The Angel Rebukes Balaam for Cursing Israel on the Road

"And the angel of the Lord said to him: Why have you struck [your donkey these three times]?" The angel said to him: Know for what reason I have come. I did not come to claim the quarrel of the donkey, but to claim the quarrel of an entire nation, which you are going to curse, and which is destined to behold the face of the Shekhinah three times in the year. Therefore [it is said] "three regalim" (pilgrimage-feet), and it did not say "three times" (pe'amim). "Because the way 'yarat' (is perverse) before me." From here we derive a notarikon: 'Y' she feared (yare'ah), 'R' she saw (ra'atah), 'T' she turned aside (natetah). Another interpretation: "Because the way 'yarat' before me" — it is none other than a term of revealing, as it is said, "that it may have brightness, it is made bare (morattah)" (Ezekiel 21:15); for it was revealed and known to me that you are going to curse Israel, and therefore I went out to slay you, since [the way] is before me. Another interpretation: "Because 'yarat'" — a term of fear, as it is said, "trembling (retet) has seized [her]" (Jeremiah 49:24); for at the time when the angel goes and stands in the way, even though the person does not see it, his constellation (mazal) sees it, and the constellation dreads, as it is written, "a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled into hiding" (Daniel 10:7).