361. * are speaking, and in fact, from within, cannot hear otherwise, when it pleases God the Messiah, than that either a beast or an inanimate object is speaking. For the sound that the beast or inanimate object emits combines with the words being dictated inwardly to the person. This has been proven to me several times so vividly, that I was hearing the very hoofs of the horse, the very whinnies, even the blows of hammers, as if they were speaking the same words that were being said to me inwardly, so that I could absolutely not perceive it differently. About this phenomenon, I spoke with the angels around me, and then I was shown that the donkey's speaking with Balaam was of this kind, the words so closely sticking to the sound, so to speak, that they cannot be separated by the hearing. I even thought that bystanders were hearing them in the same way, because it was an external sound that carried them into the ears. We do not read here that Balaam knew about this, yet it does not say that he was surprised that the donkey had spoken to him, for he answered it as he would a human being. From this one may conclude that he was used to such phenomena also. [Speak, Speech; Hoof] 7353. But these historical words about the donkey also contain secrets concerning present events, for the same kind of portrayals are being given at this day. They therefore involve secrets that were under investigation at those times, etc.
[See WE 7359, explaining Num. 22:14-20.] 7360. What this now portrays can be learned from the fact that [Balak] wanted Balaam, who was then a man of divinity, to curse that nation which portrays those now arriving at the end of all their temptations. It is like what is done [to them] by the Word of God the Messiah, that is, by those who teach the Word of God the Messiah, saying that they are nevertheless cursed, so that they come into despair of salvation. This is generally the ultimate trick of the devil. They also bring up many passages to support it, to the effect that they cannot become righteous by their own power, consequently that they are therefore condemned - as if, since they can obtain no merit by their own effort, they are therefore without any hope of salvation. This has been said to me many times
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