"36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, on the border formed by the Arnon, at the extremity of the border. 37 And Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?” 38 Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” 39 Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. 40 And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him. 41 And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people."
Numbers 22:36-41
The last verses of the chapter recount the eventual meeting between Balaam and Balak the king, who is, understandably, somewhat cool and reproachful of the seer for his delay in coming and his to Balak - unaccountable reluctance to 'perform' in answer to the generous overtures made to him. The answer Balaam gives simply repeats what he had already said to the king's messengers (18), and again he seeks to indicate to Balak that he is 'under orders' to speak only what Jehovah allows him to speak. We think it would have been better and safer for the seer to have indicated to the king something of the dramatic and dreadful encounter he had had with the angel of the Lord, for that would surely have impressed upon Balak the futility of his desire to bring a curse on the people whom God was determined to bless. That Balaam did not do so may well be an indication that, even then, he was still not utterly reconciled to the divine will, and still, it may be, hankering after some gain from the transaction. At all events, the hint of asperity in his voice in 38 is disquieting, and may not be unconnected with the fact that later his 'counsel' (see 31:16, and compare 25:1ff and Revelation 2:14) led Israel into grave and terrible sin. What he could not do by cursing the people of God he succeeded in doing by deceit. Solemn, solemn lesson!