Talks with the Tiny Ones About Animals.

From: Messages of God's Love: 1909

The Ass.

CHILDREN in this country do not know much about the donkey or ass, as we very seldom see one in Canada, owing perhaps to the fact, that the donkey cannot well stand the cold weather. But English children all know the little grey or brown donkey, with the black cross on his back. He is used to draw small carts, and carry loads, and in every sea side town you see numbers of them, with pretty little saddles on, waiting to be hired; and what fun it is for the children who get a donkey ride. However if we were to visit Egypt, or the land of Canaan, we should see far more asses than even in England; in these warm countries they seem to thrive better, and to grow larger. They are perhaps treated better, and are not so lazy and stubborn as we are accustomed to think them. Indeed, if a donkey is well treated he is an intelligent, as well as a useful and faithful beast. We read a great deal about asses in the Bible. They were kept in large numbers, and constantly used to ride upon. In times of war, horses were oftener used, but asses in the time of peace, and so our Lord who was the “Prince of Peace,” made His entry into Jerusalem on an ass, while the little children ran beside, crying, with the older people, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The people of Israel did not want the meek and lowly Jesus; they would have liked a grand soldier, ready to go to war, and mounted on a tall war horse, and yet, they ought to have expected their Messiah to come riding upon an ass, for the prophet Zechariah had told them long before. He would come in this way. He says, “Rejoice greatly, O, daughter of Zion; behold thy King cometh unto thee, lowly and riding upon an ass.” Zech. 9:9⁹Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. (Zechariah 9:9). Ah, the people did not want the lowly Jesus, the One who had humbled Himself, and came into this world to bring peace; and how did He bring it? “He made peace by the blood of His cross.” It would take too long to mention all the people who rode upon asses in the Bible days. There was Abraham, when he took his son to the mountain God told him of, there to offer him up; and Joseph’s brothers, when they went into Egypt for corn, and found the ruler of the land to be their own brother; and in the times of the judges, we read of one named Jair, who had “thirty sons, that rode on ass colts.” Judges 10:4⁴And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. (Judges 10:4), And do you remember the rich woman of Shunem, whose little son was taken ill in the harvest field, and he lay on her knees until noon, and then died, and she laid him on the prophet Elisha’s bed, in the little room she had built for him on the wall, and then, telling her servant to saddle an ass for her, she rode to meet the prophet, to tell him all her sorrow. And could he comfort her? Yes, indeed, for he came back with her, and by the power of God, raised that little boy from the dead. But while we are talking of asses, we must not forget Balaam, the covetous prophet, who was hired by the heathen king Balak to curse the people of Israel, while they were travelling in the wilderness. Balaam knew he should not do it, but then he wanted the rich presents of gold and silver the king offered him, so off he set on his faithful ass. He had ridden her many times before, and she had always gone steadily and quietly along, but on this journey, she behaved in a different way, and when we know the reason, we cannot wonder. All at once the ass saw in front of her, an angel, with a drawn sword in his hand. Poor ass, she felt frightened, and she stepped aside into the field by the road. Then Balaam, who was carrying a stick, hit the ass, to make her come into the road again. You see, God did not show him the angel; only the ass saw him. Now, they came into a narrow path between two walls, and again the angel appeared, but the poor ass could not turn aside, but she squeezed herself against the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot, then he hit her again. The angel moved back a little to a very, very narrow place, where there was no room at all to turn either way, and when the ass saw the angel the third time, she fell down, and Balaam hit her again, in great anger. Then a wonderful thing happened—the Lord had opened the ass’s eyes to see the angel, but now he opened her mouth, and she spoke to her master, and said, “What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?” You would think Balaam would have been terrified to hear his ass talking to him, but he felt so angry, he just said, I wish I had a sword and I’d kill you. Foolish Balaam, to be so carried away with passion and wicked Balaam, to be disobeying the Lord for the sake of gold and silver. But now the Lord opened the man’s eyes, as well as the beast’s, and he, too, saw the angel, with a sword ready to kill him, and you may be sure he was frightened, but, now the angel spoke to him, asking him why he smote his ass, and telling him she had saved his life by turning aside. I wish I could tell you that Balaam grew good now, and obedient, but alas! he did not; the love of money was too much for him, and we read later on that he was killed fighting against God’s people. I do not know any more about the ass, but we can learn from this story that God uses whoever and whatever He pleases to do His bidding.

ML 10/03/1909

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