School of an Ass

[Num. 22:28] And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
G-d has a non-Jewish prophet, Balaam. Balaam uses the name Yahweh, a name which implies a personal relationship (He will be there). Though Balak commissions Him to curse the Israelites, it must be remembered that properly pronounced blessings and curses were also extremely effective in biblical teaching.
G-d not only used him to protect Israel from a curse, he was also the instrument of the great Messianic prophecies concerning the Star out of Jacob, a guiding light for the Eastern wise men who later searched out the new king of the Jews.
Balaam had already received one royal delegation in Num. 22:7-14. Balaam rightly replies that the L-rd refused him permission to go with the princes of Moab to curse Israel. What Balaam had artfully neglected to mention was G-d’s reason for refusing: Because Israel is blessed (Num. 22:12). Mentioning this probably would have ended the Moabites’ attempts to curse a people G-d blesses. Balaam apparently was playing both sides of the street on this one; he deliberately left the door open, hoping that he could somehow benefit from such a highly visible ministry.
The Samaritan Pentateuch and several important manuscripts of the Septuagint read Yahweh instead of Elohim in verse 22.
The text stresses that the permission of Balaam was conditional. IF the men come to call thee, rise up. Balaam, however, was all too anxious to go and did not wait for the men to call him; rather, he saddled his donkey and sought them out. Balaam initiated the action and did not wait for the test that G-d proposed to take effect. 2 Pet. 2:15 states he loved the wages of wickedness.
Balaam had asked these men to spend the night while he made further investigations from G-d. This brief respite gave Balaam one more opportunity to sense G-d’s will through His providential working – in this case, the disgust of the Moabite delegation, which would packed up and left in the morning had not Balaam been so desirous of taking the job. Balaam took the very initiative G-d had left in the hands of the Moabites (If the men come) and thus evidence his own disobedient inclinations.
Even though this was enough to straighten out Balaam for the immediate mission, it did not insulate him from future difficulties that G-d must have wished to spare Balaam.
The end of Balaam’s ministry was tragic, for after he had served G-d by repeatedly blessing Israel, he became the instrument of both Israel’s downfall and his own (Num. 31:7-8, 15-16). But for this he had only himself to blame and not G-d, for he had been sternly warned. Sometimes G-d gives us the desires of our hearts, after we have begged and begged for a reversal of His will, but the result often is leanness for our spiritual lives.
Balaam .saddled his ass, probably one of the white sprightly animals which persons of rank were accustomed to ride. The saddle, as usually in the East, would be nothing more than a pad or his outer cloak. The test was a condition that depended on the discouraged princes returning one last time before leaving for home.
Because he went of his own accord, with the princes of Moab, and did not wait till they came to call him, which was the sign and condition of G-d’s permission, but rather himself rose and called them. The apostle describes Balaam’s sin here to be, that he ran greedily into an error for reward, (Jude 1:11).
The roads which lead through fields and vineyards are so narrow that in most parts a man could not pass a beast without care and caution. A stone or mud fence flanks each side of these roads, to prevent the soil being washed off by the rains.
The L-rd opened the mouth of the ass to utter, like a parrot, articulate sounds, without understanding them. That this was a visionary scene is a notion that seems inadmissible, because of the improbability of a vision being described as an actual occurrence in the middle of a plain history. Besides, the opening of the ass's mouth must have been an external act, and that, with the manifest tenor of Peter's language, strongly favors the literal view (2 Pet. 2:15-16). The absence of any surprise at such a phenomenon on the part of Balaam may be accounted for by his mind being wholly engrossed with the prospect of gain, which produced "the madness of the prophet" It was a miracle, wrought to humble his proud heart, which had to be first subjected in the school of an ass before he was brought to attend to the voice of G-d speaking by the angel"
The ass spoke after being hit three times.
Balaam was not much terrified with the ass’s speaking, because perhaps he was accustomed to converse with evil spirits, who appeared to him and discoursed with him in the shape of such creatures. Perhaps he was so blinded by passion, that he did not consider the strangeness of the thing.
I have sinned . . . if it displease thee, I will get me back again - Notwithstanding this confession, he evinced no spirit of penitence, as he speaks of desisting only from the outward act. The words "go with the men" was a mere withdrawal of further restraint, but the terms in which leave was given are more absolute and peremptory than those in 22:20.