Let me draw a few points of application from the story. The first concerns the sovereignty of God, which we have seen many times already. It is the most dominant, pervasive doctrine in the Bible. Here it emerges in view of Balaam’s and Balak’s attempt to manipulate God to fit their desires. They want to get God to curse the people because that suits them. What we learn from this story is that God is not manipulated. What God determines to do, God does. What happens is what He has determined. Do you believe that? Do you believe it enough to fit in with what God is doing? Or do you, like these people in the story, try to oppose God in His actions?
The second oracle is given in Numbers 23:13-26. Kings don’t easily give up, and Balak’s not about to give up. So he tries another tactic. He thinks that maybe he has gotten Balaam in the wrong place. He’s at a place where he could see all the mass of the people. Maybe a different site with a different view will produce a different result. So Balak takes him up to the top of Mount Pisgah where, from this vantage point, he only sees a part of the Hebrew people. Just as they did before the first oracle, they again offer sacrifices. But in spite of the change of location, the sacrifices, and the wishful thinking of the king, the result is unchanged.
What is happening in this story of Balaam and the donkey, which we find in Numbers 22:21-35? First, Balaam is pushing the donkey onward until he is brought up short by God’s angel. In exactly the same way Balak, the king of Moab, keeps pushing Balaam onward to curse Israel until he is brought up short by God. Second, just as God opened the donkey’s mouth to speak to Balaam, so God is going to open the prophet’s mouth to speak God’s true words of blessing on Israel. Even though the donkey spoke, she wasn’t a true prophet; so also, Balaam’s speaking doesn’t make Balaam a true prophet, either.
What kind of a person was Balaam? At first glance he seems to be quite a noble character. He uses the name Jehovah, for example. He is being hired to curse Israel, and yet he maintains what we would probably call professional integrity, saying, “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” (Num. 22:18), and “I must speak only what God puts in my mouth” (v. 38). Some scholars have studied this story and said very commendable things about Balaam. Did Balaam intend from the beginning to do what was right?
One of the mistakes we often make as Christians, especially young Christians, is to think that if we are on the right path with God, we won’t have any opposition and that everything is going to be smooth sailing. Not only is that not the case, it’s almost always the opposite. The more we’re following after Jesus Christ, the more opposition we will have, because the world and the devil are opposed to Him. And to the extent that we are on His side, the world and the devil will be opposed to us, too. We ought to expect that, because when you look at the Bible, there was never anybody who was more on the right path than Jesus Christ. Yet the author of Hebrews writes, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb. 12:3).
