Numbers 22:28 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? The Lord opened the mouth of the ass - to utter, like a parrot, articulate sounds, without understanding them. That this was a visionary scene is a notion which, although entertained by Maimonides, by Hengstenberg, and by many writers of eminence, seems inadmissible because of the improbability of a vision being described as an actual occurrence in the middle of a plain history. Besides, the opening of the donkey's mouth must have been an external act, and that, with the manifest tenor of Peter's language, strongly favours the literal view. The absence of any surprise at such a phenomenon on the part of Balaam may be accounted for by his mind being wholly engrossed with the prospect of gain, which produced" the madness of the prophet." Whatever may be said of the structure of the ass' mouth, and of the tongue and jaws being unfit for articulate speech, yet the act is traced to an adequate cause; because the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey.