Numbers 23:28
in Numbers 23And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Balak took Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert.
KJV
And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.
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This verse in Numbers 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd Balak brought Balaam to the top of Peor,.... The name of an high mountain in Moab, so called from a gap or opening in it; here the idol Baal was worshipped, and from hence had the name of Baalpeor, Num 25:3 and here, very probably, was a temple built to the honour of him, called Bethpeor, the house or temple of Baalpeor, Deu 34:6, that looketh towards Jeshimon; as Pisgah also did, and very likely it was not far from it, since from thence they came hither, Num 23:
This site's exposition
bring thee unto another place
on Numbers 23:27-30
The third station is the top of Peor, and the name carries the rest of the book. Baal-peor is the god of that hill, Numbers 25:3 says Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor in the chapter after next, and Numbers 31:16 says the counsel behind it was Balaam's. He is standing on the ground where his advice will accomplish what his oracles cannot. Seven altars go up a third time and the offering is made again, and chapter 24 opens with Balaam giving up the search for enchantments.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thus he covers his malice against Israel with a show of devotion, but his sacrifice was an abomination, being brought with such a wicked mind, Prov. xxi. That which he aimed at was not to honour God with the sacrifices of righteousness, but to enrich himself with the wages of unrighteousness. How very obsequious Balak was.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Unto the top of Peor - Probably the place where the famous Baal-peor had his chief temple. He appears to have been the Priapus of the Moabites, and to have been worshipped with the same obscene and abominable rites.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The position of Peor northward from Pisgah, along the Abarim heights, is approximately determined by the extant notices of Beth-peor. Jeshimon - was the waste, in the great valley below, where stood Beth-jeshimoth, “the house of the wastes.”
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּקַּ֥ח | vaiyikach | and he took | H3947 → | 966 times |
| בָּלָ֖ק | balak | Balak | H1111 → | 43 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בִּלְעָ֑ם | bilam | Balaam | H1109 → | 61 times |
| רֹ֣אשׁ | rosh | [the] top of | H7218 → | 599 times |
| הַפְּע֔וֹר | hapeor | <the> Peor | H6465 → | 5 times |
| הַנִּשְׁקָ֖ף | hanishkaf | which looks down | H8259 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פְּנֵ֥י | penei | [the] face of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| הַיְשִׁימֹֽן׃ | hayshimon | the desolate place | H3452 → |
וַיִּקַּ֥חand he took
vaiyikachH3947 →966 times
בָּלָ֖קBalak
balakH1111 →43 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בִּלְעָ֑םBalaam
bilamH1109 →61 times
רֹ֣אשׁ[the] top of
roshH7218 →599 times
הַפְּע֔וֹר<the> Peor
hapeorH6465 →5 times
הַנִּשְׁקָ֖ףwhich looks down
hanishkafH8259 →
עַל־over
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פְּנֵ֥י[the] face of
peneiH6440 →2123 times
הַיְשִׁימֹֽן׃the desolate place
hayshimonH3452 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 106:28They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
it leads to
- Hosea 9:10
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruits of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to Shame; so…
- Numbers 25:5
So Moses told the judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill all of his men who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.”
- Numbers 25:1–3
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,
- 1 Corinthians 10:19–20
Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- Deuteronomy 4:3
Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.
- Hosea 9:10
Through
Numbers 21:20and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 3:27
Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
- Deuteronomy 34:1
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho. And the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead as far as Dan,
- Deuteronomy 4:49
including all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.
- Deuteronomy 3:27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.