Numbers 22:23

23 The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with his sword drawn in his hand, and the donkey turned aside from the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back [to] the road.

Numbers 22:23 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 22:23

And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way,
&c.] Which Balaam did not; his eyes being held from seeing him by the power and providence of God, that he might be reproved and rebuked by his ass, to whom God gave power to see, more than to him, as Jarchi notes, so that he had little reason to boast of his visions and revelations, and that he was the man whose eyes were open: the angel stood in the very pathway on which the ass was carrying Balaam: and his sword drawn in his hand; as threatening to destroy him, and as if he was just about to push at him, and signifying hereby not only that he deserved to die, but what death he should die of, namely, by the sword, as he did, ( Numbers 31:8 ) ( 1 Chronicles 21:16 )

and the ass turned aside out of the way;
out of the common road, to save its master and itself, from a natural principle of self-preservation: and went into the field; adjoining to, and that lay along the road side:

and Balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way;
with his staff, as in ( Numbers 22:27 ) to bring her into the common road again.

Numbers 22:23 In-Context

21 So Balaam got up in the morning and saddled his donkey, and he went with the princes of Moab.

22 But {God became angry} because he was going, and the angel of Yahweh stood in the road as an adversary to him; he [was] riding on his donkey, and two servants were with him.

23 The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with his sword drawn in his hand, and the donkey turned aside from the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back [to] the road.

24 The angel of Yahweh stood in the narrow path of the vineyards, [with] {a wall on either side}.

25 When the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, she pressed herself into the wall, and she pressed the foot of Balaam into the wall, so he struck her again.