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For Children · Lesson 29 · D. Moses and the Exodus — Exodus to Deuteronomy

Balaam's Talking Donkey

Read together in your Bible: Numbers 22–24 (King James Version)

Memory Verse — Hide It in Your Heart
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
Numbers 23:19 · KJV

Say it together morning and night until you know it by heart — these are the very words of God.

The Story

The people of Israel were camped on the plains of Moab, right beside the river Jordan, across from the promised land. Balak, the king of Moab, saw how many they were, and he was very afraid. He had heard what God had done for them in Egypt and on their journey. So Balak sent messengers carrying money for rewards, far away to the town of Pethor, to a man named Balaam. Come and curse these people for me, the king begged, and perhaps I can drive them away.

God spoke to Balaam and told him plainly: do not go, and do not curse the people, for God had blessed them. Balaam sent the messengers away. But Balak would not give up. He sent more princes, grander than the first, promising Balaam riches and honour if he would only come. Balaam's heart loved the sound of those rewards. In the end God allowed him to go — but only to speak the very words God gave him.

So Balaam saddled his donkey and set off with the princes of Moab. But God was angry with Balaam's greedy heart, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road with a sword in his hand. Balaam could not see the angel — but the donkey could! She turned aside into a field, and Balaam beat her to get her back on the road. A little later the angel stood in a narrow path between two walls; the donkey pressed against the wall and crushed Balaam's foot, and he beat her again. The third time, the angel stood in a place so narrow there was no room to turn at all, and the donkey lay down under Balaam. Balaam beat her with his staff.

Then God did something that had never happened before: He opened the donkey's mouth, and she spoke! "What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?" Balaam, too angry even to be surprised, answered that he wished he had a sword to kill her. Then God opened Balaam's eyes — and there stood the angel of the LORD with his sword drawn! The angel asked him, "Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times?" and told him the truth: the donkey had turned aside three times, and if she had not, the angel would have killed Balaam and saved the donkey alive. The donkey Balaam had beaten had saved his life.

Balaam bowed right down to the ground and said he had sinned. He still went on to Balak, but he told the king honestly: "the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak." Three times Balak took Balaam up on high hills to curse Israel — and three times Balaam opened his mouth, and out came blessings instead, for God would not let His people be cursed. Balaam blessed their camp: "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!" And the words of our memory verse are part of that blessing: God is not a man, that He should lie. Balak clapped his hands in anger and sent Balaam home with nothing. God had protected His people from a danger they never even saw — because God's word never, ever fails.

The Big Truth

God even used a donkey to speak — and God cannot lie or change His word.

What We Learn

  1. God can do anything at all — He even opened a donkey's mouth to speak, to stop a man on a wrong road.
  2. God never lies and never changes His word: what He has said, He will do — that is what our memory verse teaches.
  3. God protected His people from a danger they could not even see — and He watches over us in dangers we cannot see, too.

Talk About It

  1. Why did the donkey keep stopping on the road? Who could she see that Balaam could not?
  2. Balak wanted Balaam to curse God's people three times. What came out of Balaam's mouth instead, and why?
  3. Has God ever protected you from something you did not even know about? How does it feel to know He watches over you like that?

Fun to Do

Act Out the Road to Balak! Set up a road through a room or hallway. One person plays the angel and stands in the road three times — first in the open, then between two chairs, then blocking the whole way — while Balaam and the donkey travel along, and the donkey stops every time. At the third stop, everyone says the donkey's question together. Then thank God together that His word never fails.

Let’s Pray

Dear God, thank You that You never lie and Your word never fails. Keep me from wrong paths, and help me to trust every promise You make. Amen.

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“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” — Psalm 119:105 (KJV)
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