he had worked so hard. If he could not curse Israel, he reasoned, perhaps God himself would curse his own people, if only they could be seduced to engage in sex worship of the Baal of Peor. So “Balaam . . . went teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication.” (Rev. 2:14) “By Balaam’s word,” the daughters of Moab and Midian “served to induce the sons of Israel to commit unfaithfulness toward Jehovah over the affair of Peor, so that the scourge came upon the assembly of Jehovah.” (Num. 31:16) The result: 24,000 men of Israel died for their sin. (Num. 25:1-9) Neither did Midian, nor Balaam, for his part, escape divine punishment. Jehovah commanded that all their men, women and boys be executed; only virgins were spared. “And they killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.” (Num. 25:16-18; 31:1-18) As for the Moabites, they were barred from the congregation of Jehovah “to the tenth generation.”—Deut. 23:3-6.

BALADAN

(Balʹa·dan) [he has given a son].

The father of Merodach-baladan (Isa. 39:1; “Berodach-baladan” at 2 Kings 20:12). Baladan’s son Merodach-baladan was king of Babylon during at least part of the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah (745-716 B.C.E.).

In the past, some viewed this mention of Baladan as in error, since the Assyrian inscriptions of King Sargon II refer to Merodach-baladan as the son of “Yakin.” However, in the inscriptions of Assyrian King Shalmaneser III, King Jehu of Israel is called the “son of Omri,” whereas Jehu was actually the son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi. (2 Ki. 9:2) Though Omri’s dynasty ended with the death of Jehoram (2 Ki. 9:24), the Assyrians continued to refer to the kingdom of Israel as “Bit Humri” (House of Omri, or, Omri-land) and, correspondingly, the land of Merodach-baladan is referred to as “Bit Yakin.” So it appears that Merodach-baladan was the “son of Yakin” primarily in the sense of successor to his throne or dynasty.

Some consider “Baladan” to be an abbreviation of a fuller name, suggesting that Merodach-baladan’s father bore the same name as his son. Such abbreviation of names is not unusual in the Biblical record (as, for example, the abbreviation of “Jehoahaz” to “Ahaz”), nor is it unusual in the Assyrian and Babylonian texts.

BALAH

See BAALAH No. 3.

BALAK

(Baʹlak) [devastator].

Baal-worshiping king of Moab in the fifteenth century B.C.E.; son of Zippor. Balak’s people were frightened and filled with a “sickening dread” when they saw what Israel had done to the Amorites. In league with Midian, Balak sent to the town of Pethor by the Euphrates River for Balaam to come from Mesopotamia and curse Israel with “uncanny power,” hoping thereby to gain a military advantage. “Look!” Balak said to Balaam, “[the Israelites] have covered the earth as far as one can see, and they are dwelling right in front of me.” At first Balaam declined to go, but after Balak sent a more honorable delegation of princes and raised his offer, the greedy prophet finally accepted, with Jehovah’s allowance. Upon coming to the bank of the Arnon River, Balak chided him with: “Why did you not come to me [at first]? Am I not really and truly able to honor you?”—Num. 22:2-37.

Balak took Balaam to three vantage points from which to view the host of Israel. At each point the same sacrificial procedure was followed; Balak was directed to construct seven altars upon which seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed. However, at each place, instead of cursing Israel, Balaam blessed them.—Num. 22:41–24:9; Mic. 6:5.

Well, at this turn of events “Balak’s anger blazed against Balaam.” Clapping his hands in a rage, he exclaimed: “It was to execrate my enemies that I called you, and, look! you have blessed them to the limit these three times. And now run your way off to your place.” But before this prophet from Pethor departed, he foretold the Messianic “star” coming through Jacob’s seed.—Num. 24:10-17; Josh. 24:9, 10; Judg. 11:25.

Subsequent events show that Balaam also “went teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication.”—Rev. 2:14; Num. 25:1-18.

BALDNESS

The absence of hair on the head, although not necessarily a total loss of hair. Often baldness occurs in spots or patches, while on other parts of the head the hair grows normally. This kind of hair loss is called pattern baldness and accounts for about 90 percent of all cases. The Bible makes mention of crown baldness and forehead baldness. (Lev. 13:41-44) The exact cause of baldness is unknown. Heredity is considered the primary contributing factor, while infection, hormone imbalance, aging, nervous disorders and syphilis are also factors.

Baldness is a defect that interferes with personal attractiveness and so among peoples of ancient times was associated with shame, mourning and distress. (Isa. 3:24; 15:2; Jer. 47:5; Ezek. 27:31; Amos 8:10; Mic. 1:16) However, under the law of Moses, baldness was not considered as uncleanness. (Lev. 13:40) The Law given through Moses does not list baldness as a defect that would prevent one from being allowed to serve as priest, but the Hebrew Mishnah lists it as a disqualifying factor. In the prophet Ezekiel’s vision the command was given that the priests should wear their hair neither loose nor shaved, but clipped.—Ezek. 44:20.

Jehovah’s prophet Elisha was bald. After he had succeeded to the prophetic office of Elijah, he was proceeding uphill from Jericho toward Bethel when he was mocked by a mob of children who cried: “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” The primary reason for their jeers seems to have been not that Elisha was baldheaded but that they saw a baldheaded man wearing Elijah’s familiar official garment. They did not want any successor of Elijah around. He should either keep going his way up to Bethel or get off the earth altogether by making an ascent into the heavens as the former wearer of that official garment had done. To answer this challenge of his being Elijah’s successor and to teach these young people and their parents proper respect for Jehovah’s prophet, Elisha called down evil upon the jeering mob in the name of the God of Elijah. It was a test of his prophetship. Jehovah manifested his approval of Elisha by causing two she-bears to come out of the nearby woods and to tear to pieces forty-two of them.—2 Ki. 2:23, 24.

Some peoples made a practice of artificially imposing baldness by shaving in time of sorrow for a dead relative or for religious reasons, but the Israelites were forbidden to practice this. (Deut. 14:1) Priests were given a specific command that they should not make themselves bald or shave the extremities of their beards for the dead. (Lev. 21:5) Israel was commanded that they should not cut the side locks or extremity of their beards.—Lev. 19:27; Jer. 9:26.

In Egypt, the men generally shaved their heads, and they looked upon beards as a sign of slovenliness. For this reason Joseph, when taken out of prison, shaved before being brought into the presence of Pharaoh. (Gen. 41:14) However, the Egyptians covered baldness with wigs, and many who shaved their heads and beards wore wigs and tied on false beards. In the Papyrus Ebers, an Egyptian medical treatise from the second millennium B.C.E., there are eleven prescriptions for preventing baldness.

In the Law, one with head leprosy was to shave his head at the beginning of his quarantine period and on the day of purification and again on the seventh day. (Lev. 13:33; 14:8, 9) If a Nazirite became defiled, then at the time of establishing his purification he shaved his head. (Num. 6:9) A captive woman whom