Balaam was sensitive to the spirit world. Either he did not sense the presence of the Angel of the Lord or his greed had blinded him to the Angel"s presence. The Angel had drawn his sword ( Numbers 22:23), symbolic of God"s wrath against Balaam, for acting as he was doing (cf. Genesis 3:24; Exodus 12:12). God finally caught Balaam"s attention by speaking through the donkey ( Numbers 22:28; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:27). Then he saw the Angel and bowed in submission before Him ( Numbers 22:31). [source][source][source]
". . . even a beast is more capable of discerning things from the higher world, than a man blinded by sinful desires." [1][source]
Hopefully Balaam appreciated the contrast between his own lack of insight and his donkey"s ability to discern God"s will and learned some humility from the event. [source][source][source]
"We see the prophet Balaam as a blind seer, seeing less than the dumb animal.... The long shadow of Moses falls across the pages of the Balaam story even though Moses is never named once. Moses spoke face to face with God (see ch12); Balaam does not even know that God is near-but his donkey does!" [2][source]
Why did Balaam answer his donkey as though he normally conversed with it ( Numbers 22:29)? Perhaps spirits had spoken to him through animals previously (cf. Genesis 3:1; Genesis 3:4). Maybe the donkey exasperated him to the point that he answered before he realized what he was doing. [source][source][source]
"The donkey"s acts and words anticipate the problems Balaam is about to face. The ass was caught three times between the angel"s sword and Balaam"s stick. Soon Balaam will find himself trapped between Balak"s demands and God"s prohibitions. Through his third encounter with God, Balaam was reminded that God wields a sword and that disobedience means death. So he goes on his way fully committed to declaring God"s words rather than submitting to Balak"s wishes (35)." [3][source]
"The Lord tells Balaam to continue on his journey but to "speak only what I tell you" ( Numbers 22:35). This is the point of the whole chapter: Balaam the pagan mantic will not be able to speak cursing as he had planned. Instead, he would be the most surprised of all; he would be the most remarkable instrument of God in the blessing of his people, Israel." [4][source]
Some ancient and modern interpreters have pointed out the similarities and differences between the stories of Balaam"s donkey in this pericope and Abraham"s binding of Isaac ( Genesis 22:1-19). [5] The stories appear in inverse form, as a reflection in a mirror. God through Moses may have subtly contrasted Balaam with Abraham to put Balaam in a bad light and to glorify Abraham. [source][source][source]
Balak was a bit put out with Balaam for delaying his arrival. He assumed Balaam"s hesitancy was due to doubt concerning Balak"s ability to pay him ( Numbers 22:37). The sacrifices ( Numbers 22:40) were probably to secure the favor of Balak"s gods. [source][source][source]
"The pieces given to Balaam presumably would have included the livers; for as a baru diviner, Balaam was a specialist in liver divination." [2][source]
Balak assumed that Balaam would be more susceptible to receiving supernatural power, and it would be more effective, if he had Israel in view. This is why he took Balaam to places where he could see Israel. [source][source][source]
"In order to lay a spell on a people, it was considered necessary to be able to see them, if only in part." [1][source]
None of the sites mentioned are identifiable with certainty, but all were around the area where Israel lay camped. [source][source][source]Numbers 22:41 contains one of the first references to Baal worship in the Old Testament. [source][source][source]
"Israel struggled with Baal and his worshippers from the beginning to the end of her national history. Baal worship was the most serious challenge and threat to the worship of Yahweh of all the pagan religions in the ancient Near East. This was true because some similarities and some vast differences existed between Baal and Yahweh." [8][source]