BALAAM'S ASS. Reinach remarks that one of the most curious episodes in the book of Numbers (see NUMBERS, BOOK OF) " is that of Balaam the prophet, whose ass seems to have been an echo of the worship of the ass, considered as an oracular animal." He com pares the story (Numbers xxil.) with those animal-fables which were widely prevalent in ancient times (cp. the Encycl. Bibl., s.v. " Balaam," where Addis compares the Babylonian beast-stories, and the speaking horse in Homer's Iliad, xix. 404), and thinks that " the primitive stories which were combined and revised to form the Bible must have bristled with tales of animals." But he is obliged to admit that in the Bible as preserved to us animals only speak on rare occasions. There are only two instances—that of the serpent in the Book of Genesis and that of Balaam's ass in the Book of Numbers. Why are there not more? The truth may be that the Hebrew stories are not on a level with ordinary animal-fables, but were suggested by real psychical or spiritual experiences which seem to have been granted in un usually rich measure to the Hebrews. Balaam was requested by Balak, king of Moab, to go and curse the Israelites, that is to say, to bring them under the baneful influence of a powerful spell. Balaam at first refused to do this. He realized intuitively that this people was under the protection of the Divine Power. When at length he did consent to go, it was with great reluctance and hesitation. Now it has often been remarked that the mental state of a rider Influences the animal which he rides. Balaam's uncertainty communicated itself to his ass, and the animal tried several times to turn back.
The master beat the animal, and at length, we are told, the ass spoke and rebuked him. Of course animals do not speak. But It is nevertheless possible that Balaam heard a voice, and that he or his reporter believed that the voice proceeded from the animal. The words spoken have been altered in accordance with this idea. We now know that the hearing of a voice is a not uncommon psychical experience (cp. BURNING BUSH). And Balaam was just the kind of man to have had the kind of experience denoted by clairaudience (q.v.) and clairvoyance (q.v.). " Among the various nations of the world we find instances in which we are able to observe how certain persons, popularly regarded as a special type of men, distinct from their fellows, pass into ecstatic states, and in them make peculiar observations. Gener ally these experiences come to them during worship, or whilst they offer fervent prayer, or during some other powerful religious occupation of the mind. They get into a condition in which they are in a peculiar sense cut off from the world, but in which their souls are all the more active, and respond readily to influences which have no effect upon a man in his ordinary waking life. In this condition they see visions and hear voices and words, the significance of which is unknown to the ordinary man " (R. Kittel, Scientific Study of the 0.T., 1910). For the story of Salaam, see Enclicl. Bibl.; G. B. Gray, Numbers, in the /.C.C., 1903; A. R. S. Kennedy, Leviticus and Numbers, in the " Century Bible."