20100430 Balaam and his Talking Donkey－Eric@TRM 的部落格

April 30 (Friday 19:30 pm - 22:00 pm)
Balaam and his Talking Donkey (Numbers)

Hello, I want to tell you an amazing story. So listen very closely. Many, many years ago, I had a master named Balaam. I diligently worked hard for him, and he was good to me. He gave me a nice place to sleep and delicious corn and hay to eat. Balaam rode on my back to travel to different places.

One day, some important people came to our house. After spending two nights with us, Balaam saddled me, and we rode out of town with them. Suddenly as we were clippity-clopping along, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was a beautiful angel in the middle of the road. The angel was mad. He had a big sword in his hands, and I knew that he was going to injure my master, Balaam. So, I got off the road and went into the field. My master did not see the angel and became very upset with me. He beat me. It hurt and I was sad, but I knew that I had prevented Balaam from being killed.

A second time as we were traveling, the angel stood close to a wall blocking the way. To get around the angel, I traveled near the wall and accidentally crushed Balaam’s foot. It hurt and he cried out in agony. Then, he beat me again. In my heart, I wished that I could talk to tell him what I was doing.

Then a third time, an angel stood ready to hurt Balaam. There was no way around the angel, so I just sat down in the road. Balaam was so angry. He beat me again. That is when something amazing happened. God allowed me to talk. That’s right. I could talk!! Donkeys do not normally talk, but I could! I asked Balaam why he had beat me 3 times. I reminded him that I was a good donkey and tried always to obey him.

Then, God opened his eyes to see the angel. When he saw how I had protected him, he was so sorry. He also told God he was sorry. You see, God knew that Balaam was traveling to do something wrong. He told Balaam that he must speak only what God said. Balaam listened and obeyed God. When the people asked him to do a mean thing, Balaam told the people that he could only do what God wanted. We must listen and obey God. He wants us to love each other and do things that are right. Pray and ask God to help us do good to others this week.

Vocabulary:
1) Diligently—to be consistent and hard working to always do something    副勤勉地;勤奮地
2) Saddled—to put a saddle on a horse, it’s where you sit 名鞍;車座;拖具;鞍狀物;腰肉
3) Injure—to hurt someone or something   動傷害;使受傷;損害;破壞
4) Prevent—to keep something from happening   動妨礙;預防;率先;領導
5) Block—to stand in the way of someone 名石頭;切肉板;滑車; 妨礙;占地方
6) Accidentally—not on purpose, it just happens 副偶然地;意外地
7) Crush—to squish or to squeeze something flat   動壓碎;壓榨;磨成粉;喝乾;揉謅
8) Agony—in lots of pain 名煩惱;苦悶;痛苦或喜悦.頂峰

Discussion Questions:
1) If God has given us our agency to choose right or wrong, why do you think he stopped Balaam when he was doing something wrong? 神給予我們選擇的自由, 為何祂還要阻止巴蘭走上岔路? ->為了避免他對猶太人造成更大的傷害, 所以派遣天使阻止他.

2) It doesn’t seem from the story that Balaam was that bothered by the fact that his donkey started talking to him. How would you respond if an animal started talking to you? 故事中並未明指, 為何巴蘭步入岐途, 而驢子竟能開口斥責他的含意, 但是如果真有動物開口跟你說話, 你會作何回應? ->會不會是神差天使來引導我們走向正確的道路?

巴蘭和他會說話的驢子 (民數記)
您好，我想告訴您一個令人驚奇的故事。所以仔細聽好了。很久、很久以前，我有一個名叫巴蘭的主人。我為他努力的工作，而他也對我很好。他給我一個睡覺的好地方和餵我美味玉米及乾草。巴蘭常騎在我背上前往不同的地方。

有一天，有些重要的人來到我們家。並在我們家住了兩個晚上後，巴蘭把馬鞍放我背上，就與他們一起騎出鎮去。我們是一前一後的遛噠著，突然間，我無法相信我所看到的。有一個美麗天使就站在道路中間。而那天使想必是瘋了。因他手裡正拿著一柄劍，而我知道他是想要傷害我的主人巴蘭。所以，我離開正路，並走進野地。我的主人並沒看見天使，對我突然離開正路很生氣。所以他用馬鞭抽打我。雖然他鞭打我讓我很傷心，但我知道我成功地阻礙巴蘭被殺死。

第二次是當我們在旅行中，天使就站在一堵牆邊攔截我們。為了避開天使，我繞著牆走卻意外摩碎了巴蘭的腳。他因受傷而痛苦地吶喊著。然後，他再次地鞭打我。在我心裡，我真希望我能說話好告訴他我為他做了什麼。

然後第三次，面對著那個我已無法迴避，隨時準備要傷害巴蘭的天使。所以我索性就坐在路中間。巴蘭很生氣。他又再次地鞭打了我。剎那間！發生了件令人十分驚訝的事情。上帝竟然讓我說話了。沒錯！我能說話了！！通常驢子是不會說話的，但我現在能！於是我就問巴蘭說：為什麼您就連打我 3 次。我最後提醒他，我是一頭好驢子，並始終嘗試服從他。

然後，上帝讓他開了天眼並看到了天使。當他看到我曾如何保護他時，他跟我說他很抱歉。他也告訴上帝說他很抱歉。你看看　神知道巴蘭會做錯什麼事。所以對巴蘭說他必須說　神想要他說的。巴蘭聽後並服從上帝。後來當人們要他做一些壞事時，巴蘭告訴人們他只可以做上帝想要他做的事情。我們必須傾聽並服從上帝的話語。神希望我們要彼此相愛，並依　祂的話行事。最後禱告，求　神讓我們在這星期有機會行善去幫助其他需要幫助的人。