“Balaam’s Donkey Speaks Blessings!

Numbers Chapters 22 &23 Read:

As the Israelis went on, they came to the plains of Moab, where Balak was the king.

When Balak saw them coming, he was frightened. He thought they wanted to fight with him., and he knew there were too many of them for his soldiers to win against. So he sent a man named Balaam to curse the people of Israel. To curse someone means to ask God to send someone great evil upon him. King Balakthought God would hurt the people of Israel if Balaam asked him to, because Balaam was said to have great power with God.

The King told Balaam he would make him rich and great if he would curse the people of Israel.

Balaam loved money, so although the people of Israel had done him no harm, he was willing to curse them to get the money the king promised to give him. He got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and started off with the men whom the king had sent to bring with him.

But God was angry with Balaam for agreeing to curse His people. So God sent and angel with a sword to stand in front of Balaam in the road. Balaam couldn’t see the angel, but his donkey did and ran into the field by the side of the road to get away. Balaam beat the donkey and told her to behave.

The angel went on further and stood in the road at a place where there was a wall on each side. When the donkey came to the place, she pressed up very close to the wall to get by the angel; but in doing this she crushed Balaams foot against the wall, and he hit her again.

Then the angel went on still further and stood in a narrow place where there was no room at all to get by. The donkey saw the angel standing there with the sword and was so afraid that she fell down under Balaam. This made Balaam very angry, and he beat her as hard as he could.

Then the Lord made the donkey speak like a person! She said, “What have I done to deserve your hitting me these three times.

Balaam said it was because she had disobeyed him and had turned off the road when he wanted her to go straight ahead. “If I had a sword with me I’d of killed you.” Balaam said.

Then the donkey spoke to him again and said, “Haven’t you ridden on me ever since I was yours until today? And have I ever done anything like this before?”

“No,” Balaam said, “you haven’t.”

Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel standing there in front of him with a sword, ready to kill him. Balaam was very frightened and threw himself flat on the ground before the angel. Then the angel said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? I came here to stop you from doing wrong. The donkey saw me and got out of the way. If she hadn’t . I would have killed you and saved her alive.”

Then the angel commanded Balaam to go on to the king, but to say to the king Balak only what God would tell him to say.

So Balaam went with the kings men, and the king came out to meet him and welcome him. He was very glad that Balaam had come to curse the people of Israel!

The next day the king took Balaam up on a hill where he could look down and see the entire camp of Israel. Balaam told the king to build seven altars and to prepare seven young bulls and seven rams to sacrifice as burnt offerings to God. So the king built the seven altars, and Balaam and the king sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each. Balaam told the king to stay there while he went away by himself. He needed to find out what the Lord wanted him to say and whether the Lord wanted him to say and whether the Lord would let him curse the people of Israel.

So Balaam went off by himself, and the Lord met him. Balaam told the Lord about the altars he had built and the animals he had sacrificed. But the Lord wouldn’t let him curse the Israelis; He sent him back to the king and made him bless them instead! He said only good things about them and promised that God would care for them and help them.

King Balak was very disappointed and angry when Balaam blessed the Israelis instead of cursing them. He decided to try again. The king took him to a different place from which he could look down upon the people of Israel. He built seven more altars there, and again they sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar. Balaam thought that by building so many altars and offering so many sacrifices he could persuade the Lord to let him curse the people. But he should of known that the Lord wouldn’t let anyone harm His people no matter how many sacrifices or gifts were given to Him.

Balaam told the king to stay there while he went again to ask the Lord for permission to curse the people. The Lord met Balaam but, of course, wouldn’t let him curse them. The king was very, very disappointed. But he said to Balaam, “Come with me to a different place; perhaps the Lord will let you curse them from there.” He took him to Mount Peor and built seven altars, and a ram on each altar, just as before.

Still the Lord wouldn’t let Balaam curse the people, but made him bless them instead!

By now King Balak was very angry with Balaam. “I sent for you to curse my enemies, and instead you have blessed them three times, “he growled. Then he told Balaam to go home. So Balaam didn’t get any of the silver and gold he wanted so much.

When king Balak realized that he couldn’t bring evil on the people of Israel by getting Balaam to curse them, he tried another way. He knew he could get the people of Israel to to make God angry at them by sinning against Him. For Balaam had told King Balak to invite the Israeli’s young people to parties honoring idols. this idea worked. The people of Israel came to the parties and bowed to the idols.

The Lord was very angry with the people of Israel for doing this and sent a disease which killed them by the thousands.

Questions:

Why did King Balak send for Balaam?

Tell about Balaam’s donkey and why it kept stopping?

What did Balaam do when he got there?

Why did king Balak invite the Israeli’s young people to parties?

What happened?

Balaam was a wicked prophet in the Bible and is noteworthy because, although he was a wicked prophet, he was not a false prophet. That is, Balaam did hear from God, and God did give him some true prophecies to speak. However, Balaam’s heart was not right with God, and eventually he showed his true colors by betraying Israel and leading them astray.