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.
There we are told that 12,000 Israelites, without losing a single man, slew every male Midianite, children included, and every Midianite woman that had known a man, and took so much booty that there had to be special legislation as to how is should be divided.