Numbers 22:20

20. If the men come Inasmuch as the men have come.

Go with them Because Balaam obeyed the first injunction with inward repugnance, his second prayer for the divine direction is answered in wrath, so that he was in danger of dying by the sword of the angel, a type of the sword of Israel which pierced his heart. Numbers 31:8; Joshua 13:22. This seeming change of mind in God misled Balaam to repeated and vain endeavours to procure leave from God to curse his people. Men who will not hearken to the voice of the Lord are given up to walk in their own counsels, as God gave Israel a king in his anger when the theocracy had been rejected.

But yet This proviso shields Israel from all harm from Balaam, while it allows him to hope that he will attain his desire. In the place of the first plain oracle, Numbers 22:12, a darker response is given, Thou shalt do the word that I shall speak unto thee. Balaam thought he would hear more from God, but heard less, and lost that which he had heard before. A rebellious will gets less and less light from prayer to God. Matthew 6:23, note.