The Balaamites of Tell Deir ʻAlla as Aramean Deportees
The Balaamite inscription found in Tell Deir ʿAlla has raised questions as to its language, its script, its relationship to the Aramaic inscriptions found in the same archeological context, and its connection with the biblical story of Balaam. The present article argues that these questions find a s...
| Published in: | Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
College
1988
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
Year: 1988, Volume: 59, Pages: 101-113 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Arameans
/ Inscription
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament HH Archaeology TC Pre-Christian history ; Ancient Near East |
| Further subjects: | B
Balaam
B Deir ʿAllā |
| Summary: | The Balaamite inscription found in Tell Deir ʿAlla has raised questions as to its language, its script, its relationship to the Aramaic inscriptions found in the same archeological context, and its connection with the biblical story of Balaam. The present article argues that these questions find a satisfactory solution if we assume that the Balaamites who wrote the inscription were a colony of Aramean exiles who had been deported from northern Syria to Gilead by the Neo-Assyrians in the late eighth century B.C.E. This proposal comports well with the paleographical date of the inscription (ca. 700 B.C.E.), the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation at this time, and the archeological evidence which suggests that the Balaamites were newcomers in Deir ʿAlla and had connections with northern Syria. In the light of this proposal, it is argued that the script of the Balaamite text represents a link between the Aramaic and Ammonite traditions of writing, that its language is an archaic form of Aramaic, related to that of the associated inscriptions as sacred language to daily speech, and that it preserves an ancient prophecy of the biblical figure Balaam son of Be'or, the Aramean diviner from northern Syria. |
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| ISSN: | 0360-9049 |
| Contains: | In: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
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