Numeri 22:28

28 Allora il Signore aperse la bocca all’asina; ed ella disse a Balaam: Che t’ho io fatto, che tu mi hai percossa già tre volte?

Numeri 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.

Numeri 22:28 In-Context

26 E l’Angelo del Signore passò di nuovo oltre, e si fermò in un luogo stretto, ove non v’era spazio da volgersi nè a destra nè a sinistra.

27 E l’asina, avendo veduto l’Angelo del Signore, si coricò sotto Balaam; laonde l’ira di Balaam si accese, e percosse l’asina col bastone.

28 Allora il Signore aperse la bocca all’asina; ed ella disse a Balaam: Che t’ho io fatto, che tu mi hai percossa già tre volte?

29 E Balaam disse all’asina: Io t’ho percossa, perchè tu m’hai beffato; avessi pure in mano una spada, che ora ti ucciderei.

30 E l’asina disse a Balaam: Non sono io la tua asina, che sempre hai cavalcata per addietro, fino a questo giorno? sono io mai stata usata di farti così? Ed egli disse: No.