{"id":1598,"date":"2024-04-06T16:40:15","date_gmt":"2024-04-06T23:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/?p=1598"},"modified":"2024-04-06T16:40:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T23:40:15","slug":"witness-to-history-the-donkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Witness to History: the Donkey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Did you know that the Bible refers to a donkey 74 times?<\/strong> Compare that to 14 for a dog, 36 for a horse, 55 for an ox, and 82 for a lion. Sheep get 195 mentions but considering that many of the important figures in the Bible were either literally or figuratively shepherds, that\u2019s understandable.<\/p>\n

So, the donkey has a prominent position among animals in the Bible. It rates far higher than its fellow working animal, the ox, and comes close to the lofty stature of the lion whose prowess is much admired.<\/p>\n

What causes the donkey to be this important? Well, it was a standard beast of burden and means of transportation throughout ancient times, so naturally, the stories of the Jewish people would mention using or riding the donkey. For example, Moses returned to Egypt on a donkey; also, when David came to Saul, and when Abigail came to David, they rode a donkey.<\/p>\n

A Talking Animal<\/strong><\/h3>\n However, one time, the donkey\u2019s ability went beyond carrying people and supplies and gained the animal fame among Bible readers. There are only two talking animals in the Bible: the serpent in the Garden of Eden and Balaam\u2019s donkey (Numbers 22: 21-29).<\/p>\n MrBibleHead.blogspot.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n God sent Balaam as a messenger, instructed to say exactly what God told him. Balaam made the mistake of thinking about betraying God, so an angel with a drawn sword appeared to him on his way.<\/p>\n His donkey could see the angel and cowered against a wall, but Balaam could not see the angel and beat the donkey for stopping. This happened three times, and then the donkey asked, \u201cWhy are you beating me? Am I not your own beast, and have you not always ridden upon me until now? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way before?\u201d<\/p>\n At that point, God removed the veil from Balaam\u2019s eyes, and he saw the angel, who admonished Balaam. He said that if the donkey had not turned away from the sword, he would have killed Balaam. Chastised, Balaam followed God\u2019s instructions, and we assume, never beat his donkey again.<\/p>\n With the Holy Family<\/strong><\/h3>\n As a witness to history, donkeys have been ever-present in the Judeo\/Christian saga. Mary rode a donkey to Bethlehem, so there is seldom a nativity scene without a donkey nearby.<\/p>\n Good News Productions International and College Press Publishing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n That donkey also carried Mary and the baby Jesus on the trip to Egypt with Joseph walking alongside. Since donkeys can live 27-40 years, it is possible that this same donkey was with them when they went to Jerusalem to present the child Jesus at the Temple, and when Mary and Joseph lost Jesus at the Temple years later.<\/p>\n Palm Sunday<\/strong><\/h3>\n It was a different donkey, however, that carried Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Another distinction for the donkey is that this honor was mentioned in the prophecy about Christ\u2019s entrance into Jerusalem for his final days:<\/p>\n \u201cSee, your king shall come to you, a just savior is he; Meek, and riding on an ass (donkey) on a colt, the foal of an ass\u201d (Zechariah 9:9). Matthew acknowledged in his gospel account of Palm Sunday that \u201cThis came about to fulfill what was said through the prophet.\u201d (Matthew 21:4)<\/p>\n Note that the prophecy describes the king and savior as \u201cmeek.\u201d He is riding a common donkey instead of a stately horse, like an earthly king or a centurion, because he has not come as a warrior but as the Lord of Peace.<\/p>\n Did you ever wonder how Christ\u2019s disciples were able to so easily acquire a donkey for his ride on Palm Sunday? According to legend, a farmer near Jerusalem had planned to kill his donkey because it was too small to do much work. His children pleaded with him to tie the donkey to a tree near the road, hoping that someone would take it.<\/p>\n Sure enough, Christ\u2019s disciples came and said their master was in need of a donkey, so the farmer gladly gave him away. (God works in mysterious ways!)<\/p>\n by jesusjnr2020(m): 8:11am On Jan 28<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMarked with a Cross<\/strong><\/h3>\n**** Donkeys have markings like a cross on their backs. It is caused by a dark line of hair (the list) that runs down the spine and, usually, across the shoulders. It is a natural marking\u2014or is it?<\/p>\n Another story attributes the donkey\u2019s cross to the Passion of Christ. The donkey wanted to carry Christ\u2019s cross for him but was not allowed. In reward for his loyalty and love, Jesus caused the shadow of the cross to fall upon the donkey\u2019s back, and the animal has carried the symbol ever since.<\/p>\n So, not only does God take care of His little sparrows, but He also assigns important roles to lowly creatures like the donkey. Donkeys are not handsome or mighty, but they have a Biblical lineage that rivals the House of David, and as children of God, so do we.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you know that the Bible refers to a donkey 74 times? Compare that to 14 for a dog, 36 for a horse, 55 for an ox, and 82 for a lion. Sheep get 195 mentions but considering that many of the important figures in the Bible were either literally or figuratively shepherds, that\u2019s understandable. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4580,"featured_media":1604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1445,1442,1451,1448],"class_list":["post-1598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patheos-catholic","tag-balaam","tag-donkey","tag-donkeys-cross","tag-palm-sunday"],"yoast_head":"\nWitness to History: the Donkey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The lowly donkey keeps popping up in the Bible, always there, always serving, ever important to God.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Witness to History: the Donkey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The lowly donkey keeps popping up in the Bible, always there, always serving, ever important to God.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musings From the Pew\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lois.kerschen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-06T23:40:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1433\/2024\/04\/07_FB_GNPI_009_Flight_Egypt_Thumbnail.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lois Kerschen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@llkerschen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lois Kerschen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/\",\"name\":\"Witness to History: the Donkey\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-06T23:40:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-06T23:40:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#\/schema\/person\/69dc96c459773f7eaf12d1f5bdfd1d44\"},\"description\":\"The lowly donkey keeps popping up in the Bible, always there, always serving, ever important to God.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Witness to History: the Donkey\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/\",\"name\":\"Musings From the Pew\",\"description\":\"Commentary on being Catholic; observations and experiences.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#\/schema\/person\/69dc96c459773f7eaf12d1f5bdfd1d44\",\"name\":\"Lois Kerschen\",\"description\":\"There have been many different titles for the work I have done \u2013 Educator, Writer, Editor, Administrator \u2013 but the one that has applied to me from birth is that of Catholic. With rare exceptions, I am in a pew on Sunday trying to be attentive and prayerful. My mind wanders a lot, and not just to problems or plans, but also to what I would like to say about things I hear in the homily or the readings. Thus the name \u201cMusings from the Pew.\u201d This column will be about life as a Catholic and the challenges we face. I have been a pro-life activist for many years, so life issues will be discussed frequently. I have also traveled to a lot of parishes, so I want to share what I have seen or experienced with other Catholics in a different setting. Call it \u201cThe Wandering Pew\u201d within \u201cMusings from the Pew.\u201d My blogs will not be theological treatises but the observations and suggestions of an active, answer-seeking mind. I find great joy in the Catholic faith and want to defend the Church so that others may find that joy. Background: Bachelor's in chemistry\/biology\/history; Master's in creative writing; doctorate in English literature. Have published American Proverbs About Women and various literary and scholarly articles. Co-founded Democrats for Life of America; currently serve as Consistent Life Network board member and with the Proportional Representation Coalition of California as the American Solidarity Party representative. Music minister at my church.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lois.kerschen\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lois-kerschen-94850611\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/llkerschen\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/author\/lkerschen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Witness to History: the Donkey","description":"The lowly donkey keeps popping up in the Bible, always there, always serving, ever important to God.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Witness to History: the Donkey","og_description":"The lowly donkey keeps popping up in the Bible, always there, always serving, ever important to God.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/","og_site_name":"Musings From the Pew","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lois.kerschen\/","article_published_time":"2024-04-06T23:40:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1433\/2024\/04\/07_FB_GNPI_009_Flight_Egypt_Thumbnail.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lois Kerschen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@llkerschen","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lois Kerschen","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/","name":"Witness to History: the Donkey","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-04-06T23:40:15+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-06T23:40:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#\/schema\/person\/69dc96c459773f7eaf12d1f5bdfd1d44"},"description":"The lowly donkey keeps popping up in the Bible, always there, always serving, ever important to God.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2024\/04\/witness-to-history-the-donkey\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Witness to History: the Donkey"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/","name":"Musings From the Pew","description":"Commentary on being Catholic; observations and experiences.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#\/schema\/person\/69dc96c459773f7eaf12d1f5bdfd1d44","name":"Lois Kerschen","description":"There have been many different titles for the work I have done \u2013 Educator, Writer, Editor, Administrator \u2013 but the one that has applied to me from birth is that of Catholic. With rare exceptions, I am in a pew on Sunday trying to be attentive and prayerful. My mind wanders a lot, and not just to problems or plans, but also to what I would like to say about things I hear in the homily or the readings. Thus the name \u201cMusings from the Pew.\u201d This column will be about life as a Catholic and the challenges we face. I have been a pro-life activist for many years, so life issues will be discussed frequently. I have also traveled to a lot of parishes, so I want to share what I have seen or experienced with other Catholics in a different setting. Call it \u201cThe Wandering Pew\u201d within \u201cMusings from the Pew.\u201d My blogs will not be theological treatises but the observations and suggestions of an active, answer-seeking mind. I find great joy in the Catholic faith and want to defend the Church so that others may find that joy. Background: Bachelor's in chemistry\/biology\/history; Master's in creative writing; doctorate in English literature. Have published American Proverbs About Women and various literary and scholarly articles. Co-founded Democrats for Life of America; currently serve as Consistent Life Network board member and with the Proportional Representation Coalition of California as the American Solidarity Party representative. Music minister at my church.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lois.kerschen\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lois-kerschen-94850611\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/llkerschen"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/author\/lkerschen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}