The Donkey & Balaam
A Faithful Animal, Human Failings, & God’s Compassion
Numbers 22:28
Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and [she] said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
James 5:11
…the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Donkeys are wonderful persons, filled with personality. This beautiful creature of God, rescued in Israel from years of monotonous and hard labor with little food, now lives in a sanctuary. (We Animals Media)
Numbers 22 recalls one of God’s many sensitive and intelligent donkeys who has fallen under the unscrupulous power of humankind as a beast of burden, in this case a man named Balaam.
Anyone who has spent time with donkeys is likely to know them as intelligent, sensitive, social, and inquisitive. They pause to think before they act, they remember what has befallen them, and they tend to hold a well-deserved grudge against anyone who mistreats them.
In biblical times, many donkeys lived in human communities and were often bought and sold as a means of transport and for labor more generally. Numbers 22 recalls the thoughts and feelings of one such donkey, a jenny (female donkey).
While English translations tend to reduce this donkey to the status of an inanimate object, referring to her as “it,” this is not true to Scriptures. In Hebrew, the Bible tells readers clearly that the donkey is female. Another point of note, though the jenny is referred to as Balaam’s donkey in the Bible, it is important to remember that God is sole proprietor. Ultimately, the donkey is God’s beautiful creation. This is an important truth for exploring Numbers 22.
Psalms 24:1
The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it….
This sacred narrative begins when Balak (king of Moab and enemy of the Jewish people) commissions Balaam (a gentile “seer” or prophet) to curse the Israelites, who are camped nearby. Balaam heads out on God’s little jenny to accomplish this paid task.
As they travel, the jenny sees an angel standing in the footpath, with sword drawn, so she swerves. Her rider cannot see the angel and becomes irritated, striking her as he steers her back onto the path.
The angel moves to stand between two walls, directly in the middle of the path. The donkey swerves again, but in negotiating the tight space, scrapes Balaam’s foot against one of the walls. Balaam is yet more irritated and strikes her again.
Finally, the angel stands so that the donkey cannot pass. The poor jenny sees that she is in a hopeless situation, caught between an Angel of God and Balaam’s wrath. With seemingly no other option, she simply lies down in the path.
It is easy to imagine Balaam’s humiliation as he sits astride a donkey who is lying in a public pathway, apparently refusing to carry her rider any further. No doubt enraged, he strikes the donkey yet again.
Psalms 73:6
… pride is their necklace; violence covers them like a garment.
Proverbs 12:10
The righteous know the needs of their animals, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.
Balaam reacts with anger when the donkey he rides lies down in the path. (“Balaam and the Angel,” Pieter Lastman, Netherlands, 1622, Wikimedia Commons)
It is then that “the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey” (Numbers 22:28). In speaking through the donkey God questions not only Balaam’s cruelty, but also his injustice to God’s creature: “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” (Numbers 22:28).
Balaam, full of haughty pride, responds by threatening the donkey: “Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!” (Numbers 22:29).
His words display complete power over the donkey—even over her life—highlighting the complete and unjust power of humankind over God’s creatures, and the importance of Christian compassion and mercy for God’s creatures.
Deuteronomy 22:4
You shall not see your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen on the road and ignore it; you shall help to lift it up.
Colossians 3:12-15
…clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts….
The Creator again speaks through the donkey, again shows solidarity with the donkey, challenging her rider. God directly and bluntly challenges both Balaam’s cruelty and his injustice a second time, reminding Balaam of the donkey’s goodness and of their long-term relationship, which he appears to have forgotten: “Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way?” (Numbers 22:30).
Faced with the truth, Balaam backs down and replies, “No.”
Exodus 23:5
“When you see the donkey of one who hates you struggling under its burden and you would hold back from setting it free, you must help to set it free.”
God then allows Balaam to see the angel, who speaks directly to the angry man who has been striking God’s donkey. The angel also stands in solidarity with the donkey, again challenging human injustice, dominance, and cruelty to animals with a blunt question: “Why have you struck your donkey these three times?” (Numbers 22: 32). The angel continues—If the donkey had “not turned away from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let [her] live” (Numbers 22:33).
The angel’s words honor the goodness and worthiness of God’s donkey, who was able to perceive the angel while the man could not. She did her best to move around the angel, all the while subjected to the unjust power of an angry man sitting on top of her, who, in human terms and minds, “owns” her. But of course, she is ultimately God’s creature and not Balaam’s. And this is one of the important lessons of Numbers 22: When we interact with animals, we need to remember that they are God’s creatures, and not ours.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.
Hearing the words of the angel and seeing that the donkey has saved his life, Balaam is finally humbled. He does not again threaten the donkey. He abandons his mission to curse the Israelites. Balaam has seen the power of God in the jenny he rides. Balaam has seen that God stands not with him, but with the donkey that he dominates.
God instructs Balaam to continue his journey but to speak only the words that God puts into his mouth—just as the donkey has faithfully done (Numbers 22:35). And so, he does.
Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but wisdom is with the humble.
Finally, Balaam is able to see the angel, who tells him that the good donkey he rides, whom he has mistreated, saved his life. (“Balaam and the Angel,” Gustav Jaeger, Germany, 1836, Wikimedia Commons)
Numbers 22 presents an animal as more spiritually aware than a human being. The donkey sees what the man cannot see. When faced with anger and abuse, she responds well and is recognized as blameless. In contrast, Balaam cannot see the angel of the Lord. He is irritable, proud, and abusive toward a little donkey—on whom he sits so that he will not have to do his own walking. In Numbers 22, the donkey is perceptive and faithful, while the man cannot even see what stands right in front of him.
In this biblical account, God takes the side of a donkey, even speaking through her to remind humankind that our relationships carry commitments and moral expectations (that do not allow striking or threatening animals). Numbers 22 teaches Christians that striking and threatening animals is inappropriate and unacceptable. God makes clear that harming the animals over whom we have power is an injustice.
Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Numbers 22 reminds Christians that animals are thinking, feeling individuals who have intelligence and agency. Numbers 22 reminds humankind that animals are individuals with their own interests and insights, and that they also have a relationship with God.
Humankind may feel entitled to “own” creatures of God, even calling them “livestock”—literally, “living merchandise,” but Numbers 22 reminds humankind that we answer to God. We are accountable for our treatment of animals, who are ultimately, always and everywhere, God’s creatures.
In Numbers 22, the power of the voice of God comes to bear on behalf of animals everywhere, reminding readers that the Creator is attentive to all living beings, that Christians are to be compassionate and merciful to animals. As servants of a loving Creator, out of respect for God, in light of core Christian ethics, we owe kindness to animals.
James 2:18
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith.
Psalms 145:9
The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.
Numbers 22 indicates a gap between core biblical ethics and how humankind actually treats animals. Fundamental biblical ethics, and how these shape our lives with animals, are the topic of our first chapter, Teachings. Our next two chapters, Tension and Living, explore these spaces between teachings and practice more thoroughly, while our final chapter, Advocacy, examines Christian responses to gaps between core teachings about animals and common practice.
A caretaker shares time with donkeys at a sanctuary in Nepal. (We Animals Media)