A renowned diviner. An approaching and victorious army. A divine encounter. A talking donkey. And the message of Yahweh reigning as King. Balaam is well known as the primary example of a false prophet in the New Testament. But he wasn't a false prophet in the way that many of us would define them today. His story remains shocking and often misunderstood. While many remember the story of the talking donkey from the book of Numbers, few remember Balaam's incredible insights and battle of wills with Yahweh the Creator of the Universe. Balaam's God reveals the depths of Balaam's powers, the source of his accurate insight, and the weaknesses that led him astray. Balaam's reputation within the New Testament is as one of the worst false prophets in all of history. Yet his history outside of the New Testament is as one of the greatest diviners in all of antiquity. Balaam is a mysterious figure, yet the biblical text and context reveal the nature of his gifts and powers as well as the nature of his character. And there are important connections between Balaam and both the true and false prophets of today. Balaam's story doesn't end after his last oracle in the book of Numbers. It continues into the book of Revelation and even into our current day. In these pages you will discover the secrets to Balaam's communication with God, how God turned wrong divination into pure prophecy, and how to turn from Balaam's ways to a true mouthpiece of Yahweh.

This volume deals with the pagan prophet Balaam who figures in the book of Numbers. By the very nature of his stature as a non-Israelite, pagan prophet, the figure of Balaam raises important questions with regard to the nature of prophecy and the relation between the Israelite God and the pagan nations. The conflicting stories and potent oracles of Balaam in Numbers 22-24 and other parts of the Jewish Scriptures prompted extensive reflection on this ambiguous figure. Thus the leading perspective developed in this volume is the often simultaneous praise and criticism of Balaam as a prestigious pagan prophet throughout ancient Judaism, early Christianity and the early Koranic commentaries. The papers are clustered in four sections which deal with (1) Balaam in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East, and comparable figures in Ancient Greece; (2) Balaam in Ancient Judaism; (3) Balaam in the New Testament & Early Christianity; and (4) Balaam in the Koran and early Koranic commentaries. The reception of this enigmatic figure can be characterized as the simultaneous praise and criticism of a pagan prophet. The book is particularly useful as it also contains Émile Puech’s newly reconstructed text, translation and commentary of the first combination of the Deir ‘Alla inscriptions which contain an excerpt of the book of the historical Balaam. Combined with the other papers, the volume pictures a fascinating continuum between paganism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Serious Bible readers, including biblical scholars, Sunday Bible teachers, laypersons of church, and even the Sunday school kids, ask the question, “Is Balaam a good or bad person?” or “Is Balaam a prophet of God or a pagan diviner?” However, nobody has provided a relieving answer for the question up to this day. Then, what does the Balaam story in the passage of Num 22–24 tell us about the character of Balaam? More fundamentally, what does the passage want readers to know? This book suggests a new way for Bible reading, especially the Old Testament. The Old Testament readers can discover a proper strategy to understand the intention and message of every single passage of the Old Testament through the ways that are suggested in this book.

The Bait of Satan exposes one of the most deceptive snares Satan uses to get believers out of the will of God--offense.

What does it mean, and what should it mean to be human? In this collection of essays, scholars place the philosophies and theories of animal studies and posthumanism into conversation with biblical studies. Authors cross and disrupt boundaries and categories through close readings of stories where the human body is invaded, possessed, or driven mad. Articles explore the ethics of the human use of animals and the biblical contributions to the question. Other essays use the image of lions—animals that appear not only in the wild, but also in the Bible, ancient Near Eastern texts, and philosophy—to illustrate the potential these theories present for students of the Bible. Contributors George Aichele, Denise Kimber Buell, Benjamin H. Dunning, Heidi Epstein, Rhiannon Graybill, Jennifer L. Koosed, Eric Daryl Meyer, Stephen D. Moore, Hugh Pyper, Robert Paul Seesengood, Yvonne Sherwood, Ken Stone, and Hannah M. Strømmen present an open invitation for further work in the field of posthumanism. Features: Coverage of texts that explore the boundaries between animal, human, and divinity Discussion of the term posthumanism and how it applies to biblical studies Essays engage Derrida, Foucault, Wolfe, Lacan, Žižek, Singer, Haraway, and others