Peor

Peor (meaning: opening or gap) designates both a mountain peak in Moab and the Baal cult associated with a sanctuary on that peak. Mount Peor was the third and final location to which Balak king of Moab brought the prophet Balaam in an attempt to curse Israel as they camped in the plains of Moab before entering Canaan (Numbers 23:28). From Peor, Balaam looked out over the Israelite encampment and, constrained by God, blessed rather than cursed the people.

The name Peor became permanently associated with Israel's catastrophic apostasy recorded in Numbers 25: Israelite men joined themselves to Baal-peor, the Canaanite deity worshipped at this mountain sanctuary, participating in the ritual sexual immorality that accompanied that cult. The resulting plague killed twenty-four thousand and was only stopped when Phinehas executed the offenders. This event at Peor became a defining cautionary memory in Israel (Deuteronomy 4:3; Psalm 106:28), cited by Moses, Joshua (Joshua 22:17), and the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 10:8) as a warning against spiritual adultery.