BEELPHEGOR (Heb. Ba'al-Pe'ôr). — This was originally the name of a deity, the Phoenician Ba'al (q.v.), who took various titles from the places where he was worshipped. It is therefore the deity venerated at Phegor (or Pe'ôr), an unidentified mountain in Moab (q.v.) opposite the northern tip of the Dead Sea, facing the mouth of the Jordan (Num. 23:28). It then refers to the very place, the seat of the deity’s cult. In this sense it is also called Bethphegor (Deut. 3:29; 4:46; 34:6), which seems to correspond to beth (temple) of the Ba'al of Pe'ôr.
B. was a center of orgiastic and shameless worship. Hence St. Jerome (Lib. de sit. et nom.: PL 23, 879) held that Phegor was the Hebrew form of Priapus; elsewhere he identifies it with Chemosh (Heb. Kêmôš; in Is. 15:2: PL 24, 168).
The Hebrews, coming from Sinai, were seduced by Moabite women and “were initiated” into the infamous cult of B. By Moses’ order the collective sacrilege was punished by the killing of 24,000 Israelites, chiefly by Phinehas (q.v.; cf. Num. 25; Ps. 105:28; Hos. 9:10).