Balaam and the Talking Donkey

This story has long been the epitome of things in Scripture that stretch my faith, but as my husband says, "if God can raise a man from the dead, why can't He make a donkey talk?!" And that's certainly true, but why??!!! That will just have to go on my list of questions to be resolved when I get to Heaven...

Who was Balaam? Was he a follower of God or a charlatan? I read opinions ranging from his being a pagan priest and "curser for hire" to a true believer who was caught up in his own greed. God speaks to him, and at one point it says that the Spirit of God came upon him, so if he didn't know Him before, he certainly knew Him by then. The confusing part of this story (talking donkey notwithstanding) is that God tells Balaam he can go with Balak's men and then is angry with him for going...and sends that aforementioned donkey to block his path. You have to read between the lines a bit to reconcile the apparent discrepancy. Remember that the first time the Moabite princes asked Balaam to go with them to curse Israel, Balak sought counsel from the Lord and promptly declined their offer. But when they came back a second time with a blank check essentially, Balaam was not so quick to send them away. He tells them that "even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God". Balaam had been told already that he was not to go with these men because Israel was not to be cursed. So what further business could he have had with them if he was truly focused on God's will, which had already been made plain? He should have sent them away again, but he does not... "Stay here tonight as the others did and I will find out what else the Lord has to tell me".

Balaam's story seems to be a classic illustration of God's perfect will versus permissive will. God's perfect will was made clear to Balaam the first time he asked. But he asked again, possibly hoping for a different answer. How often do we do that?!!! When we don't like an answer we hear from God, don't we try to rephrase the question in hopes of a more palatable response? So it seems Balaam was tempted by what Balak was offering and was in a moral quandry. His suggestion that the men stay the night seems to be an effort to buy some time to present his case to God. This time, God gives him permission to go, but with the caveat that he could do only what God told him to do. This is God's permissive will. It was not His original intent, or perfect plan, but He often allows us to step outside of that plan. We have free will, but God is still sovereign and responds to our choices in such a way that His overall plans prevail. So He allows Balaam to go, but knowing his divided loyalty, sees fit to present an indisputable reminder (in the form of a talking donkey) that he should only do what he was directed by God...i.e. he was not to curse the Israelites for money. Thus, He protected his overall perfect plan while allowing Balaam the freedom to operate outside of that perfect plan, as he chose.

All of this makes an otherwise ridiculous story makes sense to me. Hope it helps you as well!

Tomorrow's reading: Numbers 25-26