In this article, the stories of Balaam’s donkey (num. 22.22-35) and the man of God from Judah (1 Kgs 13) are analyzed independently and are also compared for similarities. Features that are common to both accounts include: the importance of the word of YHWH, the employment of animals as literary characters, the motif of death, and the portrayal of animals as divine agents. This study argues that the literary function of animals as divine agents is a distinctive characteristic of the so-called preclassical phase of biblical prophecy.
Budd, Philip J.1984Numbers (WBC, 5; Waco: Word Books ).
9.
Clark, Ira1982‘Balaam’s Ass: Suture or Structure?’ , in K.R.R. Gros Louis and J.S. Ackerman (eds.), Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives (nashville: Abingdon Press): 137-44.
Fox , nili S.2004‘numbers’ (introduction and annotations), in A. Berlin and M.Z. Brettler (eds.), The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford : Oxford University Press): 281-355.
12.
2008‘Balak (num. 22:2-25:9)’, in T.C. eskenazi and A.L. Weiss (eds.), The Torah: A Women’s Commentary ( new York: Women of Reform Judaism and URJ Press): 937-53.
13.
Gamkrelidze, Thomas V.1998‘The Indo-european Term for "Donkey" and its near eastern Origins’, in P. Anreiter , L. Bartosiewicz, e. Jerem and W. Meid (eds.), Man and the Animal World: Studies in Archaeozoology, Archaeology, Anthropology and Palaeolinguistics in Memoriam Sándor Bökönyi (Budapest: Archaeolingua ): 611-12.
14.
Gaster, Theodor H.1969Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament ( new York: Harper & Row).
15.
Gray, George Buchanan1912A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers ( edinburgh: T. & T. Clark ).
16.
Gunkel, Hermann1987The Folktale in the Old Testament (trans. M.D. Rutter; Sheffield: Almond Press ).
17.
Hallo, William W., and K. Lawson Younger , Jr1997The Context of Scripture. I. Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World (Leiden : Brill).
18.
In der Smitten, W.T. 1980 ‘ ’, in TDOT, IV: 465-70.
19.
Kaiser, Walter C., Jr1996‘Balaam Son of Beor in Light of Deir 'Allā and Scripture: Saint or Soothsayer?’, in J.e. Coleson and V.H. Matthews (eds.), ‘Go to the Land I Will Show You’: Studies in Honor of Dwight W. Young (Winona Lake: eisenbrauns): 95-106.
20.
Keel, Othmar, and Thomas Staubli2001«Im Schatten Deiner Flügel». Tiere in der Bibel und im Alten Orient (Freiburg: Universitätsverlag).
21.
2003 Les animaux du 6ème jour: Les animaux dans la Bible et dans l’Orient ancien (Freiburg: Musée de zoologie Lausanne/editions universitaires).
22.
Keil, C.F.1869The Book of Numbers (trans. J. Martin; edinburgh: T. & T. Clark [reprinted as C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, III [Peabody, MA: Hendrickson , 1989 ]).
23.
Largement, René1964‘Les oracles de Bile’am et la mantique Suméro-Akkadienne’ , in Mémorial du Cinquantenaire, 1914-1964 ( Paris: Bloud & Gay): 37-50.
24.
Levine, Baruch A.2000Numbers 21-36 (AB, 4A; new York: Doubleday).
25.
Lindenberger, James M.1983The Aramaic Proverbs of Ahiqar ( Baltimore : The Johns Hopkins University Press).
2005 ‘A Story of Divine Justice-or Grace? A Literary Reading of 1 Kings 13’ (unpublished paper presented at the Stone-Campbell Journal Conference at Cincinnati Bible Seminary, Cincinnati, OH, 15 April, 2005).
28.
McCarter, P. Kyle, Jr1980I Samuel (AB, 8; Garden City: Doubleday).
29.
1984 II Samuel (AB, 9; Garden City: Doubleday).
30.
McKay, Heather A.2002‘Through the eyes of Horses: Representation of the Horse Family in the Hebrew Bible’, in A.G. Hunter and P.R. Davies (eds.), Sense and Sensitivity: Essays on Reading the Bible in Memory of Robert Carroll (JSOTSup, 348; London: Sheffield Academic Press): 127-41.
31.
Mead, James K.1999‘Kings and Prophets, Donkeys and Lions: Dramatic Shape and Deuteronomistic Rhetoric in 1 Kings XIII’, VT49: 191-205.
32.
Milgrom, Jacob1990The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers ( Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America).
33.
Moore, Michael S.1990The Balaam Traditions: Their Character and Development (Atlanta: Scholars Press).
34.
Moore, Michael S., and Michael L. Brown1997‘ , in NIDOTTE, I: 575-77.
35.
Murray, A.T., and William F. Wyatt1999Homer: Iliad. II. Books 13-24 (LCL, 171; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
36.
Nielsen, Eduard1953‘Ass and Ox in the Old Testament’, in Studia Orientalia Ioanni Pedersen: 263-74.
37.
Noth, Martin1968Numbers: A Commentary (OTL; Philadelphia : Westminster Press).
38.
Olyan, Saul M.2005‘Some neglected Aspects of Israelite Interment Ideology’ , JBL124: 601-16.
39.
Ritner, Robert Kriech2003‘The Instruction of Onchsheshonqy’, in W.K. Simpson et al. (eds.), The Literature of Ancient Egypt (new Haven: Yale University Press, 3rd edn): 497-529.
40.
Rouillard, Hedwige1985La péricope de Balaam (Nombres 22-24): La prose et les « oracles » (Paris: J. Gabalda).
41.
Ryken, Leland, James C. Wilhoit , and Tremper Longman III (eds.) 1998Dictionary of Biblical Imagery ( Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press).
42.
Savran, G.W.1994‘Beastly Speech: Intertextuality, Balaam’s Ass and the Garden of eden’, JSOT64: 33-55.
43.
2005Encountering the Divine: Theophany in Biblical Narrative (JSOTSup, 420; London: T&T Clark International ).
44.
Schmitt, John J.1992‘Prophecy (Preexilic Hebrew)’, in ABD, V: 482-89.
45.
Simon, Uriel1976‘I Kings 13: A Prophetic Sign-Denial and Persistence’ , HUCA47: 81-117.
46.
Strawn, Brent A.2005What is Stronger than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East ( Freiburg : Academic Press; Göttingen : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht).
47.
Walton, John H.2001The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis ( Grand Rapids: Zondervan).
48.
Walton, John H., Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas2000The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament ( Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press).
49.
Way, Kenneth C.2005‘Balaam’s Hobby-Horse: The Animal Motif in the Balaam Traditions’, UF 37 (Stanislav Segert in memoriam): 679-93.
50.
2006‘The Ceremonial and Symbolic Significance of Donkeys in the Biblical World’ (Ph.D. dissertation, Hebrew Union College [in press with eisenbrauns]).
51.
Wenham, Gordon J.1981Numbers (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press).
