In 22:9-14 God stopped Balaam from going. God said to him, "You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed" (v. 12). Balaam then told the officers of Balak that the Lord would not allow him to go with them.
Balak was really devilish. When the officers told him that Balaam had refused to come with them, Balak again sent officers, more in number and more honorable than they, to induce Balaam to come (vv. 14-15). These officers might have come to Balaam with presents from Balak. They spoke to Balaam on Balak's behalf, urging Balaam to curse the children of Israel for Balak.
"Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of Jehovah my God, to do less or more. Now, therefore, stay here tonight also, that I may know what more Jehovah will speak to me" (vv. 18-19). If Balaam had been faithful, he would have told Balak's officers that the Lord would not let him go with them. Instead, he told them that he would go to the Lord again and seek His leading. This also was a matter of Balaam's self-deception.
God allowed Balaam to go, and Balaam went (vv. 20-21; 2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11). God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only what I tell you, that shall you do" (Num. 22:20). Balaam, therefore, went with the rulers of Moab (v. 21).
Balaam might have taken the Lord's word to him as the basis for saying that in going with Balak's officers he was doing God's will. Actually, Balaam was pursuing his own will, not God's will. Because he desired to go with Balak's officers, God told him to go. Our situation today may be similar. If we want to do a certain thing and even insist on doing it, the Lord may eventually allow us to do it.
"God's anger burned because he went; and the Angel of Jehovah took His stand in the way as his adversary" (v. 22a). When the ass on which Balaam was riding saw the Angel of Jehovah, she pushed against the wall (v. 25). When she saw the Angel of Jehovah again, she lay down under Balaam (v. 27). Eventually, because Balaam was striking the ass with his staff, God opened the mouth of the ass, and she spoke to Balaam (vv. 28-30). This was a genuine miracle. Then "Jehovah unveiled the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the Angel of Jehovah standing in the road and His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face" (v. 31).
Notice that in our text the Angel of the Lord is capitalized to indicate that this angel is Christ. In the Old Testament the expression "the Angel of Jehovah" refers to Christ. For example, when Moses was called by God, he was called directly by the Angel of Jehovah, directly by Christ (Exo. 3:2, 4). If we read Numbers 22 carefully, we will see that the Angel of Jehovah here is the very God Himself. The Lord Himself was dealing with this greedy prophet.