BALAK
(bay' lack) HEBREW: BALAQ
"destroyer" or "devastator"
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Moab's King Balak was justifiably terrified of the Israelites. Under Moses they had already dispossessed the neighboring Amorites and killed both their king, Sihon, and King Og of Bashan, both of whom had sought to stop their advance toward the Promised Land through the lands east of the Dead Sea; suddenly, they were encamped on his border. Confronted with this uncomfortable fact, Balak sent emissaries to the Mesopotamian soothsayer Balaam, offering him generous fees if he would curse the Israelites. But God would only allow Balaam to speak the words he put in his mouth, and so the seer blessed rather than cursed the Israelites.
{E2 Dictionary of Biblical People}