The Talking Donkey

«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?”» Numbers 22:28

There was an enemy king of Israel whose name was Balak. He had heard that Israel was powerful and became very afraid. So he called Balaam to say bad things or curses against Israel, to see if they would lose their strength.

Balaam had been a man of God, but now he had become selfish and could only think about money. The king promised him that he would give him plenty of money if he would come. So he took his donkey and went as fast as he could.

But God was very sad with Balaam and sent an angel who stood in the way. Balaam didn’t see the angel, but the donkey saw it and stopped. Balaam, nervous, started beating the donkey until it hurt!

The third time the angel appeared, and the donkey stopped and was beaten, the donkey said: “Balaam! I’ve been carrying you everywhere! Why are you beating me? It hurts so much!”

Then Balaam saw the angel and realized that he was doing something very wrong. He went to meet King Balak, but instead of saying bad things against God’s people he had to say only good things.

Let’s practice!

Have you ever seen a donkey talk? Only in pictures, right? It was God who spoke through the donkey. How about you draw the talking donkey?