Avodah Zarah 4B

״וידע דעת עליון״⁠ — אפשר דעת בהמתו לא הוה ידע, דעת עליון מי הוה ידע?

“And knows the knowledge of the Most High” (Numbers 24:16). Now, this should not be understood to mean that Balaam knew the thoughts of God, as is it possible that Balaam did not know the mind of his animal, and yet he did know the mind of the Most High?

מאי ״דעת בהמתו לא הוה ידע״? בעידנא דחזו ליה דהוה רכיב אחמריה, אמרו ליה: מאי טעמא לא רכבתא אסוסיא? אמר להו: ברטיבא שדאי ליה. מיד: ״ותאמר האתון הלא אנכי אתנך״, אמר לה: לטעינא בעלמא.

The Talmud clarifies: What is meant by the claim that Balaam did not know the mind of his animal? When the princes of Moab saw that Balaam was riding on his donkey, they said to him: What is the reason that you do not ride upon a horse, which is more fitting for you? Balaam said to them: I am riding on a donkey because I left my horse in a meadow to graze. Immediately: “And the donkey said to Balaam: Am not I your donkey?” (Numbers 22:30), i.e., the donkey you always use. Balaam said to it: For carrying burdens only, not for riding.

אמרה ליה: ״אשר רכבת עלי״! אמר לה: אקראי בעלמא. אמרה ליה: ״מעודך ועד היום הזה״, ולא עוד אלא שאני עושה לך רכיבות ביום ואישות בלילה. כתיב הכא: ״ההסכן הסכנתי״, וכתיב התם: ״ותהי לו סכנת״.

The donkey further said to Balaam: “Upon which you have ridden.” Balaam said to it: Merely at irregular occurrences. The donkey said to him: “All your life long to this day” (Numbers 22:30). The donkey added: And moreover, I perform for you riding during the day, and marriage, i.e., sex, during the night. The Talmud explains: This is derived from the following comparison: It is written here that Balaam’s donkey said: “Was I ever wont [hahasken hiskanti] to do so to you” (Numbers 22:30), and it is written there, with regard to Abishag the Shunammite and King David: “And be a companion [sokhenet] to him; and let her lie in your bosom” (I Kings 1:2). This teaches that the term hiskanti alludes to sex.