This arch-magician at first tried to escape Israel's power by sorcery.
For when he saw Phinehas and the leaders of the hosts of Israel, he
flew into the air, [853] a feat which he accomplished by magic arts,
but particularly through the assistance of his wizard sons, Jannes and
Jambres. At the sight of Balaam flying high in the air, Phinehas
shouted to his army, "Is there any one among us who is able to fly
after this villain?" The Danite Zaliah, a past master in the art of
sorcery, followed this summons, and flew high into the air. Balaam,
however, surpassed him, and took a path in the air on which Zaliah
could not follow, and after the former had soared through five
different layers of air, he had quite vanished from Zaliah's ken, who
knew not what to do. Phinehas, however, came to his aid. By means of a
magical invocation he dispelled the clouds that covered Balaam, and
then Zaliah forced Balaam to descend to earth and appear before
Phinehas. [854] He began to implore Phinehas to spare his life,
promising never again to try to curse Israel, but Phinehas replied:
"Art not thou the Aramean Laban who tried to destroy our father Jacob?
Then thou didst pass on to Egypt to destroy Jacob's seed, and when they
removed from Egypt thou didst incite the wicked Amalek to harass us,
and not thou didst attempt to curse Israel. But when thou sawest that
thy endeavor to curse them was without avail, since God would not hear
thee, thou gavest Balak the despicable advice to deliver up the
daughters of his land to prostitution, and thereby to tempt Israel to
sin, and wert in part successful, for twenty-four thousand Israelites
died in consequence of their sin with the daughters of Moab. In vain
therefore dost thou plead that thy life by spared." He then ordered
Zaliah to kill Balaam, admonishing him, however, to be sure not to kill
him through the holy name of God, as it does not befit so great a
sinner to meet his death in such a way. Zaliah now tried in vain to
kill Balaam, for through his magic wiles he was proof against every
weapon, until Phinehas at last gave Zaliah a sword on both sides of
which was engraved a serpent, with the words, "Kill him with that to
which he belongs - through this he will die," and with this sword
Balaam was killed. [855]
His corpse was not buried, but his bones rotted, and from then arose
several species of harmful snakes, that bring disaster to human beings;
and even the worms that devoured his flesh were turned into snakes. The
magicians made use of these snakes for three different types of
enchantment, for the heads, the bodies, and the tails, had each a
different effect. One of the questions that the Queen of Sheba put to
Solomon was how to withstand these three different kinds of
enchantment, and the wise king knew even this secret, which he then
imparted to her. [856]