Scripture: Numbers 22:22 – 24:19
Sermon: Donkeys, Prophets, and the Irresistible Blessing of God
Topics: humor, donkeys, blessings, curses
Preached: December 3, 2006
Rev. Mike Abma
Balaam & the Donkey (22:22-35)
and Balak and Balaam (22:35-24:19)
NARRATOR: 22 God’s anger was kindled because Balaam was going to King Balak. So the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back on to the road.
24Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again.
26Then 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. 27When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.
28Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam,
DONKEY: ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’
BALAAM: ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’
DONKEY: Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you in this way?’
BALAAM: ‘No.’
NARRATOR: Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face.
32The angel of the Lord said to him,
ANGEL: ‘Why have you struck your donkey these three times? I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me. 33The donkey saw me, and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, surely I would by now have killed you and let it live.’
34 BALAAM: ‘I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now therefore, if it is displeasing to you, I will return home.’
35 ANGEL: ‘Go with the men; but speak only what I tell you to speak.’
NARRATOR: So Balaam went on with the officials of Balak.
When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at Ir-moab, on the boundary formed by the Arnon, at the farthest point of the boundary.
37Balak said to Balaam,
BALAK: ‘Did I not summon you? Why did you not come to me right away? Am I not able to honor you?’
BALAAM: ‘I have come to you now, but do I have power to say just anything? The word God puts in my mouth, that is what I must say.’
NARRATOR: 39Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. 40Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent them to Balaam and to the officials who were with him.
41 On the next day Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal; and from there he could see part of the people of Israel.
1Then Balaam said to Balak,
BALAAM: ‘Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.’
NARRATOR: 2Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3Then Balaam said to Balak
BALAAM: ‘Stay here beside your burnt-offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.’
NARRATOR: And he went to a bare height. 4 Then God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him,
BALAAM: ‘I have arranged the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.’
NARRATOR 5The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said,
GOD: ‘Return to Balak, and this is what you must say.’
NARRATOR: 6So he returned to Balak, who was standing beside his burnt-offerings with all the officials of Moab.
7Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying:
BALAAM:
‘Balak has brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
“Come, curse Jacob for me;
Come, denounce Israel!”
8How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?
9For from the top of the crags I see him,
from the hills I behold him;
Here is a people living alone,
and not reckoning itself among the nations!
10Who can count the dust of Jacob,
or number the dust-cloud of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!’
BALAK: ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.’
BALAAM: ‘Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?’
BALAK: ‘Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there.’
NARRATOR: 14So Balak took Balaam to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15Balaam then said to Balak,
BALAAM: ‘Stand here beside your burnt-offerings, while I meet the Lord over there.’
NARRATOR: 16The Lord met Balaam, put a word into his mouth, and said,
GOD: ‘Return to Balak, and this is what you shall say.’
NARRATOR: 17When Balaam came to Balak, he was standing beside his burnt- offerings with the officials of Moab.
BALAK: ‘What has the Lord said?’
BALAAM:
‘Rise, Balak, and hear;
listen to me, O son of Zippor:
19God is not a human being, that he should lie,
or a mortal, that he should change his mind.
Has he promised, and will he not do it?
Has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it?
20See, I received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
21He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob;
nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
acclaimed as a king among them.
22God, who brings them out of Egypt,
is like the horns of a wild ox for them.
23Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob,
no divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
“See what God has done!”
24Look, a people rising up like a lioness,
and rousing itself like a lion!
It does not lie down until it has eaten the prey
and drunk the blood of the slain.’
BALAK: ‘Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.’
BALAAM: ‘Did I not tell you, “Whatever the Lord says, that is what I must do”?’
BALAK: ‘Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.’
NARRATOR: 28So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the waste- land.
BALAAM: ‘Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.’
NARRATOR: So Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
24Now Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, so he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face towards the wilderness. 2Balaam looked up and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. Then the spirit of God came upon him, 3and he uttered his oracle, saying:
BALAAM:
‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,
4the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
who falls down, but with eyes uncovered:
5how fair are your tents, O Jacob,
your encampments, O Israel!
6Like palm groves that stretch far away,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes that the Lord has planted,
like cedar trees beside the waters.
7Water shall flow from his buckets,
and his seed shall have abundant water,
his king shall be higher than Agag,
and his kingdom shall be exalted.
8God, who brings him out of Egypt,
is like the horns of a wild ox for him;
he shall devour the nations that are his foes
and break their bones.
He shall strike with his arrows.
9He crouched, he lay down like a lion,
and like a lioness; who will rouse him up?
Blessed is everyone who blesses you,
and cursed is everyone who curses you.’
NARRATOR: Then Baak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together.
BALAK: ‘I summoned you to curse my enemies, but instead you have blessed them these three times. 11Now be off with you! Go home! I said, “I will reward you richly”, but the Lord has denied you any reward.’
BALAAM: ‘Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 13“If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will; what the Lord says, that is what I will say”? 14So now, I am going to my people; let me advise you what this people will do to your people in days to come.’
15 So he uttered his oracle, saying:
‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,
16the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
and knows the knowledge of the Most High,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
who falls down, but with his eyes uncovered:
17I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near—
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the borderlands of Moab,
and the territory of all the Shethites.
18Edom will become a possession,
Seir a possession of its enemies,
while Israel does valiantly.
19One out of Jacob shall rule,
and destroy the survivors of Ir.’
SERMON
This passage has been called “every seminarians friend.” When in seminary, wondering whether you can or can’t preach, lacking confidence, full of insecurity, this story is highlighted as a source of comfort. With a grin that makes you wonder whether you are being encouraged or insulted, a professor will say, “Look, if God can use a donkey to bring his word, he can surely use you – regardless of how plodding and clumsy, regardless of how awkward and unclear.”
A. PARALLELS between the PARTS
So, in hearing the story of Balaam and the donkey AND the story of Balaam and King Balak, did you notice any parallels?
Did you notice any parallels between what happens between Balaam and his donkey and what happens between King Balak and his hired prophet, Balaam?
Ah….now you beginning to see….?
BALAAM & HIS DONKEY
In the Balaam-and-his-donkey part of the reading,
did you notice how the donkey goes a direction Balaam doesn’t like three different times.
Each time, what does Balaam do?
He gets angrier and angrier at his stubborn donkey.
Doesn’t his dumb donkey know that HE is the MASTER?
Doesn’t his dumb donkey know that they need to go the way HE WANTS?
But the donkey cannot and won’t.
The donkey will not go where the angel of the Lord won’t let it.
And in the end, God actually puts words in the mouth of the donkey.
In the end, Balaam repents.
In the end, Balaam realizes his donkey was right. He was wrong.
In the end, Balaam realizes a person must follow the will of God.
So Balaam goes on to King Balak, knowing, like his donkey,
that he can only go the way God allows him to go,
he can only speak the words God puts in his mouth.
BALAAM & BALAK
So, are you beginning to see how the whole saga is replayed when Balaam meets King Balak of Moab?
Only this time the roles are reversed.
This time it is King Balak who thinks that HE is the MASTER,
that HE is the one who must be obeyed.
This time it is King Balak who, three different times leads Balaam to different hilltops to look over Israel and to curse them.
This time it is Balaam who plays the role of his donkey.
He cannot go where God does not let him.
He cannot say words which God does not put into his mouth.
He cannot curse Israel.
He can only bless them.
And this time it is King Balak who, each time, gets madder and madder.
He is furious at this prophet.
In fact, after Balaam’s third oracle,
Balak is ballistic!
He strikes his hands together and says to Balaam
“I promised you buckets loads of gold to do this job,
but now I am not going to pay you one red penny!
It is actually pretty funny.
While this whole funny scene of Balak going ballistic at Balaam is happening on the hilltops,
where is Israel?
Where is Israel?
Israel is sleepily camping down there on the plains of Moab.
They have no idea how God is fighting for them on the hilltops.
They have no idea how far God is willing to go
to make sure they are blessed rather than cursed.
They have no idea God is willing to go so far as
to put words in the mouth of a donkey;
He is willing to go so far as
to put words of blessing in the mouth of a pagan
prophet.
But that is who God is.
He is a keeper of promises.
He is the protector of his people.
Behind the scenes of history,
he is always busy making sure that his kingdom comes
and that his will is done.
Every once in a while,
we recognize God in action,
turning things to his will and his way,
like when he turns a Jew who is hopping mad
and planning to persecute and curse
the church in Damascus (Paul)
to someone who loves Jesus,
and becomes a blessing to the church.
Even in our own lives,
How many times hasn’t he turned something
that we thought was horribly against us,
into something that ended up being blessedly for us?
Like in the delightful classic novel, Anne of Green Gables.
The aging brother and sister, Matthew and Marilla,
go to pick up an orphan boy to help them on the farm.
They wanted a boy, but receive a girl, Anne,
with a mind and will of her own.
Marilla, especially, feels cursed with a girl.
But in the end, what she thought was a curse,
ended up being one of the biggest blessings of her life.
We have good friends in Ontario.
Two weeks before they and their two children were going to Europe for six months, she had a doctor’s appointment with tests and exams.
Well, horror of horrors, a tumor was found.
All their plans for 6 months in Europe came screeching to a halt.
They felt cursed.
But in finding the tumor as early as they did,
her cancer was very treatable,
and only a year later,
they were able to make a European trip.
God is in the business of turning what looks like curses into blessings.
CONCLUSION
Talking about turning curses into blessings, did you notice another thing?
At the very end of Balaam’s final oracle or saying,
His eyes become clear with the vision of the Almighty
and his voice becomes strong with the words of God
and he says,
I see him …. but not now –
I behold him … but not near —
A star shall come out of Jacob,
A scepter shall rise out of Israel.
Who is Balaam speaking about?
What future king does he have in mind?
Some say it is King David.
Perhaps.
But we can’t help but think of the future and final King,
The Messiah,
Jesus.
Born with a star shining over Bethlehem;
Born as King of all kings, and Lord of all lords.
Born to take the greatest curse of all — our sin and bondage to death,
and twist it and bend it and destroy it upon the cross,
so that now we receive the great blessings of his redemption,
so that now we receive life rather than death.
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