Billam's Other Prophecy: The Deir Alla Inscription

In 1967 an inscription was discovered on a wall at Deir Alla in Jordan that had been broken by an earthquake. Assuming the reconstruction and the translation are even somewhat correct, the text tells of a prophecy of disaster by the navi Balaam ben Beor.

Some scholars argue that this text is a copied over portion of a larger “Sefer Balaam” that has been lost. The inscription, written in Aramaic, is estimated to have been written between 880 and 770 BCE (in the middle of Bais Rishon).

Archeologists and secular scholars interpret and translate the inscription to fit into their paradigm. The following is how I think the beginning of the inscription should be translated/paraphrased (to the best of my ability) within our paradigm.

“Warnings of Balaam bar Beor the Chozeh Elokim (the archeologists assume that this should be translated seer of gods) the Lord comes to in the night with the commandment of the Lord to Balaam bar Beor saying, ‘would that someone do something without hesitation to reveal what message there is.’ Balaam got up in the morning, behold it was a terrible vision. He fasted and cried day and night. His people came to him and said ‘Balaam bar Beor, why are you fasting and why are you crying? He said to them ‘sit and I will tell you what Shakai has said. Come and see the works of the Lord. The heavenly hosts and Shakai arranged a meeting and they said to Shagar ‘Do not burst open the latches of heaven. In your clouds danrkness reigns with no glimmer, pitch darkness, not clear night. . . .”

There is a lot more. Including portions that appear to admonish people for serving avodah zara.