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Deir Alla Inscription

The Deir 'Alla Plaster Inscription (or Balaam Inscription, or Bal'am Son of Be'or Inscription), known as KAI 312, is a famous[1] inscription discovered during a 1967 excavation in Deir 'Alla, Jordan. It is currently at the Jordan Archaeological Museum. It is written in a peculiar Northwest Semitic dialect, and has provoked much debate among scholars and had a strong impact on the study of Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions.[2][3]

Deir Alla Inscription

c. 825 BC

1967
Balqa, Jordan

The excavation revealed a multiple-chamber structure that had been destroyed by an earthquake during the Persian period, on the wall of which was written a story relating visions of Bal'am, son of Be'or, a "seer of the gods", who may be the same Balaam mentioned in Numbers 22–24 and in other passages of the Bible. The Deir Alla inscription's take on Bala'am differs from that given in the Book of Numbers. Bal'am's god is associated with the goddess Šagar-we-Ishtar. Deities with such names, "Šagar-and-Ishtar", certainly are known to history, but quite separately. The enigmatic narrative also foregrounds the "Shaddayin" who establish a council. (שדין, perhaps meaning gods and goddesses).[4] It also features the word "Elohin", taken to mean "gods" in the plural rather than the Hebrew deity.


It was on ink on plastered wall; like in the plaster inscriptions at Kuntillet Ajrud, black and red inks were used. Red apparently emphasized certain parts of the text.[5][6] The inscriptions were written with a broad nibbed pen with ink, an extremely early example.[7] They represent the earliest point of evidence in the history of the West Semitic alphabet. The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies describes it as "the oldest example of a book in a West Semitic language written with an alphabet, and the oldest piece of Aramaic literature."[8]

biblical figure

Balaam

Beor (biblical figure)

one name of the God of Israel

El Shaddai

from Carthage; mentions child sacrifice

KNMY inscription

home town of Bala'am in the Bible

Pethor

Semitic language

Samalian language

identified by some with Deir Alla

Sukkot (place)

Dewrell, Heath D. (2017). Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns.  978-1-57506-494-9.

ISBN

Dijkstra, Meindert, "Is Balaam Also Among the Prophets?" Journal of Biblical Literature 114/1 (1995), 43–64.

Hackett, Jo Ann, The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla, HSM 31 (Chico, CA: Scholars, 1984).

Hoftijzer, J. and G. van der Kooij, G., Aramaic Texts from Deir ‘Alla (Leiden: Brill, 1976).

Hoftijzer, J. and G. van der Kooij, G., ed., The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21–24 August 1989, (Leiden: Brill, 1991).

Puech, E. "L'inscription sur pl tre de Tell Deir Alla," in Biblical Archaeology Today: Proceedings of the International Congress on Biblical Archaeology Jerusalem, April 1984, ed. by J. Amitai (Jerusalem: IES, 1985), 354–65.

Weippert, Manfred, "The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla and the Study of the Old Testament," pp. 151–84 in The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21–24 August 1989, (Leiden: Brill, 1991).

McCarter Jr., P. Kyle, "The Balaam Texts from Deir 'Alla: The First Combination", Bulletin of the Schools of Oriental Research 239 (1980): 49–60

Naveh, J. "The Date of the Deir 'Alla Inscription in Aramaic Script", Israel Exploration Journal 17 (1967): 236–38.