Ben Wiggershaus, "The Man of Opened Eye: Ancient Near Eastern Revelatory Convention and the Balaam Cycle" (Gorgias Press, 2025)

Summary

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New Books Network: Interview with Ben Wiggershaus

Episode: Ben Wiggershaus, "The Man of Opened Eye: Ancient Near Eastern Revelatory Convention and the Balaam Cycle" (Gorgias Press, 2025)
Date: December 22, 2025
Host: Michael Morales
Guest: Dr. Ben Wiggershaus, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies and Ministry at Belhaven University

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Michael Morales interviews Dr. Ben Wiggershaus about his imminent monograph, The Man of Opened Eye: Ancient Near Eastern Revelatory Convention and the Balaam Cycle. Wiggershaus brings fresh insight to the enigmatic Balaam narrative (Numbers 22–24) by reevaluating its perceived textual discontinuities through close comparative study of ancient Near Eastern revelatory conventions. The discussion explores longstanding scholarly questions about the unity, genre, and interpretation of the Balaam story, ultimately proposing a cohesive reading grounded in historical and cultural context.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Balaam Narrative: Problems and Scholarly Questions

• Wiggershaus introduces himself and outlines the genesis of his interest in Numbers, particularly the Balaam narrative, noting its relative neglect in scholarship.

  • [02:58] "A few of my peers and I decided to do an exploratory study of numbers with our mentor. And it was then that I learned about some of the questions that are raised by the diachronic analyses in the Book of Numbers."

• Main Scholarly Challenges:

  • Genre diversity: Within these three chapters, there are at least three genres (fable, oracles, narrative). [03:49]
  • 'Intrusive' donkey episode: The talking donkey is seen as an odd interruption, creating tension and perceived discontinuity. [04:38]
  • Inconsistent portrayal of Balaam: At different points, Balaam's character seems alternately positive and negative. [05:22]
  • Divine fickleness: God's instructions to Balaam appear inconsistent, making divine intent problematic. [05:54]
  • Ambiguous profession: Is Balaam a prophet, diviner, or Mesopotamian exorcist? [06:34]

• These questions, Wiggershaus notes, often lead scholars to posit multiple source traditions as the explanation for discontinuity, but seldom produce satisfying consensus.

  • [07:30] "Few scholars agree on how to answer them... so I thought a different method might be helpful."

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Wiggershaus’s Comparative Method: Reframing Balaam

• Drawing from his background in archaeology and interest in historical context, Wiggershaus applies comparative analysis using ancient Near Eastern primary sources.
  • [08:18] "I thought, well, maybe if we compare the primary sources in the ancient Near East... maybe we would come up with a satisfactory answer to these five questions. And I believe that we do. And in doing so, we preserve the unity of the story."

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The Ancient Near Eastern Revelatory Context

• Morales raises the perennial question: Is Balaam a benevolent prophet or a malevolent pagan diviner?

  • [10:31] "There is a lot of confusion regarding the character of Balaam. Even among scholars. Was he mostly good or devious? Was he a true prophet or a pagan diviner?"

• Wiggershaus's Core Argument:

  • The key to untangling the narrative’s puzzles is understanding Balaam’s profession in light of ancient conventions.
  • Ancient Near Eastern cultures shared common—though regionally varied—practices in prophecy and divination.
    • E.g., the "boat oracle" in Egypt, extispacy in Mesopotamia; both required interpreters of signs. [11:35]
  • Balaam is depicted as a professional diviner, not employed in multiple professions, but as someone through whom God sometimes communicates prophetically.
    • [13:36] "So the best way to understand this then is not that Balaam is practicing different professions at different times, but that Balaam is a professional diviner through whom God sends a couple of prophetic messages at key points in the story."
  • The biblical narrative is largely neutral on Balaam’s morality, seeing him as a working diviner rather than villain or hero—but sets prophecy above divination in value.
    • [14:19] "Balaam, unlike King Balak, is not an antagonist in the story. He's portrayed simply as a professional diviner doing his job…that being said, I also believe that the story exhibits ancient Israel's position that prophecy was superior to divination."

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Genre and Movement Across the Oracles

• Morales requests an overview of the four main Balaam oracles and their significance. [14:46]
• Wiggershaus explains:
  • Two oracles in Numbers 23 match each other in form; the two in Numbers 24 form a second pair with markedly different form from the first.
    • Scholars perceive the structural discontinuity as evidence of disparate sources.
  • Key distinction:
    • The oracles in Numbers 23 reflect divinatory reports, with Balaam performing divination and interpreting omens.
    • The oracles in Numbers 24 are "vision reports," occurring once Balaam's eyes are "opened" and he receives direct prophetic vision.
    • [16:13] "The oracles in 23 are much more akin to the reports of divination…Conversely, the oracles in 24 are vision reports. Having his eyes now opened... Balaam sees the cosmic reality and God's plans for the tribes of Israel."
  • The narrative crescendo is when, poised to attempt divination anew, Balaam is overtaken by a direct prophetic vision—affirming the irrevocable blessing on Israel and the security of the Abrahamic promise.
    • [18:35] "At the climax of the story, the spirit of the Lord dramatically overwhelms Balaam… Jacob is indeed blessed and the promise to the patriarchs is indeed secure, even in the face of such supernatural practices."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Scholarly Discord:
  [07:30] Ben Wiggershaus: "Few scholars agree on how to answer them. Even if they agree that they all point to discontinuity in the text, they disagree on how to account for them."

• On Ancient Context:
  [11:35] Ben Wiggershaus: "Divination, for example, wasn't practiced the exact same way by the Hittites as it was by the Neo Assyrians. Nevertheless, there are certain conventions that seem to be common to these practices regardless of where and when they were practiced."

• On Balaam’s Professional Role:
  [13:36] Ben Wiggershaus: "Balaam is a professional diviner through whom God sends a couple of prophetic messages at key points in the story."

• On Prophecy vs. Divination:
  [14:19] Ben Wiggershaus: "The story exhibits ancient Israel's position that prophecy was superior to divination."

• On the Narrative Climax:
  [18:35] Ben Wiggershaus: "At the climax of the story, the spirit of the Lord dramatically overwhelms Balaam…Jacob is indeed blessed and the promise to the patriarchs is indeed secure, even in the face of such supernatural practices."

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:58] – Wiggershaus introduces the central scholarly challenges in the Balaam narrative
• [07:30] – Rationale for undertaking a comparative ancient Near Eastern approach
• [10:47] – Begin discussion of Balaam’s profession and character in ancient context
• [13:36] – Core argument: Balaam as diviner through whom God occasionally prophesies
• [14:57] – Breakdown of the four oracles; genre differences
• [16:13] – Explanation of the shift from divinatory reports (Numbers 23) to vision reports (Numbers 24)
• [18:35] – The literary and theological climax: the affirmation of Israel’s blessing

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Host & Guest’s Current Activities

• [19:05] Dr. Wiggershaus shares that he recently relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, and is settling into his position at Belhaven University, as well as brainstorming future research projects.

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Takeaway

Dr. Ben Wiggershaus offers a fresh, cohesive account of the Balaam narrative by situating it within the wider conventions of ancient Near Eastern revelatory practices. His insights dispel easy dichotomies—Balaam is neither simply a prophet nor a villainous pagan, but a professional diviner occasionally commandeered by the God of Israel for prophetic ends. This approach both preserves the unity of the text and recovers its narrative drama for modern readers.

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Transcript

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[Ben Wiggershouse]

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[Ben Wiggershouse]

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[Michael Morales]

Is it possible to read the Balaam narrative of Numbers 22:24? Cohesively, Ben Wiggershouse says yes, and part of his solution is in reading the Balaam Cycle in light of its ancient Near Eastern context. Tune in as we speak with Ben Wiershouse about his recent monograph, the man of Opened Ancient Near Eastern Revelatory Convention and the Balaam Cycle. You're listening to New Books in Biblical Studies, a channel of the New Books Network, and I'm your host, Michael Morales. Ben wiggershouse holds a Ph.D. in biblical studies from Asbury Theological Seminary and is Assistant professor of Biblical Studies in Ministry at Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. Ben, welcome to New Books and Biblical Studies.

[Ben Wiggershouse]

Thank you. I'm pleased to be here, and I hope you're well.

[Michael Morales]

Tell us about yourself and what led to your study of the balaam narrative. Numbers 22, 24.

[Ben Wiggershouse]

Sure thing. I'm assistant professor of Biblical Studies and Ministry at Belhaven and Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. I studied under Bill T. Arnold at Asbury Theological Seminary, and that's really where this project began. I knew I wanted to do work in Pentateuchal studies, but I wanted to look into a book that I felt saw less attention than some of the others, like Deuteronomy, for instance. So a few of my peers and I decided to do an exploratory study of numbers with our mentor. And it was then that I learned about some of the questions that are raised by the diachronic analyses in the Book of Numbers. So higher critical scholars seem to have more trouble outlining the seams between these theoretical traditions that lie behind the text of Numbers compared to some of the other books in the Pentateuch. And the story of Balaam is really no exception. That's numbers 22 through 24. So the normal criteria that's used for identifying these sources, such as doublets or the different names for God, is unhelpful in this section. And so as a result, researchers have identified other markers of supposed discontinuity that that suggests multiple traditions are at play in the story, the first being that in only three chapters, there are at least three different genres. So we have fable, we have oracles, and we have the surrounding narrative. And then. So for higher critical studies, this raises a lot of questions. It's which came first? You know, were the oracles older, or was the narrative written around them? Or did the narrative come first? What's the relationship between the oracles? Let's say the oracles in numbers 23 versus those in 24. How are they related? And then were they from the same source, or were they from different sources? And then scholars disagree on which sources those would be. The second marker is the story of the donkey. This is the part of the story that most people are familiar with. When they think of Balaam, they think of the talking donkey, right? But scholars actually view this part of the story as intrusive. It seems to be an interruption to the rest of the narrative. So, for example, God and Balaam seem to get along just fine earlier in numbers 22. But then once Balaam kind of saddles up his donkey to head out on his journey, at this point, God seems to turn on Balaam for no apparent reason. So this treatment of Balaam seems at odds with the rest of the narrative. And so that part of the reason they think this story is intrusive or it interrupts what's going on in the rest of the story that actually leads to the third marker of supposed discontinuity. And that's the story's tone toward Balaam. It doesn't seem consistent. At times, Balaam seems to be trade in a good light and at others in a bad light. And then the fourth marker is also similar in that God seems to be fickle. In the story, he forbids Balaam from departing at first from going and joining Balak, but then he agrees to let him go and tells him, go on ahead and go. But then he gets mad that Balaam goes and threatens to kill him. And then after he threatens to kill him, he finally allows him to go with a warning to continue on his way. So this is a strange way for God to act, especially when. When part of the point of the story is, as it says in Numbers 23:19, God is not man, that he should lie, not the son of man, that he should change his mind. So it's really strange to make that a point of the story or maybe a claim in the story when it seems like God does change his mind throughout the story. So this is something else that scholars point to to suggest that there's discontinuity. And the last marker of discontinuity is the apparent the way that Balaam practices, like, what is his profession? He seems to practice different things at different times in the story. So scholars will ask, is he a prophet who receives messages from God like Moses did? Is he a diviner who can read the will of the God through signs, Romans? Or is he a Mesopotamian exorcist, which is someone that specializes in cursing and rituals and things like that. So these are the five questions that I deal with. They're some of the larger questions that loom over this story among scholars. And they've been raised, and they're important questions that have been raised. But as I began looking into answers to these questions, I found that few scholars agree on how to answer them. Even if they agree that they all point to discontinuity in the text, they disagree on how to account for them. And so that has problems for how we read the story today. You know, how it, how we understand it, how it applies, things like that. So I thought a different method might be helpful in answering these questions. And I actually, I started my academic career in archaeology, I've always been interested in in the historical context of the Bible. And so doing a comparative study was was a natural fit for me. And so I thought, well, maybe if we compare the the primary sources in the ancient near east, then those that would be relevant to what we see going on in numbers 22 through 24 and I that maybe we would come up with a satisfactory answer to these five questions. And I believe that we do. And in doing so, we preserve the unity of the story.

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[Michael Morales]

There is a lot of confusion regarding the character of Balaam. Even among scholars. Was he mostly good or devious? Was he a true prophet or a pagan diviner? You gained insights by studying the conventions of ancient Near Eastern revelation. Tell us about that.

[Ben Wiggershouse]

So that's a great question and it gets to the heart of these issues. I found that the best way to approach these five questions or these five markers of discontinuity is to address Balaam's profession. And that's largely what I do in the man of Opened Eye. I think that if we can address this, if we understand what he practices, then the other issues kind of get resolved. And I explain how that happens toward the end of the book. But the question is, does numbers 22 through 24, does it portray Balaam as a diviner or as a prophet? And I answer this question by exploring the ancient Near Eastern primary sources that related to prophets and prophecy and prophetic reports which, which are all we, we would think of as oracles, diviners, divination and divination reports. So these arts were practiced different ways depending on the time and the society. So in other words, divination, for example, wasn't practiced the exact same way by the Hittites as it was by the Neo Assyrians. Nevertheless, there are certain conventions that seem to be common to these practice regardless of where and when they were practiced. The, the largest part of my book is, is pulling examples from the primary sources that, that show these common conventions. So for example, the so called boat oracle was a mode of divination practiced in ancient Egypt, while extispasy was favored the favored form throughout the history of most Mesopotamian cultures. I'm not going to explain what those two practices are, but what is helpful to know is that both required priests and diviners to interpret the signs they observed in the practices. So the systems for doing so often included similar methods and outcomes. The same idea can be applied to how prophecy was practiced in the ancient near east. Those done differently in different places and times. There were conventions in the way it was done and reported that were shared. So while researching these conventions, I found some that were relevant to the story of Balaam in Numbers and I outlined them in the book. I conclude that in numbers 22 through 24, Balaam is consistently portrayed as an ancient Near Eastern diviner. But we have to remember that God sends prophetic messages through all kinds of people in the Old Testament. He does so with Balaam the diviner twice in the story. First when the divine messenger, the angel, is revealed in 2231 and again before Balaam's third report to Balak in 24 2. In both cases, the text notes that Balaam's eyes are opened and it's noted again in 24:15. So the best way to understand this then is not that Balaam is practicing different professions at different times, but that Balaam is a professional diviner through whom God sends a couple of prophetic messages at key points in the story. So, to your first question, this helps answer what the story says about Balaam's character. Was he a good guy or a bad guy? I believe that the text is largely neutral on this point. Balaam, unlike King Balak, is not an antagonist in the story. He's portrayed simply as a professional diviner doing his job, which is assessing whether or not Israel was in a state of curse or of blessing, doing so through reading signs. That being said, I also believe that the story exhibits ancient Israel's position that prophecy was superior to divination. So Balaam would have incidentally been viewed less favorably by the original audience simply because he was a diviner. It's just that dragging him through the mud is not the primary point of the story.

[Michael Morales]

Given those insights, would you offer our listeners something of an overview of the movement from numbers 23 to 24 across Balaam's main four oracles?

[Ben Wiggershouse]

Absolutely. There are two oracles found in numbers 23 and two more in 24. The 2 and 23 match each other in form, and the 2 in 24 match each other in form. But. But the form of those of 23 is very different than that of the oracles in 24. So in other words, the two oracles in 23 match each other well, and the two oracles in 24 match each other well. But those oracles in 23 don't match the oracles in 24. And so, rightly, scholars debate what's to account for this difference. And for many, this signals different traditions and disunity in the story. But to better understand this section of the story, we really need to explain what we mean by oracle. So most modern readers equate oracle with prophecy or God speaking a message through someone. And in fact, we see this in a lot of our English translations. Some of our English translations, the editors will put section headings in there that say the oracles of Balaam and others like the NASB will put the prophecies of Balaam. So there's sort of this, it seems like this understanding that oracles, when we think of oracles today, and the modern English reader thinks of them as referring to prophecy. But that's not what's going on here in numbers 22 through 24. In numbers 23 and 24, when we compare the so called oracles with the ways divination and prophecy were reported in the ancient near east, it becomes clear that the oracles in 23 are much more. More akin to the reports of divination. In fact, the second oracle makes this clear when it claims that there is no omen against Israel in verse 23. Conversely, the oracles in 24 are vision reports. Having his eyes now opened, as I mentioned before, Balaam sees the cosmic reality and God's plans for the tribes of Israel. The narrative notes this shift in 24:1, when it states that Balaam did not go at other times to seek omens. So Balaam is still performing divination throughout numbers 23, even in the oracles. Those oracles are his written results and interpretations of whatever signs he saw. So the results of divination like these could be debated, could be reinterpreted, and even they could be overruled by subsequent divination inquiries. So knowing that keeps the reader on edge a bit. That's why King Balaam. At Balaam's insistence. Balaam. I'm sorry. At King Balak's insistence, Balaam goes to request signs from the Lord one more time. And what he finds next has the potential to change the outcome in Balak's favor. So, in other words, if Balaam goes again for a third time to seek omens, the results of those omens have the potential to overrule what came those oracles that are in numbers 23. But before he can do that, before he can complete the third and final inquiry, God overwhelms Balaam with a prophetic vision, seemingly in the very presence of King Balak. So understanding all this heightens the drama of the story. The Israelite readers would have been concerned with the ancient promise made to Abraham. Would they indeed be blessed and their enemies be cursed? Did Balaam interpret the signs in 23 correctly? Will Balak be successful in overturning the results of 23? So at the climax of the story, the spirit of the Lord dramatically overwhelms Balaam. To make the message absolutely clear, Jacob is indeed blessed and the promise to the patriarchs is indeed secure, even in the face of such supernatural practices. That suspense is largely absent if we assume Balaam is merely prophesying the whole time.

[Michael Morales]

Thank you, Ben. That is tremendously helpful. Before we let you go, would you tell us about what you're up to these days? Anything you're working on?

[Ben Wiggershouse]

Happy to. My family and I just moved to the Jackson area this summer, so I'm still getting settled in at Belhaven. I just wrapped up my first semester, and I'm now spending time planning for the next. Planning those classes. So in between ministering to students, spending time with my family and prepping classes. I spend some time brainstorming for potential research projects, but we'll see.

[Michael Morales]

Ben, thank you for joining us on New Books and Biblical Studies. It's been a joy to spend this time with you.

[Ben Wiggershouse]

It was a pleasure and I'm grateful for the opportunity to share.

[Michael Morales]

Friends, thank you for listening to New Books in Biblical Studies, a channel of the New Books Network. Until next time, goodbye.