"Volume contains the reworked papers of the 2005 Themes in Biblical Narrative Conference which took place at the University of Groningen on 17-18 June 2005"--P. [xi]

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Balaam the villain : the history of reception of the Balaam narrative in the Pentateuch and the former prophets / Ed Noort -- Bala |am and Deir Alla / E mile Puech -- Balaam, Mopsus and Melampous : tales of traveling seers / Jan N. Bremmer -- Balaam in the Dead Sea Scrolls / Florentino Garci a Marti nez -- A Qumran cave 2 fragment preserving part of Numbers 23:5-7[8] (2Q29 1) / Eibert Tigchelaar -- Balaam and Enoch / Eibert Tigchelaar -- The rewriting of Numbers 22-24 in pseudo-Philo, Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 18 / Jacques T.A.G.M. van Ruiten -- Balaam as the Sophist par excellence in Philo of Alexandria : Philo's projection of an urgent contemporary debate onto Moses' Pentateuchal narratives / George H. van Kooten -- 'A star shall come out of Jacob' : a critical evaluation of the Balaam oracle in the context of Jewish revolts in Roman times / Stefan Beyerle -- Balaam's fourth oracle (Numbers 24:15-19) according to the Aramaic targums / Alberdina Houtman and Harry Sysling -- Interpret him as much as you want : Balaam in the Babylonian Talmud / Ronit Nikolsky -- Balaam and the star of the Magi / Tobias Nicklas -- Balaam in Revelation 2:14 / Jan Willem van Henten -- Balaam and 2 Peter 2:15 : 'They have followed in the steps of Balaam' (Jude 11) / Tord Fornberg -- Speaking asses in the Acts of Thomas : an intertextual and cognitive perspective / Istva n Czachesz -- 'To bless with a mouth bent on cursing' : patristic interpretations of Balaam (Num 24:17) / Johan Leemans -- Bala |am in early Koranic commentaries / Fred Leemhuis.