Numbers 22:5-24:25 (NIV)
The Israelites were no longer wandering in the wilderness. The forty years had passed. Moses led them to their Promised Land. At 120 years old, he did not cross the Jordan River, but he took them to it.
On the way, they took possession of the land of the Ammonites, settling in their villages. Then they camped in the land of Moab.[1]
King Balak saw what happened to the Ammonites and sent messengers to Balaam at Pethor, near the Euphrates River. He told them to say, “A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”
Balaam’s response was for them to spend the night. “ I will report back to you with the answer the Lord gives me.”
But God told him not to go. “You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”
The messengers reported back to their king, who sent back more distinguished officials with the same request plus the offer of a handsome reward.
Balaam answered, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God.” But he told them to spend the night while Balaam conferred again with God.
As a frustrated parent, God let him go, but with a warning. “Do only what I tell you.”
Looking forward to a handsome reward, Balaam saddled his donkey and left with the Moabite officials.
And as Balaam rode along, he thought what he could do with all that reward. Put it in modern terms. A yacht. A big one. Go sailing across the sea with the whole family and a crew of a hundred sailors. A BMW or a Rolls Royce. Impress everyone driving across town.
A bigger house—four bedrooms, four bathrooms, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a four-car garage. Oh, that meant a BMW AND a Rolls Royce. And a … what kind of convertible?
His donkey brought him back to his present.
“Hey! Where you going, donkey? What are we doing out here in the field? Stupid donkey!” Whack! Whack! “Get back on the road!”
He glanced at the officials on their fancy horses. Had they noticed? Surely they had, but nobody said anything. Fortunately, his donkey did not travel as fast as their horses, so ahead of him, maybe they hadn’t noticed.
“Now, that’s better. What was I thinking? Oh, yes, a convertible. Not just an ordinary convertible, but a …”
“Hey! That hurt! My foot! You dumb donkey! You smashed my foot against the wall!” Whack! Whack! “Hurt me, will you? I’ll teach you!
“That’s better. Stay in the middle of the path. Give me room on each side. No more smashing my foot!”
A couple of the officials ahead turned and looked. He felt his face warming. What kind of prophet was he if he couldn’t even control his donkey?
For a while, the donkey behaved, and Balaam returned to his day dreaming. As they fell further behind, a bend in the road through the trees cut them off from view of the riders ahead.
“What kind of convertible? Maybe the BMW should be a convertible. Does Rolls Royce make convertibles? I could have two …”
“Now what? Why did you lie down?! You knocked me off! Here I am, lying on my back in the middle of the road!” He stood and looked ahead to see if any of the officials could see him. Whack! Whack! “You’ll be …”
But the donkey spoke! “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”
Now under normal circumstances, having a donkey speak would cause some major surprise. But Balaam was angry, so he didn’t even notice this very unusual, unnatural, uncommon event.
“You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now!”
The donkey was not young. He had carried his owner many miles over the years. “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?”
“Nooooo.”
“Then look!”
That’s when the Lord allowed Balaam to see the angel with his sword drawn and to hear the angel speaking. “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”
Balaam said goodbye to the yacht, the cars, the house. Because he knew he could not curse the people of Israel, God’s people. The king would not reward him handsomely.
“I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”
The angel shook his head. “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.”
The king met Balaam at the border. “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”
Balaam remembered that God had not been pleased to let him go. He did not expect to be able to satisfy King Balak’s request, but he would try. “Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”
King Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep that same day.
The next morning, they went to where they could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.
Balaam still seemed to feel he had a chance at satisfying both God and King Balak. He told the king to build seven altars and offer a bull and a ram on each, then stay with the offerings while Balaam went off to meet with God.
The word he brought back was not what King Balak wanted: “How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?”
For obvious reasons, the king was not pleased. “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”
Balaam remembered the angel. “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
The king tried again from another location, again sacrificing seven bulls and seven rams on seven altars. Again he waited while Balaam went off to meet with the Lord. Again Balaam disappointed him. The response boiled down to this: “I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.”
King Balak tried one more time from a third location. This time, after repeating the sacrifice of sevens, Balaam looked out on the camp and gave his reply, praising the Israelites. He ended with “May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed.”
King Balak was furious. “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.”
Balaam defended himself, reminding the king that he could not do anything on his own, only say what the Lord said. Then he spoke his message of what would happen in the days to come. It was not pretty, including crushing foreheads and skulls and destroying the survivors. He also predicted the end of neighboring kingdoms.
For consideration:
General questions
1) How does this story follow its Scripture?
2) How does this story expand its Scripture for you?
3) What is the message of this story?
4) How does the message apply to us today?
Specific questions
5) What was/is your favorite story from the Old Testament?
6) Knowing that God would only bless the Israelites, why did Balaam go?
7) How would the officials have reacted to Balaam’s donkey’s behavior?
8) Why would Balaam think he could satisfy both God and King Balak?
[1] Joshua Bible: Land of Canaan at the Time of Joshua. Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/11610911525610782/
