Reading ahead in v. 15, Peter gives the example of Balaam as a greedy false teacher. While he appears to have spoken the prophetic word properly in Numbers 22-24, his motives were briefly shown in Numbers 22:18-21:
But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.”
And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men [have] come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.
ESV unfortunately adds the word “have” making God’s response a tacit approval as “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them” (See ESV). Rather than it being a direct conditional “If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them” (See KJV). The verb “come” (bô') is in the perfect tense (complete without relation to time).
Balaam did not obey God’s instruction, did not wait to be approached a third time, but with the fear of missing out moved forward enticed by the “fees for divination” (Numbers 22:7) and “great honor” (Numbers 22:17). This angered the Lord, who famously sent an angel to block the donkey’s path.
The process by which he inquired of God also used pagan methods of divination (multiple altars with quid pro quo sacrifices).
There also appears to be another incident where he lead Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality (Numbers 31:15-17) as explained in Revelation 2:14, which always involved gifts to the gods, for example the marketplace at the entrance to the Greek pagan temple at Delphi.
God’s grace is always free. Those that sell it and profit by it are, as Peter describes them, incredibly evil.
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