(Peʹor).

In the account of King Balak’s efforts to get the prophet Balaam to curse Israel, the third vantage point to which Balaam was conducted is said to be “the top of Peor, which looks toward Jeshimon.” (Nu 23:28) From here Balaam could see the tents of Israel spread about on the Plains of Moab below.​—Nu 22:1; 24:2.

Some consider Peor to be the abbreviated form of the name Beth-peor. (De 4:46) However, this latter place is evidently a town, included as such in the territorial assignment of Reuben. (Jos 13:15, 16, 20) Others, therefore, consider Peor to be a summit, or peak, and suggest that the town of Beth-peor may have been so named because of being situated on the slopes of such a summit. Both Peor and Beth-peor appear to be connected with the pagan worship of “the Baal of Peor” (Nu 25:1-3, 18; 31:16; Jos 22:17), and it is possible that the height of Peor was a center of such immoral worship.​—See BAAL No. 4; BAAL OF PEOR.

Balaam was first taken to Bamoth-baal, then to “the top of Pisgah,” and finally to “the top of Peor.” (Nu 22:41; 23:14, 28) The direction of movement is from S to N and seems to indicate that Peor was N of Pisgah and Mount Nebo. Based on the testimony of Eusebius and Jerome, of the third and fourth centuries C.E., the summit of Peor is suggested to have been one of the peaks bordering the Wadi Husban.​—See BETH-PEOR.