And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men are come to call thee, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak unto thee, that shalt thou do.

God therefore came to Balaam in the night, and said to him: It these men be come to call thee, arise and go with them: yet so, that thou do what I shall command thee.

And God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, If the men come to call thee, rise and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say to thee, that shalt thou perform.

And God cometh in unto Balaam, by night, and saith to him, 'If to call for thee the men have come, rise, go with them, and only the thing which I speak unto thee, it thou dost do.'

And that night God came to Balaam and said to him, If these men have come for you, go with them: but do only what I say to you.

Therefore, God came to Balaam in the night, and said to him: "If these men have arrived to call you, then rise up and go with them; yet only in so far as you shall do what I will command you."

Tunc venit Deus ad Balaam nocte, et dixit ei, Si vocandum te venerint viri isti, surge, vade cum eis: veruntamen quod dixero tibi, illud facies.

And God came to Balaam at, night. Although God is far from being deceitful, still hypocrites with their quibbles deserve that He should delude their craft. If we more closely consider the desire of Balaam, it was that God should belie Himself. For, if he was persuaded that He was truthful, what else was there to be hoped except that he should ratify His reply ten times over? Nevertheless, he wickedly lies to God, when he asks for a permission to go, which would convict God Himself of capriciousness and inconstancy. God, therefore, ironically permits what He had before forbidden. If any should deem it to be absurd that God, who is truth itself, should speak deceptively, the answer is easily found, viz., that God was guilty of no falsehood, but that He loosed the reins to a man obstinate in his own perverseness, just as a person might emancipate a wayward and grossly immoral son, because he will not suffer himself to be ruled. For had not his ungodly covetousness blinded Balaam, the meaning of this ironical permission was not difficult to be understood. Hence, then, let hypocrites learn, that they profit nothing by their vain pretences, although God may indulge them for a time, since He at length taketh the wily in their own craftiness; wherefore, nothing is better than, in pure and simple teachableness, to inquire what He would have us do, that we may instantly succumb, nor try to alter a word or a syllable as soon as He shall have deigned to open His holy mouth to instruct us. For to call in question what has been decided by Him, what is it but to compel Him by our importunity to bend Himself to our wishes?

If the men come - go with them - This is a confirmation of what was observed on the twelfth verse; though we find his going was marked with the Divine displeasure, because he wished, for the sake of the honors and rewards, to fulfill as far as possible the will of the king of Moab. Mr. Shuckford observes that the pronoun הוא hu is sometimes used to denote a person's doing a thing out of his own head, without regard to the directions of another. Thus in the case of Balaam, when God had allowed him to go with the messengers of Balak, if they came in the morning to call him; because he was more hasty than he ought to have been, and went to them instead of staying till they should come to him, it was said of him, not כי הלך ki halach, that he went, but כי הולך הוא ki holech hu, i. e., he went of his own head - without being called; and in this, Mr. Shuckford supposes, his iniquity chiefly lay - Connex., vol. iii., p. 115. How many are restrained from sinning, merely through the fear of God! They would gladly do the evil, but it is forbidden on awful penalties; they wish the thing were not prohibited for they have a strong desire to do it.

And the Lord came unto Balaam at night,.... As before, Numbers 22:9 it may be in a dream; the Targum of Jonathan is as there,"a word came from the Lord:"
and said unto him, if the men come and call thee, rise up, and go with them; this was said, as some think, not seriously, but sarcastically, or rather in an angry manner, bidding him go, if he would; so giving him up to his own heart's lusts, or, at most; only permitting him to go with them, but not to curse Israel; and this permission to go seems to be on this condition, if the princes first called him, and were urgent on him to go with them: this was a trial of Balaam, whether he would be eager and forward to go, or patiently wait until he should be called; or the words may be rendered, "seeing", or because (g):
they are come to call thee: but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shall thou do; whether he would or not, he should be forced to do it, as Jarchi; and therefore go not with any intention to curse Israel, which shall never be done; wherefore to go would be vain and fruitless, since he would never be able to answer the design of Balak: but still Balaam hoped, it not being so fully and clearly expressed as before, that he should not curse Israel; that God would say something else unto him, though he had no reason at all for it, but all the reverse; so blinded was he with a greedy desire of riches and honour.
(g) "quandoquidem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Noldius, p. 88. & Ainsworth.

If the men come - On this condition he was to go.