Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.

I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.

As we consider Balaam as a picture of the Christ, we cannot think of Balaam without thinking of the donkey he rode. This donkey, in its efforts to keep it’s master Balaam safe, did all it could to avoid certain danger from the Angel of the Lord. It may seem odd to refer to the donkey as an appropriate topic in relation to the Christ, but did not the Master do all He could to keep us from danger, from the Angel of the Lord.

Also, the donkey is quite appropriate to associate with the Master. Though white stallions are often associated with Kings, a careful reading of the Old Testament reveals that when a King rode a donkey, it was due to him coming in peace.

Consider 1 Kings 1:33

And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

or Judges 5:10, when Deborah and Barak spoke of royalty

Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets and you who walk by the way.

or Judges 10:4, describing the aspirations of Jair the Gieladite

And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

or Judges 12:14, speaking of Abdon the son of Hillel’s lineage.

He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years.

Though it may seem obvious to associate a donkey as a beast of burden, and find the likeness of the Christ as the Great burden bearer, it may be also appropriate to see the nature and character of peacefulness as a point of similarity in the Messiah.

After all, He came into Jerusalem, as the prophet predicted.

Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

For the Prince of Peace entered Jerusalem on a donkey, humble and on a mission of peace

Matthew 21:5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

The sad thing is that though the donkey sought to protect Balaam, as the Christ sought to protect and save His people, both the donkey and the Savior received a punishment from the very ones they were caring for.

Yet, as with all pictures of the Christ, the punishment was not equal, for the Messiah suffered, bled and died a horrible death, completely unlike the relatively minor punishment received by the donkey.

The likeness is found in the unjustness of the punishment, and not necessarily the extent, or depth of punishment experienced!

How unjust for the Savior to suffer for me!

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