Numbers 22:8

Balaam Tells Them to Wait While He Obtains Words From Yahweh. (Numbers 22:8).

Numbers 22:8

‘And he said to them, “Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as Yahweh shall speak to me,” and the chieftains of Moab abode with Balaam.'

Balaam clearly had a fairly large establishment as he was able to put up all the elders who had arrived with their servants. And he invited them to lodge with him that night while he received a word from Yahweh and found out what he would say. It seems from what follows that the purpose in bringing in Balaam lay in the belief that he could persuade a nation's own god/gods to turn against their people and remove their protection from them. Thus in this case, having been informed that Yahweh was Israel's God, he recognised that he would have to deal with Yahweh on the matter. Meanwhile the ‘chieftains of Moab', representatives from Moab and their allies, remained with Balaam.