Numbers 22:28

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

²²Then God's anger was kindled because Balaam was going along, and the Angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³When the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in His hand, she turned off the path and went into a field. So Balaam beat her to return her to the path. ²⁴Then the Angel of the LORD stood in a narrow passage between two vineyards, with walls on either side. ²⁵And the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD and pressed herself against the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he beat her once again. ²⁶And the Angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn to the right or left. ²⁷When the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he became furious and beat her with his staff. ²⁸Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?"²⁹Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now!" ³⁰But the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not the donkey you have ridden all your life until today? Have I ever treated you this way before?" "No," he replied. ³¹Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in His hand. And Balaam bowed low and fell facedown.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the Lord opened: And where is the wonder of all this? If the ass had opened her own mouth, and reproved the rash prophet, we might well be astonished; but when God opens the mouth, an ass can speak as well as a man. It is to no purpose to speak of the construction of the ass's mouth, of the formation of the tongue and jaws being unfit for speaking; for an adequate cause is assigned for this wonderful effect, "The Lord opened the mouth of the ass"; and no one who believes in a God, can doubt of his power to do this and much more. Exodus 4:11, Luke 1:37, 1 Corinthians 1:19, 2 Peter 2:16

What have I: Romans 8:22

Reciprocal: Genesis 3:1 - he said Numbers 22:32 - Wherefore Proverbs 12:10 - righteous John 11:51 - he prophesied 1 Corinthians 9:9 - Doth 2 Peter 2:15 - who

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam,.... This was a very extraordinary and miraculous affair, and effected by a supernatural power, that a dumb creature, which had not organs endued with speech, should speak so plainly and distinctly, as is after expressed; and yet it should not be thought incredible, for what is it that Omnipotence cannot do? wherefore there is no need to say, as some Jewish writers i, that this was all done in a visionary way, and not really and literally performed; nor can Heathens well object to the verity of it, if they believe what they themselves report concerning one of the asses which carried Bacchus over a river, to which, for reward, he gave the power of speaking with an human voice k; though it is very probable the fable was framed from this story, and frequently do their writers speak of other brute creatures endued with speech; so Homer l represents Xanthus, the horse of Achilles, having the faculty of speech given it by Juno: Pliny says m, it is commonly reported among the wonderful things of the ancients, that an ox spoke; and Livy n frequently makes mention of an ox spoke speaking in divers places, and of one particularly that said,

"Rome, take heed to thyself;''

not to take notice of a lamb in Egypt in the times of Bocchoris that spoke, related by Aelianus o and others; nor of the ram of Phrixus, or the dog at Ariminum, and the elephant of Porus in India, with others Bochart p has collected together: the words spoken by the ass were as follow:

what have l done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? and just so many times she had been smitten by him,

Numbers 22:23.

i Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 42. Ben Gersom in loc. k Hygin. Poet. Astronomic. l. 2. c. 23. "Lactant, de falsa Relig". l. 1. c. 21. l Iliad. 19. "prope finem". m Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 45. n Hist. l. 24. c. 10. l. 27. c. 11. l. 28. c. 11. and l. 35. c. 21. o De Animal. l. 12. c. 3. p Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 14. col. 197, 198.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass - The account was perhaps given by Balaam to the Israelites after his capture in the war against Midian. Compare Numbers 31:8. That which is here recorded was apparently perceived by him alone among human witnesses. God may have brought it about that sounds uttered by the creature after its kind became to the prophet’s intelligence as though it addressed him in rational speech. Indeed to an augur, priding himself on his skill in interpreting the cries and movements of animals, no more startling warning could be given than one so real as this, yet conveyed through the medium of his own art.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 22:28. The Lord opened the mouth of the ass — And where is the wonder of all this? If the ass had opened her own mouth, and reproved the rash prophet, we might well be astonished; but when God opens the mouth, an ass can speak as well as a man. It is worthy of remark here, that Balaam testifies no surprise at this miracle, because he saw it was the Lord's doing. Of animate and inanimate things receiving for a short time the gift of speech, the heathen mythology furnishes many fictitious examples, with which I do not deem it proper to occupy the reader's time.