Balaam and his Talking Donkey coloring page

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Balaam and his Talking Donkey

Balaam was an Old Testament prophet who lived in Palestine, or the Promised Land as the Israelites were coming in from Egypt.  The local king, King  Balaak, sent princes or noblemen to tell Balaam that he wanted to pay Balaam to prophesy against the Children of Israel.  But the Lord told Balaam "NO!"  Then the king sent even more higher ranking princes and Balaam asked the Lord again.  The Lord told him to go but to only say what the Lord told him to say.  

On the way, Balaam's she-ass or female donkey stops in the road.  She refuses to go farther.  She even crushes Balaam's leg and foot against a roadside wall.  In the meantime Balaam is screaming at and beating his animal.  So the Lord opens the donkey's mouth and she tells Balaam off.  The donkey reminds him that she has never been a problem before.  Then Balaam's eyes are opened and he sees that there is an angel with a drawn sword in the path.  The angel tells Balaam that his donkey saved his life by not continuing forward.  

Eventually the angel tells Balaam to go make his prophecy, but ONLY say what he is told to say.   And Balaam blesses  (instead of curses) the Children of Israel... to King Balaak's great chagrin.

I think there is a lesson in this story.  First is to obey God.  The second lesson is that God wants us to be kind to animals.  Balaam was being cruel to the donkey that had served him well for many years.  The female donkey or she-ass was allowed to explain this to him.  Then the angel made it clear that Balaam owed his life to his donkey because if she had not stopped the angel would have slain Balaam.  So instead of beating his donkey, Balaam should be thanking her for her service to him.   So we need to be kind to our animals.  Some are our servants and some are our food eventually. . . . but that does not mean we need to be cruel to them.   This story is found in the Holy Bible in Numbers, chapter 22.

NOTE:  Printable versions of this drawing are found by clicking on the Religion Button or the All Printables button.  Scroll down to the bottom of the Old Testament section.   OR in All Printables just scroll down to the bottom of the list on the drop-down menu.