Peor
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'''Peor''' is either
*The name of a mountain peak (Num. 23:28) to which [[Balak]] led [[Balaam]] as a last effort to induce him to pronounce a curse upon [[Israelites|Israel]]. The [[tribes of Israel]] are described as being visible from the peak, but nethertheless, Balaam refused to curse them, and continued to offer blessings (24:1-9). ''Peor'' is similar to the Egyptian ''Pi-Hor'' ("House of Horus").
*A reference to a divinity who was worshipped at that mountain peak, and, biblically, was the subject of the [[heresy of Peor]]. The divinity, worshipped by the [[Moabites]], is biblically referred to as ''Baal-peor'' (Num. 25:3,5, 18; comp. Deut. 3:29), literally meaning ''the [[Baal]] of Peor''. An ancient [[Aramaic]] inscription, found at Dier Alla, identifies Balaam as a prophet of [[Shamash]], a [[semitic]] sun-god, and consequently, it could well be the case that the unidentified Baal of Peor is Shamash. If Peor's connection to Pi-Hor is factual, then the Baal of Peor may be the Egyptian god [[Horus]].
{{eastons}}
In John Milton's "Paradise Lost," Peor is said to be the other name of the fallen angel Chemos, who "entic'd/Israel in Sittim on thir march from Nile/To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe." (Paradise Lost, I.412-14) His deeds are described in the first book of the epic, as Milton describes Satan's followers who were banished from Heaven, and have pledged themselves as followers of the underworld.
[[Category:Bible]]