The BibleGospel Companion
Prophecy · Egypt and the Exodus1452 BC

Balaam blesses Israel instead of cursing

Dated from the sources quoted below

True span4004 BC – AD 100
Beginnings · 4004 BC – 1996 BC · 12 eventsBeginnings4004 BC – 1996 BCThe Patriarchs · 1996 BC – 1635 BC · 34 eventsPatriarchs1996 BC – 1635 BCEgypt and the Exodus · 1635 BC – 1451 BC · 19 eventsExodus1635 BC – 1451 BCConquest and Settlement · 1451 BC – 1400 BC · 7 eventsConquest1451 BC – 1400 BCThe Judges · 1405 BC – 1095 BC · 13 eventsJudges1405 BC – 1095 BCThe United Kingdom · 1095 BC – 975 BC · 38 eventsUnited Kgdm1095 BC – 975 BCIsrael and Judah · 933 BC – 721 BC · 27 eventsIsrael & Judah933 BC – 721 BCJudah Alone · 721 BC – 586 BC · 22 eventsJudah alone721 BC – 586 BCThe Exile · 586 BC – 538 BC · 7 eventsExile586 BC – 538 BCReturn and Restoration · 538 BC – 400 BC · 13 eventsReturn538 BC – 400 BCBetween the Testaments · 400 BC – 4 BC · 8 eventsBetween400 BC – 4 BCThe Life of Jesus · 6 BC – AD 33 · 42 eventsJesus6 BC – AD 33The Apostles and the Early Church · AD 30 – AD 100 · 29 eventsThe ChurchAD 30 – AD 1001573 BC — Pharaoh orders the Hebrew boys killed1491 BC — God calls Moses at the burning bush1491 BC — The ten plagues1491 BC — The Passover and the departure from Egypt1491 BC — Israel crosses the Red Sea1491 BC — The Ten Commandments at Sinai1491 BC — The golden calf1491 BC — The tabernacle is set up1490 BC — The twelve spies; Israel refuses to enter the land1452 BC — Aaron dies on Mount Hor1452 BC — Balaam blesses Israel instead of cursing1451 BC — Moses dies on Mount NeboA new king enslaves Israel — placed by its order in the narrativeMoses is born and drawn from the Nile — placed by its order in the narrativeMoses flees to Midian — placed by its order in the narrativeManna and quail in the wilderness of Sin — placed by its order in the narrativeWater from the rock; Amalek defeated at Rephidim — placed by its order in the narrativeKorah's rebellion — placed by its order in the narrativeThe bronze serpent — placed by its order in the narrative
the events of this period, each at its year — this one outlinedplaced only by its order in the narrativethe whole thread →

Told in

Numbers 22:1–41The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.Numbers 23:1–30Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”Numbers 24:1–25When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to use divination, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
Opening words from the World English Bible (public domain); the passage list is in-house

Who and where

BalaamBalakPisgah ›
Names and references: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · coordinates: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0

How we know the date

Ussher's Annals (1650) gives 1452 BC (its year of the world 2553 a).

Written in-house from the sources below · every year is a quotation

The sources, word for word

“2553. a. … Balaamus, premissis sacrificiis, bis conatur Israelitis maledicere, morem Balako gerens: sed spiritu Dei adactus, eisdem benedicit; et felicia eis, infclicia vero corum hostibus coram Balako preenunciat*.”

Ussher, Annales Veteris Testamenti (1650), Latin text in The Whole Works of James Ussher, vols. VIII–XI (Dublin, 1864) · vol. VIII, AM 2553 a · gives 1452 BC

Sources