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.
Related Commentaries of 2 Peter 2:15
2 Peter 2:15
15 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;