Numbers 24 · a question people ask
Balaam "returned to his place." Why is he with the Midianites later?
The chapter ends, "Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way" (24:25). But when Israel fights Midian, "They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword" (31:8), and Moses says of the Midianite women, "these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor" (31:16). Revelation speaks of "the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel" (Revelation 2:14). Numbers doesn't say how or when Balaam came to be among the Midianites. What it does say is that the man who told Balak, "I will say what the LORD says" (24:13), later gave the counsel that led Israel into sin at Peor (31:16).
The verses
“‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the LORD’s word, to do either good or bad from my own mind. I will say what the LORD says’?”
“Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.”
“They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.”
“Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD.”