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Numbers 22:20
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18 Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, a“Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, bI could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.  
19 Now therefore, please, you also astay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.”  
20 aAnd God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but bonly the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.”  
21 So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

Balaam, the Donkey, and the Angel

22 Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, aand the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.  
23 Now athe donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road.  
24 Then the Angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side.
25 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again.
26 Then the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.
27 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.
28 Then the Lord aopened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”  
29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have1 abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, afor now I would kill you!”  
30 aSo the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever1 disposed to do this to you?” And he said, “No.”  
31 Then the Lord aopened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat 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 out1 to stand against you, because your way is aperverse before Me.  
33 The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.”
34 And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, a“I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it1 displeases You, I will turn back.”  
35 Then the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, abut only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.  
36 Now when Balak heard that Balaam was coming, ahe went out to meet him at the city of Moab, bwhich is on the border at the Arnon, the boundary of the territory.  
37 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send to you, calling for you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able ato honor you?”  
Book Notes:
Barnes' Book Notes



Introduction to Numbers

The title commonly given to this book is evidently suggested by the two numberings of the people recorded in Num. 1 and Num. 26.

The book narrates the history of the Israelites during their sojourn in the wilderness from the completion of the law-giving at Sinai, Leviticus 27:34, to their mustering in the plains of Moab for actual entry into the land of promise.

The incidents are generally given in their chronological order, except in the third part. The five chapters comprised in this part appear to deal with a long period, from which only isolated episodes are given; and of these the dates can only be conjectured.

Between the two dates "the first day of the second month of the second year after they were come out of Egypt" Numbers 1:1, and the death of Aaron Numbers 33:38, intervene no less than 38 years and 3 months (compare Deuteronomy 2:14), the long and dreary period of tarrying in the wilderness until the disobedient generation had wasted away.

From the death of Aaron to the date given in the opening verses of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 1:1-3, occurred a space of exactly six months, in which all the events narrated in the fourth part of the Book of Numbers, from Numbers 20:1 to the end, would seem to have occurred, with the probable exception of the defeat of the king of Arad Numbers 21:1-3.

As regards the authorship and date of composition, the notes of time, the tenor of the contents, no less than the direct assertions of the text itself, lead to the conclusion that Moses is properly spoken of as the writer of the Book of Numbers. It is in substance his work; though many portions of it were probably committed to writing many years before the whole was completed; and the concluding chapters were not written until toward the close of the 40th year after the exodus.

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