Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Peter · About this commentary
The Way of Balaam
2 Peter 2:15-16
15 Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing; · WEB
One name sums up the whole chapter — a genuine prophet who priced his gift — and the rebuke came from an animal.
Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing. Balaam is the exact precedent because he was not a fraud. He heard from God, spoke true oracles, and blessed Israel when hired to curse it Numbers 23:11–12. What ruined him was the fee.
That is why the chapter keeps returning to money. Verse 3 had covetousness and fabricated words; verse 14 had a heart trained in greed. Balaam names the pattern: a real gift, exercised for pay, eventually turned against the people it was meant to serve — since the counsel that finally seduced Israel at Peor was his Numbers 31:16.
Verse 16 reports the rebuke with evident relish. A speechless donkey spoke with a man's voice and stopped the madness of the prophet Numbers 22:28. The contrast is the whole comment: an animal without speech saw what the seer did not, and the man whose profession was perception had to be corrected by a beast of burden.
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