I. Name

This local god, mentioned only in the OT, is associated with the mountain Peor in the land of Moab (Num. 23.28) and the place Beth-Peor (Deut. 3.29; Deut. 4.46; Deut. 34.6; Josh. 13.20). He probably represents there the chthonic aspect of the Canaanite god of fertility, Baal (Spronk 1986:231–233). The name Peor is related to Heb. pʿr, ‘open wide’, which in Isa. 5.14 is said of the ‘mouth’ of the netherworld (Xella 1982: 664–666). According to Num. 25 the Israelites participated in the Moabite…