This Hallelujah Banquet by Eugene H. Peterson

Author:Eugene H. Peterson [Peterson, Eugene H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2021-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

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The Balaam story, found in Numbers 22–24, comes out of the time when Israel was in the midst of its forty-year wilderness pilgrimage between its salvation out of Egypt and its possession of Canaan. Those forty years were a time of testing and growth. The Israelites found out what it meant to trust in God, to be provided for by God, and to hear the word of God and live trusting it. When they were nearing the end of their pilgrimage and ready to enter the new land, they came to a final enemy: Balak, king of the Moabites. Balak was scared. He had heard the reports of this people, divinely preserved through the terrible wilderness, accompanied by a gracious and powerful God. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop them. Desperate for something to stop them, not at all sure that his weapons could do it, he sent for the famous Balaam, a sorcerer. He offered Balaam an enormous fee if he would come and put a curse on Israel.

Balaam knew it was the wrong thing to do and initially refused. But then—his heart not really in his refusal—when his arm was twisted, he agreed. Now the funny part starts. Balaam was riding his donkey, and suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared and blocked the way with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey swerved out of the road and bolted into the field. Balaam beat his donkey with his staff and got it back onto the road. Then they were in a vineyard along a narrow closed-in path, walled in, and the sword-wielding angel blocked the path again. The donkey tried to get around the angel and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. Balaam, understandably angry with his donkey, banged on it again with his staff. A few miles down the road, they entered a very narrow passage, and the angel blocked the way a third time. Now there was simply no place to go. The donkey simply lay down.

Now let me paraphrase, the rest of this tale, with only minor liberties. Balaam’s patience had run out quite a while back. He lost his temper completely and beat his donkey with his stick, black and blue. The poor donkey had had enough by this time and opened its mouth and said, “What have I done to you that you have beat me three times?” Balaam was so angry and beside himself by this time that he didn’t even notice anything unusual in his donkey talking, and he answered back, “Because you are making a donkey out of me, that’s why. If I had a sword, I’d kill you on the spot.”

The donkey defended itself: “Haven’t I been a faithful donkey to you for these many long years? Have I ever made a donkey out of you before? Haven’t I always been a good donkey?” And Balaam, calming down a little by now, said, “Well, as a matter of fact, you’re right.

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