Donkey Smarts

 (column "From the Minister's Study" in The North Huron Citizen, January 26 2024 edition)

     Are you smarter than your average donkey?

     Recently my wife and I spent a week on the small island of Bonaire, part of the Netherlands Antilles, just off the northern shore of South America. (WestJet now offers flight direct from Toronto.) Bonaire is a former Dutch colony known for its excellent diving, flamingoes, windsurfing – and donkeys... Hundreds of wild donkeys that roam around and are quite used to tourists stopping and offering them something to eat. The Spaniards that infiltrated the Caribbean islands back in the 1500s started bringing them over as beasts of burden, but after about 1920 they were no longer needed for industry and were released to the wild, where they have persisted and propagated since. So we bought bags and bags of carrots, chopped them up, and took them with us wherever we traveled because often we had opportunity to stop and feed these amiable, light-gray, oversized-eared creatures. We also visited the Donkey Sanctuary where over 800 are cared for and protected by volunteers.

     Donkeys pop up sometimes in Bible stories, being the “tractors” and “automotives” of ancient times. One notable instance features the donkey belonging to Balaam, a diviner of international reputation. (One of his non-Biblical prophecies is preserved in an Aramaic text from Deir Alla in the Jordan Valley dating to about 700 B.C.) When Moses guided the Israelite ex-slaves from Egypt, they paused just east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho before entering the Promised Land. The king of Moab was very alarmed by this huge number of fugitive immigrants and summoned Balaam to come and put a curse on the Israelites, so they might be weakened and defeated.

     Yet God was very angry that Balaam was going to assist Balak, for God had told Balaam the people were blessed, and not to be cursed. (Numbers 22:12) So Balaam started encountering opposition when he saddled his donkey and headed towards Moab. The angel of the Lord stood in the road; the donkey saw the angel with his sword and turned aside into a field, which garnered a beating from Balaam. Again the angel stood at a narrow place in the path, with walls on each side; the donkey saw the angel and pressed to one side, crushing Balaam’s foot – so he beat her again. When it happened a third time, at a place where it was impossible to turn aside, the donkey gave up and simply lay down right there in the road. Balaam was angry and beat her with his staff.

     Something supernatural happens at this point in the story. God opened the donkey’s mouth and she spoke to Balaam, asking what she had done that deserved three beatings! An interchange followed in which the donkey made the point that she had been his faithful donkey and had not been in the habit of acting that way. Balaam had to concede this was so. Then God opened Balaam’s eyes so he could see the angel standing in the road with drawn sword. Balaam fell facedown; the angel rebuked him for his reckless path, and by contrast pointed out the donkey’s innocence in protecting her master on three separate occasions.

     The incident is recalled in the New Testament when the Apostle Peter cautions believers in Jesus against false teachers. Peter describes these infiltrators as following corrupt fleshly desires, despising authority, arrogant, slanderous, blaspheming, like “brute beasts”, carousing in pleasure, with eyes full of adultery, “experts” in greed. (2Peter 2)

     Peter observes, “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey— a beast without speech— who spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.”

     The donkey knew enough to stick to the road and protect her master: that was her purpose, from which she refused to deviate. Yet Balaam turned aside from God’s admonishment not to curse His people, whom He chose to bless. Greed probably factored into Balaam’s decision, because King Balak had promised, “I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say.” (Num.22:17)

     Likewise, the false teachers attempting to corrupt the early church were greedy, despising authority, pleasure-seeking, following the corrupt desire of the sinful nature. They had been drawn off-track by their short-term desires.

     Peter notes, “They promise [people] freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity – for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.”

     Donkeys are draft animals – the reason they were on Bonaire in the first place was to draw heavy loads, carry heavy burdens, like slaves. Now they roam free. But what cords pull us? Are we drawn by depravity, like the false teachers? Do we feel the pull of greed, of substances or habits that bring pleasure to the flesh in the short term but drag us down eventually? We may suppose we’re “free” – but as Peter emphasizes, we are slaves to whatever has mastered us.

     When we behave arrogantly, when we run others down (‘slander’), treat God’s name like dirt (‘blaspheme’), entertain adulterous thoughts, crave for ‘more’ (greed) – we are being pulled along by destructive desires as surely as donkeys once were made to labour in the pits of Bonaire. How can we be set free?

     The prophet Zechariah foretold a messianic figure, a King for Zion that would come “righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey...” (in contrast to war-horses) This King would “proclaim peace to the nations” (including non-Jews). And, “As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.” (Zechariah 9:11)

     Jesus is that King who entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Because of His blood, we can be freed from sin’s enslavement and find forgiveness for those desires that once had mastery over us. Then we will be able to stick to the path and have vision for the Lord’s leading, more like the faithful donkey than like fickle Balaam.