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Balaam Tries to Curse Israel
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against the wall. Balaam did not know that God was obstructing his
path. He became exasperated, and beating his donkey unmercifully,
forced it to move forward.
Again, “in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either
to the right hand or to the left,” the angel appeared, and the poor
donkey, trembling with terror, fell to the earth under its rider. Bal-
aam’s rage was out of control, and with his staff he struck the animal
more cruelly than before. God now opened the animal’s mouth, and
by “a dumb donkey speaking with man’s voice” He “restrained the
madness of the prophet” (
2 Peter 2:16
). “What have I done to you,”
it said, “that you have struck me these three times?”
Furious, Balaam answered the beast as he would have spoken
to an intelligent being: “Because you have abused me. I wish there
were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you.”
The eyes of Balaam were now opened, and he saw the angel
of God standing with drawn sword ready to kill him. In terror “he
bowed his head and fell flat on his face.” The angel said, “Behold, I
have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse
before Me. The donkey saw me and turned aside from Me these
three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also
have killed you by now, and let her live.”
Balaam owed his life to the poor animal he had treated so cruelly.
The man who claimed to be a prophet of the Lord was so blinded
by greed and ambition that he could not discern the angel of God
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visible to his beast. “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of
them which believe not.”
2 Corinthians 4:4
KJV. How many people
rush on in forbidden paths, disobeying God’s law, and cannot tell
that God and His angels are against them! Like Balaam they are
angry at those who would prevent their ruin.
“A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender
mercies of the wicked are cruel” (
Proverbs 12:10
). Few people
realize as they should the sinfulness of abusing animals or leaving
them to suffer from neglect. Animals were created to serve us, but
we have no right to cause them pain by harsh treatment.
Those who will abuse an animal because it is in their power are
both cowards and tyrants. Many people think that their cruelty will
never be known, because the poor unspeaking animal cannot reveal
it. But if the eyes of these people could be opened, they would see