Burning Bush Blogs
Equipping Men with Biblical Knowledge and Leadership Skills
Category: Personal Study
Thread: Crazy Stories of the Bible
Post Topic: Did a Donkey Just Talk?
Post in Thread: #2
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Scripture: Numbers 22:9-38
28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”
Numbers 22:28-31
29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”
30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”
“No,” he said.
31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.
Observations
Context
- Moses had led the people out of Egypt to the edge of the promised land. Along the way Moses and the people had destroyed the Amorites.
- Now, they camped in the plains of Moab.
- The king of the Moabites, Balak, had heard what they’d done, and feared the horde of Israelites at his doorstep.
- Balak knew Balaam’s reputation as a diviner and sought his services to put a curse on Israel.
Balaam’s Greed
- God instructs Balaam not to curse his people, because they are under the blessing of God.
- King Balak doesn’t want to take no for an answer. He sends a second delegation to Balaam the diviner with promises of incredible riches.
- Balaam doesn’t go with them or turn them away. He waits for another audience with God.
- God tells him to do what he’s going to do. Balaam takes this as permission to do the Moabite king’s bidding.
The Encounter and the Talking Donkey
- Balaam begins the 300 miles to Moab, riding his faithful donkey.
- Something startles her. She scampers into a field, and Balaam has to beat her to get back on track.
- Again the donkey swerves, this time smashing Balaam’s foot against a wall. Another beating ensues.
- The path narrows further, and the terrified donkey drops to the ground under Balaam, refusing to proceed.
- As Balaam angrily beats the donkey a third time, it speaks!
- Balaam and the donkey have a conversation, as though an animal talking is normal. The donkey makes more sense than Balaam, asking whether he’s ever defied his master like this before.
Balaam’s Eyes Opened
- Finally, Balaam’s eyes are opened, and he sees the sword-wielding angel of the Lord blocking the path.
- The angel informs Balaam that the donkey saved his life. “I would have killed you, but not her.”
- He rebukes Balaam for beating the donkey three times and tells him that God is angry with him.
- Balaam admits his sinfulness, and asks what to do. The angel permits him to continue to Moab, but to only speak the words that the Lord provides.
Interpretation
Author/Genre
Historical narrative written by Moses. Imagine the deep laugh he had when the story was relayed to Moses and his leaders, camped nearby! It had to be quite a confidence boost that the Moabites were so scared of God’s people.
Setting
Moab was known for rolling plains with good soil for growing grains and for pastureland. This story happened somewhere on the road leading to Moab from the Euphrates River area in Midian where Balaam lived.
Imagine
“Get up!” you holler. What’s wrong with this stupid donkey! You whack her harder, but still she refuses to budge. Sweat stings your eyes, and your foot throbs. Incensed, you raise the stick higher.
“What have I done to you to make you beat me three times?” the donkey says.
The stick hovers in the air. You know something’s off, but wrath consumes you. You can’t help but reply. “You keep making a fool out of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I’d kill you right now!”
“Am I not your own donkey, which you’ve always ridden? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”
What is happening? Her mouth was moving, in perfect synchronization with the words… The stick slips out of your grip and clatters to the ground. “No,” is all you can say.
Your labored breathing tells you it isn’t a dream. The massive figure that appears suddenly, holding a gleaming sword, tells you it’s something else. Something worse than a dream.
Takeaways
- King Balak didn’t realize that Moses wasn’t going to attack the Moabites. They were descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot, and God wanted to spare them.
- Rather than call on God, he hired the conjurer Balaam.
- His hope must have emerged out of Moabite idol worship. They were polytheistic, and Chemosh was their main god. (Judges 10:6)
- Balaam seemed to know all about the Israelite’s God. Doesn’t mean he wanted to obey. Especially when Balak’s men were flashing the cash.
- Although God allowed Balaam to go in Numbers 22:20, it should have been obvious to Balaam that he was outside of God’s will. He’d already been told once by God not to go.
- Curses must have been a real thing.
- The Moabite king was willing to pay a hefty price for Balaam’s services.
- God would not allow one to be placed on his people.
Ponderings
Sometimes when asking what a passage means (interpretation), we can ask why questions. These don’t always have an obvious answer, but might provide unexpected insights.
Why Question: Why did God use something so ludicrous as a talking donkey? Couldn’t he have gotten his point across without that?
Some possibilities:
- God has a sense of humor and wanted to give Moses (and us) a good laugh.
- Balaam was being an a**, so God decided to use a donkey to make his point.
- It was all for God’s glory. He can even make the animals talk intelligently if he wants.
- God wanted to give us an interesting blog topic.
- He really wanted to get Balaam’s attention. The next chapters talk about how Balaam refused to say any words for King Balak that God didn’t give him to say.
Hit me up in the comments with your thoughts. There are no wrong answers. Maybe you have something not on the list, or a better way of stating one of the choices?
Correlation
- 2 Peter 2:1-3 – Peter warns of greedy false teachers who will fabricate stories for their own profit. Sounds like Balaam. Also sounds like a lot of today’s preachers who are in it for a buck.
- 2 Peter 2:15-16 – They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
- Peter warns Christians about false teachers like Balaam.
- Peter reveals Balaam’s motive was money.
- Peter thinks a talking donkey might have had more sense than Balaam.
Application
Generic Applications
- God told Balaam no the first time. But when the king sent the second set of officials offering more money, Balaam said “Uh God, about that conversation we had last night-any chance we could negotiate that?”
- God’s response – he didn’t restrain Balaam.
- Just because God didn’t restrain Balaam, didn’t mean Balaam wasn’t sinning.
- Matthew 19:8-9 – When asked about divorce, and why it was allowed in the law, Jesus stated that it was permitted because of the hardness of men’s hearts. They’d pestered Moses into it. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t adultery.
Personalize it
- When God doesn’t tell us what we want to hear, do we rationalize our way to choosing our own desires, like Balaam did?
- What if there’s a wad of cash involved? Would we take a bad job that pays better?
- What if we’re not happy with our wife? God wouldn’t want us to stay in an unhappy marriage, would he?
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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