Bilam did not know exactly where to go to observe the Israelite camp from above and attempt to curse them. Balak took him to several places. According to the Sages, Balak especially sought those places where Israel was destined to sin in the future, in order to arouse an indictment against them before God.

“Balak took Bilam and brought him up to the heights of Baal” (Numbers 22:41). Balak was a greater sorcerer and diviner than Bilam, and Bilam was drawn after him like a blind man. To what could the two of them be compared? They could be compared [to two people who wanted to cut up a piece of meat]. One had a knife in his hand but did not recognize the joints where the meat needed to be cut, while the other recognized the joints but did not have a knife in his hand. Balak would see the places where the Israelites were destined to sin. The verse states: “And brought him up to the heights of Baal”; this is a reference to Baal Peor [where the Israelites sinned with the Moavite women and worshipped Baal Peor, the god of the Moavites], as he saw that Israelites would die there. (Tanĥuma [Buber], Balak)