“15 Balak sent officials again who were more numerous and higher in rank than the others. 16 They came to Balaam and said to him, ‘This is what Balak son of Zippor says: “Let nothing keep you from coming to me, 17 for I will greatly honor you and do whatever you ask me. So please come and put a curse on these people for me!”‘
18 But Balaam responded to the servants of Balak, ‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go against the command of the Lord my God to do anything small or great. 19 Please stay here overnight as the others did, so that I may find out what else the Lord has to tell me.’
20 God came to Balaam at night and said to him, ‘Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.’ 21 When he got up in the morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and went with the officials of Moab.

22 But God was incensed that Balaam was going, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand on the path to oppose him. Balaam was riding his donkey, and his two servants were with him.”
Numbers 22:15-22
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This is one of those unusual passages of Scripture that look like God is contradicting Himself, but all it takes is a tiny amount of investigation and a look at the context of what is going on to find out that God is indeed acting as normal, and that nothing contradictory is being said or done. As always, with any good study of Scripture, with any good exposition, context is key. Don’t take what you know from your cultural understanding and apply it to the conversation/sequence of events happening in a different culture at a very different time in history.

Balaam refers to the Lord in the proper way, but that does not mean he is a believer. He is a diviner, a pagan, who uses entrails, dissection, bones and other cultic instruments to try to seek out the future and determine coming events. And so when he enquires of God about Israel, God is going to be very direct with him about how they are to be handled & treated. Because they mean nothing to Balaam, they are obviously seen as an enemy to Balak, and so God is unhappy with the whole situation. So God gives Balaam two different opportunities to see and understand that there are to be no curses laid out on the people of Israel. The first time, the message is for Balaam and Balak, when God tells them that he will not be going to curse Israel. That lets Balak hear for himself that they are not to be cursed. Balaam and the emissaries sent to him are all used as messengers from God for this pagan king, to point his mind toward God’s will and desire. The second time God gives Balaam permission to go, but not to do anything other than what He says. And so it is no surprise that God gets angry with the situation. Balaam holds no heart-loyalty to YHWH and if he does ‘curse’ the people for Balak, if even the smallest unfortunate circumstance happens, then Balak would claim responsibility over the event, and in turn power over God Himself. So, when God stops Balaam on the way with His angel, and even makes his donkey speak to him, it is all to let Balaam see and understand that God is not fickle, not impulsive or inconsistent that the imagined pagan gods that he is used to ‘invoking.’ God is serious about His people, and He is serious about His reputation and that His Name is glorified and lifted up. Nothing will stand in the way of His will. Balaam’s promise to refuse the gold and silver when it is a 25 day journey is one thing, but often gold in the hand sways the heart.

As Christians, we see from this event in Scripture that God is serious about the integrity of His Name and His people who bear His Name. That should be a great motivator to us to make sure that we are honoring God in all our efforts, and in every arena of our life. The proper respect for God as we GoLove others in His Name and according to His will, will translate into everything we do for His sake. We cannot take Him or His will lightly and hold Him in His proper place.