Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Balak summons Balaam to curse the Hebrews; God first forbids him; second, permits him to go. He departs, but with the intention of cursing the Hebrews; whence, at verse 22, he is rebuked by an angel speaking through the mouth of his donkey.
Vulgate Text: Numbers 22:1-41
1. And they set out and encamped in the plains of Moab, where Jericho is situated beyond the Jordan. 2. And Balak, the son of Zippor, seeing all that Israel had done to the Amorite, 3. and that the Moabites had greatly feared him, and could not bear his onslaught, 4. said to the elders of Midian: This people will now devour all that are in our borders, just as an ox is accustomed to crop grasses down to the roots. He was at that time king in Moab. 5. He therefore sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, the soothsayer, who dwelt near the river of the land of the children of Ammon, to summon him and to say: Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, who has covered the face of the earth, and sits opposite me. 6. Come, therefore, and curse this people, because he is mightier than I; if perhaps I may be able to strike and drive him from my land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he upon whom you heap curses is cursed. 7. And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went forth, bearing the price of divination in their hands. And when they had come to Balaam and had told him all the words of Balak, 8. he answered: Stay here tonight, and I will answer whatever the Lord shall say to me. While they were staying with Balaam, God came and said to him: 9. What do these men want with you? 10. He answered: Balak, the son of Zippor, king of the Moabites, has sent to me, 11. saying: Behold, the people who have come out of Egypt have covered the face of the earth; come and curse them, if perhaps I may be able to fight and drive them away. 12. And God said to Balaam: Do not go with them, and do not curse the people, because they are blessed. 13. Rising in the morning, he said to the princes: Go to your land, for the Lord has forbidden me to come with you. 14. The princes returned and said to Balak: Balaam refused to come with us. 15. Again he sent envoys, far more numerous and more noble than before. 16. Who, when they had come to Balaam, said: Thus says Balak, the son of Zippor: Do not hesitate to come to me. 17. I am prepared to honor you, and whatever you wish I will give you; come and curse this people. 18. Balaam answered: If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not alter the word of the Lord my God, so as to speak either more or less. 19. I beg you to stay here also this night, that I may know what the Lord will again answer me. 20. God therefore came to Balaam at night and said to him: If these men have come to call you, arise and go with them; yet only on condition that you do what I shall command you. 21. Balaam arose in the morning, and having saddled his donkey, set out with them. 22. And God was angry. And the Angel of the Lord stood in the way against Balaam, who was riding upon his donkey and had two servants with him. 23. The donkey, seeing the Angel standing in the way with a drawn sword, turned aside from the road and went through the field. When Balaam beat her and wished to bring her back to the path, 24. the angel stood in the narrow passage between two walls with which the vineyards were enclosed. 25. Seeing him, the donkey pressed close to the wall and crushed the foot of the rider. But he again beat her; 26. and nevertheless the angel, passing to a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right or to the left, stood in the way. 27. And when the donkey had seen the angel standing, she fell under the feet of the rider, who, enraged, beat her sides more violently with a stick. 28. And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she spoke: What have I done to you? Why do you strike me? Behold, now for the third time. 29. Balaam answered: Because you have deserved it and have mocked me; I wish I had a sword to strike you! 30. The donkey said: Am I not your animal, on which you have always been accustomed to ride to this present day? Tell me if I have ever done anything like this to you. And he said: Never. 31. Immediately the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel standing in the way with a drawn sword, and he worshiped him, prostrate upon the ground. 32. The angel said to him: Why have you struck your donkey three times? I came to oppose you, because your way is perverse and contrary to me; 33. and if the donkey had not turned aside from the way, giving place to me who resisted, I would have killed you, and she would have lived. 34. Balaam said: I have sinned, not knowing that you were standing against me; and now, if it displeases you that I go, I will return. 35. The angel said: Go with these men, and be careful not to say anything other than what I shall command you. He went, therefore, with the princes. 36. When Balak heard this, he went out to meet him in a town of the Moabites, which is situated on the farthest borders of the Arnon. 37. And he said to Balaam: I sent messengers to summon you; why did you not come to me at once? Is it because I cannot reward your coming? 38. He answered: Behold, I am here; but can I speak anything other than what God shall put in my mouth? 39. They went on together, therefore, and came to the city that was on the farthest borders of his kingdom. 40. And when Balak had killed oxen and sheep, he sent gifts to Balaam and to the princes who were with him. 41. And when morning came, he led him to the high places of Baal, and he beheld the outermost part of the people.
Verse 1: The Plains of Moab
1. AND THEY SET OUT AND ENCAMPED IN THE PLAINS OF MOAB -- which had formerly belonged to Moab, but were now Sihon's, and with him slain, belonged to the children of Israel. Second, "of Moab," that is, which were adjacent to Moab; whence the Septuagint translates: to the west of Moab, namely opposite Jericho, as follows. For the Hebrews were now very close to the Jordan and Jericho, and to Canaan itself.
Verses 2-3: Balak Sees What Israel Has Done
Verses 2 and 3. AND BALAK (king of Moab, as is clear from verse 4) SEEING THAT THE MOABITES (subject to him) HAD GREATLY FEARED HIM (Israel) AND COULD NOT BEAR HIS ONSLAUGHT -- in Hebrew: that they were distressed before the face of Israel.
Verse 4: He Said to the Elders of Midian
4. HE SAID TO THE ELDERS OF MIDIAN. -- For the Midianites are neighbors of the Moabites; Balak, king of Moab, therefore stirred them up to resist the approaching Israelites together with him. Both the Midianites and the Moabites, therefore, fought against the Jews; but only the Midianites were punished and slain, chapter 25:17 and chapter 31:2, because God did not wish the Moabites and Ammonites to be attacked, on account of the righteous Lot, whose descendants they were, Deuteronomy 2:9.
THIS PEOPLE WILL SO DESTROY (in Hebrew: will so lick up) ALL, etc., JUST AS AN OX IS ACCUSTOMED TO CROP GRASSES DOWN TO THE ROOTS -- as if to say: The Hebrews do not subjugate peoples to themselves, as other nations are accustomed to do, but they kill and consume them all, as an ox does grasses. Therefore act, O Midianites; provide not only for your territory but also for the lives of all of you, for what is at stake here is everyone's skin. Therefore take counsel, and join your forces with mine, so that we may avert the might of the Hebrews from our necks. Origen, Homily 11 on Exodus, reads: "For as a calf licks up the green grass in the fields, so this people will lick up the people who are upon the earth; by which (he says) as we have received from our forebears, it is indicated (mystically) that the people of God fight not so much with hand and arms as with voice and tongue, that is, by pouring out prayer to God."
Verse 5: Balaam the Son of Beor
5. HE THEREFORE SENT MESSENGERS TO BALAAM, THE SON OF BEOR, THE SOOTHSAYER. -- Instead of "soothsayer," the Chaldean and the Septuagint retain the Hebrew word as if it were a proper place name, and translate: to Pethor of Syria. For all the Hebrews understand it so, at Deuteronomy 23:4, in the Hebrew; for this name can be taken in either way, says Eugubinus.
What Kind of Prophet Was Balaam?
You may ask: What kind of prophet was Balaam -- of God or of the devil? Eugubinus answers that he was a prophet of God, just as were the Sibyls and Hermes Trismegistus among the Egyptians; who, although they prophesied many true things, were nonetheless idolaters, as were also Zoroaster among the Persians, Orpheus among the Greeks, Abaris among the Hyperboreans, and Zamolxis among the Getae -- although about these the evidence is not as clear as about Hermes and the Sibyls. For these women were not Jewish but Gentile, as was Balaam, and on account of the merit of their virginity they obtained from God the gift of prophecy, as St. Augustine teaches. Second, because Balaam, when about to prophesy, here sought God, God met him and gave oracles through him, as is clear from chapter 23:3.
Third, because the Hebrews, according to Rupert and the Author of the Commentary on Job, chapter 32 (which is found among the works of St. Jerome but is not by St. Jerome), report that Balaam was a friend of holy Job, who is called Elihu in the book of Job, and that he was a holy man and prophet of God, who later, because of disobedience and desire for rewards, when he wished to curse Israel, was called by the title of diviner or soothsayer.
But I say that Balaam was a prophet not of God but of the devil. For the name "soothsayer" signifies this, as is clear; whence that Balaam was a magician is taught by St. Cyril, Theodoret, Augustine, Ambrose, Nyssen, Procopius, and Rabanus, whose passages I will cite at chapter 23:3. Second, because Balaam sought an augury, as is clear from chapter 24:1, and to obtain it he built seven altars to Baal himself and sacrificed victims to him, as is clear from chapter 22, last verse, and chapter 23:1. Third, because he himself wished to curse Israel, and to this end he sought these auguries and prophecies from the devil; but God appeared to him instead of the devil and compelled him, against his will, to bless Israel. He was therefore a magician, and he sought converse with the demon, and was accustomed to consult him and be taught by him. Fourth, that Balaam was not Elihu is clear from Job 32:2, where the Septuagint says that Elihu was from the region of Ausitis, that is, was an Edomite; but Balaam was from Mesopotamia, as is clear from Deuteronomy 23:4. Finally, that Balaam was a wicked and perverse man is clear, not only from his evil will by which he wished to curse the Hebrews, but also from the scandal of fornication and the idolatry of Baal-Peor which he cast before them; whence he was justly killed by them, as will be evident from chapter 31, verses 8 and 16.
WHO DWELT NEAR (beside) THE RIVER -- namely the Euphrates, as the Chaldean translates, which is the river of Mesopotamia, and which is par excellence called "the river" in Scripture, both because of its great size and because it was best known to the Hebrews. For the Euphrates was given by God to the Hebrews as the boundary of the promised land, as is clear from Joshua 1:4. For Balaam was a Mesopotamian, as I have already said; whence in chapter 23:7, he himself says he was summoned from Aram; and Mesopotamia in Hebrew is called Aram-naharaim, that is, Aram or Syria, which lies between two rivers, namely the Euphrates and the Tigris, and is enclosed by them. Balaam was therefore called from Mesopotamia by Balak to Moab, and when he was thinking of returning from there to his own people, he migrated to Midian (perhaps invited by the Midianites, as here by Balak), and there he was killed along with the other Midianites, because he had again opposed the Hebrews along with them, as is clear from chapter 31:8. So Abulensis, Vatablus, and others; although Andreas Masius in Joshua 13:23 thinks Balaam was a Midianite by origin, which opinion is not improbable.
NEAR THE RIVER OF THE LAND OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON. -- That is, near, that is beside, the Euphrates; for the Euphrates flows past the Ammonites. In Hebrew, instead of Ammon, it reads ammo, that is, "of his people": so the Septuagint, the Chaldean, and more recent scholars. But this sense is empty and tautological; for who does not know that Balaam dwelt among his own people? Our Translator therefore more correctly reads Ammon from other Hebrew manuscripts, or understood Ammon by ammo; for the letter nun in Ammon is not radical but formative and appended; whence also in Genesis 19, last verse, Ammon is not called Ammon but ben ammi in the Hebrew.
SITTING (encamping) OPPOSITE ME -- as if to say: Israel now threatens me and my kingdom; curse him and so turn him away from me.
Verse 6: The Power of Balaam's Curses
6. FOR I KNOW THAT HE WHOM YOU BLESS IS BLESSED, AND HE UPON WHOM YOU HEAP CURSES IS CURSED. -- As if to say: I have learned by experience that your imprecations and divinations are true and are actually verified, so that just as you divine, so in reality good or evil befalls each person. For thus also our magicians and sorceresses often inflict evils by the power of the demon, and again remove them when they wish, and restore men and animals to health. For Rabbi Solomon invents, as is his custom, when he says that God has one hour each day in which He is angry with the wicked, and that Balaam knew this hour, and therefore was accustomed to pronounce upon some evil person God's curse at that very hour, which then immediately befell him.
Verse 7: The Price of Divination
7. AND THE ELDERS OF MOAB AND THE ELDERS OF MIDIAN SET OUT, BEARING THE PRICE OF DIVINATION. -- In Hebrew it is: bearing divinations; but just as "sin" is often used for the sin-offering, so divination is here used for the price of divination, by metonymy. So the Chaldean and others.
Balaam was therefore guilty of simony both in selling, and Balak in buying, this curse, at least in their minds and consciences, since they expected it from Baal, whom they thought to be the true God.
The Evils of Avarice
Morally, learn here how evil is the love of money, which destroyed Balaam: "For all things obey money." Hence the Greeks invented a response from Apollo to Philip, king of Macedon, that "he would gain victory if he fought with silver spears," that is, if he bribed the enemy with money to betray their cause; whence the same king, having experienced the power of money, said that "no citadel, however fortified, could not be taken, provided one could send into it a donkey laden with gold." Hence that saying of Glaber: "With a golden fist, an iron wall is broken." Rightly therefore Chilon said in Laertius, "gold is tested on touchstones, the minds of men by gold"; and St. Ambrose, in the book On the Good of Death, chapter 5: "There is a snare in gold, birdlime in silver."
Rightly, therefore, wise and holy men have fled the love of money. When Alexander sent a hundred talents to Phocion, he asked why Alexander sent these to him alone among all the Athenians. The envoys answered that Alexander thought him an honest man; then Phocion replied: "Let him then allow me to be and appear such"; and he sent back all the money, asking only that he release certain captives, as Isidore of Pelusium writes, book 2, epistle 146. St. Anthony, says St. Athanasius, upon seeing a great mass of shining gold on the road, immediately fled from it as from a fire and rushed up a mountain. Abbot Pambo, says Palladius, Lausiac 10, refused three hundred pounds of gold offered by Melania.
Blessed Barlaam, in Damascene's work, when Josaphat asked him to accept a small sum for food and clothing, replied: "If the possession of money were good, I would have shared it with my companions before now; but since I know it to be ruinous, I will not entangle either them or myself in such snares." St. Hilarion physically smelled the stench of avarice, as St. Jerome testifies in his Life. Whenever money was offered to St. Vincent as he preached through the towns, he forbade his companions to accept it. St. Francis saw a serpent coming out of a purse found on the road; then he said: "Behold, money is nothing other to servants of God than the devil and a venomous snake"; for if you take a little, you will desire more and more: "For the love of money grows as much as money itself grows." Follow, therefore, the advice of Cassian, book 7, chapters 21, 28, and 30: "This will be the supreme victory, that not even by a tiny coin should the conscience of a monk be stained, lest we nourish within ourselves the kindling of this spark, namely the little fire of avarice."
Verse 8: Stay Here Tonight
8. STAY HERE TONIGHT, AND I WILL ANSWER WHATEVER THE LORD SHALL SAY TO ME. -- At night, according to his custom, Balaam wished to consult the demon with whom he was familiar (invoking him either by voice or through magical signs and incantations), and he falsely used the name of the Lord here as a cover, as though he were consulting God and not the demon. But God offered Himself in place of the demon, and this not for Balaam's sake but for the sake of the Hebrews, whom He wished to bless through him. This will become clearer at the following chapter, verse 4, and at chapter 24:1.
GOD CAME -- namely an angel, bearing the person of God: He came, I say, either visibly in an assumed body, or only through a human voice, or in Balaam's imagination, conversing with him through a vision.
Verse 12: Do Not Curse the People
12. DO NOT GO WITH THEM, AND DO NOT CURSE THE PEOPLE (the Hebrews), BECAUSE THEY ARE BLESSED. -- Balaam wished, in order to obtain money from Balak, to curse the Hebrews; hence God forbids him to go to Balak: Because, He says, this people Israel is blessed, since I have blessed them and will continue to bless them, that is, to benefit them, giving them all prosperity, so that they may conquer all their enemies and obtain Canaan.
Note: These deeds and words of Balaam, Moses learned and wrote down not from man but from God's revelation.
Verse 18: I Could Not Alter the Word of the Lord
18. I COULD NOT ALTER THE WORD OF THE LORD. -- Balaam, although wicked and avaricious, thus far revered God in that he did not dare resist God's words and command; for he feared God's wrath and vengeance.
Verse 20: God Came to Balaam at Night
20. GOD THEREFORE CAME TO BALAAM AT NIGHT AND SAID TO HIM, etc.: GO WITH THEM. -- Balaam was being summoned a second time and more urgently by Balak; whence God, who at first had forbidden him to go, in order to check his avarice and desire to curse the Hebrews, here permits him, now checked and restrained, to depart, but on this condition: that he speak nothing other than what he hears from God; and this for the purpose that, through Balaam, God might glorify Himself and His people Israel, and that Balak might be slain, as it were, by Balaam as by his own sword. For Balak had wanted Israel to be cursed and devoted to destruction by Balaam, and had said to him: "I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he upon whom you heap curses is cursed." Now God turns this back upon his own head, by making Balaam -- who was summoned and prepared to curse -- bless Israel instead, so that Balak might be convinced that Israel is most certainly blessed by God.
Verse 22: God Was Angry
22. AND GOD WAS ANGRY. -- For although He had granted Balaam leave to go to Balak, He had nevertheless forbidden him to do or say anything other than what He Himself would command; but Balaam, greedy for gold, was going to Balak with the intention of cursing the Hebrews, which he knew God did not will; for he had heard from Him at verse 12: "Do not curse the people, because they are blessed." That Balaam wished to do the opposite here is clear from the angel's rebuke at verse 32: "I came," he says, "to oppose you, because your way is perverse and contrary to me" -- because, that is, you are going with the intention and hope of cursing my people, whose guardian and protector I am; for Balaam hoped to do precisely this. Whence also at 2 Peter 2:15, he is said to have loved "the wages of iniquity" (that is, of an unjust curse), but to have had a beast of burden as his corrector.
The Angel as Adversary
AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD STOOD IN THE WAY AGAINST BALAAM. -- In Hebrew: as a satan (adversary) to Balaam, so that he might show himself to be Balaam's adversary. This angel showed himself not to Balaam but only to the donkey on which he was riding. So the blessed in their glorified bodies appear to whom they wish and hide themselves from whom they wish.
Verse 27: The Donkey Fell Under the Rider
27. AND WHEN THE DONKEY HAD SEEN THE ANGEL STANDING, SHE FELL UNDER THE FEET OF THE RIDER -- partly terrified, partly because she could see no way through and no other escape. For she could see the angel threatening death with a drawn sword if she went on; she therefore yielded to him as far as she could, so that Balaam's hardness and blindness might be all the more rebuked through her; whence the donkey also spoke.
Verse 28: The Lord Opened the Mouth of the Donkey
28. AND THE LORD OPENED THE MOUTH OF THE DONKEY, AND SHE SPOKE. -- The angel moved the tongue of the donkey so that she spoke, just as the demon had moved the mouth of the serpent to speak to Eve, and just as an angel moved the mouth of the hippocentaur and the mouth of the satyr, so that they might speak to St. Anthony and show him the way in the desert to St. Paul the Hermit, as St. Jerome testifies in the Life of St. Paul. This speech therefore occurred through the organs of the donkey, but with the angel driving them in a manner suited to forming articulate voice, and supplying through the nearby air whatever the donkey's organs lacked.
Notes on the Speaking Donkey
Note first: Properly speaking, the donkey here did not speak. For to speak is to express one's thought by voice; but the donkey could not conceive nor understand what those sounds, uttered by her mouth, signified. These sounds were therefore formed in the donkey's mouth not by the donkey's soul or mind, but by an external mover, namely the angel; just as when a person, by his hand, strikes together the lips and teeth of another person, certain shrill sounds are produced. Whence it follows that this speech was not a vital act of the donkey, because it was produced not by the power of her soul or her imagination, but by the angel; much less was it a vital act of the angel himself, but it was received in the air and in the mouth of the donkey. For a vital action is one that is elicited by the soul and received in the same.
Note second: The angel did not, however, form these sounds in the nearby air or in the mouth of the donkey without using the donkey's organs; for otherwise it would no more be said that the donkey spoke than that a house spoke in which the angel happened to be speaking. Yet Sacred Scripture and the Fathers -- such as St. Augustine, Origen, Theodoret, Ambrose, and others -- say that the donkey spoke and that she rebuked Balaam.
Note third: The organs of the donkey alone, like those of other brute animals (except for certain birds, such as the parrot), do not suffice for the formation of human speech. For this requires a human mouth or one similar to it; for only this has the power and internal organic disposition by which air is gathered for the formation of voice, and by which the proper striking and collision of air against the palate, lips, teeth, etc. occurs for the emission of this or that particular sound, which is to articulate the voice. But the mouth of a donkey and of other brute animals lacks these features; for, to pass over other points, their mouth, being long and open at the sides, cannot gather the air coming from within and break it against the teeth, because all the air flows out laterally through the gape. The angel therefore supplied through the nearby air this very thing, as well as whatever else the donkey's organs lacked; for he held the air firmly so that it would resist, lest the air and voice escape from the donkey's mouth; and on the other hand, he struck and dashed the air in the donkey's mouth against the organs of the mouth in such a way as to produce articulate voice. So Abulensis.
Note fourth: It was the same angel who had spoken to Balaam at home, telling him to go to Balak; the same who confronted him armed on the road; the same who spoke through the mouth of the donkey; for angels have a vast sphere of presence and activity.
Note fifth: The angel appeared with a shining sword to teach Balaam that, if he wished to curse the Hebrews who were blessed by God, he would be undertaking war against God and the angels. So St. Cyril, book 6 On Adoration.
Note sixth: That this angel was Michael (who was the guardian of the Synagogue of the Jews, as he now is of the Christian Church) is reported by Procopius and others in Theodoret, Question 42.
Similar is what we read in the Life of St. Galgano of Siena, published in the year of the Lord 1572, and taken from it by Philip Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, under the fourth day of December. For Galgano, born in the Sienese countryside during the reign of Emperor Frederick I, around the year of the Lord 1153, was living a life of pleasure when he was twice warned in dreams by the Archangel Michael to change his ways for the better and become a soldier of Christ. He came to Monte Siepi, where for a third time he was admonished by the same angel to leave the world and devote himself to God. His mother and relatives tried with every effort to dissuade him from this plan, proposing a wife both elegant and rich; but when, persuaded by them, he was riding to see his betrothed, his horse suddenly stopped, so that when spurred to go forward, it is said to have spoken and declared that it was forbidden by an angel to go further; and the horse's hoofprints are still shown in the rock on that mountain. Wherefore, changing his course and withdrawing into the desert, he led a heavenly life in prayer, fasting, and every austerity, and after a year, summoned to eternal rest by a heavenly voice with these words: "It is enough that you have labored; now you shall reap what you have sown," he fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 33, around the year of the Lord 1181, and he was illustrious for miracles both in life and after death.
Note seventh: God made use of the voice of a donkey, both because it is fitting that a brutish mind should be taught by a brute, and, as Nyssen says in his book On the Life of Moses, near the end, so that the vanity of the soothsayer (Balaam) might be instructed and chastised -- he who was accustomed to observe the braying of donkeys and the chirping of birds as omens signifying future events. For that the Gentiles superstitiously observed similar omens is taught by Cyril of Alexandria, book 3 Against Julian, where he also adds: "I will mention the oak of Dodona, which they say used a human voice."
Tropologically, St. Gregory, Part 3 of the Pastoral Rule, Admonition 13, and following him Rabanus: "The sluggish donkey sees the angel, whom Balaam did not yet see; because very often the slow flesh, through its afflictions, indicates to the mind by its scourge the God whom the mind presiding over the flesh did not see." The donkey, therefore, that is, the chastised flesh, often reveals and shows God to Balaam, that is, to the blind and depraved mind.
Again, the same Gregory, Moralia 27, chapter 1: "Just as an irrational animal uttered words of reason, yet did not thereby attain to the nature of a rational being, so often anyone unworthy receives holy words through the spirit of prophecy; yet he does not attain to the glory of holiness, so that he both rises above himself by speaking and remains sluggish below himself by his manner of living."
Verse 29: I Wish I Had a Sword
29. I WISH I HAD A SWORD TO STRIKE YOU! -- See here the arrogance and madness of Balaam and of wicked men, who persecute with words and blows those who warn them and seek their salvation. So Herod killed his own adviser John the Baptist. So Alexander the Great, while drunk, ran through Clitus, his most faithful friend and counselor. Here that saying of the Comedian is true: "Compliance wins friends; truth breeds hatred." Thus, as Seneca writes in book 3 On Anger, chapter 14: Prexaspes, his dearest friend, used to advise Cambyses, who was addicted to wine, to drink more sparingly, saying that drunkenness was disgraceful in a king whom all eyes and ears followed. To this the king said: So that you may know that I never lose control of myself, I shall now prove that after wine my eyes and my hands are still at their duty. He then drank more freely than usual; and now heavy and besotted, he ordered the son of his critic to step forward beyond the threshold and stand with his left hand raised above his head. Then he drew his bow and pierced the young man's very heart, and cutting open his chest, showed the arrow lodged in the heart itself; and looking back at the father, he asked whether he had a steady enough hand. So acted that barbarian. The Wise Man truly said, Proverbs 15:12: "A pestilent man does not love the one who corrects him, nor does he go to the wise"; and chapter 29, verse 1: "The man who stiffens his neck against rebuke will suddenly be destroyed beyond remedy." Thus Cambyses was shortly after deprived of life and kingdom; and thus Balaam too was shortly after killed by the Hebrews in battle, chapter 31, verse 8.
Verse 30: Tell Me If I Have Ever Done Anything Like This
30. TELL ME IF I HAVE EVER DONE ANYTHING LIKE THIS TO YOU. AND HE SAID: NEVER. -- From this Balaam was convicted that he had struck the donkey without reason, and that she had not wished to mock him but had been compelled by the angel; whence shortly the angel, revealing himself to Balaam, clearly convicted him of his blindness and wickedness alike. For Balaam's blindness and fury were astonishing: hearing the donkey speak by a miracle, he was not terrified, not astonished, nor did he investigate the cause and meaning of the miracle; but, stirred to rage, he threatened the donkey with death, thinking that because she spoke with a human voice, she had wished to mock him as if endowed with reason.
The Talmudists report -- or rather, they fable -- that God created ten things on the sixth day of the world, at sunset as the Sabbath was beginning: namely, first, the mouth of the earth, which swallowed Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, of which I spoke at chapter 16. Second, the mouth of the well, which was always open to the Jews while Miriam, the sister of Moses, was alive and which preceded the Hebrews, about which see chapter 20, verse 1. Third, the mouth of Balaam's donkey for speaking, discussed here. Fourth was the rainbow, or celestial arc, of which see Genesis 9:13. Fifth was the ram which Abraham sacrificed in place of Isaac, Genesis 22:13. Sixth was the rod of Moses, which divided the Red Sea, Exodus 14:21. Seventh was the manna. Eighth were the first tablets of the law, which God both gave and inscribed with the Decalogue. Ninth are the demons themselves, appearing to men. Tenth are tongs; for they say the first tongs descended from heaven and could not have been made otherwise, and thus they resolve that common question whether the hammer or the tongs came first. Abulensis reviews these and refutes them at length in Question 10: for they are mere fables.
Verse 31: The Lord Opened the Eyes of Balaam
31. IMMEDIATELY THE LORD OPENED THE EYES OF BALAAM, AND HE SAW THE ANGEL -- that is, God caused Balaam to see the angel, and this because He removed either the dimness with which He had struck him, or the cloud or other obstacle which He had placed before his eyes; or because the angel, who had previously sent an image of himself to the donkey's eyes alone, now also sent the same image to Balaam's eyes -- and a terrifying, threatening image at that, with a shining sword.
Verse 32: Your Way Is Perverse
32. YOUR WAY IS PERVERSE AND CONTRARY TO ME -- namely, because of the perverse intention with which you are going to Balak, that is, to curse the Hebrews. Note: This vision and conversation with the angel happened to Balaam alone; for the princes of Balak had gone ahead -- they who had summoned him were also escorting him -- and Balaam was following not far behind them, and therefore he alone saw the angel and spoke with him.
Verse 33: If the Donkey Had Not Turned Aside
33. AND IF THE DONKEY HAD NOT TURNED ASIDE FROM THE WAY, GIVING PLACE TO HIM WHO RESISTED (the angel opposing me), I WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU, AND SHE WOULD HAVE LIVED. -- In Hebrew: I would have given her life. Whence the Hebrews conclude that this donkey, as soon as she had spoken, died, and this for the honor not of Balaam but of the human race, lest a donkey should survive that had convicted a man by means of reason. But this cannot be concluded from these words; for by them the angel only signifies that he would have killed Balaam but not the donkey, if she had turned aside. For "to give life" among the Hebrews often means the same as "to preserve in life," or "not to take away life but to grant it." For the act signified is not one begun but continued, as if to say: In killing you, I would not have killed the donkey, but would have preserved her in life; for yours alone, as was the guilt, so would have been the punishment.
Verse 38: Can I Speak Anything Other Than What God Puts in My Mouth?
38. CAN I SPEAK ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT GOD SHALL PUT IN MY MOUTH? -- That is, what God has revealed to me and commanded me to declare. Balaam anticipates this in order to deflect Balak's indignation from himself, should he perhaps prophesy contrary to Balak's wish and desire.
Verse 39: The City on the Farthest Borders
39. AND THEY CAME TO THE CITY THAT WAS ON THE FARTHEST BORDERS OF HIS KINGDOM. -- In Hebrew: they came to the city of Huzoth, as if to say: to the city that was outside, or situated beyond the kingdom on the borders. Second, Oleaster translates: they came to the city of divisions, that is, which was the boundary of the kingdom, dividing it from its neighbors. Third, Vatablus thinks Huzoth is a proper name of the city.
Verse 40: Balak Sent Gifts to Balaam
40. AND WHEN BALAK HAD SLAIN OXEN AND SHEEP, HE SENT GIFTS TO BALAAM, etc. -- As if to say: Balak, on account of Balaam's joyful arrival, established feasts, sacrifices, and banquets, and from these he sent gifts and portions for feasting to Balaam himself and to his princes who had accompanied him; for the Gentiles, on occasions of festivals, triumphs, and joyful events, would institute sacred banquets in which they first sacrificed victims to their gods; then from these they established a solemn and quasi-sacred feast, and finally sent a portion of this banquet to absent friends.
Verse 41: The High Places of Baal
41. AND WHEN MORNING CAME, HE LED HIM TO THE HIGH PLACES OF BAAL, AND HE BEHELD THE OUTERMOST PART OF THE PEOPLE -- as if to say: In the morning Balak led Balaam to the high places, that is, to elevated sites, namely to the mountain containing a temple or shrine in which Baal was worshiped, and this for the purpose that Balaam, seeing the camp of Israel from this mountain, and sacrificing to the idol Baal, might receive from it strength, inspiration, and a kind of ecstatic frenzy for cursing Israel. For this reason he erected seven altars there, and on them Balaam sacrificed, as will be said in the following chapter, verse 1. So Abulensis. This was Mount Abarim, which divided the Moabites from the kingdom of Sihon and Og, one part of which was called Pisgah, and the other Nebo, on which Moses died, as is clear from Deuteronomy 32:49 and chapter 34, verses 1 and 5. Near this mountain, therefore, the camp of Israel was located, in level places which are therefore commonly called the plains of Moab; and from this mountain Balaam surveyed the camp of Israel and, in prophesying, blessed them contrary to his own intention.