3 Lessons from Balaam and His Unusual Talking Donkey
Greed, compromise, betrayal, and corruption. These are the 3 lessons from a donkey-riding prophet that caution us to be more like the donkey than the prophet!
One of the most interesting characters you’ll ever find in the Bible is a guy named Balaam. In all honesty, I’ve had a hard time figuring this guy out. He starts out and you think he’s a man following God. He says and does all the right things when you first encounter him in the book of Numbers. He even looks pious at times.
He’s a guy who dines with a king, is well known among his own people and is a legend in neighboring lands. He’s also the only person I’ve ever read about who actually talks with a donkey.
Balaam’s story is found in the Old Testament, but Peter and Jude mention him by name in the New Testament. In fact, you’ll even find him again in Revelation. There’s more page coverage given to this donkey riding prophet than there is Mary, Jesus’ mother, and than the apostles. He’s got presentation, he has God’s ear, and he clearly hears God’s voice.
So who is this donkey riding guy, was he genuine, and how did his donkey get so smart? More importantly, what can we learn from this prophet with a talking donkey?
Balaam and Balak
The account is recorded in Numbers chapters 22-24. Israel was there, camped out in the plain of Moab near the end of their 40 years of wandering in the desert.
Balak was the king of Moab and saw what happened to the other nations in the neighborhood that stood against the Israelites. The king was scared, so he hired a well known prophet. Balak wanted him to issue a curse against Israel so that the Moabites could defeat them and get them out of their back yard.
This is where Balaam looked like a real man of God. He took the time to ask God what to do, and he listened when God instructed him not to go with Balak’s men. The king sent his men back a second time with more money to persuade this seer to come curse Israel, and again he refused. Looks like obedience, right? But look at verse 19.
But stay here one more night, and I will see if the LORD has anything else to say to me.
Numbers 22:19
What’s going on here is our prophet wants to do what God has told him not to do. We all do that now and then and it’s never a good thing, but God allows us to do what we want to do. That’s something called the permissive will of God. It means that He will sometimes allow us to do things that we insist on doing, even when what we want directly opposes His will.
I can’t explain it any better than saying sin always carries consequences. So many things have gone wrong in my life when I’ve done that, and I’m sure you can relate. That’s what Balaam is doing here and it’s probably the money that’s enticing him.
The Way of Balaam: Lesson 1
What happens next is God says, “You want to go? So then go.” God sees something in his heart that’s easy to miss. You’ll find that by backing up 2 verses.
Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I would be powerless to do anything against the will of the LORD my God.
Numbers 22:18
His thoughts were on that increased bounty Balak’s men had brought. Peter wrote about that and pointed out that Balaam’s way was greed. Sadly, you could probably name at least one modern celebrity pastor whose measure of success is how many books they sell rather than how many lives are changed by their books.
They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.
2 Peter 2:15-16
Balaam and the Talking Donkey
Ok, if the narration of the talking donkey doesn’t suggest God’s sense of humor, then certainly the prophet’s response does. He answered the animal!
In all seriousness, Numbers 22:21-35 gives us a whole lot more to think about than a talking donkey.
First, the donkey makes Balaam mad because it disobeys his lead and wanders off of the road. That’s because God allowed the animal to see the “angel of the LORD standing in the way” (Numbers 22:21-23).
Even a jackass has the discernment to not stand against an angel with a sword in hand! And apparently, the donkey has more spiritual discernment than our prophet here. Balaam’s focus was on that reward, no doubt, and the response was to beat the poor thing.
Second, the “angel of the LORD” is astonishing because all evidence points to this being none other than a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, in the flesh. We know this because in verse 31, Balaam sees the angel.
He did what we’d all do and fell on his face. If it were not Jesus, the angel would have commanded him to get off of the ground. Angels in scripture do that because they don’t want to be worshiped.
Balaam Schemes and Israel Sins
So in Numbers 23, the prophet for hire finally meets up with the king and gives the first 2 of 4 prophecies. Don’t forget, Balak is offering a reward to curse Israel, but the prophet is only allowed to speak as God leads.
So he blesses Israel. Twice! The first blessing is a prophecy that Israel will be multiplied (Numbers 23:7-10) and in the second, he proclaims that with God on their side, Israel is indestructible and that God will not change His promises (Numbers 23:18-24).
Meanwhile, in Israel’s camp, there is sin. Some of the men had brought prostitutes of the pagan deity Baal into the camp and Balaam not only knew it, but may have instigated it. That could be why the prophet presumes that God will condemn Israel and he in turn would collect the reward from Balak.
Better than a TV drama, right?
But what Balaam didn’t understand was that God had already dealt with Israel’s sin and had forgiven them. He wasn’t going to let anyone bring accusations against His people after He had already dealt with them.
The Error of Balaam: Lesson 2
Don’t miss this. How many times, like Balaam against Israel, does Satan bring accusations against you and I? Just like Israel, God has dealt with your sin if you have received Christ as your savior. Your sin is judged in Christ on the cross when you place your faith in Him. The sin of a Christ follower is between them and God. There’s no third party access.
Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ is the one who died, and more than that, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
Romans 8:33-34
The error of Balaam is twofold. First, he didn’t understand God’s righteousness and how He imparts that to those who put their faith in Him.
Second, his error was compromising his own morality in order to appease a pagan king.
Like Balaam, Christians are full of compromise today.
If you think that sounds familiar, it should. Christians today are full of compromise. We compromise by the kind of words we allow to come out of our mouths. We compromise by what movies and shows we watch, by the books we read, the music we listen to, and by who we hang out with and what we do while we’re hanging out.
Some even compromise by what verses in the Bible they choose to overlook so as not to be socially offensive.
Woe to them! For they have traveled in the way of Cain, and have given themselves up to the error of Balaam for gain, and have perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Jude 11
The Doctrine of Balaam: Lesson 3
There’s one more lesson the New Testament writers teach us about this Old Testament character, and that’s his false doctrine.
The hired help couldn’t curse Israel for Balak, so he taught the pagan Moabites to seduce Israel instead. He showed Israel’s enemy their unguarded back door. That happened in Numbers chapter 25. Because Israel fell into that trap, 24,000 Israelites died (Numbers 25:9). Do you remember when I said that your sin was judged in Christ after you put your faith in Him? That doesn’t mean that God won’t discipline His people.
We need to understand that condemnation and discipline are not the same.
But I have a few things against you: that you have there those who hold fast to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.
Revelation 2:14
And Satan still works just like he always has. Just like these characters, Satan cannot directly curse God’s people. So he finds another approach. He looks for the back door we’ve left open and like Israel, his wedge in the church today is more often than not idolatry and sexual immorality.
Condemnation and discipline are not the same.
The Lessons of Balaam
The prophet who rode a talking donkey wasn’t so bad when we first met him. You might even like him in the beginning, but it didn’t take long for him to show his true hand. His heart wasn’t right with God. His way was greed, his error was compromise, and his doctrine was betrayal and corruption.
These are the lessons of Balaam, and they’re still infiltrating the church and individual lives thousands of years later.
And by the way, don’t beat a donkey that decides to talk to you. It may well be God getting your attention.
Balaam’s way was greed, his error was compromise, and his doctrine was betrayal and corruption.
Gene,
God bless you.God allowed Ballam have his way because He created us a free moral agents Today, Godliness in most cases are measured by the numbers of a pastors degrees and awards. A pastor with the best “land craft” and aircraft are adjudged to be intuned with God.
I tell people if you have people around you who will rebuke and correct you, count yourself fortunate. You may not be lucky to have Ballam’ opportunity.
Keep up the good job
Hi Joseph, Thank you so much for your very encouraging words, I truly appreciate you. Having that one person in your life that can correct you is so vital and important. I’m thankful to have that and I agree with you and always encourage just one accountability person in every Christian’s life.
My 8 year old has a “Bible Stories” book. Today we read about Balaam , so after I put her to bed, I decided to do “my own” research and came across this! Freaking hilarious (but oh so full of truth). Blessings and thanks for sharing!
Hey Noelita,
I’m so glad you found this and enjoyed it! It’s one of my personal favorites, it was interesting to research and write about. And guess what…once when I was asked to fill in for a Pastor, I edited this a bit, put a PowerPoint together, and delivered it as a sermon! People loved it, and I’m thankful you did too! 😀
Me too! Just read the children’s version to my kids and wanted to find out more and stumbled across this. God truly does have a sense of humor…lol. This was a great article! I learned so much…lots of great lessons and truths here. Thanks for taking the time to write this 🙂
Hey Kristy, I’m glad you found this and also enjoyed it! It’s a joy to unpack these things and share them, thank you for reading!
Today I have read the story of Balaam and I found out that God allows us to do our will as long as our heart abide by it….and God has sense of humor.
Gene, great breakdown of this stories truths and lessons. Would you be willing to share your PowerPoint on this?
Hi Dwayne,
Very sorry but since moving back overseas I actually don’t know which backup drive or location I placed that!
Fear Gene,
Thank for being a blessing. I’m a retired 30 year coffee master.
I’ve been asked to be pulpit supply for a few months. My books and notes are packed away so I am using the web and found your site. Especially liked your responses to Noelita: “And guess what…once when I was asked to fill in for a Pastor, I edited this a bit, put a PowerPoint together, and delivered it as a sermon!””
So sad that here in America so many clergy practice the doctrine of Balaam in order to be politically correct.
May g
God bless you and your family,
Pastor Alan
Hi Pastor Alan,
Wow! 30 year coffee master? Does that puts you near the era that was first influenced by Alfred Peet?
It’s true that the church in today’s world is full of Balaam’s doctrine (and mistakes) in the name of not being offensive. That truly is sad. Of course we shouldn’t run around offending people for the sake of doing so, but what good are we if we allow compromise to be our compass? Truth is truth and as you know, it can offend and frequently does.
I’m glad you found my site and I hope you found something helpful and useful!
I thought of Balaam’s talking donkey while reading a post from a group member on the subject of ‘Angels Unaware.’ And while she was talking about a specific incident she had with a person, my thoughts wandered to the donkey here. Not content to leave anything alone, a google search on Balaam lead me to this article. Reading it has been a blessing, and I’ve shared it with my FB prophecy group. Thank you so much, and may the Lord continue to bless you and your ministry.
Hey Ed,
I’m extremely thankful this article on Balaam has been a blessing to you! Thank you very much for sharing it, too. God’s Blessings to you as well!!
Great!!!! very healthy teaching.I really thirst for more.God bless..
Hi Shem, thank you for that encouragement! I really loved writing this one and I’m glad you like it. Keep coming back, there are new posts every month!
Praise God for this lesson, i wanted to read to my granddaughter of 5 about a donkey who talk in the bible, as i finish reading i ask her what she learned , she just said a donkey, but the i was the one i learned , and a revelation that yes it was Jesus , because usuly the angels who talk to that prophet or man wanto fall to the ground, and the angels tell them get up, also learnd about compromise , our talks and greed. Thank you so much, God bless you .( wen we are home and sick and my granddaughter crying becouse she wants to go to church in a sunday, i give God the glory and pray and hope that she never change , and always crave to go to church, Amen.)
Hi Romana,
Thank you very much for your message. It’s such an encouragement and so important that you continue to guide your granddaughter in her young faith. I join you in prayer that she will always crave the Lord, his word, and fellowship!
your presentation about Balaam and the donkey was well thought out. it was also the only marriage I read from the internet search because the others treated it as a myth in the subject block. I am forever amazed at how anyone can dismiss God and Creation choosing tater to muster enough faith to believe in evolution or chance. It takes more faith to believe there is no God than to understand that there is. I am an old man now and have seen the worst of human nature. The Bible is my only absolute truth. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this event.
Hi Ben,
Thank you for your encouraging words! It’s quite sad how many search results show Biblical truth as stories or myths. We must keep sharing and applying the truth!
Dude, that was so good… can I have permission to use this as an outline for one of my sermons? I’ve so been hear lately as far as what the Lord has been revealing to me about myself and the subtle backdoor compromises we allow in to our lives. Thanks for breaking it down like this. This was great! JP
Hey John, not a problem at all…preach away and give the glory to the Lord! Glad this was fruitful for you, it was for me as well to see those subtleties that can sneak into our lives. I actually used this as a sermon before and it was really well received!
I have come to deeply realise that we christians have to guard our hearts jealously with the tool God’s has place in our hands – his word and his spirit to always direct us in all things, in order to unopen the doors the devils awaits. Thanks for the breaking down in details of this story.
Hello Uwaoma, you really bring a very important truth to light. We must “guard our hearts jealously.” I love the way you said that because the seriousness and the urgency is that important.
The bible is my only absolute truth. Thank you for sharing about Balaam and the donkey. Reading about this article has been a blessings….. I truly appreciate. God bless.
Hi Jessy, I’m so glad this has blessed you! I sure appreciate your encouragement, thank you!
I have always wanted to understand this story and today i have got it. God bless you Gene.
Angela, that is so cool! I also wanted to understand just what this passage is all about and I’m thankful that I can share what was discovered with you and others. Blessings to you too!
I was listening to Joyce Meyers Bible teaching on Galatians when she said ‘He anointed a donkey to preach to a prophet who wouldn’t listen to Him’. That got me curious. I haven’t heard that before. I googled ‘the preaching donkey and the prophet’. I read Bible verses but I dint get it until I found your article. Thanks alot. I Appreciate 🙂
Wow Jerry, that’s really encouraging, thank you! I’m really blessed that this post continues to reach more and more people like yourself and that it even helps to bring some clarification to the account of this donkey that spoke. Thank you for reading and for taking the time to leave your comments!
I’m teaching Sunday school class this coming Sunday on the lessons we can learn from this story. So thankful God led me to your site which I had never known about. Your article was so interesting, informative and spiritually discerned. I can’t wait to share some of your insights to others. I read several different articles but yours was by far the most in depth and meaningful for understanding the lessons to be learned from this amazing story. May our God continue to give you insights into His Way, His Truth and His Life to help His people to live the Way that pleases Him.
Hi Jo Ann, thank you very much for your comment! I’m so thankful this is helpful for you and that you’re able to share it with others. I’m also very encouraged to carry on with this work by comments like yours, and will prayerfully do so. To God be the glory!
Good article. Just wanted to comment on condemnation being different from discipline part. Balaam did show Balak the ‘back door’ to negatively affect the Israelites and 25,000 Israelites were condemned to hell’s judgment, while the overall purpose of the events served to discipline the remainder of the people. Sadly, hades is populated by those who could have been great testimonies for God; King Saul and Balaam in particular. Thanks for your article.
Very insightful and a very wonderful teaching. I was prompt to research on Balaam and his donkey because of something about life that just came to my mind. I was laying on my bed and something came to my mind about how sometimes life seems to take a giant limp backwards and jut digs in and holds the brakes. You can’t move, “stubborn” like the donkey. Sometimes you feel like you could just hold life by its “horns” and move forward. But then I realized that sometimes by being stuck for a while, our lives are preserved. And reading this article, I have learnt a lot about Balaam that I did not know. Very exciting.
Hi Emmanuel, I’m so pleased that this article has brought more understanding to you about Balaam. What you said about our lives being preserved while we’re stuck for a while is quite true. It’s so frustrating being stuck, but it’s quite different when you see it as God being merciful to preserve your life!
The true message for God to give us a better knowledge of Him and to walk in His ways to save us from the snares of Satan and men.May God grant you good spiritual and physical health in the name of Jesus Christ Amen
Thank you Joseph, and God’s blessings to you as well!
Thankyou for the help in hearing God’s heart behind this. Going to use this quote for my private practice and in my own life: “Satan cannot directly curse God’s people. So he finds another approach. He looks for the back door we’ve left open and like Israel, his wedge in the church today is more often than not idolatry and sexual immorality.” Soooo applicable and true…
Thanks so much for this insights into the story of Balaam. It was quite helpful for me towards my Sunday school preparation. The doctrine of betrayal and corruption in particular was an aspect I didn’t really know about this story before now.
Thanks and God bless you
Hey Ann,
So encouraging to hear that this is helpful for you! I’m with you, there is much to the account of Balaam that I didn’t know about until digging deeper and writing this one. Teaching these things certainly helps us understand them more deeply. How did your Sunday school lessons go?
The Sunday school went well, we were all blessed.
Thanks once again
Love to hear it! What other subjects have you either enjoyed researching or have had trouble finding information on?
Hi Monica, so sorry I missed your comment! I recently heard that the 2 strongest human “feelings” are sex and anger. Now I think about the distractions and divisions in our culture both inside and outside the church and it’s plain to see where the “fiery darts” of the devil are focused. Blessings to you as you press on!
Greed, compromise, betrayal and corruption…
Thats not 3 and they arent lessons as much as they are examples. And isnt compromise covered by betrayal.
Just my take. Its worth what you paid for it.
Cheers
Hey Bear, valid points and thanks for sharing them! I suppose we could bundle compromise and betrayal, but by Balaam’s actions I paired betrayal with corruption. We could put all 3 in 1 basket as well I suppose. Technically yes, there are 4 items but I counted the pairing as 1. In fact, we could pull out at least 6 items from Balaam’s example if we add pride into the mix!
Anyway, I tried to sum the account up as, “His way was greed, his error was compromise, and his doctrine was betrayal and corruption.” It remains one of the most enjoyable researches I’ve done and hope you liked it too!
Thanks so much for your research and posting this article. I finally understand ! I have been asking for years why God was mad with Balaam. I love how you call out how confusing his character is. He did seem like a Godly man. I suppose if I had of realized the other scriptures were in the bible about Balaam , I would have realized the intent of Balaams heart. While in prayer asking God what I would teach this Sunday morning for Kidz church, God told me to teach on Balaam and the talking donkey. After reading the story again in the bible. I googled it for more info and so thankful I found this article. I really think God was ready to teach me why he was angry with Balaam after all my asking for understanding of the scripture. Thanks again. God bless!
Wow Peggy, this is so encouraging to hear! It really is astonishing when Balaam pops up elsewhere in Scripture, like in Revelation. Always makes me stop to reflect and remember what digging into this was like. I’m extremely thankful and it’s quite humbling to hear that this has been a blessing to you and to the children.
As I asked another reader, what other things have you enjoyed researching, teaching, or have had challenges finding resources on? Thank you and God’s blessings to you too!
Hi! Thanks for your encouraging response!
I do have another question that has stayed with me like the Balaam question.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 it reads,
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first :
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
But Hebrews 9:27 says
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
How can there be those who are alive and remain if we are all appointed once to die?
God bless you and thanks for your time!
Today I have read the story of Balaam and I found out that God allows us to do our will as long as our heart abide by it….and God has sense of humor.
Hey Tito,
It certainly appears that God has a sense of humor! And in the case of Balaam, the “prophet” wanted that reward money so bad he was willing to circumvent and go around God in any way he could, and since he couldn’t invoke the curse himself, he tricked Israel into doing it for him. Enormous lessons for all people at all times!
Hi Gene,
Thank you so much for this. I ran across it while trying to write a sermon on Balaam and his donkey for this week. I started borrowing from it some, then some more, then ended up pretty much turning this into a sermon. Your message is pretty much the same as I was trying to convey only yours is much better, lol.
Thank you and God Bless,
Pastor Ed
Hi Ed,
How encouraging to hear this has served you well! It remains one of my favorites that I’ve ever researched and written about. I hope your sermon went well!!
Hi Gene,
Honestly, you really blessed my heart with this powerful and insightful and thought-provoking teaching on The greedy, compromising, corrupt and betraying and self-styled “prophet”, a talking donkey and a pagan King.
I am a bond servant of My Lord Jesus Christ and a Lead Worshipper in my local assembly.
I have seen so many guys who really and actually started well and were faithful in the area of their callings but later ended up in errors by being motivated greed and avarice and used their prophetic gift for Money. Balaam was interested in the will of God, and Balaam was hoping God would change His mind and allow him to go to Moab.
God allowed him to goto Moab but hada surprise ready.
The Angel of the Lord stood in the road with a drawn sword. The Donkey recognised God’s messenger, but Balaam didn’t; his eyes were blinded by the riches he had coming.
God bless you Sir and give you more insights in Jesus name.
Hello Iyke!
Thank you for visiting and for reading about Balaam. As you have seen and shared the examples, this message is so relevant today because so many are seduced by the things of the world and led astray. It reminds me of the warnings Paul gave to Timothy about how people would wander from the truth and look for the things that satisfy the flesh. It also reminds me of how relevant the letters Jesus gave to the 7 churches in Revelation are to us today. If you haven’t seen those lessons I would recommend them to you and you can find them here:
https://dev.genewhitehead.com/7-churches-of-revelation/.
Blessings to you and thank you for your message!
Just came across this because I a writing the Old Testament n my own hand writing and looked up more information about Balaam,s donkey.Great insight I am use it with some modifications if it’s ok with you.
Hey Noel, I appreciate your asking. As long as you’re not reposting my content on another website or publishing it in any way, feel free to use it as inspiration to write in your own words. Thanks for asking!