Where's the power?

He [Balaam in Num 22:38] cannot and does not make any declaration based on his own authority. He can only speak God’s word. This provides the clearest evidence that Balaam’s activities, as well as any other cursing specialist’s, were dependent and limited. True power only emanates from the divine world. This point is driven home even more succinctly in Num 23:8 ‘How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I curse those whom Yahweh has not cursed?’ According to this scheme of things, fully effective maledictions must operate out of a coordination between the mortal and immortal worlds. Without that harmony, an anathema goes nowhere (Prov 26:2). It has no potency. And as Balak discovers, curses cannot be summoned without some kind of divine advocacy.— Cursed Are You!, pages 161–62