The speaker uses a question to express alarm and build alliance rather than merely stating facts. By framing the threat as a rhetorical question with vivid imagery, the Moabites solicit agreement from Midian’s elders and create urgency for joint action against Israel’s encroachment.

The text does not record a direct reply from Midian’s elders. Balak king of Moab responded to this shared concern by sending messengers to Balaam son of Beor, a diviner in Pethor near the Euphrates, requesting him to curse Israel so that Moab might defeat them (Numbers 22:5-6).

This question captures Moab’s existential dread using agricultural imagery their audience would immediately understand. The verb ‘lick up’ (Hebrew לָחַךְ, lachak) appears only here and in the parallel phrase, creating deliberate emphasis through repetition—as an ox methodically strips a field, so Israel would consume their land. The interrogative form invites the elders of Midian into shared panic rather than delivering cold analysis. Why ask rather than declare? Because questions demand response and create psychological pressure for alliance. Moab’s fear was not entirely unfounded—Israel had just annihilated the Amorite kingdoms—but their resort to pagan divination rather than submission to Israel’s God reveals spiritual blindness. This question sets in motion one of Scripture’s strangest episodes: God using a hired prophet to bless rather than curse His covenant people.