Balak, king of Moab, was afraid of Israel because Israel recently defeated several other nations such as the Amorites and Bashan. Now, the people of Israel are right next to the him and Moab. King Balak went to Balaam (who was a diviner) and wanted him to curse Israel in order to defeat them. But Balaam couldn’t curse them. In fact, that’s not what God wanted. Instead, God wanted Balaam to do the opposite, bless Israel. No matter how hard King Balak tried to get Balaam to curse Israel (King Balak tried everything)… God would always have Balaam bless Israel instead. No matter how powerful men are (and King Balak was powerful since he was the king of Moab)… men are evil… and they can not stop God’s plans.