Balaam’s Donkey (Numbers 21-22)

 Remember when Mr. BibleHead told you that there were some truly amazing stories in the Bible? Well, this is one of them....and it’s about me! My name is Jack (the Bible doesn’t tell you my name) and I’m Balaam’s donkey.  I’m giving Mr. BibleHead a break today and I’m going to tell this story because I was there!

Mr. BibleHead left off in Numbers 20. Aaron had just died at the old age of 123. Moses was still leading the Israelites. Every where they went, there was a country that wouldn’t let Moses and the people pass through on their way to the promised land.  Sometimes the Israelites would turn around or try to go around the country, but a few times they were attacked. Every time, God would give them victory over their attackers. Pretty soon the Israelites had a reputation of destroying any country that stood in their way on the way to the promised land.

 One day Balak, the king of Moab, was looking out his palace window an he saw a mob of Israelites camped out on the other side of the Jordan River. King Balak was terrified! He knew how the Israelites had destroyed anyone that stood between them and the promised land. ( We know that it was actually God that did it.) King Balak knew about a man named Balaam who said he was able to bless people and curse people.
 King Balak called in his messengers and sent them on their way with money to pay Balaam, to deliver his message and bring him back with them. When the messengers arrived at Balaam’s house, they explained how King Balak needed Balaam to curse the Israelites and that he would pay him a lot of money to do so. Balaam had to make it look good, so he said, “Let me pray about it and I’ll let you know in the morning.”

 That night, God showed up to Balaam. I bet he was surprised! God told Balaam not to go with these men because He had chosen the Israelites as His people and He had blessed them.. The next morning Balaam was still in shock that God actually spoke to him. He told the messengers that he could not curse the Israelites. So the messengers returned to King Balak.
 When the king heard what Balaam had said, he was mad. He hand picked a bunch of his officials to go back to Balaam and try again.  When the officials made it to Balaam’s house, they told him what King Balak had said. Balaam replied, “Even if the king gave me his palace filled with silver, I could not curse a people that God has blessed. But I will pray again tonight and see what God says.”
 That night, God spoke to Balaam again. This time God told him he could go with the men. God told Balaam to do only what He directed him to do.  In the morning Balaam told the men that he was going with them. I’m sure Balaam thought in his mind, “Woo Hoo! I’m going to be rich!”
This is where I come into the story. Balaam put a blanket on my back, climbed on and away we went. I could hear Balaam whistling a happy tune as we went along the road to Moab. Suddenly there was someting in the middle of the road. I knew that we couldn’t keep going, so I  bolted off the road and into a field. Balaam was not too happy with me. Couldn’t he see what was standing in the road? I guess not because he grabbed a branch and beat me. Then he tugged me back on the road. We went along a little farther and there it was again! Right as the road narrowed and there were walls on both sides! We would both be dead if we kept going straight, so I tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam’s foot between my side and the wall. He was furious and began to beat me again. Finally we got on the road again. The road kept getting narrower and narrower. I hoped that I would not see it again, but just as I was thinking that to myself, There it was again! I had no where to run or to squeeze by so I just laid down.

Balaam began to scream at me! “Why are you embarrassing me in front of the king’s officials? You stupid donkey! If I had a sword I would kill you!”He began to beat me again.
Then God did two amazing things. First, he caused me to speak. Yep that’s right, I spoke to Balaam and I let him have an earful! “Haven’t I been faithful to you all these years? Haven’t I always done as you asked and wasn’t I always ready whenever you needed to go somewhere? Do you think that I would embarrass you on purpose without reason? Have I ever done anything like this before?”

 “No.” Said Balaam. (He answered him! I would have been like....wow! a talking donkey!)
 Then God did the second amazing thing. He opened Balaam’s eyes so that he could see what I saw. It was an angel of God standing in the road wielding a large sword!
 Then the angel spoke. “Why did you beat your donkey three times? He saved your life! I would have killed you if you would have continued on your way.”

 Then Balaam cried out to the angel. "I did not know you were there. I will go home if you want.”
 “No, go with these men, but change your attitude and your heart. You are going with these men to do as God says, not to make a lot of money.” The angel said and then he disappeared.
 King Balak was very excited when he heard that Balaam was almost there.

 Even when we do the right thing, if we are doing it out of selfishness or greed or pride, then it is the wrong thing. Balaam was doing what God said, but he was doing it for himself. That’s not good.
Do you know what “motives” are. Motives are the reason in our heart that we do things. God want’s our motives to be pure. When we help someone, or volunteer, or give away something, we do it because we love God. That’s a pure motive. (Proverbs 16:2 and 21:18)

Moses Runs out of Patience. (Numbers 17-20)

When we left last time, Moses had placed 12 staffs (with the names of 12 leaders) out in front of the holy tent where the Ark of the Covenant was. God said that the next morning, one of them would have blossoms on it.
 In the morning, Moses went to get the staffs. The 12 men were excited, because if their name was on the staff with the blossoms, their whole family would be in charge of all the offerings and sacrifices. Aaron wasn’t too worried because God had already chosen him and his family a year earlier, but the people thought that Moses had used his authority to appoint his brother Aaron, as the chief priest.
 Moses walked into the holy tent and grabbed the staffs and brought them out. He handed each man his staff and ... Guess what? Aaron’s staff had not only blossomed, but it had almonds on it as well! God sure does like to amaze us! Ephesians 2:20 says that He is able to do more than we ask, or can even imagine!

 God told Moses to take Aaron’s staff and leave it in front of the holy tent so that everyone will stop arguing and remember that Aaron is the chief priest. So Moses placed Aaron’s staff there. Then God called Aaron to a meeting. He reminded Aaron about  all the things that he and his family (the Levites) would be in charge of. The Levites also had special clothes to wear and they had to keep themselves ceremonially clean.
  The Israelites were in the wilderness for about two years when all this took place. The bible doesn’t say anything about the next 38 years, but when the story picks up again, Moses and his brother Aaron are still leading the people, their sister Miriam had just died and all the Israelites that had doubted God about the promised land had died too. Only four of the men that had left Egypt 40 years earlier were still alive. Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb. Moses was now 120 years old! Aaron was 123!
  This generation of Israelites picked right up where their parents left off. They started grumbling and complaining. “We wish we would have died with our mothers and fathers.” They said. "We don’t have any water and we are sick of eating manna all the time!”
 Moses and Aaron went to God and fell on their faces before him. “God we don’t know how to keep these people happy! They are grumblers just like their parents. Please give them water before they drive us crazy!”
 God replied. “Take your staff and you and Aaron must gather the entire community. As the people are watching, command the rock to pour out water. You will get enough water for all the people and for all the cows and goats too.

 So Moses and Aaron gathered all the people . They people were still complaining and grumbling. Moses was getting very irritated. “Listen! You ungrateful trouble makers! You want water? Here’s some water!” And with that Moses struck the rock with his staff and water came pouring out! Enough for all the people and the animals.

 Did God tell Moses to hit the rock with his staff? No He told Moses to command the rock to spout water. God said to Moses and Aaron. “I know you were angry, but you did not trust me enough to let me demonstrate my holy power. Now you will not lead the people into the promised land.”
 Soon afterwards Aaron died.
God doesn’t want us to get mad and then do the wrong thing. Whenever you get mad at someone or a situation, walk away, talk to God and then act. Moses’ anger prevented him from entering the promised land. Anger can have some serious consequences that we may regret.
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry. Anger can lead to sin.” (James 1:19-20)