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.