Peor

PEOR (pē'ôr, Heb. pe‘ôr, opening)

The name given to the mountain in Moab where King Balak led Balaam that he might see and curse Israel (Num.23.28). It was a high peak near the town of Beth Peor opposite the valley in which Israel camped (Deut.3.29).In Num.25.18, Num.31.16, and Josh.22.17, Peor is used four times as a contraction for Baal Peor.Moses uses the term in two places (Num.25.18; Num.31.16) to refer to the god of Baal Peor.

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PEOR pe’ ər (הַפְּעֹ֔ור; Φογώρ, the opening). 1. Peor is a mountain in Moab in the vicinity of Nebo. To this mountain Balak brought Balaam to curse Israel (Num 23:27ff.). There is no certain identification for it.

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3. The LXX of Joshua 15:59 adds Φογώρ to the list of cities in Judah. It is the modern Khirbet Faghur, SW of Bethlehem.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

(ha-pe`or; Phogor):

(1) A mountain in the land of Moab, the last of the three heights to which Balaam was guided by Balak in order that he might curse Israel (Nu 23:28). It is placed by Eusebius, Onomasticon on the way between Livias and Heshbon, 7 Roman miles from the latter. Buhl would identify it with Jebel el-Mashaqqar, on which are the ruins of an old town, between Wady A`yun Musa and Wady Chesban.

(2) A town in the Judean uplands added by Septuagint (Phagor) to the list in Jos 15:9. It may be identical with Khirbet Faghur to the South of Bethlehem.

(3) Peor, in Nu 25:18; 31:16; Jos 22:17, is a divine name standing for "Baal-peor."

(4) In Ge 36:39, Septuagint reads Phogor for "Pau" (Massoretic Text), which in 1Ch 1:50 appears as "Pai."