" Straight-way he
"sent yet again princes, more and more honorable" than those who went
before, and commanded them to urge Balaam to let nothing hinder him from
coming.

Balaam slightly resented this treatment. He told the messengers-that if
Balak would give him his house full of silver and gold, he could not
go beyond the word of the Lord, to do more or less. Yet he apparently
deemed it politic to make another trial. He was, of course, quite aware
that God is unchangeable, but somehow he thought the Lord might alter
his mind. So he bade the messengers to tarry there that night while he
consulted God afresh.

Balaam's expectation was realised. The Lord did change his mind. He
"came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call
thee, rise up and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say
unto thee, that shalt thou do." So the prophet rose up in the morning,
saddled and mounted his wonderful ass, and went off with the princes of
Moab.

Poor Balaam, however, did not reflect that as the Lord had changed his
mind once he might change it twice, and the omission very nearly cost
him his life. He was unfortunately ignorant of what happened to Moses on
a similar occasion. After the Lord had dispatched the Jewish prophet
to Egypt to rescue his people from bondage, he met him at an inn, where
perhaps they both put up for the night, and sought to kill him. The same
thing happened now. No sooner had Balaam set out on his journey than
"God's anger was kindled against him because he went." This Jehovah is
a queer God and dreadfully hard to please. If you don't obey his orders
you run the risk of being damned, and if you do you stand a good chance
of being murdered. The only safe course is to get out of his way and
have nothing to do with him.

The "angel of the Lord" stood in Balaam's path, with a drawn sword in
his hand, ready to kill the prophet whose only crime was having done
exactly what he was told. But neither Balaam nor his two servants saw
him. The ass, however, had better eyesight. Being only an ass, and not a
man, he had a greater aptitude for seeing angels. Not liking the look
of this formidable stranger, Neddy bolted from the pathway into a field.
Balaam, who saw no reason for such behavior except sheer perverseness,
began to whack his ass and tried to turn him * into the right road.
Neddy succumbed to this forcible argument and jogged on again. The angel
of the Lord had apparently, in the me