The Inscriptions of Balaam from Deir Allah (8th century BCE) as an Example of the Genre of Eschatological Prophecy maśśāʔ

The Inscriptions or Prophecies of Balaam are among the few archaic written monuments that not only mention biblical characters chronologically but also correlate geographically with the events described in the Old Testament. The concordance of temporal and local factors makes it possible to reconstruct the events of biblical history in relief in a spatial and temporal projection close to reality. The text, inscribed on the plaster of a house destroyed in the eighth century B.C. in modern Jordan, not only contains the name of the prophet Balaam (Num. 22-23), but also presents his eschatological “prophecy” about the end of the world. However, the inscription is problematic both in terms of the possibility of adequate reconstruction (due to damage to the material) and from a linguistic point of view. The article addresses a number of important issues in the interpretation of the Balaam Inscriptions, namely: a) the question of the relationship between the two parts of the text (known as Combination 1 and Combination 2) is considered from the angle of literary composition, characteristic of the genre of eschatological prophecy maśśāʔ, and their compositional integrity is proved; b) new interpretations of the controversial phrases ירוי.אל. and [.חשב. חשב. וחשב. ח[שב in the broader context of mythological eschatology and in comparison with similar statements from the Book of Isaiah are offered; c) the main differences between polytheistic eschatology and the concepts of ethical monotheism presented in the Old Testament are demonstrated. The material provided in this article will be of interest to those involved in the archaeology of biblical lands, biblical and religious studies, and Western Semitic philology.