Main news for 1 June 2026

King James Version (en)

Numbers, Chapter 22, verses 30-31

²² An angel would have slain him, if his ass had not saved him

³⁰And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.

³¹Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.

Read more:Numbers, Chapter 22

A meeting on the road with a messenger of God who blocks that road is an extraordinary event, as is a donkey speaking with a human voice. The easiest thing would be to regard this story as a pious legend, if not for one 'but': the world has far more dimensions than we usually think.

In our fallen world, talking animals, apart from parrots, are impossible, as are angels walking along roads. But the Bible gives us examples of encounters with angels precisely in everyday reality. Abraham, for example, met God's messengers while he was simply sitting by his own tent. What is this: mysticism? A miracle?

A miracle, without question: if by miracle we mean God's direct intervention in a situation, an intervention 'over' the existing laws of nature, then this is exactly a miracle. And a talking animal is also a miracle. But there is no need to speak of mysticism. Mysticism would be possible if God from the beginning had divided the world into parts that did not touch, or barely touched, one another, so that one could look from one part into another only through something like a keyhole. Then mysticism would indeed be that peeping through the keyhole at a life not meant for us human beings.

Only God did not create a divided world. He created it whole, and others divide it now - those who oppose Him. If we suddenly see the world as the Creator intended it, it becomes for us the Kingdom of God: for the world is one, and there is one King in it. Yet it is not at all easy for fallen humanity to see this wholeness. It is even impossible to see it unless God shows it; and if He shows it, then angels and talking animals may appear in the world beside human beings.

Yet in the present state of the world, God needs special and weighty reasons to allow fallen humanity to see the world as, without the fall, it would see it every day. For example, the stubbornness of a prophet of God who, in the situation that has arisen, must not be stubborn at all, first of all for his own good - and also for the task set by God.

Num 22:30-31

NOTES

It turns out that even a prophet can learn much from his own donkey! For Balaam, as a prophet, should have been especially sensitive to God's will as it was revealed to him. It would seem...

The story of Balaam is instructive - and at the same time it raises many questions. It is clear how and why it entered the Bible: here there is such vivid testimony "from outsiders" that it would have been both impossible and unreasonable to ignore it. Indeed: a man who is asked to curse the people of God ends up blessing them! There is something here for everyone to ponder, whether he is a Yahwist or a pagan. What is especially remarkable is that this is not a Yahwist; it is a pagan prophet who, in all likelihood, had never even heard of YHWH before. How could it happen that God said something, revealed something, to this pagan prophet? How, most important of all, was he able to hear Him?

To us today, inwardly limited by the boundaries of familiar religions, confessions, and denominations, this can appear strange. We have somehow inwardly accepted the idea that everyone has his own faith, and that each receives, as we usually say, according to his faith. In essence, that is so - except that faith is not so simple. For us today, faith is often reduced to symbols, confessions, worldview, dogmatics - in short, again to something confessional. Meanwhile experience, genuine spiritual experience, is not confessional. God is God; He does not belong to any religion, any confession, any denomination.

He speaks as He speaks, and He speaks to whomever He considers necessary. Did God know that Balaam had not truly heard of Him? A strange question: of course He knew. Yet God's knowledge is never reduced to form. What could Balaam have known at all? What does it mean to be a prophet, even a pagan one, a prophet, for example, of Shamash or Adad, of whom there were many in Mesopotamia? To know these gods? To hear them? Who stood behind them if Balaam truly heard their voices? There is still no answer to these questions.

One thing is clear: to hear anything at all, one must know how to listen. One must know how to hear. One must at least minimally be aware of the experience one has. Otherwise one cannot become a prophet, even a pagan one. But if a person knows how to hear the many voices sounding in creation, he will all the more be able to hear the voice of God - if, of course, he wants to and remains spiritually honest with himself. Balaam had enough spiritual sensitivity and spiritual honesty to hear the voice of a God unknown to him - which means he was a real prophet.

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