John Gill Commentary Numbers 22:30

"And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden all thy life long unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? and he said, Nay." — Numbers 22:30 (ASV)

And the ass said unto Balaam
Made a reply to him, as if it understood what he said, and had the faculty of reasoning and discoursing, as well as of speaking, which is very amazing:

am not I your ass, upon which you have ridden ever since I was yours
unto this day?
or rather, "ever since you were"; not ever since he was in being, but ever since he could ride, so Aben Ezra; according to which, it seems that this was the first he rode upon, and which he had always been used to; hence the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it, "upon which you have rode from your youth unto this day;" and be it that Balaam was a man pretty well advanced in years, an ass is a creature that lives a long time: Pliny says ^F18 it lives thirty years; and an Arabic writer ^F19 makes mention of an ass that the owner of it rode on forty years:

was I ever accustomed to do so to you ?
to start out of the way, or lie down with him, could anyone instance be given of it? suggesting that she was a sure footed creature, and had always carefully and safely carried him, for which it appeals to him:

and he said, no ;
she had never been used to serve him in such a manner as she had now, and therefore he might have concluded that something more than ordinary was the matter; and it is much his conscience had not accused him that he was wrong in coming with the princes, taking the alarm from these circumstances, had he not been a hardened creature, or, at least, had he not been so eagerly bent on riches and honour.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F18: Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 43.
• F19: Algiahid in Damir. apud Bochart, ut supra, (Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 14.) col. 195.