What does it all mean?
This is where the archeology has been found.
Oh, hi how are you?
Look at that.
I need a planter.
A shrine to a bellybutton.
Is this a rock of salt?
Look at that!
No one gets into this place?
Whoa, don't take me too far!
Now that's naked archeology.
[theme music]
The bible tells us the story of Moses and the Exodus,
and the Israelites lead to the Promised Land.
And when it is time to go into the Promised Land
there's one evil that stands in their way- the Moabites.
Now these Moabites aren't people
with an ancient overbite problem.
In fact they are very strong, very healthy,
they got a king and an army.
But when they confronted the Israelites
they didn't send an army and they didn't send kings.
They sent one man... and his talking donkey...
They send one man, Bilaam...
I've got the giggles now with the talking donkey...
You think it's funny, but it's true...
Bilaam, he came with his talking donkey.
And before it was over, Bilaam would
initiate an orgy of sex and v*olence
that would leave , Israelites dead.
Is it just a story? What does archaeology have to say
about Bilaam and his talking donkey?
[SIMCHA] The first mention of Bilaam in the Bible
comes in the Book of Numbers,
as the Israelites come out of the desert
and set up camp on the Plains of Moab.
The Bible says that the Moabites were led by King Balak,
who saw the number of Israelites at his door
and got frightened, so Balak decided to hire a local prophet
who was known for his ability to curse anyone he wanted...
That prophet's name was Bilaam.
There's a bad guy, a Darth Vader of the Bible.
[SIMCHA] At first Bilaam refused to help the Moabites,
because God had come to him in a vision
and told him not to mess with the Israelites.
Get down there right away and take care of things!
SIMCHA] But when the Moabite King
offered Bilaam lots of dough,
Bilaam turned to the dark side and took the job anyway.
we have powerful friends who will help us!
[SIMCHA] But he took his ass, his donkey to the high places,
in order to curse the Israelites, without success, I might add.
And en route his donkey, his ass, spoke to him.
[SIMCHA] The donkey was trying to tell Bilaam to stop,
because it saw an angel of God standing in its path,
warning them away.
But Bilaam ignored the warning
and went to the mountaintop overlooking the Israelite camp,
where he built himself an altar
that he could curse from.
But then when he tried to utter his curse,
God intervened and put blessings in his mouth.
Bilaam's plan was foiled,
so he had to take another tack.
He decided that if he couldn't curse the Israelites,
then he would seduce them,
using Moabite women and sex idols as bait.
Sometimes rage, fear and love are aroused together.
[SIMCHA] I have to admit, Bilaam's story
sounds a bit far-fetched.
But I'm determined to find some answers.
The Book of Numbers tell us
that his name was Bilaam, Son of Beor,
it says that he was hired by the Moabites,
and that he was "a seer", or a prophet.
There is wisdom in your words!
[SIMCHA] It is said that he orchestrated
an act of sexual sabotage
against the Israelites and, last but not least,
it says that he had a talking donkey.
Who? Me?
[SIMCHA] If I'm going to decode the Biblical story of Bilaam,
I figure my best bet is to first visit the spot
where it's supposed to have taken place...
in the mountains of the Moabite Kingdom,
in what is now modern Jordan.
Your day has now come!
When Balaam took his ass
and brought it all the way up to the high places,
it would have been a place like this.
In a genuine high place, the kind described in the Bible.
The kind we can't even imagine
when we read those words:
And what does it mean?
It means a place where there was pagan worship.
Imagine the scene, animals
being slaughtered over there,
animals being consumed and slaughtered over here,
the high priest over there,
flames from the sacrificial animals,
there cooking those slaughtered animals.
They're collecting blood over there,
the high priest is standing here in full regalia,
the blood is being collected here,
the animals maybe are being butchered,
you know choice pieces for the kings and the priests.
From a place like this, the Bible describes
how Bilaam tried to curse the Israelites.
But he couldn't.
We have the scene described precisely.
I've never seen actually anything like it.
[SIMCHA] I had just seen evidence
of pagan worship as it happened
around the time of Bilaam,
but I had yet to find any evidence
of a real historical Bilaam.
Cut to the chase already
and tell me about the talking donkey.
[SIMCHA] But as it turns out,
there's another site here in Jordan
that's supposed to be associated with Bilaam.
Here, in the ancient city of Deir Alla,
there are artifacts from a pagan temple
that was known for sex priestesses
and ritual sex practices that just might have
been the headquarters for Bilaam's pagan congregation.
[SIMCHA] I'm looking for archaeology
that can give me some insight into the Biblical story
of Bilaam, the pagan prophet
who tried to curse the Israelites
when they were crossing into the Promised Land.
Don't forget he had a talking donkey.
[SIMCHA] So far, I've traveled to Jordan
and I'd seen a pagan sacrificial altar
that fits with the story of Bilaam found in the Bible.
But there's another site here in Jordan
that has the remains of a temple
that's believed to have been built by a cult
that venerated Bilaam and his gods.
The site is called Deir Alla,
an ancient Moabite city, less than an hour's drive
from the Jordan River.
I'm here to see what I can dig up.
Right here, right where I'm standing,
they found a temple, they found a school
where probably priests or priestesses
where inculcated in the religion of the temple...
[SIMCHA] There's not much left of the temple,
but the artifacts found here are stored
in a nearby field station.
They confirm that pagan worship took place here
years ago.
This is the Deir Alla archaeological field station
where archaeologists come from all over y'know,
Germany, Holland...
And this is where they keep the secret,
the secret stuff.
Nobody knows that this stuff exists here.
This is what they found at Deir Alla.
This is, for example, what they found in the temple,
the temple, where they worship
according to the religion of Bilaam.
That obviously is a ritual oil lamp.
And here, here is the smoking g*n
of the Bilaam story, because what you have is goddesses,
you have fertility goddesses.
At least you have women in a cultic context.
[SIMCHA] Back in ancient Moab, paganism and sex
went together like peanut butter and jelly.
Cultic sex was part and parcel of Bilaam's belief system.
When Bilaam's attempt to curse the Israelites failed
he was left in an awkward position.
King Balak was paying him big money
to get rid of the Israelites and Bilaam had to come up
with a really good Plan B.
So Bilaam convinced hundreds of Moabite
and nearby Midianite women to go under cover
and offer the Israelites free sex.
It was an offer that many of the Israelite men could not refuse.
When God found out about it,
he sent a plague down on the Israelites
that took the lives of , Israelite men.
We're talking about classic paganism
in a religious context, exactly as the Bible says
in the Book of Numbers,
when the Israelites get seduced by the Moabite women.
And here you have almost, you know,
profiles of those women from , years ago.
You've got stuff here literally from the time of Moses
and Bilaam.
These are the objects they may have touched.
It's incredible.
[SIMCHA] These goddess figurines
correspond with the Biblical account
of the Moabite seduction of the Israelite men:
not only do they provide evidence of a cult
that worshipped female fertility more than , years ago,
but the fact that they were found in a temple
that was built by a cult devoted to Bilaam,
tells us that Deir Alla must have been
an important center for pagan belief...
And speaking of pagan sex rituals,
I've heard some twisted tales
about Bilaam's talking donkey.
Oh Bilaam, you rascal.
[SIMCHA] I'm hot on the trail of Bilaam,
the pagan prophet who tried to curse the Biblical Israelites.
So far, I've found a sacrificial altar
that matches the kind that Bilaam would have built
when he traveled to the high places of Moab.
Y'know you feel like you're literally up in heaven.
[SIMCHA] I've also found the remains of a temple
where Bilaam is believed to have led a congregation
of sex worshipping Moabites,
again corroborating the Biblical narrative
about Bilaam's attempt to seduce the Israelites.
But there is still one part of the story
that I'm having some trouble with:
you know which part.
Bilaam's talking donkey.
Oh boy!]
Finally the part about the talking donkey.
[SIMCHA] You see, when Bilaam was traveling
with his donkey to the high places of Moab,
an Angel of the Lord appears
and stops the donkey right in its tracks.
Bilaam doesn't see the angel,
only the donkey does,
so Bilaam starts to b*at his donkey
in order to get her moving.
The donkey is so frightened by the angel,
she crushes Bilaam's leg, causing Bilaam to b*at her
over and over again until finally
she turns to Bilaam and says:
Why are you b*ating me?
Haven't I done everything you've asked me to?
[SIMCHA] The talking donkey
must have been a shock to Bilaam,
but it wasn't enough to stop him.
Bilaam still climbed to his altar
and tried to curse the Israelites,
leaving us to wonder, did that donkey really talk?
Or is it just a story?
It's a little bit hard to think about donkeys talking.
So I thought, well, if there's any place
to have a talking donkey, it's the Biblical Zoo
in the outskirts of Jerusalem.
I'm here.
I'm going to find myself a talking donkey.
Shmulik! Shmulik! How are you?
I've been looking forward to meeting you.
What we're looking for specifically is talking donkeys.
You know the Bilaam story in the Bible?
We brought two donkeys here to the zoo
and tried to persuade them to talk, but we failed.
Maybe I can succeed.
We can try it.
Lead me to the asses.
Okay. So let's go.
Did this surprise you, just on the surface of it,
that someone would think
that a donkey could speak?
No, actually.
If something stuck in the mouth of the donkey,
something like a thorn for example,
he moves his jaws in such a way
that maybe you can say he's talking,
because it's like movements- really harsh,
severe movements.
So it maybe something was stuck in the mouth
of the donkey, or this ass,
and the guy thought he was talking.
[SIMCHA] He had a point.
If the donkey had something stuck in its mouth,
or if it was really hot and Bilaam was hallucinating,
then it would have looked like the donkey was talking.
But still, I wasn't convinced that donkeys could talk,
and there was only one way to find out.
I actually am glad what your forbearers did to Bilaam.
Do you know that he was the Darth Vader of the Bible?
You did know that. See, once means yes.
Twice is no. Okay. Thank you.
Do you know the story of Bilaam's ass?
Do you realize that your ancestor
really helped by squishing him,
and he couldn't see what the ass saw.
Oh, you do realize that...
Are you going to say anything to me?
[SIMCHA] Maybe we need to rethink
this talking donkey thing.
If donkeys cannot talk, then why does the Bible
explicitly tell us that Bilaam's donkey did?
Maybe the talking donkey is a metaphor
that's trying to tell us something else.
In fact, according to the Talmud,
Bilaam's relationship with his talking donkey
wasn't the healthiest.
So I'm meeting with Rabbi Berel Wein,
an expert on the Talmud, to find out more.
Bilaam basically's a corrupt person,
you can't trust Bilaam.
And the story with the donkey
is that he even commits pedestry with his donkey.
That's the, that's the Talmud says it,
that's the story with the donkey.
That's the...
You mean sex?
Yeah sexual perversion, right?
So he's a combination of corruption,
sexual perversion.
The donkey's his girlfriend?
That's what it says.
I didn't know that.
You are my donkey that I've been with you
all the time.
How come you're not doing what I say?
What you mean during a...
Yeah so a...
Ok... I didn't know that.
What do you think about what that Rabbi's statement?
I never know, but Rabbinic literature saying
when the donkey's talking, they're having sex.
You're going to think I'm crazy
but it kinda makes sense to me.
If Bilaam was this real sicko
who was doing stuff with animals,
besides being evil, and the Bible wanted
to tell us that, what would it do?
They would have the donkey "talking"
and saying to Bilaam,
"Didn't I always do what you wanted me to do?
I bet you the audience in the Bronze Age
understood that.
Everybody must have stayed
around the campfire laughing.
Bilaam was not only evil, he was a sicko.
[SIMCHA] Of course whether Bilaam
got kinky with his donkey is totally up to interpretation.
Obviously there is no archeological evidence
that can prove it one way or another...
The talking donkey was just a euphemism?
What a rip off.
[SIMCHA] Luckily the archaeology does speak.
And back at Deir Alla, just metres
from where archaeologists found that temple
devoted to the cult of Bilaam,
they also found a year old inscription...
Where you see the red earth protruding from the ground.
That's where they found the temple,
and only a few meters away, over here,
they found one of the earliest inscriptions ever
of Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician,
meaning one of the earliest inscriptions
ever in the language of the Bible,
the five books of Moses.
It gets better...
They found the name Bilaam, Son of Beor,
how much better can it get,
but the earliest prophetic writing of any kind anywhere,
right here right where I'm standing.
And the inscription confirms, Bilaam, Son of Beor-
he was here.
And I'll continue his mission of vengance!
[SIMCHA] I was looking for evidence
that Bilaam was a real historical figure,
a real prophet that existed during the time of Moses,
back when the Israelites were trying
to make their way into the Promised Land.
So far I had found evidence of a temple
devoted to the same sex goddesses
that Bilaam would have used to convince the Moabites
to seduce the Israelites...
Only these guys think that he's the good guy.
[SIMCHA] Then, in , just a few metres
from the temple at Deir Alla,
archaeologists discovered a year-old inscription
that mentions Bilaam by name
and refers to him as a prophet.
If the Bilaam who is named in the inscription
is the same Bilaam that's named in the Bible,
then this inscription is the only physical evidence
for anyone mentioned in the first five books of the Bible.
But the inscription isn't at Deir Alla anymore,
it's now stored in the museum in Amman,
the capital of Jordan,
so I'm going there to take a closer look.
Look at this place. It's fantastic.
Come on, come on.
[SIMCHA] The inscription is in ancient Aramaic
and the most important passages
are written in red ink,
surrounded by a red border,
much the same as you see today
in newspapers and magazines.
But for some reason the inscription is hidden away.
Most of the museum's visitors
seem more interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls,
which happen to be on display just down the hall.
People milling about. Nothing very fancy.
The one place you would not think of looking is there.
It's the Deir Alla inscription.
You could actually see the writing.
Whoa. I don't want to drop it.
Whoa- Look at it. A puzzle.
One of the most important archaeological finds.
Oh this is really good.
This is good. You can really see.
Look how clear the red is
And you can see here the writing.
It's so clear.
[SIMCHA] The Bilaam inscription
mentions Bilaam by name and says that
he was a prophet and a seer,
but it also refers to him as Bilaam, Son of Beor,
the very same name that's used in the Bible.
Don't try this at home folks
[SIMCHA] I wanted to look at the inscription
a bit more closely,
which meant I had to take it out of the drawer.
In the original, it was up on a wall.
Here you see red. Perfect.
Here you see the red frame.
Here also you see traces of the red frame.
And you can actually make out the word-
I mean it's easy to read.
We're talking about the most ancient prophetic text.
This is at least years older than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
It's telling a story that's , years old.
It mentions by name exactly no variant a biblical figure.
It's the oldest, probably,
version of this kind of Hebrew-Aramaic text,
and the letters, as you can see
are perfectly preserved.
[SIMCHA] The inscription isn't the only amazing artifact
in the Amman museum that connects
the Biblical story of Bilaam to archaeology...
There's a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls here.
So I'm going to the other side of the museum
where I'm meeting with Prof. Israel Knohl,
a leading expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
What are you studying? The Dead Sea Scrolls?
Yes. I'm reading here a piece of the Book of Deuteronomy,
and then we have the words of Balaam,
the prophecy of Balaam.
No!
On the other side, you know,
we have the Deir Alla inscription,
where the name of Balaam is mentioned.
And here we have the name of Balaam
mentioned in the Book of Numbers.
No way.
In the Pentateuch.
You want me to read it? Ok, I will...
[reads Aramaic text]
What - which means?
These are the words of the men
who know God,
know the words of God.
The seer.
And the seer who hears the words of God.
Balaam is the only personality
which is mentioned in the Torah
that we have extra biblical reference to it.
It is beautiful that we have the text about the words
of Balaam here, and here we have the evidence
outside of the Bible that this man really lived
and was active and was a seer,
exactly as it is said in the Torah, in the Pentateuch.
[SIMHA] It really is incredible.
Not only had I found evidence of sex goddesses
and pagan worship, but I had just found
archaeological evidence
that a prophet named Bilaam lived in ancient Moab
in biblical times.
Incredibly, without the museum realizing it,
they are displaying only a few metres from each other,
a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls
and a fragment of the Deir Alla inscription.
Can you image if they realize this,
and they put it next to each other?
Both of which mention Bilaam, Son of Beor...
Can you image what a display that would be?
Together they perfectly corroborate the Bilaam story
found in the Book of Numbers.
Let's hear it for the Bilaam inscription.
[SIMCHA] This is the greatest synchronicity
between archaeology and the Bible,
and so far no one seems to have noticed.
02x25 - Bilaam: The Story of a Talking Donkey
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Show examines biblical stories and tries to find proof for them by exploring the Holy Land looking for archaeological evidence, personal inferences, deductions, and interviews with scholars and experts.
Show examines biblical stories and tries to find proof for them by exploring the Holy Land looking for archaeological evidence, personal inferences, deductions, and interviews with scholars and experts.