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.