106 Christopher M. Mays scorn-name”3 in biblical literature or Judaism of late antiquity4. Theodore Zahn suggested that Βοσόρ reflects a mispronunciation of Βεώρ due to a Galilean accent. He notes that “the Hebrew  is frequently interchanged with the Aramaic  ( =  earth), and so it was possible for a fisherman from Bethsaida, who heard Num 22:4 read in Hebrew in the synagogue and interpreted in Aramaic, to make the opposite mistake”5. However, the extant Targums precisely copy the Hebrew name as 6, leaving Zahn’s thesis without a leg on which to stand. One might suggest that Βοσόρ is not a patronymic at all, but a city of Aram in which Balaam was born (Numbers 23:7; cf. Matt 26:21; Mark 1:24; 10:47). At first glance this seems plausible since the ancient city of Bezer lies approximately 70 km east of the Sea of Galilee and is called Βοσόρ in 1 Macc 5:25, 367. During Ben-Hadad I’s invasion of Israel in 853 B.C.E., this city probably came under Aramaic control. Nonetheless, in the 14th century B.C.E. (the approximate era in which the Balaam events took place) Bezer was an independent Canaanite city-kingdom, accord- ing to the Amarna correspondence8, and thus could not be Balaam’s hometown. Moreover, Num 22:5 mentions that Balaam’s native abode was Pethor (cf. Deut 23:5), a city which is generally identified as the Pitru mentioned by Shalmaneser III9 and Thutmose III10, located some- where around the confluence of the Euphrates and Sajur11. Since Bezer is roughly 550 km from this site and only briefly a possession of Aram, the author of 2 Peter probably would not have mistaken it for Balaam’s homeland12. Consequently, there does not appear to be a geographical reason to refer to Balaam as τοῦ Βοσόρ. Ch. Bigg, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. 3 Jude (Edinburgh 1961) 284. T. Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity. I, Palestine 330 B.C.E.-200 C.E. 4 (Tübingen 2002). Th. Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament, 2. [trans. J.M. Trout et al. of the 3rd ed. 5 of the German original] (New York 1909) 2:292. See Tg. Onq. Num 22:5; 24:3, 15; 31:8; Deut 23:5; Tg. Neof. Num 22:4; 24:3 (), 15; 6 31:8; Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 27:29; 36:32; Num 22:5; 24:3, 9, 15; 31:8; Deut 23:5; Tg. Jon. Josh 12:22, 24; 24:9; Mic 6:5; Tg. 1 Chr. 1:43. ABD, 1, 773. 7 Y. Aharoni, The Macmillan Bible Atlas (New York 31993) 36. 8 COS, 2:263 9 See G.B. Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers (Edinburgh 1956) 10 325; W.F. Albright, “The Home of Balaam”, JAOS 35 (1917) 386-90. M. Noth, Numbers: A Commentary (Philadelphia 1968) 173; T.R. Ashley, The Book 11 of Numbers (Grand Rapids 1993) 445; ABD, 5, 288. If we allowed for a great deal of authorial ignorance of the ancient world, this would 12 be another plausible explanation of the variant in 2 Peter 2:15.