four years of age. ↩︎
Ramban on Numbers 24:1.1; Ba’al Shem Tov Vayetzei 9.3; Bamidbar Rabbah 20:1. ↩︎
See Calvin on 2 Corinthians 6:14; David E. Garland, 2 Corinthians (1999), 330-334. ↩︎
See also Joseph Mayor’s commentary on 2 Peter, lxvi. “It must however have some connection with 2:12, which speaks of brute beasts.” Richard Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter (1990), 68-70. ↩︎
Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, 3.21.1. See Zevachim 116a.24. Ginzberg similarly records that Balaam advised Pharaoh that he should drown the Hebrew children since he would be exempt from punishment, the Lord promising not to flood the earth; of course the Egyptians still drowned in the sea (2.61.1). ↩︎
The Acts of Peter and Paul; The Acts of Peter, 32. Note that the Acts of Peter are also the earliest source that speaks of Peter being crucified upside down. ↩︎
Versions of this story vary across sources. Nero anticipates resurrection because Simon had tricked him into thinking that he had resurrected before. Hippolytus’s version of this story collapses these two narratives so that his original stunt is unsuccessful and he never arises the first time. Hippolytus, Against All Heresies, 6.15. ↩︎
Translating Antiquities of the Jews, William Whiston remarks, “Note that Josephus never supposes Balaam to be an idolater, nor to seek idolatrous enchantments, or to prophesy falsely, but to be no other than an ill-disposed prophet of the true God.” Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston, 4.8.3n8. ↩︎