Discovery BoxNumbers 22:22-27 
Context22:22 Then God’s anger was kindled 1 because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose 2 him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. 22:23 And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with 3 his sword drawn in his hand, so the donkey turned aside from the road and went into the field. But Balaam beat the donkey, to make her turn back to the road.
22:24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a path 4 among the vineyards, where there was a wall on either side. 5 22:25 And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself into the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he beat her again. 6
22:26 Then the angel of the Lord went farther, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 22:27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she crouched down under Balaam. Then Balaam was angry, and he beat his donkey with a staff.
1 sn God’s anger now seems to contradict the permission he gave Balaam just before this. Some commentators argue that God’s anger is a response to Balaam’s character in setting out – which the Bible does not explain. God saw in him greed and pleasure for the riches, which is why he was so willing to go.
2 tn The word is שָׂטָן (satan, “to be an adversary, to oppose”).
3 tn The word has the conjunction “and” on the noun, indicating this is a disjunctive vav (ו), here serving as a circumstantial clause.
4 tn The word means a “narrow place,” having the root meaning “to be deep.” The Greek thought it was in a field in a narrow furrow.
5 tn Heb “a wall on this side, and a wall on that side.”
6 tn Heb “he added to beat her,” another verbal hendiadys.
