| Balak | |
|---|---|
 Balak (wearing a crown) withBalaam | |
| In-universe information | |
| Title | King of Moab |
| Family | Zippor (father) |
| Relatives | Eglon (grandson) |
| Religion | Chemosh |
| Nationality | Moab |
| Birth place | Kingdom of Moab |
| Death place | Kingdom of Moab |
Balak son of Zippor (Hebrew:בָּלָקBālāq)[1] was a king ofMoab described in theBook of Numbers in theHebrew Bible, where his dealings with the prophet and sorcererBalaam are recounted. Balak tried to engage Balaam the son of Beor for the purpose of cursing the migratingIsraelite community.[2] On his journey to meet the princes of Moab, Balaam is stopped by an angel of the Lord after beating his femaledonkey. The Lord then "opened the mouth of the donkey" to tell him there was an angel with a drawn sword facing him. He tells the angel he will return home: "I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me on the road". The angel instructs Balaam to attend the meeting with the princes of Moab but to "say only what I tell you".[3] According toNumbers 22:2, andJoshua 24:9, Balak was the son ofZippor.
In the preceding chapter of Numbers,[4] the Israelites, seeking thePromised Land following theirExodus fromEgypt, had defeated theCanaanites at a place namedHormah, as well as theAmorites and the people ofBashan, and next approached Moab. The biblical narrative stresses the fears of the people of Moab, who were 'exceedingly afraid' and 'sick with dread' (NKJV) or 'terrified' (GNT).[5] Their fears appear to relate to the size of the Israelite population and the consequentresource depletion which could be expected if they were permitted to occupy Moabite land.
Balak initially conferred with hisMidianite allies[6] in order to block Israelite settlement, before sending his elders (along with Midianite elders) to seek Balaam's curse on them. The Midianites appear to have been co-located with the Moabites - according to theTargum of Jonathan, they were one alliance of people at this time[7] and therefore had a common interest in preventing Israelite settlement of the area.
After his mission with Balaam to curse Israelites failed, Balak decided to ally withMidianites to gather their women in order to leadIsraelites men astray in adultery.
Sources detailing the story of Balak:
According to thePulpit Commentary, Balak seems to be mentioned by name on a papyrus in theBritish Museum;[8]Gardiner andCaminos, however, transcribe and translate this name asBaꜥalry.[9][10] In 2019,Israel Finkelstein,Nadav Na'aman andThomas Römer proposed the common reading of "House of David" in theMesha Stele is actually "Balak".
TheZohar, the basic text of theKabbalah, offers a special interpretation to the Balak being "The Son ofZippor". In Hebrew, "Zippor" (ציפור) means "bird". According to the Zohar, this was not the name of Balak's father but rather referred to amagical metal bird which Balak made use of. As the Zohar recounts, such a bird has a head made ofgold, a mouth made ofsilver andwings made of copper mixed with silver, and its body is made of gold; once the bird is made, it should be put during the day in a window facing the Sun and during the night in a window facing the Moon, while burning incense in front of it for seven days and seven nights. Thereupon, the bird would start talking and foretelling of what is about to happen. Only the most skilled ofwizards could construct such a bird. Balak, the greatest wizard of his age, managed it. The bird was always sitting on Balak's shoulder and whispering in his ear, and therefore he was nicknamed "Son of the Bird". The Zohar further recounts that the bird spoke true words of prophecy in Balak's ear and warned him not to set himself against the Sons of Israel, and also foretold of the harsh punishment in store for himself and for the Moabits. Nevertheless, Balak persisted in his wrong way and was punished exactly as the bird foretold.[11]
Revelation 2:12 - 2:14 refers to Balak.[12]
Balak is mentioned in chapter 10 of2 Meqabyan, a book consideredcanonical in theEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.[13]
Balak is the name of the weeklyparshah or portion in the annualJewish cycle ofTorah reading, constitutingNumbers 22:2–25:9 which tells the story of Balak.
There are various proposed etymologies for the nameBalak, all having to do with children or "waste" - The nameBalak is in modern times claimed to come from the sparsely used Hebrew verb (balaq), waste or lay waste (Isaiah 24:1,3; Jeremiah 51:2). There are no derivations of this verb besides this name.[citation needed] Other proposals are: Devastator (BDB Theological Dictionary), Empty (NOBS Study Bible Name List), or Wasting (Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names).
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