Netziv (Bamidbar 22:34): Because I didn’t know. The essence of Bilam’s sins was that he hadn’t made any efforts to know and understand. He should have realized that the donkey’s strange behavior was a message that G d was opposed to his journey [instead of just hitting the donkey].
I agree, on many occasions, I have ignored strange messages, not that i own a donkey, but just as persuasive, which ultimately led me to error..
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting inversion of the Gentile "Don't be an ass." In this case, the ass got it right.
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