But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
Ver. 16. The dumb ass speaking] The angel (some think) spake in the ass, as the devil had done in the serpent. Who now can complain of his own inability and rudeness to reply in a good cause, when the dumb ass is enabled by God to convince his master? There is no mouth into which God cannot put words; and how often doth he choose the weak and unwise to confound the learned and mighty! (Dr Hall's Contempl.) Benedictus the Sorbonist affirmeth, that the ass in Balaam's history signifieth their Church, An quia Pontifex Balaam est qui ei insidet? saith Dr Reynolds. Meaneth the man that the pope is that Balaam that rideth on the ass?