Pethor

Pethor or Petor (פְּתוֹר) in the Hebrew Bible is the home of the prophet (or diviner) Balaam. In the Book of Numbers, Pethor is described as being located "by the river of the land of the children of his people".[1] The River usually refers in the Bible to the Euphrates River, the rest of the description is somewhat vague and perhaps corrupted. In Deuteronomy, Baalam is from "Pethor of Mesopotamia" (פְּתוֹר אֲרַם נַהֲרַיִם).[2] It is widely accepted that Pethor is the town Pitru, which is mentioned in ancient Assyrian records.[3]

The Hebrew root of the name Pethor is ptr (פתר) which corresponds to the Aramaic root pšr (פשר). Both roots refer, as verbs and nouns, to dream interpretation. This raises the possibility that Pethor is not the name of a town but rather a description of Balaam's occupation. Indeed, the Peshitta translates פְּתוֹרָה (to Pethor), in Numbers, into פְּשׁוֹרָא, which means, in Aramaic, "the interpreter". The Vulgata translates "Pethor" by "ariolum" which means a fortuneteller. The Targum Neofiti translates "Pethor" into "פתורה חלמיי", that is, "dream interpreter". In Deuteronomy, Balaam is "from Pethor Mesopotamia". The Vulgata and the Septuaginta omit "Pethor", and the Neofiti translates it, like in Numbers, "dream interpreter".

The Deir `Alla Inscription, dated to 880–770 BCE, describes a vision of "Bal'am son of Be'or", which seems to be the same figure described in the Bible. However, there is no mentioning of the town he lives in. In addition to the inscription, tablets dated to the Late Bronze were found in Deir Alla. The signs on these tablets are enigmatic and do not correspond to any known alphabet. W. Shea suggested a reading of these tablets and claimed to find there the root ptr. He concluded that Pethor is Deir Alla.[4] However, more recent study of these tablets, by G. van der Kooij and M. de Vreeze suggested a completely different deciphering of the signs on the tablets, and in particular ptr is not found there.[5]