Numbers 22:14-41; The Blind Seer and His Seeing Donkey ~ 20260621 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
2026.06.21 Numbers 22:14-41; The Blind See-r and his Seeing Donkey ;Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20260621_numbers-22_14-41.mp3
Israel is spread out on the plains of Moab, camped opposite Jericho, the rebellious generation buried in the wilderness, their children now poised to enter the land. Moab, under God’s protection because they were descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot, acting out of fear and ignorance of God’s word, send for a pagan seer with a reputation for blessing and cursing to curse Israel.
They were ignorant of the fact that God forbade Israel to attack Moab or take any of their land (Dt.2:9). They were also ignorant of the fact that God had blessed Israel in his blessing on Abraham. They were ignorant of the promise that YHWH would bless those who bless God’s people, and curse those who dishonor God’s people (Gen.12:3). They foolishly put their faith in a pagan diviner to seek to overturn the promises and blessings of God. But even though Israel was oblivious to the spiritual warfare being waged against them, God stood in their defense.
When the first delegation of princes from Moab came to summon Balaam,
Numbers 22:12 God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” 13 So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”
God’s answer was clear. But what Balaam didn’t say was telling. Balaam didn’t tell the delegation that he couldn’t curse the people. He didn’t say that God had blessed the people. He didn’t say that he didn’t want to go with them; only that YHWH refused to let him go with them.
The Second Offer; More and More Honorable
Numbers 22:14 So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” 15 Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. 16 And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, 17 for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’”
Balak did not understand Balaam’s declining of his first offer as a final no, but as a step in negotiating a better price. So he sent more and higher ranking delegates with an open-ended offer. Whatever you want, I will give you.
Seeking Another Answer From God
Numbers 22:18 But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more. 19 So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.”
Balaam claims not to be able to go beyond the command of YHWH his God. Is Balaam a believer? He claims YHWH to be his God. Is everyone who claims the name of the Lord a true believer? Are all who claim the name of Christ true Christians, genuine followers of Jesus? Jesus says ‘no’.
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Balaam’s answer sounds like he is determined to obey the Lord, but his words betray his heart; he is still negotiating; he wants more than Balak’s house full of silver and gold. If he was truly determined to not go beyond the command of YHWH, he already has that; “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” (22:12). Period. That seems pretty clear. Who are these men with you? Why invite them to stay the night? Why seek another word from YHWH, when he has made his will abundantly clear? Is the Lord a man that he should change his mind (Nu.23:19)?
Does God Change His Mind? Whose Voice Will You Heed?
Numbers 22:20 And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.”
Does God change his mind? First he says ‘you shall not go with them.’ Now he says ‘rise, go with them’. What is going on here?
God says ‘if’; if the men have come to call you. God knows they were there, he knows why they came. Who are these men with you?The question is not if they are more in number and more honorable men; they are mere men. Will you listen to the voice of man, or the call of God? Whose voice will you heed?
Does God change his mind? Sometimes when we are not satisfied with God’s word to us, and we determined to get a different answer, God ‘gives us our request, but sends leanness into our souls’ (Ps.106:15KJV; Nu.11:18-20). We demonstrate that we want what we want, we do not want him, we are not content to take God at his word and trust that his ways are perfect. When we refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer and demand our own way, sometimes God gives us what we crave, to our own harm.
Numbers 22:20 And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.”
If you are determined to listen to the voice of man and go, then go, but my word will be the final word; you must do exclusively what I say. You are free to reject, to choose to disobey my word to your own harm, but my word of blessing, my word of promise cannot be thwarted even by your willful disobedience.
God’s Righteous Anger and The Angel of YHWH as his Satan
The next verse is shocking in sheer brazen defiance. Balaam is mute in his disobedience; he got what he wanted, the Lord’s permission, so without a word,
Numbers 22:21 So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. 22 But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road.
We might wonder why God was angry when Balaam did the thing God gave him permission to do, but when we keep in mind the bigger picture, that Balaam only reluctantly obeyed God’s first word and then sought another word until he got permission to do what he wanted to do, it makes sense. When the angel of YHWH becomes your adversary (the Hebrew word is ‘satan’), and he stands in your way with a drawn sword, you should know that you have chosen the wrong side. But this spiritually gifted see-r is blind to what his donkey sees. The donkey saves his master from God’s wrath by turning aside, and is rewarded with a beating from his blind master.
The Blind Seer and his Seeing Ass
Numbers 22:24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25 And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again.
Again his donkey sees what the man who claims to have his eyes opened is blind to. Again she protects her owner and gets beat for her efforts.
Balaam’s Unrighteous Anger Erupts
Numbers 22:26 Then the angel of the LORD went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.
This third time, with nowhere to turn, this perceptive donkey simply lays down under her master. She refuses to take him to his destruction, despite how much he might deserve it. In verse 22 it was God’s righteous anger that was kindled against Balaam’s determination to go; here Balaam’s unrighteous anger flares against his faithful animal who refuses to go against the Lord’s will, and results in him beating his faithful animal.
A Conversation with His Ass; God Will Use the Humble
If you’ve never heard this account before, this is where the story takes a most surprising turn:
Numbers 22:28 Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
God will put words in the mouth of this skilled spiritual seer to speak, but here he shows that he can use anything and anyone to communicate his truth. The reformer Martin Luther took great courage from this text; he wrote:
“And Balaam’s ass was wiser than the prophet himself [Num. 22:21–35]. If God spoke then through an ass against a prophet, why should he not be able even now to speak through a righteous man against the pope?” (LW 44:135-36).
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1
1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
That a donkey’s mouth was opened to speak to its owner is surprising, but what happens next might be even more shocking; Balaam actually engages in an argument with his animal!
Numbers 22:29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” 30 And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”
Balaam is so concerned about his own reputation, he is blind to the danger he is in. Balaam says that his donkey made a fool of him, but he is the fool who went against the clear command of YHWH. This is the famous seer with a reputation for spiritual insight and power, but he is blind to the spiritual realities that his donkey so clearly sees. This is the one with a reputation that his words have power to curse and to bless, but he is impotent to control his own donkey with his words, and wishes for a sword to kill his donkey. His donkey is more reasonable than this spiritual man in a fit of blind rage.
The Seer’s Blind Eyes Opened
Numbers 22:31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. 32 And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.”
The pagan seer was spiritually blind until YHWH opened his eyes to see the real reality of his situation. Balaam now understands why his donkey laid down under him, and in fear he does the same. If we were in any doubt about the integrity or motives of Balaam, the angel of YHWH clears away the fog; ‘I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me.’ His way was perverse in the sight of the Lord who sees the heart, and for this Balaam deserved to die. But his wise animal was innocent.
Proverbs 12:10 Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.
Balaam’s ‘Confession’
Numbers 22:34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.”
Balaam starts out in the right direction. He owns his sin, and confesses his own blindness to the spiritual realities around him. But even if he failed to see the invisible angel, he should have known that his heart was opposed to God. Was he really that blind to the condition of his own heart? And he says ‘if’. If? is there any question if it is evil in the sight of the Lord? His angel stood in the way three times to oppose him, and would have killed him if his beast had not turned aside. He declared ‘Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me’. At he very beginning, God had said clearly “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” How does this blind seer twist this into an ‘if”? Such is the thinking of those blinded by their own desires.
Numbers 22:35 And the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.
God is teaching this pagan diviner a lesson; that he may go willfully on his own way, but God will have the final word. What he says will prevail. Even after all this, Balaam continues down his reckless path.
Numbers 22:36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, on the border formed by the Arnon, at the extremity of the border. 37 And Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?”
Balak expresses his anger toward Balaam’s delay. He took it as an offense against his honor. Who are these men? The question that should still be ringing in Balaam’s ear is ‘who will you listen to?’ But by his actions he has made his choice clear.
Numbers 22:38 Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” 39 Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. 40 And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him. 41 And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.
Balaam has at least learned something. He confesses his own inability, his own dependence on God. Even the pagan diviner, however reluctantly, has to bow the knee and acknowledge the sovereignty of YHWH God of Israel.
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2026.06.21 Sermon Notes
Numbers 22:14-41; The Blind Seer and His Seeing Donkey
Not everyone who claims the name of God is a true follower
Matthew 7:21-23
Is it right to seek an additional word from God when you already have his definitive answer?
Numbers 22:12-13
Does God change his mind?
Numbers 23:19; 11:18-20; Psalm 106:15
The see-r is blind to what his donkey sees and saves him from
Numbers 22:21-23, 24-25, 26-27
God’s righteous anger contrasted with Balaam’s unrighteous anger
Numbers 22:22, 27
God chooses the foolish to shame the wise
1 Corinthians 1:27-29
God is sovereign over a donkey, and over all the powers of darkness
Psalm 115:3; 1 John 4:4
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org