BALAAM AND HIS ASS.

AFTER the Israelites, in their progress towards the promised land, had routed Sihon King of the Amorites, and Og the King of Basan, they marched to the plains of Moab, and encamped on the banks of the river Jordan, opposite Jericho. Balak, king of the country, fearing their power, and jealous of their success, entered into an alliance with the Midianites and Ammonites, in order at once to crush the strangers by a powerful confederacy. Afraid, however, still to attack them, he thought it advisable to send for Balaam, a noted sorceror in Pethor, a city of Mesopotamia, to see if by his magical arts he could not bring a curse upon Israel. Balaam, who "loved the wages of unrighteousness," having first obtained the divine permission, proceeded towards Moab with Balak's messengers. During the journey, an angel intercepted his progress, invisible to himself, but perceptible to the ass which Balaam rode. In his hand the heavenly messenger held a naked sword, expressive of the divine wrath. The ass, terrified at the seraphic presence, turned aside, and Balaam smote her in his anger. Advancing further, he came to a narrow path with a wall on either side, and here the ass, alarmed at the threatening aspect of the angel, crushed Balaam's foot against the wall, and he smote her a second time. At length, urging her forward, she came into a place so narrow as to admit only one passenger at a time. In the midst of this strait stood the angel, and the ass was so terrified that she fell down under Balaam, and he smote her the third time, when the Lord opened her mouth, and she expostulated with him in the language of men. "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."