The Lord's Failure to Co-Operate With the Angel of the Lord

Balaam's failure to co operate with the wishes of balag was most climatically expressed in the lord's opening of the mouth of the false prophet balaam utter a series of blessings upon his people. In numbers, chapter 25, the people of israel had engaged in idolatrous relations with baal or peor and had sexual relations with moabite and midianite women. Relations with pagan women would go hand in hand with worship of foreign gods. The catastrophic effects of the plague that broke out at that time is evident from the greatly reduced numbers of the tribe of simeon.