And God's anger was kindled because he went; and the Angel of Jehovah set himself in the way to withstand him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two young men were with him.
God had just told Balaam he could go with Balak's men. Now, on the road, God's anger burns against him, and the angel of the LORD stands in his way as an opponent.
God's first answer to Balaam had been a flat refusal. The second answer sounded different, and the difference turns on one small word.
The first time, God had clearly forbidden Balaam to go with Balak's princes. Balaam himself had said, "The LORD refuses to let me go with you." The second time, the LORD did not refuse to let Balaam go with them. But He did not command him to go. There was an "if", which indicated that there was divine permission with a condition attached, but not a divine command.
Why would God say go at all?
This was not the course of His holy will. It was God dealing with a stubborn man according to his stubbornness. He does this when a man has no faith in his mind, and no single, undivided purpose with it. He lets that man follow his own blind schemes. This is righteous, and this is how God deals with Balaam. Where He sees integrity, He graciously meets the trembling heart and the hesitating mind. But it was no question of hesitation with Balaam.
The pattern is not unique to Balaam.
How little Balaam knew what the consequences would be of not bowing to God's first word to him! Suppose God has made His will known, and we still want our own way. He may well allow us to have it, so that we learn by experience how foolish our self-will is.
The anger was not over a technicality of travel. It was over what Balaam was riding toward.
So we picture the prophet setting out from Mesopotamia for Moab, with Balak's silver and gold filling his soul's vision. He was heartless about the devastation and sorrow he was going to try to bring on a people who had done nothing to him, all to get his reward. He was willing to blast a whole nation — men, women, and children. Nothing more horrible could well be imagined.
The word for "adversary" in this verse is also the name Scripture gives to the devil.
Satan is a name for the devil, the great enemy of God and man. The name is the same in Hebrew, Greek, and English, and means "adversary." Several other passages translate the same word that way, where other adversaries are meant: compare Numbers 22:22; 1 Kings 11:14, 23, 25.
Here the opponent is on God's side. Commentators identify Him with a messenger seen elsewhere in Scripture.
A heavenly being stood in the way with a drawn sword in his hand. He is called "the angel of the LORD." This was no mere servant. It is the same messenger who appeared to the wife of Manoah in Judges 13. He told her His name was "Wonderful." To her and to Balaam alike, He spoke with divine authority. He told Balaam that He had come out to oppose him because his way was perverse before Him, and that Balaam could speak only the word God gave him. The speaker was none other than He whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ.
Two angers appear in this scene.
Balaam was so blinded by the god of this world that he saw less than his donkey. She "saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way". Balaam's anger was kindled against the donkey, and he struck her with his staff because she refused to carry him forward to destruction. His anger was unrighteous. By contrast, it brought out the righteous anger of God. God sent His angel to be an adversary to the man who would curse His people whom He had blessed.
A blocked road is not always something to push through. Sometimes it is mercy.
Sometimes we are doing our own will, or we are careless in how we walk. Then God in His mercy may warn us by a hindrance. It stops us, if we pay attention to it, while "the simple pass on and are punished."
- Permission. God's "go" came with an "if" attached — divine permission, never a divine command, and Balaam treated the two as the same thing.
- Abandonment. When a man will not be warned, God may justly leave him to his own blind schemes. Getting your way can be the judgment, not the blessing.
- Motive. God's anger reached the heart: a man riding toward money, willing to destroy a whole nation that had never wronged him.
- Adversary. The word used for the angel is the word for an opponent. Commentators identify this figure, standing in the road with a drawn sword, with the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Mercy. The blocked road was kindness. God still warns the careless by hindrances, and the wise stop while the simple push on and pay for it.
And the ass saw the Angel of Jehovah standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field, and Balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way.
Balaam is riding out to curse Israel, and God is angry that he goes; ahead of him stands an angel with a drawn sword that only the donkey can see. She swerves aside and takes a beating for it, which raises the question running through the whole episode: why is a prophet blinder than the animal he rides?
The angel meets Balaam as an obstacle, not an escort. Commentators see nothing surprising in that. (Where the ESV says "the LORD," some writers use the older name "Jehovah.")
God's anger burns because he goes. The angel of Jehovah takes his stand in the way as an adversary against him. There is no great need for wonder here... Balaam needs a warning. God deals with him much as He had dealt with Moses forty years before. Only now, instead of Zipporah and the stone of circumcision, He uses the donkey — less senseless than Balaam himself — to save and rebuke him.
The same drawn sword appears at other points in Israel's story. Its meaning changes with who stands in front of it. Here it faces the man on his way to curse the nation.
Three times in the course of the people's history, the Angel of Jehovah steps in with the drawn sword in His hand. The first time it is to preserve them from threatened dangers, when Balaam, on his way to curse Israel, meets the messenger who blocks his road (Num. 22:23). The second time... it is to fight with them and win the victory for them. The third time, it is sad to say, it is to judge the people who had sinned in the person of their king. (1 Chron. 21:16)
Balaam later describes himself as a man whose eyes are open. The road exposes the claim. Every move the animal makes is a rescue he does not recognise.
He boasted that his eyes were open. Yet he did not see what the donkey was given to see. He did not know why she turned aside from the sword drawn in the angel's hand. He did not know why she pressed against the wall, sparing his head and costing him at most a crushed foot. And he did not know why she fell down where there was no other way for her or her master to escape destruction.
The comparison does not stop with Balaam. Commentators point out that God once made it against a whole nation.
The donkey saw the Angel, and turned aside from the threatening sword. Sad, that the beast should have more perception than a man made in the image of God! "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand" (Isa. 1:3). That was Jehovah's complaint about the moral dullness of a people He had treated better than any other. The very cattle could put them to shame!
Balaam's blindness had a cause, and the cause was in his own heart.
The blind unbeliever rushes onto the sword of the Lord and is destroyed. God keeps the believer safe despite himself. But when his eyes open, he finds that the Lord has been standing against him... Covetousness was the human element in this man's opposition to God. It was the screen behind which he found himself rushing to destruction.
The angel blocked the road, but the block was for Balaam's good.
How gracious of God to make a man who was hurrying on to destruction pause and think, if anything could rouse him! But no, he was committed to wicked ways.
The lesson goes beyond Balaam. It applies to anyone set on his own way.
Sometimes we are doing our own will, or we are careless in how we live. Then God in His mercy may warn us with a hindrance. It stops us if we pay attention to it, while "the simple pass on and are punished."
- Cause. Covetousness was the screen Balaam hid behind; it did not stop him seeing money, only God.
- Sword. One drawn sword: it blocks Balaam here, fights for Israel later, and later still judges them.
- Blindness. The man who claimed open eyes missed what an animal saw at once.
- Rescue. Every swerve and every fall was the donkey saving the life of the man beating her.
- Mercy. A hindrance in the road is God giving you room to stop; push past it and you keep running at the sword.
And the Angel of Jehovah stood in a hollow of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.
Balaam is on the road to Moab, hired to curse Israel, and the angel of the LORD has already blocked him once in an open field. Now the road narrows: the same drawn sword waits in a walled lane, the donkey has nowhere to turn, and the man on its back still sees nothing.
The first block left the donkey room to step aside into a field. This one leaves none, and the cost lands on Balaam's own body.
Balaam needed a sharper lesson. In a path through the vineyards, with a wall on either side, the angel with a drawn sword appeared again, still unseen by Balaam but seen by the donkey. The animal turned to one side and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. Balaam angrily struck the beast a second time. Still Balaam failed to see that the Lord was standing against him in his self-will (vv. 24-25).
The journey itself was the problem. God had already said no, and Balaam went back a second time hoping for a different answer.
Here again he falls into the trap of his own covetousness. God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "If the men come to call you, rise up and go with them." This was not the course of His holy will. It was God dealing with the stubborn according to their stubbornness. He does this when a man has no faith in his mind and no single eye along with it. He permits that man to follow his own blind devices. This is righteous, and God accordingly deals with Balaam this way. Where He sees integrity, He graciously meets the trembling heart and the hesitating mind. But there was no hesitation with Balaam. There was self-will, and this in the face of the glorious expression of God's will. Deep down he makes nothing of God or His word. He had been clearly told that he was not to curse the people but to bless them. Yet he waits with no other aim than to curse, if he could, those whom God told him to bless.
Balaam had a reputation as a man who heard from God. In the walled lane, the only one who saw anything was the animal he was beating.
Balaam was so blinded by the god of this world that he had less perception than his donkey. The donkey "saw the angel of Jehovah standing in the way." Balaam's anger burned against her, and he struck her with his staff because she refused to carry him forward to destruction. His anger was unrighteous. Yet see how it brought out by contrast the righteous anger of God. He sent His angel to stand against the man who would curse His people whom He had blessed — a man who in self-will opposed His commandment and set his face firmly on a course that would bring him to ruin.
The figure in the vineyard path is no ordinary messenger. One writer traces him to an earlier appearance in the Old Testament, and then names him.
A heavenly being stood in the way with a drawn sword in his hand. He is called "the angel of Jehovah." This was no mere servant. It is the same messenger who appeared to the wife of Manoah in Judges 13. He told her his name was "Wonderful." He spoke with divine authority both to her and to Balaam. The speaker was none other than He whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ.
Balaam had money in view, and no barrier turned him.
Balaam shows what a man can be when his heart is covetous. He sold himself to Satan for temporary rewards. He disregarded every divine warning that held him back on a path leading to destruction.
The same principle reaches anyone moving in their own will today.
When we are doing our own will, or are careless about our walk, God in His mercy may warn us through an obstacle. It stops us if we pay attention to it, while "the simple pass on and are punished." (Prov. 27:12.)
- Second asking. God said no once. Balaam asked again. God let him go — dealing with the stubborn according to their stubbornness, letting a man follow his own blind devices.
- Narrowing. The first block left an open field to turn into. This one leaves walls on both sides and a crushed foot. God's warnings tighten when they are ignored.
- Blindness. The animal saw the drawn sword; the famous prophet did not. Covetousness blinded him so thoroughly that a beast had more perception than he did.
- Mercy. The obstacle in the road was mercy, not cruelty. It stops the person who heeds the warning; "the simple pass on and are punished."
- Ruin. Every warning disregarded, Balaam kept going for the reward. Selling yourself for temporary gain does not remove the barriers; it just means you hit them.
And the ass saw the Angel of Jehovah, and she pressed herself against the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall; and he smote her again.
Balaam rides on with his heart set on reward, and the road is closing in on him: no field to swerve into this time, just a wall on each side. Why did the animal see the angel while the man riding her did not?
The angel had already blocked the road once, and Balaam missed it. Now the ground narrows, and so does the discipline.
Balaam did not see the angel, but God allowed the donkey to see him. The animal, naturally afraid, turned out of the way into the field. Balaam needed a sharper lesson. In a path through the vineyards, with a wall on either side, the angel with a drawn sword appeared again, still unseen by Balaam but seen by the donkey. The animal turned to one side and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. Balaam struck the beast a second time in anger. Still Balaam failed to see that the Lord was standing against him in his self-will.
The animal was not being stubborn. Caught between a drawn sword and a stone wall, she chose the wall. Balaam took the smallest injury on offer that day.
He who boasted of having his eyes open did not see what the donkey was given to see. He did not know why she turned aside from the sword drawn in the angel's hand. He did not know why she pressed herself against the wall, so that Balaam might not have his head struck but at most his foot crushed. And he did not know why she lay down where there was no other way for her or her master to escape destruction.
The reason the warnings bounced off him lies further back. He had asked God about a journey his heart had already chosen.
If Balaam's heart had been right with God, he would have dealt with Balak's message in a moment. But his heart was bent on going, because it was bent on the silver and gold. But at the same time there was a sort of reference to God — an appearance of religiousness put on as a cloak to cover his covetous practices. He longed for the money, but he wanted to lay hold of it in a religious way.
The same blindness settles on anyone who keeps moving under the push of his own will. The outcome, though, is not the same for everyone.
The wall, the pain, the balking animal — none of it was chance.
How gracious of God to make a man who was hurrying to destruction pause and think, if anything could rouse him! But no, he was committed to wicked ways. Lawlessness must pursue its miserable course to an end no less miserable.
The same principle reaches into ordinary life. A blocked plan can be a message, not just a nuisance.
When we are doing our own will, or are careless in our walk, God in His mercy may warn us with a hindrance. That hindrance stops us if we pay attention to it, while "the simple go on and suffer for it."
- Wall. God narrows the road before He blocks it. The field allowed a detour, the vineyard path allowed none. Each stage was a sharper call to a man set on his own way.
- Shield. The crushed foot was mercy in disguise. The donkey pressed to the wall, so Balaam had his foot crushed instead of his head struck.
- Screen. Love of silver and gold, dressed up as consulting God, was the screen. Behind it Balaam ran toward ruin and never saw the drawn sword.
- Sight. Follow your own will, and you lose the ability to read God's mind. The unbeliever runs onto the sword. The believer is spared, then opens his eyes and finds the Lord was the one blocking him.
- Warning. A hindrance in the road can be God's kindness, making us pause and think. Ignore it, and Scripture's verdict stands: "the simple go on and suffer for it."
Then the Angel of Jehovah went still further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the ass saw the Angel of Jehovah, and lay down under Balaam; and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with his staff.
Balaam is riding out to curse Israel for a fee. Three times his donkey has turned aside from an armed angel that the prophet cannot see. The third time she lies down under him, and the man who claims to speak for God answers the rescue with a beating.
The donkey refused to move because she could see. Balaam's rage fell on the one creature on the road that knew the danger.
Balaam was so blinded by the god of this world that he saw less than his donkey, which "saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road." Balaam's anger flared against the donkey. He struck her with his staff because she refused to carry him forward to destruction. His anger was unrighteous. But see how it brought out the righteous anger of God. God sent His angel to oppose him. Balaam would curse the people God had blessed. He set his own will against God's commandment and fixed his face on a course that would bring him to ruin.
The creature without reason sees the danger. The man made in God's image sees nothing.
The donkey saw the Angel and turned aside from the threatening sword. How sad that the beast should have more perception than a man made in the image of God! "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand" (Isa. 1:3). That was the LORD's complaint: His people were morally dull, though He had treated them more kindly than any other. The very cattle could put them to shame!
The blows are not a small detail in the story.
Balaam struck his donkey three times. The Angel rebuked him for it, for every act of cruelty to animals is noted by God.
How a person treats a helpless animal measures his character. Balaam is the worked example.
A man of righteous character cares about the welfare of his animals. Even the kindness of wicked men, by comparison, is cruelty (Proverbs 12:10). Balaam proved this when he lost his temper with his donkey, which was submitting to the angel of the Lord.
Balaam next wishes for a sword to kill the donkey. A drawn sword is already waiting for him, and his own words convict him.
Balaam said to his donkey, "Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you." Those words justified God in sending His angel with a drawn sword in his hand to oppose him. They also justified the angel when he said, "I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me … if she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live."
God had purposes to fulfil through Balaam. Even so, the angel and the donkey were not about the journey. They were about the man.
Of course there is a miracle here… Its strangeness was all the more likely to work on a heart hardened to ordinary appeals. It humbled him by making him realise how far he had sunk below the beast — an animal whose actions his divinations claimed the power to interpret. And the mercy of God broke through the natural boundary lines to convict and save him. It should have broken down with them every barrier of sin and unbelief. The extraordinary means used here show what state of soul they suited. They also show the infinite pity of God. He could not use even a man like this as a mere machine to do His purposes without labouring after his soul.
The miracle did not shake him. Why did he argue with a talking animal instead of falling silent before it?
Balaam was so carried away by his greed that this miracle did not terrify him. He replied just as if he had been speaking to a man. God did not change the nature of the donkey into that of a rational being. He made it say whatever He pleased, to restrain Balaam's madness.
- Sight — The donkey saw the angel; Balaam, blinded by the god of this world, had less perception than the animal he rode.
- Struck — He beat the one creature that was saving him. God noted every blow, and He measures a man by how he treats his beast.
- Spared — The angel's verdict: had she not turned aside, Balaam would have died and the donkey would have lived.
- Spoken to — God gave a voice to an animal and broke through natural boundaries. His pity would not use a man as a machine without labouring after his soul.
- Unmoved — Greed had so numbed him that a speaking donkey drew argument, not wonder.
And Jehovah opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Balaam said to the ass, Because thou hast mocked me I would there were a sword in my hand, for now would I kill thee!
Balaam is riding to Moab to curse Israel for pay, and three times his donkey has swerved away from an angel he cannot see. God now gives the animal a voice, and Balaam answers it with rage instead of wonder.
God had been warning Balaam all along that road. One writer shows how the last warning landed:
Then God put words into the mouth of the donkey, asking Balaam why he had struck her these three times. Even this amazing miracle had no effect on Balaam. He replied in anger to the donkey that he wished he had a sword to kill her! God had given Balaam several chances to see that He Himself was stepping in to wake him up to his own folly. Balaam felt none of it. That would not have been the case if he were a true prophet of God.
Why does Balaam argue with his donkey instead of stopping in shock? One commentator answers that question:
Unbelief and higher criticism scoff at the incident of the speaking donkey. One of their arguments runs like this: Balaam held a conversation with the beast and showed no astonishment at all, so the story cannot be true. Augustine answered this well: "Balaam was so carried away by his greed that this miracle did not terrify him. He replied just as if he had been speaking to a man. God did not change the nature of the donkey into that of a rational being. Yet He made it say whatever He pleased, to restrain Balaam's madness."
The donkey turned aside three times, and each move had a reason. Balaam saw none of them:
He boasted that his eyes were open, yet he did not see what the donkey was given to see. He did not know why she turned aside from the sword drawn in the angel's hand. He did not know why she pushed herself against the wall, so that Balaam's head might not be struck but at most his foot crushed. And he did not know why she fell down where there was no other way for her or her master to escape destruction.
Balaam wished for a weapon he did not have. A weapon was already drawn — pointed at him:
Balaam's anger was unrighteous, but it brought out the righteous anger of God against a man who would curse the people He had blessed… What Balaam said to his donkey — "Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you" — justified God in sending His angel with a drawn sword in his hand to stand against him. And his words justified the angel. The angel said, "I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before me… If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live."
Did any of this really happen? One writer answers the ridicule, then names what had gone blind in Balaam:
The story of Balaam's donkey has drawn much unbelieving protest and even ridicule, yet Peter vouches for it. If Satan could speak through a serpent with words of deceit, God can, if He chooses, speak words of warning through a donkey. His greed and his dealings with demons had blinded the eyes of Balaam's heart, and now we see that the eyes of his head were as blind as the eyes of his heart. The eyes of his head were opened, so that at last he saw the angel as clearly as his donkey had done. But the veil over the eyes of his heart remained.
The humbling was not cruelty. One writer reads the miracle as mercy aimed at a hard heart:
The strangeness of it was all the more likely to work on a heart hardened against ordinary appeals. It humbled him by making him see how far he had sunk below the beast… Meanwhile the mercy of God broke through the natural boundary lines to convict and save him, and with those lines every barrier of sin and unbelief in him should have fallen too. The extraordinary means used here testify to the state of soul that called for them. They testify also to the infinite pity of God, who could not use even a man like this as a mere machine to carry out His purposes. He had to labour over his soul.
- Blindness. The donkey sees the angel; the man who boasted of open eyes sees nothing. Eyes can be open while the heart stays veiled.
- Greed. Greed had swallowed him whole. It was so strong that a talking donkey did not even startle him.
- Temper. His answer is pure rage — he wants a sword for the creature that had three times saved his life.
- Reversal. The sword he wished for was already drawn, and aimed at him; his own words condemned him out of his own mouth.
- Mercy. God broke the natural order to reach one hard heart — proof that He labours over a soul instead of just using it.
And the ass said to Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine to this day? was I ever wont to do so to thee? And he said, No.
Balaam is riding to curse Israel for money. He has just beaten his donkey three times for stopping in the road. Now the donkey speaks. It points to a lifetime of faithful service and asks its master one question about his own conduct — and he answers with a single honest word.
The donkey asks its owner to think back over years of ordinary service. Balaam has to admit that nothing like this had ever happened before. One writer walks through what follows:
The donkey asked whether it had ever been in the habit of acting like this. The prophet admitted it had not. Then God opened Balaam's eyes to see the angel with the drawn sword in his hand. At the terrifying sight he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. The angel then told Balaam that he owed his life to the donkey three times. Balaam admitted that he had sinned, and said he was ready to go back (vv. 30-34).
Balaam's own "No" convicts him: there was no cause for the beating. Another writer weighs how a man should treat his animals:
A righteous man cares about the welfare of his animals. Even the kindness of wicked men, by comparison, is cruelty. Balaam proved this when he lost his temper with his donkey after the donkey submitted to the angel of the Lord. The Lord reproved Balaam for the cruelty of whipping his donkey (Numbers 22:24-33).
The donkey's question is reasonable; the man's rage is not. The animal saw what the prophet could not:
The donkey saw the Angel and turned aside from the threatening sword. What a thing, that the beast should have more perception than a man made in the image of God! "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand" (Isaiah 1:3). That was the Lord's complaint about His own people. They were morally dull, though He had been kinder to them than to anyone else. The very cattle could put them to shame!
The choice was deliberate. God picked the messenger that would humble this prophet most:
I grant you it is not a usual thing for God to make a dumb donkey speak; but were these circumstances usual? Was there not something deeply humiliating in having such an animal rebuke the guilty prophet? But this very fact was most significant. A donkey rebuked a man who did not lack natural intelligence. He soon became the vessel of the most beautiful declarations on God's part. Yet first the animal he rode warned him of his folly and sin.
Balaam answers the donkey as if talking with a donkey were normal — no wonder, no fear. One writer traces that calm to his greed:
Balaam was so carried away by his greed that this miracle did not terrify him. He replied just as if he had been speaking to a man. God did not change the nature of the donkey into that of a rational being. He simply made it say whatever He pleased, to restrain Balaam's madness.
Yet the strange method was itself mercy. Ordinary appeals had stopped reaching this man:
The strangeness of it was all the more likely to work on a heart hardened to ordinary appeals. It humbled him by making him realise how far he had sunk below the animal — the very animal whose actions his divinations claimed the power to interpret. And the mercy of God broke through the natural boundary lines to convict and save him. In breaking them, it should have broken down every barrier of sin and unbelief in him as well. … the infinite pity of God could not use even a man like this as a mere machine to carry out His purposes. He had to labour after his soul.
A man can be shaken without being changed. Balaam admitted the facts, saw the angel, confessed his sin — and went on:
Greed and his dealings with demons had blinded the eyes of Balaam's heart. Now we see that the eyes of his head were as blind as the eyes of his heart. At last the eyes of his head opened, and he saw the angel just as his donkey had. But the veil over the eyes of his heart remained.
- Blindness — the prophet could not see what his animal saw. The beast had more perception than a man made in God's image.
- Cruelty — Balaam's own "No" admitted the beating had no cause. The Lord reproved him for it.
- Rebuke — God chose the most humbling messenger possible. The creature he rode warned him of his folly.
- Mercy — the miracle broke through the normal order to convict and save him. God would not use him as a mere machine; He laboured after his soul.
- Hardness — his eyes opened and he saw the angel. But the veil over his heart stayed, and he went on.
Then Jehovah opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the Angel of Jehovah standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed and prostrated himself on his face.
Balaam is riding to Moab, hired to curse Israel, and three times his donkey has seen the angel of the LORD blocking the road with a drawn sword. Verse 31 is where God opens the prophet's own eyes — so why did he need that, and why did the sight change his posture and not his path?
The donkey needed no miracle to see the danger; the man riding it did.
Finally the Lord opened Balaam's eyes so that he saw the Angel standing in the way with a drawn sword in His hand (v. 31). In shocked terror Balaam fell on his face. The Angel then rebuked Balaam for the bad temper he showed in striking his donkey. He told him that if the donkey had not turned aside, He would have killed Balaam and spared the donkey (vv. 32-33). What a lesson this is, that an unbeliever is more ignorant of God than a beast!
The figure blocking the way is no ordinary messenger.
A heavenly being stood in the way with a drawn sword in His hand. He is called "the angel of Jehovah." This was no mere servant. It is the same messenger who appeared to Manoah's wife in Judges 13 and said His name was "Wonderful." He spoke with divine authority to her and to Balaam. To Balaam He said: "Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me… Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you." The speaker was none other than the One we know as the Lord Jesus Christ.
A drawn sword across the road is not a subtle message. Yet Balaam missed it, and a sword ends his story.
The angel that confronted him held a drawn sword in his hand. You would think its meaning could hardly be missed, especially as the sword blocked his way. Yet Balaam was blind to it, and he went forward to his doom, as the end proved. He never returned to his native land. The wealth and honour, if he ever got them, he never lived to enjoy. He fell by the sword. It was not the sword of the angel, who barred his way to Moab at the start. It was the sword of the very people he tried to curse against the purpose of God, as recorded in Numbers 31:8.
His failure to see was itself a symptom, and the warning in it reaches past him.
This was not in itself a sin. It was the consequence of sin, and it showed the moral blindness that sin always produces. In an unbeliever it is fatal. But take a believer who follows the impulse of his own will, even in the smallest degree. How can he discern the mind of the Lord? The blind unbeliever rushes onto the sword of the Lord and is destroyed. God preserves the believer despite himself. But when his eyes are opened, he finds that the Lord has been standing against him… Covetousness was the human element of this man's opposition to God. It was the screen through which he found himself rushing to destruction.
He falls flat, says he has sinned, and offers to go home. The wording of that offer gives him away.
Balaam saw that the powers of evil and his own cunning were no match for God. So this wilful man offers to return, confessing that he has sinned. But it is clear that the desire of his heart is still the same. He does not say he will go back because he has sinned. He says, "if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back". Why does he say "if"? Was it not perfectly clear that his going displeased God? Yet there was the lingering desire in his heart to go on in order to get the coveted reward.
Seeing something is not the same as being changed by it, and that danger reaches past Balaam to us.
Is it not possible for us to "see" in an intellectual way? Is it not possible to speak of the precious things of God without our own hearts being moved by them? As we read God's Word and come to understand it, let us exercise our hearts and consciences. Then the truth gets a firm hold of us and shapes our lives. "The eyes of your heart being enlightened" is the true rendering of Ephesians 1:18.
- Blind — Balaam's blindness was moral, not physical; commentators name covetousness as the screen he was rushing through.
- Opened — Balaam saw only because the LORD gave him sight, and what he saw was the Lord standing against him.
- Warned — The drawn sword blocked his road as a plain warning; he read no meaning in it, and by Numbers 31:8 he died by a sword.
- Bowed — Falling on his face and saying "I have sinned" is not repentance when the offer to turn back still hangs on an "if".
- Unchanged — Balaam's legacy is opened eyes with an untouched heart; our need is that the eyes of the heart be enlightened.
And the Angel of Jehovah said to him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, it was I who came forth to withstand thee, for the way [thou walkest in] is for ruin before me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times; had she not turned from me, I had now certainly slain thee, and saved her alive.
Balaam, a prophet hired to curse Israel, is riding toward Moab, and three times he has beaten his donkey for swerving off the road. Now God opens his eyes: the animal he wanted to kill was the only thing keeping him alive.
The figure in the road is no ordinary messenger. One commentator names Him, and quotes what He said to Balaam:
A heavenly being stood in the way with a drawn sword in His hand. Scripture calls Him "the angel of the LORD." This was no mere servant. It is the same messenger who appeared to the wife of Manoah in Judges 13 and who said His name was "Wonderful." Both to her and to Balaam He spoke with divine authority. To Balaam He said: "I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before Me… Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you." The speaker was none other than He whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Angel called Balaam's way perverse. What Balaam was riding to do explains God's anger:
So we picture the prophet setting out from Mesopotamia for Moab, with Balak's silver and gold filling his soul's vision. He had no pity at all for the devastation and sorrow he was going to try to bring on a people who had done nothing to him. He did it all for his reward. The people of Israel had done him no wrong, yet he was willing to blast a whole nation — men, women, and children. Nothing more horrible could well be imagined. No wonder we read that "God's anger was kindled because he went" (Num. 22:22).
Balaam was rushing toward that sword and could not see it. One writer shows where such blindness ends:
The blind unbeliever rushes onto the sword of the Lord and is destroyed. The believer is preserved despite himself. But when his eyes are opened, he finds that the Lord has been standing against him. We may take warning even from a wicked Balaam. Satan often turns the tendencies of our own hearts into a thick veil. Then we fail to see the Lord's mind.
Three times the donkey saw what the prophet could not. One writer explains why God let Balaam ride on at all, and what the animal exposed:
God intended him to go, so that he might pronounce a blessing on His people instead of a curse. Morally, for Balaam himself, going was the most wicked act. Yet God brings out all His purposes through it. He is nothing more than a rod in God's hand. He goes, and the Lord meets him by an angel. He rebukes man's ways and man's wisdom by putting more sense into the mouth of a dumb animal than a man has. Though man has a mind, he uses it against God, which an animal cannot do. Man, in one sense, is more blind than Satan, because Satan believes and trembles. God could reveal Himself to an animal's eye as well as to a man's, whenever He pleased.
Every blocked step was a kindness. The Angel explains why only after the donkey has saved Balaam's life:
God then let the prophet know why all these obstacles stood in his way. He heard it in the fullest possible way, from the angel of the LORD Himself. How gracious of God, to make a man who was hurrying on to destruction stop and think, if anything could rouse him! But no, he was committed to wicked ways. Lawlessness must run its miserable course to an end no less miserable.
Balaam's reply in the next verse admits sin and offers to turn back — but the wording gives him away:
Realising that the powers of evil and his own cunning were no match for God, the wilful Balaam offers to return, confessing that he has sinned. But his heart's desire has not changed. He does not say he will go back because he has sinned. He says, "if it is evil in Your sight, I will turn back." Why does he say "if"? Was it not obvious that his going displeased God? Yet there was still the lingering desire in his heart to go on and get the reward he coveted.
- The Sword. An armed Angel stood in the road. Fereday identifies Him as the Lord Jesus Himself. The charge was against Balaam's heart, not his route: his way was perverse.
- The Greed. He was travelling for silver and gold. He was willing to ruin a whole nation that had never wronged him. That is what kindled God's anger.
- The Donkey. God gave sight to the animal and withheld it from the prophet — a rebuke to human wisdom. Balaam himself was only a rod in God's hand: God meant him to bless Israel, not curse them.
- The Mercy. Three blocked steps were three rescues. God stopped a man hurrying to destruction and made him think. Grace came disguised as an obstacle.
- The Waste. Balaam said "I have sinned," then added "if it is evil in Your sight." That is a confession with an escape clause. He rode on for his fee.
And Balaam said to the Angel of Jehovah, I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me; and now, if it be evil in thine eyes, I will get me back again.
The angel of the LORD has just blocked Balaam's road, and his own donkey saw what the prophet could not. His answer sounds like repentance: he admits sin and offers to turn back. But his wording carries a condition, an excuse, and a desire he has not given up.
Everything turns on one small word: if.
Realising that the powers of evil and his own guile were no match for God, the wilful Balaam offers to return, confessing that he has sinned. But it is clear that the desire of his heart is still the same, for he does not say he will go back because he has sinned, but "if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back". Why does he say "if"? Was it not obvious that his going displeased God? Yet there was the lingering desire in his heart to go on and get the reward he wanted.
The sin Balaam admits is not the sin he committed.
Balaam acknowledged that he had sinned (v.34), but let himself down easily by pleading that he did not know the Angel was standing in the way. But he knew God had forbidden him to curse Israel, so his way was perverse before the Lord. He still did not decide to bless Israel, but offered to turn back if God was displeased. He had already been told of God's displeasure against any cursing of Israel, but he had no desire to take God's viewpoint himself.
One writer sees a warning in this for believers too:
His thought was only that he had failed to see the angel in the road. This was not in itself a sin, but it was the consequence of sin. As such it showed the moral blindness that sin always produces, and in an unbeliever that blindness is fatal. But what about a believer who follows the push of his own will, in any degree, however small? How can he discern the mind of the Lord? The blind unbeliever runs onto the sword of the Lord and is destroyed. The believer is kept safe in spite of himself, but when his eyes are opened he finds that the Lord has been standing against him... Satan often turns the special tendencies of our own hearts into a thick veil, so that we fail to see the Lord's mind.
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Other men in Scripture said the same three words.
Had Balaam any heart-knowledge of God he would have refused to go a step further after his experience with the Angel. His words "I have sinned" no more came from a conscience convicted by God than the same words from the lips of self-willed Saul in 1 Samuel 15:24.
One writer compares the habit to a child owning up:
It is not always a good sign when a man is quick to confess his sin. Have you not seen it in your children? It is a matter of common observation that the child who is always ready to confess his wrong never feels much about it... The quick and hasty owning, "I have sinned," is always suspicious; and it may be found in men even worse than Saul. Judas said the same thing. The readiness to own wrong, at least in general terms, may exist even where the conscience is seared and the state is utterly bad.
God gave Balaam sight, but only of one kind.
The eyes of Balaam's heart were blinded by his greed and his dealings with demons, and now we see that the eyes of his head were as blind as the eyes of his heart. The eyes of his head were opened so that at last he saw the angel as clearly as his donkey had done. But the veil over the eyes of his heart remained.
Every obstacle on the road was meant to stop him.
The angel of the Lord Himself then told the prophet, as fully as possible, why all these obstructions were put in his way. How gracious of God to make a man who was hurrying to destruction pause and think, if anything could rouse him! But no, he was committed to wicked ways. Lawlessness must pursue its miserable course to an end no less miserable.
- Self-will first. Balaam's road was already crooked before the angel blocked it. He had God's word about Israel and no wish to share God's view of them.
- Blindness follows. Not seeing the angel was not the sin; it was what sin produced. A believer who follows even a little of his own will loses the ability to read the Lord's mind.
- Half-confession next. "If it is evil in your sight" is the giveaway: he admits fault but keeps his option open, because the reward still holds his heart.
- Words are cheap. Saul and Judas said the same three words. A quick, general admission of wrong can sit beside a hardened conscience.
- Mercy refused, ruin reached. God blocked the road and explained Himself fully — kindness meant to make a man pause. But a will set on its own way runs to a miserable end.
And the Angel of Jehovah said to Balaam, Go with the men, but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that shalt thou speak. And Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Balaam is on his way to curse Israel for a reward. The angel of the LORD has just stopped him on the road — and now tells him to carry on, with one restriction on his mouth. Why would God send a man forward on a journey He had already forbidden? Does permission mean approval?
God's "go" is not a change of mind. Commentators read it as God handing a determined man over to the choice he had already made.
This was not the course of His holy will. It was God dealing with the stubborn according to their stubbornness. He does this when a man has no faith in his mind and no single eye with it. He lets that man follow his own blind schemes. This is righteous, and God deals with Balaam in this way. Where He sees integrity, He graciously meets the trembling heart and the hesitating mind. But it was no question of hesitation with Balaam.
God had already told Balaam plainly not to go. So what happened to that first command?
The conditional permission to go with Balak's servants did not set aside the definite command to Balaam not to go to Balak. We see this in God's anger burning when Balaam went. The thoughts of the false prophet were completely at odds with the thoughts of God, and he knew this very well. But he had made up his mind to get the reward that Balak promised, if he possibly could. He would take it even if it meant cursing those whom God had blessed.
Balaam asked God a second time about a matter God had already closed. We can fall into the same habit.
We may be tempted to wonder at this, but we must remember that God does not change His purpose. If we know this and still persist like Balaam, God may change His dealings with us, as He did with Balaam. He may permit us to go, so that in His discipline we reap the bitter result of our own way. Even so, as with Balaam, He will give us ample warning of what lies before us.
The same trap catches people who pray about a decision they have already settled:
Let us beware of going before God at any time with our minds already made up. It is a serious affront to the Divine Majesty!
The verse calls the speaker "the angel of the LORD." Yet the words He orders Balaam to say are His own.
The Angel of the Lord told him to go, however, with the absolute command that he speak only what the Angel spoke to him (v. 35). Notice what this shows. In the Old Testament the title "The Angel of the Lord" refers to the Lord Himself, and Balaam must speak His words.
Balaam could go where he liked. He could not say what he liked. He admitted this himself before he ever spoke in front of Balak.
He loved, as we know, "the wages of unrighteousness," and, if he could, would have said what Balak wanted. But a power he could not resist held sway over him. He was for the time being the mouthpiece of God, and spoke, however unwillingly, the words of God. He was so sure that inspiration was real, down to the words themselves, that he said so at his first meeting with Balak. Before he spoke one prediction about Israel, he told him, "Have I now any power to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak" (Num. 22:38).
Letting Balaam travel was not God losing control of the situation. It was God bringing the plot into the open and turning it inside out.
God knows what is in Balaam's heart. So He allows him to go forward, to expose him fully, and to turn his evil desire against His people into blessing for them. Balaam shows no real desire to turn back. Nor does it seem that God will let him go back. God has His own purpose: to make Balaam the unwilling vessel who speaks out His thoughts about His people.
A drawn sword, a talking donkey and a direct rebuke should have ended the trip. Balaam heard all of it and kept riding.
Had Balaam any heart-knowledge of God he would have refused to go a step further after his experience with the Angel. True, the Angel said, "Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak." But He also said, "Behold, I went out to withstand you, because the way you walk in is for ruin before me." After hearing all this, Balaam was clearly proceeding to his doom.
- Permitted, not approved. God's "go" answered Balaam's will, not His own; He lets a man with no single eye follow his own blind schemes.
- Permitted, but still guilty. The permission never cancelled the first refusal. God's anger burned as soon as Balaam saddled up.
- Permitted, and warned. God may let us have our way so we reap its bitter result, yet He gives ample warning of what lies ahead first.
- Permitted, and muzzled. He could choose his road, but not his message. A man who loved the wages of unrighteousness became the mouthpiece of God against his own will.
- Permitted, and overruled. God let him ride on to expose his heart. Then He turned the curse Balaam intended into blessing for the very people he came to curse.