2 Peter - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

VUL
2 Peter 2:15 derelinquentes rectam viam erraverunt secuti viam Balaam ex Bosor qui
mercedem iniquitatis amavit
LWB 2 Peter 2:16 But he [Balaam] obtained a rebuke for his lawlessness: a mute ass
[silent donkey], speaking with a man’s voice, restrained [held back] the insanity of
the prophet [monetary and psychotic reversionism].
KW 2 Peter 2:16 But was the recipient of an effectual rebuke for his own lawlessness; the
inarticulate beast of burden, having spoken in a man’s voice, restrained the insanity of the
prophet.
KJV
2 Peter 2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad
the madness of the prophet.
TRANSLATION HIGHLIGHTS
Balaam received a form of discipline for his evildoing. He obtained a loud rebuke
(Constative Aorist tense) from a mute ass, a silent donkey. A “dumb ass” spoke to him
with a man’s voice (Dramatic Aorist tense), restraining (Latin: subjugating) the insanity
of the prophet. The madness, the psychosis of Balaam was prevented (Latin: prohibited)
from exercising itself by a speaking donkey! Balaam was involved in a shady deal where
he was going to obtain money for cursing a group of people who were blessed by God.
An angel of the Lord was dispatched to prevent him from doing so. His donkey saw the
angel in the middle of the road and tried to go in a different direction. Balaam struck his
donkey three times for leaving the road, but the Lord gave a man’s voice to the donkey to
rebuke him. What could be more humiliating to a prophet than to receive his instructions
from the mouth of an ass?
RELEVANT OPINIONS
The false teachers, like Balaam, are less rational than the irrational ass. (D. Watson) If the
donkey of Balaam rebuked the erring prophet, then believers are able to reprove the false
teachers with the teachings of God’s Word … Why does Peter relate the account of the
talking donkey? For a number of reasons: to compare Balaam’s insensitivity with that of the
false teachers; to show that Balaam proceeded blindly on the path of destruction so the
heretics are doomed; to reveal God’s intervention in causing Balaam to bless Israel; and to
give the believers of Peter’s day the assurance that God protects them. (S. Kistemaker) The
word for rebuke occurs nowhere else in the NT. (B. Caffin) The role of prophet was reversed
with a dumb animal, the mute donkey being used by the Lord to prophesy to the prophet.
(W. Baker) Indirectly the ass, directly the angel, rebuked his worse than asinine obstinacy.
(R. Jamieson) The false teachers, like Balaam, had sinned so long and so intensely that their
sin had become a form of insanity. Also today many people have so thoroughly given
themselves over to avarice and debauchery that their lifestyles are spiritually insane. Money
and sex (even in the name of religion) continue to bring spiritual ruin to many people. (K.
Gangel) It was enough to have prevented his going onward, when the dumb animal on which
he rode was gifted with speech to show him his madness. (H. Alford)