Beth-Peor

See Baal - peor. It was a city of Moab. (Deut. 4: 46.) The house of opening; from Pahar, to open.

A town of Moab, in the limits assigned to Reuben, and conquered from the Amorites, Jos 13:20 . It was infamous for the worship of Baal-peor. In the adjacent valley Moses rehearsed the law to Israel, and was buried, Deu 4:44-46 34:6.\par

Beth-pe’or. (house of Peor). A place on the east of Jordan, opposite Jericho and six miles above Libias or Beth-haran. Jos 13:20; Jos 3:29; Jos 4:46.

(Heb. Beyth Peor’, בֵּית פִּעוֹר, house of Peor, i.e. temple of Baal-Peor; Sept. οϊvκος Φογώρ, but in Joshua Βηθφογώρ or Βαιθφογώρ), a place in Moab, no doubt dedicated to the god Baal-peor, on the east of Jordan; according to Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Βεθφογόρ, Bethfogo), it lay opposite Jericho, and six miles above Livias or Beth-haran. It was in the possession of the tribe of Reuben (Jos 13:20). In the Pentateuch the name occurs in a formula by which one of the last halting-places of the children of Israel is designated — “the ravine (הִגִּאְי) over against (מוּל) Beth-peor” (Deu 3:29; Deu 4:46). In this ravine Moses was probably buried (Deu 34:6). It appears to have been situated on the slope of the eminence (Nebo or Peer), about half way between Heshbon and the north end of the Dead Sea.

Here, as in other cases, the Beth- may be a Hebrew substitution for Baal-, or the name may be an abbreviation of Baal-peor (q.v.).

Beth-peor (bĕth’pç’or), temple of Peor. A place where the worship of Baal-peor had prevailed, in the district allotted to Reuben. Deu 3:29; Deu 4:46; Jos 13:20. It was in a ravine over against Beth-peor that Moses was buried. Deu 34:6.

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., Frants Buhl

A place in the valley of the Jordan which, in Josh. xiii. 20, is apportioned to the Reubenites. In Deuteronomy (iii. 29, iv. 46, xxxiv. 6) it is stated that the people were in the valley of the Jordan, opposite Beth-peor, when the Deuteronomic law was promulgated. Hosea (ix. 10) probably means the same place when he speaks of Baal-peor. According to Eusebius ("Onomastica," ed. Lagarde, ccxxxiii. 78; ccc. 2), the city was situated 6 Roman miles from Livias (or Beth-haran) near Mount Peor (compare Num. xxiii. 28). According to another statement of Eusebius ("Onomastica," ccxiii. 47), this mountain lay on the road from Livias to Heshbon; and according to Jerome (ib. cxv. 1), it was 7 miles distant from the latter. But no place corresponding to these descriptions has as yet been found. The references to Beth-peor in the Talmud, collected by Neubauer, "G. T." pp. 252, 253, prove that the place survived the destruction of the Second Temple.

BETH-PEOR.—A city belonging to Reuben (Jos 13:20), located most probably some four or five miles north of Mt. Nebo, near the Pisgah range. Just opposite to it, in the ravine (Wâdy Hesbân probably), the Israelites encamped (Deu 3:29; Deu 4:46). Moses was buried in the valley ‘over against Beth-peor’ (Deu 34:6). Conder suggests a site several miles to the S., near ‘Ain el-Minyeh, but the impression given by Num 25:1-8 is that the city was not so far distant from the plain of Shittim.

G. L. Robinson.

beth-pē´or (בּית פעור, bēth p^e‛ōr; οῖκος Φογώρ, oı́kos Phogō̇r; in Joshua (Vaticanus), Βαιθφογώρ, Baithphogō̇r, or βεθ-, beth-): “Over against Beth-peor” the Israelites were encamped, “beyond the Jordan, in the valley,” when Moses uttered the speeches recorded in Dt (Deu 3:29; Deu 4:46). “In the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor” Moses was buried (Deu 34:6). Beth-peor and the slopes of Pisgah (the King James Version “Ashdoth-pisgah”) are mentioned in close connection in Jos 13:20. According to Eusebius, Onomasticon, Beth-peor was situated near Mt. Peor (Fogor) opposite Jericho, 6 miles above Livias. Mt. Peor is the “top” or “head” of Peor (Num 23:28). Some height commanding a view of the plain East of the river in the lower Jordan valley is clearly intended, but Thus far no identification is possible. “The slopes of Pisgah” are probably the lower slopes of the mountain toward Wādy ‛Ayūn Mūsa. Somewhere North of this the summit we are in search of may be found. Conder suggested the cliff at Minyeh, South of Wādy Jedeideh, and of Pisgah; and would locate Beth-peor at el-Mareighāt, “the smeared things,” evidently an ancient place of worship, with a stone circle and standing stones, about 4 miles East, on the same ridge. This seems, however, too far South, and more difficult to reach from Shittim than we should gather from Num 25:1.