Why Moab Feared Israel's Mouth and Crowned Balak King

"And Moab said to the elders of Midian" (Numbers 22:4). When they saw that Sihon and Og had been slain, they were astonished and said: Who can by his strength subdue them or stand against them? And when they saw that they were vanquishing the whole world, they did not know wherein their strength lay. They brought the elders of Midian and inquired of them, and they said: This nation has neither sword nor spear, and all their strength is in their mouth, and they prevail over all the nations only with their mouth. "Now will this assembly lick up all that is around us" — for they did not wage war, but imposed forced labor upon them, and plundered all that they brought outside the city. "As the ox licks up" — and why an ox? To tell you: just as that which the ox licks has no sign of blessing forever, so Israel — all that they take, they leave no remnant or survivor. "And Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time" — for he was not fit for kingship, but according to the time the Moabites made him king over them.