Numbers 22:33

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

surely: Numbers 14:37, Numbers 16:33-35, 1 Kings 13:24-28

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times,.... The ass saw the angel when Balaam did not, and that was the reason of its turning aside; and it was well for him it did, and therefore he should not have smote it:

unless she had turned from me; if she had pushed on, endeavouring to make her way:

surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive; had certainly and only slain him, and not the ass; and from hence the Jewish writers t gather, that the ass was now slain, lest it should be said, this is the ass that spoke, and so be made an idol of.

t Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 20. fol. 227. 4. Aben Ezra in loc.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 22:33. Surely now also I had slain thee — How often are the meanest animals, and the most trivial occurrences, instruments of the preservation of our lives, and of the salvation of our souls! The messenger of justice would have killed Balaam, had not the mercy of God prevented the ass from proceeding.