the donkey talked to balaam in the bible.
the donkey talked to balaam in the bible.
who did the donkey talk to in the bible?
balaam
when discussing biblical humor scholars generally agree humor is often in the situation itself. macy gives the examples of sarah having isaac at the age of ninety, and the messiah turning up in a barn. macy says "the bible gives us tale after tale of comic reversals and narrow escapes." he says "mischievous exploits", names and name changes, literary plays on words, exaggeration, and the unexpected: a surprising word, an unexpected phrase, or an abrupt change of direction are what the bible uses to convey wit and humor. according to macy, the book of proverbs includes funny images and word-play while "trickster themes also bring surprise and laughter." professor of biblical literature j. william whedbee says the biblical authors use "humorous juxtaposition" where things seem funny because they're together: for example, short and tall, fat and thin, irony and paradox. those scholars who do find humor in the bible agree the odd, awkward, or absurd such as mismatches in character and actions, are examples of how the bible uses humor. "balaam the 'seer' who doesn't 'see' or 'know' what's going on, and his donkey who both sees and knows," is an example of this type of wit and humor in the bible.
the bible and humor
there was once a donkey who was kept tied up by his owner so he wouldn’t run off after female onagers. one day the donkey saw a deer with its magnificent antlers being lead by its owner to a nearby stream, the donkey deeply wished to have antlers. so the next day, he broke out of captivity and followed the deer to the stream and tried to converse with it. however, the deer did not understand donkey talk. the donkey was convinced that it was the presence of the owner that was preventing them from conversing, so he attacked and bit the owner. the owner of the deer wanted to mark the donkey so he could find it later, so he sliced its ears off. the donkey, in pain, returned to its master, who was furious that it had ran off, and received a worse punishment than having its ears sliced, from his own master. the donkey realised that such desires were foolish and pursuing them only ended badly.
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