Why does God tell Balaam to go with the Moabites and then get angry because he went?

Ignorant of God, Balaam thus detains the messengers; for his heart dearly loved the proffered honour and emolument. He bids them wait that he might consult Jehovah again. Here again he falls into the trap of his own covetousness; for "God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them." Not that this was the course of His holy will; it was God dealing with the froward according to his frowardness. This He does if there is not faith in his mind, and along with it a single eye; He permits that a man shall follow his own blind devices. This is righteous; and God accordingly so deals with Balaam. Where He sees integrity, He graciously meets the trembling heart and the hesitating mind. But it was no question of hesitation with Balaam. There was self-will, and this too in the face of the glorious expression of God's will. At bottom he makes nothing of God or His word. He had been distinctly told that he was not to curse the people, but to bless them; yet he waits with no other object than, if it were possible, to curse those whom God bade him bless. There was not a particle of faith, nor of the fear of God. Accordingly God now gives him up to his own devices. If he will join an idol, let him alone, as he would not be warned. That this is the true moral is made most plain; because it is said that, when Balaam rises in the morning, and saddles his ass, and goes with the princes of Moab, "God's anger was kindled." Clearly therefore, though God had told the man that was ignorant to be ignorant, and the man that was self-willed to go and do his own will, there was an expressed and solemn warning to the prophet that he was flying in the face of God. (Compare verses 12 and 22)

When Balaam asked of the Lord the first time "Shall I go?" God replied distinctly No; and as distinctly pointed out the ground of the refusal. It would seem He gave this answer, because either the soothsayer sought counsel of Him for the first time, or was not sure he should be doing wrong in acceding to the invitation of Balak. But the Lord having told him he must not go, and that Israel was blessed, the position of Balaam was no longer the same. He now knew the will of God. Without the possibility of a doubt, it would be to do evil to go into Moab. Impossible, he could be longer in uncertainty as to this.

The first time God had definitely forbidden Balaam to go with Balak's princes; but Balaam had said, "Jehovah refuseth to give me leave to go with you". This second time Jehovah did not refuse to give Balaam leave to go with Balak's princes, but He did not command him to go. There was an "if", which indicated that there was divine permission with a condition attached, but not a divine command.

So eager is Balaam to depart on this mission to secure "the reward of unrighteousness" that he does not for a moment consider that God had at the first definitely prohibited his going; nor does he pause to contemplate the reason for the permission after the prohibition. Was it not that God was proving Balaam to bring out the true desires of his evil heart?

The conditional permission to go with Balak's servants did not set aside the definite command to Balaam not to go to Balak, and this is shown in God's anger being kindled when Balaam went. The thoughts of the false prophet were completely at variance with the thoughts of God, and this he knew very well; but he was determined if it were possible to get the reward that Balak promised, even if it meant cursing those whom God had blessed. Such is man under the influence of Satan!

Balaam's reply to them was plausible and sanctimonious, to the effect that, no matter how great reward Balak would give him, Balaam could not go beyond the word of the Lord his God. But if he really believed the word of the Lord, he would have told them that God's word had already been given, and this was final: the people must not be cursed, for they are blessed. However, Balaam was still hopeful of a reward, and told the messengers he would inquire again of the Lord (v.19), for a false prophet considers that the Lord may change His mind, as do false gods, for his usual contact was with evil spirits, not the Lord.

God again intervened and because Balaam wanted to go. God told him to do so, but that he must speak only what God told him to. How little Balaam knew what would be the consequences of not bowing to God's first word to him! If after God has expressed His will, we still want our own way, God may likely allow us to have our way in order that we may learn by experience the folly of our own self-will.

When Balak's messengers returned to Moab, the King was not disposed to let the matter rest. Accordingly he sent another embassy, composed of persons greater in dignity than those he sent at first, and offered to increase the reward if only Balaam would come. Balaam said that if Balak would give him his house full of silver and gold he could not go beyond the word of Jehovah. This sounds well; but he added "tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what Jehovah will say to me more" (Num. 22:18-19). Such an attitude was sheer wickedness. Jehovah had already clearly stated His mind; thus there was nothing about which to consult Him further. But Balaam was bent upon going, and he knew enough of God not to desire open conflict with Him (Like Gamaliel in Acts 5:39); he would bend Jehovah to his self-will if possible! Appalling thought! Colossal ignorance of our God!

God spoke again to Balaam in the night, saying, "If the men have come to call thee, rise up and go with them; but the word that I shall say to thee, that shalt thou do." God would now deal with the fool according to his folly. He should go as he wished; but God was determined to cover him with confusion, and bring great blessing for His own people out of these Satanic manoeuvres. The man's wicked attitude towards God concerning this matter calls to mind the behaviour of the Jewish captains in the days of Jeremiah when they were afraid of the Chaldeans. They requested the prophet to pray for them that they might have divine guidance concerning their path, when they had already made up their minds to go with their whole company to Egypt (Jer. 42). Let us beware of going before God at any time with our minds already made up. It is a serious affront to the Divine Majesty!

Balaam, having obtained permission from Jehovah, arose eagerly in the morning, saddled his ass, and set forth with Balak's messengers. He was not walking in the light, as the Lord Jesus in John 2:9 when starting on a journey. Balaam walked in darkness, hoping that he was to have his own way, and reap a rich reward for his villainy. His heart was not filled with divine affections, and longing to be used of God for the blessing of men. He had no message; what he would be constrained to say when his eyes beheld the tribes of Israel he knew not. What a journey — a journey that will preach its lessons, and that will not be forgotten while the earth abides! Never was Satan more determined to curse; never was God more determined to bless! Never had Satan a more willing servant; never was a man more impotent than Balaam when the Almighty took him in hand! How good to the soul to meditate in the ways of our God!

His heart is unchanged. Therefore he is again bidden to go, and again reminded of his inability to say aught but what God gave him to say. Had his confession of sin been real, would he not have found mercy? Not being real, he is allowed to follow the bent of his own will, the willing servant of Satan. But, while filling up the measure of his iniquity, God all the while uses him to accomplish His will, and to declare for our profit and joy the unchangeable counsels of God.

Balak's first embassy is, however, unsuccessful: Jehovah refuses, as he tells the messengers, to give him leave to go. He makes no secret of it that his own will is good enough, while he conceals the fact that God has shown him that the people are blessed. Balak has reason to suppose that with more pressure he will come; for it was notorious that the gods of the heathen could be made compliant. He sends more and more honorable representatives: Balaam must let nothing hinder him from coming; for indeed he will promote him to very great honor. Balaam protests that he is strictly bound by Jehovah's will; yet desires his own, and God leaves him to it, only making him understand that after all he must speak His word alone: and Balaam goes.

Upon the road occurs that which has provoked the wonder of unbelief at all times. God's anger is kindled because he goes, and the angel of Jehovah takes his stand in the way as an adversary against him. There is no great need for wonder here. While on the one hand there were purposes to be served by Balaam's presence with the king of Moab, that did not in the least affect the state of soul which provoked the anger of God. Balaam needs a warning, and God deals with him much as He had dealt with Moses forty years before, only that now, instead of Zipporah and the stone of circumcision, He uses the ass, less insensate than himself, to save and rebuke him.

So we picture the prophet setting out from Mesopotamia for Moab with Balak's silver and gold filling his soul's vision, utterly heartless as to the devastation and sorrow that he was to endeavour to bring upon an unoffending people in order to obtain his reward. The people of Israel had done him no wrong, and he had no direct quarrel with them; yet he was willing to blast a whole nation — men, women, and children. Nothing more horrible could well be imagined. No wonder we read that "God's anger was kindled because he went" (Num. 22:22).

A heavenly being stood in the way with a drawn sword in his hand. He is called "the angel of Jehovah." This was no mere servant. It is the same messenger who appeared to the wife of Manoah in Judges 13 and who said his name was "Wonderful." Both to her and to Balaam he spoke with divine authority. To Balaam He said: "I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before Me … Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak to thee, that thou shalt speak." The speaker was none other than He whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ.

The messengers in result came with the rewards of divination or witchcraft; but the power of God immediately appears, for at the first call Balaam says, "I will bring you word again, as Jehovah shall speak to me." It was not his wont to seek counsel of God; his intercourse was with the powers of darkness. He says he will bring the word of Jehovah, but he knew not the import of that Name, though compelled to use it. We surely see in this that it was God as the Jehovah of Israel Who met him, at once proclaiming Israel's relationship to Him and Himself as their God. He was for them. But He was not "Jehovah" to Balaam, it was "God" that met him. Balaam's constant use of that Name only makes him the unwitting witness that God was for Israel and against Moab. Constrained to refuse at first, and again seeking to know what God would say to him, it shows how determined his will was, how great his desire to get the reward that Balak promised. It, also, in result brings out more clearly the intervention of God on behalf of His people, for we should not have had these wonderful prophecies if he had not gone. God is making the power and malice of the enemy to praise Him, and to manifest this, to make Satan's discomfiture more complete, God on the second occasion bids him go (i.e. allows him to follow his own will, yet telling him he is powerless and can only speak the word God gives him). This permission to go did not lessen his sin in going. The thought, the desire to curse Israel was still uppermost in his mind; therefore the angel of Jehovah met him in the way and would have slain him. We know how he escaped; the dumb ass rebuked the madness of the prophet.