2 Peter 2:15

2 Peter 2:15. forsaking the straight way they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness (or, wrong-doing). The strong verb for a following which amounts to close pursuit or imitation is used here again, as in chap. 2Pe 1:16, 2 Peter 2:2. The form Bosor, for the Beor of the Old Testament, is explained as due to the peculiarity of the Galilean pronunciation. Peter's own Galilean speech ‘bewrayed' him (Matthew 26:73). On the phrase ‘loved the wages of unrighteousness' see on 2 Peter 2:13. Some good documents exhibit a different reading here, which connects this clause not with Balaam, but with these men, viz., ‘following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, they loved the wages of unrighteousness.' It is to be observed, too, that in Acts 13:10 Peter is represented as using the phrase ‘right ways,' or ‘straight ways,' in his denunciation of Elymas the sorcerer. The word ‘way,' too, meets us very often in the O. T. story of Balaam (Numbers 22). It is supposed by some that reference is made here to Balaam's counsel in the matter of tempting Israel to sensuality (Numbers 31:16). The definition given, however, in the last clause points rather to covetousness as the character in which Balaam is brought in. The lust of gain which Balaam formally denied was, as the tenor of the O. T. narrative clearly shows, the thing that shaped his action. The fact that in Revelation 2:14-15 the Nicolaitans are mentioned in connection with Balaam, leads some to the conclusion that Peter also had that party in his view here. Jude makes use of the cases of Cain and Korah as well as that of Balaam.