HAVE you ever heard of a donkey’s talking? ‘No,’ you may say. ‘Animals can’t talk.’ But the Bible tells about a donkey that did. Let’s see how it happened. An angel The Israelites are almost ready to go into the land of Ca´naan. Ba´lak, the king of Mo´ab, is afraid of the Israelites. So he sends for a smart man named Ba´laam to come to curse the Israelites. Ba´lak promises to give Ba´laam a lot of money, so Ba´laam gets on his donkey and starts on his way to see Ba´lak. Jehovah does not want Ba´laam to curse His people. So he sends an angel with a long sword to stand in the road to stop Ba´laam. Ba´laam can’t see the angel, but his donkey does. So the donkey keeps trying to turn away from the angel, and finally just lies down on the road. Ba´laam is very angry, and beats his donkey with a stick. Then Jehovah causes Ba´laam to hear his donkey speak to him. ‘What have I done to you so that you should beat me?’ asks the donkey. Balaam on a donkey ‘You have made me look like a fool,’ Ba´laam says. ‘If I had a sword I would kill you!’ ‘Have I ever treated you like this before?’ the donkey asks. ‘No,’ Ba´laam answers. Then Jehovah lets Ba´laam see the angel with the sword standing on the road. The angel says: ‘Why have you beaten your donkey? I have come to block your way, because you should not be going to curse Israel. If your donkey had not turned away from me, I would have struck you dead, but I would not have hurt your donkey.’ Ba´laam says: ‘I have sinned. I did not know that you were standing on the road.’ The angel lets Ba´laam go, and Ba´laam goes on to see Ba´lak. He still tries to curse Israel, but, instead, Jehovah makes him bless Israel three times. Numbers 21:21-35; 22:1-40; 23:1-30; 24:1-25.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 02:40:21 +0000
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