The Revelation, or Apocalypse, denounces those who have betrayed their faith as being like Balaam son of Beor in their apostasy from the true faith (Revelation 2:14). The second epistle of Peter denounces Balaam as greedy (II Peter 2:15 ff) and the epistle of Jude condemns people who follow Balaam’s avarice in accepting money for a curse (Jude 11). Certainly, the New Testament has a dim view of Balaam. I am well assured that spiritual people can have an avaricious side to them, myself sadly included. Such commentators seem to this author to have an inflated view of the moral superiority of human nature, as over the years I have know a lot of religious leaders with dubious motives. Some commentators have found it difficult to see how he could be a true prophet with spiritual insight and still be greedy enough to succumb to bribes. This talkative ass is found in the book of Numbers, Chapter 22.īalaam is an interesting person for biblical scholars. He ended his adventure by blessing the hosts of Israel, much to the irritation of King Balak. Balaam replied, “You have acted willfully against me.” The ass replied to Balaam that she had always been a good ass and had never been bad before, which Balaam acknowledged as true.īut then God opened Balaam’s eyes to see the angel of the Lord also, and he repented his beatings of the ass and his willfulness in promising to curse Israel and humbled himself before the Lord. “What have I done to you that you should beat me these three times?” protested the ass. But the sacred text tells us that God opened the mouth of the ass and gave it the ability to speak. Balaam beat the ass and swore at it, and eventually threatened to kill it with a sword. Seeing the terrible angel of the Lord, the ass swerved, first into a field and then against a wall, mashing Balaam’s leg. While Balaam rode his ass to Moab the angel of the Lord appeared, not to Balaam, but to the ass. But God uses odd means to reprove His enemies. Caving into political and financial inducements, Balaam agreed to pronounce his curse and rode his ass to the fields of Moab to issue the curse against God’s people. God warned Balaam not to curse His chosen people, but Balak plied Balaam with political pressure and gifts to do the evil deed.
Bookworm adventures dunkey professional#
One of the princes who feared Israel was Balak, the king of Moab.īalak resolved to curse the Israelites and sent for a professional soothsayer named Balaam, offering him a hefty sum to pronounce the curse. On the eve of their entry to the Holy Land, the children of Israel had become a mighty host, a nation so large that their numbers terrified the local princes of the surrounding nation. After rebelling against God, they were commanded to wander the desert for 40 years until a new generation was raised up who would enter the promised land. The Torah tells the tale of how Moses liberated the children of Israel from bondage under Pharaoh and how they fled into the desert. What passage of the Bible could cause such provocative hilarity? In this case, the answer was the wonderful biblical story of Balaam and his talking ass. The poor young man could not help himself, and it became increasingly apparent that he had never actually read or heard this portion of scripture before he stood up to read. Now, all clergy and liturgical staff know that laughing in church is very dangerous, because when you get a serious case of the chuckles in the sanctuary it is very hard to stop. One of the young chaps was up at the lectern reading the lesson from the Hebrew scriptures when he caught an incurable case of the giggles. I first heard this Bible story a great many years ago when I was at Oxford.