The LORD and Balaam

Numbers 22:7-12 - The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.

"Spend the night here," Balaam said to them, "and I will bring you back the answer the LORD gives me." So the Moabite princes stayed with him.

God came to Balaam and asked, "Who are these men with you?"

Balaam said to God, "Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: 'A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.' "

But God said to Balaam, "Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed."

There was a set fee for divination. I wonder how much it was. So this is how Balaam made a living? Was it his main occupation or did he have another vocation too?

I wonder if God appeared to him in human form as he did to Abraham, for example. I wonder if the LORD had spoken to him like this in the past or if this was the first time. He seems to know the LORD, the one and only God, and expects to get an answer for those who hired him. He doesn't seem especially surprised or afraid when God speaks to him.

I wonder how Balaam had come to know about the LORD in the first place.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.