SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:16
Y fue reprendido de su maldad; un animal mudo acostumbrado a yugo (sobre el cual iba sentado) hablando en voz de hombre, refren la locura del profeta.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Peter 2:16
Verse 16. The dumb ass, speaking with man's voice] See the note on Num. xxii. 28. The madness of the prophet.] Is not this a reference to the speech of the ass, as represented in the Targums of Jonathan ben Uzziel and Jerusalem? "Wo to thee, Balaam, thou sinner, thou madman: there is no wisdom found in thee." These words contain nearly the same expressions as those in St. Peter.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 16. But was rebuked for his iniquity , etc.] Which was not merely going along with the messengers of Balak, for he had leave from the Lord so to do, ( Numbers 22:20); but going along with them with a desire to curse Israel, when it was the will of God he should go and bless them, in order to get Balak's money; so that his governing iniquity was covetousness, which led him to other sins; and for this he was rebuked by the angel, ( Numbers 22:32), as well as reproved by his ass, ( Numbers 22:28): for the dumb ass , as it was naturally so, the ass on which he rode, speaking with man's voice ; which was supernatural and miraculous, for it was God that opened the mouth of the ass: the mouth of that ass is said, by the Jews f35 , to be one of the ten things created between the two evenings on the sixth day of the creation; that is, as the gloss on it says, concerning which it was decreed, that its mouth should be opened to speak what this ass said; and the occasion of it may be seen in ( Numbers 22:22-30).
Lactantius observes, that there are two stars in the constellation of Cancer, which the Greeks call the asses; and which, the poets feign, are those that carried Liberus over a river, when he could not pass it; to one of which he gave this for a reward, ut humana voce loqueretur, that it should speak with man's voice; a fable, no doubt, hatched from the sacred history, and said in imitation of this ass. Which forbad the madness of the prophet : and so Balaam, though a diviner and soothsayer, is called by the Jewish writers f37 ; who, they say, was first a prophet, and then a soothsayer, from whom Jerom seems to have received the tradition; who says, that he was first a holy man, and a prophet of God, and afterwards, through disobedience, and a desire of gifts, was called a diviner; for his eyes were opened, and he saw the vision of the Almighty; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied many things concerning Israel, and the Messiah, and others, ( Numbers 24:4-9,16-24). His madness lay in going with the messengers of Balak, ( Numbers 22:21), in order to curse Israel, contrary to the will of God, ( Numbers 22:12); and it is madness in any to oppose God in his counsels, purposes, providences, and precepts; and every sin, which is an act of hostility against God, has madness in it; and this of Balaam's was forbid by his ass, and he was convinced of it. Very appropriately is mention made of this dumb ass, when the persons here spoken of were as natural brute beasts, and worse than them, ( 2 Peter 2:12).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 10-16 - Impure seducers and their abandoned followers, give themselves up to their own fleshly minds. Refusing to bring every thought to the obedience of Christ, they act against God's righteous precepts. The walk after the flesh, they go on in sinful courses, and increase to greater degrees of impurity and wickedness. They also despise thos whom God has set in authority over them, and requires them to honour Outward temporal good things are the wages sinners expect and promis themselves. And none have more cause to tremble, than those who ar bold to gratify their sinful lusts, by presuming on the Divine grac and mercy. Many such there have been, and are, who speak lightly of the restraints of God's law, and deem themselves freed from obligations to obey it. Let Christians stand at a distance from such.
Greek Textus Receptus
ελεγξιν 1649 δε 1161 εσχεν 2192 5627 ιδιας 2398 παρανομιας 3892 υποζυγιον 5268 αφωνον 880 εν 1722 ανθρωπου 444 φωνη 5456 φθεγξαμενον 5350 5674 εκωλυσεν 2967 5656 την 3588 του 3588 προφητου 4396 παραφρονιαν 3913
Vincent's NT Word Studies
16. Was rebuked (elegxin escen). Lit., had a rebuke. The word for rebuke only here in New Testament.
For his iniquity (idiav paranomiav). Rev., his own transgression. His own, see on ch. i. 3. Transgression, from para, contrary to, and nomov, law. Only here in New Testament. Compare the kindred verb paranomew, also occurring but once, Acts xxiii. 3, where see note on contrary to the law.
The dumb ass. Inserting an article not in the text, and omitted by Rev. Ass (upozugion). Lit., beast of burden. An animal subjected to the yoke. From uJpo, beneath, and zugon, a yoke. See on Matt. xxi. 5. Speaking (fqegxamenon). The verb is found in Peter only, here and ver. 18, and in Acts iv. 18, a Petrine narrative. It is well chosen, however. The verb denotes the utterance of a sound or voice, not only by man, but by any animal having lungs. Hence, not only of men's articulate cries, such as a battle-shout, but of the neigh of the horse, the scream of the eagle, the croak of a raven. It is also applied to sounds made by inanimate things, such as thunder, a trumpet, a lyre, the ring of an earthen vessel, showing whether it is cracked or not. Schmidt ("Synonymik") says that it does not indicate any physical capability on the part of the man, but describes the sound only from the hearer's stand-point. In view of this general sense of the verb, the propriety is apparent of the defining phrase, with man's voice.
Forbad (ekwlusen). Rather, hindered, or, as Rev., stayed. Compare Acts viii. 36; Rom. i. 13, Rev.
Madness (parafronian). Only here in New Testament. But compare the kindred verb parafronew (2 Cor. xi. 23), in the phrase, "I speak as a fool." From para, beside, and frhn, the mind; and so equivalent to the phrase, beside one's self.
