Things were going well for King Balak and his kingdom of Moab. So he wasn't too pleased to look out his window one day and see a whole new tribe of people camped below by the river Jordan! These people, the Israelites, had come all the way from Egypt. They wanted to share the land of Moab. But King Balak was not so sure about this. He could see very well that the Israelites were powerful. He was afraid to fight them. Instead the King sent his servants to ask Balaam to help him.

Everybody knew the seer Balaam who lived in Pethor by the river Euphrates. He had a gift for talking with God. King Balak wanted Balaam to call down something bad on the Israelites. That way he hoped to get them to go back to where they came from.

The King's servants promised Balaam riches and honor. All Balaam had to do was to call down evil from God on the Israelites. It was hard to say no to such a powerful king as Balak. Most seers would be happy to please the king and get gold, too.

But Balaam was different. He had learned to respect God from talking with Him. And God told Balaam that He had blessed the Israelites. So Balaam said no to Balak's servants and sent them away.

But King Balak was not content. Next he sent to Balaam a company of great nobles. They begged Balaam not to refuse the king. They offered him anything he wanted. But first he must bring harm on the Israelites. Balaam was tempted to do the king's bidding. And he decided it was best to go speak to King Balak face to face.

So Balaam saddled his donkey and headed for the kingdom of Moab. But he didn't get very far! His donkey suddenly turned off the road into a field. Balaam slapped the donkey to turn them back on track. But again the donkey suddenly turned aside. This time they ran into a wall and scraped Balaam's foot! Again, Balaam slapped his donkey and brought him back to the road.

Imagine Balaam's surprise when the donkey suddenly lay down right there in the middle of the road, with Balaam sitting on top of him. At that point, Balaam was so embarrassed that he struck the poor donkey with his staff.

Now since Balaam was a seer, he should have been able to figure out why his loyal donkey was acting in such an odd manner. But, the Bible says, God opened the donkey's mouth to humble Balaam. "Haven't you ridden me all your life?" asked the donkey. "And do I usually treat you this way?" And Balaam said, "No."

Then Balaam began to see what the donkey had been seeing all along. An angel with a sword was blocking their path! Now Balaam understood that his donkey was trying to save him by turning off the road. He felt so ashamed. He fell to the ground flat on his face.

By this time, Balaam just wanted to turn back home. But the angel directed him to continue on to Moab. And now Balaam would be very careful to speak only the words that God told him.

When Balaam arrived in Moab, King Balak ran out to meet him. Then the king and his nobles took Balaam up three different sacred mountains. On each mountaintop, the king made an offering to God. He hoped to please God so he could get what he wanted—the defeat of the Israelites. Each time, Balaam left the king to go look down on the Israelites in the valley and to ask God what was the right thing to do. And each time, God told Balaam to bless the Israelites. And each time, Balaam returned to King Balak and gave him God's message.

"God has commanded me to bless," he said. "God blesses, and I cannot go against that!" The Bible says that "the spirit of God" came upon Balaam. That means God made something perfectly clear to him. So Balaam blessed the people in the valley below.

King Balak lost his temper and shook his fists. He still didn't understand that he could try a thousand times to bring down evil on the people, but it wouldn't make any difference. God loves His people. Nobody can undo the blessings of God, because they are forever.

You can read this whole story in the Bible, Numbers, chapters 22–24.