1000 Words on Balam’s Donkey

Cleaning out the google doc folder of classwork as this first semester draws toward its close.

Below is one of the first assignments I got to enjoy discussing the ecological motif God introduced into creation and describes through the Bible.

Rejecting the interconnected and interactive nature of the physical and spiritual ecologies God created is to take a very dismissive view of the Bible and its contents.  As Dr. Stephen D. Lowe and Dr. Mary E. Lowe together describe in the first four chapters of Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age, God designed, created, and implemented ecologies from the Garden of Eden, into Genesis and through Revelation.  Furthermore, his son Jesus Christ infused ecological thinking into the parables taught during his ministry.  Additionally, the apostle Paul relied upon overtones of ecological thinking when describing the human body as a metaphor to represent the body of Christ.

One example from the Old Testament I would offer as Biblical evidence is the account of Balaam’s donkey taken from Numbers 22: 21-39.  Just before these verses, we learn of how Balak, King of Moab, sought to engage Balaam, son of Beor, to pronounce a curse on the Israelites who were taking up camp in Moab.  Balaam, having been summoned repeatedly by Balak, at last acquiesced and saddled his donkey to set off with the Moabite officials (Numbers 22:21).  Along his travels, according to the anger of God, an angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose Balaam’s path.  The interconnectedness of the natural and spiritual is first shown by the donkey’s response to the foreboding presence of the angel of the Lord.  In the first instance, to avoid the angel with its drawn sword, the donkey veers off the road and into a field (Numbers 22:23).  For this detour, the donkey receives a beating from Balaam.  Undeterred, however, the angel appeared again blocking a narrow path, and the donkey’s efforts resulted in the crushing of Balaam’s foot against a wall.  Again, the donkey was rebuked by Balaam with a beating.  In a third instance, the angel of the Lord appeared again in a subsequent narrow place.  The donkey reacted once more to the angel and laid down under Balaam, ceasing their progress.  A third beating resulted which prompted the Lord to open the donkey’s mouth to speak with its master Balaam.

Balaam lambasts the donkey for the deterrent effect on their path, and a suddenly conversational donkey makes a blunt plea to the relationship the two have shared as interconnected members of the ecology of God’s creation, saying “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day?  Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

Balaam replies to end verse 30 with, “No.”  At this acknowledgment, finally, the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes to see the angel of the Lord standing in the way, sword drawn.  Finally, the clarity of deterrence that the donkey responded to, graciously for the benefit of its master, is made plain to Balaam.  Genesis 1:26-28 establishes the delegated dominion man is to have over the earth and its animals, confirming an interconnected reality between man, made in God’s image, and creation around him populated by the myriad animals.  But dominion doesn’t allow for abuse.  The donkey’s willingness in its ecological relationship with Balaam is to take him wherever his master wants to go.  But the donkey, even though it’s just a donkey, recognizes for his master’s benefit the spiritual connection to the creator God by responding in deference to the angel of the Lord. 

Balaam, a sinner like you and I, stumbles in his pride and anger to abuse the donkey, such that the exasperation of the animal to its master gets mysteriously articulated into language that Balaam understands.  The donkey’s appeal as a reliable servant to Balaam confirms the two are connected in the ecology of God’s creation.  The donkey serves as reliable, faithful transport.  The donkey even convinces Balaam of his habit of performing these duties reliably.

The angel of the Lord reiterates the reprehensible action of Balaam by also affirming the role the donkey plays in its relationship to its master.  In verse 33 the angel of the Lord says, “The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times.  If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

Here we see a picture of grace and judgment.  The donkey responding in obedience to the angel of the Lord to the blocked path three times, was also a portrait of honor and obedience to its master, though Balaam couldn’t see it.  The donkey, through an interconnected relationship, thrives when its owner is reliably ferried away from harm.  The donkey is credited by the angel in this obedience as being the sole reason why the angel hadn’t yet taken an opportunity to kill Balaam so that his progress toward harming the Israelites might be stopped.  Finally, understanding the authority represented by the angel of the Lord, Balaam repents for his sin in verse 34, and offers to turn back.  Verse 35 draws the story nearly to a close where the angel reiterates the expectation God placed on Balaam to only speak what God puts in his mouth.

Dogs are known as man’s best friend, but clearly in this story, Balaam either didn’t have dogs that he kept in his company, or they weren’t called upon to act in deference to the Lord like this talking donkey was.  The donkey’s existence, by its own account, is to merit life through the relationship and duty it has to its human master.  The donkey knows and honors this dominion under man, but more importantly, it remembers the author of the dominion, the ecological relationship between beast and man, as that created by God.  Ultimately this obedience saves Balaam’s life and provides him proper clarity for further instruction from the Lord.  Though Balaam had previously testified to the authority of God earlier in this chapter (verse 18) it took a beast he enjoyed an interconnected dependence upon to be the precise instrument to intercede in Balaam’s progress toward cursing the Israelites at the behest of King Balak.

Every morning my hound dog says to me in his own voice, a howl or sorts, that it's time to walk so he can sniff the neighborhood and search for critters.  May I be so blessed to have the Lord use my dog to tell me something important for His purpose that I fail to see with my own senses, limited faith, or understanding.  If you believe the Bible is inerrant, then a strangely obstinate talking donkey is but one of God’s ways of interacting with his children for His purposes.