2 Peter 2:15
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of cBalaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
καταλιπόντες τὴν εὐθεῖαν ὁδὸν ἐπλανήθησαν, ἐξακολουθήσαντες τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ Βαλαὰμ τοῦ Βοσόρ, ὃς μισθὸν ἀδικίας ἠγάπησεν,
Textual key: no entry
c:
Numbers 22:5 He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me:
Numbers 22:7 And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.
Numbers 22:18 And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.
Numbers 22:22 ¶And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.
Numbers 23:3 And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place.
Numbers 23:12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?
Numbers 23:26 But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?
Numbers 24:1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
Numbers 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
Numbers 25:2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
Jude 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
Acts 1:18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
the way of truth, 2Pe 2:2, i.e. the way of faith and holiness, which is the only right way to happiness.
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, Num 22:1-41, who left the way of God, which was, to be obedient to God, and not go beyond his word, Num 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, Num 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, Rev 2:14; and these taught men to commit lewdness, and indulge themselves in their sensualities.
3. Chiefly in respect of their covetousness, as follows.
either this is the name of his country, called Pethor, Num 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. Thus Beth-el was called Beth-aven, Hos 4:15; and Beelzebub called Beelzebul, the god of dung, Mat 10:25.
the reward which Balak offered him for an unrighteous act, viz. the cursing of God’s people.