Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 19

(better "Ravine" _nahal_) of Egypt or Musri, on the southern frontier of Judea. So too Winckler, in the new edition of E. Schrader's _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_. It has been usual to keep _nahar_ and take it in its ordinary sense when used absolutely, _i.e._ the Euphrates, and to identify _Pethor_ with a _Pitru_ on a tributary of the Euphrates, mentioned in an inscription of Shalmaneser II. Deut. xxiii. 4 places Pethor in Mesopotamia.

G.o.d appears to him in a dream and forbids him to go. The princes return and report to Balak, who sends them back to put further pressure on Balaam. G.o.d in another dream permits him to go, on condition that he speaks what G.o.d tells him. He goes with the _princes of Moab_. Balak meets them, and Balaam warns him that he can only speak what G.o.d tells him.

xxii. 40, 41, xxiii. 1-6, 11-17. Balak offers sacrifices, but Yahweh inspires Balaam with a blessing on Israel. Balak remonstrates and Balaam explains. They try to get a more favourable result by sacrificing on a different spot, and by placing Balaam on the top of Pisgah to view Israel, but he is again compelled to bless Israel. After further remonstrances and explanations [Balaam goes home]. (For the relation of the poems to E's narrative, see below.)

Deut. xxiii. 3-6[1] summarizes E's account of this incident, adding, however, the feature that the Ammonites were a.s.sociated with the Moabites, possibly an imperfect reminiscence of the reference to Ammon in J. Joshua, in his farewell speech to the Israelites,[2] also refers to this episode.

The Priestly Code[3] has a different story of Balaam, in which he advises the _Midianites_ how they may bring disaster on Israel by seducing the people from their loyalty to Yahweh. Later on he is slain in battle, fighting in the ranks of Midian.

It is often supposed that the name of the king of Edom,[4] Bela, son of Beor, is a corruption of Balaam, and that, therefore, one form of the tradition made him a king of Edom.

The _Poems_ fall into two groups: the first four, in xxiii. 1.-xxiv. 19, are commonly regarded as ancient lyrics of the early monarchy, perhaps in the time of David or Solomon, which J and E inserted in their narrative.

Some recent critics,[5] however, are inclined to place them in the post-exilic period, in which case a late editor has subst.i.tuted them for earlier, probably less edifying, oracles. But the features which are held to indicate late date may be due to editorial revision.

The first two are found in an E setting, and therefore, if ancient, formed part of E.

The _First_, xxiii. 7-10, prophesies the unique exaltation of Israel, and its countless numbers.

The _Second_, xxiii. 18-24, celebrates the moral virtue of Israel, the monarchy and its conquests.

Again the second couple are connected with J.

The _Third_, xxiv. 3-9, also celebrates the glory and conquests of the monarchy.

_Agag_, in verse 7, can hardly be the Amalekite king of 1 Sam. xv.; Amalek was too small and obscure. The Septuagint and other Greek Versions and Sam.

Pent, have _Gog_, which would imply a post-exilic date, cf. Ezek. x.x.xix.

Probably both Agag and Gog are textual corruptions. _Og_ has been suggested, but does not seem a great improvement.

The _Fourth_, xxiv. 14-19, announces the coming of a king, possibly David, who shall conquer Edom and Moab.

The remaining poems are usually regarded as later additions; thus the _Oxford Hexateuch_ on Num. xxiv. 20-24. "The three concluding oracles seem irrelevant here, being concerned neither with Israel nor Moab. It has been thought that they were added to bring the cycle up to seven."

The _Fifth_, xxiv. 20, deals with the ruin of Amalek. It is of uncertain date; if the historical Amalek is meant, it may be early; but Amalek may be symbolical.

The _Sixth_, xxiv. 21 f., deals with the destruction of the Kenite state by a.s.syria; also of uncertain date, a.s.syria being, according to some, the ancient realm of Nineveh, according to others the Seleucid kingdom of Syria, which was also called a.s.syria.

The _Seventh_, xxiv. 23 f., speaks of the coming of ships from the West, to attack a.s.sur and "Eber"; it may refer to the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great. An interesting, but doubtful, emendation makes this poem describe the ruin of Shamal, a state in N. W. Syria.

In the New Testament Balaam is cited as a type of avarice;[6] in Rev. ii.

14 we read of false teachers at Pergamum who held the "teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication."

Balaam has attracted much interest, alike from Jews, Christians and Mahommedans. Josephus[7] paraphrases the story _more suo_, and speaks of Balaam as the best prophet of his time, but with a disposition ill adapted to resist temptation. Philo describes him in the _Life of Moses_ as a great magician; elsewhere[8] he speaks of "the sophist Balaam, being," _i.e._ symbolizing, "a vain crowd of contrary and warring opinions"; and again[9]

as "a vain people"; both phrases being based on a mistaken etymology of the name Balaam. The later Targums and the Talmuds represent him as a typical sinner; and there are the usual worthless Rabbinical fables, _e.g._ that he was blind of one eye; that he was the Elihu of Job; that, as one of Pharaoh's counsellors, he was governor of a city of Ethiopia, and rebelled against Pharaoh; Moses was sent against him by Pharaoh at the head of an army, and stormed the city and put Balaam to flight, &c. &c.

[v.03 p.0233] Curiously enough, the Rabbinical (Yalkut) identification of Balaam with Laban, Jacob's father-in-law, has been revived from a very different standpoint, by a modern critic.[10] The Mahommedans, also, have various fables concerning Balaam. He was one of the Anakim, or giants of Palestine; he read the books of Abraham, where he got the name Yahweh, by virtue of which he predicted the future, and got from G.o.d whatever he asked. It has been conjectured that the Arabic wise man, commonly called Luqman (_q.v._), is identical with Balaam. The names of their fathers are alike, and "Luqman" means _devourer_, _swallower,_ a meaning which might be got out of Balaam by a popular etymology.

If we might accept the various theories mentioned above, Balaam would appear in one source of J as an Edomite, in another as an Ammonite; in E as a native of the south of Judah or possibly as an Aramaean; in the tradition followed by the Priestly Code probably as a Midianite. All these peoples either belong to the Hebrew stock or are closely connected with it. We may conclude that Balaam was an ancient figure of traditions originally common to all the Hebrews and their allies, and afterwards appropriated by individual tribes; much as there are various St Georges.

The chief significance of the Balaam narratives for the history of the religion of Israel is the recognition by J and E of the genuine inspiration of a non-Hebrew prophet. Yahweh is as much the G.o.d of Balaam as he is of Moses. Probably the original tradition goes back to a time when Yahweh was recognized as a deity of a circle of connected tribes of which the Israelite tribes formed a part. But the retention of the story without modification may imply a continuous recognition through some centuries of the idea that Yahweh revealed his will to nations other than Israel.

Apparently the Priestly Code ignored this feature of the story.

Taking the narratives as we now have them, Balaam is a companion figure to Jonah, the prophet who wanted to go where he was not sent, over against the prophet who ran away from the mission to which he was called.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Ewald, _Geschichte des Volkes Israel^3_, Bd. ii. p. 298; Hengstenberg's _Die Geschichte Bileams und seine Weissagungen_ (1842); the commentaries on the scriptural pa.s.sages, especially G. B. Gray on Numbers xxii.-xxiv.; and the articles on "Balaam" (Bileam) in Hamburger's _Realencyclopadie fur Bibel und Talmud_, Hastings' _Bible Dict._, Black and Cheyne's _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, Herozog-Hauck's _Realencyklopadie_. For the a.n.a.lysis into earlier doc.u.ments, see also the _Oxford Hexateuch_, Estlin Carpenter and Harford-Battersby.

(W. H. BE.)

[1] Quoted Neh. xiii. 1 f.

[2] Josh. xxiv. 9, 10. E; cf. Micah vi. 5.

[3] Num. x.x.xi. 8 (quoted Josh. xiii. 22), 16. These references are not necessarily inconsistent with JE; but they are probably based on an independent tradition. The date of the Priestly Code is _ca._ 400 B.C.

[4] Gen. x.x.xvi. 32.

[5] For names and reasons, see Gray, _Numbers_, 314.

[6] 2 Peter ii. 16, 17 (also refer to the a.s.s speaking), Jude xi.

[7] _Ant._ iv. 6.

[8] _Quod. Det. Potiori_, -- 20.

[9] _De Cherub._, -- 10.

[10] T. Steuernagel, _Einwanderung der israelitischen Stamme_ (1901).

BAL[=A]DHUR[=I] (AB[=U]-L-'ABB[=A]S AHMAD IBN YAHY[=A] IBN J[=A]BIR AL-BAL[=A]DHUR[=I]), Arabian historian, was a Persian by birth, though his sympathies seem to have been strongly with the Arabs, for Mas'[=u]d[=i]

refers to one of his works in which he refuted the Shu'[=u]bites (see ABU 'UBAIDA). He lived at the court of the caliphs al-Mutawakkil and al-Musta'[=i]n and was tutor to the son of al-Mu'tazz. He died in 892 as the result of a drug called _bal[=a]dhur_ (hence his name). The work by which he is best known is the _Fut[=u]h ul-Buld[=a]n_ (Conquests of Lands), edited by M. J. de Goeje as _Liber expugnationis regionum_ (Leiden, 1870; Cairo, 1901). This work is a digest of a larger one, which is now lost. It contains an account of the early conquests of Mahomet and the early caliphs. Bal[=a]dhur[=i] is said to have spared no trouble in collecting traditions, and to have visited various parts of north Syria and Mesopotamia for this purpose. Another great historical work of his was the _Ans[=a]b ul-Ashr[=a]f_ (Genealogies of the n.o.bles), of which he is said to have written forty parts when he died. Of this work the eleventh book has been published by W. Ahlwardt (Greifswald, 1883), and another part is known in ma.n.u.script (see _Journal of the German Oriental Society_, vol. x.x.xviii.

pp. 382-406). He also made some translations from Persian into Arabic.

(G. W. T.)

BALAGHAT (_i.e._ "above the _ghats_ or pa.s.ses," the highlands), a district of British India in the Nagpur division of the Central Provinces. The administrative headquarters are at the town of Burha. The district contains an area of 3132 sq. m. It forms the eastern portion of the central plateau which divides the province from east to west. These highlands, formerly known as the Raigarh Bichhia tract, remained desolate and neglected until 1866, when the district of Balaghat was formed, and the country opened to the industrious and enterprising peasantry of the Wainganga valley.

Geographically the district is divided into three distinct parts:--(1) The southern lowlands, a slightly undulating plain, comparatively well cultivated and drained by the Wainganga, Bagh, Deo, Ghisri and Son rivers.

(2) The long narrow valley known as the Mau Taluka, lying between the hills and the Wainganga river, and comprising a long, narrow, irregular-shaped lowland tract, intersected by hill ranges and peaks covered with dense jungle, and running generally from north to south. (3) The lofty plateau, in which is situated the Raigarh Bichhia tract, comprising irregular ranges of hills, broken into numerous valleys, and generally running from east to west. The highest points in the hills of the district are as follows:--Peaks above Lanji, 2300 or 2500 feet; Tepagarh hill, about 2600 ft.; and Bhainsaghat range, about 3000 ft. above the sea. The princ.i.p.al rivers in the district are the Wainganga, and its tributaries, the Bagh, Nahra and Uskal; a few smaller streams, such as the Masmar, the Mahkara, &c.; and the Banjar, Halon and Jamunia, tributaries of the Nerbudda, which drain a portion of the upper plateau. In the middle of the 19th century the upper part of the district was an impenetrable waste. About that time one Lachhman Naik established the first villages on the Paraswara plateau. But a handsome Buddhist temple of cut stone, belonging to some remote period, is suggestive of a civilization which had disappeared before historic times. The population in 1901 was 326,521, showing a decrease of 15% in the decade, due to the effects of famine. A large part of the area is still covered with forest, the most valuable timber-tree being _sal_. There are few good roads. The Gondia-Jubbulpore line of the Bengal-Nagpur railway traverses the Wainganga valley in the west of the district. The district suffered very severely from the famine of 1896-1897. It suffered again in 1900, when in April the number of persons relieved rose above 100,000.

BALAGUER, VICTOR (1824-1901), Spanish politician and author, was born at Barcelona on the 11th of December 1824, and was educated at the university of his native town. His precocity was remarkable; his first dramatic essay, _Pepin el jorobado_, was placed on the Barcelona stage when he was fourteen years of age, and at nineteen he was publicly "crowned" after the production of his second play, _Don Enrique el Dadivoso_. From 1843 to 1868 he was the chief of the Liberal party in Barcelona, and as proprietor and editor of _El Conseller_ did much to promote the growth of local patriotism in Catalonia. But it was not till 1857 that he wrote his first poem in Catalan--a copy of verses to the Virgin of Montserrat. Henceforward he frequently adopted the pseudonym of "lo Trovador de Montserrat"; in 1859 he helped to restore the "Juegos Florales," and in 1861 was proclaimed _mestre de gay saber_. He was removed to Madrid, took a prominent part in political life, and in 1867 emigrated to Provence. On the expulsion of Queen Isabella, he returned to Spain, represented Manresa in the Cortes, and in 1871-1872 was successively minister of the colonies and of finance. He resigned office at the restoration, but finally followed his party in rallying to the dynasty; he was appointed vice-president of congress, and was subsequently a senator. He died at Madrid on the 14th of January 1901.

Long before his death he had become alienated from the advanced school of Catalan nationalists, and endeavoured to explain away the severe criticism of Castile in which his _Historia de Cataluna y de la Corona de Aragon_ (1860-1863) abounds. This work, like his _Historia politica y literaria de los trovadores_ (1878-1879), is inaccurate, partial and unscientific; but both books are attractively written and have done great service to the cause which Balaguer once upheld. As a poet he is imitative: reminiscences of Quintana are noticeable in his patriotic songs, of Zorrilla in his historical ballads, of Byron in his lyrical poems. He wrote too hastily to satisfy artistic canons; but if he has the faults he has also the merits of a pioneer, and in Catalonia his name will endure.

[v.03 p.0234] BALAKIREV, MILI ALEXEIVICH (1836- ), Russian musical composer, was born at Nijni-Novgorod on the 31st of December 1836. He had the advantage as a boy of living with Oulibichev, author of a _Life of Mozart_, who had a private band, and from whom Balakirev obtained a valuable education in music. At eighteen, after a university course in mathematics, he went to St Petersburg, full of national ardour, and there made the acquaintance of Glinka. Round him gathered Cesar Cui (b. 1835), and others, and in 1862 the Free School of Music was established, by which, and by Balakirev's personal zeal, the modern school of Russian music was largely stimulated. In 1869 Balakirev was appointed director of the imperial chapel and conductor of the Imperial Musical Society. His influence as a conductor, and as an organizer of Russian music, give him the place of a founder of a new movement, apart even from his own compositions, which though few in number are remarkable in themselves. His works consist largely of songs and collections of folk-songs, but include a symphony (first played in England in 1901), two symphonic poems ("Russia"

and "Tamara"), and four overtures, besides pianoforte pieces. His orchestral works are of the "programme-music" order, but all are brilliant examples of the highly coloured, elaborate style characteristic of modern Russian composers, and developed by Balakirev's disciples, such as Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov.

BALAKLAVA, a village in the Crimea, east of Sevastopol, famous for a battle in the Crimean War. The action of Balaklava (October 25th, 1854) was brought about by the advance of a Russian field army under General Liprandi to attack the allied English, French and Turkish forces besieging Sevastopol. The ground on which the engagement took place was the Vorontsov ridge (see CRIMEAN WAR), and the valleys on either side of it. Liprandi's corps formed near Traktir Bridge, and early on the 25th of October its advanced guard moved southward to attack the ridge, which was weakly occupied by Turkish battalions behind slight entrenchments. The two nearest British divisions were put into motion as soon as the firing became serious, but were prevented by their orders from descending at once into the plain, and the Turks had to meet the a.s.sault of greatly superior numbers. They made a gallant resistance, but the Russians quickly cleared the ridge, capturing several guns, and their first line was followed by a heavy ma.s.s of cavalry which crossed the ridge and descended into the Balaklava plain. At this moment the British cavalry division under the earl of Lucan was in the plain, but their commander was prevented from engaging the Russians by the tenor of his orders. One of his brigades, the Heavy (4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, 1st, 2nd and 6th Dragoons) under Brigadier-General J. Y. Scarlett, was in the Balaklava plain; the other, the Light Brigade under Lord Cardigan (4th and 13th Light Dragoons now Hussars, 8th and 11th Hussars and 17th Lancers) in the valley to the north of the Vorontsov ridge. All these regiments were very weak in numbers. The Russian cavalry ma.s.s, after crossing the ridge, moved towards Balaklava; a few shots were fired into it by a Turkish battery and a moment later the Heavy Brigade charged. The attack was impeded at first by obstacles of ground, but in the _melee_ the weight of the British troopers gradually broke up the enemy, and the charge of the 4th Dragoon Guards, delivered against the flank of the Russian ma.s.s, was decisive. The whole of the Russian cavalry broke and fled to the ridge. This famous charge occupied less than five minutes from first to last, and at the same time some of the Russian squadrons, attempting to charge the 93rd Highlanders (who were near Balaklava) were met by the steady volleys of the "thin red line," and fled with the rest. The defeated troops retreated past the still inactive Light Brigade, on whose left a French cavalry brigade was now posted. The Russians were at this juncture reinforced by a mixed force on the Fedukhine heights; Liprandi's infantry occupied the captured ridge, and manned the guns taken from the Turks. The cavalry defeated by the Heavy Brigade was re-formed in the northern valley behind the field guns, and infantry, cavalry and artillery were on both the Fedukhine and the Vorontsov heights.

Thus, in front of the Light Brigade was a valley over a mile long, at the end of which was the enemy's cavalry and twelve guns, and on the ridges on either side there were in all twenty-two guns, with cavalry and infantry.

It was under these circ.u.mstances that an order was given by the British headquarters, which led to the charge for which above all Balaklava is remembered. It was carried to Lord Lucan by Captain L. E. Nolan, 15th Hussars, and ran as follows:--"Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns ... French cavalry is on your left." Lucan, seeing no attempt on the part of the enemy to move guns, questioned Nolan, who is said to have pointed down the valley to the artillery on the plain; whereupon Lucan rode to Lord Cardigan, the commander of the Light Brigade, and repeated Lord Raglan's order and Nolan's explanation. The Light Brigade then advanced straight to its front, and soon came under fire from the guns on both flanks. Nolan was killed as he rode across the front of the brigade, perhaps with the intention of changing its direction to the Vorontsov ridge. Five minutes later the guns in front began to fire with telling effect. The pace was increased, though the "charge" was not sounded, and Cardigan and those of his men who remained mounted, rode up to and through the Russian line of guns. Small parties even charged the Russian cavalry in rear and on either flank. The French 4th _Cha.s.seurs d' Afrique_ made a dashing charge which drove the Russians off the Fedukhine heights, though at considerable loss.

Lucan had meanwhile called up the Heavy Brigade to support the Light, but it lost many men and horses and was quickly withdrawn. Only two formed bodies of the Light Brigade found their way back. The 13th Light Dragoons mustered but ten mounted men at the evening parade; the brigade as a whole had lost 247 men and 497 horses out of a total strength of 673 engaged in the charge, which lasted twenty minutes from first to last. The two infantry divisions which now approached the field were again halted, and Liprandi was left undisturbed on the Vorontsov ridge and in possession of the captured guns. The result of the day was thus unfavourable to the allies, but the three chief incidents of the engagement--the two cavalry charges and the fight of the 93rd Highlanders--gave to it all the prestige of a victory. The impression created by the conduct of the Light Brigade was forcibly expressed in Tennyson's well-known ballad, and in spite of the equally celebrated remark of the French general Bosquet, _C'est magnifique mais ce n'est pas la guerre_, it may be questioned whether the moral effect of the charge did not outweigh the very serious loss in trained men and horses involved.

BALALAKA, a stringed instrument said to have retained its primitive form unchanged, very popular in Russia among the peasants, more especially in Ukraine. The instrument has a triangular soundboard to which is glued a vaulted back, forming a body having a triangular base, enabling it to stand upright. To the body is added a fretted neck strung with two, three or four strings, generally so tuned as to produce a minor chord when sounded together. The strings are generally plucked with the fingers, but the peasants obtain charming "glissando" effects by sweeping the strings lightly one after the other with the fingers or side of the hand. The Balalaka is common to the Slav races, who use it to accompany their folk-songs and dances. It is also to be seen in the hands of gipsies at rural festivities and fairs.