After these two decisive engagements, which made them masters of the entire country east of the Jordan, from the wide chasm of the Arnon to the foot of the snow-capped Hermon, the Israelites encamped in the plains of Shittim, or _the Meadow of the Acacias_, amidst “the long belt of acacia-groves, which, on its eastern as well as its western side, line the upper terraces of the Jordan over against Jericho[128].” South of the Arnon was the little corner of territory occupied by Moab, who viewed with no little alarm the successes of the Israelites against such _mighty kings_ as Sihon and Og. _This people_, said BALAK the king of Moab to the elders of Midian, _lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field_. Sensible of the uselessness of attacking a nation so manifestly under the protection of an Invisible Power, the two confederate tribes resolved before falling upon them to place them under an awful curse, which might have the effect of paralysing their arms[129]. At this time no man was supposed to have greater power in this way than a famous Prophet named BALAAM, the son of Beor. He lived far away from the present encampment of the Israelites at Pethor, beyond the Euphrates, in Aram among _the mountains of the East_, but his fame had spread across the Assyrian desert even to the shores of the Dead Sea. His gifts he exercised as a Prophet of the same God, who had wrought so many miracles in behalf of the Israelites. If, therefore, he could be persuaded to lay upon them his powerful ban, their further success the Moabites thought might be checked, and the children of Lot might not only recover the land of which they had been deprived by the Amorites, but possibly add to them the fertile territory the Israelites had so lately won from Sihon and Og. Accordingly, elders both of Moab and Midian, with the rewards of divination in their hands, were despatched eastward across the Assyrian desert to intreat the aid of the powerful Prophet. On reaching their destination and announcing the purport of their errand, Balaam, uncertain of the lawfulness of complying with it, requested them to lodge there that night, while he ascertained the will of Jehovah. The answer he obtained was unfavourable. _Thou shalt not go with them_; said God, _thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed_. On the morrow, therefore, he sent the messengers away, bidding them announce to their master that Jehovah forbade his accompanying them.