Balak: the Mouth of the Donkey

Blessed are You, Adonoy our God, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to be engrossed in the words of Torah.

Nonbinary Hebrew Project:
B’rucheh ateh Khavayah Shekhinu ruach ha’olam asher kidash’tanu b’mitzvotei’he v’tziv’tanu la’asok b’divrei Torah

Feminine God Language:
Brukhah at Ya Elohateinu ruach ha’olam asher keir’vat’nu la’avodatah v’tziv’tavnu la’asok b’divrei Torah

When he arose in the morning, Balaam saddled his ass and departed with the Moabite dignitaries. But God was incensed at his going; so a messenger of יהוה took a position in his way as an adversary. He was riding on his she-ass, with his two servants alongside, when the ass caught sight of the messenger of יהוה standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. The ass swerved from the road and went into the fields; and Balaam beat the ass to turn her back onto the road. The messenger of יהוה then stationed himself in a lane between the vineyards, with a fence on either side. The ass, seeing the messenger of יהוה, pressed herself against the wall and squeezed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he beat her again. Once more the messenger of יהוה moved forward and stationed himself on a spot so narrow that there was no room to swerve right or left. When the ass now saw the messenger of יהוה, she lay down under Balaam; and Balaam was furious and beat the ass with his stick. Then יהוה opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” Balaam said to the ass, “You have made a mockery of me! If I had a sword with me, I’d kill you.” The ass said to Balaam, “Look, I am the ass that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?” And he answered, “No.” Then יהוה uncovered Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the messenger of יהוה standing in the way, his drawn sword in his hand; thereupon he bowed right down to the ground. The messenger of יהוה said to him, “Why have you beaten your ass these three times? It is I who came out as an adversary, for the errand is obnoxious to me. And when the ass saw me, she shied away because of me those three times. If she had not shied away from me, you are the one I should have killed, while sparing her.”

(1) ותרא האתון AND THE SHE-ASS SAW [THE ANGEL] — but he did not see him, for the Holy One, blessed be He, gave an animal power to see more than the man, for just because he possesses sense his mind would become perturbed if he sees noxious beings.

ויפתח יהוה את פי האתון, He provided her with the ability to speak; we are familiar with the verse in Psalms 51,17 which we recite daily before our prayers, asking G’d יהוה שפתי תפתח, O Lord please open my lips.” G’d went to all these lengths in order to provide Bileam with yet another incentive to become a penitent. Solomon in Proverbs 16,1 points out מיהוה מענה לשון, “the answer of the tongue comes from G’d.” Even when man is not prepared to change his way for the better, G’d, on occasion, initiates a step in this direction; how much more so will He extend a helping hand to sinners who seek to mend their ways! All of this in order to save the sinner from perdition.

The donkey further said to Balaam: “Upon which you have ridden.” Balaam said to it: Merely at irregular occurrences. The donkey said to him: “All your life long unto this day” (Numbers 22:30). The donkey added: And moreover, I perform for you riding during the day, and marriage, i.e., intercourse, during the night. The Gemara explains: This is derived from the following comparison: It is written here that Balaam’s donkey said: “Was I ever wont [hahasken hiskanti] to do so to you” (Numbers 22:30), and it is written there, with regard to Abishag the Shunammite and King David: “And be a companion [sokhenet] unto him; and let her lie in your bosom” (I Kings 1:2). This teaches that the term hiskanti alludes to sexual intercourse.

Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff [of Moses], [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs.

and the mouth of the donkey: At twilight it was decreed about it that it should speak with Bilaam.

ויפתח יהוה את פי האתון, “Hashem opened the mouth of the she-ass.” If we look at the plain meaning of the text, the fact that the ass could suddenly speak intelligently was a great miracle. The performance of this miracle has to be construed as a compliment to the Jewish people for whose sake G’d performed this miracle. G’d made even the animal kingdom realize that any mission undertaken in order to curse G’d’s chosen nation was totally inadmissible. Such an undertaking would be equivalent to telling the mountains “to bury us” under them or for the hills to fall upon us” (compare Hoseah 10,8). There was no need to tell intelligent human beings that cursing the Jewish people was both forbidden and futile if even the animals understood this. If we approach the mystical dimension of our paragraph you will find that there is a similarity between the original serpent speaking to Chavah (the only previous time the Torah mentions animals as speaking) and the she-ass speaking to Bileam. Neither the serpent nor the she-ass said what they said of their own free volition, seeing that they did not possess the kind of soul necessary to formulate their own thoughts and then express them verbally. The serpent’s words had been inspired by Satan.
You will note the sequence of “the Lord opened the mouth of the she ass,” etc., followed in verse 31 by: “G’d uncovered Bileam’s eyes so that he saw the angel of Hashem.” As soon as the she-ass had said what G’d wanted her to say she died. Only then did an angel of Hashem appear to Bileam. The reason the she-ass is described as having seen an angel three times is that she saw three different angels in the guise of men. When the angel, on the fourth occasion, challenged Bileam why he had struck his she-ass three times, he referred to three separate signs G’d had sent him to realise that he should not proceed with his evil plan.

כי התעללת בי, “because you mocked me!” As we pointed out already Bileam should have expressed his amazement at the ass’s sudden ability to speak to him. However, Bileam was so intent on reaching his destination and accomplishing his evil intent that he related to the ass’s speaking with utter naivity, taking the phenomenon for granted, and conversing with the ass as if with an equal. If the Torah does not report any reaction by the Moabite members of the delegation or of Bileam’s personal valet, perhaps they had not been privy to this conversation having walked some distance ahead (compare Nachmanides). This great miracle may have occurred when Bileam remained alone with the ass. Alternately, no one else had become privy to the miracle just as the prophets who were disciples of Elijah had not seen him ascend to heaven except for Elisha, or just as Daniel’s companions had not experienced Daniel’s visions even while walking alongside him, (Daniel 10,7).