While Balaam rode his ass to Moab the angel of the Lord appeared, not to Balaam, but to the ass. Seeing the terrible angel of the Lord, the ass swerved, first into a field and then against a wall ...

On one occasion, Balaam is confronted by an angel of the Lord who can only be seen by Balaam’s donkey. The donkey falls down and is beaten by his master. Eventually, Balaam also sees the angel.

But there’s a hitch: As Balaam travels to curse the Israelites, God sends an angel to imbue his donkey with the power of speech. The donkey—long story short—tells Balaam that he’ll only be ...

Every year the story of Balaam and his talking donkey recalls for me one of my childhood’s favorite TV sit-coms “Mr. Ed” featuring that friendly talking Palomino horse in the barn.