Balaam's Donkey

Donkey?

This week, we are in fact, talking about a donkey. Specifically, Balaam’s donkey!

So Balaam was a man who was blessed to hear from God, and yet he only ever seemed to want to use this blessing for his own gain. As the Israelites are preparing to enter Moab on their way to Canaan, Balaam is summoned by Balak, the king of Moab, to come and curse the Israelites, so that he could defeat them.

God, of course, tells Balaam not to go to Balak’s call, but eventually tells him he may go “but do only what I tell you.” As we’ve already established, Balaam was a selfish and self-important man, and from when he set out on the journey he kindled God’s anger against Him, the Lord knew that Balaam was not going to join the king of Moab to do what God said, but to enrich himself and gain status.

So, God used a rather unorthodox method to stall Balaam’s journey, and remind him of his purpose, which brings us to our reading for today:

Numbers 22:22–30 ESV

But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”

And so Balaam was allowed to continue on, but with a renewed resolve to only speak the words that the Lord gave Him, and instead of cursing the Israelites as Balak wanted, Balaam declared the Lord’s blessing on them four times, before more or less disappearing from the narrative.

One thing I find really interesting about the story of Balaam, is that we often wish we could take a rod to the things that God has placed in our path, like Balaam and his donkey. I know from personal experience in my life, that very often what seems like the biggest setback is in fact God’s merciful course correction to bring us back to His plan for our lives.

I hope you take comfort this week that if it seems like all of your plans have failed and your life just isn’t going in the direction you hoped, it could very well be God placing His angel in your path so that you don’t end up in a place that will cause you harm.

CAMP PLUG

Grace and Peace