BAMOTH-BAAL

(Baʹmoth-baʹal) [high places of Baal].

A town in Moab to which Balak, the king of Moab, conducted the prophet Balaam so that he might see the camp of Israel and call down a curse upon it. (Num. 22:41) Balak’s selection of this location for the enacting of the curse and the accompanying sacrifices may indicate that it was a center for Baal worship, evidently situated in an elevated place. (Num. 23:1-9) Thereafter, Bamoth-baal and other towns “on the tableland” were assigned to the tribe of Reuben as an inheritance. (Josh. 13:15, 17) In the latter part of the tenth century B.C.E. King Mesha of Moab states that he rebuilt “Beth-bamoth, for it had been destroyed.” (Line 27 of the Moabite Stone) It seems likely that Bamoth, Bamoth-baal and Beth-bamoth were all names of the same place.—Compare Baal-meon, Beon, Beth-baal-meon in the article on BAAL-MEON.

The description given in the Bible account indicates a place on the plateau region toward the NE corner of the Dead Sea. While the identification is only tentative, a suggested location is that of Khirbet el-Quweiqiyeh, about nine miles (14.5 kilometers) E of the Dead Sea, near the probable location of Mount Nebo.