Numbers 22:5
He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me:
Israel had just returned from conquering Bashan and encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, beside the Jordan above its entrance into the Dead Sea opposite Jericho on the very borders of Moab. The sender of the summons was Balak son of Zippor, king of the Moabites, and the one sent for was Balaam son of Beor at Pethor by the river, who lived in Mesopotamia. The messengers were the elders of Moab and of Midian, who made a long journey over mountains and across deserts to Mesopotamia, with Moab joined to its kindred Midianites by ties of nationality and religion, saying this company would lick up all around them as the ox licks up the grass of the field.
Their message reported that a people newly come out of Egypt had spread so as to cover the face of the earth and of the land and had settled and camped opposite Moab and close against Balak. Their alarm at Israel's presence, size, and power led them to ask Balaam to come and curse this people. Balak asked this because they were too mighty for him, hoping he might then prevail to defeat them, smite them, and drive them out of the land and from the land, trusting that those Balaam blessed were blessed and those he cursed were cursed.
The request sought Balaam because his fame for supernatural powers, divinations, and enchantments had reached Moab, since Moab dared not risk open attack and, like Pharaoh, determined to enlist sorcery to counteract the work of God. The motive was exceeding terror and trouble at Israel's presence, size, and power, because Balak saw that Israel had destroyed the Amorites who had forced Moab to retreat, taken possession of their land, and overthrown the strongholds of Bashan by supernatural power. The messengers came from those who hated God and sought Balaam's help against Israel, and the summons was a call to curse Israel in order to accomplish their destruction.
Israel was under God's protection and progress as God's chosen under God's almighty power, so Balaam knew no human curse could hinder them. Balaam had once been acknowledged by God as a prophet but proved unfaithful to that trust, acting from greed, selfishness, covetousness, and desire for wealth and honor, ready to conform to a corrupt people rather than remain true to God, and he would have presented God's people in a false light if God had allowed it. God overruled and controlled the corrupt and hypocritical gain-seeking prophet so that instead of cursing for reward he was compelled to pronounce the richest and most sublime blessings upon Israel, turning the summons into a striking display of divine goodness and mercy.
That overruling gave Moab added evidence that Jehovah was the God they should serve, as clear and distinct light from God's throne while their cup of iniquity was not yet full, the last ray of light shining upon a stiff-necked people who had set their wills in defiance of God's will. Balak's sending for Balaam begins conducting him from one point to another in the vain hope of changing Israel's blessing into a curse, showing that repeated efforts to move a steadfast man fail, and human applause and fear of man are alike powerless to shake his decision when he is sustained by divine power. The episode warns that those who bring their own interests and plans into God's work through selfishness and covetousness can work against God and become hindrances instead of obedient servants.