YHWH had told Balaam not to go with Balak's people. Balaam obeyed YHWH at first, but when they came the second time, with even greater offers of wealth, Balaam again asked YHWH for permission to go, in spite of knowing YHWH's clear command from before.
As a result, YHWH allowed him to go, but His anger burned against Balaam and only by His grace in allowing the donkey to see, Balaam wasn't killed by the angel.
A lesson for me here is that if we persistently pigheadedly go ahead with something YHWH doesn't want us to do, He may permit us to, but there'll be consequences.
As it turned out, Balaam only partially learned the lesson, for later he indeed blessed Israel instead of cursing Israel, but in the end, he told them how to compromise Israel - by tempting them to abandon YHWH.
Balaam knew that YHWH was the real God, yet he let his love of money to get in the way of that, and in the end Balaam lost his life when Israel attacked their enemies.
Balaam was a real prophet, and he really knew YHWH, yet he did this. This is a warning to all of us.
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