How Were Detailed Dialogues In Scripture Preserved?

Q: How were dialogues like the one between Balaam and Balak in Numbers 22 preserved? Were they passed down orally or revealed directly by the Holy Spirit?

A: I'd say a little of both. The power of remembering things is significant. In our modern age, we have capabilities to remember things that are almost completely untapped. But in the ancient world, those resources were used, and people could remember things much better. However, it wasn't perfect.

Therefore, there was an element of direction and inspiration by the Holy Spirit involved in that. I will say this too: in the thinking of ancient peoples, they didn't feel like you had to quote somebody exactly or precisely to quote them truthfully. When we see quotations in the Bible, we can trust absolutely that it is a truthful quotation and a valid, God-inspired representation of what that person said. Their actual words, especially because those words might have been spoken in a different language, could have been different, but it was still accurate and faithful.

One of the things that careful readers of scripture consider is how the communication between Balaam and Balak was reported to Moses, who wrote that account. We forget that there were a lot of other people standing around during these conversations. But we also have God's ability to clue Moses in and say, 'This is the conversation that took place,' allowing him to include that in his account.

The point is that what we find in scripture is what God knows we need to know. If it isn't there, we don't need to know it. And it's true. The Bible is true.