Baal-Meon
1:
BAAL-MEON (PLACE) [Heb ba˓al mĕ˓ôn (בַּעַל מְעֹון)]. Var. BETH-BAAL-MEON; BETH-MEON. A locality listed among the towns and villages of the tribe of Reuben (Num 32:28) which originally belonged to Moab. It is also known as Beth-baal-meon (Josh 13:17) and Beth-meon (Jer 48:23).
Mesha’s reference on the Moabite Stone (ca. 830 b.c.) to having built a reservoir for Baal-meon implies that the city reverted to Moabite control (cf. ANET 320, line 9). It may have come back under Israelite control (ca. 770 b.c.) as inferred from a reference to “Baala the Baal-meonite” on Ostraca 27 from Samaria (assuming that this is the same city). The Jeremiah passage (48:23) clearly indicates Moabite possession of the town (ca. 600 b.c.).
Eusebius (Onomast. 44.21) identified Baal-meon with “the big village in the environs of (the hot springs of) Baaru . . . with the name of Beelmaus, distant nine miles from, Esbous, place of origin of the prophet Elisha.” In 1807, Seetzen identified it with the ruins of Khirbet Ma˓in (M.R. 219120), 9 km SW of Madaba. The ruins were carefully studied by Musil in 1902.
The investigations have revealed no Iron Age remains, but in 1934 the mosaic floor of a church on the acropolis was unearthed. Two other churches were excavated in 1973 and 1977.
The main feature of the mosaic floor in the church on the acropolis, dated a.d. 719/720, are 11 city plans of Palestine and Jordan: Nikopolis, (Eleuthero)polis, Ascalona, Maioumas, (Ga)za, Od(roa), (Charach M)ouba, Areopolis, Gadara, Esboun(ta), Belemoun(ta). North of the W church a xenion (a hostel for pilgrims) and a room of a pribaton (bath) were found—two buildings associated with the public assistance for pilgrims, particularly necessary in a village like Ma˓in, which was near the hot springs of Baaru. Among the ruins were stone inscriptions, fine Nabatean sculptures, together with several Byzantine capitals which were richly decorated with geometrical, floral, and figurative motifs. See also MAON; MEUNIM.
Bibliography
Piccirillo, M. 1985. Le antichità bizantine di Ma˓in e dintorni. LASBF 35:339–64.
Michele Piccirillo
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1:552). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Baal-Meon — lord of dwelling, a town of Reuben (Num. 32:38), called also Beth-meon (Jer. 48:23) and Beth-baal-meon (Josh. 13:17). It is supposed to have been the birth-place of Elisha. It is identified with the modern M’ain, about 3 miles south-east of Heshbon.
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
BAAL-MEON City in northern Moab assigned to Reuben’s tribe (Nm 32:38; 1 Chr 5:8). It is called Beth-baal-meon in Joshua 13:17, Beth-meon in Jeremiah 48:23, and Beon in Numbers 32:3. About 830 bc it was held by Mesha, king of Moab, and was still in Moabite hands in the sixth century bc (Jer 48:23; Ez 25:9) but may have been in Israelite possession during part of the eighth century bc.
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (136). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
BA´AL-ME´ON (bāʹal-me-onʹ; “lord of the dwelling”). One of the towns rebuilt by the Reubenites and their names changed (Num. 32:38). Baal-meon (“Beon,” v. 3; “Beth-meon,” Jer. 48:23; and “Beth-baal-meon,” Josh. 13:17) is to be located at Ma‘in nine miles E of the Dead Sea.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
BAAL-MEON, known also as Beth-baal-meon (Jos. 13:17), Beth-meon (Je. 48:23) and Beon (Nu. 32:3), was one of several towns built by the Reubenites in the territory of Sihon the Amorite (Nu. 32:38). It was later captured by the Moabites and was still in their hands in the 6th century bc (Je. 48:23; Ezk. 25:9). Today the site is known as Ma‘ı̂n. (*Moabite Stone.) j.a.t.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (108). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
6:
Baal-meon (bayʹuhl-meeʹuhn; Heb., ‘lord of habitation’), an area assigned to the tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:3, 38; Josh. 13:17; 1 Chron. 5:8). It was Moabite in the ninth century b.c. when the Moabite king Mesha built a reservoir there. It may have been in Israelite hands again in the eighth century, but it reverted to Moabite control later (Jer. 48:23; Ezek. 25:9). It was probably at modern Ma‘in about four miles southwest of Medeba and nine miles southwest of Hesban in central Transjordan.
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (85). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
7:
Baal-Meon (Heb. ba˓al mĕ˓ôn)
A town (modern Ma˓ɩ̂n, 219120) known variously as Baal-meon (Num. 32:38), Beon (32:3), Beth-baal-meon (Josh. 13:17), or Beth-meon (Jer. 48:23), located 14.5 km. (9 mi.) E of the Dead Sea. Part of Moses’ gift to the tribes of Reuben and Gad in return for military services against Sihon the Amorite, Baal-meon was rebuilt or fortified by the Reubenites (Num. 32:38). It fell into Moabite hands in the 9th century b.c.e. in the revolt led by King Mesha, who claims in his stela (the Mesha inscription, l. 9) that he built a reservoir at Baal-meon.
Robert Delsnyder
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (136). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
