16 Balaam’s Donkey [Numbers 22:21–38]
The Bible passage: [Numbers 22:21–38]
The Story:
The Israelites were camped in the plains of Moab near the Jordan across from Jericho.
Balak was the king of Moab in Canaan and he had seen all that Israel had done to some of the other people. Balak and his people were terrified of the Israelites and dreaded confronting them.
Balak sent messengers to Balaam, a prophet to his people. Balak said to him, “A nation has come out of Egypt; they cover the surface of the land and are living right across from me. I want you to come and put a curse on these people for me. I know that those you bless are blessed and those you curse are cursed.”
Balaam replied to the messengers, “Spend the night here, and I will let you know what the Lord tells me.”
The officials of Moab stayed with Balaam.
God came to Balaam during the night and asked who the men were. Balaam told Him who they were and what they said.
God told Balaam, “Do not go with them. You are not to curse this people, for they are blessed.”
Balaam got up the next morning and said to Balak’s officials, “You can go back home. The Lord has refused to let me go with you.”
The officials from Moab returned to Balak and reported to him.
Balak sent more officials who were higher in rank than the first group. They came to Balaam and said to him, “Balak really wants you to come to him. He promises to greatly honor you and do whatever you ask. So please come and put a curse on these people for us!’”
Balaam told the officials, “No matter what your king gives me, I could not go against the command of God. Please stay here overnight as the others did, and I will find out what else the Lord has to tell me.”
God came to Balaam that night and said to him, “Since these men have come for you, get up and go with them, but only do what I tell you.”
When he got up in the morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and went with the officials of Moab.
God didn’t really want Balaam to go, and the Angel of the Lord took a stand on the path to oppose him.
When Balaam’s donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing on the path with a drawn sword in His hand, she turned off the path and went into the field. Balaam hit her to return her to the path.
Then the Angel of the Lord stood in a narrow passage between the vineyards, with a stone wall on either side.
The donkey saw the Angel of the Lord and pressed herself against the wall, squeezing Balaam’s foot against it. Again, Balaam hit the donkey.
The Angel of the Lord went ahead of them and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn to either side.
When the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord again, she crouched down under Balaam. Balaam became furious and beat the donkey with his stick.
Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and she asked Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me three times?”
Balaam answered the donkey, “You made me look like a fool. If I had a sword, I’d kill you now!”
The donkey said, “I am the donkey you’ve ridden your whole life? Have I ever treated you this way before?”
“No,” Balaam replied.
The Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the path with a drawn sword in His hand. Balaam fell to his knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
The Angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you been beating your donkey? I came out to stop you, because what you are doing is wrong. The donkey saw Me and turned away from Me these three times. If she had not turned away from Me, I would have killed you by now and let her live.”
Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not know that You were standing in the path to stop me. If it is evil in Your sight, I will go back.”
The Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but only say what I tell you.”
So, Balaam went with Balak’s officials.
When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him.
Balak asked Balaam, “Didn’t I send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Don’t you know how much I am able to reward you?”
Balaam replied, “I can only do what the Lord tells me. God has told me that he will only bless the people of Israel.”
The Lessons:
- Early on in this story, some men came to see Balaam. God came to him later and asked who the men were. The omniscient God knew who the men were. He just wanted Balaam to admit to Him what was going on.
- This is one of the times that the Angel of the Lord appears to be Jesus Himself in a physical form. First, we know this because Balaam sees the angel. He did what we would all do. He fell on his face. Second, if it were not Jesus, the angel would have commanded him to get up off the ground. Angels in scripture do that because they don’t want to be worshiped.
- The Angel of the Lord told Balaam, “What you are doing is wrong.” How could it be wrong if God told Balaam that he could go with the men? The first time the men came to try to hire Balaam, he consulted with the Lord overnight, then told them that God had told him NOT to go with them. They came back later, and Balaam told them that he wanted to consult with the Lord again. That’s where he went wrong. God had given him an answer; a final answer. Balaam had no business asking again when God had already answered. The situation with the donkey and the Angel of the Lord was set up by God to teach Balaam a lesson. [2 Peter 2:15-16] says that Balaam’s problem was greed. He was hoping for a different answer from God so he could profit off of the situation.
- It’s interesting that when the donkey spoke to Balaam, he never questioned it.
Next: 17 The Fall of Jericho [Joshua 5:13–6:27]
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