Christopher Hays, «A Fresh Look at Boso&r: Textual Criticism in 2 Peter 2:15.», Vol. 17 (2004) 105-110
Commentators have often been stymied by the idiosyncratic patronymic Boso&r assigned to Balaam of Beor by the best textual witnesses of 2 Peter 2:15. However, detailed investigation of the development of the Balaam traditions in tandem with the Edomite king-lists of Gen 36:32, 1 Chr 1:43, and Job 42:17d (LXX only) reveals a tightly intertwined history that paved the way for the unintentional replacement of Bew&r with Boso&r. The confusion
of numerous other names and places associated with the two titles in the Septuagint and Targums witnesses to a trajectory which culminated in the textual variants of 2 Peter 2.15.
«What Sort of Friends? A New Proposal Regarding (
M)
y)pr and (
M)
ylp+ in Job 13,4» 2009 394-399
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A FRESH LOOK AT Βοσόρ:
TEXTUAL CRITICISM IN 2 PETER 2:15
CHRISTOPHER M. HAYS
Commentators have often been stymied by the idiosyncratic patronymic
Βοσόρ assigned to Balaam of Beor by the best textual witnesses of 2 Peter
2:15. However, detailed investigation of the development of the Balaam
traditions in tandem with the Edomite king-lists of Gen 36:32, 1 Chr 1:43,
and Job 42:17d (LXX only) reveals a tightly intertwined history that paved
the way for the unintentional replacement of Βεώρ with Βοσόρ. The con-
fusion of numerous other names and places associated with the two titles in
the Septuagint and Targums witnesses to a trajectory which culminated in the
textual variants of 2 Peter 2.15.
A troubling variant sullies the text of 2 Peter 2:15 (ἐπλανήθησαν,
ἐξακολουθήσαντες τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ Βαλαὰμ τοῦ Βοσόρ). In this invective,
the author assails his apostate opponents as those who followed after Ba-
laam, the wicked prophet who helped Moabite king Balak bring destruction on
the Israelites (Num 22:1-24:25). Vaticanus, a few minuscles, and a handful
of versions (vgmss, syph, sams) call him Βαλαὰμ τοῦ Βεώρ, following his
widely attested patronymic (cf. Num 22:5; 31:8; Deut. 23:5). Nonetheless,
the testimonies of P72, the corrected Siniaticus1, C, P, 048, 33, the Majority
text, and a number of other witnesses identify him as Βαλαὰμ τοῦ Βοσόρ.
This imposing manuscript evidence, combined with the weight of lectio
difficilior, incontrovertibly testify to originality of Βοσόρ, but the reason
for this patronymic remains unclear.
Most scholars have interpreted Βοσόρ as a paronomastic allusion
to (basar, flesh), pejoratively referring to Balaam’s sinful behavior
which could be described as “fleshly” (σαρκινόϛ; cf. Rom 7:14) in New
Testament terms2. However, no one has accounted for the aberrant o-class
vowels in Βοσόρ (not βασάρ) and there is “no trace of this particular
The original reading of is Βεωορσόρ, a clear conflation of Βεώρ and Βοσόρ, cf.
1
, B.M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart 22002)
635.
R.J. Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter (Waco, Texas 1983) 267; M. Green, 2 Peter and Jude
2
(Grand Rapids 1987) 125; D.J. Moo, 2 Peter and Jude (Grand Rapids 1996) 128.
Filología Neotestamentaria - Vol. XVII - 2004, pp. 105-109
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras - Universidad de Córdoba (España)
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