בַּ֫עַל פְּעוֹר

From the study of Psalm 106:28

Range of meaning

Baʿal: "owner, master, lord, husband," and the title of the Canaanite storm god Hadad and of many local gods ("Baal of X"). Peor: a peak in Moab facing the Israelite camp at Shittim (Numbers 23:28; 25:1), with a town Beth-peor ("house/shrine of Peor") nearby (Deuteronomy 3:29; 4:46; 34:6).

Against the English

Translations print it as a proper name ("Baal-peor," "Baal of Peor"). This is fine, but English readers tend to hear one single god named Baal, rather than "the lord of Peor," a local deity identified by his shrine.

Used elsewhere in the period

Numbers 25:3, 5, 18; 31:16; Deuteronomy 4:3; Joshua 22:17; Hosea 9:10. In the Septuagint he is Beelphegōr. Later rabbinic tradition (e.g., the Sifre on Numbers and the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 64a) spun crude stories from the root pʿr, "to open wide." These are much later wordplay, not evidence for the original cult.

From the study of Deuteronomy 4:3

Range of meaning

Baʿal is an ordinary Hebrew noun meaning 'owner, master, lord', and also 'husband' (a woman's baʿal). Across Canaan and Syria it was also the title of the storm-and-fertility god Hadad, honoured in many local forms named after a place: 'Baal of Peor', 'Baal of Hermon', 'Baal-zephon'. Peʿor is a height in Moab (Num 23:28), with a town or shrine Beth-peor ('house of Peor') below it. 'Baal Peor' therefore means 'the lord of Peor', the local god, and by extension the place and the scandal connected with it.

Against the English

English treats 'Baal' as a personal name, like 'Zeus'. Hebrew hearers also heard a common word, 'lord/master/husband'. The verse sets two 'lords' side by side: YHWH and the baʿal of Peor. Translations differ on the preposition: 'at Baal-peor' (BSB, NIV) treats it as a place; 'because of Baal-peor' (KJV, WEB) and 'in the case of Baal-peor' (NASB) treat it as an affair.

How it drifted

Because English keeps only the transliteration, the word's ordinary meaning, and the rivalry between two 'lords' that it sets up, drops out.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ugaritic texts (14th–13th c. BC) present Baal as a leading god who brings rain and fertility. Numbers 25:1–9 tells the Peor story: Israel 'yoked itself' (wayyiṣṣāmed) to Baal Peor, eating sacrificial meals with Moabite women and bowing to their gods. Hosea 9:10 ('they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the shame') and Psalm 106:28 ('they yoked themselves to Baal Peor and ate sacrifices of the dead') show the episode became a byword. Hosea 2:16 [Heb 2:18] plays on baʿal as 'husband/master'.