The open eyes of Balaam

I love the evocative way the non-Israelite prophet Balaam introduces himself when he "takes up his parable" in Numbers 24:3-4.

And he took up his parable, and said,

Balaam the son of Beor hath said,
and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
He hath said, which heard the words of God,
which saw the vision of the Almighty,
falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: . . .

And again in vv. 15-16, with one line added.

And he took up his parable, and said,

Balaam the son of Beor hath said,
and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
He hath said, which heard the words of God,
and knew the knowledge of the most High,
which saw the vision of the Almighty,
falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: . . .

I had always read this as a poetic statement of Balaam's prophetic credentials, probably something he had been reciting for years whenever he was called upon to bless or curse or prophesy. I thought it perhaps shed some light on prophetic customs of the time -- that prophets typically prophesied in a trance with their eyes closed, and that Balaam was notable for doing so with his eyes open. I never thought to connect it with the episode which one usually associates with the name of Balaam, and which invariably reduces Sunday schools to giggles: the affair of the talking ass (Num. 22:20-35).

And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, "If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do."

And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.

And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.

But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her again.

And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.

And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, "What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?"

And Balaam said unto the ass, "Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee."

And the ass said unto Balaam, "Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?"

And he said, "Nay."

Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.

And the angel of the Lord said unto him, "Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me: And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive."

And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again."

And the angel of the Lord said unto Balaam, "Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak."

Balaam had "heard the words of God" before this episode, but is the rest of his poetic introduction a reference to his experience with the ass? He is "the man whose eyes are open" because "the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam" -- apparently permanently! When his eyes were opened, "he saw the angel of the Lord" -- hence "which saw the vision of the Almighty." (Throughout the Torah, seeing the "angel of the Lord" is not clearly distinguished from seeing the Lord himself.) And then Balaam "fell flat on his face." It turns out that when the King James writes "falling into a trance but having his eyes open," the phrase "into a trance" is not in the Hebrew but represents the translators' best guess as to the meaning of "falling." Couldn't it instead be a reference to Balaam's falling on his face when he saw the angel, or perhaps to his falling when the ass "fell down under Balaam"?

All that's missing from Balaam's introduction is, "He that hath heard the voice of an ass" -- omitted because, apparently, he didn't think it was anything very special. One of the strangest things about the whole ass story is how Balaam just takes it in his stride when the animal he has been riding on starts talking.