that even if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD? I must speak whatever the LORD says.
We have here the conclusion of this vain attempt to curse Israel, and the total abandonment of it. 1. Balak made the worst of it. He broke out into a rage against Balaam (Num 24:10), expressed both in words and gesture the highest degree of vexation at the disappointment; he smote his hands together, for indignation, to see all his measures thus broken, and his project baffled.
Commenting on Numbers 24:10-14
If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold,.... Which are the very words he said to the princes of Moab, Num 22:18, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad; for though here it is the "commandment", and there the "word" of the Lord, yet it is the same word in both places in...
Num 24:12-14 But Balaam reminds him, on the other hand, of the declaration which he made to the messengers at the very outset (Num 22:18), that he could not on any account speak in opposition to the command of Jehovah, and then adds, “And now, behold, I go to my people.
Commenting on Numbers 24:12-14