Seeing that Israel is defeating its neighbors, the king of Moab sends for a prophet to curse Israel. Apparently, he has decided going to war with Israel will not work. Balaam has a humorous encounter with the angel of the Lord involving his donkey. God tells Balaam he is not to say anything without God’s direction.
It has been pointed out that if God can use a donkey to communicate his message to someone, he can easily use any of us. It is an interesting picture of the fact that we can warn people of God’s coming punishment, even if they do not trust Jesus. Like the donkey being beaten, we may suffer or be made fun of for speaking on behalf of God, but the alternative is to say nothing and watch people we care about suffer a worse fate.