Balaam (BAY-luhm) — Balaam was a diviner summoned by Balak of Moab to curse Israel. God constrained him to bless Israel, while the talking-donkey episode exposed his inability to see the danger in his path.
Birth year: Unknown.
Death year: Unknown.
Active during: Israel’s wilderness journey in the Numbers narrative; no secure calendar years are supplied.
Home region: Pethor near the Euphrates; summoned to Moab.
Main passages: Numbers 22–24; 31:16.
Story and role
Balaam was a diviner summoned by Balak of Moab to curse Israel. God constrained him to bless Israel, while the talking-donkey episode exposed his inability to see the danger in his path.
How the dates were determined
The biblical text places Balaam within this broad period: Israel’s wilderness journey in the Numbers narrative; no secure calendar years are supplied. Where an approximate calendar date is shown, it follows a conventional historical reconstruction rather than a date stated in Scripture. BC means “before Christ”; AD marks years in the traditional Christian calendar.
Limits of the evidence
Numbers supplies no birth year, age, or calendar date for Balaam. The precise identification of Pethor and the locations from which he viewed Israel remain debated, so the map focuses on the plains of Moab. The artwork is an imagined historical illustration, not a known likeness.
Explore the places connected with Balaam on a modern reference map.
Read further
Numbers 22–24; 31:16, NIV; BiblicalTraining reference library.