Now was Balaam's fate decided, for by his conduct he put himself into direct opposition to God, and hence his…
- Date of account
- Modern scholarly compilation of much earlier traditions, published 1911
- Source
- The Legends of the Jews — Volume 3
- Reference
- The Legends of the Jews — Volume 3 · selected passage 104
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English translation and synthesis from rabbinic sources
- Translation
- Henrietta Szold; compiled by Louis Ginzberg
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
Now was Balaam's fate decided, for by his conduct he put himself into direct opposition to God, and hence his destruction was decreed, [759] and from that moment the holy spirit of prophecy left him and he was nothing more than a magician
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyNow was Balaam's fate decided, for by his conduct he put himself into direct opposition to God, and hence his destruction was decreed, [759] and from that moment the holy spirit of prophecy left him and he was nothing more than a magician. For Israel's sake, however, God granted him the honor of His revelation, but He did so grudgingly, as one loathes to touch an unclean thing. Hence He would not permit Balaam to come to Him, but rather appeared to Balaam. God's different treatment of Balaam and of Moses at the revelation is evident, for whereas the latter betook himself to the sanctuary to hear God's words, the former received God's revelation at any place whatsoever. It characterizes God's attitude toward them. Two men once knocked at a magnate's door, the one being a friend, who had a request to make, and the other a leprous beggar. The magnate said, "Let my friend enter, but I shall send the beggar's alms to the door, that he may not enter and pollute my palace." God called Moses to Him, whereas He did not desire Balaam to come to Him, but betook Himself there.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis is a passage from a historical religious or interpretive text. Its genre, manuscript history, translation and place within its own tradition are part of the evidence and must remain visible.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice can compare the passage's descriptive features with later reports, but resemblance does not turn a vision, angel, mythic creature or sacred narrative into a modern incident report.
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