2 Peter 2:15

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 wayis 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 Basharsignifies "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 paronomasiawhich 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. No teacher could condemn the practice more strongly than St Paul, though he does so on rational and spiritual grounds, and not from the Jewish standpoint of there being an actual physical contamination in the things so sacrificed (1 Corinthians 8-10). It would indeed be much more in accordance with facts to infer that it was St Paul's allusion to the history of Balaam's temptation of the Israelites (1 Corinthians 10:8; Numbers 25:9; Numbers 31:16) that first associated the name of the prophet of Pethor with the corrupt practices of the party of licence in the Apostolic Church, and that St Peter, St Jude, and St John were but following in his track. It is noticeable, lastly, that in the purely Ebionite or Judaizing books, known as the Clementine Homiliesand Recognitions, there is no reference to the name of Balaam.

who loved the wages of unrighteousness The phrase is repeated from 2 Peter 2:13 as laying stress on this point of parallelism between the earlier and later forms of evil. It is not without interest to note that in both the Apostle reproduces what we find recorded as spoken by him in Acts 1:18.