Peor and Baal-peor
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(opening; Num. 23:28; 25:3)—Peor was a Moabite height from which Balak showed Balaam Israel’s encampment. It belonged to the Abarim region opposite Jericho and was remembered in connection with Israel’s sin at Baal-peor (Num. 23:28; 25:1–9; Deut. 3:29; 4:3). Baal-peor denotes the local Baal and the worship associated with that place. Hosea recalls that Israel “consecrated themselves to shame” there (Hos. 9:10). The source’s equation of Baal-peor with the Greco-Roman Priapus is an obsolete comparison, not a demonstrated historical identity.