Where Jude makes reference to Cain, Balaam, and Korah (Jude 1:11), Peter focuses only on Balaam. He was a pagan diviner (Joshua 13:22) tasked with pronouncing a curse upon Israel in exchange for a large sum of money (Numbers 22:7, Numbers 22:17). He became famous in Scripture as a person driven by greed and also responsible for leading Israel into sexual sin (Numbers 25:1–5; Numbers 31:16). Whilst the NIV and ESV mention that he was the son of Beor (Numbers 22:5), the original Greek text actually says that he was the son of Bosor. Bosor is an otherwise unattested form of the name of Balaam’s father Beor. Most likely Peter is doing a word play on the name Beor and the word for flesh. In this way he draws attention to Balaam’s immoral character by calling him a son of flesh.
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15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,