BETH-PEOR

(Beth-peʹor) [house of Peor].

In the final year of their wilderness journey the nation of Israel was encamped “in the valley in front of Beth-peor.” (Deut. 3:29) The name Beth-peor links this place to “the Baal of Peor,” in the immoral rites of which the Israelites became ensnared.—Num. 25:1-3; see BAAL OF PEOR.

It was on the Plains of Moab, in the region of the Jordan, that Moses restated the Law to Israel, and thereafter Moses was buried “in the valley in the land of Moab in front of Beth-peor.” Beth-peor thus appears to have been in the “land of Moab,” that is, in land they had occupied, but in the territory more recently controlled by King Sihon of the Amorites, that is, until his defeat by the nation of Israel. (Deut. 4:46; 34:6) It was later assigned to the tribe of Reuben, being mentioned along with the “slopes of Pisgah and Beth-jeshinoth.”—Josh. 13:15, 20.

These texts all indicate a location near the NE end of the Dead Sea and facing the Plains of Moab. The precise location is uncertain. Nevertheless, Eusebius of the third century C.E. referred to such a place about six miles (10 kilometers) E of Livias (modern Tell er-Rameh). On this basis some suggest an identification with Khirbet esh-Sheikh-Jayil about five miles (8 kilometers) N-NE of the traditional site of Mount Nebo. This site is on the slope of a summit that may have been the “Peor” to which Balaam was taken as the final place to do cursing of Israel. If the above location is correct, then the “valley in front of Beth-peor” would likely be the Wadi Hesban.—Num. 23:28; Deut. 4:46; see PEOR.