Andreas of Caesarea : As we know from the Old Testament, Balaam was hindered by God for his greed in trying to obtain a living off his prophetic spirit. He obstinately tried to run to Balak a second time, and only after he was corrected by the fear of God and the terrors which he met along the way was he able to get the word of blessing right, so that what he said was from God and not his own wicked preference. For even his tongue was not totally given over to the service of a lie. — CATENA Bede : They followed the way of Balaam from Bosor, etc. Often, heretics propose such foolish doctrines and abominable sacraments that even the most dull-witted, the pagans, and those who completely lack understanding of divine knowledge, detest their madness. They refute their twisted paths and those contrary to God with healthier judgment. And what is worse, because it is more frequent, sometimes many Catholics love the reward of unrighteousness so much that they are deservedly attacked by the unlearned, by laypersons instead of clerics. These are rightly compared to the prophet who is reproached by the words of a donkey speaking against its nature, yet is not deterred from his evil path. The name of the city from which Balaam is said to have come, Bosor, meaning either of flesh or in tribulation, aptly fits such people. Excessive indulgence in luxury provides no greater reason to adulterate the word of truth for the love of money or the desire for temporal things, than when they have enslaved themselves to the lusts of the flesh, clearly unworthy of apostolic praise, which glorifies true believers saying: But you, brethren, are not in the flesh but in the spirit (I Thes. V). And thus they are placed in tribulation, not in the sense that they suffer for the Lord, but rather in that which oppresses the spirits of the weak with the perverse examples of their actions, preventing them from rising to salvation or repentance. Also, the name Balaam itself, meaning a vain or precipitating people, suits such individuals. For those who willingly desert the known path of truth are nothing but a vain people, casting their listeners into perdition by preaching not what corrects them but what delights them erroneously. About whom it is well added: — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles Hilary of Arles : The right way is the way of Christ, who said: "I am the way, the truth and the life." — INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER Oecumenius : Having hearts exercised with covetous practices, accursed children, who have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but was rebuked for his iniquity [Num. 22:6]: the dumb beast speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet. Having hearts exercised with covetous practices, whether of filthiness or even of possessions, for which both, abandoning the way that would lead them to salvation, have strayed from it: and the same happened to them as to Balaam the son of Beor, since he also loved the wages of unrighteousness for the sake of the gifts offered: but he was rebuked for his iniquity, namely by a dumb beast of burden, which speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet. And from this, therefore, we learn that Balaam, because of the affection of his desire, which he nourished with his insane prophecy, once prohibited by God, was again hastening to go to Balak steadfastly: but hindered by the fear of God, and by the terrors that met him on the way, he did not change the word of blessing, which was not of divination (for we have said that divination is uttered by a raging mind, and those things are said by one who is ignorant), but of prophecy. Indeed, the prophets speak knowing what they say. Hence, he called the prophet himself, as one who knows what he should say. For he certainly did not choose better while ignorant of what he was saying: therefore, the blessing was not of divination, but of the power of God. — Commentary on 2 Peter