The Blind Prophet and the Seeing Donkey
Introduction: When God Gives You the Rope
We come now to one of the more peculiar and instructive episodes in all of Scripture. It is a story that has baffled the skeptic and delighted the Sunday School teacher for generations. A talking donkey. If this were the only thing we took from the passage, we would have missed the point entirely, like a man admiring the typography of a demand letter from the IRS. The talking donkey is not the point; the talking donkey is the exclamation point. The central lesson here is about the terrifying nature of self-deception, the collision of divine sovereignty with a man’s rebellious heart, and the startling ways God will use to get His message across.
Balaam is a fascinating and tragic figure. He is a genuine prophet, not some charlatan mumbling incantations over a pot of herbs. God really speaks to him. And yet, the New Testament holds him up as a premier example of a corrupt man, a hireling prophet who loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Pet. 2:15). He is a man who can hear the voice of God but cannot see the angel of God. His donkey, a beast of burden, has more spiritual perception than the renowned seer riding on its back. This is high irony, and it is a devastating spiritual diagnosis.
The story picks up after Balaam has already been told by God not to go with Balak’s men, and then, after a second, more prestigious delegation arrives, God tells him to go. This has troubled some. Is God changing His mind? Not at all. We must understand the nature of God's permissive will. When a man is determined to have his sin, God will sometimes, in judgment, give him the rope to hang himself. God told Balaam not to go because that was His revealed will, His will of command. But Balaam’s heart was already in Moab, counting the silver. So God, in His sovereign will, says, "Go." This is not an endorsement. This is a leash. God is saying, "Alright, you are determined to walk toward that cliff. I will let you go, but I will send my angel to stand on the path." God’s anger is kindled not simply because Balaam was going, but because of the manner in which he was going, with a heart full of covetousness and rebellion, thinly veiled by a veneer of formal obedience.
This passage is a stark warning to all of us, but particularly to those in ministry. It is entirely possible to be gifted, to have a genuine connection to the supernatural, to even speak the words of God, and yet have a heart that is rotten to the core. It is possible to be so blinded by greed, or pride, or lust, that the dumb animals have more sense than you do. This is the story of a man whose spiritual eyes were swollen shut with avarice, and of a God who, in a strange act of mercy, opened the mouth of a donkey to save the life of a fool.
The Text
But God was angry because he was going, so the angel of Yahweh took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two young men were with him. Then the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; so Balaam struck the donkey to turn it back into the way. Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and it pressed itself to the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall, so he struck it again. And the angel of Yahweh passed on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left. Then the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh and lay down under Balaam; so Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick. And Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” Then Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now.” And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?” And he said, “No.” Then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed his head down and prostrated himself to the ground. And the angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary because your way was contrary to me. And the donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If it had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now, and let it live.” And Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the way against me. So now, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” But the angel of Yahweh said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I tell you.” So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak.
(Numbers 22:22-35 LSB)
The Unseen Adversary (vv. 22-23)
We begin with God's anger and the first confrontation.
"But God was angry because he was going, so the angel of Yahweh took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two young men were with him. Then the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; so Balaam struck the donkey to turn it back into the way." (Numbers 22:22-23)
God’s anger is not a petty, human tantrum. It is the settled, holy opposition of a righteous Creator to sin. Balaam was going, as God had permitted, but his heart was not right. He was looking for a loophole. He wanted Moab’s money, and he was hoping God might let him curse Israel just a little bit. God's anger is directed at this duplicitous heart. So He dispatches "the angel of Yahweh" to stand as an adversary. The word for adversary here is satan. This is not the devil, but an angel acting as a prosecutor, an obstacle. Very likely, this is a theophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ Himself, the ultimate angel, or messenger, of the covenant. He stands in the way with a "drawn sword," a clear sign of lethal intent.
And who sees this terrifying sight? Not the prophet. The donkey. The humble beast of burden sees the celestial warrior, and Balaam, the great spiritualist, sees nothing but a disobedient animal. This is the first great reversal. Spiritual blindness is a terrible judgment. When a man is given over to his sin, the most obvious spiritual realities become invisible to him. He can analyze the text, parse the Greek, and diagram the sermon, but he cannot see the angel with the sword standing right in front of him. His sin has rendered him stupider than his donkey.
Balaam’s response is telling. He doesn't ask why the donkey, who has served him faithfully for years, is suddenly acting up. He doesn't consider that something might be wrong. He simply resorts to brute force. He strikes the donkey. This is how a man of violence and pride deals with inconveniences. He doesn't reason; he beats. His anger at the donkey is a perfect mirror of God's anger at him. He is blind to the fact that the donkey's swerve into the field just saved his life.
The Squeezing Path (vv. 24-27)
The angel is persistent. He is ratcheting up the pressure, narrowing Balaam's options.
"Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and it pressed itself to the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall, so he struck it again... And the angel of Yahweh passed on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left. Then the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh and lay down under Balaam; so Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick." (Numbers 22:24-27)
The path gets narrower. First, it was an open field, offering an easy detour. Now, it is a path between two vineyard walls. The donkey sees the angel again and, trying to avoid the sword, presses against the wall, crushing Balaam's foot. This is God's providential vise grip. He is squeezing Balaam. The physical pain in Balaam's foot is a gracious warning, a small taste of the destruction he is riding toward. But Balaam is still spiritually insensate. He doesn't interpret the pain; he just reacts to it. He strikes the donkey again.
The third time, the angel blocks the path completely. There is no room to turn right or left. This is a divine dead end. The donkey, seeing the inescapable sword, does the only sensible thing: it lies down. It refuses to walk its master into certain death. For this act of profound loyalty and wisdom, Balaam's anger boils over. He beats the donkey with his stick. Three times the donkey has saved him, and three times Balaam has repaid its service with violence. This is the logic of a man in rebellion. He interprets mercy as malice, and salvation as an obstacle to his plans. His rage at the donkey is a displaced rage against God for hedging his way.
The Donkey’s Rebuke (vv. 28-30)
Now we come to the part of the story that makes the rationalist squirm. God decides that if the prophet will not listen to providence, perhaps he will listen to his ride.
"And Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” Then Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now.”" (Genesis 22:28-29)
God opens the donkey’s mouth. If God can create the universe out of nothing, giving a donkey the temporary ability to form words is a trivial matter. The miracle is not the mechanics of the speech, but the message. The donkey’s question is perfectly logical and devastatingly simple: "What have I done to you?" It is a call for justice. It exposes Balaam's rage as irrational and cruel.
What is perhaps even more astounding is Balaam's reaction. He is not shocked. He doesn't fall off the donkey in amazement. He argues back. This shows just how deep in his self-deceived stupor he is. He is so consumed with his own anger and frustrated greed that a conversation with his donkey seems perfectly normal. His reply is pure, distilled pride: "You have made a mockery of me!" His reputation is what matters. He would rather be dead than look foolish. He is so fixated on his own dignity that he is ready to kill the very creature that has been preserving his life.
"And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?” And he said, “No.”" (Genesis 22:30)
The donkey's final argument is an appeal to its long history of faithfulness. It forces Balaam to stop and think, to consider the evidence. "Have I ever done this before?" And Balaam, to his credit, must answer honestly: "No." This is the crack in his hardened heart. The simple, logical appeal of the donkey breaks through his rage. He is forced to admit that this situation is abnormal, that something outside the ordinary is happening. The donkey has become the prophet, and the prophet has become the dumb beast.
Eyes Wide Shut, Then Open (vv. 31-35)
Only after Balaam is humbled by his own animal does God grant him sight.
"Then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed his head down and prostrated himself to the ground." (Numbers 22:31)
Notice the sequence. First, God opens the donkey’s mouth. Then, He opens the prophet’s eyes. Humiliation precedes illumination. You have to be brought low before you can see high things. When Balaam finally sees what his donkey has been seeing all along, his pride evaporates. He sees the angel, the sword, and the mortal danger he is in. And he does what he should have done from the beginning: he bows down in worship and terror.
The angel's rebuke is sharp and to the point. "Why have you struck your donkey?" God cares about how we treat our animals. But more than that, He is holding up the donkey's righteousness in contrast to Balaam's perversity. "Your way was contrary to me." The Hebrew is something like "your way is headlong, reckless." Balaam was rushing greedily toward destruction. The angel then makes the situation crystal clear: "If it had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now, and let it live." The beast was more righteous than the man, and God would have executed the man and saved the beast. This is a terrifying statement of God's justice. God is not impressed by titles or spiritual gifts; He is concerned with the heart.
Balaam's confession seems good on the surface, but it is still deficient.
"And Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the way against me. So now, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.”" (Numbers 22:34)
He confesses sin, but he qualifies it. "I have sinned, for I did not know." This is a confession of ignorance, not of rebellion. He is sorry he got caught, not sorry for the greed that drove him down that road in the first place. His offer to turn back is also half-hearted. "If it is evil in your sight..." There should be no "if" about it. He knows it is evil. He is still trying to negotiate, to leave the door open a crack.
The angel's final command is the same as God's original command, but now Balaam has been thoroughly chastened. "Go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I tell you." God is going to use this compromised, greedy prophet for His own glorious purposes. He will put a hook in Balaam's jaw and make him speak some of the most beautiful prophecies about Israel and the coming Messiah in the entire Old Testament. Balaam will go to Moab, but he will go as God's mouthpiece, not Balak's. He will get his trip, but he will not get his wages. This is the sovereignty of God in action. God can take a rebellious, compromised man, and wring true and glorious prophecy from his unwilling lips. He can use a talking donkey to rebuke a blind prophet, and He can use a blind prophet to declare His infallible Word.
Conclusion: Check Your Donkey
The story of Balaam is a permanent warning against the sin of professionalizing the faith. Balaam was a man for whom prophecy was a trade, a way to make a living. His heart was set on the fee. And because of this, he became blind to the God he claimed to serve. He was an expert in the things of God who had lost the fear of God.
We must ask ourselves, what is our donkey? What are the dumb, ordinary things in our lives that God might be using to get our attention? Perhaps it is a recurring inconvenience, a frustrating person, a crushed foot in a narrow place. We are tempted, like Balaam, to beat it, to get angry at the obstacle, to resent the interruption to our plans. But what if that obstacle is an angel? What if that frustration is God's restraining hand, saving us from a path that is reckless and perverse in His sight?
The world is full of Balaams, men and women who are clever, gifted, and spiritually blind. They are hurtling down a path to destruction and are angry at anyone or anything that gets in their way. But the church must not be. We are called to have our eyes opened, to see the spiritual realities all around us. And sometimes, the first step to seeing the angel is listening to the donkey.
Ultimately, this story points us to the absolute sovereignty of God. God was not wringing His hands, worried that Balaam might succeed in cursing Israel. Not a chance. He was in utter control of the prophet, the king, the donkey, and the angel. He used Balaam's greed to bring about a glorious blessing on His people. And He does the same for us. He takes our crooked, compromised, and rebellious hearts, and through the gospel of the true Prophet, Jesus Christ, He opens our eyes, puts His words in our mouths, and conforms us to His will. He saves us from the sword, not by a swerving donkey, but by the substitutionary death of His own Son.