Albert Barnes Commentary Numbers 22:8

"And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as Jehovah shall speak unto me: and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam." — Numbers 22:8 (ASV)

Balaam must surely have known that God’s blessing was on the people with whose marvelous march out of Egypt he was acquainted (Exodus 15:14; Exodus 18:1; Joshua 2:9), and from whom he had himself probably learned much (compare the language of Numbers 23:12 with Genesis 13:6, and that of Numbers 24:9 with Genesis 49:9). But his reply to the messengers next morning (Numbers 22:13), betrays the desire to venture to the utmost of what God would not forbid, rather than to carry out God’s will in wholehearted sincerity.