They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 2 Peter 2:15 (NLT)
On their way to the promised land Israel encountered the nation of Moab whose king knowing and terrified that he was no match for the mighty advancing Israel solicited for the services of Balaam who was a prophet notorious for putting curses on people and without failure the curses would come to pass.
God warned Balaam not to go curse Israel because they were already blessed but the man did not heed because he had been promised wealth. He went on ahead against God’s warning but miraculously God put His words of blessing in Balaam’s mouth so that instead of cursing he blessed Israel-Numbers 22-24.
The way of Balaam is greed. It’s the love of money. It’s worshipful devotion to material things.
Balaam so loved money that he went on to do wrong to get it.
He deceived people for money. Scripture equates this to killing one’s brother. It is also the same as rebellion which one ends up perishing in.
Jude 1:11 (NLT) What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion.
We were created to worship God and not anything else including money or material possessions. We should serve God and not wealth. When we bow down and serve money we become enslaved to it and we end up committing all kinds of evil. People lie, cheat, steal, hoard and murder in order to get and possess material wealth. This is what Scripture implies in saying that the love of money is the root of all evil-1Timothy 6:10.
Purpose to make money your servant not your master.