Why Balaam Stopped Calling the LORD His God After Defying Him

"And he struck his hands together" (Numbers 24:10) — he beat this one against that one, as it is said, "I will strike My hands together" (Ezekiel 21:22); and this "and he struck" is an expression of striking. He said to him: I said, "I will surely honor you," and your God in whom you trusted has withheld you from honor. He said to him: I already said to your officers whom you sent to me, "I cannot go beyond the mouth of the LORD" (Numbers 22:18). Before he went with the officers of Balak, he would call Him "the LORD my God," but after he went and transgressed the mouth of the LORD, he did not call Him "my God" — for he understood and knew that he had already been banished from the world.