Ba'lak sent messengers to Ba'laam to hire him to curse Is'ra-el. In return for this favor to the heathen
king, Ba'laam was to be promoted in rank. Valuable gifts were brought to him by the messengers, and he was promised a large sum in gold for uttering the curse.
Ba'laam received the messengers with true Oriental courtesy, inviting them to spend the night in his home. He assured them that he would place Ba'lak's request before the LORD, and would do whatever the LORD commanded.
During the night the LORD appeared to Ba'laam, probably in a vision, and told him neither to return to Ba'lak with these men, nor to pronounce a curse upon the people of Is'ra-el. The next morning he told the messengers of Ba'lak that the LORD had forbidden him to go to the king of Mo'ab at any time. But he did not tell them the most important part of the message from God. An honest report of what had taken place during the night would have ended the matter then and there, but he led the men to think that it was still possible for him to curse Is'ra-el.
Ba'laam is a strange character to many people, but the Bible story gives us a clear picture of him. He was a prophet to whom God revealed certain Divine purposes, and to whom He sometimes gave information concerning worldly matters. Ba'laam was very intelligent, often grasping truths which were too deep for other men to understand. His people were not included in the Is'ra-el-ites Cov'e-nant, but he professed to believe in the God of the He'brews. He was also well informed concerning the history of Is'ra-el, knowing about their miraculous deliverance from E'gyp-tian bondage, God's care for them during the forty years in the wilderness, and the hopes which they now held for the future.
At heart, however, Ba'laam was greedy. He simply could not break away from the "wages of divination" which he had received as a magician of the Mid'i-an-ites. He tried to serve God and Mam'mon at the same.
