Numbers 22:22-41--Balaam's Donkey and the Angel of the LORD

Numbers 22:22-41
English Standard Version

Balaam's Donkey and the Angel of the LORD
22 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. 23 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. 24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25 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. 26 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. 27 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. 28 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?” 29 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.” 30 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.”

31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. 32 And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” 34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” 35 And the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.

36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, on the border formed by the Arnon, at the extremity of the border. 37 And Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?” 38 Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” 39 Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. 40 And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him.

​41 And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.

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I've taken the liberty or changing many of the references to "Lord" in the ESV here to "LORD" as it's important that we see this in this particular passage because YHWH (LORD) and Adonai (Lord) are different words in Hebrew.  I've also added "of the LORD" to the end of the title of today's passage as whoever made the headings for the ESV did not know or was trying to deemphasize the significance of "the angel of the LORD" in this passage.  The phrase "the angel of the LORD" that we see in this passage is not any ordinary angel--as we study the Scripture closely we'll see that this is a very specific "angel" (the word "angel" means "messenger"), and this one is referred to by the definite article "the" where as generic angels are referred to without the definite article but we insert the indefinite article "an."  Why stop and make a big deal about this before we start?  Because it is revealed to us in the New Testament that "the angel of the LORD" was actually the preincarnate Christ, the second person of the Trinity.  This would be a passage that we would refer to as a Christophany.  So, do not imagine that this is any "generic" angel saying and doing these things, it is Christ whom we know as Jesus.  Balaam's donkey is about to see God the Son and respond accordingly.

We see that God's anger was kindled because Balaam went.  Remember that God gave Balaam permission to go only if the men forced him to go with them, but God had not really changed His answer that Balaam was not supposed to go with these men or have anything to do with attempting to curse the Israelites, because they belonged to the LORD.  Because Balaam went out of his own free will, we see that there is something wrong here with this prophet's heart that God wants to correct before he gets to Moab (and that was quite a journey as we talked about last time).

So, the angel of the LORD stands in the way of Balaam, with drawn sword in hand, as his adversary because Balaam is working contrary to the LORD at this point.  The donkey has eyes to see what is going on and sees the angel of the LORD standing in the way ready to kill Balaam and the donkey goes off the road into the field, but Balaam's eyes have not been opened and he does not see that the donkey is trying to save his life--he only imagines the donkey is being stubborn and he strikes the donkey to get her to turn back onto the road.

Then the angel of the LORD waited for them in a narrow place between the vineyards so that there was no place for the donkey to turn off into the field as there was wall on either side, but the donkey pushed up against the wall crushing Balaam's foot in order to avoid the angel of the LORD this time.  Once again, Balaam does not see what the donkey sees and strikes the donkey again to punish her.

Then the angel of the LORD stands in a narrow place where there where there was no place to turn to the right or to the left.  The angel of the LORD was set to kill Balaam because of his rebellion, but the donkey laid down under Balaam and refused to move so as to save his life once again.  Balaam is angry and beats the donkey with his staff.

Then a most amazing thing happens--the LORD opens the mouth of the donkey so that she can talk to Balaam and Balaam doesn't really seem to give it a second thought.  The only other animal we've ever seen speak before was the serpent in the Garden of Eden, but this is something special as the LORD enables this to happen.  God has to speak through the mouth of a beast of burden because the prophet of God is unwilling to listen to His voice.  The donkey asks why she has been beaten these three times and Balaam's answer is simply that he was angry because he was embarrassed and made a fool of by the way that his donkey acted--remember that he could not see what was really going on yet. "30 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.”"

It is at this point that the LORD opens the eyes of Balaam and allows him to see the angel of the LORD that is standing there in the pathway with sword drawn ready to kill him.  Now comes an interesting part and why I found it important to make sure to clarify all this about "the angel of the LORD."  Balaam falls down on his face in worship before the angel of the LORD and is not corrected for doing so.  In fact, this is the normal response we see when the angel of the LORD shows up in the Old Testament, but normal angels do not accept worship because they are not God--only messengers of God.  They will always tell the people they are delivering the message to to get up if they are an ordinary angel.

Then the angel of the LORD (that is Christ) speaks and we hear mostly the same words that came out of the mouth of the donkey, asking why it was the Balaam struck his donkey these three times.  Didn't he realize she was saving his life these three times?  The angel of the LORD also adds, "I would have killed you and let her live."  Also notice the reason the angel of the LORD gives for opposing Balaam, "Your way is perverse before me."  Perversion of the word and the work of the LORD by his people can be enough for God to be opposed to you and stand against you--even possibly to the point where Christ personally needs to come against you and take you out so that you stop perverting the real gospel.  We get some indications of this in the New Testament as well.

Balaam repents both for beating the donkey because he did not know that the angel of the LORD stood against him in the road and for going to Moab when the LORD had commanded him not to go.  He says that he is willing to turn back and not go to Moab, but notice that the angel of the LORD changes the command that Balaam was given.  No mere angel could change the command of God--only God can do that, and notice that when the angel of the LORD tells Balaam to go, he says, "Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you."  Did you catch that?  The angel said that Balaam should only speak the words that the angel gave to him--but that's not how angels usually talk, and would see contrary to God saying "only do what I tell you" in verse 20.  So then, it would seem that we are getting a pretty good indication from this passage that this is no ordinary angel who simply relays messages for God, but that this is the Word of the LORD who is co-equal with God.

Balak comes out of the cities and came to furthest reaches of his borders to await the arrival of Balaam--Balaam must have had some reputation to have been able to have been summoned from this far away by the king and have to king come out to meet him like this!  Normally kings would send envoys to bring their guests back to the palace, but would not leave the safety or security of their palace to do so.  Balak, the king of the Moabites wonders why why Balaam refused to come when first called (as if Balaam was somehow subject to his authority and had to come when the king of Moab beckoned for him).  Balaam simply answers, with an approximation of "I'm here now, am I not?" and then proceeds to make sure to lead with "But I can only speak the words that the LORD puts in my mouth."

We then see the pagan king leave Balaam to offer sacrifices (probably to his false gods as we don't get any indication in the Old Testament that the Moabites were God-fearing people--if they were, the king would have let the man of God make the sacrifices for him) and he then calls for Balaam and the "princes" (probably the diplomatic envoy that was with him and protecting him) to come to meet the king.  The next day the king took Balaam to a place where they could see but a fraction of the nation of Israel that was encamped in the plains of Moab.  We'll pick up there next time and see exactly what Balaam says.  Does he follow God's instructions?  How does the king respond?  What happens to the Israelites?  Hang in there as we'll have to get through the end of chapter 24 before we will see the conclusion of this part of the story--and an amazing Messianic prophecy will come out of the mouth of Balaam!