Numbers 22:28

28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the (she) ass, and she spake, (And the Lord opened the donkey's mouth, and she said), What have I done to thee? why smitest thou me, lo! now the third time?

Numbers 22:28 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 22:28

And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto
Balaam
This was a very extraordinary and miraculous affair, and effected by a supernatural power, that a dumb creature, which had not organs endued with speech, should speak so plainly and distinctly, as is after expressed; and yet it should not be thought incredible, for what is it that Omnipotence cannot do? wherefore there is no need to say, as some Jewish writers ^F9, that this was all done in a visionary way, and not really and literally performed; nor can Heathens well object to the verity of it, if they believe what they themselves report concerning one of the asses which carried Bacchus over a river, to which, for reward, he gave the power of speaking with an human voice {k}; though it is very probable the fable was framed from this story, and frequently do their writers speak of other brute creatures endued with speech; so Homer ^F12 represents Xanthus, the horse of Achilles, having the faculty of speech given it by Juno: Pliny says ^F13, it is commonly reported among the wonderful things of the ancients, that an ox spoke; and Livy ^F14 frequently makes mention of an ox spoke speaking in divers places, and of one particularly that said,

``Rome, take heed to thyself;''

not to take notice of a lamb in Egypt in the times of Bocchoris that spoke, related by Aelianus ^F15 and others; nor of the ram of Phrixus, or the dog at Ariminum, and the elephant of Porus in India, with others Bochart ^F16 has collected together: the words spoken by the ass were as follow:

what have l done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three
times?
and just so many times she had been smitten by him, ( Numbers 22:23-27 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 42. Ben Gersom in loc.
F11 Hygin. Poet. Astronomic. l. 2. c. 23. "Lactant, de falsa Relig". l. 1. c. 21.
F12 Iliad. 19. "prope finem".
F13 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 45.
F14 Hist. l. 24. c. 10. l. 27. c. 11. l. 28. c. 11. and l. 35. c. 21.
F15 De Animal. l. 12. c. 3.
F16 Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 14. col. 197, 198.

Numbers 22:28 In-Context

26 And nevertheless the angel went to a strait place, where was no going out of the way, neither to the right side, nor to the left, and stood against Balaam (Nevertheless the angel went to a narrow place, where there was no going out of the way, neither to the right side, nor to the left, and stood before Balaam.)

27 And when the (she) ass saw the angel standing (there), she felled down under the feet of the sitter upon her, the which was wroth full greatly (who then was greatly angered), and (once more) he beat her sides with a staff.

28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the (she) ass, and she spake, (And the Lord opened the donkey's mouth, and she said), What have I done to thee? why smitest thou me, lo! now the third time?

29 Balaam answered, For thou hast dis-served (me), and hast scorned me; I would that I had a sword to slay thee.

30 And the (she) ass said, Whether I am not thy beast upon which thou were wont to ride ever[more] till into this present day? say thou, what like thing to this I did ever to thee? And Balaam said, Never thus thou servedest me. (And the donkey said, Am I not the beast upon which thou were always wont to ride until this present day? say thou, what thing like this have I ever done to thee before? And Balaam said, Never before hast thou served me thus.)