In this study, though, I'm particularly concerned with the testimony of scripture on this subject. God answers this question for us in a unique and powerful fashion in Numbers 22.
Numbers 22 has to do with a prophet of God named Balaam. Balaam was not an Israelite, but he had a very real relationship with the True God, and had been chosen by God to function as a prophet. With the exception of Moses, no one in Balaam's time had a closer relationship to God than he did. Yet, in spite of all this, Balaam was a spiritual failure. Two passages of scripture in the New Testament tell us why.
2 Peter 2:15-16.
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the
way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's
voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
Jude 1:11
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of
Core.
Balaam failed because he loved money more than he loved God. He never prophesied falsely, but he did find other ways to make the enemies of God happy while filling his pockets. In the end, he died with them at the hands of the Israelites.
But in Numbers 22, all of this was still future. This record begins with the Israelites making camp in the plains of Moab. Balak, the king of Moab was frightened of them, and decided to do something about it. He sent messengers to Balaam, who he knew to be a prophet, offering him money to curse Israel.
Balaam may have loved money, but he took his ministry as a prophet very seriously. He refused to answer the men right away, but waited instead to hear from God on this matter. God's answer was quite clear.
Numbers 22:12
And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not
curse the people: for they are blessed.
Balaam was obedient to the word of the Lord. He sent the distinguished delegation away empty handed.
This did not deter Balak. He sent a larger and more distinguished embassy, offering more money and more power and prestige. After listening to their offer, Balaam made it clear that he could not disobey God in this matter. But then he did something else which indicates that their offers were having some effect on them. Even though he already knew the will of God in this matter, he asked God again about it. This time, God gave a different answer.
Numbers 22:20-21.
22:20 And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the
men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which
I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.
22:21 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went
with the princes of Moab.
God gave Balaam a sign to look for in order to receive his answer. There is no indication that the men came to call Balaam the next day; nevertheless, he went with them. At this point Balaam was in rebellion against God.
Numbers 22:22.
22:22 And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of
the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding
upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.
God was angry at Balaam because of his disobedience. In judgment God sent an angel to stand against him. The angel later explained to Balaam that he had intended to withstand him and to kill him. Only the timely action of Balaam's ass saved his life.
Numbers 22:23-27.
22:23 And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and
his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and
went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.
22:24 But the angel of the LORD stood in a path of the vineyards, a
wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.
22:25 And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she thrust herself
unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote
her again.
22:26 And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow
place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.
22:27 And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under
Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
Three times the angel of the Lord blocked Balaam's way, and three times the ass went contrary to the way Balaam had directed it. Each time the ass did this, Balaam struck it to get it back on the right path.
Then suddenly, something completely out of the ordinary happened.
Numbers 22:28-30.
22:28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam,
What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
22:29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I
would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.
22:30 And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which
thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont
to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.
The Lord opened the mouth of the ass; that is, the Lord gave the ass the ability to speak using human speech. The ass spoke to Balaam in Balaam's own language. Notice that the ass did not bring forth a message directly from God to Balaam. The concerns addressed in this exchange were genuine ass-concerns.
In this brief exchange, God has given us a glimpse into the mind of an ass. There are several things here that are worthy of note.
. The ass knows that it belongs to someone.
. The ass knows the individual it belongs to. Three people were present
when the ass spoke. The ass only identified one as its owner.
. The ass knew what was appropriate behavior for an ass owned by a
human.
. The ass knew that it had a history of being a good ass.
. The ass knew that the penalty for disobeying its owner was being
hit.
. The ass knew that it had been hit wrongly by Balaam.
. The ass remembered at least as far back as the day Balaam became
its owner.
. The ass knew how many times it had been hit.
Clearly, this record indicates that an ass has a mind far more sophisticated than we are usually willing to give it credit for having. This record presents a strong case for the argument that animals can, indeed think quite rationally.
If this were all that were going on in this record, it would be quite remarkable. Yet, far more was going on in this exchange.
Although Balaam wasn't paying attention to this at the time, there were serious parallels between what he thought the ass had done, and what he was doing. Like the ass, Balaam had a master he answered to. Like the ass, Balaam had a track record for obedience. In this instance, his Master had instructed him to go one way, and Balaam had decided to go another. When his ass, then, asked him, "What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?" Balaam's own wrong action and direction was being called into question.
Balaam responded in anger by pronouncing judgment on the ass. What had the ass done to him? It had mocked him by its disobedience. What did Balaam consider a just punishment for such behavior? Death! Balaam made it clear that if he had had the means, he would have put the ass to death for its repeated disobedience.
The deeper significance of the ass' words seem to indicate that it was not merely speaking on its own, even though the concerns it expressed were certainly its own. Through the ass, God was questioning Balaam to open his eyes to the seriousness of his sin, and give him a chance, in mercy, to repent for his disobedience. The ass was speaking, but the words he spoke seem to have been inspired by God.
Balaam was not just any man; he was a prophet of God. If God had anything to say to anybody, it was expected that He would say it through Balaam. But God was angry at Balaam because of his disobedience, and chose not to do so. Two of Balaam's servants were present with him. God could have spoken through either of them, but He chose not to. Instead, He chose Balaam's ass to deliver the message to the prophet. This was a spiritual slap in the face to Balaam.
There are at least three other instances in scripture where God bypassed his man on the scene, due to disobedience, and spoke to someone else instead.
. In Genesis 20, after Abraham passed off Sarah, his wife, to
Abimelech, king of Gerar, God did not speak to Abraham. Instead, he spoke
directly to Abimelech, an uncircumcised king.
. In I Samuel 2 and 3, when Eli, the high priest, refused to restrain
his sons when they profaned the sacrificial offerings to God, He sent his
message of judgment on them not by Eli, but by a prophet from outside Eli's
household, and by the boy Samuel, who lived and worked with Eli.
. In I Kings 13, when the man of God disobeyed God and obeyed the voice
of a prophet who claimed to have seen an angel giving him different instructions,
God pronounced judgment on him by the mouth of the very prophet who had
deceived him.
By bypassing Balaam and giving revelation to his donkey instead, God seemed to be saying to Balaam, "Don't let the fact that I speak with you puff you up with pride. I can speak to anyone I choose -- even to a jackass!"
By condemning his donkey to death for disobeying his explicit commands, Balaam had planted his foot firmly in his mouth, and had pronounced righteous God's judgment of death upon himself for his own disobedience to God's explicit commandment to him.
Numbers 22:31-35.
22:31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel
of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he
bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.
22:32 And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou
smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee,
because thy way is perverse before me:
22:33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless
she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her
alive.
22:34 And Balaam said unto the angel of the LORD, I have sinned; for
I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if
it displease thee, I will get me back again.
22:35 And the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam, Go with the men:
but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak.
So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Balaam continued on to his meeting with Balak. As much as he loved money, he was careful only to prophesy what God told him to prophesy. However, he saw a way to make money on the side by offering ungodly advice to Balak, to help him to bring God's judgment on Israel. He was richly rewarded by Balak for this service. Not long after this, Israel went to war with Moab. Balaam was killed by the Israelites in that war.
As human beings, we tend to be prideful about the abundance of gifts God has bestowed upon us, not understanding that we have nothing that wasn't given to us by God. We have greater intelligence than any beast only because God has given this to us, not because of any inherent worth on our part. We have the gift of speech, not because we developed it ourselves, but because God gave it to us. He could just as easily have given it to at least some of the beasts.
Psalm 49:6-14.
6 P They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude
of their riches;
7 None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God
a ransom for him:
8 (For the redemption of their soul [is] precious, and it ceaseth for
ever:)
9 That he should still live for ever, [and] not see corruption.
10 For he seeth [that] wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish
person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought [is, that] their houses [shall continue] for
ever, [and] their dwelling places to all generations; they call [their]
lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man [being] in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts
[that] perish.
13 This their way [is] their folly: yet their posterity approve their
sayings. Selah.
14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them;
and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their
beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
Ecclesiastes 3:18-19.
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that
God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are
beasts.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even
one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they
have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for
all [is] vanity.
It is only God's mercy and God's grace toward us that makes us of any more significance than the beasts. It is God who has made us in His Own image. It is God who has given us the privilege of being able to know Him, to communicate with Him, and ultimately to dwell with Him. All that we are, and all that we have, and all that we can ever be, we owe to Him.
Hebrews 2:6-9.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou
art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him
with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that
he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing [that is] not put under
him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for
the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace
of God should taste death for every man.