‘And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not speak also to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Yahweh, to do either good or bad of my own mind. What Yahweh says, that will I speak?”
But Balaam replied equally strongly and reminded him that he had done nothing other than he had said he would do. He had said from the beginning that even if Balak gave him his treasure house stocked to the brim, he would not go beyond the word of Yahweh. He would not, nay could not, do good or bad in his own mind. It was not within his ability to do so. He was not the master of the gods, he was their interpreter. He could only say what Yahweh had said to him. (He would have made the same reply to a Babylonian king about Marduk. His view was that he dealt with ‘gods' and even though he did try to influence their decisions, and had ways of doing so, in the end simply brought the message that they gave, and was in no position to force them if they did not respond as he wanted. All he could do was keep trying).