Numbers 22:32 The angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was [fn] contrary to me. (the fn means that contrary is often translated reckless… interesting) Balaam asks God whether to go with Balak’s men after having already been told once that he will not curse the Israelites. God tells him to go, but is angry that he is going. That seems rather contradictory, so I imagine there’s more going on here than I realize, and it’s probably something to do with the structure of the text. Anyway, Balaam goes and the donkey refuses to go through a valley because it sees the angel that’s waiting to kill Balaam. The donkey finally speaks to Balaam and Balaam’s eyes are opened (interesting that the animal could see, but the man couldn’t – perhaps a reflection of how our assumptions and pride blind us to truth or reality). Balaam offers to turn back but the angel repeats the command that he will go but only speak the words given by God. The fact that the angel repeats God’s earlier words suggests to me that perhaps Balaam hadn’t made up his mind to be obedient and only speak the words given to him by God when he reached Balak. Maybe that’s why God was angry despite Balaam’s apparent outward obedience. Or maybe God was angry because Balaam asked again, after he had already been given an answer. Perhaps it was questioning God’s earlier leading. Lots of questions. Ultimately, one thing is clear – donkey’s don’t talk, and if one does talk you should listen. Just kidding… perhaps the point is that we examine our motivations to make sure our preconceived notions aren’t blinding us and keeping us from seeing important things.
Numbers 22:10 Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, I find it kind of funny that the king of Moab would go to an believer in the God of Israel to put a curse of the people of the God of Israel. Was Balaam an Israelite? Or was he a believer from another way. When Abraham meets Melchizedech, Melchizedech rules over a city and he is a priest of the Most High, implying that his city is also God-fearing. Clearly there were other cities and nations that believed in the One True God, YHWH. We just don’t have their story because God chose Israel to be His people. So, maybe this man was from a city ruled by someone like Melchizedech, who believed in God. And perhaps the king of Moab didn’t realize that the God was the same. Either way, it doesn’t end well for the King of Moab. Application? I have no idea. Perhaps it’s just the knowledge that Israel wasn’t necessarily the only group of people who believed in God. Certainly, Yeshua the Messiah came to Israel and the others wouldn’t have necessarily known about that part of the story, but we catch glimpses of the bigger world through the perspective of Israel.