Balaam the son of Beor. — The name of Balaam is probably derived from bala (to devour), with the terminal syllable am, or from the two words bala (he devoured), and am (people). His father’s name (Beor), from baar (to consume), has been thought to denote that Balaam belonged to a family in which the magical art was hereditary. He is described in Joshua 13:22 as “the soothsayer” (Hebrew, kosem) — i.e., one of that class of persons who were not to be tolerated amongst the Israelites, and who are spoken of as “an abomination unto the Lord” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). The form Bosor (2 Peter 2:15) probably arose from a peculiar mode of pronouncing the guttural letter Ain in baar. (See Keil, On the Pentateuch, 3 p. 159, and Note.) On the character and history of Balaam, reference may be made to Bishop Butler (Serm. vii.); Waterland (Works, 9:397); Keil, On the Pentateuch, in loc.; Hengstenberg (Dissertation on the Histories and Prophecies of Balaam, p. 747, Clark, 1848); and to the Article in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, by Professor Stanley Leathes.
To Pethor, which is by the river of the land... — Better, To Pethor, which is by the river, (even to) the land of the children of his people. Pethcr was in Mesopotamia (Numbers 23:7), where Lot, from whom the Moabites were descended, had dwelt (Genesis 12:5). “The river” is the Euphrates here, as elsewhere. (See, e.g., Genesis 15:18; Genesis 31:21; Exodus 23:31; 2 Chronicles 9:26.)
They cover the face of the earth. — Literally, the eye of the earth (or, the land). (Comp. Exodus 10:5.)