taking with them the fee for divination

The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said. (Numbers 22:7, NIV)

So the Moabite and Midianite leaders took with them the payment for the curse, went to Balaam, and gave him Balak's message. (Numbers 22:7, GNT)

divination: fortune-telling, using evil ways to look into the future. More will be said about this subject in another blog post.

Balaam was a famous prophet among idol worshipers. His blessing and cursing were believed to be effective. So a king named Balak sent some important persons to ask Balaam to curse his enemy (for the whole story, see Numbers 22).

Here I would try to explain Balaam's situation in the light of Proverbs 23:1-3, which I had discussed in several posts back. Balaam was facing great temptations.
1) A king sent important persons to ask him for help (temptation of vanity).
2) A payment, which was likely pretty good, would have been given for his help (temptation of money).
3) The task was to defeat an enemy of the nation (temptation of patriotism).

It's not easy to resist any one of those three temptations. When they are combined together, it would be impossible to refuse. Furthermore, king Balak actually did not give Balaam complete information about the enemy, which he wanted to put curse on. What would you do in that situation? What had Balaam done?