2 Peter 2:15

Right (εὐθεῖαν) Lit., straight, which is the radical meaning of right. Are gone astray (ἐπλανήθησαν) See on Mark 12:24. Following (ἐξακολουθήσαντες) See on 2 Peter 1:16; and 2 Peter 2:2. Compare Jde 1:11. The way Note the frequent occurrence of the word way in the story of Balaam (Numbers 22), and Peter's use of the same phrase, as here, the right ways of the Lord, in Acts 13:10. Bosor Rev. gives Beor, the Old Testament form of the name. Wages of unrighteousness See on 2 Peter 2:13.

2 Peter 2:15-16 . Example of Balaam . “They have left the straight way and wandered from it, having followed the way of Balaam, who loved the ways of wickedness, and was rebuked for his transgression, when a dumb ass spoke with a man’s voice, and forbade the infatuation of the prophet.”

2 Peter 2:15 . Which have forsaken the right — Ευθειαν , straight; way — The way of truth and integrity, and are gone astray — Have wandered in dangerous and destructive paths; following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor — (So the Chaldeans pronounced what the Jews called Beor, ) namely, the ways of covetousness. Balaam loved wealth and honour so much, that to obtain them he acted contrary to his conscience. To follow his way, therefore, is to be guided by similar base passions, and to commit similar base actions; who loved the wages of unrighteousness — “When Balaam was first sent for to curse the Israelites, Balak’s messengers carried only the rewards of divination in their hands, Numbers 22:7 : and therefore when God forbade him to go, he easily acquiesced, and refused to go, 2 Peter 2:13 . But when Balak sent a second request by more honourable messengers, and with them a promise to promote him to very great honour, and to do whatever he should say to him, Balaam, inflamed with the love of the promised hire, endeavoured a second time to obtain permission to go.

And though God allowed him to go, on the express condition that he should do nothing in the affair without his order, Balaam went with the resolution of cursing the Israelites, whether God permitted him or not;” as evidently appears from the circumstances of the story, to which the reader is referred. “And though he so far obeyed God that he blessed the Israelites, it was no dictate of his heart, but a suggestion of the Spirit of God, which he could not resist. For that his love of the hire, and his inclination to curse the Israelites continued, he showed by his behaviour afterward, when, to bring the curse of God upon the Israelites, he counselled Balak to entice them to fornication and idolatry by means of the Midianitish women, Numbers 31:16 ; Revelation 2:14 :” in giving which advice he acted most unrighteously, knowing it to be evil, and that God’s purpose concerning the Israelites was irrevocable, Numbers 23:19 , &c. “He therefore gave the advice, not in the persuasion that it would be effectual, but merely to gain the promised hire, which therefore is called the hire of unrighteousness. In these things the false teachers, who, to draw money from their disciples, encouraged them by their doctrine to commit all manner of lewdness, might well be said to follow in the way of Baalam; and their doctrine might justly be called, the doctrine of Balaam.” — Macknight.

2 Peter 2:15 . Ἐξακολουθήσαντες τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ Βαλαὰμ , following the way of Balaam ) See note on Judges 1:8 , from Isaiah 56— Βοσὸρ , Bosor ) This and Beor are synonyms. Hill. Onom., pp. 700, 763, 774. Lightfoot (Hor. in Act., p. 270) thinks that sigma was written by Peter among the Babylonians by a Chaldaism for צ .

The right way; the way of truth, 2 Peter 2:2 , i.e. the way of faith and holiness, which is the only right way to happiness. Are gone astray; into the by-paths of error. There is but one right way, and many wrong, in which they wander that leave the right. He seems to allude to Balaam, Numbers 22:1-41 , who left the way of God, which was, to be obedient to God, and not go beyond his word, Numbers 2:18 , and ran into the way of sin, when he went with Balak’s messengers to curse God’s people; and therefore his way is said to be perverse, Numbers 2:32 . Following the way of Balaam; 1. In respect of their false doctrine: for, as Balaam was disobedient to God, and, against his command, went to Balak; so these men forsook the way of truth prescribed by God in his word. 2. In respect of their wicked lives: Balaam taught Balak to entice the children of Israel to commit fornication, and eat things sacrificed unto idols, Revelation 2:14 ; and these taught men to commit lewdness, and indulge themselves in their sensualities. 3. Chiefly in respect of their covetousness, as follows. Of Bosor; either this is the name of his country, called Pethor, Numbers 22:5 , and by change of two letters, P into B, and th into s, ( frequent in the Syriac language), Besor, or Bosor: or, the name of his father, called Beor, in Numbers, having two names; unless the apostle call him Bosor in allusion to Basar, flesh, as being of a fleshly mind, as the false teachers here were.

15. have—Some of the seducers are spoken of as already come, others as yet to come. following—out: so the Greek. the way—(Nu 22:23, 32; Isa 56:11). son of Bosor—the same as Beor (Nu 22:5). This word was adopted, perhaps, because the kindred word Basar means flesh; and Balaam is justly termed son of carnality, as covetous, and the enticer of Israel to lust. loved the wages of unrighteousness—and therefore wished (in order to gain them from Balak) to curse Israel whom God had blessed, and at last gave the hellish counsel that the only way to bring God's curse on Israel was to entice them to fleshly lust and idolatry, which often go together.

15 . which have forsaken the right way …] There may possibly be a reference to “the way of truth” in 2 Peter 2:2 and to the general use of “the way” for the sum and substance of the doctrine of Christ. (See note on 2 Peter 2:2 .) It may be noted that the charge thus brought against the false teachers by St Peter is identical with that which St Paul brings against Elymas of “perverting the right ways of the Lord” ( Acts 13:10 ). We may see in the sorcerer of Cyprus, as well as in that of Samaria, a representative instance of the character which both Apostles condemn. following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor ] The use of the term “way” is probably connected with the stress laid in the narrative of Numbers 22:32 (“Thy way is perverse before me”), in the journey which Balaam took in spite of the Divine warnings. The form Bosor, instead of Beor, may represent the mode of pronouncing the guttural letter that enters into the Hebrew name ( ע ) which prevailed in Galilee, analogous to that which in other languages has turned ἐπτὰ into septem , ὕλη into sylva , and the like. On this supposition, St Peter’s use of the form presents a coincidence with his betraying himself by his Galilean dialect in Matthew 26:73 . The characteristic feature of that dialect was its tendency to soften gutturals.

Another explanation, not, however, incompatible with this, has been found in the conjecture that as the Hebrew word Bashar signifies “flesh,” the Apostle may have used the form of the name which conveyed the thought that Balaam was “a son of the flesh,” carnal and base of purpose. Like explanations have been given of the change of Sychem (= a portion) into Sychar (= a lie) ( John 4:5 ), of Beelzebub (= lord of flies) into Beelzebul (= lord of dung) ( Matthew 10:25 ; Matthew 12:24 ). If we accept the explanation given by many commentators of the name Nicolaitans ( Revelation 2:6 ) as being a Greek equivalent for Balaamites, there would be reason for thinking that the prominence given to his history at this period of the Apostolic age led men, after the manner of the time, to find even in the syllables of his name a paronomasia which made it ominous and significant of evil. The prominence just spoken of is traceable not only here and in the parallel passage of Jude ( 2 Peter 2:11 ), but in Revelation 2:14 , where it appears in close connexion with the practice of eating things sacrificed to idols and the impurity associated with that practice. It has been contended by some writers (Renan, St Paul , c. x. p. 304) that from the point of view of the three writers who thus refer to Balaam, St Paul, in teaching the essential indifference of the act ( 1 Corinthians 8:4-8 ), appeared to reproduce the errors of the son of Beor. The hypothesis is, however, a singularly untenable one.